FO #12

And they're done.  My comfy, cozy, lovely Tesserae socks.  I cast on the first sock on the first day of our cruise to Bermuda at the beginning of the month, and knit pretty much only in the evenings when we relaxed in our cabin, and still managed to finish all but the last couple inches of the second sock by the time we were back in Boston a week later.  I let them languish in my knitting bag a bit after that, but finished them up at work this week over the course of a few naptimes.  And I love them.  I love them because they're comfortable as all-get-out.  I love them because the pattern was easy but interesting to knit, another part of my ongoing love affair with Anne Hanson's gorgeous patterns.  I love them because it's the first time I've knit with The Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga yarn which is luxurious to say the least.  But most of all, I love them because they will forever remind me of one of the best vacations I've ever taken.

Bermuda was heavenly - perfect weather (temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s), gorgeous scenery, lovely people, water that is warm and perfectly clear down-to-your-toes, sand the likes of which I've never walked upon (soft as powder, foot-caressing, and indeed pink!), and just amazingly welcoming and relaxing.  We had such a nice time exploring and swimming every day.  I even took my first-ever horseback ride (not counting that caped pony ride around the 10-foot ring I took way back in the 70s)!  So now I can look at the turquoise and blues in these socks and think of Bermuda's water and sky, the rusty orange and think of sunsets and horses and wild roosters.  And that makes me very, very happy indeed.

Project info:
Bermuda Beach Socks
Pattern: Tesserae by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga
Coloway: Black Spotted Prominent Caterpiller
Yardage: about 400

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 12
Yards knit: 3470

Serious geek-out

Ok, as everyone already knows, I am a big nerd.  This is true in many areas of my life, not the least of which is my knitting. 
Evidence:
1) I signed up for three full days of classes at this year's Stitches East convention, and that's only because I couldn't quite justify taking two days off to attend all four.  I'm taking an all-day class on knitting socks two-at-a-time on two circulars (a technique I have just not wrapped my head around independently), an all-day class on Bohus Stickning, a style of knitting developed in the Depression in Sweden, and two 3-hour classes on sweater design and knitting "backwards," another mysterious concept that intrigues me.  This is a serious treat to myself, because it isn't cheap, but it's so enriching and so much fun, I already know I won't regret a penny of it.

2) As I have mentioned before, my very favorite yarn company is Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  So far I've tried all three Socks That Rock weights and five of their other yarn bases and every single one has been just luscious, and head dyer Tina's color sense is easily the best in the business.  Well a few days ago, Tina asked in a blog post for help naming some new colorways.  I chipped in my tuppence worth, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and although it wasn't used for the colorway I suggested it for, one of my names is being used for an as-yet-unseen colorway!  I haven't even laid eyes on it, but I already know I'll be ordering a skein because, hello? Something I said struck a chord with THE Tina of BMFA!  I feel like I've touched knitting greatness.  (by parroting a great movie's title, but still.  I'll take what I can get...)

So yeah.  Serious geekery indeed.  As for actual knitting, I'm still kicking it with the Traveling Sweater, which becomes more and more deliciously cozy by the yard.  I started a Daybreak Shawl on my Bermuda cruise and managed to lose the pattern on the very first day, so that's not too far along and hasn't been touched since.  Thank goodness I overpacked the knitting supplies, and had a skein of Skinny Bugga (yum!) and the Tesserae sock pattern.  So those about an inch from finished, and will be posted about just as soon as they're done.