Friday night, I was happily knitting on my Curl when the movie ended and I hopped up to put my knitting away instead of moving normally like most adults. My favorite wooden cable needle left its perch behind my ear, went flying and i heard it hit the tile floor. We had company over, so the four of us scoured the room and it was nowhere to be found. Our friends departed and I spent the next 45 minutes turning the area upside down. Maybe I’d misplaced it sooner than I thought so I looked back at the knitting. No such luck as I had used the needle 10 seconds prior to it going rogue. Now, I have other cable needles, but having one vanish into thin air was making me more than a little crazy. In the end, I gave up and went to bed.

Saturday morning, before I rolled out of bed, I prayed to find my cable needle before I went completely mad. I’m not an every Sunday churchgoer (I normally attend around election time), but I absolutely believe in God and the power of prayer.

While you are obviously welcome to believe as you wish, what follows are facts. A few minutes later, i went in the other room and thought, I should look at this from another angle. So, I moved the couch (and vacuumed because let’s be honest, it needed it. If nothing else, at least my house would be cleaner after this ordeal), then reclined on the floor and looked up with a flashlight under the chair I’d been sitting in. There, in an almost hidden dark cavity within the chair peaked out the tiniest end of my cable needle! I got some tweezers and tried to get it out Operation style. Almost! Nope, i dropped it even further into the cavity and it was no longer visible. Oh well. At least I know where it is and a two year old Cheeto is now in the trash.

Enter The Husband. I opened with, “Guess what? I found my needle!!! but it’s in the chair and it seems like it would be a big pain to take it apart and get it out. (i’m eyeing the bolts of the chair.) It’s only a $4 needle.” Now, there are many things to love about The Husband; my favorite is that when I say that something is impossible or difficult, he cracks a small smile and like Disney magic, it’s done. I was hoping against hope that he was going to deliver once again and hand me back my tiny wooden needle, but it really did seem like 8 bolts, grease and running the risk of breaking the chair, so I was nearing the end of my hopeline when he responded, “I put the chair together. I’m pretty sure I can get that out. It’s just two screws.” As he dropped the needle in my hand 10 minutes later, he said, “I just can’t believe you saw it in there.” Yes, that was the hard part.

Now that my cable needle is safely back in its project bag pocket, let’s admire the socks I recently finished!

Pattern: Ensnared by Hunter Hammersen
Yarn: Meadowcroft Dyeworks Rockshelter Sock
Colorway: Guatemalanness
Needles: 2.25mm DPN’s
Purchased from Quixotic Fibers at DFW Fiber Fest


And speaking of The Husband’s handiwork, he created a subscription option if you’re interested!

I find myself looking inward just now. Hot summer days have me slowing down and focusing on what I want out of life. What’s important to me? Am I saying yes based on my priorities or someone else’s?

Any kind of introspection leads back to knitting. Who am I kidding? Nearly everything I think about circles back to wool and needles. Reflecting back on my Karma Sutra socks, I remember starting them to practice lever knitting. I wanted to knit faster. I worked on the new technique for awhile, but never really quite got it. Recently, I’ve been thinking about giving it another shot. This time, I’m motivated by ergonomics rather than speed. I’d like to be knitting brightly colored socks as I while away a hot summer day decades from now. Whether this new motivation will bring success in my quest remains to be seen.

“Pattern”: CO 64
k1,p1 ribbing for cuff
left cross (1st over 1 st = 2 total), k1, p1 around for 1 round
k3,p1 ribbing for leg.
Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi in contrast yarn (slightly modified so the contrast yarn only went across the top of the foot for 6 rows)
k3,p1 for the top half of the foot.
*I did something crazy on the top of sock 2 and had to drop 2 stitches from the toes all the way back to the heel to turn them into purls for the ribbing.
Verdict: I’m glad these socks are pretty because they were a little bit more of a pain in the arse than I planned. The fit of the Sweet Tomato Heel is acceptable, however I prefer to knit a heel flap.
Yarn: Must Stash Yarn & Fiber Spiffy Sock
Colorway: Kama Sutra
Needles: 2.25mm Karbonz (first time trying these – they are not my favorites because the join is not perfectly smooth)

These socks hold more fond memories than perhaps any pair I’ve knit to date. They joined The Husband and I on our journey to California to visit his family and Disneyland.

We worked a visit to the Pacific into the trip so I could dip my toes in the ocean. As I eagerly headed for the waves, my pants already rolled to my knees, I hurriedly approached a four foot sand cliff. Planning to jump down, I stepped near the edge and it collapsed beneath me, cramming damp sand in every crevice on my back side. My entourage was a few steps behind me and found my mishap hilarious. As I’m the biggest beach lover among us and possibly the most experienced faller, I was glad to be the one to go down.

…and I grafted the toes of the second sock Christmas Eve with my parents. Just magical.

They hold so many wonderful memories and now I’m adding more….like DFW Fiber Fest.

Pattern:
Inspired by Helen’s lovely Darkside socks, here is my recipe.
k1,p1 ribbing for 1 inch
Stockinette until the first colored stripe begins and then switch to Vanilla Bean Striped Sock Style (VBSSS)
Continue VBSSS through the first row of the black stripe and then back to stockinette
Heel: Eye of Partridge
Note: I swapped needle sizes up and down during the gusset decreases to get at least one round in each color.
Yarn: Must Stash Yarns – Perfect Self Striping Sock
Colorway: Dark Side of the Moon EPV
Needles: 2.25mm bamboo