(Cross-posted from my music column on The Daily Chum. Enjoy the holiday randomness! )

How ’bout a picture of a Good Mail Day? My Secret Pal struck! Looking forward to carving out some time to curl up and read it!

Stay tuned for my holiday gift to all y’all, plus the Holiday Knitting Redux!

Our families are too far away to visit over the short Thanksgiving holiday, so we’ve made our own anti-tradition by going to Chinatown. We tried a new place this year – if you’re in the Chicago area, you need to go to Lao Tze Chuan and have the dry chili chicken. Oh yes. You do.

Knitting has looked more or less like this for the past couple of weeks (only less blurry).

The husband wanted a slouchy hat.  I cast on 80 stitches in Aurarcania Nature Wool on 7s, then switched to 8s after the ribbing.  When I blocked it, the yarn grew so much that the hat was entirely too big, so I had to improvise…I nipped the back of the ribbing in by about 10 stitches and sewed it up so he could actually wear it.  I’ve finished several other gift hats in the last few days, all of which are lying around in various states of unblockedness and loose-endedness, and none of which will see that last bit of finishing until the weekend.

And what of Eastlake?  See – here’s the problem.  The NaKniSweMo acronym makes no mention of seaming.  Sure, all of the pieces of Eastlake have been knit!  So I win NaKniSweMo, right?  Right?

Is there a National Seaming Avoidance Month?  NaSeaAvMo?  If so, sign me up!  I’ll totally win that.

More holiday knitting photos once I actually, you know, take. the. photos.

So I skipped work.

I am drinking coffee, listening to podcasts and working on the second sleeve of Eastlake.

I am also thinking about laundry. But only in the abstract.

Oh, and I may have snuck out to Loopy Yarns to get some Malabrigo sock yarn…

The damn-near unphotographable Rayon Vert (it’s really sort of a dusky purple with tinges of olive green)..

AND

The somewhat more easily photographable Violeta Africana.

I’d send you to Malabrigo’s color card page, but I think their photos are even less true to life than mine.  So even though I can’t really share these adequately with you, let’s just say that after seeing these for the first time a few days ago, I’ve been subconsciously plotting my next trip to Loopy to get more.

Come to think of it, this yarn may be why I payed hooky today.  Sneaky little buggers…

I love wool, alpaca, silk and blends of any combination of those three. Some of my favorite yarns/yarn sources are Dream in Color, Socks that Rock, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Sophie’s Toes, Elann’s Baby Silk, Fearless Fibers, Mmmmmmmalabrigo (have you seen the new sock yarn? LOVE!) and good ole Cascade 220. In general, natural fibers are best, though I don’t mind a bit of nylon in my sock yarn.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

Most of my needles are in a vase, which makes them look like the world’s least disorganized floral arrangement. This doesn’t work particularly well for circs, but they kind of spew out all over the place like the world’s most unruly hairdo. Yes, I know this is all a mixed metaphor, but only a mixed metaphors could accurately describe the chaos that is my needle collection.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I guess I’ll go with intermediate here. I can read charts, seam sweaters, kitchener sock toes, etc. I’m not particularly good with doing extensive pattern modifications and I’ve never tried fair isle (though I want to!) I’ve been knitting since the fall of 2001, inspired by an article in Real Simple Magazine. Knitting didn’t “take” right away…it was probably 2003 before it clicked and I really got serious about it.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Not at the moment.

5. What’s your favorite scent?

I’m a fan of “foodie” scents – cinnamon, vanilla, almond, etc. I’ve been wearing Day of the Dead perfume oil lately and I love it!

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Um…yeah. I’m kind of a child. I love dark chocolate and caramel and other more “sophisticated” stuff, but I’m a sucker for candies like Nerds (including the utterly bizarre, yet wonderful, Nerds Rope),

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I dabble with beading – simple jewelry and stitch markers. I’ve never spun.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

This is a vast and complicated question…I’m a composer and musician and I love all kinds of music. Everything from indie rock to avant-garde classical stuff is fair game for me. You can also occasionally see me make an ass of myself at the occasional Chicagoland karaoke night. You can get a sense of some of my recent listening habits by reading my weekly column on Lime ‘n Violet’s Daily Chum.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?

I’m a fan of jewel tones and deeply saturated colors. I occasionally venture into earthtones and oranges. I could live the rest of my life without wearing or knitting with yellow and be perfectly content.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married with border collie.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes, yes, yes, NO! I did make a poncho as an early project, but may frog it to salvage the yarn! I’m on a big slouchy hat kick lately.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I go through phases. I’m definitely on a slouchy hat kick lately. I’m knitting my first sweater in a while right now (Eastlake) and am starting to feel a sweater phase coming on as a result. I also enjoy socks, scarves and lace.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I just started the first sleeve of my Eastlake sweater. I also have a couple of scarves and hats going for the holiday gift stash. I have a couple of long-term blanket projects going, too, but those haven’t seen much action lately.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Sure! What knitter wouldn’t appreciate that?

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I mostly knit with circs or DPNs. I’m good with either metal or bamboo needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes to both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

I have a couple of sweaters that are have been UFOs for at least 2-1/2 years. Both will never be finished, I just need to frog them!

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?

I’m not religious, but I do celebrate Christmas.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I have this new obsession with owls and other birds. I have no idea where this comes from. But over the last few months I’ve acquired owl jewelry, owl figurines and an owl lamp.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I subscribe to IK (Vogue is hit or miss for me, so I just pick up the issues I like).

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?

I’m interested in fair isle but haven’t really tackled it yet. I also would like to start knitting more socks toe-up, but I have trouble with that blasted cast-on!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Yes! I wear a US size 9.

23. When is your birthday?

February 17th.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?

Yep! I’m Z-List there!

It was delicious.

So much for blogging once a day in November.

Hey, have I mentioned on this blog that I contribute to Lime & Violet’s Daily Chum?

No?

Well, I do. Here’s my latest post over there to hold (all six of) you over.

(obligatory knitting content: I’m wearing my Phoncible hat…)

Here’s the front of my Eastlake. It would be further along if I hadn’t been rear-ended while driving to meet my knitting group…but I digress…

(everyone’s fine, the car’s fixable, and the other driver freely admitted fault so insurance hassles should be minimal…so if a little lost knitting time is the worst of it, I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…)

I love the cleverness of this pattern. The sweater has a bit of an A-line shape, and the back (which is done) is knit from the bottom up with occasional decreases for the shaping. The decreases for the front are handled within the leaf panel design! Brilliant!

I’ve only been at this sweater for just over a week…but I’m over halfway through the front, the back’s done, and the sleeves (assuming I knit them to the pattern specs) are only 3/4 length. This is on track to be the Fastest. Sweater. Ever! When I started NaKniSweMo, I told myself I wasn’t going to knock myself out to have this thing done in a month…but since I’m at a point where knitting this sweater is all I want to do (to the exclusion of sleep, people!), I’m starting to think that I could be wearing this by Thanksgiving!

(Remind me I said that in June, when I’m seaming it up…)

Between this and my Eastlake sweater, it’s sort of all leaves, all the time around here. The yarn is Dream in Color in Good Luck Jade, and this is the third time I’ve knit the Embossed Leaves pattern, and the second time I’m giving the pair away while wishing they were mine. This pattern + this yarn = love.  I’d totally keep these and knit them again to have a gift pair, but these are XL sock blockers to account for MIL’s size 11 feet, so these will be 1 leaf repeat too long for me.

Mmmm…leafy goodness!

These will be done soon, and then I just need to bang out a couple of little things for friends.  Stress-free holiday knitting?  Is it possible?

Since I’m feeling a little cocky confident about my progress, I’m pretty much ignoring these socks in favor of my Eastlake sweater.  Tomorrow: a progress report on its leafy goodness!