you know you're frazzled when you can't even conceive of a post title

In order to organize my thoughts, I am going to have to break this post down into 6 parts because let me tell you, I am skedaddled! Only 7 more days before Bazaar Bizarre Boston, and my worktable overfloweth. Apparently, so does my mind... with random thoughts and useless junk, however.

1. That yarn in the photo above? That is some Pigeonroof handspun that I received as a gift from Megan. Thanks again, M! Lovely stuff! And perfect for a quick mindless project that will help to soothe me so I can sleep at night. Now here's my question: what do I knit with it? Should I knit myself a Thorpe? Or some rustic mittens like these beauties? Or yet another cowl, like maybe another Gloria? If I had enough yardage, I would knit myself some legwarmers like these, because seriously, I LOVE them. Gah! I can't think. Please help me pick a project and cast your vote in the poll on the sidebar. The yarn is a light worsted/dk, and the yardage is about 170 yards, enough for any of the projects I'm considering.

2. Speaking of projects, I went to A Good Yarn in Brookline (LOVE!!!!) over the weekend with some friends and got the yarn(s) I needed for presents to knit. I may have already cast on for one of these gifts-to-be. Unfortunately, I can't share any of the glorious details until after the holidays because intended recipients know about the blog. I am not sure if and when they read it, but better not to take that chance. In other news, apparently, I have a huge mouth and cannot keep secrets.

3. Thank crunchy I am not a dj because my opinion seems to have been way off on the Twilight soundtrack. I still think that the music was boring and underwhelming, but I was totally wrong about the kids. The kids - they love it. I just don't understand how. The exceptions to the suckage I thought were Radiohead, who can do no wrong as far as I am concerned, and Paramore, that thanks to the A.D.D. Knitter I looked up on last fm and now totally comprehend why the tweens love it. I would love them too were I 12. I might kinda love them now. Gah, I should be so ashamed of my last fm library... but I'm not.

4. Speaking of Twilight, move over Bella and Edward. I am so over them and so into Eli and Oskar of Let the Right One In. If you get a chance to see this, go... now! If not, Netflix it. You will love it. Besides the gorgeous cinematography, great acting, and a compelling story, there are several moments of hilarity (not sure if they were intentional or not) that only a good vampire movie can provide. It was (genuinely) awesome.

5. I am so happy that 'tis the season for peppermint hot chocolate. Yeah, random, but true.

6. I am going to be away from the computer for the next week because I still have a ton of stuff to finish for Baz Biz. I'll be back some time next week and hopefully have a finished knit or two to show for myself. In the meanwhile, hope your holiday season is off to a happy and peaceful start. See you folks soon!

faster than a speeding nutkin

pattern: Nutkin
designer: Beth LaPensee, aka Knitzi
yarn: Mama Blue Knitting Goods Sea Merino in Aquae
needles: Addi Turbos US size 1
modifications: I did 7 pattern repeats for the cuff instead of the 8 recommended in the pattern and I knit a round toe (but of course!).

Inspired by Megan and her lovely Nutkin, I bumped these up to the top of my queue and cast on right away. I know Megan said they were a quick knit, but knowing the rate at which I knit, I did not expect them to fly like that. This, of course, makes my slackerly-knitter ass very happy. I am done and I am satisfied. Woohoo! The yarn I used, Sea Merino by Mama Blue, rocks big time. I love its dense texture and its subtle sheen, not to mention this color. This color was a little tricky for me to photograph; it is a soft pale blue with just a touch of green, a beautifully nuanced shade of aqua, in fact. They are clearly more true to their actual color in the photo above than in my previous post about the first sock. And why yes, I did in fact go ahead and mirror the pattern for the second sock. I am normally not that fussy of a knitter, like I never mirrored the pattern for my Child's First Sock (which I ended up giving to my mom because she loved them so) as so many others did, but in this case, I thought, "Why not just do it?" It was simple enough anyway. Onto more socks now! I have so many queued up in ravelry. And you see, right there is the thing that I love about ravelry. Had I heard about these socks before rav? Sadly, no. And I was apparently not paying attention at all because I also totally missed these socks. And these. I realize that perhaps this speaks more of my bad habits or lack of knitterly commitment than it does to these patterns being hard to find or anything of the such, but it is nice that on a site like ravelry, you can find out about these patterns by doing a quick search or just looking through people's completed projects rather than wading through so much internet on your own or just waiting for a pattern to become a knitblog or Flickr phenomenon.

Oooh, speaking of knitblogs and such, I don't know if you folks are reading this through a feedreader or not, but if you are checking in through Bloglines or Googlereader or whatever, you might want to visit the blog itself and participate in a poll I am taking. *gestures with a sweeping arm movement to the sidebar on the right hand side of your screen* I was wondering what other people's sock knitting habits were, specifically if you all knit socks in the Summer or not. Please feel free to vote for your choice and let me know how you feel about it. Thanks all! And a happy weekend to you!