Well, its more like a weekly update at this point.¬†¬† I know it is either feast or famine when it comes to my posting.¬† I do apologize for that.¬†¬† I write a lot of posts.¬† In my head at least.¬†¬† I snap lots of photos and eventually connect the camera to one of the many computers in my life.¬† Actually there’s a new one of those for me to support as I finally rebuilt one of my OLD desktops (a 500mhz celeron) so that Alex could play on one and get off my dell laptop.¬† Kat has one of my mother’s old hand-me-downs in her room and plays Reader Rabbit and Calliou on it.¬† Fair is fair, right?¬† Anyway, I had started futzing with Alex’s machine about a month ago only to find that the hard drive in there had died leaving the machine without its primary operating system.¬† It is fixed now and running and oldie but goodie, Windows 98 
I saw this gorgeous sunset last week, I think it was Thursday as I made my way home.
It was a warm night for February and I rode outside on the top deck of the ferry.¬† You can just see the Statue of Liberty in the distance there.¬† As always, click to make big.¬† Surely isn’t that nice today!¬† We had blizzard conditions that left us with a dusting of snow.¬† It was a brisk 27F when we came home from a dinner out at Bennigans.¬† Brrrrr.¬† Nice to have warm indoor hobbies.
I apparently have my sock mojo back after losing it for far too long.¬† I cast on one¬† Monday morning on the train, in KnitPicks something or other in the Firefighter colorway. ¬† This is how I commute, knitting and iPod on knee.¬† I’m currently re-watching old Battlestar Galacticas in preparation for the upcoming new season. ¬† I can’t wait for that!
I have my first finished socks for the year.¬† The mojo is back in spades.¬† These are stockinette socks with short row heel, short row toe over 54 stitches.¬† The yarn is Sweet Georgia in some colorway or other, I’ve sort of lost the tag.
The truly amazing thing with these socks?¬† I knit the first one yesterday in about 40 minutes and the other this afternoon (after finishing Alex’s computer).¬† How did I do that?¬† With one of these!!!!
After almost a decade of looking, reading and coveting, I finally bought one.¬† This is a Canadian Auto Knitter that I bought from a local NJ fiber buddy who is upgrading to a NZAK.¬† It has 72/36¬† cylinders, electronic counter and a plethora of other accessories.¬† She even gave me a lesson in how to use it when I stopped on by yesterday.¬† I’m digging it.¬† I do think that that lesson combined with my experience with flat bed knitting machines has made the steep learning curve pretty flat.¬† I haven’t tried ribbed sock yet, but woohoo, the first pair is done.¬† AND better yet, I made a nice pair with yarn I didn’t really enjoy hand knitting with.¬† Maybe that mountain of sock yarn will become a mole hill
Finally, Deb, Jessica and Eva have awarded me with the “Make my day award”.¬† I’m terribly honored.¬† Thank you, thank you, thank you!¬† You all make my day.
Craft on!
14 responses so far ↓
1 Dorre // Feb 10, 2008 at 9:49 pm
dude… I wanna try the knitting machine that would be soooo cool!!
2 --Deb // Feb 10, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Wow, think of all the sock yarn you can zoom through now! I’m so jealous.
There’s something that just seems so … strange … about four-year-olds having their own computers. I mean, it makes sense considering the connected world we live in, but . . . well . . . I mean . . . I didn’t get my first computer until I was 18!
3 --Deb // Feb 10, 2008 at 10:11 pm
And, that sunset is gorgeous!
4 Marcia Cooke // Feb 10, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Ditto on the sunset, but I’ll bet you are glad not to be out there tonight! Brutal. Congrats on the sock machine (I want one!) and I’ve become pretty attached to my iTouch for catching up on TV shows, too. I got the new apps and love them, by the way. Worth the $$.
5 Danielle // Feb 10, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Nice sunset. I want to come play with your new toy!!
6 pixie // Feb 11, 2008 at 12:37 am
BSG! YEAH!
7 Eva // Feb 11, 2008 at 3:35 am
That sunset would be soooo gorgeous as a yarn or roving… deep blue with a splash of yellow and a dash of orangey red
If only I dyed yarn hehehe.
I’m horribly jealous of that sock knitting machine… And I’m going to ask something… do you knit the heel with the machine too?
Cheers Eva
8 Jessica // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:21 am
Love the sunset! Definitely not like that today. Love the commuting shot too. Talk about multitasking.
So. Jealous. Of. CSM. Can’t wait to see it!
9 Ina // Feb 11, 2008 at 9:55 am
Fascinating new toy! It does ribbing and heels and toes and everything? Amazing.
10 Janette // Feb 11, 2008 at 10:54 am
You are so my hero…iPod touch, sock knitting machine, mad computer skillz.
I scored a Wii yesterday. Any reviews on games for the Monkey crowd?
11 Lea // Feb 11, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I can’t believe it! That is the machine I bought last May. Nice to see it has stayed in the “family”. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!
12 JessaLu // Feb 12, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Woo! Welcome to the club! ;o)
13 Kim // Feb 12, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Gorgeous sunset photo! Oh my god! A sock machine! No wonder your mojo is back. So when are you going to have a sock machine par-tay!
14 Vanessa // Mar 14, 2008 at 9:05 am
Hi there. I have a Legare 400 CSM and I’m in Northern, NJ. I would love to hook up for some cranking. I’m new to CSMs (got mine from thelegacyfarm.com back in February ’08), but I’ve managed to make my first real pair of socks and a lot of little knitting projects