Hearts of Space

So, these are my husband's Valentine socks, finished (mumble, mumble) today:



Patterns in self-striping yarn aren't worth the trouble because they disappear, but I didn't want to slog through another pair of plain ribbed socks on my trusty 00s. I saw some funky short-rowed socks on Magknits and I borrowed the idea. My short-row stripes are pretty much random, but when I decided I was bored with stockinette and wanted to start a short row I usually did it at a color change. When I was short-rowing back the other way to make the length of the sock even up, however, the colors would do their own thing. I think it looks like one of those colored-sand-in-a-jar things we did as little kids in Vacation Bible School.



As you can see, I continued the short rows up into the ribbing, and so the ribs jog a little bit. I like the effect more than I thought I would. These socks actually look really lumpy when they're not being worn, because of the short rows pointing in all different directions, but I made sure all the numbers even up.



Of course, since the entire sock was short-rowed, I decided I didn't feel like doing a short-row heel, so I did a toe-up heel flap. I'd never attempted this before and although I had a reasonable idea of how it worked architecturally, my printer went on the fritz so I had to wing it without directions. I like how it turned out and I think for my next sock class I'll have to add another pair of "object lesson" socks where I do one toe-up and one top-down and try to get my students to tell them apart.

I've also finished a sweater, but I'm not feeling the photogenic love about my torso lately, so you'll have to use your imagination. The sweater is pretty cute - it's the chevron coat from "Fitted Knits" and it's in the increasingly-notorious-and-now-defunct Mystical Creations Yarn. It's just the gut that is under the sweater that isn't dying to be posted on the Internet.

In other, non-knitting (or knitting, first cousin once removed) news, this is what my living room looks like after today's KITH session:


Less than a week to go!

Psyche-DALEK Extermi-KNITS

Psyche-DALEK Extermi-KNITS
Originally uploaded by ^-^ *lottie*

This post is really for Amber's benefit.

This kid is a friend and former knitting buddy of mine. I miss her bunches. She's 14, beautiful, clever, funny, and has been knitting for at least a year or two longer than I have.

Stress, thy name is...

...KITH.

If you haven't registered yet, I'd do it quick - a couple of the classes are nearing full. Plenty of them still have plenty of space, though, and even if you're not planning to take classes the market is shaping up to be pretty freaking nifty.

I'm not stressed. Really, I'm not. I've just had this nagging fear that I'm forgetting something since, oh... a year ago(???) when we said "Sure! That committee sounds like fun!"

It is fun. And I'm really excited.

In the meantime, some random snapshots from the last two months of my knitting life:

Also, because Jo thinks she can get all the glory because it's spelled like her name, I get to gloat because it sounds like my name. And Johnny Depp is singing it, oh yes: