Late Update

Finished these socks a couple of weeks ago for #3 son. Scares me that, at 10, his feet are nearly as large as mine (and I'm not a dainty-feet kind of girl). On the other hand, it makes knitting socks for him a breeze. Just act like I'm casting on for me, and make 'em a little bit shorter.

The cold is better, although the cough lingers (and how). I became a hazard to traffic safety yesterday when I was stricken with a coughing fit on the freeway. No water in the car, no tissues, eyes watering, and coughing my head off. So fun. I was actually so sick that I didn't knit for THREE DAYS! Ye Gods, did the world come to an end??

Looking through my old posts I found a couple of drafts that I never published. One is still relevant:

A bunch of my Doctor Who Ravelry friends and I, have gone completely insane and are going to knit a bias square Charity Blanket, a la Oliver's Blanket over at Mason-Dixon Knitting (page down to see these girls great work) When it's done, it will be auctioned off on Ebay to benefit Doctors Without Borders. Doctor Who....Doctors Without Borders....get it??

I had a few squares started........



But I've knitted a few more besides,



and am anxiously awaiting the packages from my friends to arrive, so I can start playing with everyone's squares and see what we all can come up with. Actually there are plans for two blankets - a North American and a European blanket. That way, my international friends don't have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping costs to get those squares over on my side of the pond. Thanks to Merrypippin for volunteering to take up the assembly chores on the European blanket. I'll be posting about progress on this once in a while. Plan on clearing out some space on those credit cards so you can bid on these beauties when they come up for auction.

And although the squares are fun, I needed to create more leftover sock yarn, so I started a new pair of socks for #3.

Did a little stash-diving and came up with this Sockotta yarn that makes a pretty good "guy-sock." Like the colorway so much, I have to keep reminding myself that the socks are not for ME!

Lots of baseball games in my future, so expect the socks to come pretty fast and furious for a while.

You Know You're Sick When.........

You don't even want to knit..........bleeeech!

Death Socks!

These are the socks that caused my demise in SockWars III. Knitted by the lovely Alvia. They fit perfectly, although I wish she had taken much longer to knit them.

My completed SMDs (Socks of Mass Destruction) managed to take out my target, before I met my demise. But, idiot that I am, I forgot to take pictures of the completed socks. Thanks go to my target, Amy, who kindly sent me pictures of the socks that caused her demise.

Poor girl, she didn't have a chance. HER target as size 10+ feet. Amy's are a petite 6.5. I SO got the better of that deal!

Gotta Put This Out There..........

I decided this morning that I need to put something "out there," in order to give myself some kind of kick in the butt. I have harbored a fantasy, for about three years now, to go back to college to get my MFA in Creative Writing. I am NOT ready to take this step.......yet. I have to get back to some decent writing habits, get the youngest kid a little farther along in school, and the family business has to settle down some for this dream to become more plausible. My old Alma Mater, actually offers a low-residency Creative Writing program, and is only an hour away from my house. So this is a do-able thing....If I WANT it bad enough.

See there's the rub. Do I want it bad enough? I love good writing. I love writing a really great piece that touches someone. I am amazed that my oldest son (Mr.-I-hate-to-write in high school) is now a creative writing major and loving every minute of it. And I want to write, too! But then again, I love knitting and I want to become better and better at that, too. Can I do both? Soon, two of the three kids will be out of the house grown-ups. If I'm gonna do it - there is no better time.

I really think I will need two to three years to prep myself for this. The first goal is to write. Write every day. And not just emails, board posts and blog entries. REAL writing. It may be good, it may be bad, but it needs to be out in the world. I'd say "on the page" but really, who actually writes longhand anymore?

The next goal - write something others may want to read. I can do it, I know. Crap! I used to write and edit a community newspaper all by myself. I can do it again. I'm not saying write a book, but how about a few essays, a small article or two. Try to get something published. Publication doesn't even need to be the goal. Just write something I willingly want to share with others.

Finally, make the plunge and apply for the program. Actually, if I can do step #1 and #2, step #3 will be cake (almost a given).

So why am I making this statement? Well if you want it, you have to declare it. Find a way to make yourself accountable. So this is it. I want to earn an MFA in Creative Writing. So there!

I'm Baaaaack!

So, we're back from our trek to our Great Nation's Capital - otherwise known as the alternately wet and hot Washington, D.C. Did a lot of REALTOR schmoozing, got drunk for the very first time in my life, and tried to work on my SockWars III socks. Still not done, but not doing too bad.

The SockWars sock was a good traveling companion, and visited several DC landmarks.....

The sock visited The White House:

The sock was afraid to get any closer, for fear of being arrested by the Secret Service and sent to Gitmo as a "Sock of Mass Destruction."


The sock went to Camden Yards in Baltimore to watch the Orioles beat the Red Socks...


And the sock sought a photo op at The Library of Congress:



The sock was also secretly in on a couple congressional meetings, but no photographic evidence of this exists.

The sock did NOT accompany a rowdy group of REALTORS to The Russia House, where we discovered the joys of orange/pineapple infused vodka (YUM!!) and Baltika #9 beer. Hey, while looking for that link, I discovered that The Russia House actually serves FOOD! Wow, maybe I'll actually eat dinner there next year!

I used to be a good girl.....then I went to DC with my hubby......I drank way too much vodka and learned my hubby knows the cure for bedspins.

Washington, DC has one serious deficiency, however. Apparently, there is only ONE yarn shop in DC - granted, it has three locations, but still only one shop. That must be a sin. Although I did score some fab-u-lous black merino fingering weight for a new shawl there.

Hiatus

Going on a little business vay-kay this week. Will return with pics and lots of blog-fodder, hopefully! See ya next week!