Nooooo!

I’ve missed “Sock Wars“!

I participated last year, and loved it, even though technology and a hurricane make it a bit more shambolic than the organiser would have hoped, I’m sure.

I was just thinking the other day about this and wondering if it would ever happen again, and then today I saw a mention of it on someone’s blog.

But I missed the sign up. Wah!

There’s nothing like talking about ‘death by sock’ and wandering around with knitting attached to your belt, socks hanging off your needles, to make the norms think you’ve truly lost it.

Pout.

Secret Pal Stuff

Huge thanks to my Secret Pal.

I came back from the school walk this morning to find this:

I opened it up and experienced Yarnticipation…

There was yarn, oh yes, I’m getting to that, but the thing that made me immediately popular?

Chocolate!

With the boys duly distracted, I settled down to my part of the booty. And boy, was it good. Behold:

There’s one of my favourite sock yarns so far (Lorna’s Laces) in a fabulous bold stripe pattern, four balls of a merino/cashmere blend no less, and a favulous blue, purple and green sock yarn from Garnstudio, which I think is Norwegian. Anyway, it promised a ‘Gratis Monster” on the ball band, and that alone makes it my new favourite!

Thanks, Secret Pal!

I hope someone is spoiling you rotten!

Butterflies and Stars from Brendah

Butterflies and Stars from Brendah
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These lovely flowers and star discs are enjoying themselves among my spring flowers. They arrived today from San Francisco, along with a postcard.

Again, I love the fact that they are all different colours. There is also a cute silver heart charm that says “Made with love”. Oh, and I got seven markers instead of the regulation five.

Thanks, Ms Flowers!

I think I may be hooked on exchanges now…

Stitch Markers from Celena

Stitch Markers from Celena
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These Happy Hearts arrived today from Florida. Thank, Celena!

They are the perfect size (making me realise mine were a bit big and heavy unless my giftees knit lots of blankets or chunky sweaters) and I like the fact that they are all different colours, since I’m always getting lost in patterns.

Great!

Stitch Markers "Moorish"

Stitch Markers “Moorish”
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

Here’s the second set.

Stitch Markers: "Red Wave"

Stitch Markers “Red Wave”
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These stitch markers will be winging their way to somone from the Stitch Marker Exchange, later this month.

I liked them so much I made myself some earrings that differ only in that the big white bead is a reddish/brown bead in the earrings.

I put different coloured seed beads at the top of each, so that someone could, potentially, use them to check quickly where they were in a round (if they knew the yellow one came first and the blue one was the last one…)

Swappy!

I’ve been feeling a bit isolated out here in knitland, in winter. I read a lot of blogs but I felt like I wanted something to connect me to a community, so I started searching for swaps.

I found this great site, which has a list of links to various knit-a-longs and swaps. The knit-a-longs seem more prevalant and I might get into that, but the thing is, I REALLY enjoyed both sending and receiving my socks during Sock Wars.

So down I scrolled.

I didn’t find a knitting swap as such that appealed to me (without scaring the wits out of me in terms of scale or timing) but I did find a stitch marker swap. So I signed up, and made one set while #1 Son did something crafty at the table and #2 slept. Hey, if I can do one set in the time it takes a newly-4 year old to get bored, I can probably complete the second set by the end of the month without freaking out too much.

On with the swap.

I guess I should take a picture of the markers sometime soon. I’ll wait to see if it’s all totally anonymous (or “anomolous”, as my mother likes to say) before I post anything. Can’t remember the details now.

DEATH!

Aaarghhh!

Death arrived in the mail today, from Wyoming , not the West Country as I had expected (I had read the sidebars of Yarn-Monkey’s site incorrectly).

The socks are lovely, made of Plymouth Colorspun DK (75% Acrylic, 25% Wool), which means they’ll probably last longer than the ones I made. They fit perfectly and are in a colourway I’d wear any day of the week. (To be honest I’d have worn even the most horrible of colours anyway, simply because they were my Socks of Doom and would make me smile).

The blow was further softened by a handful of Ghirardelli Caramel Chocolate Squares and a lovely postcard of a landmark near her home, the Devil’s Tower.

Death Becomes Her

I received a message from the assassin of my assassin (in Sock Wars, of course).

“Jaycee is so very dead,” it read, “and we mourn her passing….but she died happily with alpaca/silk blend socks for her feet!

Ah, it comes to us all. It just hasn’t come to me yet.

I checked the package tracking facility at USPS and my victim’s socks were in her mailbox as of yesterday morning, so she should be dead by now and thinking about mailing her work-in-progress to me.

If it arrives before my West Country socks I’ll be able to add a few rows before sending it on to Texas. If not, I’ll be providing my victim with the address of the assassin of my assassin. Who then gets to knit for the victim of my victim.

Confused, yet?

In other news, I think I might be ready to get back to work on the Never-Ending Aran. Although there is the Cyberman Sweater to consider, and I have most of a pair of socks knitted from my Trekking XXL…but I might be socked out.

The weather is definitely cooler here, and I feel the need to knit with speed.

All’s Well

My poor victim contacted me this morning, as did her potential victim.

The socks are in the mail.

I’m still a terminal case, but I feel happier about it now that the system is working as it should.

But then, I’m Roman Catholic, so you know, I like things to stick to their proper structure.