One Down, One to go!

I am posting here a picture of my very first sock I have completed! It is so soft and comfortable. I am now a sock convert! Now of course, I have to knit another sock to match so I can have a pair, but after that, my new yarns are coming, TLC Amore and Lion Brand Suede. I have two new projects coming up, intermixed of course with Christmas projects. I have also been thinking of pawning off some things in the upcoming Christmas bazaars, but that is still a couple of months away. I did read in the Statesman yesterday that there is a Sons of Norway bazaar with Norwegian sweaters and things coming up in December so I may check that out. However, now I am going to go back down stairs and start on my 2nd sock!

Bob

I am pretty proud to say that I achieved my goal of taking a picture and posting it within the two days I was attempting. Attached is Bob, the sweater from http://www.knitty.com/. The ribbing at the top looks kind of weird "on the rack", but if you go to knitty you can see a model wearing the garment and I think she looks pretty good. Anyway, it is a gift so hopefully my cousin likes it. I am mailing it off tomorrow so I should find out sometime late this week.

My sock is progressing nicely. I have turned the heel and am working on the gusset and the instep (the top and the bottom of the sock) simultaneously. I have not put the sock on my foot yet, but so far it seems as though a $12 pair of socks is, in fact, worth it. I have really enjoyed using this yarn and I would buy more to make another pair. I might hesitate at buying enough for knee-high socks though. I will let you know how the final sock turns out.

New Pics!

The first pic I have is from a pattern on http://www.knitty.com/ and it has a story behind it. A couple we will call Daryl and Darla* had a furry zebra thong when they first got together that was great fun and provided a little spice in their relationship. Alas, one of their kitties got to it one day and shredded the beautiful fur all to bits. So, a friend we will call Melanie* and I decided to recreate a new furry zebra thong for them-somewhat of a gag gift, but all in good fun. So, knitty has this pattern called Man's Thong-th-thong that we morphed into a zebra pattern with cotton, acrylic, and fun fur. Needless to say, this thing was a beast! (Pun intended.) When Darla first pulled the thong out of the zebra print bag, she thought it was a hat. Boy did we have a laugh! Then, when she realized the hat was cone-shaped and had straps, she discovered what we had done. It was great fun and our bellies all ached. Of course Daryl did not want to model the thong in the nude, but we convinced him to try it on over his shorts so I could post some anonymous pics on my blog. Here they are.
As a side joke, when the thong is laying on a hard surface with the straps tucked inside, it looks like a small furry animal. Many remarks were made about "petting the thong" that night. : >


I also knitted a couple more cat blankets after the thong adventure, but I realized after I turned them in that I forgot to take pictures. Sorry about that!

I am just finishing-literally-another knitty pattern called Bob as a present for my cousin who graduated college earlier this year. I have never knitted for her before so I hope she likes it. Today is the deadline for knitty's calendar contest as well so I may submit a pic of Bob before I send it off to her on Monday.

Next up, after yet another trip to Craft Warehouse-seriously, don't I have all the needles I need yet? Apparently not.-I am beginning my first pair of, dare I say it, socks. I popped into Drop a Stitch yesterday which has a beautiful, yet expensive, collection of hand-painted yarns. Since I am on a budget, especially where yarn is concerned, I reduced myself to one skein-I am making anklets-of turquoise merino wool sock yarn for $11.75+tax. Yowch! I keep saying, these better be some damn neat socks for $12/pair! The sock knitting community assures me they are, but my frugal self will be posting the outcome here in the near future.
I am beginning Christmas knitting so these socks are my test pair to see if I will be investing the coming months into more socks. I have had three requests already so hopefully it works out. I also have several projects I am aching to try for myself so I am hoping to alternate between the two and be posting lots and lots of pictures. While I am still procrastinating on the timeliness of posting the pics, I am becoming more confident in my ability to do so (I did it all by myself this time!) So, that is good news since I will be able to zip on here and plug stuff in right away instead of dreading it and putting it off. I will be putting that theory to the test by attempting to add some pictures of my current project this weekend before I mail it off. Until then....

*names have been changed to protect identity