First of all:

Diann, if you are reading this before Christmas, you may want to not scroll down much farther (certainly not beyond the top of the sock picture) or you may spoil a surprise.

Of course, if you don't mind spoiling a surprise, go ahead and scroll down.

I'm all packed. I've got the house pretty well cleaned up and have asked several people to do periodic checks. (I live in a low-crime area, but still...it only takes one person thinking you're not home and thinking that you just might have something worth ripping off in your house).

I leave town a little before 2 today. If the train is on time I get on around 5:15. So this time tomorrow, I SHOULD be eating breakfast on the train and be very nearly to St. Louis. (I hope. The train is not often on time.)

I've got the various sock-projects I mentioned with me. I also grabbed a ball of Regia Brasil out of the stash - it's rather bright, pinks and blues and a bit of orange, and at first when I bought it (over a year ago, now), I wondered why I had and almost sent it back, and then almost swapped it away for other things. But I didn't.

And I've found a chevron-lace pattern that I think will work well with it.

And I did manage to fit the yarn for the Central Park Hoodie in. It will be good to have something other than socks to work on. And because Christmas isn't really Christmas without having some toy-making, I popped in the Jessica Hutchinson toy book and yarn from the stash for one of her teddy bears. And the felted "Naughty Squiddy" pattern and some neat orangey-red yarn I bought ages ago for a hat before I decided it wasn't the right color for me to wear.

One thing I've been doing for a little while now is working down the stash. Mostly small projects, though. Now, I'm not going to make any grand plans (with loopholes) or set out rules for myself because I am a rule-following person generally, and I find myself chafing under having even MORE rules. But one of my goals for 2007 is to use up some of the stash - freeing up space, I suppose, for more stash.

I do want to do the River Forest Aran from the Melanie Falick holiday knitting book. And I want to do Rosedale - I've not started that one because I keep looking at the Kureyon and thinking, "I need to unwind this and find the best pattern of color changes to start with and the best points to fasten in new balls."

But I look at what I have put aside, and I find myself thinking, "And just when are you going to find time to use this up?"

So I'm going to do my best to resist the Really Neat Yarn that will doubtless come out in 2007. And I'm going to do my best not to listen to the Chicken Littles who will be going, "The knitting fad is dying! Brace yourself for 20 years of having nothing but Red Heart value-priced acrylic available!" (Because I've learned that threat-of-scarcity pushes my "must buy now" button as much as anything - even more than "that's really cool!" or "I've had a bad day!" or "Everyone's using this yarn!")

I will say that I'm not totally banning myself from obtaining yarn; I'm just going to make a concerted effort to reduce the ratio of yarn:completed knits in my life.

I have been doing some knitting:


It's the first Little Pink Sock. It fits very nicely - I've gotten back to making more "tight" socks after a few pair that kind of slouch around on my feet. I'm working on its mate right now, I think I will pop it in my purse for easy-access knitting on the train.

I would like to finish these because I just might be able to wear them as "hip Christmas socks" seeing as they are kind of in the "hip Christmas colors" of pale pink and pale yellowish green.

Okay. And here is the point where Diann should definitely stop scrolling down.




I'm going to talk about the Super Sekrit project.





This is the one I spent Thursday and Friday evening working up.





The copy of "Craft" magazine that Diann said she would send, came. I've already read it. I don't think I'll subscribe, even though I liked the articles on Jenny Hart and on amigurumi. But the magazine - and I hate to say this, but - kind of like back when I used to read fashion magazines, the magazine made me feel a little bad about myself.

Like, I'm not quite doing enough with my craft - that old feeling again. Like, there's this whole world of people who are making things that any hipster would declare "cool" and here I am knitting socks.

And you know, screw that. I waste too much time in my life feeling bad about who I am.

That said - I still like the amigurumi article and I may make one of those crocheted robots that there's a pattern for in the magazine. And if I were more hardcore I'd try to figure out how to apply the blinking programmable LED idea to, say, the back of a jeans jacket (but I don't know. Solder guns and I aren't the best of friends.) And I kind of liked the ant-farm room divider, but there is exactly nowhere in my house that (a) I need a room divider and (b) that kind of pomo thing would look appropriate. I live in a Very 30s House in terms of color scheme and accessories and something like that would stick out like a sore thumb. (I'd rather read an article on restoring an old Viking stove or AGA cooker - one thing I've often thought is that it would be fun - given sufficient money and time and tolerance for disruption - to do a kitchen-redo with appliances that were either reconditioned vintage or made to look vintage 1930s/40s. I'd love, for example, one of those big ceramic sinks with a built-in draining board like you see in "A Christmas Story."

[often when I watch movies - especially old or period movies, I'm looking as much at the sets and props as I am at the action.]

Another comment about A Christmas Story: It was filmed in the Cleveland region and I vaguely remember that some of the exterior shots were to be filmed in Hudson, the town where I grew up. I'd almost SWEAR that the exterior shot of Ralphie's school was the old elementary in that town (which was the third grade school when I was a kid). I could be wrong, but every time I see that building it just seems so familiar.)

Okay, I think I've eaten up enough space.

Even though my impression of Craftzine wasn't generally that favorable (I think I'm more an Interweave Knits/Piecework type of person), Diann WAS nice enough to send it to me, so I wanted to do something to thank her.

Well, I thought of the robots on the cover of the magazine (Designed by Jessica Hutchinson and similar to her robot pattern). And I had been wanting to knit another one of those robots (they are FUN to make - the color choices, even the simple intarsia is kind of fun).

So I figured, what would be better than knitting Diann her very own robot, kind of like the ones on the cover of the magazine she sent me?

So I did. I used some oddments of Wool-Ease:



It came out kind of 80s-fabulous. Oh well. The button on the robot's chest (I'm trying to avoid assigning a gender here, I'll let Diann do that*) is a vintage button from a packet of random buttons I bought at one of the antique shops in McKinney.

I mostly knitted it Thursday evening and I sewed it up Friday afternoon. I popped it in the mail Saturday, so hopefully it will arrive before Diann leaves for her holiday travels.

(*and yes, I am aware of the ridiculousness of talking about the gender of a knitted toy robot)