Extreme(ty) knitting, part 1: the feet

I whipped up a few FOs this past week, all of them covering extremeties. My next project is to finally finish Burridge, so I'm gonna spread out these FOs for as long as I can, because God knows that blanket will take me at least another month.

Anyway, first up are some simple top-down socks in Regia Cotton Surf (Atlantik colorway):



I won this yarn on the Christian knitters group on Ravelry for being weird. I never would have picked this yarn in this colorway for myself (I don't like blue all that much), but I ended up really loving it. The gentle hues and the smoky quality of the colors just worked very well. The one downside is that I knit these on size 1 needles, when it really should have been 0. They're quite loose at the ankles, but, more concerningly, one of the socks' stitches are really loose at the toe. That's a hole waiting to happen.

Also, does anyone have this problem? If I knit socks, my first sock's gauge is always looser than my second sock's. Always. So even though I knit the same number of rounds, my second sock is shorter than my first.

In a word, I wouldn't call this pair a winner, but I'm awfully fond of them.

Speaking of socks, thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, there's lots more in my future! Look what he got me for Christmas:



Isn't it gorgeous? It's Fleece Artist Supermerino in Polar Sea. For a girl who doesn't like blue, I'm sure using alot of it! Just look at how gorgeously rich that color is! My BIL also got me enough Lang Jawoll for two more pairs of socks (one pair blue, one pair orange). Did I mention he's my favorite BIL?

Birthday loot!

I forgot to show you my fantabulous birthday loot! How silly of me.

First off, a friend sent me this lovely Alpaca Boucle from Plymouth Yarns:



Three whole skeins! I wonder what to make with it...

Another friend sent me Knitting Lingerie Style by Joan McGowan-Michael and Bead Knitted Bags by Julia Pretl. And I bought myself Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits.



I never even considered Knitting Lingerie Style until I got it, but I am very, very taken with it. There's knitted lingerie and underwear, true, but there are also alllll kinds of garments. Socks, tops (shaped as camisoles or corsets), skirts, pants, shorts, and a dress. And while I may never make knitted undies (and if I do, I may never tell you), I'm definitely making at least some of the tops from that book!

And the beaded bags book is definite eye candy. Each bag pattern is preceeded with a smaller project to help you learn the techniques, and I want to make all of these! I love the feel of beaded fabric, and I'm a total magpie for everything shiny. And the book even comes with a DVD to demonstrate the techniques!

I'm also quite happy with Fitted Knits. It is pretty repetitive with the patterns, but since I like one of them, I like the rest. I am certainly planning a few things from there. Ooo, maybe I can make one of the shrugs with my Alpaca Boucle!

And I also got baking stuff. My sweet husband got me THE coolest Bundt pan ever:



He is so sweet. He says he thinks making and decorating this cake will make a great tradition for our kids. You know, the future, hypothetical kids.

And I got myself a shortbread mold:



Though the shortbread made in it doesn't quite come out crisply stamped, it has, nonetheless, been delicious.

And a question for you guys: do you listen to knitting podcasts? If so, which? I recently joined a gym and need something to keep the boredom at bay while I work out.

I can stop any time I want.

And this, folks, is why I needed to go on a yarn diet!



That's ten (10. TEN. TEN!!!) Rubbermaid bins full of yarn, plus that big cardboard box, plus the canvas bag on the left, plus several skeins in my work basket (not shown). When I pulled it out into the dining room, I couldn't get around it.

I have since organized and catalogued all of it, and will post a list at some point, maybe!

Incidentally, I've been doing very well with the yarn diet, only buying things needed to finish a project. I got four skeins of Wool of the Andes for my dad's DNA vest, and when that turned out to be too much, turned the skeins into a teddy bear. I bought black Wool-Ease to finish the crazy-square afghan. And I bought 8 skeins of Shine Worsted for the secret publishing project, which I haven't even started on, so that was out of keeping with the diet, but hey, I'm human. And I've done a decent job destashing, too!

I've been tagged for the 7-things meme by both Amanda and Cara, so I guess I have no choice but to answer. So, here goes! (I did a similar one a bit ago, but this is all new.)

1. I married my first serious boyfriend, and I was his first girlfriend. In a word, we really lucked out!

2. I came very close to having a black belt in Shuri-Ryu karate.

3. I pierced most of my own ear piercings. With a stud earring. Only one ever got infected, and it was because I was fiddling with it after I pierced it.

4. I floss twice a day, every day. Incidentally, I haven't had a cavity since I started flossing regularly.

5. I've never been able to do a cartwheel.

6. I've lived in Moscow, Atlanta, middle-of-nowhere-Ohio, and Chicago. To people's disappointment, I have neither a Russian accent (though some claim that I do have a very slight one, most agree that I do not) nor a Southern one. If anything, I have a Midwestern accent. I attribute my general lack of accent to learning English by watching TV.

7. I had my very first Circus Peanuts last night, and I must say, they are as vile as I've always heard they are.

I'm not tagging anyone, because most of y'all have already done this, but hey, if you want to, go for it.