The Wages of Knitting Is...

Bowls!



Yes, these are the bowls I received in exchange for the knee-high stripey socks I knit. They came in the mail today and they are very lovely to behold. And my very cool partner sent 5 bowls, when the swap was only supposed to be for 4! I'm getting swap-spoiled all over the place, here.

Check them out. There's this beautiful bluesy-greensy one:



There are these two lighter blue ones, each alike in dignity:





There's this checked one that I absolutely adore:



But my absolute favorite is this one. I think the glazing on this is really sort of stunning:



So there you have it. Who's a lucky knitter? I am.

Minor Whiplash

Aside from being a bad band with a Myspace page, minor whiplash is what I get for daydreaming about Minnesota while driving in the snowy parking lot of the post office yesterday. I backed up into a telephone pole. In my defense, the pole really is in a bad place, and judging from the protective plastic shell wrapped around its base I'm not the only one who's done it. I wasn't going very fast and there was no damage to my car. It just gave me a jolt. And a headache followed by a stomachache, yesterday. And a little more of the same along with a sore neck today. So I'm staying home from the library and making with the heat and ice therapy.

Also, I have updated my blogroll on the right. Fewer knitting blogs, more other blogs, updated names and links and all that good stuff. Enjoy.

Aaaaaaaaand.... today is Delete Your Myspace Day. So I'm gonna do that later.

Here's a snow picture for you, although what we had yesterday was thicker and wetter. Also, it kept hailing.

Best Swap Package Evah!

So I was in this yarn swap where we were supposed to swap some silver or gray yarn. Pretty simple, yes? Well, my swap partner outdid herself. It was her very first swap and she was amazing!!! First off, everything came all wrapped up pretty like a present:



Now, keep in mind that all she really signed up to send was some yarn...

But what she actually did send, aside from the yarn, was this:



Clockwise from top left, European instant cappuccino, some sea-themed stickers, a little notebook, 3 chocolate bars from Belarus (where she currently lives), a sticker she had made for me concerning my love of certain mollusks, 3 Imp's Ears samples from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (squeal!), one of those German Kinder Eggs, and a set of hand-made glass stitch markers for knitting shaped like octopuses (octopodes?)! How fantastic is that? This lady really did her homework and picked out goodies that she knew I would specifically like. And how much harder was this for her, living as she does in Belarus? Amazing.

And then there's the yarn she sent. Oh yes. The yarn.



This beautiful, luxurious yarn is 50% merino wool, 50% silk. 400 yards of it, which is enough for socks even for my big feet. And the colorway is called "Summer Storm." Fan-freaking-tastic.

How lucky am I? Very lucky.

Making it with needles and string

So this is what I've been knitting.

First off we have the finished socks that I knit for my grandma out of Lorna's Laces yarn and gave her for Christmas. She says they fit great, and that her friends admire my knitting skillz. That's right, farm ladies think I knit well. That's probably the best compliment I've ever had...



And then I finished the beaded lace scarf that I was making for Bev. Finally. This sucker took me a year to knit. The yarn is a blend of baby alpaca and silk; very soft, a little fuzzy, lightweight anchored down a little by the beads. I sent it to her for Christmas. She cried. I hope she wears it.



Let's look at that from another angle, shall we?



And then I knit a pair of black alpaca wristies for Nico. He needed something to keep him warm at work, and this is some of the alpaca yarn I got last year from Estrella. I thought it would take all 4 skeins to complete, but they only took 2.



Next I had agreed to do a 1-on-1 swap with someone on Swap-Bot. She would make me a set of 4 pottery bowls if I would knit her a pair of stripey knee-high socks. So here's what I came up with, no pattern:



And after getting all of that done I decided I could finally concentrate on knitting for myself again, for a while. So the first thing I did was whip up a pair of socks. This yarn is from A Swell Yarn Shop and the colorway is Midnight Romance, although to me it looks more like a berry smoothie. Yum. They are warm and soooo soft. These are my new favorite socks.



I'm working on a second pair of socks which are from a very pretty pattern and which have faux cabling. This is the Azure pattern from the most recent issue of Knitty, and the yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehips colorway. This yarn is 25% mohair which makes it extremely soft and fuzzy. At first I worried it would be too fuzzy to show the stitch definition well, but I think it does OK. I'm past the heel on the first sock and it fits perfectly.



And a close-up if you please:



And then I finally got the guts to start my very first sweater. I'm making Wicked out of Artyarns Supermerino in blues and greens. I'm not very far yet, but you know what? This type of sweater is way easier than making socks. It's totally simple, and there's no seaming. It's truly less complicated than a sock! I just can't seem to get over this fact. I'm not very far yet, but the Artyarns Supermerino is much softer than I expected. I can't wait to wear it. Mab approves.



And for anyone who remembers the bright green knee-high socks I was working on last spring... well I did finish them, a while back. I just never took pictures. So, here ya go.

Int'l Delete Your Myspace Day

...is this coming Wednesday, Jan 30th. You can read about it here: http://bloggasm.com/january-30th-is-international-delete-your-myspace-account-day

I'm going to delete my Myspace that day. But of course, my reasons are different from his reasons. I've had my profile set to private for a while now, and so I don't get many new annoying fem-bot messages or anything like that. And I don't have a Facebook account, so this isn't about thinking Facebook is better... although I do have a Ravelry account, so if you knit or crochet you should sign up for that.

So, why would I want to remove myself from the world's largest social networking site? Exactly. It's the world's fucking largest social networking site. Despite the fact that there are many awesome people on Myspace, it still appeals to the lowest common denominator. I see it every day at the library. People are addicted to their Myspace, and I feel a tiny shudder of horror whenever I'm faced with that at work. I throw up in my mouth a little every time someone comes to tell me that "there's something wrong with the computer" because their stupid Myspace won't load. I know that deleting my Myspace won't cause a dent in anyone else's, and it certainly won't give those people a much-needed brain transplant, but it will make me feel just a teensy bit better.

So, no judgement on anyone who doesn't delete their Myspace. I'm doing this primarily because of what I see at work