The tree in the corner

There is no denying the holiday season is officially underway. I survey the evidence - dusty boxes have descended from the attic to take over the living room until Easter. Yes, Easter. I'm only being realistic. Once upon a time, the goal was to pack up Christmas and return to our normal living arrangements just after the first of the year. In our family, though, we have several January birthdays and generally we are exhausted and ready to kick back for a bit once all the excitement is over. Later, the goal was moved back to Epiphany. But, seriously, who keeps up with when that actually occurs other than our pastor? Some of our calendars don't even note the day. Before you know it, Valentine's Day has come and gone and really, all the red left over from Christmas goes well with pink hearts and white carnations. St. Patrick's Day offers no motivation since the tree is green. So, yes, I think Easter is realistic. And if we don't make it by then, well, what better place to hunt for eggs than among the ornaments and lights?

"What's stitching for the holidays?" you may wonder. I am still (read: Will I ever finish this thing?) knitting the mate to my husband's sock. It is going well but getting tedious considering I could have knit another 2 pair in the time I have taken to redo this one so many times. This, however, is not a gift project. I am knitting legwarmers, but they are not a gift, either. No, I am not knitting gifts this year. I am crocheting. Don't get too excited. The whole of my holiday gift stitching will take a whopping 2 evenings.

I am making Julie A. Bolduc's Pretty Snowflake from JPF Crochet Club for each of the children in our family. We have agreements with each branch of the family that gift exchanges will be for the children only. With 8 nieces and nephews and 2 children, that is enough. This year each of the children will receive a handmade snowflake ornament and a bit of cash. I want to make this a tradition. My hope is that by giving them each an ornament they will have a start for their first Christmas decorating on their own - do you remember decorating your first tree?

As for the cash, I was raised with an understanding that cash was not as thoughtful a gift as something that was chosen especially for the recipient. As an aunt and mom, though, I observe that monetary gifts at birthdays and Christmas are always well-received. As we go shopping with the accumulated loot, we talk of what the gift-giver might like to give and what the recipient will truly gain some enjoyment from. As it turns out, handled properly, cash is a very thoughtful gift afterall. Besides, how in the world can one possibly keep up with what others' children want, need, or already have? Now, if I could get us all on track with nice hand-written Thank You notes ... yeah, right.

The Ravelry Universe

I've had my Ravelry.com membership since October 30. I am still overwhelmed by the community. Not only is there a huge number of knit and crochet enthusiasts already in the "beta" group, but there are pages, I mean pages, of designers there, too. Since it is still in the beta phase, volunteer editors are desperately needed to validate and approve the countless contributions of yarn and patterns. I signed up and quickly found myself swamped. I've since become frustrated. I still want to edit so there will be so many more options available to members when the floodgates finally open, but there doesn't seem to be a need for editing things I own - my library and my stash are restricted by a prohibitive budget. I floundered around with Reynolds patterns for a couple of days until I realized that without owning the pattern, finding information was difficult. I continue to look for some way I can be helpful in this capacity. There are many, many pages of yarns and patterns that need approval.

Meanwhile, I continue to play with the camera and Photoshop so I can add my projects and yarn to the ever growing group. Somehow I have to get past things like this, first:


No, the sock is fine (after a couple of tragic froggings) and already has a mate:




I just cannot seem to get good photos of them.

These are Manly socks and are based on the 4-stitch recipe in More Sensational Knitted Socks. I say based on because I am not following one of the stitches in the book. This is just a good old-fashioned wide rib. P1,K3, to be exact, in Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote Brown Sugar.

One word of advice about the book. It is the second of a pair - clever for sock books, huh. The first, Sensational Knitted Socks, has a lot of errata. From what I gathered in a group discussion on Ravelry, pages of corrections are available from the publisher's website. The second book, appropriately titled More SKS, has only 3 corrections.

Some people seem to have some trouble following the format of the books because there are so many options available. Instead of having 1 pattern at a time, you have a table offering 3 different needle preferences, toe-up or cuff-down, several sizes and you pick your gauge. (I always choose a size based on some negative ease, in other words, I want my socks to stretch to fit the foot not sit on the foot like a sweater. It's just less likely to fall down or rub.) Then you have a lot of options from the back of the book: a stitch library based on how many stitches per repeat you prefer, optional heel and toe treatments, special treatment for narrow feet, and more.

For some, it is too many things in too many places. For me, now that it is spiral-bound, it is great. I can make near-unique socks because I can use any yarn, any needle, any stitch, and any approach I please. I could make hundreds of different socks from this one source. I like those options. IMHO - I won't need another sock book for a while!

IQF, the sequel

I have put it off too long now and must post something. Really, I have 4 drafts and have not posted any of them. I am in deep with my new photo software, and thought to wait until Quilt Festival photos were ready, but I need to get something up here. Here are links to booths I visited at the International Quilt Festival. I will diligently continue to work out the quirks of digital photography/photo editing/web posting of photos. In the meantime, check out some of these sites.

This booth: Graywood Designs was great and the gal there was really tickled with her new square hardwood needles she got at the show- the yarn she had was too bulky for anything I could use right now, but check out the knitting products they have to offer. I saw the Knitcushion, but alas, Mom has already made one for me ;)

I watched at this booth: Handy Hands, Inc. and realized, "Hey, he's just casting on backward and forward to make that stuff! I'm sure tatting isn't that simple, but that's what it looked like to me. I found a Wrist Ball Holder, proceeded to put my sock yarn on it and walked around knitting the rest of the time we were there.

I was really impressed with the offerings from Maru Quilted Silk when I learned that Robert does it all! I asked how many people he had working on the production of the beautiful and reversible quilted jackets and he said, "I'm It." The website seems to be under construction, but having touched the art, I can forgive him that.

We ran into a friend (and very talented fiber artist) working in one of the booths. She was demo-ing dye for natural fiber lace for Sara's Bloom as a favor for another of her fiber artist friends.

For the serious, as in I have a big machine that quilts for me, quilters: Munich Design LLC Quilt Recipes based in Temple, Texas would like you to visit.

If you're looking for a charitable cause, I made a block at the Festival for www.chdquilt.org which will go to a child named Zachary who has a Congenital Heart defect. They accept donations of materials, money, and blocks. Just scroll down the page to Sewing and send an email to get the information for a block request.

A-Quilting We Will Go ...

The International Quilt Festival is here this weekend and even if you don't quilt, it is an awesome thing to see. I must write quickly and revisit later with pics since I have yet to get ready to leave and have only an hour. Going to Quilt Festival has been something of a tradition for many years. I first attended with my mom who is an avid and quite talented quilter. When I married ten years ago, my husband attended with us and it has continued since.
There is so much to see and we only have about 4 hours this year so I must have a strategy!

1. I will not drink anything, and that includes my usual daily intake of about 32 - 44 oz of vanilla diet Coke - I know, but I hate drinking water! This should eliminate any need to stand in line for the bathroom. That saves a lot of time even though George R. Brown allows the majority of the men's bathrooms to be converted due to the overwhelming female majority in attendance. I, personally, have not been quite gutsy or desperate enough to go that route yet. Not even when I was pregnant. I'm afraid I would have to plant a fern in the self-watering ceramic pot on the wall or something equally unwelcome to the maintenance team. I digress!
2. I will eat something light on the way, like crackers, and take some gum or other minty non-food in with me so my body will believe it does not need to eat until after 7p.m. no matter how good the food smells. I have a horrible weakness for the glazed cashews that are vended at the back of the exhibit area. No fair, I say, all food aromas should be constrained to the upstairs area! I need that money for fiber.
3. I will, as usual, take mental snapshots of the gorgeous exhibit items without stopping to study them in detail. This is totally unfair to the wonderful artists who have put their souls into these works, but four hours is four hours and the place is HUGE.
4. We are on a serious budget. 'Nuff said about that, I don't want to be a downer. Anyway, after many years of experience I have learned to buy it when I see it. Did I mention this place is HUGE. I remember frantically searching for the previously seen pattern, ribbon, fabric, t-shirt... Oh,don't make me go on - it is too painful ...near closing time only to leave without it because after a little while all the rows look the same. Each row of booths is packed with vendors with their very best out for show, touch, pet, drool... snap out of it, froggie! So my advice is: if you think you want it, buy it when you see it. That booth will somehow magically vanish when you try to find it again. The following addendum to that philosophy for this year;
   
5. I will collect website addresses, business cards, brochures, notes. With the time and budget limitations, I just cannot impulse buy today. Sob! So I will collect connections so I can shop later or direct others who wish to shop for me. Sneaky, huh?

Well, I now have about 25 minutes to shower, dress, and get my travel knitting together. What? I can have my fabric and knit yarn, too!

See that kitty on the left? That kitty with the previous and next buttons is for a surf ring. It will take you to other blogs by knitters who own cats. Well, actually it won't yet because it takes 7-10 days to be accepted or declined for the ring. One of the conditions is to actually have the link on your blog first - I don't exactly understand, either, but that's the way it is. So, hopefully it will soon take you to other blogs by knitters who own cats.

I have to laugh every time I see the question, "Do you own a cat?". I laugh because the answer really depends on your perspective. If by "Do you own a cat?" one asks

a)do I regularly purchase food, litter, toys, etc. for one of the feline persuasion,

b)do all of my clothes have feline fur on them, and/or

c)does at least one living being in the house cry out MEOW loudly when dinnertime rolls around,

the answer is, "Yes". Otherwise, I'm sure the cat owns me. Ask her, and if she feels inclined to acknowledge your presence, she'll tell you so, too.

I recently read a vet's sign: "Dogs come when you call. Cats take a message and get back to you." Sammy wouldn't bother checking her messages.

Sammy is selective about keeping company with humans. She is a true touch-me-not. This makes knitting in her presence easy. I knit; she ignores me. Her interest in yarn is limited to chasing the piece that is attached to the child running through the house, and that game gets old fast. I should say her interest is generally limited.

She did, for some odd reason, take a shine to my first sock [Ann Budd's On-Your-Toes, Interweave Knits Summer 2007]. I put it into my bag for a moment to talk on the phone. I looked down and saw Sammy chewing through the loop of yarn between ball (in the bag) and sock (in the bag) that hung outside. I cried, ranted, begged her to tell me what she had against my beautifully self-striping yarn and why she had to nibble a short color rather than a long color. The cat ignored me. The dog at least had the decency to hide under the stairs!

Gimme a minute, I'll think of something.

I thought I was ready to blog, itching to blog, couldn't wait to blog! Now that I'm here I'm suffering stagefright (read: didn't really get it together before I jumped in). Well, don't give up on me. Just come back in a day and I will have polished the draft that is waiting for pics and publishing.