Back in April and May I was working on some socks, and was going to post a pattern and picture. Well, here’s the picture: . Still working on the pattern. It’s a lot harder than it seems to write a pattern, when you don’t really use one. I used a chart all right, but made up the sock as I went, using various elements from various sources. Someday, I will put it all together.
Here are some Before and After shots of the fiber trends clogs I made for my hubby. He says they make his toes sweaty, so he probably won’t actually wear them until winter.

I have been away so long I have disappeared! I haven’t been paying attention.
The House
Now we are waiting. It’s strange, neither my husband nor I are as excited as everyone else seems to be for us. Friends ask if we drive by on the way home from work to look at it, etc. Nope. There’s so much else going on, we haven’t had time to get excited, maybe.
The Clogs
I made the fiber trends clogs for the hubby this weekend, pics to follow soon. They took forever to felt, using Lamb’s Pride Bulky. I had to change the hot water after the first 40 minutes or so… it was cooling off and they stopped shrinking. Finally after at least an hour, they were small enough.
The Stash
Strangely, I didn’t find any yarn to buy at the bag sale. I did pick up a long US2 Addi that I will use for Elizabeth I when I get around to it.
The Shawl
I figured out that for the last 10 rows or so, I mixed up my ssk with my k2tog. You know what? It looks fine and I am not going to fix it. But I have been avoiding it.
The Meetup
We had actual Meetup again this month. Very cool. Four of us, again, but I was the only one who returned from the previous month. Three of the four had only started knitting in the last year.

Regarding Wendy’s Wendy Knits!: Q & A Day: Surreal Moment du Jour… That’s just the kind of thing that really makes me want this year to be the year that I try and convince everyone I know to come over the good side of the force. We’ve got to get rid of this guy. I am sure that W wasn’t actually involved in the process of replacing his picture, (oh, gord, I hope not) but the fact that someone thinks that is important is what gets me. That advisor needs to resign. How about saving a few bucks and putting it in my tax return?
OK, I think I should go to bed now.

It seems I am not the only one feeling less-than-bloggy lately. As I go around the ring, it seems that about 50% of the blogs I used to read regularly are getting stale, like mine. I am trying to pay attention, really!
The House
Okay, I am buying a used house, so that’s good, right? Recycling? Because I think I am going to have to plant a few trees to make up for the amount of paper this sale is producing. How many more freaking *sign here->* sticky-tab arrows and highlighted boxes are there going to be? What ever happened to the paperless society?
The Swatch
Went to a meetup last night and finished my swatch. Finally. Will wash and block this weekend.
The Shawl
It’s strange, some days I don’t want to touch it, and other days I get a momentum going and I don’t want to put it down.
The Stash
You know what Saturday is. It’s the bag sale at the Yarn Lady. I am going to try finding more of the LUCE from Fortissima di Colori that I bought last time. I saw some bags in yellow at the TKGA playpen, and if they have more in hot pink, I shall buy it. But nothing else. I think.

Have you seen this yet? A Mighty Wind I saw it Tuesday night and I’m still laughing. But also wondering… when is it drinking songs, and when is it folk music???

Over here: When Knitting Was a Manly Art there are some cool pix of Jerry’s train trip. I wish I had time to learn proper photography. I once took a class, but had to drop out because I got assigned to a client in San Fransisco and would be out of town for the first 6 weeks of class, and I never did go back. Maybe after the move… there are several colleges nearby; a real one, a city one, and a community one, someone should have a cheap photog class. And with my commute reduced by ~36 miles, just think of all the free time I will have!

The House
Ugh! Life is crazy around here. Just started the loan process on our (hopefully) new house. Much time away from the computer, except for the boring task of updating everything in Quicken so I actually know how much money I have.
Birthday Knitting
Thursday was my birthday, and on Sunday I spent the day eating birthday food (sushi and cake and veggies) and being crafty with my friends. I went to my best-friend’s Mom’s house, and we all painted or knitted or did something crafty for the day and left all the SO’s behind. It was fun, and I got a new knitty book – The Knitting Stitch Bible, which, while not a huge reference, is much nicer than that 365 Stitches thing that has no charts. I prefer charts so I can translate into the round easier.
The Swatch
Can you beleive I am still swatching for Elizabeth I. I got to a good size and decided the fabric was too holey, so switched from Addi 3’s to Inox 2’s and kept going on the same swatch. After about 15 rows, I got out my gauge and realized what I suspected – they are both the same size. So I got out some dpn that I know are a bit smaller and continue.
The Shawl
It’s getting to big to be portable, and I still have about 12-14 oz of yarn to go, this thing might be a bedspread! That’s why I picked up the swatch again. I keep going on the shawl, and am getting closer to the edge, but I can’t beleive how much yarn is left.

We finally actually had a meetup this month! That was fun, it was myself, a woman from New Zealand that is a new transplant to Orange County, a woman from Anaheim, and a woman from Fullerton.
The NZ’er knits in the pencil-style which I have never seen in action, only in photographs. The other two are also jugglers. Pretty cool! I didn’t get to see anyone purling though, to see if I can find a better way to do it than the way I do. One of the women brought a Threads publication, I think it’s Knitting Around the World which I had previously borrowed from the library and I liked a lot. I told her not to leave it lying around – it might disappear! It’s not available from the publisher any more, but it still shows up in stores. I will have to keep my eyes open.

Not sure anyone noticed I was gone, but I wasn’t very bloggy for the past few weeks. Life is busy! Made an offer on my (hopefully) first house this weekend. Much of my normal knitting time has been spent doing drive-bys of potential houses, and we happened to be driving by one and the tenant came out and offered us a tour, so we made an offer. It’s got a lot of potential and the price and area is right, so we decided to go for it.
There will be a place to store my slowly growing stash. And a place to put all of my other closeted items, the record collection, the tape collection, the book collection. I see so much potential in this place, I hope the seller takes our offer.

Joe’s talking about winding yarn into balls over here: QueerJoe’s Knitting Blog (If that link doesn’t work, try the link in my sidebar)
I love it when I read one of those ‘smack in the forehead’ great ideas on someone’s blog or on a listserv. He mentions that while winding yarn, he tucks the ball band in the last dozen or so loops around the end of the ball. I have always put the label in the center of the ball when I start winding it. But of course, as soon as I start knitting, I pull out the label. Putting the label on the outside of the ball means it stays with the yarn until it’s almost done. Great Idea.