Socks in the City

I had heard rumors of it's existence. I caught wind that it would be making an appearance at my favorite LYS. I knew it would change my life.

Okay, maybe not that last one!

It really doesn't take much for me to find a reason to hit my LYS, but this was some serious business - a pilgrimage of sorts, if you will.

The World's Biggest Sock!!!

(or should I say "The World's Biggest Sock in Progress")

As soon as I pulled up in front of the store, I knew I was in the right place!

And there it was, the Moby Dick of knitting - the Big Sock!!

When first approaching the Big Sock, I slowly made my way around the table it was spread out on, sizing it up (tee-hee), when I made my move! I picked up one of several sets of needles attached to it and started knitting, stitch after stitch. Forty minutes and a couple of hundred stitches later, I was kinda over it, and ready to do a little shopping to buy some yarn of my own to take home.

Yes, my 3 faithful readers, KnittyBoomBoom knit on the (soon to be famous) Big Sock! I promise not to let this success go to my head!!

Okay, seriously now, the Big Sock is actually a very cool project started in the UK in 2006 during National Knitting Week (how cool is that?? We need a National Knitting Week too!!). Since then it's traveled all over the place, and is doing it's time here in lovely Colorado.

Right now the part of the sock that's being knit is the cuff. I was told it's about 9 meters across (I don't know how many feet that is - look it up!), and still quite a ways from where the heel would start.

Since it's been in Colorado, several inches have been put on it. You can kind of see how many in this pic. The white yarn attached to the Knitted Peace card is where they started, up to the knitting needles (sort of up and off to the left). Sorry for the bad pics - I'm no Ansel freaking Adams!

Here's where I made my stitches. See them?? Aren't they the best looking stitches you've ever seen? I thought so too!

If you want to see some much better pics of the sock, go here. If you would like to read a short little article about the sock's Colorado stop, go here. If you would like to learn how to become an airline mechanic go here.

The Big Sock has it's own blog where you can read all about it's adventures as it makes it's way around the globe - check it out!

Boomer in ToyLand

It was recently brought to my attention that it's been a while since we've had a post entirely dedicated to the wonderful little fluff-ball that is Boomer.

So, in response to public demand, this one is all about Boomer. My Little Boomie is a deep and complex little doggie, with many sides and many moods. It was hard to decide which of these complexities to feature in today's entry, so I decided on his playful nature.

When I first told Boomie that I would (finally) be posting about him, he was modestly flattered.

Once the flattery wore off, he went right to work picking out his favorite shots of himself and his favorite toys (just a warning, there were many photos to choose from - heavy pic post ahead)!

Sometime, Boomie can't be bothered to go and track down a soft little squeekable, and will just make do with whatever is closest! Clever doggie!

And of course when a doggie plays this hard, he sleeps hard, too! Nightie night!

Simple Pleasures

The makings of a perfect summer afternoon:

In case you need specifics.....

1. An original Aloha Pineapple smoothie with a vitamin boost from Jamba Juice.
2. One lovely little cake of hand dyed Araucania Ranco sock wool in maroon.
3. A DVD of "Lars and the Real Girl". Awesome, awesome movie!!

Oh yes, and a curious little doggie wondering why I'm taking pictures of inanimate objects that are not nearly as cute as he is!

Pacing yourself is key

Since I've been spending more and more time on my favorite time-sucking website, Ravelry, I decided to participate in the Ravelympics. What are the Ravelympics, you ask? Well, basically it's a "competition" of knitters and crocheters that coincides with the Olympics going on in Beijing.

The idea is that you join up with a team (I joined Team Colorado), sign up for some events, (I entered PetsPommelHorse) and pick a project to make that coincides with the event.

The rules are pretty simple: You cannot cast on until the opening ceremonies start, and you have to be 100% completely done by the end of closing ceremonies.

Since (as I've mentioned once or twice) I tend to be a slower knitter, I decided to play it safe and picked a project that I'm sure I'll be able to finish in 17 days.

I'm going to be knitting a Paw Cozy (actually, I'm going to knit two of them). Here are some photos of the Cozy from the knitty.com website.

The best part about this project, is that I already had this yarn in my stash - yay, no shopping required! Although the two yarns look similar, they colors are pretty different. One is more of a dark blue/blue gray mix, the other is a dark blue/light blue/green mix. They are both 60% wool 40% acryllic blends, and of course (most importantly) machine washable.

I do have one confession though: In true KnittyBoomBoom fashion, I won't be casting on this evening (yes, I know, shocking that I'm not starting something on time), but I will be casting on this weeekend. Slow and steady - that's me!! Go Team, Go!!!!

Karma is a Knitter

Let me set the scene: So, there I was, having an icky week. You know - counting down the days to the weekend, when all of a sudden, there it was, in the most unlikely of all places to find happiness - my mailbox!! A package full of sunshine from my Swap Buddy!

I could hardly contain myself as I tore into it (yes, I get excited easily)! So much goodness to brighten up one's day!!

Included were a Calorimetry - or cool knit headband that's supposed to keep your head warm in the winter without wearing a hat- that she knit up herself. My Buddy totally did her homework on this one - I was so going to make one of these for myself.

Also some awesome yarns. A skein of Claudia's Hand Painted yarn in a fingering weight Merino. It's a gorgeous combination of purples called "Midnight" (the photo does not do it justice!).

And, a ball of Filati Cabo Verde in green and white. It's a cotton/acrylic blend that is oh-so-soft! And some citrus scented Soak (in the background there).

She also included some stitch markers - can never have too many!

And, someone must have told her about my weakness and love of all things notebook-y, because she included a cute little one as well.

All in all, a totally awesome care package from a totally awesome Swap Buddy, that made this frown turn upside down!!

Rip Van BoomBoomWinkle

My, my, my....where has the time gone? So long since a new post, it's almost as though I was on summer vacation!! Ahhh, remember summer vacation? But, I digress.

Yes, KnittyBoomBoom is back - I know that all three of you are thrilled to bits - hopefully on a much more regular basis, but ya' never can tell!

I've been trying to do some knitting every day, and slowly (very slowly) but surely, things are coming along. My new favorite project to work on is my Mitered Square Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. The entire blanket ends up needing something like 80 of these squares, so I definitely have a long way to go, but I get my "instant gratification fix" each time I finish up a square.

Here is some of what I've finished so far - they just need to be blocked to get rid of the curly edges then seamed together (once I finish all of the squares, that is):

By the way, that's not a green and black striped square, it's actually a dark purple, which looks much cooler than the photo shows.

Since this project is going to take some time, I decided not to get crazy with buying all of the yarn up front (a first for me), and am just buying a skein or two at a time, and seeing what type of color combos I end up with. It will either be a hideous FO or wickedly awesome!!!

I'm using the yarn the pattern actually calls for (another first). It is Tahki Cotton Classic, and oh so yummy to work with! I love love love this yarn!!

Work on the Slow Bee came to a bit of a stall after restarting it after the traumatic frogging incident, but progress is again picking up. I also have a few other things on the needles, but will reveal those details on another post.

Boomer sends his love, and sends out his apologies for not getting a post out sooner - just another reason to consider a Thumb Augmentation. Silly doggie, thumbs are for people!