Every year I set a goal for myself. Cables, open work, color work. These are skills possessed by those advanced knitters who seem to know it all and a few daring beginners who perhaps don’t realize they’re supposed to be afraid.

But I’ve been afraid of color work.

I got the cables down pretty well, and though I don’t usually go very extreme with them, I feel competent enough to tackle one if it’s in my path.

Last year my challenge was lace work, and I did enough to realize lace and I are not going to be good friends. Somehow the openings never look right to me, and I hate the counting. If you mess up with out a lifeline, you are so screwed. For the record I hate free falling on a cable swing, too.

z

Knitting fair isle includes counting, too. But it is controlled counting. It is you can still see where you are even if you drop a stitch counting. Like repelling off the side of the cliff that you wouldn’t dare jump off of.

And it’s so pretty!

I think I’ve found a new obsession.

And it’s likely that most don’t make it to Koco’s Pub for crab cakes,

or to the Corradetti Glassblowing Studio.

And very few visitors get to meet Ziggy.

I had the pleasure of doing these things during my visit. But most importantly, I have witnessed these two lovely people exchange marriage vows, and then dance the night away!

I think Baltimore was a success.

On the other hand, I have frogged ANOTHER sweater! I have this cursed mustard colored blue sky alpaca. It is beautiful yarn. I have made three sweaters out of it, and I have frogged all three. I have a new vision. We’ll see.

What are you knitting?

TUTTLE Couldn’t stand the pa – ah – we’re getting warm –

SAM The pace?

TUTTLE The paperwork, couldn’t stand the paperwork. (indicating the torch) Over to the left please, if you don’t mind sir. Hold it there. Yes, there’s more bits of paper in Central Services than bits of pipe – read this, fill in that, hand in the other – listen, this old system of yours could be on fire and I couldn’t even turn on the kitchen tap without filling in a 27B/6…. Bloody paperwork.

SAM (mildly) Well I suppose one has to expect a certain amount

TUTTLE Why? I came into this game for adventure – go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there’s trouble, a man alone. Now they’ve got the whole country sectioned of and you can’t move without a form. I’m the last of a breed. Ah ha! Found it! (he holds up a small charred gadget) There’s your problem.

As they huddled around the table devouring their hotdogs, he started asking leading questions about the distribution of work orders and how they handled the 4164 last week. And you could tell the others, especially the two to the right- the ones who had to share the corner of the four sided table; the ones in the coveralls, were eager to explain to the new guy (who was obviously in plain cloths and giving them all tips on how to marinade their steak this weekend and asking for suggestions about attending is first Bama game next weekend) how well they follow the well established hierarchical system, and how they are not responsible for the breakdown in the system. How do you handle an emergency? Well, if it’s a true emergency one of them start and the other tries to finish the thought and is cut off by the guy to the left of him. If it’s a true emergency it needs to be brought to the attention of the Group Leaders and the Department Heads he says, while very carefully cutting his chili cheese dog with the plastic fork and leaning well way from it so that he doesn’t spill chili on his light khaki work shirt in front of the new assertive problem solver at the table. And that is how we operate says coveralls number one. Well, the new guy says, in a emergency situation, you should never process a work order. You should call it in to dispatch, who will pass it on to the main office, who will contact the department heads who will assign it to a group and by the time the work order comes through the problem will resolve itself. What about Roger. How is his memory? And they all look around in confusion, and he continues does he tend to forget things consistently or does he have selective memory. Because selective memory is a problem. And they really rearrange the work orders without notification? How do you keep track of them? And there is more discussion about true emergencies and the guy in the khaki shirt is not making much progress with his chili and his fries with ketchup because he is trying to hard to be careful and isn’t having much success competing with the hyper alpha new guy who obviously has control of lunch and the rest of their lives and soon the world. You have to marinade it for several hours and cook it slower. It’s the best way to do it, he says, and he glances up at the TV to catch the clip of the Ravens/Redskins on ESPN and then returns to his fries.

I have made many socks this summer.

At least 6 pairs.

And when I say summer, well, maybe I mean since mid-spring.

I actually planned the sock-spree as an exercise in technique. I knit socks very fast. And I had noticed that no matter what pattern I “used”, I ended falling back into old, easy habits. And I wasn’t pleased with some of the elements of the socks I made. So sometime around March, I marched to Hobby Lobby and bought a basketful of cheap sock yarn.

[March]
Pattern: Gentlemen’s Shooting Socks.
Yarn: Red Heart Sock

I wanted knee socks that I could wear with my Frye Boots. I have two pairs of Frye boots- brown Campus and a pair of black Harness. In the winter, I live in these boots, and I thought knee socks would be fun with them. Plus I had never made knee socks. And I chose to be entirely too eccentric with these- I have worn them once. To work, for silly sock day. I am going to make another pair that aren’t as crazy for regular use.

[April]
Pattern: Denmark
Yarn: Red Heart

Next, I made a pair of “tornado socks.” As you may remember, we had a tornado in April. It blew half of our town away, including Hobby Lobby. My friends Kayla and Louise were in their house when it was blown away by the tornado, and I so I made them both socks in April from the yarn that I bought at Hobby Lobby (which was very near their ruined house). These were for Kayla.

(May)
Pattern: Conway
Yarn: Red Heart

And these were for Louise.

(July)
Pattern: Denmark
Yarn: Neighborhood Fiber Company

Next, I decided I wanted to try to change my heel. I hate the heel flap method that is used in most patterns. I had always wanted to try a nice, neat short row heel, and I knew it wasn’t hard, but I had never taken the time to think it through properly. So, when I had surgery in June, I took the time to sit (for a whole week and a half all I could do was sit!) and I used Laura Chau’s Short Row Heel Tutorial It works like a charm. I will never go back.

All along the way, I also endeavored to master the kitchener stitch. You simply cannot knit socks without being able to successfully kitchener. Or can you? I conquered the kitchener with the Blue Denmarks, but that might be the last time I need it for a while, because I went on a wild tangent from there. I was sitting, getting ready to cast on yet another pair of socks, and thinking how much I genuinly hated the kitchener. I’d known people to knit socks from the toe up, but had never given it a lot of thought. And then it dawned on me. The short row heel is symetrical! I no longer have to worry about what to do when I get to the heel! So I cast on with an Italian Cast on and BAM! Toe-up socks. I went and got a book of cables from the library, and have been creating my own socks for the last month! I usually average a pair in about 3 days. And it’s awesome!

[August]
Pattern: Sara made it up!
Yarn: Red Heart (left over from the Gentlemen’s Shooting Socks)

Pattern: Sara’s Creation
Yarn: left over Red Heart

The sixth pair are still on the needles. I ran out of yarn, and am going to have to use some left over scraps from somewhere else. This is fine for me, because I will end up wearing them to sleep anyway. I just haven’t dug in my scrap basket to find something to use yet. . .

So there you have it! My summer of socks. I’ve really learned a lot! Now, I am getting ready to start my Christmas Knitting, which includes socks for LOTS of people. I’ve already started buying the yarn and choosing the patterns. I think I might start knitting them next week. I have a sweater vest that is about to come off the needles, too, that I am very excited about. You will recognize the yarn because it has been three different sweaters over the years. I love what it is now though- I think it’s perfect, and I am looking forward to finishing it and wearing it. The weather is about to cool off, and I am eager to get my woolens out (even though I live in Alabama and it never REALLY gets cold here!)

For example, I was scanning the Meta Filter this evening, and I came across this sentence out of Discovery Magazine: “Time” is the most used noun in the English language, yet it remains a mystery. We’ve just completed an amazingly intense and rewarding multidisciplinary conference on the nature of time, and my [insert: Librarian] brain is swimming with ideas and new questions.” If you think that’s interesting, you should have heard the HuffPo article on the Keystone XL project that I read- or the one about the Guardian and WikiLeaks and the leak of an encrypted password!

I have so much going on right now, and to add to it all I have a sinus infection. I went to the doctor today, where two booster shots were administered, resulting in a [librarian’s] head swimming in a pool of…something a bit more consistent than water?

I am reminded of the scene, I think in the last episode of Mad Men Season 4, when Peggy and Joan are in Joan’s office FUMING about something that Don has just done (and no, I won’t give any spoilers away, in case you were worried) and Joan tries to tell Peggy that she needs to stop letting the office be her fulfillment, that she needs to build a life outside of the office. And Peggy’s response is to look at Joan and say you’re joking, right? Don’t tell me that you don’t LIVE for this office! And they both start laughing because it’s the truth- their lives are their work. And isn’t it this way for most of us?

And for those of you who miss the knitting, there has been plenty of that. I am thinking of doing a sock parade for you this weekend, and I have finished a few shawls and my blanket, and I’m making a lovely sweater from some yarn you’ll surely recognize.

So, we’ll talk again soon, and hopefully I’ll not be as medicated and loopy;-) Happy holiday weekend!

YEEEEEOOOWWW!

I know this sound is a universal college white boy call. I’ve lived on or near plenty of college campuses, more than my fair share, and I’ve heard it at all of them. I even remember hearing it while laying in my sister’s guest bed in Boulder- she lives a few blocks from University of Colorado at Boulder, and the boys out there know the call, too.

I think the call is related to football and cheap beer. It’s usually made after midnight, although the eager and inexperienced college white boy might prematurely articulate it as early as  4PM, especially if a game as just ended.

I am not exactly sure what the call is supposed to be communicating. I have a few guesses. Perhaps it means “whaoo I’m buzzed and I don’t know what to do with myself because no one is looking at me.”

What I do know is that I have two sets of boys living across the street from me. And there are solo cups all over the grass. And yesterday was the first day of classes. The first football game is Labor Day weekend.

The call has already been heard.

Wednesday, I had minor surgery. It wasn’t a big deal- I mean, not in the long run. I have been seeing a fertility doctor since April, and I had some minor things that needed to be tended to before we move forward.

Austin and I have been married for ten years next month. Lots of graduate school, lots of working, lots of obstacles. Austin had Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2004, and we have had trouble doing things the natural way. I’ve struggled with how much to talk about it to people, but I am getting excited about the idea of finally being pregnant, and I don’t really feel like hiding anything.

During my recovery, I’ve been engaging in lots and lots of my beloved knitting. I haven’t been able to do anything else, because frankly I haven’t been able to move. I had three knitting goals for the week of recovery: finish my mitered square blanket, knit Colleen’s birthday shrug, and start a new sweater. In that order. Well, I got a little side tracked, but I have progress to show!

I’ve stitched 10 sets of 4 squares together so far. I am actually not finished knitting all of my squares, but I got to excited about the finished product to wait. Sixty-four single squares. I am knitting them together in sets of four. Sixteen sets of four, and then eight sets of eight, four sets of sixteen and then one set of 64!

Soon, I can show you a completed afghan and tomorrow I’ll try to post about the little detour that I took!

It always happens, doesn’t it? We move through life, and when we live in the moment we know we cannot see what is in store for us in the future- like relationships and experiences and changes.

I have been at my job for 3 years now. June 1 was my three year anniversary, and I have had lots of ups and downs. I love my job. I love being a librarian at a public library- I love being a public service librarian at a public library! I meet new people every day, and face new dilemmas with each encounter. Today, I helped a girl who was writing a research paper on “ancient education.” I was pleased to teach her how to find the western civilization books and how to use an index, and I’m pretty sure I opened up a whole new world to her.

But I digress. There are people that I have worked with for 3 years. Some I have easy, light friendships with. Some of them I have developed strong, deep relationships with. And some of them I know nothing about beyond their title and their job description. There aren’t many in this last group, but surprisingly they seem to be the ones that have been at the library the longest.

Today, I am starting a present for one of them. She is due to give birth to her first baby next month, and I’ve been getting to know her as a person and not as a job title recently. We have some things in common. We both love being librarians and we are both dedicated to our library. And we are both starting families in our 30s. There is a certain kind of solidarity in commonality.

And no, I’m not pregnant. Yet. But I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I’ll post about my little tomten jacket!