Needles and socks

Thank you so much for all of your supportive and encouraging comments on my last post. Being a mother is a challenging, difficult job, and I won't pretend that I love every minute. However, I will choose to enjoy the precious moments that I have with my children. Time is a tricky thing. It's here now, gone tomorrow. I love my three littles so much, and hope that I am the best mom that they could possibly have.

Moving on to knitterly things. Everyone's heard about Harmony Wooden Needles, the newest additions to the Knit Picks Options line? Well, if not, click here. I'll wait. Anyway, as soon as I saw them, I saw a need. So I bought a few.

Of course my purchase had to be at least $45, so I bought a few other things as well.

I haven't used the needles yet, but just from touching them I can tell you that these are very special. They are gorgeous, smooth, hard and pointy. Sounds nice, yes? (Get your minds out of the gutter, my goodness!) Anyway, I'll report as soon as I give them a try. I'll be swatching for my next project soon.

Speaking of projects, here is the official finished object pictures of my Green Gables Socks.

I ran out of yarn at the toe of the second sock. I didn't have any roving left to spin any more...but as it turns out, I'd knit the first a tiny bit too long anyway. After a little bit of frantic un-knitting and re-knitting, I finally had a matched pair. And they both have toes!

There were a million ends to weave in, but it was worth not having to figure out a way to conjure yarn out of thin air.

PROJECT SPECS
Pattern: Diagonal Rib by Ann Budd
Needles: Susan Bates aluminum DPNs, size 1 (for cuff) and 0 (for foot)
Yarn: My own handspun, 3-ply fingering weight. Approx 300 yards. Roving was handpainted by Amy of Spunky Eclectic. This was the April Fiber Club for 2006.
Began spinning for this project: Last week of April, 2007.
Completed knitting project: Last week of August, 2007

Do you ever have the feeling that a project is taking advantage of you? I started a pair of toe-up socks. I'm using the happy fun 70's - esque rainbow self-striping yarn that I bought a while back. Suddenly, I was half-way done. These were supposed to be my boring movie knit, but I kept Until-The-Next-Striping until I'd gotten this far:

I'll knit these until I run out of yarn, so they might end up being knee-highs. (Yes, my husband just gave Max and Sparky haircuts. Yes, it was a surprise on both counts.)

I actually do want to work on some other things, so I've put these away for now. After all, I can't spend all of my time on the boring movie knit! What will I do then when I actually have a movie to watch?

Daisy is 5 months old now. Here she is, helping my friend Jillian with the laundry.

She's almost strong enough to start thinking about sitting up on her own now.