More Misc

I'm still working on copy edits and assorted text things with the sock book, and trying to put together a proposal for another book (sorry, no hints until we're a little further along in the process), plus those hats have to be wrapped and mailed (to 7 different addresses), I have all of my other shopping/wrapping to do, and I haven't even thought about my Holiday Letter or cards yet. Luckily, we're still living in Diabetesville, so I don't have to worry about baking or eating tons of goodies (note sarcasm there- what I wouldn't give for a piece of fudge right about now).

Of course, being extremely busy hasn't kept me from playing around on Facebook. My favorite time waster there is the Flair Corkboard- you can find and send flair (pins) to your friends, and you can make your own. My tiny brain has found that endlessly fascinating- so far I have flair for Cannon Beach, The X-Files, Hoops and Yo Yo, The Office, MST3K, my high school, Ravelry, knitting, and a reminder to get to work. I amuse easily.

I finished the final pair of handspun gift gloves. I'm not quite as thrilled with these as I was with the other two pairs. This yarn is BFL (blue faced leicester), and evidently BFL is felt resistant. These gloves are a bit big, so after I finished them last night, I put them on, and plunged my hands into hot water and soap and scrubbed until my fingers were pruney. All I got for my effort was wet sleeves. The gloves will be okay as they are, but you know that they would have felted in an instant if I'd put them in the wash accidentally.

One of my granddaughters has extremely picky feet- I have probably knitted her a dozen pairs of socks in the last 7 1/2 years, and she has worn exactly none of them for more than 10 minutes at a stretch, because she says that they itch. She doesn't have a wool allergy, and since the seams in commercial socks are another Pea to her Princess, you'd think that handknits would be perfect. This year, I am determined to knit socks that she will wear (the rejects were passed to my other granddaughter, who is the same age but has smaller, tougher, feet- so they didn't go to waste). I started a sock last night with some all-acrylic lavender sock yarn that I found on Ebay, but... I hate the yarn. This stuff just feels urky. And the pattern is boring. So it's off to the frog pond. The other grands are getting socks knitted from Twisted Fiber Arts yarn, and I do have some wool/bamboo blend that feels extremely soft to me. Maybe that will work (her other handknit socks were all Opal, Regia, and other mass-producer brands, and though they don't bother my feet, I can feel that they're rougher than the Twisted base). I'd rather knit socks that won't be worn with yarn I like, than socks that won't be worn with yarn I hate.

In other Grandchild Present News- I love Sandra Boynton. We have spent countless hours reading Pajama Time (jamma jamma jamma jamma PJ!!!!) and about 15 other Boynton masterpieces, over the years. A couple of years ago, I bought them The Philadelphia Chickens CD, and we've loved and memorized most of the songs (my favorite is Pig Island, sung by Scott Bakula, of all people). This year, I picked up Blue Moo, a collection of 50's-60's style jukebox songs, written by Boynton (with her signature rhymes and rhythms), sung by the likes of BB King, Davy Jones, Steve Lawrence, Bobby Vee, Sha Na Na, Patti LuPone, Neil Sedaka, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. I listened to it on the treadmill this morning (a pre-wrapping gift to myself), and this CD is a total hoot. My favorites are Mersy Lullaby (which works beautifully as a stand-alone song) by Gerry and the P's, and BB King's One Shoe Blues, though I am beyond delighted that Davy Jones wants to be My Own Personal Penguin. You can get the CD by itself, or with a book that has the music and lyrics, and lots of great illustrations and pictures. Highly recommended.