NadaJ Knits

Where has all the time gone??

I will try not to make this feel like a rushed post. But it is. It's 15 minutes to 5, I'm still at work, and I'm panicking if I'm bringing everything I need for my business road trip next week. I'll probably lave something, and I have scribbled notes everywhere....

And speaking of scribbled notes, blogland has this cool meme going around (Copied verbatium from Snow's blog):

Here’s how the meme is supposed to work, if you want to play along: 

Write a pangram on a piece of paper, sign your first name, take a photo of it and load it onto your blog...

I admit, I hadn't the slightest clue what a pangram meant.

In other news, the Sockapaloooza socks are not going so well. I get an email that the socks are due May 2nd. May 2nd...that's...next week....I thought I had more time...I ripped out the P-Word socks, and started these instead. I wasn't feling the pooling action, but I love the colors in this Lorna's Laces yarn. Granted, it's pooling in this pattern too, but I don't have to follow any damned charts, and maybe that's what I needed.

Yes, this is the first sock. Really, I can finish these. I just have to skip going out tonight. And tomorrow night. Watch me act surprised on May 3rd, when these socks aren't done. I'll bribe my sockpal with chocolates...

It's Friday..

Actually, it's Good Friday. I took today off from work, because after attending Catholic school for 13 years, it just feels wrong to work on a Good Friday. Today is also BEAUTIFUL outside. My grandfather said this morning, it feels like we skipped Spring and went straight to Summer. The weather is at least 70 degrees, with the high being 75 today. And the sun is out, the birds are chirping...I remember being a little girl and hoping that the weather on Good Friday would be dark, and dreary, like in the Bible. But today, I'm gonna enjoy this nice day, and have a bowl of matzo ball soup too...

I'm steady working on Diva, while taking guilty glances over at the P-word socks...tonight for sure, P...

Jennifer has a cool meme on her blog, so here's my version. Per Jennifer, "The mission was to do a Wikipedia search of my birth date without the year and list three events, three births, and three deaths":

Three Events:
1)1582--Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
2) 1889--Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.
3) 1966--LSD is declared illegal in the United States.

Three Births:
1) 1773--King Louis-Philippe of France (d. 1850)
2) 1930--Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (d. 2000)
3) 1965--Charles A. Lougee, Future Mayor of San Francisco (future?? How does Wikipedia know that??)

Three Deaths:
1) 1892--Alfred Lord Tennyson, British Poet
2) 1989--Bette Davis, American Actress
3) 1981--Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt and recipient of the Noble Peace Prize

Jennifer, I have a British Poet on my list too--she shares a birth date with William Butler Yeats! I think that is so cool. I took a class exclusively on him in college. This was fun..I thought it interesting that so many scientists were born on my birth date--because I am scientifically challenged. I tag EVERYONE.

Oh, and Happy Easter/Passover/Springtime!!

Tonight begins Passover. Seth and I had a Seder for two this year. Well three if you count Elijah....

I took a few pictures before we began the Seder. Passover is the observance of when the Jews fled from Egypt. There's prayers, and singing, and remembering that God has brought them this far, anything is possible. The Seder plate has the bitter herb, horseradish for the bitterness of slavery, a baked egg--Seth tells me it symbolizes life...I don't think he really knows...a lamb shank, the blood of the lamb smeared over the doors of the Jews to protect their first born sons in the tenth plague, an apple/cinnamon dish--the bricks and mortar, that the Egyptians made them use as slaves to build their cities, and the parsley was for...well, I think more bitter herbs. We dip the parsley in salt water at the beginning of the Seder to remember the Jews were slaves.

Midway through the Seder, we have a great dinner. This year, Seth made a roast, with potatoes and vegetables, and of course, matzo ball soup. Oh and the wine...Mogen David...

I found the Afikomen--the desert--kinda like an Easter egg hunt, w/o the Easter, egg and Jesus part..and we finished the Seder off by inviting the prophet Elijah to our dinner, and exclaiming, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Hmm..that was a Seder in a nutshell. Every year I try to observe Passover with Seth--no corn syrup, no leavened bread, and I fail miserably every year. This year I will try my darnedest...maybe my knitting can help.

Speaking of knitting, I am having a blast just knitting back and forth. I started Diva, my Hanne Falkenberg design, last weekend. The colors are dark olive and cyclamen--pink. It starts out with 4 or 5 stitches and by increasing, it gets bigger and bigger. This is the beginning of the back and the left and right fronts. Eventually, I'll put so many stitches of the left and right fronts onto holders and keep working the back, then come back and wrap the back around to the front. I'm half way to where I need to split for the fronts and work the back....get all that???

But I need to finish my Sockapalooza socks..both, not just one!
I'm knitting the P-Word socks from Knitty, and I like the pattern. Really, I do. But...it's driving me mad. I can't knit it on the bus to work, or at work--I can't balance the chart--and I still need the chart--it's not sticking to my memory.  I will not give up, I won't despair! I took Friday off--Good Friday--and among other things, I will get back to my sock pals socks. I think they'll be awesome. If I can get them done. In a month. Where's the Mogen David??

I'm stalled on my Sockpaloooza sock, the Popoptamous Popmamtomus P-word socks from Knitty (thanks for that abbreviation, Margene) The exchange is next month, and I'm stalled. I'd show progress, but I'm so damn embarrassed by them, I refuse. I'm using Lorna's laces, and the pooling mixed with this pattern...and I'm usually indifferent to pooling.

Okay really, I don't want to get up, take the pics and connect the camera. Maybe next time, mm'kay? I also started Diva, the Hanne Falkenberg pattern, and that is coming along nicely. Of course wool comes along nicely when socks are due, and it's 73 degrees outside. Yup, it was 73 degrees today, at least. And I was wearing wool, and knitting w/wool. Yuck..

But that wasn't what I really wanted to post about. I wanted to post about my iPod. As much grief as iPod lady has given me over this expensive, prone-to-scratches-regardless-of-cover, music storage device, I love my iPod. I won a $10 iTunes certificate from Caribou last month during a contest they were having...so I've been experimenting w/music. I'll rock a good beat, and given my emotions and blood pressure is all over the board, my music tastes have been too--I've gone from All I need to get By, by Marvin and Tammi (yeah, we're on a first name basis), to J'ai Deux Amours by Madeleine Peyroux to Beautiful by Damian Marley (I'm all about iTunes, but I wanted to give you a chance to hear the music)

I won't make a list, although I think the lists I've seen around blogland are cool. And daring. Music is so personal for me. Growing up w/a mother that only listened to old school (Sam Cooke, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson), and then being the eccentric black child that I was, liking Amy Grant and Garth Brooks back in the day...and then living in the suburbs, I was teased a lot, so I keep some things to myself. I like how I ride my morning commuter bus w/my suit and heels on, and no one is the wiser I'm listening to Lighters Up by Lil Kim, or when I'm bumming around St. Paul in Adidas and a baseball cap, and I'm listening to Diann Krall...

Well, that wasn't so bad! Not a list, but a snippit. Okay back to the socks...

....and I take your hand...my heart is beating so.... And anyone could tell, you think you know me well, but you don't know me...

Crazy Socks are finished! Ever seen that book Socks, Socks, Socks? It's a fun little book with all these crazy sock patterns that are ingenious, inspirational, and crazy impractical. Crazy Socks are kinda like that. Extremely warn, because of the fair isle leg, I don't know if I'll wear them.

Here's my specs:
4 total skeins of Koigu--2 brown and 2 pink
2 US1 Addi Turbo circular needles

Cast on 80 stitches in brown, K2 P2 rib for 15 rounds, knit 1 round even, start chart design found on this bloggers site (originally found in Celtic Charted Designs). After chart is completed, decrease to 72 stitches. Next, make a short row heel, I made 11 wrapped stitches, and then worked my way back, then knit foot even, till 2 inches less than desired length, and made a "regular" toe, and kitchener stitched 16 stitches on each needle to close toe. For the second sock, I started with pink instead of brown, and worked the chart upside down--making fraternal socks instead of matching. Heel and toe were made the same.

These socks are crazy--in color, concept, and the amount of skeins used and money. Things I'd change are yarn--I think I used about 240 yards of each color. Koigu come in 170-ish yard skeins?? I had to use 4 skeins, but I have most of the second skeins left over--at least 80%.

This was my first attempt at a short row heel. Wendy's instructions are great, but it doesn't say to knit both wraps together with the stitch. So I didn't on the first sock, and now I have these holes I need to seam up. The second sock I did, and it looks better--no holes. This heel is okay, but I'd prefer a heel flap. I decided on a short row heel because I had never done one before; I was trying to conserve yarn (whatever), and I thought it would look better given the leg design is so...crazy. But I believe heel flaps are much more sturdy.

So that's it! It was actually a lot of fun. And I think it reflects what I was going through at the time--and why I was so ready to have these finished this week. It was a crazy time, so maybe I just needed some crazy socks.

** Oh--and like someone pointed out, on the brown foot sock, I ran out of the coral/pink color, so I had to substitute with another color. I don't think it looks bad, but I'm not a perfectionist either.**

I made a gauge swatch, and have my needles all ready, but I'm not quite ready to start this yet...I have a few more socks and loose ends--literally--to finish up. The sweater is a Hanne Falkenberg design, this one is named Diva, and it's the #7 colorway. I bought my kit from Sommerfulgen in Denmark, but you can save $10 or $20 and buy from this retailer in the UK instead. Either way, it's at least $100 more if you buy it in the States. Oh, and it's only available as a kit.

I was expecting the yarn to be "rustic" like Shetland yarn, but it's actually pretty soft. The pattern is a hot mess--lots of sentences to describe knit back and forth x many inches, but the cool part is that it's all knit stitches. Can't mess that up too bad, right?

It's April??

Wow. It's April 3rd. Sometimes, I go MIA. I'm such an extroverted person most of the time, but then I get into a slump where the only people I see are those at work and Seth.

I feel like writing some kind of apology, but to be honest, I really needed some me time. Time to think about what I'm doing, usually what I'm doing wrong, and thinking of ways on how to fix whatever situation I've put myself in. This process usually takes a few weeks. Knitting has been really good to me--helping me think and sort out...stuff. This sounds so elusive, but that's because it is. The first thing is that I want to move. I We need to leave. Seth and I have been here since 1998, and I think it's time to move on. I'm sick of the snow, and the weather, and the people, and all of it. This isn't where I thought I'd be. Not here. Not now. And he doesn't know what he wants to do. I feel like along for the ride, when I should be somewhere else, doing something else.

And I hate my job. Okay, I don't hate it, but it's not what I thought it'd be. I was so anxious and excited to have this opportunity to work in my field--to start my career. And I don't like it! I don't want to train anymore. I...I don't like it. I think I made a mistake. I went to school and paid all that money for something for a mistake. Sometimes, I feel like packing up the Ford, and just going. I think I want to go home. My parents and my grandparents drove up here a few weeks ago, and it felt so good to see them, to hug them. It's rare that I get along w/my mother, but I love her, and I know that she loves me, and being so far from them...from everything I know...it's hard being someplace where you're all alone.

So, before I start crying, I wanted to share some knitting...

Socks can be your friend when contemplating quitting your job. I found a Celtic design online, and had the yarn, and whaa-laa. They're fraternal twins, and because they're fair isle, I used a lot more yarn than I thought I would, two skeins of each color. Anyone else knit $45 socks?? Hmm..maybe just me..but I have left overs to use in a Charlotte (I swear, i have yarn for like 3 Charlotte's)

I knit these as my commuter socks. The yarn is from Dani over at Sunshine Yarns on Etsy.com. I love the color way--Neapolitan. I finished these the other day and immediately wore them around Minneapolis--I think these are my most comfortable socks. The yarn is merino wool, and bound to felt, but I don't care. the yarn was so relaxing to knit with, I was sad when the second sock was finished.

Hmm..let's see what else?? Oh, I finished the Unbiased bag form Knitty I started last year, or maybe the year before... I lile the concept, but it's so narrow, and not deep enough. I'll probably use this as a sock knitting bag, with a safety pin to clasp it. I used Himilayan silk yarn first, and then switched to the Mango Moon brand, and what a difference--the Mango Moon was much softer. Actually, I have loads of it left in my stash that I don't think I'll ever use..maybe a contest next week?? (Right, right, if I'm here next week)

I started my Sockapaloooza socks..today! I have someone to knit for who is the anti-NadaJ, not in an evil twin sort of way. I'm more pink and yellow, she's more brown and blue. It was so hard for me to find a color, a pattern that I could knit and not lose my mind. The pattern is Pottamous from Knitty, and the yarn is Lorna's Laces, I think Forest Green. It's  a really cool color, and I like the pooling. The pattern is fidgety--not commuter knitting, but it's been fun seeing the pattern develop. It really does look like fish scales...

Oh Donna!! That's right. Donna knew I was in the market for brown mohair, because really, who isn't..so she sent me some...and some other cool yarn found only in Australia...

some beautiful fuschia, loopy mohair, some merino wool in fingering weight, and my absolute favorite... this blue, beaded bag that I *think* she made herself. I use it to hold my sock projects...I have received so many compliments on it, Donna..tell me, did you sew this yourself?  Because if you did, I know some people that would gladly pay for a drawstring bag of their own...

I finished the sleeves on Rouge, but sewing in the sleeves is so tedious..by the end of April, it will be out of my house...because I really want to start this..

The kit arrived this morning.