Since Thaddeus’s birthday is February 14th, the pressure is always high to be both romantic and thoughtful for Valentine’s Day and birthday.

Holiday Birthdays

But it must suck for him as well…he has responsibilities on his birthday to me as well.

I’ve always been glad my birthday isn’t on or near Christmas…I’d like to say my parents planned it, but with 7 children in an Irish Catholic family, not much about our family was planned.

But I’m also glad I don’t have to feel obliged to go out of my way to show how much I love Thaddeus on my birthday…selfish of me, I know.

Fortunately, this year I get a “baby Finn” card for VD and he got things from me that he liked.

Tonight we’ll go out to dinner with a good friend to celebrate it all.

Current Cranking/Knitting

I’ve been experimenting with new techniques on my CSM…two new techniques in particular.  The first one is a method of starting a 1×1 ribbed sock that gives the top selvage edge a more uniform look.  It’s called Juana’s Selvage and eliminates the flared top of a ribbed sock.

The sock cuff on the left was done using a standard selvage edge and the one on the right is the Juana’s selvage.

I’m quite pleased with how the new selvage looks both off and on my foot.

The other technique is a way of “parking” ribber needles when turning the heel so the ribber plate can be removed during the somewhat tricky process of turning a heel.  The technique allows you to put your out-of-work ribber needles into the cylinder slot without transferring the stitch to a a cylinder needle.

This isn’t my machine, but you can see the butts of the ribber out-of-use ribber needles sticking up from the cylinder slot.  I have to admit, I thought this idea was awesome, but I didn’t like how it worked very well.  Issues with yarn snags and extricating the latch-hook from the cylinder spring made this a pain to use.  But I’m still glad I tried.

I put my new ribbing selvage technique to use yesterday and in one day, from start to finish, completed a pair of “Valentine’s Day Socks” in deep red.

With 1×1 ribbing at the top, moving into 3×1 ribbing on the ankle, contrasting heels and toes and kitchenering up the toe and weaving in all ends, I went from a hank of yarn to a pair of socks in a few hours.  I still have to get better at cranking out socks, but it’s getting easier and faster as I practice.

As for knitting, progress continues on the Silky Wool Cardigan.  I’ll post a photo in the next blog entry.