Languidly Knitting

No more need be said.

Thank you, everyone, for the comments!  I feel much, much better at the moment.  And yes, I think my hedgehog is super cute, too.

Now, a story about why I haven’t made any knitting progress, in pictures.

A Christmas present sock in my purse. (It’s a Maruca bag, in case you were wondering.)

And here’s the sock, pulled out of the bag.

But wait. Isn’t something missing?

Yeah. This is what was missing.

P.S. It’s the Charade sock in Shibui Knits Sock “Earth”.

No knitting today, but still, a cute picture at the end.

My life has been crazy in the past two weeks. I started two new jobs, one for a large tax preparation company* which shall not be named (hint: their color is green) and another for a brand new to St. Louis restaurant chain that boasts from-scratch food and a microbrewery inside (you can figure that one out if you’re from the northern mid-west).

Unfortunately, this past weekend my body/immune system decided it’d had enough of the 12-hour work days and tossing-and-turning nights. Two words for what happened–one innocuous by itself, the other so evil scientists cannot decide whether it can be classified as “alive”–two words that, when put together, are so insidious that one cannot think upon it without shuddering: stomach virus.

I’m mostly better now, though, as I can actually eat things without feeling like my digestive tract is imploding.

And, as promised, a cute picture. Click to see the full one.

My boyfriend and I have a hedgehog named Xanderby now.

And that’s it until I finish a pair of socks.

*If you have tax questions, you can ask in the comments. I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable.

I think for this coming Christmas, I’m going to swear off the gift knitting. For this past Christmas, I’ve committed myself to knitting presents until the middle of February. It’ll be worth it in the end–the recipients are so looking forward to having hand-knit gifts that they mention it in nearly every conversation I have with them. (It’s likely they want to expedite the knitting too, but I’ll knit on my own time line, thank you.)

Here’s the one gift that I finished on time for Christmas:

Black, tweed socks. Manly, yes? (Click for a modeled picture.)

The pictures suck because my camera was being weird in the bad light. Oh well.

Garter Rib Socks by me (improvised)
Source: Any stitch dictionary? Sensational Knitted Socks for sure, though.
Needles: KnitPicks 32″ 2.0mm (US 0) circular
Notes/Thoughts: Just a simple pair of socks.

Though I finished these on time for Christmas, my dad didn’t get them because he was in out of town at the time. I hope he likes them; he is not a particularly demonstrative person (and neither am I) so one cannot always tell. He said that he would wear them to bed (read: instead of wearing them out in his shoes while at work), which I took as a compliment.

More Christmas socks (nearly finished) to come. However I’ve been working over 40 hours/week (a combination of two different jobs), so it’s been a bit crazy. I haven’t had much time to knit, really–it’s always sad when I can’t find time to knit.

2008. Really, already? I really hope anyone who keeps up with this blog reads on an RSS feed monitor because I’m terrible about updating.

I spent the first day of the new year cleaning. I cannot decide whether that is an auspicious sign or not. I’ll be optimistic and say it means I will have a cleaner house by the end of the year.

I think I kept one out of my four or so resolutions last year. In lieu of introspection (my navel is probably linty because I never gaze at it), I will barrel on to this year.

Alex’s 2008 Knitting Related Resolutions

1. Post in the blog once a week. Fifty-two posts in one year; it’s possible.
2. Finish up Christmas presents by February (more about that later)
3. Finish up UFOs such as the Norwegian Stocking, Angie, Salina
4. Stash controlling diet (more about this later too)

I’ll leave you with a picture of pretty yarn. More Zen String Serendipity Fingering, which has been officially crowned “Most Numerous in Alex’s Stash.”

November (Poseidon) and October (Morocco) Zen String Sock Club

Happy 2008, everyone! Best Wishes!