Just braggin' again

that's what moms do.

So very proud of my youngest daughter Gillian. She'll be graduating this May from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a double major in Advertising and Graphic Design. Aside from her exceptional grades, she has had at least one, if not two, if not three jobs while carrying her full load of classes while attending SCAD.

One of her three concurrent jobs this past year has been the Art Director for the magazine District Quarterly. In September she received the Farce Award which is a SCAD traveling trophy she will pass on to this year's recipient. You can read the Fall issue here. This issue, which was also the inaugural issue, won 5th place honors in the Magazine Literary category, at the 88th annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas this pass December.


In January, Gillian was a finalist for a SCADDY having her copywriting entry chosen as one of the 100 out of 1500 entries to be on exhibit prior to and following the awards ceremony. A SCADDY, which honors excellence in advertising, is the only college sponsored event of it's type in the nation and is judged by industry professionals.

Gillian has also received a Bronze Student ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation Savannah for the "Flow of Life" spread in the Fall issue of the District Quarterly.

snippet from the AAF website: "With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from around in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit, conducts the ADDY Awards across 200 advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry."

No wonder she doesn't call as much as she use to. ;o)

Love you Silly.

Skewed again

Thought you'd like to see the finished pair.


Pretty sexy for a sock huh.





Very rarely does the foot of a sock fit me so nicely. Granted the leg portion is a tad bit looser than I would like but, that is pretty normal for my scrawny ankles. They still stay up and don't slouch so they get a thumbs up from me. Next time I'll incorporate the sizing modifications the Yarn Diva has been working on. Check it out. There is something there for everyone, higher instep, roomier legs, thinner legs/ankles, and roomier heel back. I'd say that just about covers it. :o)

The details of the pair I made aren't too thrilling. I followed the pattern, pretty much, (I did make the second sock with a broader toe 10 stitches per needle rather than 6) but then I did run into some trouble of my own making. When I first began the journey of this sock I started out using Bernat Sox then I got kinda bored with the color and decided to stripe the socks with a random beige I had sitting around. I think using both yarns and making the stripes was a good call.



Bernat Sox only on the right, Sox and random beige solid striped EOR on the left. I knitted along swiftly working the Sox yarn on the rows that had the stitch manipulations and the random beige on the plain even rows. Added bonus doing it this way, I never had to give a thought as to what row I was on and it certainly made counting rows much simpler for the these old tired eyes. It worked great, that is until I reached the short row pairs on the leg. Ooops. Short row pairs giggle/snort. The eagles eyes among you may have already noticed it in the photos above. See how the stripe pattern changes from a 1x1 color sequence to a 2x2 color sequence? See? On the top of the left sock. When I was working that portion of the sock I was too drugged up and dancing with the devil to care much about a little change in the stripes. I wanted to see this new sock on my foot! I trusted the new to me pattern and soldiered on switching to a 2x2 sequence to easily follow the pattern. Notice by the time I got to the same spot on the right sock I decided to tackle the "problem" of the inherent need for the 2x2 color sequence through the short row pairs. It's not something I'd recommend, doable obviously, but not recommended. It would have been easier if I had been using dpns but on 2 circs it was kinda fiddly. A striped pattern could easily be done, without a single glitch if I had used the 2x2 sequence throughout the entire sock. Live and learn, isn't that why we exist anyway?

Still have plenty of yarn left so I'm casting on for a 2x2 sequence tonight, incorporating the thinner legs/ankles mods the Yarn Diva has suggested. I'm pretty sure Skew is now going to be my always-on-the-needles sock pattern.

I'm Skewed

but in a good way.

I think.

I have fallen completely and totally in love with the sock pattern Skew
(Rav link here) It has everything going for it in my book. First off I couldn't get my brain twisted around as to how the sock pattern worked, which is a huge plus in my book. Secondly there is something, just a little thing or two, in every other row, with a plain row in between. A fabulous attribute for when you have to rip back, or get your head ready for the next trick on the following row. Thirdly, it looks amazing. And fourthly, it is a genius way to use all those beautiful to look at but not so fab when knitted handpainted or self-striping sock yarns, of which I have lots, but never ever use cuz I'm just not a crazy sock color kind of gal.

The down side of the pattern is that it only comes in one size (not mine, it's too big) and there are some notes available here for making it a larger size (another bummer for me) But seriously, when has that ever stopped me? So far I have started this sock 4 times. Don't be discouraged, I'm not, in fact I am still full speed ahead.



My first attempt seen above in the nine o'clock position was worked on zeroes 9 stitches to the inch. It failed cuz I left out the entire mid-toe section. duh. The second attempt shown above at high noon was also worked on zeros and I thought it was going just peachy. Even worked pass the heel and began the leg portion. Hmmmm the foot is a tad bit too tight, my gauge was too much smaller obviously, highlighting the only other downside this pattern has. That downside being I haven't found a good way (or at what point) to try on the sock in progress to check the fit. Up until I finished the heel I thought the fit was spot on. The sock at three o'clock is done using a slightly heavier yarn and worked on size three needles. I really wanted to start that sock on 2's but could only find one size two needle. I think it is going to be too big, remember, I haven't gleaned a proper way of checking fit while the sock is in progress, I haven't pulled it out just in case. I was getting 27 stitches to 4 inches instead of 31 stitches so it will prob'ly be too big. The latest attempt is at six o'clock. I'm thrilled so far, even though I haven't gotten very far. I think it is going to work.

Oh no, did I just tempt the knitting fairies? Naw, they messed with me enough this week. Case in point, the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics beginning just two days after they have smitten me with this sock pattern. Could they be any crueler? I committed myself to 4 events. Egads.

The Ravelympics:

The Flying Camel Event
438 grams to be spun


276 grams spun 621 yards 2-ply sport-ish wt. Graduated coloration.
162 grams left to spin

The Sock Hockey Event & The Nordic Colorwork Event
Faroese Footlets



As you can see I was just a little bit tensed and slightly stressed when I was teaching myself this two-color knitting. The first one (on the right) is so much smaller than the other. sigh. I'm sure it will block out. um. er. I'm sure it will.

The Short Track Shawls Event
Citron


I chose this one precisely for the mindless-ness of it considering the other events needed a little bit more conscious effort. I've gone a little too mindless, and my stitch count is way off, I messed up the beginning, and I don't think the pattern and yarn are a good match. sigh.

I have yet to even begin my Knitting Olympics entry Drops pattern 116-53.

I think I'm skrewed. Or maybe my thinking is just skewed? I can get all this done right?

Seriously?

LOL

Ethel

Well now, let's see if I remember how to do this.

I almost feel like I'm beginning to be me again. I gotta tell ya, it hasn't been easy. Worry and stress can really do a number on you and it ain't easy to get back into your "normal" life after it's been topsy turvy for so long. Annie it seems, is firmly on her way to healing. She still has the nurses coming to the house twice a day but only twice this week and next week only once a week. (Annie is now changing her dressing twice a day herself) She still sees the surgeon every two weeks. I'm thinking just another 4 weeks or so and she'll be almost completely healed. I still can't believe how long its been and so very very proud of how well Annie has handled it.

I haven't been out of the Hermitage for, um, a week? week and a half? two weeks? I don't remember. That's a good thing, I'm getting me back, you know, the me that never knows what the date is let alone what day of the week it is. That's a really really good feeling. OTOH it also means I haven't seen Liam for that long as well. :o( That's a bad thing. Annie's been really good about sending pix and flix to my phone almost daily. Unfortunately I don't know how to get those from my phone to my computer but Annie did email the latest flix yesterday. so here it is in all the cell phone video glory such as that is.



Even the poor quality can't mask his adorableness. Am I lyin'? And yes, he is always that happy. :o)

I have been knitting and spinning lately just haven't been taking pix of it so there's no real reason to talk about that now, we'll talk again when I get the pix taken and couple of more things off the needle. Oooo I should mention my plans for the Knitting Olympics and the Ravelympics. I've bit off a huge chunk this year too. I'm pushing myself to do two, yes two, colorwork items, the Faroese Footlets and Drops 116-53, cuz I've never attempted anything like these before, plus I've entered the Flying Camel event and have 438 grams (15.44 oz) of various blues to spin.



Some of the spinning will be done on this.




I call her Ethel.

Yeah I know, not the most portable spinning wheel, and I imagine some, if not all, of you are wondering why. I could say cuz I wanted to see if I could and that would be about 85% true. The other 15% was cuz I did something really really dumb. The last time I used my "real" wheel, (Levi my Babe) I left the drive band in the working position so yesterday when I got it out again the drive band was stretched beyond use. duh. damn. I have recently been spinning with a table top spinner I had made but was itching for some speed. Without a drive band I was kinda out of luck so I set my sights on converting this treadle sewing machine base into a spinning wheel. Tomorrow I'll get a new drive band for Levi (fingers crossed), and tweak Ethel a bit more, after all, I can't spin 438grams of fiber on a table top spinner in 17 days and knit two pairs of colorwork socks/slippers.

Huh, I kinda feel like myself again, setting impossible goals and doing really weird things. What day is today?