365 Days Handmade

Making life a better place, one day at a time


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Day 6/365: Toe-Up Hand-Dyed Merino Wool Sock

1.6

The bad news is that my little winter holiday is over.  I went back to prison today.  I forgot how a ten-hour work day can be exhausting.  Sean returned to Ventura this morning; he’s flying out to Florida tomorrow and will be there with family for a week.  We won’t see each other again until next Thursday evening, when I head back to the Ventura homestead to report for jury duty on Friday the 16th.  Such is the life of having full-time state jobs that are 150 miles apart.

Tonight I’m working on this sock.  The yarn is a pretty hand-dyed merino wool.  If you click on the photo, you’ll be able to see a larger image and get a closer look at the colors.  I’ll probably knit a few rows and fall asleep.  I have to be back at work again in less than twelve hours.

 

 


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Day 5/365: First Completed Pair of Socks for 2015

Despite what Sean would have you think, those are not the feet of a homeless man on a park bench.

Despite what Sean would have you think, these are not the feet of a homeless man on a park bench.

“Go sit on that bench and put your feet up, so I can take a picture of the socks,” I told Sean.  We were at the end of the Embarcadero walking path near the Morro Bay Rock.

“How about I lay down like this,” he said, stretching out on the bench and putting his hat over his face.  “And then the people walking by will think you found some homeless guy and put socks on his feet.”

“Pull your cuffs up from your ankles, so I can get a good photo,” I said, ignoring the fact that now he did look like some guy passed out on a park bench and there were people walking by and staring.

He made some noises but obliged.  It wasn’t until after I’d snapped the photo and looked at it did I realize that now I had a picture of what looked like naked hairy legs wearing nothing but knitted handmade socks.

1.5B

You see what I mean?

“Not like that!” I said.  “Just pull your cuffs back down.  I’ll take another picture.”

He pulled the cuffs back down but remained in his homeless-man-passed-out-on-a-park-bench pose and I got a picture of this.

1.5

Awake or passed out, who can tell?

“Just– just cross one foot over the other ankle.  Like, try to make your feet look perky, or something.  I just need to get a good picture of the socks.”  I was acutely aware that the tourists who’d been looking at the sea otters were now looking curiously at me and the camera and the homeless guy on the bench.

Despite what Sean would have you think, those are not the feet of a homeless man on a park bench.

Okay, perfect.

“Thanks for being my foot model,” I said to Sean on the walk home.

“You didn’t take a picture of me passed out on the bench,” he said.  “That would have been the best.”


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Day 4/365: Mexican Wrestling Mask Quilted Placemat

What's this?  They made a fabric with pictures of my family on it?

What’s this? They made a fabric with pictures of my family on it?

When Sean and I ran the Ventura Half Marathon back in September, we saw a guy running in bare feet and a Mexican wrestling mask.  We had about half a mile left in the race, and I was tired.  Seeing this guy effortlessly skim by in bare feet and wrestling mask, I was impressed.  And inspired.  We’d been running for two hours and thirty-five minutes at that point, and it was the half marathon.  This guy’s race bib indicated that he was finishing up the marathon.  That’s 26.2 miles, people.  In bare feet and a Mexican wrestling mask.  Finishing in under two hours and forty minutes.  Sean and I looked at each other, and we were like, There goes a badass motherfucker.  And then we started sprinting like crazy.

For part of my Christmas gift, Sean surprised me by choosing assorted yards of fabric from one of my favorite local independent shops.  This Mexican wrestling mask print is one of those fabrics.  I knew I had to make something that we’d use and see all the time.  A dining table placemat made sense.  Doesn’t everybody want to eat a meal with a badass motherfucker?

The easy part:  You sew your blocks together and quilt them the fast and lazy way.

The easy part: You sew your blocks together and quilt them the fast and lazy way.

The harder part:  Preparing the binding and then sewing it on.

The harder part: Preparing the binding and then sewing it on.

Ta-da!  Finished quilted placemat.

Ta-da! Finished quilted placemat.

This guy says, "I like it."

This guy says, “I like it.”


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Day 3/365: Knitted Toe-Up Self-Striping Sock

Sean's feet at 8:35 AM.  Only one of them is partially cold.

Sean’s feet at 8:35 AM. Only one of them is partially cold.

Sean was up this morning before me.  By the time I got upstairs, he was ensconced in his favorite sun room chair and engrossed in some academic book about Thomas Pynchon.  The only reason he even stopped his reading to put on the socks and be my foot model was that he said his feet were cold.  And then he saw that only one sock was done.

I don’t remember when I finished the first sock.  I do know that it was well over a year ago and it took a few days, because Sean has big old size 11 feet, as opposed to my mother, who can wear shoes from the kids’ department and therefore is a lot easier to knit socks for.  I probably started the second sock shortly after I finished the first one, but then my crafter’s ADHD kicked in and I lost interest.  I forgot all about these socks, until I pulled out my basket of unfinished knitting to embark on this New Year’s resolution to complete all of my unfinished projects.

I’ll probably spend today and tomorrow on this pair.  Sean said that when he was putting on the first sock, it was a little tight around the cuff (and what with the broken right elbow, he had a hell of a time pulling it on in the first place).  I’ll finish the second sock and then go back to the first one, rip out the cuff, and do it over.  Now that I think of it, this might be a three-day project, because the cuffs need to be longer anyway.  I think I’m starting to remember why I abandoned these socks the first time around.

Sean following my direction to cross his ankles and loosen his feet for a more "casual" look.

Sean following my direction to cross his ankles and loosen his feet for a more “casual” look.


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Day 2/365 Fish Hat

fishhat1 fishhat2 fishhat3 fishhat4

Some time in 2013, I started knitting this fish hat from this pattern.  I finished the body and just needed to add the fins and eyes.  A lot of crap was going on in my life at the time, so after I set the hat aside, I promptly forgot all about it.  2014 rolled around.  I took a quilting class in September and loved it so much that I bought a new sewing machine.  I made a bunch of quilted projects and got away from knitting.  By December, I’d completed five quilts and half a dozen holiday table runners.  It was time for a sewing break.  I went back to my knitted works-in-progress and picked up the fish hat, which Sean was calling The Seattle Sounders Hat because of its colors.

This morning, I woke early without needing the alarm clock.  I went upstairs, sat on the couch, and got to finishing that ol’ fish hat.  There was no need to cast on stitches; the fins called for picking up stitches on the body of the hat.  I’d taken today off, because yesterday was a state holiday and Monday is my regular day off anyway, so I’d have a nice long five-day weekend.  (Have I mentioned how much I love my job assignment?)  Anyway, I finished my knitting and added the final touch by sewing on the felt eyes.  After breakfast, Sean and I walked down to the Embarcadero so I could take photos.  (We would have ridden our skateboards, except his right elbow is still broken from last week when he went too fast downhill on his Christmas present skateboard.)  We took turns modeling the hat, which I really made for him.  So for now, even though he’s an L.A. Galaxy fan, he’ll be sporting Seattle Sounders colors.