Jayne is a girl's name.

Carat asked which pattern I used to make my Jayne hat. Well... I haven't exactly made one yet. It's on the to-do list, and has been for some time, as evidenced by this conversation from a couple months ago...

Me: ...and I need to make [the Mad Husband] a Jayne hat...
StringTheory2.0 (confused) : Why are you going to make your husband a lady's hat?
Me (trying to sound all River): Jayne is a girl's name.

And then I had to go and find this for her. Though if you have no clue what I'm talking about, this will probably be more helpful. If you're not inclined to watch YouTube and don't know what Firefly is, the short version is Firefly was a Western set in space, and Jayne was the shoot-first-ask-questions-never mercenary. His mother made him this hat and he thought it was the greatest thing ever:

Not surprisingly, Jayne hats are all the rage with Firefly fans. I think I actually squealed at DragonCon last year when I realized one guy in costume as Jayne had an honest-to-goodness crocheted Jayne hat. Purists may insist that the hat must be knitted out of the most dreadful acrylic you can find. I think I'd go more Cascade 220, but to each their own. At any rate, I'd better make sure the Mad Husband has one of his own by DragonCon or he'll be sorely disappointed.

Happy birthday to me!

Today is my birthday, and it's one of those landmarks... it's the big 3-0. And despite my past claims that I was just going to stay 29 for a few years, I'm pretty excited about it. My twenties were so weird, in particular the beginning and middle, but improved so dramatically towards the end that I figure the thirties will continue the trend. I've become more confident in myself, and less concerned with what others think. You know what that means? Much more knitting and crocheting in unusual places to come. Possibly while wearing a Jayne hat and feeding birds and laughing maniacally for my own amusement.

No time for love, Dr. Jones

I am totally in love, or at least in lust, with sock knitting. I frogged the cuff on my Saucy Sock (k3, p1) because I didn't like it, and I'm liking the more conventional k2p2. But alas, I must set aside my lovely socks and get to work, because the Customer Spotlight Sale draws ever closer and I haven't done even a fraction of the work I need to do. Yet I keep surfing The Loopy Ewe and Etsy to look at the pretty, pretty hand-painted sock yarn.

Tonight I got out the hooks and got to work on a smaller version of the Jester Bag. I'm making it with Plymouth Happy Feet, and this stuff is terrific. I'm looking forward to using it for socks at some point. Man, though, now that I know how to knit, crochet just seems to rip through yarn. Maybe that's because it's so much faster, so my ball of yarn is gone that much quicker. The colors are beautiful!

Houston, we have sock!

Hi! I'm a sock!

Sock has personality.


Now I, too, can stick my foot up on the table next to people's food and drink to show off my SOCK!!

Pattern: Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula
Yarn: Numma-Numma Saucy in Marinara

little help?

So I mentioned that Needle Nook is having a Customer Spotlight Sale to raise money for ovarian cancer research. (You can click that second link for more information on the sale!) I hope lots of you will come check it out.

But I need your help. What sort of things would you like to see at a sale like this? It's spring in Atlanta, so I don't think anyone's looking for hats or scarves. I've got a few different ideas (that I'm not going to spill the beans on just yet), but I'm curious to find out what people are interested in.

Oh, No No Bad Kitty has a new favorite snack -- bamboo DPNs. Plus, this morning she pounced on Good Kitty while Good Kitty was trying to use the litter box. I'm starting to suspect that No No Bad Kitty is the devil.

April 13

Today the Mad Husband and I celebrate our first anniversary.

We had planned a big wedding, but ...stuff happened, and we told our parents "we're going to the DeKalb courthouse next month, show up if you wanna." Less than twenty people, a two-minute ceremony, and lunch at Wahoo! Grill.

And you know what? It was just about perfect.

Love you, sweetie.

Sock progress

First of all, I've learned never to say "I'm knitting a sock." Because then every smartass in the world will say something along the lines of "just one sock?" and think they're hilarious and oh-so-original. I've even gotten it from my mother. Gee, thanks Mom.

I've learned how to fix my dropped stitches with a crochet hook (thanks Lizardsmells!) and I'm getting better at it, but they still look kinda wonky so I'd rather just not drop them at all. Practice, practice, practice.

Sock yarn is the fiber artist's equivalent of Pokemon. Gotta catch 'em all.

I'm really loving knitting with numma numma Saucy. It's a little splitty, but the fabric is to die for -- wicked soft and I love the interplay of shades of red, pink, and orange. Don't worry, pictures soon. Oh, and when I try on the sock it feels so nice. Okay, I finally get the hand-knitted sock thing.

It's getting much easier to work on the double points. I'm not jabbing myself with the extra needles nearly as much as I was. I have had some issues with letting stitches fall off, but that's where I got the practice at fixing them, so I guess that's not so bad.

I'd say I'm about halfway done with the foot of sock #1. Sadly for my newfound addiction, I'm going to have to set the sock knitting aside in order to make inventory for Needle Nook's Customer Spotlight Sale. It's to raise money for a great cause -- ovarian cancer research -- and I'll be badgering you all to come out and see the cool stuff. Badger badger badger. (Wow, that link just totally freaked out No No Bad Kitty.)