Anne-Girl

“That Anne-girl improves all the time … I get tired of other girls - there is such a provoking and eternal sameness about them. Anne has as many shades as a rainbow…” ~Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Since I'm getting tired of having all socks from patterns I try lately to be annoying and not fit or be a pain to make or... whatever else, I've decided to create my own pattern. Based on the colors of the yarn, these are my Anne-Girl Socks. :) I got this yarn and originally wanted to do something fall-like, but nothing was coming to mind. Looking at the yarn more and more made me think of poor Anne Shirley and her failed attempt to dye her hair raven black. It’s not quite as green as her hair might’ve been, but I know how my hair looked when it was green and it was more brownish. The pattern has a large braid in the middle, flanked by two small braids and a small twist on each side. Of course there had to be Anne’s braids! :) So these are my “Anne-girl” socks (god forbid if I called them “carrots”!). This is the first pattern I’ve created. We’ll see how they go as they progress. If I can get them done well enough maybe there’ll be a pattern to follow. :)

The chart of the cable. In case my written directions aren't clear, I made this too. (Granted I know what my written pattern means, but if I ever post the pattern I wanted this too...)

My attempts at creating a pattern. You can't read it all here, but it took quite a lot of figuring out and a few attempts at test knitting (on the leftover yarn from Skew) before I was confident enough to actually use the orange yarn.

Stupid socks

So Nutkin's turning out a bust so far too. And I was liking it so much! I turned the heel this morning and decided to try it on (because I'm crazy like that). I can't get the damn thing over my heel! :( So I'm going to see if they fit Mom, cuz she has small feet (that's gotta equal small heels, right?), and maybe she can have them. Otherwise I have to frog yet another pair. Stupid socks... I love socks so much, why do they not want me to knit them lately...?

Summer daze...

I've been out of school for a few weeks now. I did pretty well, though not as well as I'd hoped. Best thing was that my The Birth of a Nation paper wound up really well, I got an A in the class, and it's been submitted for one of my graduation requirements without further revisions! :) Now I'm just trying to find a job, to no luck. (If you give me an application, or say you're hiring, and then I call a few days later and you say you're not hiring, I hate you. Don't tease me like that.) If nothing else I'm planning on trying to tutor, but I'm having issues setting that up. We'll see. Right now I'm just pinching pennies and stressing out and being a bum in the apartment all day. On the plus side I've been super productive otherwise, lol. I've finished 6 books since I've been out of school. I've re-read The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. I've also read The Secret History of Giants by Ari Berk, Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, and The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. I'm currently reading Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin by Marion Meade. I also listened to The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde and am currently listening to The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. Next I'll move onto the next Thursday Next book, The Well of Lost Plots, and either The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan or The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford. We'll see. :) I love being able to read again for pleasure. I'm tired of analyzing and dissecting every book I've been reading since August, so it's definitely a nice break. Yesterday Josh and I went to the park, despite the gloomy weather, and sat and read for a few hours. It was chilly and overcast, but didn't rain and it was nice just being able to sit outside and read together. I was still working on The Lost Hero at that point and it was just really calming and nice. Unfortunately I had a headache (as per usual) which distracted from the reading enjoyment, but I still couldn't have asked for a better few hours. As well, I've finished my skew socks. I started two other pairs but didn't like them at all (one the pattern was super confusing to my stupid brain... the other I didn't like the yarn, which I will have to work through eventually, but not now), so frogged them. I've started a third pair now and just love them. It's Nutkin, and I really like the yarn choice I'm using. 2 Skew photos and a Nutkin. :)