What Da Ya Know, Joe?

There's someone new at our house. He likes sitting on the front porch and watching the world go by.

He likes climbing trees.


His natural habitat is the mailbox. He's Toothy Joe the mailbox monster from Rebecca Danger's Book of Knitted Monsters. He's for my friend at work and will probably be going there tomorrow so that I don't fall too much in love with him.

Unfortunately, I discovered, as I photographed him, that I missed a step on his left foot...so his feet are a little different.

He's still pretty cute, though.

Monkeying Around

Never one to jump on a bandwagon too soon, I am starting a new pair of socks...and I'm going to make a pair of Monkeys. I mean, there are only 14,815 pairs of Monkeys on Ravelry. Oh wait, make that 14,816.

It's a great pattern, though I've only done two repeats of the pattern (and made a mild screw up during the first repeat...left out a row of plain stockinette...I'm living with it).

What's that you say? It's awfully colorful?

You ain't seen nothing yet. There's more to come.

Camp Loopy Comes To An End

Camp Loopy was so much fun. I never thought I would so enjoy knitting along with others. I think it was brilliant that, while there were guidelines for each of the projects, within those guidelines there was a lot of leeway. So we weren't all forced to knit one particular thing...and it was interesting and inspiring to see all the other patterns that the others chose. My "favorites" list on Ravelry grew by leaps and bounds. The camaraderie was wonderful, too. People cheered each other one and gave help and suggestions. People gasped in amazement at finished projects...and man, were there some absolutely stunning examples of knitting!

But of course, one of the enticements to participate was the thought of the skein of Wollmeise that Sheri offered as a prize for finishing all three projects successfully. And lookie here! I got a package on Saturday. (For those not in on the yarnie scene...Wollmeise is yarn from Germany, hard to come by in the US. It's got a very distinctive feel...almost cottony as you knit it up and the colors tend to be very intense and rich.)


I didn't realize that we were getting a free pattern, too. Or rather, I had forgotten that Sheri had said that. There were a number of different patterns that went out to finishers. Mine is for a cowl and mitts. My only objection is that, given the brightly colored variegated yarn used in the illustrations for the pattern, you really can't see the design clearly at all. I think there is a cable up the back of the mitts and I guess the same cable is on the cowl.

But what's in that purple package?


My Wollmeise. In a color called Skandal um Rosi (which translates to, according to Google, "Rosy Scandal" -- okay then) .

I like it. I had seen a number of the skeins that others have gotten (we have a thread on Ravelry where you can show off your Wollmeise) and I'd seen lots of greens. I have nothing against green but it's not my favorite color. Actually, a couple of people got a colorway called Birch Bark (white and grey and black -- not surprising) that I like a lot.

Sheri's no dummy, for sure. She said that everyone would be getting their Wollmeise by the end of October but if you wanted it earlier, you could place an order and the Wollmeise would get thrown into that order.

So...I got some other stuff, too.

From left to right, the Wollmeise, some Fiberphile MCN Luxe Sock in Timberline (soooooo soft -- it has cashmere), Three Irish Girls in Brown-Eyed Girl (love this combo of pale pink and brown), and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere (more soft) in Peacock Shadow.

Lovely. I can't wait to go to camp next summer.

Finished Things

I had quite a sock-filled summer, despite also working on my Camp Loopy projects. All pretty simple, so it's not as impressive as you might think.

Six pairs of socks, five for me and one for Mr. Pointy Sticks. His are the grey ones that kept on rolling up all squinchy because they are ribbed.

Wanna see them again?

The grey ones show up a little better here. I'll have colorful feet this fall and winter!

I also finished the Simple City scarf/shawlette the other day and got it washed and blocked last night.

Here's some fat lady wearing it.

It's a colorful thing, for sure.


I think maybe it looks better on Duncan.

No, You're Kidding Me!!

So we stopped at The Black Sheep this afternoon (couldn't get there yesterday because of flooding...so, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding...I really am expecting volcanoes sometime soon) so that I could show Joyce the Chiagoo needle that I like so much (and I think would be a great thing for The Black Sheep to carry). On the way home, we were cruising down York Road and some woman in a huge black SUV, talking, of course, on the phone (even though it's against the law here in Maryland), came barreling out of a gas station without even pausing. Mr. Pointy Sticks slammed on the brakes and the woman hit her brakes, thank heavens. I'm sorry to say that I yelled "Hang up the damn phone!" out the window at her.

And what did she reply?

"Shut up, bitch. I didn't see you!"

Uh.....ooooookay. That makes it all better.

Well...Feh

The weekend is, for all intents and purposes, over. And tomorrow is a working day. I am so not looking forward to work. One co-worker is off for the next week and the other only works on Mondays and Tuesdays...so will only be in tomorrow. So it's going to be a boring week.

I had a nice weekend. Spent time at The Black Sheep on Saturday (seems like ages ago). Had lunch at Atwaters with Mr. Pointy Sticks on Saturday, too. Yum...one of the best soups I've ever had there (Hanoi Beef Soup) and a great tomato and mozarella salad. What else? Went to Borders and came home with two bags full of books, all 60 or 70 percent off. Got a number of books that were on my Amazon Wish List. So that was nice, if sad.

And I worked on this:


Duncan was very interested. He was all over me while I was trying to take pictures.


I think he thought I was making him a cat seat.

Thanks, guy. Cat butt all over my shawl.