Did you know it was Scout’s b-day today?
Neither did I!
Please go tell her how much you love her. She’s an incredible mother to two beautiful children, a one-woman yarn dying force of nature, and And if you’re in the mood, check out a her shop to experience some of the best customer service on the interwebs!
Let’s all raise a martini glass to her (filled with your libation, notion or yarn of choice)! Happiest day to you, baby!
I’m so embarassed. There’s no need for an Amber (and cherrywood, black, and rust) alert any more. I found the sock. Right under my nose.
No, Tricky, it wasn’t on my foot. (But that was a great suggestion!) It was on the spare chair at the kitchen table, safely tucked against the wall. In a fit of cleaning off the table for guests, I must have stored it on the seat, out of sight, out of mind and out of harm’s way.
All of my fears about having left it in Austin, or work, or in my car, never to be seen again were unfounded. My entire day was out of whack, wracking my brain as to where I left this little bugger. I want to thank the kindness of y’all: Trish, Adrienne, Scout, Michelle, and Elemmaciltur. Your compassion knows no bounds.
I think I’ve learned a lesson from all of this… I gotta finish what I’ve started. In addition to socks, there’s a scarf, a Knuck, a pair of felted clogs, and two sweater (and a third that’s been zipperless for years!) that are begging for attention, and a handful of promised designs. Add to that a stash that needs to be cataloged, my knitting is stressing me out.
Feel free to call me out if you see me start anything new. And I’ll do my best to tend to my socks.
I’d like to introduce a new concept to the knitting world. We’ve all heard of S.S.S. (second sock syndrome), the ennui that overtakes a knitter upon compling a sock and prevents her/him from starting (and finishing) the second. I’ve also heard of the converse, F.S.S. (first sock syndrome), in which a first sock takes forever to complete and the second one flies off the needles.
I’m currently experience accute symptoms of M.S.S. (multiple sock syndrome). There’s a higher occurance of this nowadays thanks to the sock obsession sweeping the nation, fueled by wonderful indie yarn dyers (Scout, Lisa), podcasts that celebrate said yarn makers and designers (Stash and Burn, Lime & Violet) and elaborate schemes to create an addiction (BMFA’s Rockin’ Sock Club).
I arrived at my own diagnoses seeing the number of works in progress I have… four pairs of socks in various stages of completion. I never thought this was a problem, especially since three of those pairs already have the first sock completed and the heel turned on one (despite the above photo of a ripped out heel flap). Sure, in my last post I presented four delicious cakes of sock yarn waiting in the wing, but it’s not like I couldn’t stop whenever I want to!
I hit rock bottom this morning. I’m experiencing an advanced case of M.S.S. No, I haven’t cast on a fifth pair or socks; and after what I’m about to tell you, you’ll see why I’m coming to terms with my M.S.S.
I lost one. I can’t find the sister sock to the Lisa Souza Mars Quake sock in the photo. I know I knit it. It travelled to Texas with me and was shown off at a knit one one class. I’ve been thinking about ripping back the toe to finish it in a less pointy manner.
But it’s gone.
It’s not in the knitting bag(s); it’s not with other half-finished friends; it’s not in the stash; it’s not even saliva-encrusted laying in Janie Sparkles’ lair. I’ve checked in my suitcase, between couch cushions, behind book shelves. inside drawers, all over the house; all to no avail. And now I’m late to work.
Feel free to print out the image and hang MISSING posters in your neighborhood. I just want my baby to come back home. I know it’s my fault. I only looked way for a few inches on a foot and casting on a toe-up. I should be charged with negligence.
I’m so sorry, handsome little sock. Please come back to Daddy.
Here’s my “to-do” skeins, freshly wound up. The bright multi-color Fire on the Mountain STR will become baby gifts. The Monsoon greens and grays are a sock for me, courtesy of the Rockin’ Sock Club. The blue/white/brown Scout’s Swag “Sea Bunny” is a disco’ed colorway I poached from photo Scout posted on flickr.
I’ve been meaning to post an Austin summary of my SXSW adventures, but it’s not happening. Head over to my flickr photos to see images of Ernie (of little yellow different) rocking the Pat Benatar at very empty gay bar’s karaoke night and a big bowl of cheese, known as queso. There’s nothing better than a big bowl of fat when you’re eating late night by yourself in a strange town. Can I get an amen?
Other socks are progressing, but pretty pictures will come later. My first Yarn-a-go-go sock from knit one one is ready to be bound off. And, despite multiple ripped out pattern repeats or sections, the second Lisa Souza “Mars Quake” sock’s heel has been turned. More sock-related news to come.
Wireless has been spotty at my hotel, but, then again, so has my down time to craft lengthy posts detailing the goings on my first South By. Yeah, that’s what the locals call it. I’m so down. Let’s talk knitting…
I went to Hill Country Weavers Knit ‘n Nosh, local knitting bloggers edition. My travel companions (and the kind people I’ve hung out with most while here): Harold and Jenny (of Stash&Burn). I met a whole lotta fun women from Austin, Houston and beyond… and now I have more blogs and podcasts to follow!
Sadly, I didn’t get to talk to everyone (next time, Rhonda and Staci?). I was kind of overwhelmed and uncharacteristically shy. I’m really much more fun, loud and spazzy. Trying to keep track of who was who and ripping out 6 stitch/8 row panels to fix, kept me pretty quiet. Trust me, I can be more of a party… just ask Jenny. I did my best to charm and woo her (in French, even) at Hotel San Jose the previous night (with our friend Alan Cummings—who was pretending he didn’t know us.)
So much more to report… music this morning, a gay bloggerati’s karaoke triumph, more Alan Cummings sightings, and a crazy coincidence of friends of friends of friends that prove that the Checks are meant to be my new BFF’s.
edited to crorrect an error: Yarn and Order is not adorably pregnant to my knowledge. She is adorable—I confused her with Yarn Bar.
Here are the socks mentioned in the previous post…
So, you’d think finding out one knitter-rati at SXSW would be enough, right? After the Vickie’s panel, I stood chatting with her man Dave. A woman came up and asked if I was going to the SXSW knit-in at HCW. I hadn’t heard of such a thing, Dave mentioned that they were going, so why not?
I asked this lovely lady and her gentleman escort where they were from and if they were knitters. I assume they knew I was because I sat there working on the mysterious blue sock that I’m not showing in pictures just yet (buried in the photo over there). It turns out they are from San Francisco. Small world! Her voice sounded slightly familiar, then she mentioned she and a friend have a podcast.
“You’re Stash and Burn!” It’s only my latest podcast obsession, found via Lisa Souza’s blog. I got to spend the night chatting with Jenny and her beau Harold. Hooray for new knitting friends!
We’re all off to the Knit and Nosh at Hill Country Weavers. Thanks, Meg for letting me know about that!
I’m here in Austin, wandering from panel to panel at SXSW, right now typing this in a session about Web Hacks and current usage trends. Some of this stuff is way over my head, but it’s fun to see what’s out there and where things may go in the future. Pretty much a dorkfest (in a positive way)… I feel at home, though somewhat under-geeky. I only wish I was as smart as many of the men and women here.
So, there I was, lying naked (I forgot my ‘jammies) in my bed last night, reading about today’s panels, so I could plan what to see. There, among the Internet-erati that I read about was a name I recognized, someone I knew. She’s a knit-erati (or is it knit-erata?)—Ms. Vickie Howell! Her panel is the one I’m off to next. Courtesy of MySpace, I let her know I was in town and I’ve already run into her (and her dreamy man). However, I couldn’t chat much because I was running late. I didn’t get a chance to congratulate her or see the ring!
I didn’t know how much time I’d have on my hands while here, so I brought a bunch of socks in progress to keep me busy. And I have three on the needles right now. On the flight here, I finished the toe of the Gentleman’s Fancy Sock from Nancy Bush. Last week, I realized that I was closing in on the halfway point of my yarn, but still inches away from the toe decreases. Thank you, postal scale at work!
The next sock is number two of a Lisa Souza. It’s a joy to knit, compared to the Opal stuff on the other guys. Instead of just black and orange, it’s a wide range of richer blacks, warm maroons and flickers of fire and gold. Straight up merino is one of the yummiest things for my digits. I could finish this over the next few days.
Last, and certainly not least, my favorite of the three is a blue toe-up baby of my own design… well, my design input on Rachael‘s sock-a-go-go. I guess I’m man enough to take on a lace-based sock and sub in some cables. I’m missing Rachael’s knit-one-one class (chez Sile’s) because I’m deep in the heart of Texas. The furtherest I can get on them is to the heel on the second sock, ’cause I don’t know what’s next!
Mr. Man told me that a package arrived today from Scout, so there’s more socks in my future. It’ll be waiting alongside the Rockin’ Sock Club shipment that came earlier in the week from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. So expect prettier colored socks in progress in the near future.
written this afternoon, posted after midnight, pictures to come
I’m headed to SXSW Interactive on Friday. It’s held the week before South by Southwest’s music festival. Work is sending me to check out how cool and geeky the Interwebs can be. I hope to post, as I’ll have a lot of knitting time with no doggie to walk. Maybe I’ll even post (when I’m not attending panels or running).
Got any advice for a week in Austin? Know any groovy people there, knitters or otherwise? Do you live there? Help a homo out… so far all I’ve heard is Hill Country Weavers. Coffee, grub and off-the-beaten-path destinations would be appreciated.
Sile mentioned me over in the knit-one-one blog. I had recommended she go read one of my favorite bloggers, Rachael (Yarn-a-go-go). I have yet to meet Rachael in person, despite living within 15 miles from one another and my (lack of) participation in Run-a-go-go.
Many months later, Rachael is teaching a Sock it to me, a four-week class on a pair of warm and lacey sock. If you’re in the Bay Area, go sign up for one of the remaining spots! It starts on Monday, March 5th.
I need to get my butt over to knit-one-one so I can meet Sile in person. I couldn’t do the doggie sweater class because of swim practice last week. Janie Sparkles will just have to wait for some couture of her own.
Everyone raves about how lovely the knit-one-one experience is, courtesy of Sile’s hospitality. Rachael’s socks are beautiful, but more open-work than I’m used to in my “manly” socks. (Scout, I find your colors so butch!) In reference to this post’s title, it sucks to be a selfish boy who only wants to knit for himself. I’m girly enough as is… no need to add lace!
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