Cursed Be Those Who Jaywalk In Stinky Love Socks

Arrrrrrrrrrrrr!  I feel like I should write the rest of this post in Pirate Speak.
 
The Jaywalker curse is over!  Man, it feels like I’ve been working on these stupid socks for forevah.  These have traveled with me to Vegas (twice, I think) and to my babymoon on Maui.  And they just never seemed to get finished no matter how hard I tried.  After their first visit to Vegas, I finished 3/4 of the first sock, only to find that it wouldn’t fit over my giant-ass foot.  It took a while (over a year) for me to suck it up and rip out round after round of those teeny tiny stitches that I had slaved over toothpick-sized needles to produce.  And after that, it took me even longer (another year) to work up the courage to cast on again.  My gauge was off the first time, and many more times, before I figured out the ideal combination of sizing and attractiveness.  I noticed that the yarn I used (Knitterly Things Vesper Sock) looks more pleasing when knit on a smaller needle, so I had to knit a larger size than I normally would to get it to fit right.  On this second go-round I also decided to knit my socks using Magic Loop and it definitely went faster once I got all the gauge bugs ironed out.  Now that I’ve learned Magic Loop, I’m a bit of a Magic Loop snob and fairly grit my teeth if I actually have to bust out dpn’s for anything.
 

 
This is my very first finished pair of socks made from Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn.  See, up there I let you in on a little secret with that link.  Shhhhh….. don’t tell everyone!  Her stuff has already gotten harder to get now that she’s been featured in some of the big knitting magazines.  She does really small updates maybe once a week, just a couple hanks of a couple of her signature colors, and a sock club.  Lucky for me, I managed to collect most of the colors I wanted before I quit my paying job to become Chief Procurer/Entertainer/Cook/Laundress for the Overlord Of Cute (Knittymunchkin).  I did keep up with the yarn club though, so my collection is still growing.
 
Glamour Magazine has been telling me for over a year now that it’s cool to wear socks with your heels.  Since my fancy shoes never see the light of day anymore (not that they had much of a snowball’s chance in hell of seeing it before Knittymunchkin either) I busted them out for my photo shoot.  I couldn’t rock the socks and heels look in real life, but I rocked it even less when taking these photos.  You should have seen me stumping around the house with my sweatpants rolled up and my fancy shoes and socks on, trying to balance the mirror just so, in order to get that one decent shot.  I know, I should probably try to maintain my aura of mystery and tell you I photographed this in some glitzy cafe whilst twirling my glossy hair around my finger, sipping coffee and looking glamorous, but hey, I haz to keep it real, yo.
 
So, ta da!  Finally we bid adieu to another achingly ancient UFO….
 

 

• Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 442 yds of Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in “Love Stinks (Yeah, Yeah)”
• Needles:  40 inch Size 1 Knit Picks Harmony circulars
• Mods:  None, except to work pattern using Magic Loop instead of dpn’s

 
OMG.  SO loving these socks!  I got all OCD and made sure the striping matched up when starting the second sock.  This required me to rip out my knitting several times and actually rewind the ball of yarn in the opposite direction.  But it was worth it because they are a perfect match.  The fit of these socks is amazing.  It really is a “snug droop-less” fit like she says.  The only thing I wasn’t super happy about was the toe.  I mean it looks fine and everything, but it feels a little uncomfortable.  Kind of binding for me.  Maybe something a little more rounded would feel better?  Something to consider for next time.  I think I might actually make another pair someday.  Be sure to look for that post sometime in 2015 ;)

 

A Beautiful Day!

What up Bloggy Peeps?  My friend Troy has been asking me about the trip I took to Oregon earlier this month and I fully intended to write a little something about that today, but the sun was shining like no other and it just didn’t feel right being cooped up inside in front of my computer.

Not only was the weather gorgeous today, something extremely special and fantastically beautiful also landed on my doorstep this afternoon with all that nice autumnal sunshine.

 

My scrumptious prize from Knitterly Things!

 

Behold the wonder that is handspun goodness!  I had no idea what to expect when Julia told me I was her 2000th customer and had won her prize of handspun custom-dyed yarn.  She just asked what my favorite colors were and said that that was more than enough to get her started.  And it’s been a mystery since then.  So imagine how special and exciting it was today when I opened the box and saw the perfect shades of pink and orange mixed together like a yummy yummy super yummy cherry and orange popsicle.  After squarshing it for a good 10 minutes, and cooing over the adorable tags she attached, I decided it was just too pretty to use for socks.  So it will become a cowl or scarf or something else that I won’t be able to wear out (I hope!).  Thank you so much again Julia for the fantastic loveliness.  It’s really just heart-melting :)

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P.S. – Thanks so much to all of you for the reassuring and supportive comments you all left about my work situation.  Sometimes, just telling R. Darling isn’t enough.  I need that feeling of telling another live person why things suck.  And I can’t thank all of you enough for letting it be o.k. for me to do that, listening with sympathy, and sharing your thoughts.  You guys are really the best!!  As someone I know once said, “Franks a lot!!” :)

 

Maximum Spoilage

Happy Chrismabirthdaversary to me!!  So it arrived a few weeks early, but who am I to complain when I got so awesomely spoilt?  On Friday, R. Darling (Mr. Enabler Extraordinaire) bought me this, a Pfaff Select 3.0:

 

Image courtesy of Pfaff USA

 

I had to steal the factory photo because my machine was being all prima donna this morning and refused to have its photo taken. 

I’ve wanted a new machine pretty much since I got my old machine. It’s always a bad sign when your new sewing machine won’t zig zag or do basting stitches and when, over time it starts to even screw up regular straight stitching.  Granted, there was a bit of operator error involved most times, but your sewing machine should be able to stitch whether or not you are a dumbass.  I kinda started to hate sewing because I knew it would always be a monumental struggle to get even the simplest of projects finished.  So lately, perhaps being inspired by all of you who have been doing so much sewing on your bloggies, I’ve been thinking more and more about the kinds of projects I would do if only I had a machine that worked right.  I have ideas but it seemed like such a waste to put time and energy into them when I knew they would only come to ruin.  Enter Pfafftastic!  

I spent Saturday making this (thanks for the link AJ!)…..

 

 

No, mine’s not as pretty as hers by far, and if you don’t squint hard enough you’ll notice the seams are wonky and the corners aren’t square, plus there’s a very ugly pucker on the underside where I had too much extra fabric when I went to handsew the opening shut, BUT – I made this!  How I ♥heart♥ my new machine! 

Despite this, I’ve made some new conclusions about sewing.  One:  if you’re not careful, you will end up making a damn huge freakin’ mess.  I had stuff spread all over the living room by the time I ”finished” (which wasn’t really finishing because I still had to add the ribbon and buttons).  Two:  I completely and totally suck at sewing, even though I have done it for years.  But I don’t care.  I want to do it anyway!   Three:  Because I totally suck at sewing it is most definitely not relaxing for me right now.  After 2 hours on Saturday I was sweaty (from ironing), stressed, and had a raging headache.  I’d much rather be knitting!  But I will persevere.  I have to get better eventually, right?

As if that wasn’t enough spoilage for one girl for one week, in a moment of bad bad naughty naughty badness, I purchased a single skein of Vesper Sock Yarn from Knitterly Things last week and somehow ended up being her 2000th order.  I don’t read her blog regularly so I had no idea that this qualified me for a prize until she sent me an e-mail notifying me that I’d won.  I never win anything!  A completely amazing surprise.  So get this, she is custom dyeing me my very own batch of handspun sock yarn!  I told her which colors I liked and she says that is enough for her to get started.  So exciting!!  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.  Betcha can’t guess what the main color will most likely be ;)

And today, to continue the streak of awesometasticness, I received my August shipment of yarn from the Stash Menagerie Yarn Club I joined last month from Three Irish Girls.  Behold, Riddermark Merino in Moonrise!

 

 

So this must be how pretty pretty princesses feel, like, every day!