Summer of One Sock -- The Endless Toe

Ok, I've finished the Tonks Monkey Sock. Twice. And ripped it out. Twice. The toe was too long. Twice. And it's been four rows too long. Twice.
How does that happen? I swear, if it's too long this time, it's going into hibernation. The good news is that my sister won't be back until the weekend, and the toe is only 18 rows. But man, I am getting out of the mood. And silly me, I cast on the second sock before she tried the first sock on again. So, when the sock was too long, I had to take the second sock--all four rows of it--off the needles to finish the first sock. Poor planning. Especially since, now that I think about it, I could have just knit the second sock, finished it, then ripped out the toe of the first. Ack!

More Gnuman Gnome-y action

I've posted several entries at the Knitting Gnome Swap blog about our mostly non-knitterly adventures with Gnuman. Feel free to jump on over, since I'm unlikely to post more here, unless I cut and paste from that blog, which is not particularly original, but still....hmmmmm.

In the meantime, check out Gnuman and the treats he brought with him!



Isn't Kelli the coolest!

And, Gnuman also had the good fortune to arrive on the same day as my Yarn Pirate Booty Club package! Look at him hold that yarn!



And here he is with an almost finished Nymphadora Tonks Monkey Sock:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--NO SPOILERS

I finished! It was immensely satisfying, and I'm going to re-read it, probably starting tonight, although I need to give Gnuman the Gnome his turn (to read about Gnuman's recent adventures with me, go here and here). But I'm not saying anything else, because I assiduously (and successfully) avoided any possible spoilers, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anybody.

I also got out to the movies last night and saw Hairspray. It's infectious and impossible to resist the music! It's the first movie I've been to in many years where people clapped at the end. I'm a long-time devotee of the John Waters original, and did see Hairspray on Broadway with the original cast. I must say, though, that I did not like John Travolta's performance: the accent was annoying and distracting, his affect was cartoonish, but boy, he can still dance!

Between Harry Potter and Hairspray, there was no knitting yesterday. My sister did, however, try on the Tonks Monkey Sock, and it's too long, so I'll have to rip out the toe and the last round of pattern repeats and re-knit. It won't be too hard, though.

SOS - Summer of One Sock?

I bet you thought SOS stood for Summer of Socks. For me, so far, it is Summer of One Sock. Here it is:

Well, I apparently didn't upload the picture to flickr, and I'm not at home, so you can't see it, but I finished the first Nymphadora Tonks Monkey sock, just two days before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My sister is coming out to visit this afternoon, so she'll try it on, and then I'll cast on for the second sock. I figure I can finish it before the end of the summer...hopefully.

I have several other projects on the needles. I'm two rows away from finishing the baby sweater from Knitting at Knoon's Wee-one's Welcome Set. I'll have to take a picture of that, too.

But now, it's time for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That's the nice thing about living in a small town: when you pass your mailman who's been your mailman for 30+ years, he'll go back to the truck and give you the book.

Oh, and if anyone's looking for me on Ravelry, I'm Jennifersm3. Hope to see you there!

Harry Potter all around

I'm making progress on the Tonks Monkey socks. I have about an inch or so to go before I decrease for the toe. I did have to spill to my sister that I was making them for her (I hadn't mentioned it because I think she is just about my only regular reader) because I was not able to finish even the first sock in time for today's opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Which, in accordance with our tradition (going back to 2001), we saw today. But I was able to give her a set of Hogwarts House stitch markers, custom-made for us by Shelby to tide her over. And now that she knows, I can break out my own set!

Oh, and I finished Half-Blood Prince last week, so I'm all set for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm very excited, especially because the movie Order of the Phoenix was just not that good. Of course we (my sister and me) liked it, and the sets and effects are excellent, but we didn't like the way they modified the story for the big screen. (Not to worry, no spoilers here). I mean, they hardly mention the Order of the Phoenix, and if you hadn't read the book, you wouldn't have a clue. And it's the title of the movie!

And back to knitting (because I'm all over the place these days), I finished the body on the Wee-one baby sweater. Now, I just have the sleeves to go, and fortunately, they can be knit in the round. It's been a lot of fun to make so far, it's just so small. I forget how small newborns can be. Ironic, because by triplets were 4-4.5 lbs. at birth, and man, they were really small. We have pictures of us holding Baby J, who dropped below 4 lbs. after birth, and he literally fit in the palms of our hands. By comparison, my daughter was 8 lbs. 5 oz.

And big news: I got into Ravelry! Hot damn! Off I go to enter something!