Please, may I have my medal?

My Olympic socks are completed and are currently drying. Since I've been feeling a bit funky for the past two days (Thank you Becky for the wonderful cold! Thank you Dr. Mary for the root canal on Friday! Thank you Mother Nature for below zero temperatures!) I simply cannot wait to slip them on later today. Today is what we call a "nothing-to-do-da-day". And that's what I intend to do! But with warm and cute feet.

The second sock went much better than the first and turned out better too. Thanks to some consultation from Beth who made me feel better about how sock one looked and showed me how to fix some of the problems (like the really loose Figure 8 cast on), I could be a toe-up convert. I do like being able to stop when I feel like it!

So I'm thinking that either I didn't challenge myself enough with this project or I became obsessed and ignored all else in my life to knit this pair of socks. A quick check of the family and house - laundry is done, everyone looks fed and happy; I managed to show up at work when expected, at school when required, pulled off Valentine's Day celebration, made it to my piano lesson. Yea - looks like I still met all the societal requirements. And yet I did find the toe-up technique challenging. Most likely it's the worsted weight sock yarn which makes any sock project go much faster than expected. Is that cheating??

One done, one to go.

Eleven days to do the second sock. Seems do-able. More later on the sock. This is mostly a post to play around with uploading pictures. Even though I have an extreme techno-husband (and I mean that in the most endearing way possible) I'm really trying to learn all this (blogging) stuff on my own. He did show me how to steal HTML code off of other sites, for buttons and the like, and assured me that it was legal and OK and that everyone does it. This picture was taken with my cell phone camera which is why it sucks, emailed to me, and uploaded, which is why it sucks. But at least I figured out how to do it. Now I just have to learn how to do it all over again with the good digital camera which will require a lesson from Jon, the techno-husband.

Back to the sock. This is my first attempt at a toe-up sock. Um - not a big fan. If I hadn't committed to doing two of them as toe-up, I'd skip and do the second one cuff down. I kept telling myself that it was a good brain exercise, like brushing your teeth with you non-dominant hand, but I could not wrap my brain around the whole process. I had a difficult time figuring out where I was and what I was doing. The whole short row heel was a mystery to me. At one point I had two heels on this sock.

I'll admit to part of my problem being hubris. "I've made lots of socks before - how hard could this be?" "I've knit a ton; just follow the directions and go." Honestly, I was stumped on the Turkish cast-on. But I fumbled my way through sock number 1. There was one thing I liked about the toe-up procedure. I consider knitting the instep, down to and including the toe, to be the most boring part of the sock and this way you get that done first.

On to sock number 2.

Tonight we will be celebrating Valentine's Day as we have for the past several years. We set up the family room like a picnic and eat pizza in front of the fire place. I suspect we will have to watch American Idol since that is what Kathryn and Jon usually do on Tuesday's when I am teaching. (We cancelled our Tuesday Anything Goes class this week so everyone could be with their respective sweeties!) I'm making homemade, heart-shaped pizzas tonight. I hope the mother-of-the-year people stop by to see the home-made crust!

I'm not sure how this little celebration became a "family" celebration and not just a "sweetheart" deal and I certainly don't mind that my daughter delights in the tradition of this whole thing. The funny thing is that Kathryn 's birthday is October 28; she was 3 weeks early. Do the reverse math. I think some day she will be so grossed out when she figures out that this little celebration in front of the fireplace started without her!! Jon and I will be alone in front of the fire place again.

Well - This IS fun!!

Cool. You create a blog. You post a silly few paragraphs. You publish it and then......

.........a few of people read it and and say hi. A few odd balls sneak in too but you figure out a way around that quickly. Some readers even ask you questions. For instance Vicki (sure hope that "link" thing worked) thought I should share something that only my hairdresser knows. Since my hairdresser is Becky, who also works at Coldwater, it's pretty safe to say that she knows all the prices of the yarn there. However, my previous hairdresser has also cut my husband's hair for about 20 years. I think she know the names of all his former girlfriends. There were two before me.

Chris let me know that she does not work for the same company that my husband does. I was afraid she and I would have a "conflict of interest" and we'd have to break up so soon after meeting.

And then there's Amy. She's my blog inspiration. Her's was the first one I stalked. I knew her LONG before I met her. I start every blog stalking session at hers. She is my portal into all the others. Amy reminded me that I had been tagged. That I had in fact been tagged before my blog existed. That tagging (tag event?) prompted all this. So with all due respect to the tagger, here you go:

Four jobs you've had in your life:
1. Yarn store person
2. Mom
3. Application Sales Manager - Long Distance Company
4. Telecommunications Manager - Direct Marketing Company

Four movies you could watch over and over again:
1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Godfather I and II
3. Three Days of the Condor
4. The Usual Suspects

Four places you have lived:
1. Berwyn, PA
2. Wayzata, MN
3. St. Paul, MN (my dad still refers to this as the time I lived "out east")
4. Chan ("hassen" optional), MN

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. 24
2. Rescue Me
3. House
4. The Office

Four places you've been on vacation:
1. Sanibel Island
2. Disney Cruise
3. La Jolla, Ca
4. Nevis, West Indies

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Weatherbug
2. Fox News Channel
3. St. Therese School
4. KnitThink and beyond.....

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Mexican
2. Sausage McMuffin with egg - especially homemade
3. Risotto
4. A filet from Morton's

Four places you'd rather be right now:
1. Sanibel Island
2. My sister's home in La Jolla
3. Upstairs snuggled up with my very sick little girl (but I really don't want to get sick too)
4. My friend Mary's cabin with books, yarn, husband, dog, daughter, raging snowstorm, lots of firewood etc.

Four bloggers you'll be tagging:
1. Cut me some slack here.

I do feel like I should have some knitting related content here. Here goes:

I am participating in the Knitting Olympics. I am attempting toe-up socks. My trainer is Beth, although I don't think she knows that yet. She's my trainer in that she provided the base pattern and inspiration. If the 60" needles come in in time (doubtful since I forgot to order them until yesterday) I'll try to do two-at-a-time. I may try to jam both on a 32" needle but it seemed kind of snug.

Jon will be the lucky recipient of a beautiful cabled sweater from Black Purl designs (too lazy too see if they have their designs on-line) sweater made in a Manos semi-solid color way. Those of you familiar with his recent illness will understand why the lovely shade of brown has been put aside until it no longer clashes with his still slightly jaundiced skin coloration. Maybe after the Olympics.

A sick child and a dog scratching at the door beckon. My night is just beginning. Later.

OK - I'm in

Fine. I cave. I'm in. You've done it. You've broken me. I thought I could ride it out. I figured you guys would all be bored with this routine by now. However, a year later, I'm still reading all about all of you. I feel like I know intimate little details about all of you. Things no one but your hairdresser or gynecologist would know. I know your children, husbands, pets. I know what fibers and colors you like. I know where you live, where you knit and with whom. I've even met some of you and had to admit to "stalking" you. It's humiliating - "Hi, you don't know me but I know you're Beth and that's your daughter, Katie, and your favorite color is blue" - blank stare from poor Beth.

So, here I am. I'm Deb. I'm wife to Jon, mother to Kathryn, feeder of Holli (Golden Retriever) and Tigger (cat). I live in Chan (many who live here never use the "hassen" - you can use it if you want). I work part time at Coldwater Collaborative, the yarn store in Excelsior - don't look here for store gossip or anything of that nature. I value my job and friends there too much!! Hi Carri!!

I have been knitting for more than 7 years. Most recently I have begun to think about the process of morphing from a "person who knits" to a "knitter". It's been a goal of mine to be able to call myself a "knitter". I think people would know what I mean by that and lots of people would know someone that they call a "knitter". I do. That's the knitting journey I'm on and hope to share with you here.

TTFN.