In that over tired over exhausted zone

At Icon in Seattle with my fellow Sock Campers the night before we headed to Sock Camp. Yum!


A Rare Gem bought on the first night of Sock Camp.


Wound up for Cat Bordhi's class tomorrow. (Whoops! Technically it's today!) Such a genius!


And my Rogue Roses sock got started, but not during Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's class 'cause we had so much to learn!


More soon I hope, especially the new colors, but I'm hoping my Sock Camp buddies with their better cameras post them first. Hee! Just think of Crabby McHappypants, Claws, Scum Bubbles, Sunkissed Sand, Beached(!), Plankton Ooze and more!

Sunsets are always a color study

Because, to state the obvious, light is the foundation of color.

I love these particular photos of our Maui vacation cause they're not filled with bright colors, especially in the fall/winter.


Love the muted and grayed out colors.


Apparently I have a thing for taking pics of only the quieter, less colorful sunsets based on this one here, though the intent was to capture the funky cloud formations rather than the sky colors.


So until Sock Camp, all I've been doing while dealing with home and work life is finishing the last limb on Monkey1's Knitted Babe, working on my Hederas and starting another scarf in a semi-mindless pattern. The only fiddly bit about this Gathered Scarf is switching needle sizes between the garter & St st portions.


It's in my favorite color no less. In yummy delicious Handmaiden Casbah. I think the colorway is Ocean.

'Til after camp, happy knitting!

About that Sock Camp homework...

I feel like Monkey1 'cause instead of working on my Camp Knitty HaHa homework, I was doing other stuff for awhile.

Doesn't look like much yet, but Monkey1 has plans for this Knitted Babe. Oh, and the dress. Not for the babe. Monkey2 is actually getting a dress for her Zoe. Which is a good thing 'cause I didn't check gauge for the dress and I can tell it'll be too narrow as well as too short. The length was expected though as there is evidence in KAL blogland that this pattern as written makes for a short dress.


While we were gone on vacation, I didn't realize our 3rd Wollmeise sock club kit was coming in the mail. And rather coincidently, the 2 colors in the kit play into Tina's color study homework assignment for Camp.


So first off, Occident in one of my favorite wavelengths of the rainbow, the blue family. Love it. My love for blue may or may not surpass Monkey2's or Irishgirlie's, but it's up there.


And on the opposite side of the color wheel, Orient in the color wheel segment that not just makes me "uncomfortable" but rather conflicted.


Orange at work stands for safety, especially paired w/fluorescent yellow & white striping on our vests. Because, as we know, you gotta make sure the travelling public sees you on the side of the highway as they buzz past you at 80 mph with nothing between you and them 'cept maybe (if you're lucky) some k-rail (aka temporary concrete barriers).

And for some reason my aunts would always send or bring me orange clothes from our home country. Mom would get the most awesome gorgeous tropical blues, purples & pinks and me? Orange. I could never understand why as I don't remember professing any love for orange whatsoever. Sure, I love a good coral, orange, or peach blush or lipgloss, but in clothing? :/

I will admit that in grade school I did often wear an orange "I heart Hawaii" t-shirt. (Anyone remember those trendy I-heart-inserthomestatehere shirts?) But it was all about professing my love for my state and the super comfy loose fit. It was so not about the color. And I sorta inexplicably paired it w/sky blue cotton gauze pants. At least they weren't purple 'cause the long-standing joke about the "unofficial" national colors of my homeland according to 1 or 2 local comedians are orange paired with purple. So I had been conditioned at an early age that orange & purple was a bit of a stereotypical pairing, not matter how well it could look.

So there you have it - my feelings on why orange is one of my "uncomfortable" colors. Yellow is the other one, but it's easy to see when it's a color that can easily make one look jaundiced.

Oh, and yeah. The crabby homework is done. Wonky as heck. But it's done.


Note to self - it's never a wise idea to start sewing multiple appendages at 11 pm at night.

D-land knitting

Yeah, I didn't do very much as I didn't bring any back up wood or bamboo needles. I broke my needles shoving them hastily into my purse before some random ride, maybe Autotopia on the 2nd or 3rd day. Not sure as all that waiting in line for various rides/autographing sessions and night shows (Fantasmic, fireworks) always blend together into one giant hazy memory. But that STR in Pixie Park sure is cute.


Other random thoughts about D-land/California Adventures vacationing:

- California Screamin' is aptly named. I loved it for the primal scream therapy. Monkey1, not so much. Apparently I've reinforced what little dispostion she's inherited from DH in the lack of love for fast roller coaster rides category. I need to wait 'til Monkey2 is much older & taller to see if she's inherited my love of roller coaster rides.

- My feet hurt. My feet hurt just thinking about our vacation.

- The gas pedals (or are they diesel?) on the Autopia cars are still stiff, so didn't help the feet issue. I realize why they design them that way, but sheesh! You would think after all these years, they'd design a better way to keep the acceleration rate low.

- There were more people at the parks than we had expected in this downturned economy, but there also seemed to be an unhappy or frantic vibe from everyone - as if everyone had paid for & planned this vacation awhile back and it's too late to back out.

- DH said he could literally see how the economy has affected Disney as it's not as pristinely clean as he once remembered it. Plus, at least 1 ride a day broke down on us while we waited in line for that particular ride. They were all back up and running within some minutes after, but neither or us remembered that ever happening the few times we've gone before throughout our lives.

- The weather sucked. It was cloudy and as cool as up here in Nor Cal. Blech. On the plus side, my wool beret, fingerless gloves, and occasionally, my scarf came in really, really handy at night.

- In the end, it was worth it 'cause Monkey2 had the best birthday vacation.

On the WIP slow boat

It's going to be a busy month for me with family events and special knitting for others so my WIP's will be progressing rather slowly.


As part of the Makin' Cookie's Ravelry group KAL, I'm finally working on Cookie's Hedera socks in Fleece Artist merino (I have no idea which version but it's the skinnier one) in Lily Pond.

I did goof up the gusset decreases 'cause I thought I wouldn't need to decrease all the way down to 60 stitches so I didn't move the first & last held instep stitches to the gusset/sole. It turned out I was a little too loose at 62 & so added the last set of decreases in. The only drawback to that is that I don't have the pretty gusset decreases like in the pattern. Sometimes I need to learn to trust in the designer, especially Cookie.


My second chart repeat on my Digitessa sock went a lot faster than the first once I got the hang of Yarnissima's notation & logic. It's on hold 'til I have some time to devote to knitting off 3 charts (2 gussets & the instep).


And I finally got around to finishing chart 6 of my Mystery Stole 4. The yarn for the second half is wound and once I mentally prep for that first bead row where you place them practically every other stitch, I should be ready to cast on for the second half.


The only thing that isn't on the slow boat is the beret I cast on at the Stitches West after party at Purlescence. I did have to cast on twice as I was trying another tubular cast on method, this time in the round. Too much laughter is detrimental to doing it correctly the first time round.

Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret (Rav link)
Dream in Color Classy in Black Pearl - only 1/2 skein
size 9 & 11 KP circs
this tubular cast on in the round 'cept corrected by her commentary
other mod: lengthened the ribbed cuff to 2"