A Very Merry Unbirthday!

Yours truly is one lucky knitter. Today, my knitting gang got together and threw me a surprise birthday party!

Most of the people in our group have their birthdays in the spring -- I'm kind of the odd man out -- in more ways than one. My birthday was back in the fall, and I was happy to let it pass by quietly. But the ladies outdid themselves today. Meg hosted and made some rockin' cakes, Melissa brought a delicious eggy/sausagey/cheesy breakfast casserole, Abbe brought cheese & crackers, we had mimosas, Wii-ed all over the place, and had our usual great time. Plus, the Ladies of Knitting (those above plus Stephi, Staci, Allison,Snowden, Kristin and Jene) got me a gift certificate to my favorite LYS. Who could ask for anything more?

Here a few pictures from the festivities. Meg's Flickr set for the day can be found here.





I also managed to finish the first of the True Love Socks that I'm going to make for a silent auction. I like the pattern. It's neat to learn some lace knitting techniques -- an area I haven't explored and for the most part and am enjoying (k4t, anyone?). But I've had issues. Like forgetting to put in a lifeline. And getting the directions that M1s lean confused.

I also had a problem with the suggested tubular bind off. I'd heard of this but never tried it. For those unfamiliar with the technique, you basically take 1x1 ribbing and then alternately slip the purl and knit stitches on four rounds to turn the ribbing into what is essentially a few rows of double knitting. Then you Kitchener stitch the two rows together. A little fiddly in the round, but I figured it out. My main issue was that this bind off was extremely rigid. Maybe it was just the way I did it, but I couldn't see how anyone could their legs into the sock. I ripped it out (no mean feat), and just went with Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off. I think it looks fine. I like the hearts.

Now I just have to finish the second one by Valentine's Day. I'm already a couple of inches up the toe.

[Post scriptum 2/1/09 -- found some more picture from other attendees at Flickr. They're added at the top of the post]