thai peanut stuff

that's what's for dinner tonight. I was going to make pad thai, but I went to the grocery store yesterday knowing I needed to go but having no idea what I was going to buy, so all I remembered for sure that pad thai wanted was green onions and cilantro and bean sprouts. kroger didn't have any bean sprouts. so there will be mushrooms and carrots and snow peas in the thai peanut stuff tonight. since I'm not feeding any thais, probably I won't get in too much trouble for this. :)



here's a less sad looking picture of roza's socks. fair is coming, and I have to deliver my fair socks on tuesday or wednesday and I decided they would probably have a happier trip to fair if they were blocked, so I finally broke down and bought some sock blockers. snazzy red ones, from the loopy ewe. they only have small and extra large in stock at this moment but last week they had large (which is what I need, all the women I knit for wear between 8 and 10 shoes, so the small ones may be a little over-blocked.. next time I have money to spare I'll buy a pair of mediums), so I got those, and a pair of xl ones for man socks too. I've been having a lot of fun blocking the christmas socks that are completed, so they look better for gifting.

I got some yarn too, a huge splurge, full-priced yarn, I don't know when I've ever done that before!



this superwash BFL from gypsy knits, it's called "merry go round",



and this wool/bamboo blend from zen strings, it's called "sedona". it doesn't make much sense to me that it's called sedona, in my memory, sedona is more redorange and green.. but that's what it's called anyway.

I ordered yarn because I always choose to pay for stuff rather than shipping.. and because I just couldn't resist. :)

I ordered a lot more yarn actually.. but not sock yarn this time! are you amazed?! I swapped some sock yarn for 6 balls of peace fleece on the knittyboards a few weeks ago.. I started a swapping conversation with a gal who had a bunch of yarn she wanted to swap for a skein of sock yarn, and she mentioned cherry tree hill as being one of the things she would like.. and I'm wanting to make a tomten jacket for my nephew's stepson, so I thought maybe this yarn would do the job, and I have.. well, not as much now as I did before, but a lot of CTH hill ends.. and I usually don't buy one that's less than 9oz and it rarely takes 3oz to make a pair of socks so I had some to spare, so I asked if she'd be interested in that, and showed her a couple to pick from, and she asked if I'd like to swap them both. and this was 10 balls of yarn we were talkin', that was more than reasonable so I considered it.. and I considered the yarn, and decided that the yarn wasn't actually suitable for that jacket anyway and suggested she'd probably rather take a different offer. but she liked that yarn, and asked if there was anything else I'd like to swap for it, and I said I'd like something tweedy and wooly to make a tomten jacket for a 3yo, and she said she had 6 skeins of peace fleece, how would that do? and I said OK. even though she was happy with that trade, I felt guilty so I added in a 3rd batch of CTH and then wound off an ounce of solid to go with, in case one or other of 'em didn't actually make a whole pair of socks.. I'm sure the first two will but the second.. not quite as sure.. so I made sure there was yarn for the heels/toes just in case. and I still know I got the better end of that swap, but..



anyway, the yarn arrived, good lord what a lot of yarn, it's DK peace fleece, so 2100 yards in the 6 skeins (color is a little off in the photo.. but it's gorgeous :)), would make sweaters for an army of toddlers so I decided to make a sweater for my son, and I expect I'm going to have enough left to make that tomten too. I'm making aidan the seamless hybrid from elizabeth zimmermann, following the lead of brooklyn tweed so I had to order another skein for the hem facings, in a contrasting color. :) then I swatched the yarn, and washed the swatch a couple times, and fell so in love with it I decided I needed yarn for more sweaters, so I sent off for wholesale info and placed a wholesale order and a week later 24 more skeins of the stuff arrived at my house. rofl.. I am insane, I don't even know if I can make a sweater!




but I'm tryin'. :) so far it's just a tube with a hem, so.. not too challenging (although it took me 3 tries to be happy with the hem..). we'll see what happens when it gets to the sleeves..

september

so far, just sockdown socks.

the sockdown categories this month are toe up, or grumperina designs. since I just did my first ever toe up socks and.. while those turned out great, am still resistant to the whole concept, I'm knitting grumperina.

first, roza's socks from the spring issue of interweave knits.



lorna's laces shepherd sock, purple iris colorway, 2.5mm needles. these are for my mother in law for christmas. :)

and for my second trick,



I'm giving jaywalkers a try again. it's been almost a year and a half since my first dismal attempt, and this time, it's working. 84 stitch version, 2.5mm needles and considerable more experience in the sock department has produced a sock that does actually go over a human ankle, so I'm very happy with this.

I bought this yarn in germany in january and it's been chilling in my stash since, waiting for me to be in the mood to knit it and find a pattern that suits it. I think this pattern does suit it, dandily. :)

in other news, I swapped some sock yarn for some dk weight peace fleece, and am pondering a sweater. I need to order a skein for contrast, for the facings and I need to either finish my curtain (problematic, since the yarn I got to finish it doesn't *match*) to reclaim that needle, or obtain another size 6 circ.. I need to swatch and wash and measure.. I need to *read* knitting workshop.. twice maybe.. and then I'll be ready to go. :) I'm going to attempt a hybrid sweater. unless I change my mind and decide to do the cobblestone sweater from this issue of IK, instead..

have not worked up the enthusiasm to do the heel on the I love gansey sock yet, and the second regia galaxy.. jupiter.. whichever.. something spacey.. sock is languishing just before the heel on the second sock too, but it'll get done before too long.

oh! ordered up some of those new harmony dpn's last saturday from knitpicks and they arrived yesterday (along with more sock yarn), one set hopped straight into that jaywalker, you can see 'em peeking out. I *love* them! not bendy! nice and smooth! good points! I can't decide if I'm relieved or disappointed that they are not so garrishly colored as they appeared on the website. a little of both, I think. :)

here we go...

the finished campanula for the cure socks.
knitpicks risata, burgundy color.. none of the photos look anything like the color the yarn actually is.. at least not on my screen. 2.5mm needles.

I really enjoyed knitting this yarn pretty much, and I like how it feels on my feet. I like that it's a fair bit cotton, that's a boon in this climate.. at least for this part of the year. I wish it came in more colors. girlier colors. :) I believe, based on the quantity of the leftovers from these socks, that I will require 3 balls if I'm going to knit mansocks. there are leftovers, but man socks will need more stitches in addition to more rows, and I don't believe they would be sufficient to get the job done. I did find a knot in each ball, which was a surprise.. each time.. not hugely inconvenient I guess but I would have preferred to not have to deal with that.

still.. I like the yarn. :) I'll order a couple more balls next time I'm tossing some money at knitpicks.

you can tell which one has been finished a while and tried on a bunch, and which one just came off the needles, 'eh?

shameless

I didn't finish any knitting to show you.. maybe tomorrow. :)

I did find a shirt you all need though! georgia from threadless.com. it's a sheep all dressed in balls of yarn for fleece. very cute. on sale for 10.00 until 9am tomorrow, too. and if you click that link and buy it, I'll get a 3.00 credit. :) but please don't feel obligated to use my link.. it's just really cute and I know you'll want one as much as I do. :)