Nutkin Much

It's been life as usual around here- which is nice for a change.  There's nothing too exciting or pressing going on right now in my life, which is nice because then I feel like I can just relax.  Do you feel that way?  When someone asks you "What's new?" and you almost feel boring because you don't have anything new to share, but secretly you love it?  It means that you can just sit back and enjoy what's happening around you without being too stressed by anything.  Business as usual.

I've been enjoying several things lately.  First, James.  He's been doing super cute things.  He learned his alphabet and surprised me the other day by saying it from the beginning to end without any help from me.  Admittedly, much of it was garbled, but he sang it all the way through with the right cadences and everything.  He has started trying to wear my flip-flops around the house, and the 3D glasses are a hit too.  He's getting so big!

Second, the Nutkin sock pattern.  I'm knitting it right now (with yarn I'll share later) and it's an easy and beautiful pattern.  You should try it if you haven't already.  It seems to be one of the most popular sock patterns on Ravelry (I'm AllisonSSYC).

Third, this pork chop marinade.  This whole South Beach diet thing gets tiresome after awhile, and I really lasted only a week (rather than 2) before I started adding back a tiny amount of carbs to my diet..in the form of a margarita at a pool party last weekend.Oh, come on- you wouldn't have been able to resist a tasty drink in the pool, would you?  But I'm still being very good, and it's not difficult when you have tasty morsels to look forward to.  And I actually had all the ingredients for this marinade in my kitchen!  How often does that happen?

Fourth, the lovely Unique Sheep Gradiance sock and scarf kits that came in last week, then sold out, then arrived again Thursday.  I have several new colors in the store, so you'll have to take a look and see which one (or three) speaks to you.

Fifth, seeing that the Sock Summit classes sold out so quickly!  I'm getting so excited to go there in August as a sponsor of this huge event!  While I completely knew the conference would be popular, I really didn't expect sock knitters to crash the server when registering, especially since Tina (owner of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and organizer of the Summit along with the Yarn Harlot) told me that she was sure it wouldn't crash b/c they had a spankin' new server dedicated to the Summit.  Just goes to show that even us "dealers" can still underestimate knitters' love of sock yarn.  Man, you guys make me proud.

Who here got classes?  And who is still going even though you didn't get classes?  There's always the one-hour-wonders.  There really are some good deals on flights right now.  Anyone ever used Frontier Airlines?  What's your opinion?

Comments

[sprite]

Me! I'm going! (And I'm looking forward to meeting you.)

I managed to add a half-day class I actually wanted to take to the handful of one-hour ones I grabbed originally, so I have great faith that I'm going to learn lots of unexpected things.

Now I'd better get on that plane ticket...

[mwknitter]

Never underestimate the power of sock knitters to overwhelm anything! Remember when the credit card companies refused to process the charges for the Socks That Rock sock club because they couldn't believe that anyone would spend over $200 for sock yarn & thought it must be some kind of scam? That pork chop marinade sounds so yummy it makes my mouth water. I had a tooth surgically extracted a week ago (which made me curse my former dentist who acted like I was crazy when I kept insisting that I had a cavity in that tooth & now it couldn't be saved.) Anyway after a day of no food & 3 days of yogurt & cottage cheese, I can eat soft food like hamburger but I'm still not ready for hard things that need a lot chewing which made the thought of those chops especially tempting. James is so cute! I totally get the boring thing. I'm not going to SS09. We're off to California to visit the grands (& their parents too, of course) in a few weeks &, when we get back, there is the Midwest Fiber & Folk Fair, which I highly recommend to all. I am a sponsor & went last year. Took a fantastic dyeing class there last year. That is a great looking sock pattern - would look fantastic in that semi-solid pink yarn from the sock club (can't remember the dyer& it's on another floor of our house.) James is getting so big - toddlerhood is one of the most exciting times in a child's life - when they start to communicate & give feedback. I'll never forget the first time my oldest grand called me grandma or the first (& every other) time the baby (now 2½!) ran across the room & jumped into my arms with a big hug & kiss when I entered their house!

[Gretchen]

Oh my goodness, I just took a look at the SS2009 classes and schedule, it is like getting a PHD in sock knitting! WOW. I can speak to the beauty of the Gradience yarn...beautiful saturated color. I can not wait to knit it up! Gretchen

[Kathy]

One word of warning about the Nutkin: all those decreases right in a row tend to make the pattern not stretchy very much. Make sure you try it on as you go to make sure you can get it over your heel. I did one toe up, and had to increase a few to account for the non-stretchy-ness on the foot portion, and then neglected to check for fit before proceeding up the leg. Guess who couldn't get it on after she bound off? I'm going to try it again someday when I'm not so mad at myself, and either add in some purls between or just make the backside all K2P2 rib or something.

[Allison]

Kathy, you are so right. I had to tear it out once to get something that fit me. It's definitely a concern when starting the pattern. As written, it would only fit those with VERY narrow legs and feet.

[Linda]

Hi Allison, I'm coming to Sock Summit, and I was one who suffered the crashing server, took me 30 min. to get into the classes and then it wouldn't let me finish registering and when I did get back in only had 3 min. to finish! What a deal, I did get 2 classes tho, so I'm happy about that. I'll see you there -- I live about 25 mi. north of Portland, so will be driving down 2 days for classes and shopping of course. Linda Gettmann