Socks Epiphany

I had an epiphany today durning an especially boring spell at work (and a major hot flash that won't seem to dimish). I want to knit something for each person on my Christmas list. I don't have a huge list, 1 parent, 2 kids, 1 sister, 2 neices and 1 aunt and uncle. Now what can I make 8 of in the next 2 months? S. O. C. K. S!
I have the needles, the yarn, the books, what am I waiting for? Maybe I'm waiting for the knit fairy to come and get me started because I can't for the life of me get one going that I like.
I've got at least 3 hours of good tv tonite - Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy & ER - I should be able to actually get a sock going, right?

Jayne Jayne & More Jayne

I'm thinking, when I die, my headstone needs to have a Jayne hat on it. I've knit more than 50 full size hats and just as many minis and custom sized hats. My current fav is one I knit for someone who wanted to gift a friend who had a plushie made from his/her comic book character, Owly. So here he is in all his shiny glory. I also have to say, I've dealt with close to a hundred Browncoats with these hats and every single one of them has been kind and gracious. Even the poor bloke in the UK who's hat got kidnapped by Customs for a week or two, all sweet, polite people. I wish I could say the same for some of the other people I deal with on eBay.

In more Jayne news, the yarn I buy (Lion's Brand Wool-Ease) is getting scare in the colors I need. I suspect it's because the hat happens to be in Pumpkin, Cranberry & Gold and tis the holiday season full of those colors. My fear is that I'll be bombarded with requests for hats and run out of yarn. I've got wool allergies so that limits my selections (and I'd have to charge a lot more for the hats if I used a more expensive wool yarn). I'm not a yarn snob and have no problem with RedHeart but I want my Cranberry & Pumpkin, damn it!!

I did save the best news for last.....I've been making these hats for more than a year now and the idea of people actually paying for something I've created spurred me to create an online store. My plan is to design and create unique women's accessories. I've made a few things that I thought to be very unique. For example, four or five years ago, I purchases a Palm Pilot for work. I didn't want it to get trashed and I hated the butch looking leather thingys that you could buy to protect it. So, I crocheted a little mini purse to hold it out of some size 10 cotton thread. It was a hit so I made one for my sister for her phone. Her coworkers saw it and wanted some, etc, etc. Naturally, I wasn't the only one with the idea to knit or crochet something to protect iPods, cells, pda, becase within months you saw iPod socks in Apple stores . When I made my first Jayne hat for my son and his friends all wanted one - he suggested eBay as a way to handle it. The eBay store has evolved into my online store. Only problem, is 18 months later, the Jayne hats (and keychains, iPod socks, etc) are keeping me busy. I've got a sketchbook full of designs, a head full of ideas, a dozen plastic bins full of yarn, patterns and needles....but no time. Full time job, single mom of 2, another pt job helping out at my mom's business and no time. But I'm determined to find a way to do this - twice in the past three months, I've seen ideas I have in my sketchbook, on the pages of knitting magazines. In one sense it frustates but in another, it's validation that I'm on the right track. That my sketchbook full of designs will yield patterns that are publish worthy!! So yesterday (a slow day at work) as I'm checking my eBay page and email, I get an email about a paypal payment. I move on over to eBay and nothing's sold. Hmmmmmm, maybe eBay having issues. Hours later, I open the email and actually read it - two items sold from my online store. What? I hadn't told anyone outside of family about the online store, let alone try and publicize it. So today, I shipped out the two items and I'm dying to email the buyer and ask her how the hell she found my store but that would be soooooooooo tacky. So that's the good news!!!! Yay Me!!! Yay Browncoats!!!!

Finally

I'm finally caught up on Jayne hats - Hallej....however you spell that....I was actually home sick from work today - the allergy gods are hating on me - but it did allow me to catch up on Jayne hat knitting. And....since I'm caught up on Jayne hat knitting - that means I get to knit something else - something amazing different from a Jayne hat - something I'll actually wear...and it's not the socks I started weeks and weeks ago that I can't seem to get the hang of no matter how much I try...it's a sweater. Yes, I'm going to actually knit myself a sweater.
30+ years of knitting and I've never, ever made an adult sized sweater. Not only is this an adult sized sweater - it's a my sized sweater - bigger than your average adult female. And, to top it all off....it's a duster! And it's knit on small needles. So I could possibly be a grandmother by the time I actually finish it, I have cast on. All 291 stitches. The pattern calls for size 4 & 6 circs (36" cables) but I could only find 29" cables but it's good so far. I couldn't get an exact gauge to save my life but I got pretty damn close so I'm going for it. The pattern also called for 28 (yes 2 8 ) skeins of very expensive wool/silk blend. I'm not willing to pay 9 bucks a skein when I need to buy 28 of them - so I got some Simply Soft in a jet black color for 2.49 a skein and only needed to buy 8 of them. I used Simply Soft to make my mom's clapitos and I liked the feel of it. Plus, with my allergies to wool, I wasn't going to use the suggested yarn anyways. So, I'm off to veg in front of the TV watching some baseball and knit away!