just maryse

Welcome President Obama

i was going to try and write something profound about today's inauguration activities and what this new president means to me, but my words felt insignificant and weren't even coming close to expressing what i'm feeling. because it's more than having a new person in the white house whose politics are more in line with mine.  so much more.  and anything i do say will sound cliche.  so i'll quit while i'm ahead.  or not too behind.

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day 277 -- a very excellent day.

A Knitting Day At Home

i finished another pair of socks today.  that's two pairs in 19 days.   and after i finish this post, i'm going to cast on for my third pair.  because right now, all i feel like knitting are socks.

this pair was knit using noro silk garden sock yarn in the S258 colorway.  this is supposed to be a fingering weight yarn, but it felt slightly thicker so instead of knitting with size 1US needles, i used size 2US. 

at first, i wasn't all that excited about the feel of this yarn.  it wasn't all stretchy like 100% wool is, but once i started knitting with it, the resulting fabric is thick and cushy.  i really like these socks.  and then there's the color.  such happy colors.

the pattern is just my basic 2x2 rib pattern, this time on 60 stitches.  i raveled the details here.

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day 276 -- more socks!

It Snowed Again

did it snow where you are?

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day 275 -- a short post today.

A Lovely Saturday

it didn't take much coaxing on carole's part for me to offer to give her a crochet lesson.  in fact, she might have just said something about wanting to learn when i offered to drive to her house to teach her.  see, going to carole's is like getting a hug.  she has a lovely family and a warm and inviting home, and good snacks.  always good snacks. 

i just wish i lived closer.  thanks carole for a great saturday afternoon!

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day 274 -- heh, another knitter falls for the dark art of crochet.

MOTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nothing strikes fear in the hearts of a knitter/wool lover than these four little letters -- M-O-T-H.  scary isn't it. (although not nearly as scary as after starting your car to warm it up, while walking back into the house, hearing what sounds like your car rolling down the driveway -- now that's scary ).

this is a 20 year old sweater that i knit back in the day, when i wasn't just knitting socks and scarves.  so this morning with the insane cold, i thought it would be an awesome sweater to wear.  i was considerably thinner when i wore it last, but i used to also wear it with leggings and loafers and it hid my ass.  now, not so much.  but it was still ok to wear with jeans.  except for this small problem.

moth hole! but not to worry.  this is an old hole and probably happened 2 apartments or so ago.  so this morning i made the repair -- well a repair.  it's not as pretty as i would have liked, but it did the job.  and there you go!  a new old sweater!

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day 273 -- and no, my car did not roll down the driveway. 

Another Sock

i seem to want to knit nothing but socks these days.  the pattern is essentially the same as the pair from the other day, while still accounting for gauge.  i've got 2x2 rib fever.

some knitters don't like to knit a pattern more than once, but i'm not one of those knitters.  i like to see how different yarns behave when you make them be the one variable in a project.  i like to think of it as scientific research.

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day 272 -- tomorrow's friday!

Whatever I Want Wednesday

today's blog post is brought to you by Mr. Gnome.

so one of the challenges of this photography class is the fact that the best time for me to do my "homework" is on the weekends when i have the time and the available light to shoot.  so this week's assignment was to take some portraits and to play around with aperture and focal length.  problem is that my "model" wouldn't get off the couch during those hours when it was actually light out.  my second option, the kids across the street, weren't home.  so this morning, before going to work, i took mr. gnome out for a photoshoot.  i think he looks pretty hot. 

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day 271 -- j called around 6 to tell me he was going out for a beer.  it's 10:30 now.  how long does it take to drink a beer?

10 on Tuesday ... 10 Things That I'm Good At

listing 10 things i'm good at is kind of challenge for me because in my warped mind, if i'm not perfect at something (or the best at something) then i'm not good at it.  i'm an all or nothing kind of gal i guess.  anyway, i'm going to give it a go regardless.

1.  i'm really good at eating.  yep. when i was a baby i was a good eater.  and i'm a good eater today.  other than not caring for sushi and your more unusual organ meat type foods, i'll pretty much eat anything.  i'm an excellent guest.

2.  i'm also pretty good at sleeping.  i rarely suffer from insomnia and when i do it usually lasts one or two nights.  sometimes all it takes is for me to read a few pages.

3.  i'm really good at procrastinating.  ha!  excellent even.  i was even a later bloomer because i waited too long to grow up!

4.  i'm good at cleaning the cat box.  well actually i'm pretty lousy at it.  but i'm better than the other human in this house WHO N EVER CLEANS THE CAT BOX.

5.  i'm also good at making the bed.  again, because in this house, i'm the only one who does it.

6.  i'm a good cook.  ha!  you thought i was going to say it was because i was the only one in the house who did it!  well yes, but i can also follow a recipe in a book.  i mean how hard is that?

7.  i'm good with a camera.  i'm even better at buying lenses for my camera.

8.  i'm good at stashing yarn and fiber.  i'm a good knitter.  not great.  just good.  and i'm very good at thinking about spinning.  i'm good at thinking about a lot of things.

9.  i'm good at blogging every day because i've blogged every day for over 260something days.  but i acknowledge that i'm not quite so good a blogger, period.

10.  finally, i'm good at saying goodnight.  if i hadn't been so good at procrastinating, i would have finished this post hours ago.

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day 270 -- bedtime finally

A Promise Kept

so yesterday i promised a picture of a pair of finished socks ...

here you go.  a pair of brand new hand knit socks AND  a cat tail.  can't say that i don't deliver.

these are simple 2x2 ribbed socks that i improvised.  the yarn is dkknits' technocolor dream toes which you can find on etsy here.  you won't be able to find the exact color though but i'm sure you'll find plenty of other colors that might lift your skirt up.  i've also raveled the details.

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day 269 -- goodnight all!

One Done

the first sock of 2009 just flew off the needles.  it's true i still had a couple of days off where i could do nothing but knit.  but the second took a few days.  oh well.  it's day 11 of the new year and i finished my first pair of 2009.  however, i do not have a photo of the finished pair.  tomorrow, i promise.

but i do have a shot of the beginning of the second pair ...

silk garden sock kids! 

that's all i've got for today.

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day 268 -- i can't believe i have to go to work tomorrow.  where did the weekend go?