Gearing up for holiday knitting

First off, we managed to get through the hurricane without any trees falling on our trucks or home and didn't even lose power. Honestly I was a little disappointed, I'm kind of a sucker for natural disaster drama, but I'm glad that the damage was kept to the minimum for everyone else's sake. The storm was talked up so much that it was kind of a let down when all we got was rain and some weak wind. I did get out of school/work for two extra days though. I have gotten a lot of crafting done over this extended weekend too. I only have one more block plus the sashing on my mom's quilt left to quilt, I started and almost finished a crochet blanket for the baby, I finished the Druid Mitten's, did one of two fingerless gloves, sold some yarn, and started a pair of socks (see below for more on the socks). Whew, that sounds like a lot. Let me tell you I am bored out of my mind.

Look a collage of my accomplishments!!

Well its come to that time of year again when I'm starting to panic and dread all of the holiday knitting that needs to be done. It's not often that knitting becomes a unwanted chore, but that is the case a couple of months before Christmas. This is also the time that I realize that the men in knitter's lives are often overlooked when it comes to style. Not wanting to put forth any creativity of my own I've been looking for a nice pullover pattern for the hubby I have been looking for a nice pattern, preferably free cause I'm broke, that won't make him look like Mr. Rogers or, well, gay, and maybe one that he might be willing to wear. Looks like I'm going to have to use that shriveled up thing that rattles around in my head and write a pattern or fork over five bucks to a deserving designer.

Another knitting challenge is fitting a pair of socks to a guy. Men have the oddest feet and if you want to make a pair that fits right you should take proper measurements, but does anyone really want to get that close to a guys foot? Especially when they belong to someone you don't snuggle with. Somehow I always feel the need to make Joe's friends socks just for being great guys and putting up with my attitude and being there when Joe or I need a helping hand. Ben got a pair of blue alpaca socks last spring and now it's Kody's turn. It should be rather challenging considering that I want them to be a surprise and I have to eye up his feet every time he is over. I can't even use Joe a model cause Kody has totally different feet than my husband.

I decided to use the traditional sock recipe and very simple k3 p1 stitch pattern using Brown Sheep's Wildfoote. I must admit that although the color (brown sugar) is very well suited to a man, I'm not thrilled with it. I figure I will work about 2" a day and should be done sometime in September. I have some surprise plans for the sock though and will be sure to make Kody model them (I imagine a photo shoot in front of the gas fireplace, with feet kicked up, light that sucker up, try to get a few shots off before passing out from carbon monoxide poisoning cause the idiots didn't vent the fireplace properly or simply from heat exhaustion cause it will still be 80 degrees here in Louisiana, desperately trying to turn of the gas, all the while hoping that Kody smiled nicely and didn't make faces)...I digress...and write a pattern that I can share with the world!