best laid plans

a tale of sock woe for you. i am probably the world's slowest sock knitter. i have been working on the same pair of socks since last july. it's not that the pattern is hard or that i don't enjoy knitting on it. i don't know what it is but unlike other sock knitters who take their socks everywhere and knit on them when they have a spare moment, i end up knitting on my socks only once every few months, which leads to slow socks. i finally finished a pair of socks this week out of some beautiful yarn from sunshine yarns. i was all excited and grafted the toe and even wove in all my ends. and then i tried them on.



you might not be able to tell from this picture but the sock on my right foot is waaay bigger than the first sock i finished (see how the heel looks all bunchy?). how this happened i do not know. i mean, i know gauge can change over time, but really? it's been less than a year and i am already making these socks on size 0s. what more do the knitting gods want? my first idea was to try to block the socks to see if i could get the one to be a little narrower and a little shorter. uh - that didn't work. in the depths of despair i thought that maybe i could give it someone with feet slighter bigger than mine. however, most of my friends have feet either way bigger than mine or the same size. i sat and stared at the sock for awhile before deciding that i would just have to rip back. so i found the end (that i had hidden so well) and frogged back to before the toe decreases. i laid the first sock under the too large one to see how far i would have to go back. so now the sock is back on the needles and i am starting the toe decreases again. i am trying to knit tightly and will be trying on the toe every few rows. even if it's still a little wide, hopefully at least the length will come out right this time. wish me luck.

oh - and did i tell you that i am off to stitches west next weekend? i couldn't resist the cheap air fares and the chance to hang out with my parents. i am SO excited.

wine and chocolate

it's been a pretty lazy sunday so far. i woke up this morning with a mild case of vertigo. for those of you who've never had it (lucky you) it's kind of like your head is a snowglobe and someone shakes it so that everything you see goes swirling crazily before your eyes. and then you get to feel nauseous from all of the spinning. it's really not fun but i think i am feeling a bit better now and might venture out of the house. before i leave though, i thought i would show you what i've been working on for the last week or so.



it's the february lady sweater by flintknits. some friends are i are having a mini elizabeth zimmermann's almanac knitalong this year and we started with february. since i don't know any babies, i am making this sweater for me. i am working it in a lovely shade of dream in color classy called in vino veritas. it's my first time working with the dream in color and i like it a lot.

i'll leave you with something sweet (made by two of my baking buddies).



happy (belated) valentine's day!

it's the little things that matter

through the looking glass

i spent a fun and somewhat surreal evening at the natural history museum last night. i went for the first fridays series, where they open up the museum at night and have djs spin and bands play. i've never been to the natural history museum here before and it was kind of strange seeing people mingling and bands performing in the midst of these old dioramas (which my friend said were first constructed around 1930). the bird and the bee also performed and they were excellent. they did a cover of the bee gee's "how deep is your love" that i'd never heard before. it gave me a new appreciation for the bee gees. before them a band called jukebox the ghost was on and they were surprisingly good as well. i wish i had taken more pictures of the museum but you can see a few shots below.

large bird case - egrets are big!

display of woodpeckers

peering out

abstract of the bird and the bee

the rest of the weekend i plan to knit, read and catch up on some sleep. knitting photos coming soon.

inspiration

last weekend my friend and i took a trip down to santa monica to see the hyperbolic crochet coral reef exhibit at bergamot station. i can't really describe it so i'll show you some pictures.











it was really amazing looking and there were so many colors. the colors and forms were just so beautiful and inspiring. i was surprised by how lifelike some of the pieces looked. we spent a long time in there taking pictures of everything. it was fun, too, because i recognized some of the yarns used. if you live in the area and get a chance, definitely stop by. i think the exhibit is running until the end of the month.

my version of being a trekkie

what people will do for a good yarn sale.