Saturday, September 30, 2006

A whole lotta stuff

We are in full-on marathon-prep mode here. Well, one of us is, anyway. I'm busy tagging clothes for a big kids' consignment sale next weekend... This is what our dining room is filled with right now:



That is just a very small portion of the total amount of baby-related junk we can't wait to get rid of. It is a ton of work getting it ready, but hopefully we'll get a few bucks for it and the best thing will be to finally get it all out of the house.

Earlier today we drove the marathon route, and I'm amazed at how long it is! It's amazing to think that Bill is going to be running that tomorrow morning. I am so proud of him. If you're going to be at the marathon tomorrow and you see #173, that's my man - give him a big cheer! His friend Anthony is also going to be running - he's #3600.

In other news, Death by Sock came in the mail on Thursday. I managed to get my socks out before I was killed, so it wasn't a total loss. In fact, it was kind of a relief to be knocked out in the first round. I got to participate, but it didn't take up too much of my time. I do have to say that all the whining and competitiveness surrounding Sock Wars was a little bit tiresome - I think a few people kind of missed the whole point. It didn't matter how fast a knitter you were, you'd still be dead as soon as your assassin finished their socks. You couldn't keep yourself in the game solely by being a fast knitter - the only way to stay in the game a long time is if your assassin flakes out. It was kind of a brilliant way to set up a swap where even the people who get shafted by their "pal" (i.e. assassin) get something in the end. However, Yarn Monkey should've done a better job of explaining that so that people didn't get so wound up thinking it was all unfair and that somehow they could move themselves up if they could delay their assassin or something. Whatever, people! Anyway, I had a good time and was quite happy to get my socks.



As you can see, they're a little big (my foot is 9" long, but these socks are about 10" long which is what the size chart indicated for my shoe size). I'm going to try to felt them a bit and see what happens. I adore them, so I definitely want to figure out what I need to do to make them fit!

I also got my chocolate swap package by mail on the day of my Sock Wars death:



Thanks to Lacey for an amazing gift package! I especially love the handmade chocolate-colored bag. Lacey's hubby is in the military, stationed in S. Korea, so I got lots of Korean chocolate. I've been keeping it hidden until I had time to take a picture so haven't tried any yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. I love all things foreign! She also sent a bunch of lovely chocolate-colored yarn, which I'm currently trying to cook up a plan for.

I'm putting off my design work in favor of a couple quick little projects for Halloween. On Wednesday afternoon, I took MK on a little yarn crawl to The Naked Sheep and Close Knit. While at Naked Sheep, I found a pattern for these incredibly adorable little Halloween baskets - the pattern includes a devil, a cat and a spider. Here is the devil, pre-felting:



It is going to be so cute - I can't wait to stick it in the washing machine and see what happens! I'm also working on the spider, so I'll probably wait and felt them both at the same time. Stay tuned for FO pics!

9 Comments:

Blogger Teri.p said...

That bag looks like it will be adorable, Chrissy! Looking forward to seeing a pic of it after felting.

How fun to get the foreign chocolate ... I was happy too, as I can read Korean (and even remember a little of it). It's been 25 years since I learned it. Dang. I'm old.

3:58 PM  
Blogger msubulldog said...

Good luck to Bill in the marathon! Does he have a goal time set? (of course he does . . .) *grin*

Wow, all that chocolate! Yum.

And sorry about getting killed off in the Sock Wars, but it sounds like it was a fun experience. :) I'll be interested to see how round 2 goes.

7:09 PM  
Blogger jennie said...

Just a quickie post to say I finished (just under the wire) my September socks.

http://twinknit.blogspot.com/2006/10/norway.html

9:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Death and chocolate, what a recovery!

6:58 AM  
Blogger sillyewe said...

Oh my God! Look at that chocolate!!! Yummm. I am curious as to how the Korean chocolate is? We recently had some Venzuelan Bitters (made in Japan-go figure) and it was WONDERFUL!

I agree with you and Katrina. It was kind of pointless to get worked up about it. I delayed sending my socks for quite a while just to give my target a chance. What the heck? Both my target and assassin are really neat, so I am glad I did it.

7:03 AM  
Blogger Amy said...

Being dead isn't so bad, is it? Good luck to your husband! I'm doing the half here in Detroit in a few weeks.

7:04 AM  
Blogger roxie said...

How about unraveling the toe on those too-long socks and re-knitting them shorter? Felting will make them stiffer which won't be nice on the feeties.

Looks like you have some gorgeous gifts. Enjoy!

8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I second roxie's suggestion. pick up stitches at the end of the toe (or where you want the decreases to start), frog to that point, and finish to the proper size.

10:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I considered sock wars, but decided to hold off until later. LOVE the devil bag.
Doesn't it feel so good to sell stuff that you don't need anymore? Such a fresh start.
Hope Bill did well in the marathon! :-)
-Your Sockret Pal

2:27 PM  

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