Flawed Sox

I was off most of last week. You would think that this would mean that I had a ton of time to knit and read. For some reason, you would be wrong. Time went quickly and there wasn't a whole lot of knitting done. About the only thing that did get done, was the second of my Beckett socks. I had left off with the second of these socks over 1/2 way done. The heel was turned and the gusset decreases began before I stopped. On Thursday, I picked the socks up and finished them. I immediately put them on and began wearing them around the house.

As you can see, I decided to reverse the colors on the second sock. I did this because they are going to be at home socks, and I like my colorwork socks and mittens to each be a bit different then the other. Why do the same exact thing 2x if you don't have to?

These are my Josh Beckett socks because Josh is #19, and he is my favorite player on the team.

The sock pattern is pretty cool, imo. It has some arch shaping in the foot. I had never done this before. The pattern instructions include directions for pin stripes and for teams without pin stripes. While the Sox do not use pin stripes in their uniform, I thought that using pin stripes would really displace the arch shaping, so I included them in the gussets and on the sole of my feet.

After finishing the toe on my second sock, I immediately stitched it closed and put it on my foot. I wore the socks for several hours then at the end of the night I went to take them off. When I went to do that I noticed something was wrong. Do you see my mistake in the picture above?

Apparently the last row of B's I knit, I was holding the chart upside down, so now those Bs face in towards me rather than out towards the world. Oops.

As for recent books that I have read they are:

Brideshead Revisited, Waugh (Ravelry book club-I enjoyed this); Possession, Byatt (Ravelry book club-hard to get into at times, but could also be enjoyable); A Year of Living Biblically, Adams (good read, fast, funny at times and respectful without being overly so); Oryx & Crake, Atwood (since I didn't like Blind Assassin, I was alittle dubious starting this book, but I definitely enjoyed it); The Keep, Eagan (a good read, the story kept me guessing for awhile); Nights of Rain and Stars, Binchy (fairly typical Binchy, quick read); Rhett Butler's People, McCaig (do NOT go around changing Margaret Mitchell's story. If you want to add details that is fine, but do not claim that Scarlett met Rhett for the second time in Charleston, if Mitchell wanted that to be their second meeting it would have been in GWTW); Tales of Beedle the Bard, Rowlings (very quick read); and finally, currently reading Annie Leibovitz At Work (loving the book-you can't tell from this blog but I actually have a great fondness for being behind the camera and I love Leibovitz's photos (who doesn't?) so it is really great getting to find out some of what is behind some of her work.) I think that covers my reading.

Sorry that this is such a very long post.

Happy New Years everyone!

Finally Done!

You might remember that some time ago I claimed to have sewn the cutest thing ever and that you'd be seeing it soon. Well, I haven't had my sewing machine out since. I've been busy and have been more into knitting lately, but I had a Christmas gift to finish, so I had to get it out last night and finish it. So, at long last, you can see the cutest thing ever:



I made the apron from Amy Butler's In Stitches book. In fact, I made two - one for myself and one for my mother-in-law. Fortunately, the one for my MIL came out better than mine. In fact, I'm really pleased with my work on it. I really like the pocket - particularly the way the two fabrics make it looks:



I used contrasting thread to sew it on, so I had to be super careful to sew straight. I did OK, but not great.

I really love the pleats:



I changed the way the tie was done. She has you fold over the rectangular end to make a triangle and hand sew it. I just sewed it to a triangular point - no folding or hand sewing. It seemed more secure that way.



Joe is on his way to Chicago to deliver this to his mom and a scarf that I knit out of Manos for his SIL. Those are the only handmade gifts I did this year, so it was a much less stressful holiday season for me. I knit myself a beret and a newsboy cap that I may get a chance to show you while I'm on vacation - until January 5th!!!! I plan to get A LOT of knitting done. I'm considering making the Gathered Pullover or perhaps a vest. We'll see.

East Coast Update

Hey all! The weather here in Boston has turned frosty. We even had a some white stuff falling from the sky this weekend.The thermostat has dipped. It is time for hot cocoa, hot tea, warm socks & sweaters.

Sadly, even though it is definitely sweater knitting time my knitting mojo seems to have taken an extended vacation. What this means is that I haven't had the motivation to do knitting for myself, but I have been plugging away at projects for other people. I am about 3 sleeve inches away from finishing a sweater for a dear, pregnant, friend now on the west coast (she knows all about this, she even selected the sweater, so I figure it is safe to blog about it). There is a decent chance that this will be done before the baby is born (baby isn't due for months and months).

I have also started a secret project (Rav link). I had a brief return of my mojo and started this, then the mojo started to fade, but I am still working away at it. In the meantime, I have been doing lots and lots of reading.