Things are busy. I have a midterm tomorrow in Japanese history and wrote an essay in Japanese for class tomorrow. And I've been knitting socks like mad! I've already finished the Madder Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks... now it's on to the Lichen and Yarrow. I just finished the first Lichen ribbed sock in Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop, colorway Secret Agent Man.
For some reason I had some trouble with both the toe and the heel on this one. They're both different than the construction I'm used to, and I wasn't as careful about reading the instructions as I should have been. I had almost finished the toe when I realized that the star was not going to come to a nice point as it should... had to rip back and knit again. It wasn't too bad, but the Sock Hop can be a little tricky for frogging, as it has two very distinct plies that don't like to pop back onto the needles too easily.
This yarn was awesome to work with, though. Very subtle striping, and colors to die for. Mmm.
And, because I'm bad, I cast on for a second sock... but in the next pattern from the book. Sometimes, I find that if I knit the two socks in a row, the gauge ends up slightly different in the cuffs. I think it's probably because I'm less confident starting out, and then the second sock hits and I knit faster (and looser) than the first. So, to remedy, I have a little Socks That Rock lovin' going on:
I was actually going to use this for the Lichen Ribbed Sock, but it pooled even more funny than this at 60 stitches around. And, since the Yarrow is 66 stitches, I figured it would break up the pooling weirdness but wouldn't require switching needle sizes. Ah, my glorious 2.5mm needles, how I love you! And I actually like the way this is striping...
I've also been following a lot of fashion and style blogs lately. It's funny how different people think about fashion. The beautiful and incredibly stylish
Frocks and Frou Frou caught my eye about a year ago, and I always love what she's wearing - she looks awesome, and her clothes are always classy, wearable, and not sky-high expensive.
And then there's
Sea of Shoes, a young fashion blogger with an incredible collection of vintage and designer shoes and clothing. While I envy her personal style and her amazing closet, I have mixed feelings about her blog. As someone who started babysitting at age 12 and got a part-time job as soon as I was old enough, it ruffles my feathers a little to see someone who is so young shop for and buy that much expensive stuff. I can definitely say that a large portion of it is envy, but some of it is a dose of skepticism instilled in me by my parents (although not all of it has stuck, as my stash can attest!) about the use of having a lot of things. Not to mention my own personal experience with designer goods can be distilled down into all of the times that I've been browsing in Nordstrom and walked longingly past the designer collections because I feel so monetarily inadequate that looking at it or trying it on is out of the question.
All that being said, I'm desperately in love with the blue & orange heels, yellow stiletto sandals, and aqua and cream booties from
this collection. Also in love with belts, particularly
wrap belts, after seeing several really beautiful ones around campus and on Project Runway.
My goodness, I'm opinionated. Hah!
Hope everybody's had a good weekend!
