Where I grew up, we started school every year the same day – the Wednesday after Labor Day. This is still so ingrained in my psyche that I really can’t associate the hot, hot, HOT days of August with back to school. To me, it’s still weeks and weeks away.
But I know that some areas start school in the first couple of weeks of August, and many teachers and students are already hitting the books. In celebration of back-to-school (already?), I’ll be adding a few more magnet sets and pushpins to the shop this weekend. I’ve already sold a couple of sets that are destined to be locker magnets, and these would be thoughtful teacher gifts, too.
Here’s a sample of some of the new items:
More magnets and pushpins, and I’ll be posting some sewing buttons as well (although any magnet or pushpin set can be made into buttons – just let me know!).
Since I got so wrapped up in the new products, I didn’t give myself any time for sewing this weekend. I also didn’t finish a baby sweater for an “any day now” expecting co-worker. Her due date is today, and she’s still at work. I hope the baby isn’t waiting on me to finish the sweater to make his arrival!
But just in case, maybe I should finish that last seam tonight. It couldn’t hurt.
I quietly started a new photo project recently. I wasn’t sure if it was going to “take,” so I didn’t want to announce it right away. Especially after the failure of my Year in Pictures project that I started in April. Whoops!
I actually had been thinking of another 365 day project. So I started on my birthday, and will continue taking a photo a day until next years birthday. I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to bookend the project with cartwheel shots! The planner in me likes the idea of chronicling an actual birthday-to-birthday year, too.
I’m already over a week into the 365 project, with most of them being self-portraits. But if a day goes by and I just don’t get a great SP, or just don’t feel like being in front of the camera, I’m letting myself post a non-SP shot. It’s taken the pressure off already, as you can see with Saturday’s picture:
Cuban sandwich – so good, and I like this shot even better because I didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary to stick my hand in the shot JUST to make it a SP. Yay, leniency and rule-bending!
But you’ll more than likely be seeing my mug around here more often. And with the weeks and weeks of warm weather we’ve been having, which I don’t think are ever going to end, expect to see frizzled disheveled hair and a vacant stare until at least October:
Reason #482 that we need curtains – to block these strips of BLAZING HOT sunlight that sneak in beside the closed blinds.
I’m hoping that there are going to be positive yet time-consuming changes happening in my life this year. Hopefully this project will be a record of the process and the progress. A little motivation and accountability, as it were.
Feel free to pick up your cameras and join me, if you like! Birthday-to-birthday schedules are not required. 
These socks have taken over the site this week, but now they’re done!
Project: Mystery Sock 09, (Ravelry Link). Pattern by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sock Yarn, color: Orchid; on size US 1.5 circulars, Magic Loop method
Started: December 26, 2009. Completed: August 5, 2010.
Here is the shared Ravelry project link, if you’re interested.
A little background on the pattern: For the past two years or so, Kirsten of Through the Loops has shared a Mystery Sock pattern. Each week for about a month, she publishes part of a sock pattern, and folks knit along, not knowing what the next portion of the pattern will be. One week, she’ll publish the cuff, the next week the leg, then the heel, and so on. Then, when the month is complete, she publishes the entire pattern for folks (like me) who weren’t able to keep up on a weekly basis.
I absolutely loved the look of this pattern, so around Christmas I cast on. I finished the first sock lickety split, and even fished the leg of the second sock. Then – and I’m not sure why – I set them aside for a few months, until I decided a few weeks ago I wanted to enter these socks in the Kentucky State Fair. Hence the whirlwind knitting this week!
I love all of the details about this sock -the pretty heel, the stitch pattern over the toe. I love the cable effect without actually having any “real” cables. I love the way the pattern moves from the side of the leg to the top of the foot. Really, there was nothing I didn’t love about this pattern.
I’m still going to enter these in the fair, but there are a few problems here and there – some loose stitches in my ribbing, some strangeness at the ends of my toe grafting. But I still like them, even if they probably aren’t blue ribbon material. The fun is just having something in the case at the Fair to point at and say, “I made that!”
Beyond that, all I can say is – YAY! They’re done, and that’s one more WIP that I can check off the list. I still have a couple of secret baby sweaters to finish, but they’re close to completion. This means I may be able to play with some fabric soon! I can’t wait!
I’m almost done with the second State Fair sock. Last night I worked on the final toe chart – twice. Apparently, I had trouble counting to five on the third row of the chart, so I had to rip back about 10 rows and reknit them.
Counting to five – who knew it was so difficult?
I do, in fact, have five t0es. My pinkie t0e is just shy.
I should point out that these socks will not fit me when they’re complete. My size would require some computations and alterations of the pattern, since adding an entire chart repeat would make them too big, but without an extra repeat they’re too small. Since these are going to be displayed in public, I’d rather not risk wacky modifications.
I should have this one done tonight. I think I’ll need to rip back the toe on sock #1 (since, when I made it, I did include some wacky modifications) but that shouldn’t take long, knock on wood. Then, they’ll be ready for washing and blocking.
I’ll be so happy to have these done and off my mind! Especially since I want to get my sewing machine out – I’m itching to work on some patchwork!
