JessaLu Knits (and Spins!)

Archive for March, 2006

• RTFP…Read the F*cking Pattern…this is what I should have done the first time I knit Jaywalkers. However, I did not. I now bow to the genius that is Grumperina – and I take back all the horrible nasty things I said about this pattern.
• Toe up isn’t my favorite – at least, not with the ‘You’re Putting Me On Heel‘ It looks kinda crappy.
• Toe up, however, is my favorite in that I can try on the sock as I’m working on it.
• Short-Row heels use WAY less yarn.
• The Jaywalker with a short-row heel is a wee bit tight.
• Something being ‘a wee bit tight’ isn’t enough to make me want to frog another three inches off the damned sock.
• STR IS all it’s cracked up to be. This stuff is like buttah.
• Once you’ve learned Magic Loop/Socks on Two Circs you’ll never go back. At least I won’t. Except for maybe to use the Brittany dpn’s I bought on Saturday. (shush.)
• My neck hurts really bad and my hair is downright frightening when I sit on the couch with my knitting for ten hours straight.
• Harlequin novels haven’t changed much since I last read one about seven or eight years ago. Who the hell comes up with the terms used during the ‘romantic’ scenes? People in oncoming cars that saw me while listening to a certain portion of Half Past Dead must have thought I was certifiable since I was laughing my ass off when the narrator started talking about ‘his iron hard hot shaft of love’. Seriously, who thinks this shit up? I fast-forwarded through half the book fer chrissakes.

As you all know, at the end of last week I decided to start the toe-up Jaywalker. As of Thursday night I was halfway through the foot and then realized that 2.5mm needles + STR yarn makes a GINORMOUS sock. This is what I had to work with the next morning after that realization:

I also switched over to 2.25mm dpn’s. Saturday morning I decided that I just could not continue on the dpn’s so I hit the road to Albany and purchased some 2.25mm circulars from a yarn store in Cohoes. I spent a good part of Saturday driving around the Cohoes/Troy/Bennington area. I visited three yarn stores and picked up a few skeins of sock yarn (pictures later – I promise. RR is glaring at me right now because ‘he’s tired’ wuss. And Karin, if you’re reading this I’m really, really sorry I didn’t make it to your store on Saturday – I hope you can forgive me…). So, because of my road trip I didn’t work too hard on the sox. However, as of 3pm today I had this piece of craptastic knitting:

and about three minutes after that I had a pile of yarn because there is no way in hell I could have lived with socks looking like that. (sorry, no photo :o( )

THEN three hours (and some confusion over the short-row heel directions) after THAT I had this to show for my efforts:

Did you have any idea that a short row heel used that much less yarn than a flap heel? I didn’t – and the New England penny pincher in me is now insisting that I knit this heel from now on. (do you SEE that pile??)

Unfortunately, now the sock is a bit tight. I think I might have been a little impatient to start the heel but I’ve already ripped so much that I just might cry if I have to rip again. I mean, having circulation in your foot isn’t *that* important, is it?

How many other parents of teens have heard that sentence and had their heart jump into their throat?

Wednesday I let Dobby ride home ‘with a friend’ instead of on the bus. There were several factors in play here, I had a dentist appointment at 3:40 and she needed to stay after for her MCAS Prep course. Both are very important however, they were happening about an hour and a half from one another. Because of budget cuts (thank you Gov. Romney Buttmunch) there are no late buses so if I can’t pick her up, she can’t stay after. So, she rode home with ‘Emily’ whom I have never met (however her mother knows my cousin’s mother or something – it’s a small town) but I was assured by my daughter that, “she’s a good driver, Mom.” Which put the fear of God into my heart.

You see, I have known a couple of people who were killed in High School because of sheer adolescent stupidity behind the wheel. To this day, if you mention ‘Webby’^* to a local they will remember a tall, good looking boy of 17 who was killed because when he and his friends saw a truck coming at them they all jumped into the backseat of their car (no logic there, see what I mean about the adolescent stupidity?). The other was the younger brother of my 9th grade boyfriend, Jason. He piled into a car with a bunch of friends to go to Friendly’s for ice cream after a dance, the roads got icy and two of them were killed when they slid into the path of an oncoming car. At the time of his death my dad was a mortician so I got a peek at the death certificate – suffice to say it made quite an impression on me.

So, I had more than just getting turned into Frankenknitter to worry about while at the dentist. Well, RR was coming with me so he worried for me so I was able to let the gas work while Dr. Winters did his magic ;o) I was still worried but at least I was sharing the worry, right? (for the first time, the nurses at the dentist all observed that I looked worried – huh, wonder why that was.)

There seems to be a theme going around blogland these days, at least the blogs who have children. We’re all wondering where the time has gone and where are little ones have gone and when were they replaced by these young people. I guess I am, too. But moreso since Dobby lived with her dad until she was 11, so I’ve only had the joy of her company full time for the past five years. Before I know it I’ll be hearing, “He’ll make a good husband, Mom.” *shudder*

Finished!

Started!

These are going to be toe-up Jaywalkers (sorry, Ab. I gotta know if the STR makes a difference in the pattern). Yes, I said Jaywalkers. Shaddup. I’ve never done toe-up before – I used the Turkish Cast-on and followed the tutorial here.

For those of you following the teeth saga, I got my ‘healing cuffs’ put in this afternoon. I look like freakin’ Frankenstein. If you want to know what they look like, click here. Hopefully on May 12th I’ll get the crowns put on and viola! new choppers ;o) That’ll be it, though. The very last step. I can’t wait!