My September

It's me-- I'm back-- don't know why I've been away for so long --

Well, that's not completely true. There just doesn't seem to have been much to blog about lately. I've been working, and knitting socks, and reading, and watching new TV shows.

I think I'm okay on toddler socks now. I got past my mental block on those, and have returned to working on my current Six Socks Knit Along project, the Victorian Lace pattern.

The first one took me about two months - I didn't keep track of time on it very well, but I finished the first sock right after I got back from seeing the Yarn Harlot in Wichita on September 16.

The delightful Ms. Pearl-McPhee was as entertaining as ever. I admit I had wondered if she repeated the same stories every tour, but her material this time was completely different from when I heard her in OKC last year.

She stood behind a heavy wooden lectern, in the auditorium of the beautiful East Wichita High School, and of course had to pull the mic way down to her level. I had a seat on the right side of the front row, and I could see that as she spoke, she mostly kept her hands in plain sight, holding the edges of the lectern, or gesturing, or turning pages in her notes.

When she opened the Q & A segment, I soon noticed that her hands were very busy behind the lectern, and I remembered to ask her something I had wondered about since last year. When my turn came, I asked her if she would step out from behind the lectern so we could watch her hands, and her fingers were simply flying with her doublepoints. She didn't ever seem to look at her hands. I think she said, "I'm knitting. You all know how to knit, right?" But it was like nothing I had ever seen before.

I continued with the second part of my question, asking how she holds her needles when she uses straight needles. She then told us about the history and technique of Irish Cottage Knitting, and borrowed a scarf-in-progress from the nearest knitter using straights, and demonstrated for us, holding one needle stationary under her right arm, tensioning the yarn with her right hand. She said this is the technique used by the fastest knitters in the world.

Yep, there is such a competition - and I seriously doubt if it has ever been mentioned on ESPN.

I cast on my second VL sock at lunchtime Wednesday, September 19, and finished the leg in eight days. That's some kind of record for me. I'm just past the heel turn now. Maybe there is some truth to that YH sock mojo after all!

I miss my knitting buddies. I was just really beginning to feel like I belong to this group, and now I haven't seen any of them for almost a month, and haven't even made it in to the LYS in that time.

We were SO not ready to vote at the last Knit In, but MG made us do it anyway. We were still throwing in new ideas for names after the vote, and some of them were pretty good. DYYSH Night is my personal interpretation of the winning name - we ARE, in spirit if not in name, the -- (drum roll, please) -- Divine Yarn-Yarn SisterHood!

I nagged at myself this week - even told myself I can't go play with my precious grandson - until I finally put some more work in on my living room remodel. Today I put the trim up around the two doors, and put the treshhold edge down at the front door. There is still a gap, but that must be what that color-matched sealant is for--at least it is now! Wonder how many more tubes of that I will use, compared to what a pro would need.

Now I'm ready for another trip to Home Depot for my baseboards, and when I get them installed I can think of putting the furniture in there like a real living room, instead of it being a woodshop adjunct.

Then that reminds me - I've got to find some space in the garage. It's there, I just can't see it for the clutter. Which in turn reminds me that I really want to replace my garage door, but I am reluctant to take that big bite out of my savings.

I have to stop now and get some sleep. I have a very important Play Date in the morning!