I know it’s not Tuesday, and so it’s not quite a Tue Review like I used to do, but a girl’s got to climb back on the wagon somewhere, right? So here we are!

Some months ago, I received a preview copy of Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits. I’ve been sitting on it while life was crazy, but I decided that today was the day, mainly because I need to gift it to someone next week. And, folks, it’s a good thing I made that decision before I cracked the cover, because otherwise….I’d be keeping it.

I’ve used Wendy’s site to make socks before, as I am sure many of us have. The patterns and techniques she covers in the book are as well thought out and illustrated as her blog always is. One thing that was new to me was the heel-gussetted sock from the toe up. I’ve never knit that one before, and I think I will have to give it a try before I part with the book. It doesn’t seem overly difficult and it’s very visually appealing.

The sock patterns themselves are pretty cool, with several I’d like to make. The “ribbed ribbon” and the “serpentine” appeal the most, and since the serpentine is done in sportweight, I might just have time to whip out a pair before I part with the book. If I actually had time to knit in the next few days, which I probably won’t. Sigh. Soon people, very soon. Really.

Do you remember back in the day, when you could pick up free calendars everywhere? Stop by the bank, free calendar. Hardware store, free calendar. McDonald’s, free cal—oops, now I remember, you had to buy those, but they had lots of coupons for free food, so really, that was kinda like a free calendar. My uncle used to get me one every year! My cousin and I would plot and plan exactly HOW we were going to get to a McDonald’s, considering that neither of us had one close by. Fun times!

These days, the only places I know of giving out free calendars are K-Mart (hey, with coupons even) and funeral homes (er, thanks, but no thanks, especially with coupons). I’m thinking it’s time to turn some businesses on to discount printing and please bring back the free calendar! Seriously, PsPrint will run them for as low as 34 cents a calendar, and my business over the course of the next 373 days ought to be worth that much, right? Yeah, I thought so.

In crafty news, I neglected to tell ya’ll just now that Spidey picked out the yarn for his hat even as I was finishing up the stockings. Black worsted on top, self striping sock on the top. But I really hope it’s okay with him if I wait for this three day headache to pass before I get started. And I really, sincerely hope the headache doesn’t last another three days! That would truly suck.

So, today, about 6pm, I finished the secret Christmas stitching. Now that it is done, and one has been delivered and the other two recipients won’t be reading my blog, I can tell you that I was crocheting stockings for Micheal, The Clone’s boyfriend and That One. I am exhausted, but they are done, and for that I am glad. And oh by the way, do you know how hard it is to keep a secret in a house of ten? Really, really hard. Of course, I did do one right under the recipient’s nose, but I don’t think he realizes it yet. I hope. LOL.

We got the tree decorated last Sunday night, but it is still package-less, since we aren’t opening presents until The Clone gets here in January. I imagine I will spend some time wrapping things on Saturday, while the kids are with their dad. I always enjoy the time right after Christmas the best, so that suits me. I like the reverence of the season and not the bustle, so this delayed Christmas pleases me quite well.

Tomorrow, however, is the big family party on my dad’s side. It’s always fun. Or at least it is since I decided to quit worrying about it and just have a good time. That’s only been a few years ago, but now I only have a few minutes of nervousness instead of days of it. The children’s clothing is all together, thanks to Mama, and while it’s not quite as clever as these outfits by TeaCollection.com, it’s cute and fits their personalities for the most part. The littlest girls have the cutest little plaid jumpers! Of course, I work tomorrow, so I won’t get to see them until I get to the party.

Yes, yes, I know I need to put up pictures: Hat the First, The Stockings Three, The Tree and the cute babies. But first, I have to find a camera card. And before that I have to work. And before that I have to sleep and before that, I have to write another post while I wait for my hair to dry so I can go to bed, which I have been ready to do for a couple hours already.

I mean of course, that it is cold to me! Sandwiched as I am between all this beachy wonderland (20 minutes from wrightsville, 30 from carolina, and about 45 to myrtle beach s c), we don’t spend a lot of time down in the 40s, which is what we have forecasted all the way through the weekend. Geez Louise, I need more hats. Speaking of hats, I am ready to begin the decreases on Hat the First, but by the time I got there last night, I was too tired to start trying to count and remember. And guess what? I am equally tired tonight. It’s 6:30 pm and all I can think about is how much I want to be in bed, followed by the realization of just how much stitching I have to get done in the next 8 days.

sleep or stitch or sleep or stitch or sle zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I just keep coming up with them, don’t I? But I swear, I am only talking about the hat knitting! I guess I need fat burners for my perverse sense of humor, huh?

Anyway, I am five inches into Hat the First, and have cut the purple yarn, ready to start the black. It looks..very hat-tish. I guess I need to calculate pretty soon how tall it needs to be, and how much of that length will be taken up by the decreases. Lord knows, it’s big enough without making it too tall! Although, I must admit that the very specific wearing preferences I was given will make the math pretty easy: must come down to the eyebrows, and cover most of the ear, but not the earlobe itself. Yep, 12 inches total ought to cover all that. *snort*

Just a little title sure to draw some porn hits. What can I say, I’m bored today and wish to mess with folks. Move on along, googlers, it’s just a knitting blog.

I’m just short of four inches on this hat, which has a 2.5 inch cuff, and guys….I wasn’t kidding. My gauge is 4 stitches to the inch, and I have 96 stitches on the needles. You do the math. But, I’ve said it will be ready 48 hours from last night, so I expect that after I get the kids down tonight, it will be me, a Blockbuster movie on the home theater and the yarn.

By the way, have you ever knit in a mostly silent room? I love the quiet snick, snick, snick sound my knitting needles make as I work. Very comforting, that sound.

Apparently the recent cold snap has my loved ones thinking not about florida vacations, but rather warm woolen good for their heads! I’ve been handed for hat requests in the last 36 hours! And this is in addition to the secret crocheting I still have to do! Of course, hat the first is already in progress, because what knitter in their right mind can turn down an actual request for wooly love? Not this one!

Hat the first is for That One, composed of a purple brim in cotton ease (for comfort) and a top in black woolease, no “stupid ball up on top, either”. It’s on size 10s and I am two thirds of the way through the ribbing on it, which isn’t bad considering I started after 10 last night. Hat the second will be for Spidey, and I need him to pick his yarn. Hat the third will be for Drama, and she wants purple, with a “ball on top, because that makes a hat awesome and he doesn’t ‘stand that”. Hat the fourth will be for Stuntman who will also need to pick his yarn. And then more hats for That One who wears them constantly and wants enough to change like he changes clothes. Do I look like a knitting machine to you? Apparently so. And I’m okay with that 😉

okay, in the Secret Christmas Crocheting, there are twelve milestones to complete. Yesterday, I spent three hours in a waiting room with children, and I raised the total steps done to four. Each step takes an hour to an hour and a half, so I think I can safely say that I will be done by Christmas, given that I have several more kid appointments to sit through and the kids are with their dad this weekend. That’s important because I will soon reach the point that I can no longer hide exactly what it is that I am doing.

*Segue* Now, as many of you know, I own several blogs. At one time, I did toy with the idea of putting everything under one umbrella, but it seemed like a huge hassle to move everything over, and really, I enjoy having niches and corners of myself to explore and it is quite handy to be able to tell a new acquaintance that “I just talked about that on my knitting blog” and not have them have to be sucked in to the drama that is my personal angst over on my other blog. There are ther reasons as well, but …there ya go.

If I were to do it over again though, I might consider just one website with multiple tabs. It would be neat to create a website that showed off my photos and my writing and my stitching and allowed me to express my creativity with site design and such as this. Kind of a OneStopCassShop, if you will. And with all the time I’ve ben spending on Facebook lately, if I were to put that time and energy into my own site, it ought to be a hum-dinger within a week, ykwim? But that would require me to give up a certain amount of my internet schizophrenia, now wouldn’t it, LOL? And also my games, and that I am not so much laughing about.