Happy Groundhog Day!

Mondays kind of suck. The weekend never seems quite long enough, you have to get up early again, and the whole work thing is kind of a drag. However, when you have managed to somehow finagle your still-somewhat-jet-lagged husband to get up with not one, but both kids, allowing you to sleep for 11+ hours for the first time in (probably) five years, there's not much room for complaining. Even though I will try.

It's been a crazy few weeks - IM went on a week long business trip, Mermaid came to visit, the girls' daycare moved into a new building (where Boo's new teacher lasted all of three days before becoming persona non grata - oops!), and things swung into high gear on our moving plans. The grownups in the family are going to look for a place to live in a couple of weeks. Is is silly that I am inordinately excited about 1) a business class trip to London and 2) a week with no kids? Ok, the second part of that isn't silly, but the first part? Anyway...I'm hoping to keep my finishing-up-of-long-undone-WIPs streak alive by finishing Manon before we leave. Because I'm pretty sure it's not going to be 70-something degrees in the UK.

January was a big achievement month. Here's the recap:
Knitting
Boo's Tomten
Sunset Surf scarf (from handspun)
Devil's stripey pink socks

Spinning
Buckland, 8 oz of Finn top from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, November 2008
Spun 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farm superwash merino
Finished the second 4 oz of my first Yarn School spinning

Unblogged:
Two pairs of earrings (Rav link)
I finally finished the knitting on Duck Returns. However, I think it has a new intended target, so no pix until it's totally finished (lined) and in the mail and received on the other end.
I also had to lengthen Ironman's Christmas socks a bit, so I ripped out the cuffs, knit about 2 more inches on each, and finished them off. And I still have yarn left. Love that Trekking XXL!
Spun another 4 oz of my first Longwool (Masham) from Yarn School

And just in case anyone is concerned that Boo is getting left out in the sock department (and to save you from yet another picture-less post), behold the in progress sock. And if she pulls another screaming fit before 5:00 am tomorrow like she did this morning, I will make the foot longer and give them to her big sister. So there.

I want those four hours of my life back

If you're considering faking your death on the internet, please us this video as a primer so I can get some more sleep.

I will also add a postscript: going back to the community where you "died" as a sockpuppet but using identifiable aliases/similar email to register your new blog will probably not work out too well for you. Just sayin'...

What, knitting? OK, if you insist. Boo decided (after Devil wore her new socks for 36 hrs straight before I could pry them off her feet and throw them into the machine) that she needed new socks too. So she started pulling yarn out of the cupboard and holding it on her feet. And standing on it. I broke down and started a pair for her out of some Kool-Aid dyed Knitpicks Bare, red and pink, using Grumperina's model for helical stripe socks. They will not be done for the January progress report, but I have a whack-load of spinning to share for that.

Wee teaser: My WHMU(WHSKAL) buddies might want to take note of the spinning posts for the next few months. That is all.

Back in the saddle again

The first pair of socks for 2009:

Pattern: umm, no. Top down, picot cuff, eye of partridge heel, star toe, 42 stitches.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation, in a color I believe is #9398, just under one ball (100 yds).
Comments: I realized last week that my Science Geek socks were not going to be done in time for the SAM knitalong. Enter a quickie pair of socks for Devil. I started them last Thursday during an epic Barbie Fairytopia video marathon and finished sewing in the ends on the bus ride home last night. Love the stripes. She wore them to school today. With her Tomten. Win, win, win. I guess Boo needs a pair now. Good thing I picked up a bunch of this yarn on sale a couple of months ago!

And hopefully my socks will be done next month. Onward to pair #2.

Addendum: Brilliant!

Here booky, booky, booky

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I read alot.

I know, I know. Where do I find the time, right?

Here's my secret: I'm a really poor multi-tasker*

I read before bed at night. I read at breakfast. I read while I'm cooking dinner. I read on the can. I read in the shower more often then I'd like to admit. And most days, the westside Houston commuters will find me on the bus, reading, knitting and listening (sort of) to Morning Edition.

I've always wondered how many books I read in a year. So I'm going to keep track. Feel free to skip to the next fibery post if you are so inclined.

So far in 2009:
7. Darwinia - Robert Charles Wilson
6. Undertow - Elizabeth Bear (I needed some aliens to recover from the overload of teenage vampire hormonal angst and wizard vs. werewolf shenanigans)
5. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
4. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer (phew!)
3. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
2. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson, translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland.

**********************************************************************************
Finally got another Tomten modeling shot:

Devil on her new bike. She is much, much faster now. Maybe almost fast enough to ride while Mama goes for a run around the neighborhood. Hooray! And FYI, these sweaters are so much cuter in action then lying on the couch that I just about fall down everytime the girls wear them.

* As IM would say, why do one thing well when you can do three things badly?**

** This is why I am a triathlete, not a cyclist or a swimmer or HAHAHAHA a runner.

FO/FF: Sunset scarf

Pattern: Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Yarn: My handspun, superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms, "Sunshine of Your Love", ~125 yds
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Start/finish: 1/15-1/17/09. Fast, fast, fast.
Comments: The colors of the yarn reminded me of Tucson sunsets, hence the title. The yarn was bulky (~10 wpi), so I cast on 26 stitches for a scarf that ended up about 6 inches wide.

I also found that my dropped stitches were really long, so I decreased one yarnover for each dropped stitch (i.e. I did yo, double yo, triple yo, double yo, yo instead of the pattern as written). The finished scarf is 6 x 78 inches - plenty long enough to wrap several times around my neck, or double over and pull the ends through.

My attempt to blend the white sections of top with more saturated bits did not work out perfectly. You can see that the end of the scarf on the left was from the skein that had more of the white in it, and the right side is from the skein that had the deeper colors, but it's not terribly obvious when the scarf is on.

One thing that I liked that came out of the spinning method I choose was the almost-tweedy look to some of the singles, where I had multiple colors in one strand, that when plied together came out looking almost mottled. I like how those sections knit up alot - the fabric has a lot of depth and interest to it.

The colors are perfect for dark, grey winter days. Unfortunately, winter in Houston seems to be over - it was in the upper 70s today and just stunningly beautiful - so this scarf may not see much us until next winter. Which I hear starts in September or October across the pond. So hopefully by then I'll be well supplied with scarves and hats and suchlike.