The stupidest looking thing I've ever knit!

After a request for a pair of socks from the BF, and some hemming and hawing on my part (mostly debating whether I can take the abuse he'll give them!) I finally gave in - probably because he's been sick half the week and I always get sappy when he's sick!  Well, you know how handknit socks always look insanely long because they aren't half made of elastic like store bought socks?  Imagine knitting a sock for a size 12 foot.  It's ridiculous looking!  I just turned the heel last night and I just keep thinking "this can't possibly be right!"  Add to that the fact that I ribbed the top of the foot - which makes it very drawn in and skinny - and very un-foot-like looking!  I'm not even sure this picture fully conveys the hilarity! I should have put a quarter next to it for reference.  He had his legs propped up on my lap last night, and I talked him into letting me take his sock off to try this one on so I could know when to start the heel - he was screaming "aaa! cold! cold! cold!  you're trying to kill me!" until I put the handknit one on, then he said "aaaaah! luxurious!"  It was so cute.  And luxurious it is not - just Woolease - because it'll be thick and warm (or as warm as something mostly acrylic can be) and can be easily washed - and fast to make (but he doesn't need to know any of that!)  

Buttony Goodness

Over the past couple trips to the Treasure Barn, I picked up some mighty swell buttons that I haven't raved about yet.  why?  who knows!  Because they're rave worthy - and on top of that they were super cheap - I think $2 was the highest price per bag.  Here's the collection:

Some pearly ones with shank backs:

 Some really cool ones that look like metal sprinkles to me:

Another bag of metal ones - smaller and slightly more brassy or something:

And some fun yellow ones! :

Seems like I'd best be gettin' to sewing or knitting up something with button holes, eh?  I do have the Amelia cardigan on the needles, and my vest that I was designing for Vestuary (but clearly isn't going to be finished in February since I haven't really picked it up since the beginning of the month!)  

Dear Socks,

I love you.  No, I don't say that to all the new socks.  (yes I do.)

Child's French Socks, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino.  

I got sunshine, on a cloudy day!

I don't know how long it's been since Ikea opened a store only 40 minutes from my house, but it's been quite a while.  Until yesterday, I still hadn't gone.  I was afraid I wasn't strong enough.  I was terrified of Ikea.  Because I knew I'd want everything there.  And, as you may know, I'm not so great in the self-control department sometimes.  However, yesterday I steeled myself and drove down.  And I didn't do that bad!  I came out with a couple bright red trash cans for my sewing room ($1.99!!), a plant stand that I plan to spray paint red (because I like to spray paint things red!), some great little juice glasses, some kitchen towels, a fun apron, and 3 cuts of fabric (I'll admit - that might have been my biggest reason for wanting to go!)  It's surprisingly heavy nice stuff for the price - $5.99  - $8.99/yd!  I decided that one piece needed to be a new curtain for my dining room.  

Note the adorable little pincushion wrist-y made from wool felt by my friend Catherine!  I was afraid that it would make the room dark because it was such a heavy fabric, but quite the contrary:
It's like a self-illuminating curtain!  Faaaanastic!  I love it.

I also got a couple yards of this:
It's thinner, and honestly I kind of want to make a pinafore-ish dress with it.  Not a frilly thing, but sort of a dress layering piece - sort of like a tunic is sometimes a layering piece for another shirt.  I don't know how to explain it, and honestly it'll probably just sit in my fabric stash for 5 years until I decide to use it for something entirely different!

I also got a few yards of this:

Don't know what I'll do with it, but it sure is fun!  I think it might be a wall hanging to cover an odd plumbing access door.  I'll probably make a big wooden frame and stretch the fabric around the edges like a canvas.  Yeah, I conquered Ikea and had fun at the same time!  Oh, I also got some lingonberry jam - mmmm!

Today, because it's President's day and I didn't have to work, I ran over to the Corner Cupboard - an odd little thrift shop plunked in the middle of a neighborhood (I suppose that shouldn't seem odd - in old neighborhoods like mine, that was the way business often were - a little grocery on the corner, a barbershop in the middle of other houses.  Very mixed use.  We're just so used to strip malls now, I guess, that such things seem weird.)  Anyway, it's very tiny, but there was a whole section with cuts of fabric (lots of stretch polyester!) bins of old zippers, ribbon, craft supplies, etc.  There were a couple bags of yarn, but most were acrylics.  I did find a bag, however, with a big mess of grey fingering weight wool (no ball band - just a "mess" of it, which I realized was still in hanks after I took it out of the bag and twisted it up, and also found one ball that someone had already wound up), one skein of tan-ish vintage Bernat fingering weight, and one unlabeled skein of green mystery stuff (which, after I took it out of the bag, appeared to have either been randomly snipped up, or had been attacked by moths, though I wasn't sure it really felt like wool.  Either way, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble/risk, and threw it out.)  Get this - all that for 69 cents!  

I'm not super crazy about either color, but they're both light enough that they could be easily overdyed.  The hanks of grey wool are a little coarse and shetland-ish so I think they'll be great for some colorwork - maybe a pair of Selbuvotter gloves or something!  I'm pretty jazzed!  

I had to do it!

For the safety of my friends, I had to buy some Malabrigo sock yarn. It seems that people keep showing up with this stuff and I find it infuriating because I don't have any! Like, fists-balled-up sort of infuriating. I may have lashed out with some threats too, I can't quite remember. However, the last person I might have threatened for showing off her new orange malabrigo was Kamile, who may not have been the best person to threaten since she's military and probably knows 50 ways to kill me before I'd even see it coming - and certainly before my hand could get halfway to her sock yarn! Little Knits has it right now for 20% off, which brings it down a little, but of course the shipping cost bumps it back up - in the end, it was about a buck cheaper than the usual price, which is all the incentive I need. Well, that and the feelings of violence when I see other people with it!

I got lettuce:

Ochre:

and Tiziano Red:

And I also grabbed up some of this: How fun is that stuff?

Ahh, I feel better now! :)