Goddamn tiny needles

Our current ice storm action coupled with a chest cold has left me inside for the last 2 days. The work you see to the left represents hours of ignoring the recipient yesterday. I am still loving the striping, and for someone who literally doesn't get out much (in this weather anyway), it is endlessly fascinating. But I do now remember why I tend to aim more for the bulky yarn in my projects. It took me an hour and 20 minutes to do 3 inches of sock last night. The top half is 6 inches + a double knit heel + those bottom 3 inches= a long time. I thought a pair of socks for a 3 year old would be a quick knit. Wrong-o.

That's okay, though, because I only have one more specific project for Xmas in mind and it should be relatively quick. I'll probably do it between socks since the socks don't need to be done for Xmas. As you can see, they certainly won't be a surprise.

Look, Kathrin!

Thirteen years ago, Kathrin taught me to knit. My motivation was to make socks. I wanted a pair of socks to be my first project. She was having none of that. Rightfully so. Socks are not a good first project. You need to work out the kinks on a scarf or a dishcloth or something simple.

Well, not only were they not a good first project for me, they weren't a good 2nd, 3rd, 10th or even 20th project. Thirteen years later, I am finally knitting my first pair of socks. (This is where my mother tries to pipe up and contradict.) I made my mother some socks, it is true. But they were 2 needle socks with side seams I had to sew up. They were not the real deal, knit in the round on teeny tiny needles socks.

Last night, after I finished the other project (finally!) I could allow myself to start on these socks for Dorian. They look huge, but I swear I'm following the pattern exactly this time. No fudging, no making shit up as I go along. So if they are too big, they are too big. But you and I both know how that child can grow.

The best part of this whole project is that I finally get to use self-striping yarn. Even a basic stockinette stitch is thrilling when the color changes all by itself every once in a while. And knowing that I don't have to weave in a million ends to have a fancy pattern... it makes my heart skip a beat!

Santa scored big time!

This weekend, Sebastian asked Santa for "a kind of fancy costume, not just one random kind." Now, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but Santa (spoiler alert: that's me) got one hell of a bargain yesterday.

I went out to a party store thinking that they must have some costumes available at all times, right? Wrong. I looked and looked while Dorian did his best to manhandle at least one of every type of party favor known to man. I decided I may as well check the cake decorating aisle while I was there, and lo and behold, there was the Halloween clearance section. As I was trying to determine whether a foam clown nose and a green pageboy wig would fit Sebastian's vague specifications, my eye fell on a "Honey Bunny" costume. What is a Honey Bunny, you ask? Well, apparently it is a child in a pink velour dress with marabou trim and a set of bunny ears. When I checked the price tag I was floored, but knowing my retail protocol like I do, I knew that even if it were a mistake they had to honor the price.

The costume that originally retailed for $24.99 now said $2.19! Boy, was I psyched. And when I looked to the right, there was a "The Thing" costume (from the Fantastic 4 or something) which originally sold for $34.99 going for only$1.09!

So, I walked out with two full costumes and a couple of stocking stuffers for $5 and a penny!

The mysteries of the world (or at least this blog) revealed

Chances are, you probably don't care why my blog is called "There'll be days like this" and you probably never bothered to wonder why the address is "marmoset-marmoset.blogspot.com". But just in case you ever did, this should illuminate things for you. I always sang this Shirelles song this way to be silly, and that's where I got the blog name and address. And now Clockwatcher, savvy sis-in-law that she is, has uncovered this little gem:

Enjoy!

The procrastination station

This weekend, in avoidance of a certain project for which I never should have done the math, I have completed one mystery knitted item and these 2 little cuties.

Once upon a time, I was given an advanced reader copy of Oddball Knitting, which is not for people who are oddballs, but for using up leftover skeins of yarn in creative ways. There was a pattern for mini stockings which I thought I might whip up a few of if I had time left over after finishing my planned projects. Well, somehow these became more inspiring to me. I did not follow the instructions exactly because I was using different needles than suggested and I didn't have quite enough yarn and I don't think I have ever followed a pattern exactly... but as you can see they do look like Christmas stockings, which was the whole point. I also decided to add the crochet edging as an embellishment.

Now I just need to decide who will receive them. I'm thinking the red one will go to my paternal grandmother, probably full of chocolates. I'm still undecided about the green, though.

This little elf is still hard at work

A little tease of 2 projects: one halfway there, and one complete. The one on the bottom is using up leftovers from the big blanket with a very subtle pattern of natural sheep colors. The top probably did not come from blue alpacas and sheep, but you never can tell.

It's not Xmas in Brattleboro without...

ELFRED !!!!