Celiac Socks

May is celiac awareness month. Our household is very aware of celiac, thank you very much, but I do like to do my part to spread awareness. Normally celiac awareness month uses a green ribbon. I, however, use green socks.

Dan gets these puppies (he was the only one with green yarn in my stash so he won) so he can celebrate his celiac-adjacentness.

Boom. More Socks.

Never Again

After almost two and a half months, I have finally finished this pair of socks.

I cannot express accurately how much of an incredible pain they were to make. Dan encouraged me at least three times to just abandon them because they were so unfun. But I ultimately dug in my heels and eventually persevered. Thank you, pure stubbornness. So now I am done.

And I will never make this pattern again.

In more repeatable knitting news, I did make a pair of socks last month that I forgot to post.

A much easier pair of socks to make. I didn't want to set them on fire even once.

Little Cardinal Nugget

Adventures in Allergies

For the past two years, we've been battling Olive's increasing attempts to scratch off her lip. The vet has come to the conclusion that it's allergy-related but we couldn't find enough of a pattern to make any specific connections. So last week, we took her to a specialist to get allergy tested.

Turns out, she is allergic to many things. Specially, grasses (june, timothy and bahia), molds (penicillin and aspergillus), weeds (marshelder, careless, sage, Russian thistle, English plantain), trees (elm, oak and boxelder), as well as staph, fleas, and house dust mites.

Whee!

So yesterday, we started a new thing. Allergy shots.

The dermatologist says that it will take anywhere from three months to a year for the results to show, but from now until forever Dan and I will be giving Olive allergy shots every other week (though the first eight weeks she gets weekly shots). Hopefully this will allow Olive to retain her lip!

It's That Time of Year...

DFW FiberFest!

Dan and I went last weekend and yes, we got yarn.

 
 
  

We were much better behaved than in past years, which is good because there are no unused shelves in my yarn cabinet that my yarn can expand to anymore. I still have room, but really, I gotta knit faster!

By the way, the bottom row is Dan's part of the haul. I think he's as addicted to me knitting socks as I am!

That's Right

I made more socks!

I still have to work on my placemats (I have two done and about a quarter done with the third) and my Flying Geese socks (which are stuck just before the heel). Maybe I can get some good work on those done before I have to have some easy knitting and wind up casting on for another pair of vanilla socks.

Pictures!

Here's our shiny new thing!

 

Little bit of a learning curve, as with all new things. Used to our old fridge, we cranked the cold up on this one and ended up freezing some produce. Oops. (It didn't help that our fridge thermometers are apparently shot.) But after having it for a week, I think we are getting to know the new refrigerator pretty well. So far, we both are really happy with it!

Also, I picked out my birthday present while were refrigerator shopped: a new stove. It's awesome in that it can be used as either a big oven or two smaller ovens (I want a double oven so badly) but yeah, it's $1500. So maybe I'll get it for my 40th birthday! After buying a whole cow and a new refrigerator, I'm not sure if we will forget the financial pain of February by the time July rolls around.

Another One Bites the Dust

Keeping with the general theme of Dan and I being too cheap to actually buy new appliances until one dies, we are getting a new refrigerator tomorrow!

Our current one has been making a lovely grinding noise for the past couple of weeks and last night it stopped maintaining temperature in the freezer. Basically, we have two decently cold refrigerator sides and no freezer side. So our new fridge will be delivered tomorrow and in the mean time, we know the closest place to get dry ice. Rock on!

More Kniting

This year I've challenged myself to knit some actual sock patterns instead of making mostly plain socks. Which is why I have yet to make a vanilla pair of socks this year. Pair four is no exception.

My mom mentioned needing another pair of socks so she gets these, putting her in a tie with my aunt for the most socks made for people that don't actually live with me. (That required number? Two (and a pair of slippers). Yeah, most of the socks I make are MINE! A few are Dan's.)

Next up, I'm working on (shockingly) two projects at once.

 

On the left, a set of placemats. The in process one pictured is actually completed now and looks lovely. I'm almost half way through a second one but since I want to do six, I've got a ways to go. (Sadly, I've already figured out the time each placemat takes to make. Ten hours. Gah.)

With the inevitable length of that project, I decided to see if I couldn't throw some socks in there too, so a couple of days ago I started the project on the right, which are going to be Flying Geese socks. (As in the quilt pattern, not the animal.) Dude, it's hard. So hard. I think I have it figured out but only maybe. I'm pretty sure that this pattern is going to drive me straight into the arms of a plain stockinette socks. But hopefully they'll look really cool!

Next up (when I eventually finish these): busy purple socks and some obnoxious pants. Oh yeah.

Because She's Adorable

They're In Space!

I didn't post about it, but last year I read Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey). I didn't love them (though they were interesting enough for me to read the whole series) so I didn't mention them. Plus, if I had said anything, it likely would have been weird quotations from the book, possibly with some irritated commentary added.

Space pods were not the most elegant means of transport devised by man, but they were absolutely essential for construction and maintenance work in vacuum. They were usually christened with feminine names, perhaps in recognition of the fact that their personalities were sometimes slightly unpredictable. Discovery's trio were Anna, Betty, and Clara.

Yeah, I could say a few things about that.

A post devoted to those books would have ending up being rather long. And, while I didn't hate the books, reading them just left me with a sense of lost potential and, well, irritation.

Just as 2010: Odyssey Two was not a direct sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, so this book is not a linear sequel to 2010. They must all be considered as variations on the same theme, involving many of the same characters and situations, but not necessarily happening in the same universe.

Yes, the books weren't "linear sequels". A nice way of saying that the books contradicted each other.

But as awesome as contradictions in cannon is, there were bits that were even better!

[The students] had been helped - or hindered - by a team of four kongs, who Del Marco considered more trouble than they were worth. However, the students adored the genetically-enhanced gorillas, whom they treated like retarded but much-loved children. It was rumoured that the relationships were not always completely Platonic.

I... I just don't know what to say. I'm just going to leave that one there and slowly back away.

Anyway, while I did not love the books (and would be hard-pressed to say I even liked them) I did want to watch the movie version. Some movies are just classics, you know? So that's what I did yesterday.

Oh, I didn't watch the movie alone. I had company.

Cocoa and I were equally unimpressed with the ten minute acid trip at the end of the film, but she really enjoyed the monkey-things at the beginning of the movie. I don't think either of us really needs to watch it again though.

One Day Late (But It Counts!)

It was slightly late (by a day) but Dan got his birthday socks!

Official Socks!

Surprise! I've made socks!

Okay, in no way is this an actual surprise to anyone that has had even marginal contact with me or my blog. But still, it's exciting! More socks!

The colorway of the yarn is called Like, Totally Rad. That amuses me more than it probably should. Less amusing was the difference in the beginning and end of the skein. One end had lots of pink and on the other, that pink was significantly less intense. I'm sure you can tell which sock came from which end. But oh well, whatcha gonna do? I'm still going to wear the heck out of them.

Once these were done, naturally I cast on for more socks. But this time I'm actually knitting for someone not me. That's right - it's time for Dan to get more socks!

I might even try to finish them in time to call them a birthday present.

I'm Still High From the Fumes

I finished my bunny slippers!

They've been mostly finished for a handful of days now, but I was waiting for the weekend so I could spray the bottom with Plasti-Dip. I managed to not get a picture of it, but the soles are bright pink.

Even with the Plasti-Dip soles, I am a little concerned with their longevity. They are just so soft and squishy! My felted slippers are about to hit two years old (next month) and between holes and patching, I think they are about done. Of course, they didn't have any type of added wear resistance to their soles, but still. I'm not easy on my slippers. So I'm not sure how long the bunnies will last. We shall see!

In other news, I forgot to share a few things I knit last year for other people.

 
 

So that brings my sock total to just 14 - much smaller than last year's 30 - but I also did three pairs of fingerless mittens, a pair of gloves, a pair of shorts, four sweaters, a shrug, nine donuts, and a handful of other random little things. All totaled, I ended up in the same ballpark yardage-wise as last year so I'm pleased.

Not sure what my knitting plans are this year. I might end up splitting my focus a bit because I want to learn to sew and how to make sauerkraut. In the mean time, I'm knitting some socks.