Happy Birthday
Two years ago today I started this website. It came into being very late one night as a way to host the pattern for Popped. It was mostly a whim. I thought a handful of folks would download the pattern, and maybe one or two people would even knit the socks. That's not quite what happened. Somehow, over the last two years, this turned into a bit more than a hobby. I've released dozens of patterns. Scads of people have actually bought and made them (seeing one of my patterns made by someone else is still trippy every single time). [...]
Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No
It seemed like a good plan at the time. It really did. The lovely Lauren, she who is kind enough to model for me so often, needs a hat. We discussed hats and the colors and shapes in which hats can be made. We measured. I marveled at the size of her head (really, it's 2 inches smaller than mine, I'm so jealous). I swatched. I cast on. I knit. Then...then I realized that the thing on my needles sucked. It wasn't 'a little rough.' It wouldn't 'all come out when blocked.' It didn't need 'just a few more rows [...]
Words are Not Dirty
So the latest socks are to be called Louche. If we look up Louche we find: adjective: shady, disreputable, of questionable moral character Now this has led to some controversy. I got a few ravelry messages explaining that it was terribly inappropriate for me to use such a 'bad' word for a sock title. Now I don't actually think it's a bad word. I, in fact, think it's kind of a cool word (hence my using it). I'm not really convinced there are bad words. There are words that are a poor fit for a given situation, but that doesn't [...]
Wanna Take a Trip?
Back in the summer of 2009, The Boy and I took a little trip to Maine. That was in the early days of this website, and I was shamefully remiss in writing about it. The only real mention of it I can find is here. Despite my uncharacteristic reticence about the trip, I can assure you it was lovely. That was in large part because we were taking a course at White Head Light Station. The setting, the food, and the people were all splendid. The only problem was that the course wasn't about knitting (it was about beer, so [...]
Off the Needles
Louche are done and up for testing over on ravelry. If you're itching to make them right this minute, come volunteer to help me beat the errors out of the pattern.
March Knit Along
The March Knit Along is up and running. If you'd like to knit one of these, head on over and join us. We've got prizes, you've got two months to finish, and we're not burdened with an overabundance of rules!
Book Giveaway
The marvelous Wendy Johnson (the mastermind behind Toe Up Socks for Every Body and Socks from the Toe Up) has a copy of Silk Road Socks to give away. Of course this makes me feel a fluttery in my tummy because Wendy is a real and proper designer (this apparently means 'designer I would be all nervous about meeting and whose books I've bought in actual stores'). But, because I love you all and want to take over your knitting needles, I'm stomping on my nerves and letting you know about the drawing. Head over and leave a comment if [...]
Truckle
I know, you've been waiting for these for awhile. You guys totally talked me in to doing them. They started out as my 'too sick to think' socks. I really didn't think you would be interested in them, but it seems you like them! Of course the super-simple to knit socks turned out to be unexpectedly challenging to write up. Once the cold medicine-induced brain fog lifted, I got it figured out. Lots of lovely folks helped me test them to be sure that the instructions were clear. Then, well, then I stuck them in my 'to be photographed' basket [...]
More Tools of the Trade
So the other day you met Alphonse. He's quite dapper, and makes a perfect house guest. Today I'm showing off some truly funky sock blockers. Now you know we've got some big feet in this house. I wear a ladies' size 11, and The Boy wears a men's size 13. These are big feet. I decline to feel bad about this, as the size of a person's feet is more or less out of their control. The only thing I felt bad about was the difficulty in vigorously blocking socks in these sizes. I had a pair of wire blockers [...]
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