It's all about balance.

As some things get larger,

Other things get smaller.

And as some things begin (Eric's is obsessed. Oh and hey, look! We're family!),

Other things end.

Pattern: Feather and fan socks, made up as I went.
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, dye lot long lost, 2 hanks
Needles: 2.00 mm Addi DPNs

This was actually the last FO for 2006. Unfortunately my internet connection was down so I couldn't post it. Boo.

This was also the first patterned pair of socks that I didn't follow a written pattern for. I started with a picot cast-on, went into feather and fan, slip stitch heel, and the rest is a blur. This pair of socks taught me that I really need to take careful notes when I don't have a pattern written down. That's because these two socks are ever so slightly different. Poop. I couldn't figure out what I had done on the first one so the feather and fan is off by one row on the foot of the sock. So much for being able to read my knitting.

I have to say that I love the feather and fan though. They stay up so well! It's like magic. No more baggy socks. But I don't know that I'll make another pair too soon. That lace drove me batty near the end. The boredom!

Pattern: Plain stockinette, again made up as I went.
Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color, 2 balls, col# 9098
Needles: 2.00 mm Addi DPNs

Fist FO for 2007! These were actually completed about a week ago, but the poor internet connection has meant that I haven't been able to show them to anyone. These are for Eric. He's pleased. I think he likes it when I make him things. He's sentimental. And he's a great knitted gift recipient. He knows how much work goes into the things that I make and he values it accordingly. The last pair of socks that I made him used to be (I think) handwashed and air dried. I told him to throw it in the washer and drier. I wouldn't have made him handwash socks. So now he throws them into the washer, but still air dries them.

And I learned my lesson from the last pair of socks. I started myself a little knitting notebook and I wrote down what I did. This is momentous. I have never had a notebook. Mostly because I tend to follow patterns and don't see that much of a point. If I change something, I'll write it on the pattern. But apparently when I'm winging it, I make mistakes. This will hopefully take care of that problem in the future.

Aside: In case you haven't heard, Stefaneener has gone mad. She's incredible. I couldn't do it.

On obsessions...

Eric referred one of his car nerd friends over to my flickr account the other day to show them pictures of him in China. They evidently browsed through all the other pictures that I have up there and noticed all the knitting. And they commented to him about it.

You have no idea how embarrassed I was to know that someone he knows was looking through the pictures that I had posted of things that I had knit and things that I was knitting. You see, my friends know that I knit. Some of his friends also know that I knit. They know about projects that I knit, even though they may not understand them (like the socks that I knit for Eric). But this is the first one that's found out that I'm obsessed enough with my knitting to take pictures of it. Not only do they now know that I take pictures of them, they now know that I'm obsessed enough that I post them on the Internet.

I think the oddest aspect of this whole thing is that I'm very private in real life; not a lot of people know about what happens in my home life. Not a lot of people know how obsessed I am with my knitting. That all changes on the blog though. In my eyes, my blog is very, "Look at meeeeee!" I want everyone to oooh and ahhh at all the projects that I'm working on. Apparently I'm an attention whore.

Gah. Bringing it back to the original reason for the post: it turns out that the friend's boyfriend knits. Hopefully they didn't look at my profile on flickr. If they did, they found out about the blog. And then they really know how neurotic I am.

This is (hopefully) uploaded again by the DSO. (Yup'... DSO in full-effect, yo'.)

P.S. Since my last knitting post, I have completed the Koigu socks, finished the bottom of Mariah and need to join for the yoke, finished one sock of a pair of socks for Eric and am on my last repeat of chart one of Icarus. See how limited Internet access increases productivity? ;)

Things that happen when you make excuses about being hampered by the Internet...

...an earthquake hits Taiwan and damages undersea telecommunications cables, thereby leaving Brittany with little to no Internet access. Brittany is currently knitting but she can't show you any of the current works-in-progress because she can't even access blogger.com. She says to expect an update in one to two weeks when it's rumoured Internet access will be restored in Beijing. If you're expecting email from her, it may be a while — as it currently stands she wants to throw her computer at the wall whenever she attempts to go online.

Hugz, smooches, and safe knitting, her DSO.