As of today, I am 30-years-and-one-day old. That's right, yesterday was my 30th birthday. Woo hoo indeed. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about turning 30, but it turns out I had one of the best birthdays I've had in years. Christine and Anders came up over the weekend to visit, we went out to dinner with them and Joe and Erin also joined us. I got some really great gifts and my co-workers brought in an ice cream cake (Carvel, of course!) and we all stayed and had cake and wine at the end of the day. (Yeah, so we have wine with everything - what do you expect??)
A quick pic from my b-day dinner at Bravo Bravo:
I got two gifties in the mail yesterday, one from my Mom and one from Michelle! My Mom sent me a great little book light - she remembered that I didn't like the cheapo one I've had forever and got me a really neat one like she uses herself. Love it! And Michelle sent me a bunch of fun things! A few boxes of neat teas, knowing that Alex and I both drink a lot of tea and really enjoy different ones. She also sent me this:
I totally didn't get it at first and wondered why the heck she sent me something like this.....but, Michelle and Jon are just as Simpsons-crazy as us and that just about explains it. If you don't get it - watch more Simpsons!
The main part of the gift from her I'll use to show off some socks I've finished recently:
That's right, she sent me these super cute sock blockers!! I love them! (Although I'm suspecting that she knew I'd like them but also that I could use them to better photograph my socks for the blog.... :) ) These socks are a basic toe-up stockinette pair from Meilenweit Fun & Stripes in I-don't-remember-the-color-number. Love these stripey socks, the colors are really cute.
This pair is made from KnitPicks Sock Memories "Tropical Sunrise" (another of the colors they had on clearance when I ordered a bunch). It is the Crusoe pattern from Knitty. A snug fit with the stranded knit pattern, but I really like the way they turned out.
Third pair for this post are Sockotta, I love the finished product you get with Sockotta yarn but it can be a real pain to knit with. It twists like crazy as you're knitting and seems a little more coarse but once you wash it it is SO soft and cozy. I've only used variegated Sockotta before and this particular stripe sequence is so wide that my socks are a bit shorter than normal to make a matching pair. This pair marks my first venture into the 2-circulars method. I made these one at a time top-down on 2 circs. It went okay - you'll see what I'm trying next...
These are my current in-progress socks. At the bottom of the pic is Hedera from Knitty - this is a fun pattern and is knitting up really quickly. The middle sock is Reptilian Lace, also from Knitty (I followed the pattern but omitted the beads). A super cool pattern but more tedious than my usual sock so I'm just getting ready to start the mate after having this one done for a month or so. And....on to the top pair you see there....I mentioned that I finished that pair of socks on 2-circs. So, since it went fairly well I thought I'd try 2 socks on 2 circs. I divided my ball of Trekking (my first time working with this yarn though, and I love it!), started the socks toe up and planned a plain old stockinette pair so I could learn the new method easily. The verdict - I hate it! But, I am too stubborn to switch the socks to dpn's and am sure I can finish at least one pair on the 2 circs. It's getting there. Slowly.
Michelle also sent me some yarn - of course! She said these need a new home and I think I can provide a good one! More Sockotta (like I said, love the socks it makes even though it can be a pain). The neat brown multi I think she said is Opal Handpainted, very nice yarn. Michelle, the "socks-that-drove-you-crazy" are cute - but I tried them on and they are too small for me so I'm going to come up with something really neat for the yarn. I see what you mean that it's not really your color but you know I like those orangey things!
