It’s the day after, and I haven’t been too good about spreading the holiday cheer here. Just a lot of dog photos.

The past few weeks have seen three pairs of Ysolda’s garter stitch mitts, inspired by this photo by Christina. Two got away without photos, as did one of the two Noro K1P1 striped scarves I’ve spat out since Thanksgiving, as inspired by Jared. (However, mine alternated a solid with the Noro, as I worked through yarn already owned.) Perhaps a picture will appear here after I charge the battery to the lovely camera I received, thanks to the man (his photo above, my assisting and animal handling).

I hope you and yours have had a lovely December, whether you celebrated yesterday, earlier in the month or on the solstice. I’m headed to Pennsylvania tonight to help my parents pack up their house for the next four days. If anyone’s going to be in the vicinity of Bedford or Harrisburg, that’s where you’ll find me.

Just pray that there’s no bad weather to prevent my 12/31 flight home, via DC.

Tis’ the season!

Janie Sparkles looks a little frightened my modification of Knitty.com’s Jackyll and Hide in chunky yarn (Crystal Palace Iceland).

Maybe she’s just scared of the kerchief we’re forcing her to wear today?

Happy Halloween!

We’re making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight in the dark. No, there hasn’t been a power outage. It’s Lights Out SF. Six tealights are burning on the coffeetable, next to a chunky make-it-yourself candle I make’ed years ago that’s burning for the first time. The only other light in the apartment is the dull glow of our computer screens as I’m typing and he’s on flickr.

Today was the surprise 40th birthday party for Michael, put on by his adorable and loving boyfriend Anthony. I assume someone will post pictures. Other than surprise Mr. Socktopus himself, a highlight was hanging out with Kate (who just heard about these new-fangled computers) and Tammy (of her own bad-ass tattoos fame). I have the feeling that these three (along with Elaine who couldn’t make it) could be my future BFF’s.

At least, that’s what I’m hoping.

I’ve been reknitting the Brancusi sock on finer yarn, smaller needles and more stitches. It’s changed how the overall pattern looks, and for the better. I’ve since turned the heel and started decreasing for the toe after breakfast this morning.

This blurry photograph was taken on the plane to Vegas, two weeks ago. It was a 24-hour jaunt for work to go to Interbike to witness the launching of our latest program: 2 Mile Challenge.

What is it? It’s a challenge to ride your bike for trip under 2 miles: to coffee, to dinner, to the store or to a friend’s house. 40% of US urban trips are 2 miles or less; and 90% of those trips are driven in a car.

Learn more at www.2milechallenge.com/ride.

Did you see the Knitty Surprise for this month? That’s my kind of knitting.

I may convert the pattern to use the excess amounts of chunky wool I have… who doesn’t need some Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired knits?

Look what came the other week! Five fabulous skeins of blue yarn. From Munich with love, courtesy of Taste of Germany by Ms. B of Knitters Uncensored. Thanks, Ms. B! Sogar besser als Weisswurst mit Senf (which I don’t eat, but Mr. Man thought I should say.)

It’s all I can do to keep myself from winding them all and starting socks galore, but I’m trying to be a good boy. Trying to finish the three other socks in progress right now (and the hat that needs finishing and the sweater that didn’t need to be started).

I was productive this past weekend and photographed all of my new yarn and put it into Flickr and Ravelry. Hopefully, you and me both will be seeing some of this yarn on it’s way to being something.

As I wrestle with my conflicted consumerism feelings, I ponder, “What if this is the last yarn I buy? How long would my stash last?” On sock yarn alone, I think I have a couple of years. There’s five sweater-worth’s of yarn, plus a (couple of) trunk-fuls of Crystal Palace goodies. Goodness knows, I have plenty of patterns in books, not to mention those living on the Interwebs.

It’s just an idea I’m toying with. No big declaration just yet. Ravelry is forcing me to see how much I really have, and at the same time, Flickr is showing me more yarn that I want. I blame you, HelloYarn!

Now will someone go buy this Rowan 4-ply from my favorite eBay source/dealer, so I don’t end up with it?

It’s been a few weeks since I received my copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One, but allow me to add to the chorus of people gushing about Cat Bordhi’snew book. If you already knit socks, this book will shake up your world, in the best way possible. If you don’t yet knit socks, what are you waiting for? Grab her Socks Soar on Two Needles (my first sock book), and get going!

Just reading the first chapters of this new book made me eager to dive in. That first weekend, I obsessively knit up my two sample socks (the foundations for the 8 new sockitectures) in some scrap yarn. Great teaching device and how fabulous to have so many fun-to-knit baby booties! On the other hand, it’s a slippery slope that left me jonesing to cast-on for a sock for myself.

Cat’s moved beyond knitting and writing and is also making movies illustrating some of the techniques in the book. Check out her YouTube videos. If you have time, watch the Short Row tutorial (there are two parts) showing W&T and how to conceal them. Here are my other favorites:

Left- and Right-leaning increases

Judy’s Magic cast-on, for all you toe-up sock fans:

Having met her at BMFA sock camp, I fell in love with her. She’s incredibly intelligent, savagely creative, and playfully silly. The videos give you a little glimpse of her charming personality.

I’m so sorry I’ve been neglecting you.

It’s not you. It’s me.

You’re so kind and giving. I know you only want to help me, to simplify my stash organization. You don’t judge, you accept me for what yarn I have. But I’ve got baggage. And yardage. Lots more yardage than you know.

To be honest, I’ve been holding back. Even since the beginning of our relationship, I’ve had more yarn than I’ve told you. I tried to explain up front that I’d just start with sharing my sock yarn, but I haven’t been able to keep up my end of that bargain. There have been many skeins that have come into my life recently and not been documented and uploaded. Projects started and completed—from my queue, even! Weekends come and go, but I haven’t wanted to put the time into photographing, uploading and tagging.

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem. It’s just hard for me to be that honest with myself and that open with you. I don’t want to do this half-assed anymore. There’s sweater yarn, stuff for baby toys, sweaters purchased for unravelling. And your friends, whether they be in groups or my message box. I need to do a better job of hanging out with them, getting to know them, starting conversations.

I don’t want to break-up. I’m just asking for more time.

Last century, when I was a young and care-free chap, I dated a gentleman named Roy. I met him through my dearest sporty gay friend Doug (he hated when I referred to him as such). They worked together at a large denim jeans manufacturer based in San Francisco. Roy worked with a fellow named Michael, or as he said in his fabulously Northern English accent, “Yu-ung MY-Kul.” Our paths would cross on social occasions and he was someone I knew, but never more deeply than a dinner, or a party, or a concert or a movie out together. Eventually, Roy and I had run our course (and Doug disowned me), and everyone scattered onto their own personal paths in the City by the Bay (or NYC in Roy’s case).

Fast-forward seven or eight years, and a missive from Flickr came to me inquiring whether I was Stephen of Roy by way of Doug. The screenname clearly belonged to Michael, who, wouldn’t you know, just happened to be a knitting fanatic, fiber fiend and sock devotee! Mind you, I didn’t knit way back when, nor was his actively knitting, but the Fates would have it that our lives would converge in a tangle of merino, bamboo and needles.

After failed plans to meet at Stitches (which I never went to and he attended 489 classes), long delayed (my bad) responses to emails about meeting up at my work (where former coworkers of his now work), and the best of intentions, we finally pulled it together on Saturday to go down to Purlescense Yarns to see Cat Bordhi sign her new book (which is earth-shatteringly inventive, by the way). Sadly, I don’t have a picture of him and me to prove we were there! I forgot my camera, and he was kind enough to take a photo of me and Leslie from BMFA sock camp.

No longer shall our banter remain in the comments of other people’s blogs or photostreams! I hope it was the first of many hanging-outs to come. Combining our knitting prowess from both sides of the Bay, we could, nay, shall make our mark on the world… or at least have a good laugh and knit a few rows.

This lovely piece of work on the right is not mine. It belonged to Another Shopgirl, who used to be my upstairs neighbor. I inherited it from her when she moved to NYC.

We are different sizes (I must have 80 pounds on her!), so there was no hope of me completing the project. So, what to do? Salvage what I could and add it to the stash! Hooray! More yarn! Thanks, Ann.

This past weekend I started working with it on my first stranded knitting. Just two colors, the gray and white. Man, is it hard. As someone who’s never had gauge problems, I finally get it. I’ll finish knitting it tonight and will futz with it this weekend. I’m hoping some fine-tuning by tugging at floats and aggressive blocking will help solve the diversity of stitch heights.

Famous last words?