November 3, 2006
socktoberfest — belated showing
posted by soe 5:05 pm
I’ve been a bit negligent about posting about my Socktoberfest socks. Here they are:
They’re plain stockinette socks knit in ArtYarns Supermerino in a colorway that undulates between hot pink and purple. I knit the first sock in quick order early last spring and then didn’t start the second sock until I was in Utah and wanted something to knit while I listened to the Yarn Harlot so I could pay attention to her and not to my knitting.
I almost had to rip them all the way back because I ran out of yarn on the second skein. Luckily, I had about a yard left over from the first skein. This is how much I had at the end of the second sock (including that extra yard from the first sock):
(Doen’t it look like the yarn is trying to send me a message?)
I’m really hoping no extra holes appear in these socks because there is nothing left to fix them with. I wasn’t much for throwing out odds and ends before now, but this experience will definitely reinforce the behavior!
I finished the socks over Columbus Day weekend while we were up in Connecticut, but just hadn’t gotten around to posting about them until today. Oops!
November 2, 2006
picker-upper, hilarious, and trash
posted by soe 12:35 pm
Three beautiful things from the last week:
1. My college roomie sent me a lovely package that arrived on Halloween. In it she sent me a soft blue shawl to wear on warmer autumn days and really cool earrings with purple beads made out of shellacked paper (reallly, they’re prettier than I make them sound). How did she know I needed to hear from a friend on NaNoWriMo Eve? Thanks, Eri!
2. We saw Flushed Away on Monday night at a sneak preview showing. Sitting behind us were some small children — probably in the 5-6 years of age range. They thought the movie was hilarious. They laughed! They screamed! They screeched! They repeated favorite lines aloud! They pointed out visual humor to each other! Their joy just made the movies that much better. I’m so glad we saw the movie with a crowd that included lots of kids.
3. Amanda commented last week that she liked to clean prior to writing when she was working on her dissertation. I went to reply to her that clearly that wouldn’t be a problem for me, but then I remembered that the only time I do clean (other than when guests are en route) is when I am on deadline for something. So Rudi and I decided to be proactive and get some cleaning out of the way pre-deadline. We spent all of Saturday working on it and disposed of several bags of recycling and several bags of trash. There’s more to be done, but our apartment is definitely quite a few pounds lighter than it was last week!
November 1, 2006
panic ensues
posted by soe 3:23 pm
Today marks Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. Think positive thoughts for me.
Because I have to spend more time writing a novel, I may have to cut back on the amount of time I spend here with you. I will keep posting. Regular features, such as Three Beautiful Things and Into the Stacks, will continue to appear, although I cannot swear to the latter’s timeliness. But other posts may have more of a “AAAAAAACKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!” feeling to them than before. And there will be less knitting content (although, for those of you who keep coming back for that, I do have my Socktoberfest socks that will be blogged about later this week), because I will have less time to knit.
Other November things to look forward to:
- Concerts by James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and Brian Wilson
- Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction, and A Good Year
- A long Thanksgiving weekend in Connecticut
- Election results (I’m staying positive here, people!)
I didn’t check my word count before I left for work, but when I got up from bed this morning, I did dutifully sit down at the computer and typed out my first paragraph. It’s something along the lines of three sentences. I wrote those 50ish words before I got the email from the NaNoWriMo folks who said I ought to aim for 2000-2500 words a day for the first week. After that I curled back up on the couch to whimper for a few minutes….