Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Know what the cool thing about belonging to an arty sock yarn club is?  If the owner is a talented dyer, you end up with really beautiful yarn and the colors are often outside your comfort zone.  And Roxanne is a talented dyer.

These are some of the selections from her ArtWalk Yarn club.  While I probably would buy the green (and the one on the right is shades of green) and maybe the purple/brown one on the left, I would probably not make the red, white and blue or the yellow and red  and brown ones my own. But, because I admire her ability to look at a piece of artwork and pick out visually interesting bits, I buy the yarns sight unseen each month. I look forward to seeing how she'll interpret the art work and I'm never disappointed when I open the envelope.  These will all get used eventually and what usually happens is that whatever I make with them turns out wonderfully. 

In fact, Elanor has expressed admiration for the red/white/blue one and that will be her Feb socks.  I've already got a pair otn for January that she likes.

Over Christmas I finished one of my mittens.  I have small hands.  Em told me once I had "peasant hands" (I think they were talking about hands in a genetics class in high school).  My palms are square and my fingers are medium and chubby (in reality, they'd probably be called short and fat!).  Kate has long, thin, elegant hands but not me (She had a good time as a kid holding her hands up against mine to show off how much longer her fingers are). 

This mitten is a bit long on my hand.  My fingers come up to where the decreases start so there's a good bit at the top.  I'm about 4 inches into the second one and I'm trying to decide if I can make it shorter.  I could probably start the decreases one repeat earlier but I don't know if I can work it out in the pattern without making a mess of it.  Then I'd have to rip this one out and re do the top. 

It'll take a bit to get there so I'll decide then.  I'm working on it steadily again but I do have to finish El's socks as well.  I don't want to get to November and owe her 11 pairs of socks!

Work has been tough this week.  The psychiatrists tell me that the first few weeks of the new year are always hard on people.  It must be true because folks who have been stable for along time are having problems and seeing an increase in symptoms. 

Otherwise, things here are moving along.  It's not nearly as cold as it should be and that's a bit odd but not altogether bad.  Pk and I are looking forward to date night on Friday. We try to have date night every Friday but that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes, the week has been difficult and we just need to come home and relax.   All I know is that this Friday has to include burgers.  He just drove by a burger place and was enticed by the smell emanating from the grill. 

Burgers for date night.  We are living so large.

10 comments:

amy said...

The mitten is gorgeous.

And even without the bitter cold, January is hard. It's the short dark days I think, on top of everything else. But I'm glad it's not single digits & a foot & a half of snow on the ground while I'm out waiting for the bus in the mornings.

Rose Red said...

Ah, date night, it's not about what you eat, it's about who you are with! (I know you know that!). Sometimes a burger just hits the spot!

And that mitten is gorgeous.

Saren Johnson said...

House burgers are way better than most burger joints. We put onions and jalapenos in ours.

If you make the second one smaller, won't you have to reknit the first one?

Olivia said...

That mitten looks fantastic. It will be a shame if you do have to reknit part of it, but probably worth it in the long run, if it really does feel too long.

roxie said...

The mitten is magnificent! I would stuff some fleece in the tip and wear themas they are. It's like having a little pocket at your fingertips.

And yes, the art walk yarn is a constant treat! Red, white and blue socks will rock!

A friend who worked in the insurance industry told me that people will hang on till after the holidays, then in January, they pass away . January is a very busy time for processing life insurance claims. If you want to live and thrive, It's important to have things to look forward to.

The great thing about being married to your hot date is that date night can be accomplished in the comfort of your own living room while wearing your jammies.

Kaye said...

Gorgeous yarns and beautiful mitten. My colorwork mittens are usually too small for my small hands!

When I worked divorce law, it picked up in January too. People don't want to file before the holidays. And I've heard the same goes for addiction--people try to get clean at the beginning of the year (worked for my husband--lol!).

Anonymous said...

its the simple things that make life so perfect, like burgers on date night! the mittens are gorgeous, and i think you should do whatever you need to do to make sure you wear them, or else gift them to someone who will. and that art yarn looks great, i cant wait to see what you make with it!!

Bells said...

gosh I love your mitten. What a lovely colour combination.

I think you have inspired me to join a yarn club this year some time - i love the idea of going outside my comfort zone.

DPUTiger said...

I have shrimpy hands too. And I don't think that pattern would look right if you altered where you started the decreases. I'd change needle size before I changed where I started the decreases.

I love the Art Walk club. I usually love the skeins, but I kind of wish we could see the painting before pulling the trigger on payment. Heck, if I had more fun-money lying around, I'd just splurge on a long-term Art Walk subscription. Roxanne's work is wonderful.

Amy Lane said...

The mitten is amazing--and I'm jealous. The stash picture on the top made me very happy-- could almost feel it!

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...