Friday, May 12, 2006

When it rains, it pours!

Holy mail day, Batman! I got not one, not two, but THREE exciting knitting-related pieces of mail today. First and foremost, I got my Sockapaloooza socks. Check it out!




And check out these adorable little picot cuffs (which apparently gave their maker fits and delayed the socks being sent off a bit...):



Along with the socks (which, as you can see below, were torn out of their wrapper and put on my feet immediately), my awesome sock pal sent two huge chocolate bars, a postcard from her home state of Colorado, some extra darning yarn and some gorgeous beaded stitch markers.



Thank you so much, Leisel! You totally rock as a sock pal!!! Apparently my preferences caused her a bit of stress, though. I said that I wasn't picky and I'd be happy with whatever, and that was a little bit vague for her taste. And here I thought I was being helpful! Hee hee! I'll have to remember that for next time. Be more specific.

I'm getting more and more stressed out about the socks I sent. They seem to have vanished, and I haven't heard back from my sock pal when I wrote her to ask about them. Hopefully she's got them and just hasn't gotten around to posting/e-mailing about them. I will be ticked if they don't show up! I'm also wondering if I should've stressed out about them a bit more. There are some SERIOUS sock pals out there. I mean, people are knitting multiple pairs of socks, and totally stressing out about what their sock pal will like... I was kind of like, well, if she doesn't like something made for her by a complete stranger out of the goodness of their heart, then that's just too bad. I mean, I want her to like them and get good use out of them, of course, but it's hard enough to knit for people you know!

That's part of the reason why I was so non-specific with my sock preferences. The really cool thing is just having socks knit for you by someone who has no other connection to you than being a knitter. I mean, that's a lot of work to do for a stranger. I am really blown away by how cool the whole Sockapaloooza phenomenon is, and I really hope Alison keeps doing them. They've got to be tons of work, but what a neat concept! I should also say that I'm not picky about socks because I truly love all different types of handknit socks and will definitely wear socks in colors and styles that I wouldn't wear anyplace else. Crazy orange and yellow stripes? Um, not so much in a sweater, but I'd be delighted to put them on my feet. I can't really think of a handknitted sock that I wouldn't like, unless it was really uncomfortable or didn't fit or something.

Okay, enough with the sock talk. Back to what came in the mail. The second little goodie was this:



A big fat ball of Trekking XXL from Zonda to throw into the Sock-A-Month prize basket. Thanks so much!

The final thing would've been my absolute favorite (if not for the socks showing up on the same day), and it's still pretty darn neat. I got a little priority mail envelope with two issues of the Summer Cast-On magazine, in which you'll find a little article and pattern by yours truly on knitting socks on two circulars (here is the preview - #37)! My first published design in a print magazine, and my first published writing piece, too. So check out the new issue of Cast-On when it comes out! I was a little worried that the article & pattern weren't going to be in there, because I've heard that Cast-On designs get moved around a lot. And they never sent me anything to proof, so I wasn't sure what was going on. They did send me a check, so I figured I didn't have anything to complain too loud about... I was delighted to see that it's in, and it looks great! Yay!

Tomorrow we are kicking off the Nippers with an inaugural meeting at my house. We've had over 50 people join the group since I set it up last week, which is an amazing response. I guess we really struck a nerve! We are planning to do some legislative action (with the ultimate goal being national legislation that will protect all nursing moms from harrassment wherever they go), some advocacy (which will include educating business owners and the general public about Oregon law) and some nurse-outs which are ultimately designed to get people comfortable around nursing moms. I really think that most people freak out because they don't know where to look or what to do when they're confronted with a nursing mom, but if they saw it every day, it would quickly become something they wouldn't even notice. I won't get into this whole thing again, because I know I've beat this horse to death already, but I'm really excited that we've got such a big group together. Here's to doing some good!

While we are inside plotting world domination, Bill is going to be dealing with this:



Yup, that's five yards of dirt in our driveway! It's Scottish blend, which apparently has a little fertilizer mixed in because it does not smell great. I'm sure our neighbors are loving us, as usual. We'll see what they do when the pile's still there in three months. Ha, ha, just kidding! We've got to fill these up:



Bill and his dad built these last weekend in our front yard. Our ultimate goal is to get rid of all of our grass, and putting raised beds in the front yard seems like a logical first step. Plus this is the part of the yard that gets the most sun, so it's where we'll get the best vegetables.

Sydney and I got a little head start on some planting today out on the front porch.



We sowed Black Eyed Susans (my very favorite flower ever) in the dishpan and some sunflowers and pumpkins in the peat pots. Although we really don't need more pumpkins - we've got about 20 little seedlings sprouting up from where Bill buried The Pumpkin last fall. Did I say last fall? I meant mid-January... And really, how many pumpkins does one family need?

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats on the sock publishing!! I'll check out that issue when it's out.

6:47 PM  
Blogger Jennifer said...

Lovely socks and yay for the sock article! I haven't received my socks yet...

7:03 PM  
Blogger amandazen said...

Congrats on the sock publishing!!! What a great mail day!

Amanda :)

7:46 PM  
Blogger Bitterknitter said...

My mom is literally stalking the newsstands waiting for the summer Cast-on to come out! She was baffled by my talk of socks on 2 circs, and once I told her of your impending article and pattern, she started giving me updates (I checked Borders AND Barnes & Noble, shouldn't it be out by now?)

The garden boxes are sheer inspiration, as we are responsible for the majority of our hugungous yard now that the lead is out (they're only re-doing what had sod or rock before they arrived).
I see some succulent gardens and xeriscaping in my near future!

Take care, and Happy Mother's Day!

-Lisa

9:35 PM  
Blogger msubulldog said...

Ooooohhh--I'm nervous about your socks, now. Wonder what's up? The socks you received are cool, though! :)
p.s. Don't forget my "Y" for my Sockapaloooza socks! :)

9:47 PM  
Blogger Karen said...

What an awesome mail day!! Congrats on the magazine article and pattern!!

4:40 AM  
Blogger lexa said...

Nice socks from your Sock Pal! I still haven't gotten mine. Nary a word from her, either, thus reinforcing my belief that I need a Sock Saviour!

Congrats on the publishing! Neat idea for your garden, too!

5:48 AM  
Blogger Sonya said...

Congratulations on the Cast-On pattern! It looks great. And your Sockapaloooza socks are really cute. Good luck with your gardening project. We're planning to get a few veggies planted this year. Kevin just read The Coming Economic Collapse (!) and decided we better be able to feed ourselves. Nothing alarmist about that! ;o)

6:24 AM  
Blogger Acornbud said...

Congratulations on the publication!
I hope your socks made it to your pal.
I'm sure glad that pile of dirt is not in my driveway, heh.

8:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love those socks!

You might have already thought of this, but because I learned the hard way I thought I'd mention it...if you aren't going to put down weed blocking material and stones between your raised beds you might want to make sure that you can easily fit a mower between them...

And, Happy Mother's Day :o)

1:11 PM  
Blogger sillyewe said...

Great socks! And I am super jealous of the garden. It is going to be fantastic! My first brownie point pair has finally been finished and posted. Come take a look! :0) And CONGRATS on the publication! You go!

3:53 PM  
Blogger lexa said...

Got another pair of socks completed and posted on my blog! Another brownie point!

6:35 PM  

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