Jury duty

Eighteen months ago I was selected for two Jury trials in Lansing. One was a homicide trial scheduled to take about 3 weeks. Thanks to P's profession, I was finally excused from that Jury. I was immediately put into another pool that landed me a two-day sexual assault trial.  And then this August I received another summons for my local district court.  Apparently the Jury Duty grace period in Michigan is 1 year.

I was originally summoned to report for Jury Duty back in September, during one of the busiest times of year at the shop. I was easily able to reschedule my service, much to my amazement.  My new summons was for today, and I dutifully went to East Lansing district court at my designated time - 12:30pm.  I checked in (no security!), was handed a sealed envelope with my 1/2 day's pay in it, and took a seat. I cast on for a sock, and prepared for the long wait. I put my knitting down during our orientation, and for the entire voir dire. Mercifully, I was not picked this time.

And, here's the thing. I was out by 2:30. I was totally not prepared for this.  And so my Jury Duty sock looks like this:

It's a Jury Duty toe. With Rhinebeck yarn from 2009 - Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight in Guppy.

And guess what? I don't have to call, report back, or get put into another Jury Pool. I am done. For one year.  What a relief!

If I get summoned again I hope it is to my little East Lansing district court.  On their website it states: "It is recommended that you bring something with you that you can do quietly while waiting, such as a book, knitting, newspaper, or crossword puzzles." Government approved knitting. Besides, the court is just one block from the yarn shop!

Summer Startitis

It seems that my favorite thing to do this summer is to cast on for new projects.  It is all I can do to keep focused on the five projects I have going.  Right now my favorite project is more than halfway done.  It doesn't travel well - beads and tools aren't easy to set up in the car - but it IS gorgeous.

This project comes out of stash - in fact, out of my tremendous sock yarn stash.  I am trying to diligently knit down some serious yardage there.  I am Cold Sheeping again until Rhinebeck, and participating in the Sock Stash Knitdown (SSK) challenge to try to use 12 skeins of sock yarn for the year. So far I have used 5. Yeesh, behind already!

The Jeweled Cowl by Sachiko Uemura is a free pattern on Ravelry, but the designer has asked for people to donate for Japan relief in lieu of payment.  So I will be making a donation to UNICEF. Maybe it was all the trick-or-treating I did in the late 70s to early 80s, but I miss those little cardboard boxes full of pennies.  So UNICEF gets my money this time.

Koi Koi Kai-Mei Handknit Socks

Sock yarn has been an addiction of mine from the moment I started knitting socks.  Back in my "corporate" days (ha! I worked for an art gallery in New York and a non-profit arts organization in Albuquerque, not exactly 'corporate' by most people's standards) I often travelled for work. P and I also travelled a lot, sometime for his work, but often just because we could.  And everywhere I went I would hunt down the local yarn shop(s) and get a skein of sock yarn.  This led to an enormous collection of sock yarn.

It is a little embarrassing that I stopped counting my sock yarn once I knew I had enough yarn for 60 pairs. Erhh-hem.  Yeah.  Hence the sock yarn embargo I have been on for... eight months? Perhaps longer.  The embargo will continue until Rhinebeck 2011 or the end of the year, depending upon how many skeins I use up.  And then it will be a controlled purchase.  (And then the embargo will be active again.)

So it looks like 2011 will be the year to use up fingering weight yarn. (My regular fingering weight yarn is not pictured above. Seriously)

My newest finished project?

Pattern: Kai-Mei by Cookie A.
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in the colorway Koi Koi
Needles: US 1.5
Mods: Other than knitting on two circs, none. I really wanted to give this pattern an honest knit through without messing with it. I prefer to knit my socks toe-up, but the butterfly details extending from the gusset would have presented a fairly difficult change.  Almost every pair of socks that I have knit cuff down have been Cookie A. patterns by-the-way. I guess I feel they are the only ones worth the anxiety of possibly running out of yarn before the toes are finished.

Photo shoots are few and far between around here due to some serious lack of daylight these days in Michigan.  Even the brighter days barely produce the diffuse daylight a decent photo requires.  And there can be other challenges too.

Like a corgi who wants to know why I am hanging upside down to take a photo of my feet!

FO: Lacy Rib Socks

These socks were started in July, finished a few weeks ago, and have been hanging out in my gym bag, for some reason.  A few days ago we got a little bit of sunlight, and I quickly took some photos.

Pattern: Lacy Ribs Socks by Wendy Johnson, from Knitting from the Toe Up
Yarn: Knit Picks Imagination, in a forgotten colorway. 60% merino 30% alpaca 10% nylon.
Needles: US 1.5 (two circs)
Mods: purely length.  The stitch pattern was easy to memorize.

The color disparity between these two balls is a little hard to see in this photo, but the sock on the right is much duller than that on the left.  Plus, I have also recently discovered that this yarn USED to be designated a machine washable yarn, and has now been re-classified as a handwash yarn only. Bummer.  I would have made a hat out of this had I known.  These socks were going to be a gift, but not anymore! They will have to live with me.

This pair of socks doesn't count towards my Sock stash knitdown participation, but I am glad to have gotten them done anyway.  One less project on the needles.

I have already cast on for another pair of socks, and as an added bonus the yarn was purchased at Rhinebeck in 2009 when I went with my mom, my aunt, and my sister.  If I do go to Rhinebeck again this year I want to be able to buy some yarn without thinking of the stockpile of yarn from Rhinebecks past.  So I need to knock out several pairs of socks with Rhinebeck yarn, and a few hats as well, to be honest.  But, to be completely honest, I have yarn from the Fiber Fiesta in Albuquerque (2003 or 2004), and the Taos Sheep & Wool Festival (2005).  Ouch.

Yeah. Better get on that.