Socks

Hey, good follow up to "Shoes", eh? Mr. Ether accused me of being a compulsive knitter last night. How dare he? Then I stumbled on this little video on the YouTubes, and it seemed relevant to the discussion.

Domestic Scenes 2

I am somewhat obsessed with knitting lace these days. I also love to knit socks because as projects go they are small and easy to carry around, they use small amounts of yarn, and I can always use more socks. I also get a kick out of making things that one normally buys.

So, voila! My newest pair of lace socks, finished last night.
Enlarge the photo to see the creative use I make of dog hair in my knitting -- in fact in all my home decorating schemes!

[For knitting geeks: The lace is an Orkney Island pattern called "Columns and Arches." I adapted the pattern from one in Nancy Bush's book Knitting on the Road. I used KnitPicks' Risatta yarn, a blend of cotton, wool, and elastic.]

Knitting. It's so ... relaxing.

Not! I have spent hours trying to knit a sweet little camisole. I have ripped it out and started over 4 or 5 times. I count my stitches oh so carefully, I mark the pattern repeats, and still the ¢¶•∞*˙ƒ∂ß≥ç∑@#!!! stitch count does not come out right. I have come to the conclusion that there must be an error in the pattern. It happens. Often times patterns even come with a disclaimer. (Like ... I'm going to sue them because my sweater isn't coming out right?) But this pattern is from a pricey eye candy knitting book, so you'd think there had been an editor involved with the project, and maybe some test-knitters too. I surrender to the whims of the Goddess Annoya (patron saint of things that get stuck in kitchen drawers -- according to author Terry Pratchett, and I've just decided, frustrating knitting projects.) I'll knit something else.

December Pictures

I did a little photo organizing today, and thought I'd post some pix I took a while back. Here are photos of a couple of my December projects (finally.) The finger[tip]less gloves were made for Mr. E. and the mitts for Sparkly Sea Cow. I made another pair of the squirrel mitts in pink for Cinderbelle, but I didn't get a photo of them before she went back to college.


All of our ornaments have some kind of sentimental value. This one was made by Cinderbelle when she was 3, and I think she called it "Sinterklaas."


For some reason, these are oriented wrong and I'm too lazy to mess with them any more. But I'll just give a quick tour: the little plaid bear-thing on top was the very first ornament Mr. Ether and I bought together. (Awwwwww.) We found it at Pier One Imports and called it "the hapless child" after an Edward Gorey character. We call the Santa ornament "the proctologist Santa" because he looks like he is pulling on latex gloves.

Have I mentioned that Mr. Ether and I met in high school, and bonded over the fact that we had a similar warped sense of humor?

Steep Learning Curve

I just got home from my graduate course: Information Architecture. Information Architecture, you ask? What is that? Well, it's basically writing the code for building the underlying structure of large web sites. I had my first class last week, and left feeling seriously nervous after the professor said, "This is an 800 level graduate course, and I expect you to get into the lab and know how to blah blah blah ..."

Tonight we met in the lab, and there I was surrounded by young, computer savvy pups. The professor talked us through writing XHTML mark-up to put up a simple web page, and you know what? I got it! I had to ask the young woman next to me for help a few times but she had to ask me for help too. It was such a good feeling.

There are 3 of us women in the class, all about the same age, who are at the same level of inexpertise on the computer. We had a good laugh together last week when the computer geek professor shared that he has a new baby, his first. Now there's a steep learning curve! He shared that he expected to be back to normal in a month or so. Ha! I'll have XHTML down in a month. If anything, he'll be more sleep deprived!

I can't believe how excited I am about this course. I was doing the reading assignments for this week, and it made sense. I realized that being a knitter really comes in handy, because I'm so used to reading knitting patterns. Mark up is not much different. I follow a series of stitches and - voila! - beautiful lace socks. I use a series of letters and symbols and - voila! - a web site. I feel so capable.

I did have a bone to pick with the authors of one of my books. They were talking about information architects, and what professions naturally do that kind of chunking of information with usability and accessibility in mind (not necessarily on computers, but just in general) -- and they totally overlooked teachers!!!! I had to rant at Mr. Ether for a good 15 minutes about that. I mean, what do teachers do, if not organize information into chunks to make it accessible to users -- i.e. students? And the younger your students, the more you do it! Oy vey ... being in a profession which is so discounted in general (and probably more often by MIT graduates) is my cross to bear!

Stay tuned for the ongoing transformation of Luminiferous Ether into a computer geek (one who wears beautiful lace socks.)

What is the likelihood ...

... that my daughter is the only kid going to college with soap and bunny slippers handmade by her mom?

Walking Cheerfully ... in Bunny Slippers

I just finished these knitted/felted bunny slippers for my daughter. How cheerful can you get? They are modified from a Fiber Trends clog pattern (in case you're curious.) She wanted them to look real, and I have to say they wiggle their noses very nicely when she's wiggling her toeses.

Wool IS the miracle fiber.