Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

I got tagged by the Dish Rag Tag box over the weekend! Actually, it was sent out from IL on Thursday and reached my mailbox on Saturday. Unfortunately, I was a complete idiot and didn’t check the mail until Sunday night, which meant that I spent about 3 hours that I should have spent cleaning frantically knitting up a cloth so I wouldn’t hold my team up any. It was sort of fortunate that I got it this weekend since I had socks to ship today too, I was already headed for the post office.

So, here’s the box for the Dishrag Divas and it’s contents from my upstream racer. A ballband dishcloth, the two skeins of dishcloth cotton, and the little extra she included was a row counter bracelet.

I knit up the winterberry P&C into a quick Darrel Waltrip cloth and a few short hours later, the box was repacked with two new skeins of yarn, the cloth and a few little extras for the next person in line.

Go team go!

We had such a short time together, but I know that you will be well received in your new home.

FO: Twisted Flower Socks for my Sockapalooza pal

Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Moss

Needles: Crystal Palace US 1 1/2

I am so thoroughly infatuated with these socks. I’ve loved the pattern since I first laid eyes on it. My first attempt was mucked up, but once I took the highlighters to the pattern to distinguish the k2tog’s from the ssk’s and the left twists from the right twists, it went much smoother. These are by far the most complex and prettiest socks I think I’ve ever had come off my needles, and once I marked up the pattern, they really didn’t take that long. Maybe 2 weeks to finish the pair start to finish.

And tomorrow, they go to the post office where they’re adventure will take them to adorn someone else’s feet. I’ve adored the time I’ve had with them, but I know she’ll give them a grand new home.

Ok, I was intending to post something last night, but my apartment complex got zapped in the thunderstorm that blew through around 8pm. So, I’m posting now instead.

I spent the weekend on a crazy coaster trip in New Jersey and New York. I can now finally call myself a true enthusiast as I have finally ridden the mecca of coasters, the Coney Island Cyclone. I loved Coney Island, had fun at Great Adventure, and had a great trip out to some of the shore parks as well. We got lost in the middle of nowhere in NJ at 4 in the morning, got no sleep all weekend and had an absolute blast hanging out with a great group of my coaster friends. Plus, for all the traveling I do, it was my first time to NYC and all I really got to see was Coney Island, so I’ll definitely make my way back to the area in the future.

Monday night I got my sockapalooza socks from my sock pal! She’s Susan at vanknittyfair.blogspot.com and she made me an awesome pair of Monkey socks in Lorna’s Icehouse. They fit perfectly and I love love love them. She also included some awesome extras… some stitch markers and a lantern moon sock-sized bag Thank you, Susan! I loved reading my sock story and I’m glad to find a new friend through socks!

Getting my socks has been great motivation to keep knitting and get mine done. I got the cuff of the second sock done on the trip this weekend. The flight delays and non-night drives gave me some good knitting time. The heel flap got a little bit of work on Monday night and I turned the heel and made it 6 rows into the gussett last night. In the dark. By flashlight and candlelight. Seriously. Here’s photographic proof.

So, sockpal, I am still frantically knitting on your socks and they will be in the mail this weekend if it kills me. Fortunately, the foot of this pattern goes fairly fast and I’m motivated to be done ASAP. I think they’re totally worth the wait, and I hope you think so too!

So I asked the hairdresser to go completely red this time… I love it!