No knitting today.  Daylight’s been too elusive in my life to attempt pictures, and I’m fighting with the lamp stand-in lately.  And the Lenores are too subtle for anything but good lighting to show them off.  And the other knitting I’ve got right now…secret.  Shh!

So, in the spirit of the season, I give you this all-too-familiar sight for many of us this month, but with an addition that, honestly, makes my head hurt.  Has UPS developed teleportation?  And why on earth is something “Out for delivery” at 2:30 A.M.?  (I know there are normal explanations for both issues, but I’ve been grumpy all weekend that this package has apparently been sitting in Louisville without moving, and I’d rather get a laugh out of the whole ordeal, to wipe out the grumpies.)

Half a bottle of super-concentrated dish soap + My living room carpet = The largest flooring mess I’ve seen since my sister and I spilled a large container of magenta tempra paint when we were in elementary school.

This would also be the day that I dropped 90% of a batch of cookie dough on the kitchen floor.  Yesterday was definitely not a good day.

First, I am absolutely adoring the October Rockin’ Sock Club pattern, Lenore.  Just take a look at this completely inadequate photo:

The lace is unblocked, and the colors are very difficult to capture with a photograph (especially with a cheap camera and a very very makeshift “studio”), but I have not loved a sock pattern this much…ever.

Casting on for this was my reward for finishing the unending Grasshopper socks, and it was worth it.  The lace at the top of the sock was fun and not difficult at all, even when a YO fell at the end of the DPN, even though the author (Stephanie Pearl McPhee, the Yarn Harlot!) notes that it may be.  The colors of the yarn are gorgeous and subtly shift from black to red with occasional ventures into plum.  There will definitely be more of the Raven line in my future.

Second, a podcast I’ve had in iTunes forever but have just started listening to:  Escape Pod.  Excellent science fiction delivered to your podcatcher of choice weekly.

I may not mention it often, but I really love podcast novels.  I grew up reading voraciously, but physical books don’t mesh well with knitting (unless it’s textbook sized, or I figure out a really clever way to keep it open) or housework, or a great many other things.  In the next few days (I hope), look for a sidebar list of some of the ‘casts I’ve really enjoyed.

I’ve been meaning to post for a week or so, but unexpected bad news had me down for quite awhile.

Springwater Fiber Workshop, in Alexandria, is closing, unless they can gather enough in pledges to stay open.  This breaks my heart, as it’s an organization that’s grown important to me over my short acquaintance with them.  I learned to spin there, and I’ve been working on my agoraphobia, going to some of the knitting and spinning group meetings there.  I really hope they manage to find a way to stay around.

In actual Tina-knitting activity, there are two projects that have been finished for a great deal of time that need blogged, and one I just finished.  First, my favorite:

I’m pretty sure I’ve been working on a programming project for Second Life too long when I’m researching something on the wiki and find I’ve done a search for “hot cheese” at some point in the past…

Opening text:

Okay, well, it’s not text.  But it’s the beginnings of a mini-saga, so how else should it open?

Imperial Cog motif from this site.  I’m also going to be using the Stormtrooper Helmet pattern from here.  Yarn is Dale of Norway Falk, which I picked up from Webs.

Knitting this on a 16” US 3 Knit Picks metal circular.  I’m kinda wishing they had introduced the wooden ones when I’d ordered it, but it’s only a minor quibble.  I’m really liking the wooden DPNs – wood just feels better in my hands than metal.

Everyone, get your minds out of the gutters.  Now!

So normally knitting projects got set aside this weekend for a new endeavor. May I present not one, but two works in progress?

Knitter Ally and Knitter Katie!

Spent the weekend visiting my family, and Ally (on the left, in pink) asked if I’d teach her to knit. What aunt would say no?

One trip to Ewenique Yarns later, I had some pink Lamb’s Pride and a pair of short size 9 needles. I sat down with Ally after school and started teaching. I did find out pretty quickly that getting used to both holding yarn and needles seemed a bit much, so I put the needles away and started with finger knitting a chain. Much better, and she was really enjoying herself.

Of course, this is when Katie asked to learn, too. I was a touch hesitant – she’s only five, while her sister is almost eight. But I figured she could at least tie knots, if nothing else. After some suggestion from Dad on how to help her visualize it (involving Ariel, the Little Mermaid, swimming in and out of a cavern), she was making her own chain!

The most amazing thing is that they both sat still for nearly an hour – Katie for 45 minutes, Ally for an hour and a half. Knowing them both, that’s unheard of!

The next day I cast on for Ally again, and she did a few rows entirely on her own. Sure, I started her with twenty stitches, and she ended up with 28 before long, but every beginning knitter does that. I’m still proud of her! I just regret that I don’t have a picture of her knitting. However, I should be back this weekend, so I’ll take a picture then.

So, do I get forgiven for not having any knitting of my own to show off?

I have a project I want to get started on.  I want it to be done soon, I want to knit it, and it really should, honestly, be done soon.  But I can’t start.  Why?

I can’t stop overthinking the thing – it’s a gift for a dear friend, and being done by request, so I want it to be perfect.  It’s based on this hat (which is in turn based off this hat), but I don’t know how much I’m going to change.  I know the earflaps are going to go, and it won’t have the lining from the original hat.  Also, I know the TIE Fighters are going to be replaced with something else (the Imperial cog has been requested), but I don’t know if I like the hat-sized chart I have (see here), or how it will balance with the Stormtrooper helmets.  And since the helmets are the most important part of the hat, at least to me…

I don’t even know if I’m going to use the Pirates base pattern, at this point.  It’s crazymaking.  But it’s because I’m too OCD for my own good, seriously.  I’ve spent a great deal of time with Knit Visualizer and a calculator.

Does anyone have any suggestions, comments, or a guide to designing colorwork hats? 

Arrrr! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day! 

Edited for more piratey goodness:   

I can haz parrot!