Prep for Sock Summit.

The only rabbit visiting our house today is this snugglebunny, Janie Sparkles.

Finally, some wool up in here. Two balls in, starting the third. Row, row, row your Rowan…

EZ KAL with Sean.

Just published 2011 Sock Summit teachers, classes, vendors, and all that jazz.

While I’m certainly honored to be teaching again, I’m humbled by the other 59 teachers who will be there too. On top of that, I’m truly grateful that Tina and Stephanie have invited me to work with them and help put on this truly magical and fun event.

In other news, thanks for the kind words about my silly temporary coffee quitting. After a shower and light slathering of oil (much like seasoning a wok, it’s called abhyanga, Ayurvedic self-massage), I feel a world of difference. Maybe caffeine is loosening its grip on me. Or I needed a shower.

(Photo: A little leave-behind at Port Ludlow from the November silk spinning retreat.)

I’m headed there again this week for a wacky four days of Rockin’ Sock Club Sock Camp. I love my job. I love that I get to spend this time with my mom even more.

Fast Company just ran an article on yarn-bombing that included a quote from me. Shucks, thanks, but big props and mad respect to the real street artists out there going up every day, in yarn, paint, stencil or wheat paste. Compared to the real deal, I’m just a dilettante.

My next few weeks: two rows, twelve chapters in.

I finished finishing the Kerouac cardigan on Sunday morning and cast on before bed on Monday night for an EZ Bog Jacket. I’m having a micro knit-a-long, i.e. two-person, with my dearest pal Sean.

Why start one thing when you can start two? I’ve finally cracked open Rachael’s novel, How to Knit a Love Song. I’m pretty smitten with it. I suspect it will be finished long before the knitting.

Not much more to say here. Run on over to Clara’s blog for some thoughts I’m trying to sit with in my own life.

A favorite yarn in a favorite color… it only took a year and eleven months. How life has changed since then.

Yarn: WooBu by Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Pondscum and Meet Brown, Joe colorways.

Pattern: Kerouac by Jenn Jarvis (NipperKnits) from Twist Collective.

yarn:
Rowan British Sheep Breeds Chunky in Suffolk

needles:
4.0 mm / US size 6s (on top)
5.0 mm / US size 8s (on bottom)

winning gauge:
4.25 sts / inch using the 4.0 mm / US 6s.

• …going to Rachael‘s book launch tonight. She was a blog-spiration of mine from 2004 and the teacher of my first-ever knitting class (that I didn’t need to take, but did, because I wanted to meet her in person and not just be interweb friends). Now she’s a two-time published author, with book three on the way. I’m moved and inspired by people who make their passions into reality.
• …Camp Jabberwonky sock knitting camp at the end of the month. It’s become an annual tradition for me and my mother. Sadly, I’m no longer just a student. (Sad because I’ve never taken a class with Anne Hanson, but learned her mom’s special cast-on from her, and I enjoy learning from the gigantic and technical brains of JC Briar. Of course, I enjoy taking from Stephanie and Tina, too, but I talk to them almost every day.) I’m thrilled that we have a special guest this year, Anna Zilboorg! My first knitting book was the hardcover version of her Knitting for Anarchists
• …finishing the many projects on my needles. There’s a cardigan that just needs a button band and sleeves attached, there are at least three active pairs of socks (one may be a gift), and two wraps (one for me, one my first lace project to go to Suzanne). As much as I am a process knitter and enjoy the action of one or one hundred stitches, I do all that work to get to an end product.
• …Sock Summit 2011, again, it’s not just because it’s my job. I love teaching. I love meeting, laughing and learning from the students and other teachers. I love seeing a project be realized. And, it’s no understatement to say that the first one changed my life.
• …visiting Iceland one day. I’ve been slightly obsessed with Sigur Ròs’ Heima since I’ve seen it. I’ve considered attending my manpal Franklin’s Knitting Iceland trip in October (more so to hang with him and meet Ragga because I do not foresee many lace edgings in my knitting future). Here’s a peek at the concert documentary, that’s as much about the music as a love song to the landscape of Iceland:

(I’m glad to see Debbi, Carrie, Marcy and Sam are all doing 30 Days of Lists too! I look forward to seeing what they are jotting down.)

A dog ate my knitting needles. Well, 2.5 3.0mm dpns. Seriously.

No, it wasn’t Janie Sparkles. It was Dudley, the border collie mix that brings to my mother-in-law. I forget what an amazing girl we have, with no nervous chewing, no accidents, no major issues. Just occasionally barfy when she drinks too much, too fast. But couldn’t that describe many humans?

Not to worry, one of the consumed needles was already broken. All that remains are two whole ones and a stub of one. They were vintage (read: brittle) white plastic Susan Bates given to me from a friend’s mother-in-law’s stash (I’m seeing connections here.) So much for attaching the mitten caps onto the fingerless gloves I completed.

Alas, it was just the excuse I needed to indulge in an unbreakable replacement set from Signature. Besides, I like blue better.

(pictured is the pre-consumption breakage that occurred during the 9+ hour drive to Eugene on Wednesday – all my fault, not the dog’s)