Ply and Burl

Thinking, no big deal, I’ll just up and design a baby bootie on the fly? Think again, young Jedi.

I am embarrassed to admit that these booties gave me a serious run for my money. I tried to stripe them around the gusset, resulting in about sixty thousand straggly end pieces everywhere. Then, when I finally settled on a simpler pattern, I kept getting messed up turning the heel, which is ridiculous, considering the heel had, oh, 12 stitches to turn. Twelve measly stitches, and I was on the mat, begging for mercy. I was heel impaired for just that one weekend — yesterday I turned 32 heel stitches and didn’t blink an eye.

In the end, I think I won. The second one was a breeze, and the pair came out super cute. They finally went off to the new guy in Boston last week.

On another note, can I go crazy and link to some non-knitting stuff? It’s been interesting out there lately!

Women of Our Time from the Smithsonian is a photo gallery of influential women of the 20th century. Click on the photos for a biography. Inspiring!

NPR is blogging the Most Promising Musicians from SXSW this year. My favorite? Amy Winehouse, whose killer song “Rehab” will have you singing for hours.

Oh, Yoga Today, how I adore you. You rock so hard. Free one-hour yoga classes from three great instructors in Jackson Hole, WY. (Mostly Ashtanga, but I just did a really interesting Kundalini one last night.) You can view them on the website, or subscribe to the podcast and get a new one every day. From a long time yoga practitioner, I can say confidently that these are great classes, and are not too easy.

The Speech Accent Archive has people from all over the US and the world reading the same quote in small audio files. It’s fascinating to listen to the differences in accent.

Ironwood Designs is an Etsy shop that my woodworker boyfriend recently opened. Cute stuff and getting cuter.

The last few weeks have been hectic, with a visit to UC San Diego, discussions with U Mich and Cornell, and lots of thinking about my future. Not to mention the giant backlog of website work that’s been plaguing me for months.

Remarkably, in the middle of the tumult, I’ve managed to produce an FO! One of my oldest friends is having her first baby, most likely later this month, which has resulted in my first ever urge to knit a baby anything. Though the idea of having my own bundle of poopy diapers sends a cringe washing over me, I’ve found myself unabashedly enthusiastic for my friend’s impending motherhood. It’s coming out on my needles: behold, my first ever baby hat, in Rowan Cashsoft:

I’m mid-matching-bootie as we speak. Baby bootie, that is.

I’ve also been contentedly plugging away at my first Pomatomus socks. There is something hypnotizing about this pattern. I love love love it. This might sound fruity, but I think Cookie has tapped into a deep human aesthetic with this repeating curve pattern. Seriously, pomatomus = deeply tapping.

Enough philosophy. Here’s the pic:

The yarn is from my wonderful summer secret pal, Wendy. It’s Meilenweit MegaBoots Stretch and it’s sooooooper cool. Very stretchy, gorgeous colors.