Birthday shenanigans

Had a wonderful birthday weekend, spent with "my people" - fiber fiends! Went to TKGA/CGOA and hung out in the marketplace with Sandi and her family. Saw some wonderful yarns and things, but was very frugal in my spending. Some people can't believe that the only yarn I bought was 2 skeins of Pacific Meadows alpaca in periwinkle (for my secret pal at school). But having done the Great Yarn Inventory of 2007, I realized how much I have and that I can't possibly make a very large dent in it before next February and Stitches West.

As my birthday present to myself, I did buy a lovely shawl pin from Gita Maria. It's not pictured on her website, but this one is called "Granite."






On Sunday, I bought myself a yummy chocolate mousse birthday cake from Bijan bakery and took it to Purlescence where I shared it with the Tea & Sympathy crowd as an advance on Nathania's birthday next week & for her Kevin's birthday a few days ago. Kinda celebrated Sandi's birthday, too, even though she wasn't there! She was at the Renaissance Faire, which I need to get back to one of these days...

Actual knitting:

After the Great Sock Fiasco of a few days ago, I chucked everything back in its bag, with the exception of the size 2 needle. That I pulled out of the old sock and started (with the other size 2 - I triple-checked!) on some Claudia Hand Paint fingering weight yarn in Pink Dot for some basic toe-up socks. So far, so good!

I've found that I'm really good at being in denial about my crafting. I'm such a process knitter and crocheter that I've found that I can ignore an issue until it has become glaringly obvious that I'm not going to be happy with the end product. For example, take the Ribby Shell that I've been working on. It was literally within an inch of the front being completed when I realized that I would not be happy with how the ribbing was lining up front & back at the shoulders. I had noticed that with the back that there weren't the same number of ribs on each side, but figured that no one would notice, so I went on with the front. The right front was done, and I wasn't happy about how poorly the ribbing was lining up with the corresponding stitches in the back, but I still ignored it. When I was close to finishing the left front, I finally had to admit to myself that it wasn't going to work there either and I was just not going to be happy with it.

The issue that I ignored was that I can't count to bind off the correct number of stitches on either side of my marked side stitches. When you are supposed to bind off 7 stitches either side of the marked stitch, and you bind off six on one side and 8 on the other, of course the subsequent ribbing that travels up the side of the armholes doesn't match at the top after all the decreases. There are no pictures of the ensuing carnage, but I did reknit the back today, with the correct number of bound off stitches!

However, I really should head to bed - work calls tomorrow!

Socks!

So, I was all set to post about Jane's Show your socks contest when I realized something.

Here are my first, second and latest socks. The green pair (unknown Opal yarn) were made at least 5-6 years ago. The Dork had seen the yarn at Stitches and said "Hey Mom, that yarn would make great socks for school." (school colors being green and white, uniforms...) So I made them, and he wore them for about 2 months before outgrowing them. And, oh darn, his feet had been the same size as mine were for those 2 months...MINE!

The 2nd pair was again Opal yarn, and right now I'm too lazy to go look up which colorway it was. They were made a few months after the first pair.

The green/blue/lavender toe-up sock on 2 circs was discovered in the Great Inventory of 2007. I don't remember making it! I had even cast on the second toe right away, hoping to avoid SSS. Clearly that didn't work! Went back and looked in my Knitable program on my Palm Pilot, and it indicates that I made the first one in Feb. 2004. I need a small knitting project to keep in my purse, so I throw this in. In the last couple days, a few stitches here and there.

Tonight, at the fencing club, I'm knitting away when I accidentally grab the back needle's end, instead of the other end of the front needle, thus creating a bit of looped circular and no way to go anywhere! One needle is now completely free of the sock and drops into my lap.

As I'm laughing at myself and slipping the stitches back to where they should be, I realize that I'm fighting the stitches, which seem awfully tight. A closer examination reveals that I have 2 different size needles in this sock. One is a 2 mm and the other is a 2.5 mm needle. What!? How could I not tell that I'm using different sizes? And, horrors, I'm sure these are the same 2 that I used in the first sock, because of the cast-on stitches I found on them. More investigation - sure enough, the sole stitches on the completed sock are slightly looser than the top of the foot! AAARRGGGHHHHH!

So, what should I do?
A) Ignore everything and keep going because that way the socks would match.
B) Rip out the 2nd toe and start over with 2 needles the same size.
C) Rip out both and start over with 2 needles the same size.
D) Throw it in the corner and start new socks using needles of the same size.

After all, I need something to work on while I'm at TKGA/CGOA conference this weekend in Oakland! I'm driving up tomorrow with Sandi, and maybe again Sunday by myself... And it's my birthday tomorrow, so getting to spend it doing what I love to do is just Heaven! But I've got to find something to work on!