Update!!

Since my last, non-apology post, I've gotten a lot done.

For instance, You remember those Jade Monkeys? Yeah, I'll be finished with those tomorrow. They had to take a quick break while I knit my mother's Mother's day socks that she actually didn't get until Early July. They're beautiful, though. Both pairs are. They'll be pictures, but today we're catching up.

I'm back in town (Washington, DC) not just for the summer but for the entire fall semester and through January as well, since I have that internship - more on that later - and I'm adjusting to being *sniff* away from my beloved NoHo KnitTers and my beloved WEBS. To that end, I've been becoming very active in the Ravelry community and been really working at exploring my new LYS which include Stitch DC, Knit Happens, Springwater Fibers and my new and most celebrated discovery: A Tangled Skein, but I'll talk more about stores later.

I've embarked on a few new skills - I'm knitting my first non-sock lace in the form of a Swallowtail Shawl, mainly because I desperately want to knit a Laminaria, maybe during the Ravelympics!!. (More later) And I'm knitting my first pair of Magic Loop Socks!!!

In other news, my stash is now firmly into a *second* plastic tub and I'm on a mini yarn diet - except for July 25th when there's a sale I have to support (More later). And I made my first destash sale!!

Whew - I think that's it for knitting news, but I'm also learning to drive and getting pretty good at it, employed as an etiquette teacher (bizarrely) and losing a fair amount of weight and Drief turns 5 in a month!!

Well, I think that qualifies as a pretty thorough update . . . Now to address some of the "more later"s . . .

Apology

Okay, Not that anyone is actually reading my blog, but I feel it necessary to offer an apology to the occasional random person who stumbles on my blog and realizes that it hasn't been updated in a good long while, so here it is:

I am sorry. I will do better. I know that's been said before, but as my knitting skills have taken off, I have lots more to write about than I did before.
But first, an update -

MJM . . .

We call them the Mysterious JADE MONKEYS!! They're coming . . . and they will arrive with photos . . .

Socks II

I'm addicted.
Proof? Well, I'm halfway through pair number two - this time in Berroco Sox and with needles two half-sizes smaller, and . . . here's the real proof: I already have another skein of sock yarn waiting to be MONKEYS!! That is, I'm going to be a filthy conformist and knit Knitty.com's "Monkey Socks."
If I could just set down the needles, (and the homework that is piling up on my desk) I might even find the time to review the yarns I've been using.

WEBS SuperBowl Escape Party

That's where I finished my first ever handknit sock. And I'll always remember it, too, since that is also where and when I got my copy of The Secret Language of Knitters and had it signed by the author, who wrote "To Chelsea and her first sock!" in the front of the book.
It's also where and when several kind people undertook to help me work the kitchener grafting at the toe of my sock, and where everyone clapped and cheered for me when I dashed back into the circle of knitters waving the finished piece around.

I did a little dance. In public.

But it was okay, because everyone around me was a knitter, and they understood the wanton joy of finished-ness.

I also met the coolest nine and eleven year old knitters I have ever met. I want to be like them when I grow up.

Flickr

I've finally figured out how to get all my photos from the "my pictures" folder on my desktop onto Flickr, and from there, onto Ravelry, which is good, since it means that now everyone can see my yarn-photography skills and what my finished projects look like. I think I need to experiment with a few more colors, though . . . My projects page is a little tilted in an orange direction.

Socks

Well, I've done it. I've finally taken the leap and entered that sacred order of knitters. I am officially a sock knitter. That's right. I've taken the plunge. First off , I can honestly say that's really in no way as hard as it looks. Of course, I have a bit of experience with working with double-pointed needles, but even so, all the things that people tell you are hard about knitting sock is not true. Turning the heel, for instance, is not difficult at all, it merely requires that you trust the pattern (so make sure you have a reliable one) and pay careful attention to what you are doing. I would suggest, however, that once you start doing the heel itself, that you not put it down until you have finished doing that part - because otherwise, you run the definite risk of setting yourself up for a major screw-up.
And the potential for such screw-ups is I think part of the reason people say socks take a long time. I haven't been able to work on my own pair since Thursday because I know I need an uninterrupted window of time in which to safely work that heel. Still, I estimate that between homework all day and classes tomorrow and more homework, that I'll be done with my first pair by Wednesday evening. (Though I hope earlier, so that I can wear them TO my knitting group!)