It’s Jeanne’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, Jeanne!! Chaos has a little song to sing for you:
Y’know, it’s just not easy to take knitting progress pictures around here. I have made good progress on my first Jaywalker sock. Please ignore the large black blob in these photos.
Yes indeed, I have crushes on some fictional characters. I’m not talking about characters in tv shows or movies, but about characters in books. Characters described by the author, but whose final form exists only in my imagination.
Come on, admit it – if you read, then you do, too.
One of my particular favorites is “Roarke” from the Eve Dallas mysteries by Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb. Roarke’s a way sexy bazillionaire who lives in NYC, circa 2059. Here’s a description from Origin in Death:
His face – the strength, power, and yes, the beauty of a fallen angel with no regrets – was framed by the thick black of his hair. His mouth – full, carved, irresistible – smiled as he came toward her. And those eyes – impossibly, brilliantly blue…
Ok, that reads a little trashier out of context than in… wait, who am I kidding? Sheesh, it leads to several pages of steaminess. *fans self* Trash all the way, baby.
My other particular favorite is “Ranger” from the Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich. (Are you noticing a naming trend here?!) Ranger’s a bounty hunter/man of mystery in Trenton, NJ, described in High Five as follows:
Ranger’s…features are Anglo, his eyes are Latino, his skin is the color of a mocha latte, and his body is as good as a body can get. He had his black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a black T-shirt that fit him like a tattoo and black SWAT pants tucked into black high-top boots.
Why, yes, I would be a sucker for the tall, dark, lean, and handsome bad boy type. How’d you guess?
Any fictional favorites you’d care to share? Hmm?
Lynda is hosting Count Your Socks, which will give us all a chance to simply show off all our socks or win a fabulous prize for having knit the most pairs of socks during the year. Why I am participating? Simply for the fun of it (and to see whose house I need to run a sock raid on, of course). I’m starting with 17 pair – nothing compared to Theresa’s amazing 39 pair!
“Why are there more socks on the floor than usual?! And wow, most of them are clean. Now that’s a change.”
“I wonder how many socks there are?”
“You are growing sleepy. When you wake up, you will remember only that there were more socks than you’ve ever seen in your life.”We have a small household. There’s me (as pictured in the gigantic living room mirror):
and there’s the House Panther on the Prowl:
Some more photos from yesterday. In the comments, some have noted that their cats don’t get to play with knitting projects. Neither does Chaos, usually. However, when I bring out some bit of knitting to photograph, things just seem to gett out of hand quickly…
Alarming non-knitting content ahead. Not even any cats. You have been warned.
If you watched the Tour de France, you saw this already… The Kinetic commercial of mountain bicycling champion and Tour de France commentor Bob Roll cycling naked has got to be one of the most alarming and yet strangely fascinating commercials of all time. It’s a spoof on Annie Leibovitz’s photo of Lance Armstrong cycling nude.
It’s quite possible that I need to get out more.
Thanks, everyone for your kind words on my Falling Leaves socks!
To start my Stashalong, I’m going to knit… Jaywalkers. Hey, I feel kinda left out – I’ve seen so many gorgeous Jaywalkers that I want my very own pair.
I started out winding some well-aged yarn from my stash. With help, of course…
After the help was dismissed to the bathroom for a few minutes, I ended up with two lovely balls of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Purl. This yarn was purchased in 2001. Told you it was well-aged! 🙂
The really funny thing was me discovering that I have nearly the same shade in Koigu KPPPM (color P305) and in Koigu Kersti. Hopefully no one doubts my need to be in Stashalong. Anyway! I started my Black Purl Jaywalkers during a two-hour staff meeting this afternoon and made good progress, as assessed by Chaos:
At long last, I’ve finished the Koigu Falling Leaves socks, making them my first finished objects of 2006… notwithstanding that they were started October 9, 2005. Moving right along, here’s a photo of them nearing completion earlier today – can’t you just feel the excitement?
Here’s the rest of the cat, if you were curious (and even if you weren’t):
I meant to follow this pattern as written and do the short row toes and heels. In fact, I tried the short row toe from the pattern, but I didn’t get very far into it before the cursing started up (are you having a flashback yet, Ana?!) and I decided I would just use my regular old toe and heel. Whew. Much happier.
I also decided to do the lace pattern the opposite direction on one sock, but you have to get pretty darn close to my feet to detect that they’re the socks are mirror images lacewise.
I do all my socks toe-up because those are womens size elevens you’re looking at… running out of yarn is a constant worry for me and toe-ups let me maximize the yarn. Good thing I don’t like tall socks, because this is all the yarn I had left:
Tomorrow I’ll reveal what my first Stashalong project will be.
I’ve read a lot of knitting resolutions over the past few days, which got me thinking about what my knitting resolutions might be. Pumpkinmama’s list finally inspired me to stop thinking and start listing.
Top 5 for 2005
1. New technique
Tragically, I’m pretty sure I didn’t learn any new techniques in 2005. For 2006, I’d like to finally grasp knitting in ends (the video link is partway down the page) and learn Norwegian purling.
2. Favorite finished objects
The perfect purple Anne socks I knitted for Jeanne’s birthday
and the amazingly irregularly shaped felted tote bag I knitted for my sister-in-law’s birthday.
3. Favorite knitalong
I didn’t participate in a single knitalong in 2005. For 2006, I am part of Stashalong (January 1 – March 31).
4. Favorite shop
Actually, I don’t have a favorite shop at the moment. I’m fond of Elann.com and WEBS, but try to avoid them. See #1 in the next list for why.
5. Favorite tools
My ReadUpon
My gadget bag
My circular needle case
Resolutions for 2006
1. Knit from stash.
Hence participating in Stashalong. I have a ridiculous amount of stash. I could knit entirely from stash for several years.
2. Find a new knitting group that meets weekly.
2005 saw the implosion of our weekly knitting group and I’ve missed that camaraderie. I have a blast knitting with Jeanne every other week, but have discovered that I need a weekly knitting group to stay grounded.
3. Go to at least one knitting retreat.
2005 was the first year since I started knitting that I haven’t gone to several knitting retreats and that was another thing I really missed. Anyone have suggestions?! I’m particularly interested in events in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest (especially Sante Fe or Taos), or something on a train. I should also return to the Camp Miller Knitting Retreat, which was the first retreat I ever went to and which led to me meeting most of the knitting friends I now have.
4. Knit more.
In 2005, I completed the fewest knitting projects since I started knitting – 17. Of course, 17 is my lucky number, so maybe it was ok. 🙂
5. Start knitting for the community again. It’s the right thing to do.
ArtsyMama just tagged me and since the tag fits the list o’ five thing I have going here… Here’s my list of five weird things about myself:
1. I am phobic about garbage disposals, power lawnmowers, and power saws – basically anything with spinning sharp blades that could cut off fingers.
2. I have celiac disease and follow a gluten-free diet. I’m also lactose intolerant, but hey, at least I can take pills and still eat small amounts of dairy.
3. I’ve been divorced since 1991. Being divorced isn’t particularly weird, but people are always surprised to find this out.
4. I’ve done the internet dating thing off and on since 1999 – more off than on. During the memorable but emotionally exhausting summer of 1999, I went on about 25 coffee dates in a six week period.
5. Charles de Lint is my favorite author of all time. I think the weird thing here is that so few people seem to know about de Lint. Or maybe the weird thing is that I want to be a Crow Girl. 🙂 I recommend starting with Someplace To Be Flying if you’re interested in finding out more about de Lint. That link takes you to an excerpt from the beginning of the book, so you can check it out risk free.
I tag Pink Rocket, Mama_Tulip, Jeanne, Ana, Eileen, Theresa, Carrie K, Hickmama, Kellie N, and “me” from Bermuda. (Yeah, so that’s more than five. What’s your point??!)
The “rules” are to list five weird things about yourself, then tag five other people. The tag includes telling them about said tag in their comments.
If I missed tagging you and you really want to share some weirdness about yourself with the world, feel free! Drop me a note in comments and I’ll add you to the list above.
Welcome to 2006. May this year be better than the last.
