Stephen Colbert Socks

Can you believe the name of this pattern? The book says *we think he is not only a great American, he is the greatest American.* The caption reads *The First Amendment as Expressed by Socks.* The pattern itself is a design-it-your own, hence the name.

You can read more details at my Ravelry entry. I'm trying to decide whether to keep them for myself or give them as a gift. I might keep them because I've never used this yarn before (Knit Picks Essential) and I would like to see how it washes and wears.

It's really cold here, and I think most of my fall garden may have perished, but I haven't gone out to lift the sheets and check. I'm waiting for it to get above freezing. On the bright side, I've been wearing my new hat and the shetland triangle. Yay for cold weather and knit wear.

Horse Heaven

So dd rode in a horse show this weekend. She did really well, getting 3 second place and one 3rd place ribbon. She's in 7th grade and is competing against a few her age but mostly high school kids, so I think she's doing really well. Luck of the draw on which horse you get seems to be a big determining factor. She had a cantankerous horse on Sunday and he gave her quite a time.

In other news, I just found a very promising plus sized fashion blog called Large. I added it to my bloglines subscriptions, looks pretty interesting. I'm not sewing a lot of my clothes these days, but maybe this site will inspire me a bit.

I finished knitting the Shetland Triangle.

Here it is all unblocked and bumpy. I used Knitpicks Gloss yarn in Pumpkin. It's a silk/merino blend. More info at Ravelry.

Here it is blocking, with my blocking assistant helping out.

*Look at me! Look at me!*

What is it about cats and blocking?

The young adult author, Laurie Halse Anderson, is coming to dd's middle school today, so I'm going to listen and get my copy of Speak signed. I don't have her new book yet, but I've read Speak and it was fantastic. I don't think my 7th grader is quite ready for it yet, but now I want to check out some of her newer books.

Peak Leaf Season

*Another stupid sweater from the crazy lady.*

November

Here is the obligatory Halloween photo. Ds is Indiana Jones. I bought everything. The hat and whip came from the costume store, the jacket from Gymboree ($20), pants and shirt from Kohl's and Penneys. I figured that he might actually wear these things, so it was worth spending the money on the real items of clothing rather than a cheesy knit costume.

My neighbors have a block party every year, which is a lot of fun. We all put our candy on one table for the trick or treaters and have food and drinks for the grownups. This year it was cold, so we had a fire pit too. The local high school had a football game that night, so there weren't very many teenagers out at all. It was very quiet.

Made myself a hat, details HERE. I loved the colors in this yarn (Hacho from Peru) and cast on for a pair of socks, but it's thicker than regular sock yarn and I knew I wouldn't like the finished socks. I was in a hurry to finish the hat and now my hand hurts from knitting too much this weekend. Must rest.


She's getting a new sweater from the leftovers.

I voted early last week (3 1/2 hours standing outside in the windy cold -- see why I need a hat?), and the kids are out of school for election day, so we're going to the GA Aquarium to see the Titanic exhibit. I'm excited about it, but not looking forward to the drive. I have no idea what we're in for on that front. We rode the subway last time, which didn't work very well because there's no map or sign to tell you where you are when you exit the station. We finally found someone to give us a general direction, and then the walk was up and down a big hill, so we were tired before we ever got there. Well, I was emotionally drained by that point, the kids revived once we got there. Here's hoping the drive doesn't give me a heart attack.