i'm baaaaaack...

here's hoping blogger is actually working. had a post, lost the post, resisted the urge to toss computer across room, took a deep breath, drank more coffee, and...whammo! here we are.

it has been well over a month since i last posted. lame, but true. bunches going on in this old life, quitting, selling, plotting, planning, traveling, and even a bit of knitting. it is this last action that i would like to discuss with you today.

2006 was truly the year of the sock for me. in fact, other than shawls and scarves, that is pretty much ALL i accomplished this year - socks. a whole bunch of socks. 39 individual socks by my count, plus a wee pair of babysocks. other than socks, 5 shawls, 2 scarves, and one xmas stocking. a lot of knitting, but very little variety. that, i am bound and determined to rectify in 2007.

nk and wg had proposed a "january of finished objects" here at we heart yarn. i am going to use that as my golden ticket to finish what i began in previous years. ladies and gentlemen, my goals:

1. rogue. i mean, jeez, louise, i only have the sleeves and the finishing to do. the sleeves are already on the needles; it is merely a matter of sitting down with them and spending some quality time. there isn't even that much cabling on those puppies.

2. my bmfa sock club socks. although i am a looong way from achieving a 4.0 like my blogmate nk, i don't want to completely fail out of the program. my peaseblossoms (which are not hippy crunchies but baudelaires) have turned heels, so the leg is all i have to do. must..conquer..resistance...to...size 0's... i also am going to make the titania's into central airs, instead of titania's revenge, and those winter eve's are oh, so lovely. oh, and marble arches. a project i meant to begin in montana over xmas, but i seem to have left the yarn there, so they won't be starting until i receive a package from my folks...

3. spunky electric boogie days socks - a gift from the nk in our fabulous knitterly gift exchange, i could not help but cast those toes on. ooh, what bright socks i will have

looking again at this list, if i am being honest with myself, there is no way in hell i will finish all of these in january - there simply aren't enough days in the month. but a good start is a good start. so i will make a good start.

the following photos are of my first ever pair of knee-highs, and my final fo's of 2006. whew. love them. received this yarn from some fabu ladies for my bday in early december, and, although the skein seemed big, and heavy, until i wound it into a ball, i didn't realize just how much yardage it held. this is a double skein, people, i would bet the farm on it. so, knee-highs they had to become. i used the nk's perfect toe-up sock pattern, and came up with my own calf shaping, which turned out beautifully, if i do say so myself. i splurged on a pair of knee-high boots a few weeks ago, and quickly realized that the perfect companion for them would be a pair of self-knitted knee-high socks. i planned on using a gc from my folks to blue moon to purchase enough yarn to make a pair (and, honestly, i still plan on doing that), but this yarn seemed so perfect. and, with so much yardage, what was i to do? so i knit. and knit. and knit some more. i totally heart them.

yarn: yarntini in luxury - ooh, la, la.
pattern: rockin' toe-up sock pattern from blue moon fiber arts, with calf-shaping modifications figured out on the road from eureka, montana to portland, oregon.
fit: muy perfecta
warmth factor: yummy





the photo at the top is taken from the car on the way to montana, east of the columbia river gorge. there was a "freezing fog" going on, and it made the trees shimmer. absolutely breathtaking