Marnie, speak! Good girl.

I am very fortunate that I'm traveling with people far more important than I am. We got to fly in business class to India,

This was the appetizer for lunch, on the leg to Frankfurt.

I was more pleased than an adult should be.

The seats fully reclined but I didn't take advantage of this until the second flight because I was forcing myself onto India time. There's a 12.5 hour time difference between LA and all of India, which means that 8PM on Monday night (right now in LA) is 8:30 AM on Tuesday morning in India.

It wasn’t hard to stay awake, though. I started knitting a sock and had my pick and choose of in-flight movies to watch on my personal TV.

If you were wondering, I watched Rumor Has It with Arabic subtitles and Walk the Line with Japanese subtitles.

Flying over Germany, there was a part of me that ached to get off there and ditch the rest of my party. It looked so beautiful from above. This is what most of Germany looked like from the direction we came. Obviously, this wasn't the city itself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the trip, but my focus will be work and all I want to do is see the world.

But we arrived without a hitch, exhausted, hot, slightly on edge but no worse for the wear.

At the hotel they greeted us with incense and placed the red dot on our forehead. I'm sure they told us why, but as I wasn't sure my name at the time, the message was lost on me. I've cropped out the exhausted to protect their innocence.

The sight of our hotel rooms was enough to bring a small tear to my eye. The rooms are beautiful, the bath was a delight and the bed had only 2 things missing.

Do you see it? That's right, no Leo or Panda. *sigh*

Alas, we don't stay here. We head to our final destination after breakfast. If the accommodations are half as nice, it'll be an easy stay (with due consideration that there'll be much work to do) and I should be able to post more pictures.

M for Monsoon!
It's monsoon season here in India and we are getting the full experience.
Apparently, this is not your normal monsoon, but instead it's of the "wrath of god" variety. Check out this headline.

Our 2-hour drive to hotel number 2 took us 4 hours. It was hard to get really good pictures, but these are the best of the bunch.

As you can see, it is entirely logical to be knee deep in water, with driving rains moving both vertically and horzontally, but to still bother with an umbrella.

There were roads that had been closed off due to land slide, gridlock (we spent 1 of the 2 additional hours, going in the wrong direction because there was too much traffic going in the correct direction), and various vehicles spilled or stuck throughout the roads. But, when you aren't in a rush to get anywhere, you can simply sit back and take it all in. As far as I'm concerned, it was all part of being in India. I am, however, pleased that my normal commute is far less arduous.

It's amazing to see the difference between the local shops....

And the offices...

Driving around made me feel, even more, that I couldn't wait for the work week to be over and the sight seeing and shopping portion of our the trip to begin. There is some pretty crushing poverty that is always hard to see, but there is also a lot that is amazing and beautiful.

Yet, while Ganesh was hanging out in the car to ensure a quick and easy ride...

... perhaps he sensed we were undeserving of such fortune, because our trip back from the office to the hotel showed us what gridlock really was.

Traffic was backed up for miles not only because some roads were impassible and this was the best alternative, but also because the rules of the road in India, should be more rightly called "suggestions." Stop lights, lanes, and other street markings need only be acknowledged if convenient. The horn should be used constantly if there are any other vehicles, pedestrians or bicycles around. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. We could be in a single lane of traffic, moving as quickly as it is going to move. Everyone would be honking the horn. One should honk both as a suggestion to others to move and in all futile situations in which no apparent entity is the recipient.

To underscore this rule, all trucks have some sort of saying such as this:

This is roughly equivalent to someone painting "blink" or "breath" on the back of their truck. While it might encourage you to do it more, there's really no chance you wouldn't have done it anyway. I cannot even fathom what someone would do if their horn broke in India. I suspect it'd be akin to losing a tire; one would simply be unable to drive the vehicle until the matter had been sorted out.

Now, where did I put that Advil?

I'm pretty sure that some sort of torture is going on in the guise of hospitality. We wake up early every day (hello, 5:00 AM, nice to see you), eat a huge breakfast, waddle to our cars, begin our day of work, with a constant stream of coffee and cookies if necessary. Then, before you know it, a giant buffet of foods from traditional Indian to classic Italian will be spread before us. One cannot pass up traditional Indian food while in India, so down the gullet it goes. Ooooh, so good!

Meeting after meeting continue, with more coffee to artificially maintain momentum. Then we're broken off into groups where we sight see or shop until Dinner, which, of course, will be huge and run until all hours of the evening. One must be sure to simply sip the wine because the glass will be surreptitiously replenished when least expected. Then, it's back to the hotel, where exhaustion causes the bed to nearly sing to me (that's normal, right?) yet it is the start of the day back home, so there is much more work to do. I attempt to wade through the mountains of emails and sort out various issues before passing out cold.

If I don't completely explode from overeating, I'll surely go mad from exhaustion.

I say all this only to relieve my self of all obligation to put together a coherent and interesting blog post. Instead, I present to you, a rag tag selection of images with no apparently segues or useful narratives.

So without further ado...

For my crafty friends, here's a little fabric porn.

I'll only be showing you a fraction of what's inside. I'm pretty sure that after a certain point, I lose all sense of reality and go into some sort of silk related sensory overload.

These are all printed silks that are so cheap, one might be inclined to shed a tear. If you were to turn the corner, you'd have wall after wall of silk saris to choose from. If I hadn’t been mopping my drool up off the floor, you would see a pictures.

Along the other wall were their cottons

I'm pretty sure my host cannot fathom why I'd care about the cottons, but my god, for 12 dollars I could get enough fabric to recreate Princes Dianna's wedding dress, train and all. The printing is easily as beautiful as the silks yet with loads more practicality. Also inside were gorgeous pashmina shawls and other hand crafted textiles. If I told you the prices, you probably wouldn’t believe me. I recall seeing pashmina shawls in stores for over $100. Here, you can get a hand loomed, reversible one for under $30.

If money were no object, this store would have afforded me the option to look as lovely as some of the staff who joined us for dinner last night

This is the prelude to yet another binging incident.
Must...find...stretch...pants

But what is a blog post about India, without the obligatory cow?

It has been my goal to attempt to get my picture taken next to one of these fellas. I'm informed that no native would every consider having her picture taken next to a cow. I pointed out that most New Yorkers wouldn't deign to have their picture taken in front of the Statue of Liberty either. It's all part of tourist adventure. If it happens, you’ll all be the first to know.

Now back to the salt mines for me.

We here at Marnie Talks would just like to apologize. Apparently a raving lunatic commandeered the blog yesterday and had her way with it. I want to assure you all that I'm in full control of my mental and physical faculties and was not the least bit responsible for that outburst.

Yesterday was a long day, starting with a wake up call at 4:30 AM and finishing with a quick phone meeting at 9:30 PM (luckily, with someone I enjoy talking to). That being said, there was a lot of downtime yesterday. We checked out of the hotel in the morning, had meetings until 2 PM and then began our trek to Mumbai, with a business stop along the way.

There were a couple of other detours, though:
Meet the Water Buffalo

These guys roam the streets freely. Unlike the cows, they are very mild tempered and were a perfect set piece for my vision of touristy goodness. The cars were stopped, cameras locked and loaded and I sprinted to my destination.

As you can see, though, the person charged with my camera managed only to get me in the shot. I swear, there is a buffalo near by. No, seriously, there is. I promise, others got pictures, I'll prove it to you soon.

In defense of the photographer of the above photo, I was rather lacking in decorum at the moment, resulting in a none-too-pleased buffalo. There was a moment; I am bounding over puddles and shrubs, Ms. Buffalo was partaking of a salad, she lifted her head to see what the commotion was and our eyes met. I'm not sure if it was fear or confusion but whichever it was, it did not bode well for the photo op. I would step a bit closer, she'd amble out of frame. This repeated a couple of times until she finally decided that pastures were greener elsewhere.

So my muddy feet and I got back in the van and we all headed towards Mumbai. It speaks to the human ability to adapt that I feel the ride was relatively uneventful. Playing chicken with oncoming traffic whilst attempting to pass the traffic in your own lane is simply par for the course, I believe I may now completely filter all noises that exist at the same frequency as the average car horn and even sights like this seem more or less normal.

I will admit to an inordinate amount of pleasure in being able to see some monkeys, though.

Ok, so the picture is grainy enough to end up in an Oliver Stone documentary on the assassination of Cornelius but you can sort of tell they are monkeys, right?

There was one moment, though, when my heart dropped a little. Our driver took a wrong turn and moments later, was pulled over. Immediately, I had visions of all of us being hauled off to who-knows-where for a cavity search or some such indignity. Of course, nothing of the sort happened but I have a relatively active imagination. While our driver hashed things out with the horde of local police, I sneaked a little picture through our back window.

A couple minutes and 100 rupees later (about $2 US) we were back on the road and on our way to the hotel.

I have many many more pictures to show but not another moment to spare, so for now, I'm signing off. It's time to eat and then spend the say shopping.

Hi, yah, it's been a hot day, I know, and the airport appears to be ill equipped to handle the actual volume of people. Trust me, I was pretty shocked when I saw how long the security line was to enter the Luftansa terminal. In fact, I would suspect that most of the mob of people in line were feeling a little bit punchy. I, for one, have only had a couple hours of sleep in the past 36 hours and have spent most of that time in weather that would make your average steam room seem like Siberia.

I admit it, I do, indeed have business class tickets, which, obviously, makes me a bad person, this goes without saying. And, indeed, I AM American which means I have no apparent social graces and I'm selfish. It's all so very obvious.

You see, this is where my logic failed me (it’s because all we Americans watch only American Idol and eat McDonalds) what bothered me was that I was standing in the First Class/Business Class line for security and I'd been waiting there, with the folks I was traveling with, for quite a while. My bags were heavy and when you and your wife decided to skip the process of waiting in line and begin to wheedle your way in between the party with whom I was traveling, and me, I didn't think it was terribly inappropriate to, noticing your economy tickets, point out the line to which you may wish to proceed to.

Your reply, something along the lines of "What, do YOU have first class tickets?" was certainly a valid question, I'm just not so sure that it supported your argument to then berate me for having the correct tickets for the line. When you then asked why I mentioned which line you should be in, and I pointed out that you had just tried to cut in front of me, saying "The plane won't leave any faster because someone cut in front of you." Didn't strike me as a compelling argument. The fact that you were now yelling at me, though, did garner us plenty of the spotlight.

I noted your change of tact though, asking me how I "KNEW" that I had been cut in front of, was certainly a novel approach, but when I then pointed out that you cut between me and the other people with whom I was traveling, it may have been a good time for you to simply let the subject drop. It sort of surprised me that, instead, you used this as an opportunity to verbalize for several minutes, in monolog format, what you felt Americans would be inclined to do about the situation. You see, I had no idea that Americans, once in their own country, were prone to engaging in citizens' arrests for such infractions. I also didn't realize that quietly pointing out that you had cut in front of me was a far greater social infraction than the cutting itself. It's good that I have you, the Frankfurt Goodwill Ambassador, to enlighten me.

It was particularly charming to have you go on at length despite the fact that I had turned my back to you and proceeded on with my life, without ever needing to raise my voice.

It's was so useful to know that by following rules, keeping myself composed and generally respecting other people's personal rights as I would my own, that I had shown myself for the ugly American that I am. I'm sure that the many other patrons in front of whom you cut, were pleased that you had put me in my place.

Thank you guy in the Frankfurt airport who tried to cut in front of me and then yelled at me, you are a true humanitarian.

I am exhausted. I feel like this cat I saw in Mumbai.

I was able to sleep the whole night through, but it doesn't feel like it, it feels like I took one of those marathon naps instead. You know the ones. You wake up groggy, achy and a little slow on the draw.

Coming home was as wonderful as I hoped it would be. Leo took me out for a big salad and then I took a long hot bath and started unpacking.

I'm getting all my photos together to post an album. It was a really amazing trip and a truly once in a lifetime opportunity. There was no lack of work to be done, most work days started at 8 AM, ended at 5 PM and carried on into dinner. After that, I think all of us tried to do some work before bed and first thing in the morning, to catch up with the folks back in LA who would be just starting and ending their days, respectively. Even so, I am amazed at how much we could fit into the remaining free time. I think part of my exhaustion stems from never passing up on an opportunity to see the sights and shop the shops. Oh boy!

The downside to keeping so busy is that I have basically done no knitting at all. I didn't even have time to miss it. I'm hoping I'll have time between laundry, grocery shopping and other errands, to get back into the flow of things.

To all of you who posted comments during my trip, thank you. I know my blog has been entirely devoid of anything that most of you come 'round here to read about. It's like having a big circle of friends to kvetch with. And for any of my German readers out there, fear not, I definitely did not consider that guy representative of the average German. Heck there are jerks just about everywhere.

Well, I can't show you everything I got because much of it is gifts for people who read this blog. No need to give them a sneak preview. But I can show you a few things I acquired for me.

These books were gifts from the hosts. I haven't had a chance to crack them open but I'm looking forward to it.

But books, smooks, you want to see the fabric, don't you?
I bought myself 2.5-4 yards of each and they are all silk.

This is a gorgeous iridescent green and purple fabric.

I should stop right now and explain that I have no idea what any of these will be used for. I think this one would make a great lining for some hand knit or crocheted purses, but who knows what it will actually become.

This is some light light sage green raw silk. The color is very hard to capture, trust me, it's a lovely shade.

This stuff was so cheap, I'm embarrassed to say how much I spent on it. I have 4 meters of it and I think it's about a 48" width. I think it'd make a beautiful structured mandarin collar jacket with princess seams, but, again, I reserve the right to completely change my mind about that.

These next two fabrics were a little pricier but so beautiful, they make my heart skip a beat.

I think I might like to turn one into a gored skirt maybe with some black chiffon insets or with some contrast piping. Did any of you even know that I know how to sew? Well, I do, though I'm not incredibly good at it. I have more vision than skill, that's for sure.

And yes, I did buy a sari.

No, I'm not going to model it for you. Not yet, at least. I think I've figured out how to do the standard drape, but it's pretty crude, sort of the equivalent to one's first fun fur scarf, if you know what I mean.

Finally, I bought shawl/wrap type things. The first two are a very soft wool. If I recall they are pashmina but not of the super fab variety. Both are reversible, in the way that double knit is reversible. The dominant color within a section of the weaving becomes the secondary color in the same section on the back.

The last one here is silk and hand dyed. They use a tie dye type process and the result is a light and crinkly silk scarf that is surprisingly warm when needed.

All three are about 2-3 feet wide and at least 6 feet long so they are perfect for casually throwing about the shoulders when there is a little chill in the air, but the fold up small enough to fit in a decent sized purse when it's warm.

Oh and jewelry is quite a bargain in India too. There is gold aplenty, but I prefer silver for sure.

Much of these have or will go to friends, but I don't think any of them wander by my blog. All are sterling silver with semi-precious gems.

Oh, and by the way, I did work on one sock while I was there:

It's a bit small. If after blocking it's still tight, I may actually have to rip it out.

You'll have to excuse the bad photo, Leo has the camera today and so I had to use my phone.

This is the sock I started on the flight out to India. I call it "Nod to Jaywalker" because it uses a similar stitch to Grumperina's Jaywalker. The scale of the pattern I used is quite a bit smaller and the increases and decreases are paired unlike Grumperina's which uses double increases and decreases. This sock will have a ribbed fold over cuff, which is what I'm working on right now.

Oh and if I see out of sorts lately then:

1. You are very very observant, or stalking me.


2. It's because I'm sick and partaking of an at home pity party of one.

I was wondering why I was having such a hard time re-acclimating. I mean, I expected to be tired, but I was nearly useless. It hit me the night before last, but didn't seem too bad, however, as the work day proceeded, I just felt worse and worse. But the end of the day, I could hardly talk and was switching between bouts of sweating and bouts of chills. I had a meeting and the consensus was that I looked like hell. I've been joking that it's SARS or Avian Flu. Everyone loves hanging out with a sick person who just got back from a developing country.

So as a courtesy to everyone else, I'm taking it easy today, being well attended to by Miss Panda and all the cold soothing remedies that Leo hooked me up with last night. Go DayQuil Go!

For any of you that feared I might be wracked with malaria or some other such disease, fear not. I've been fighting a fever, cough and general run down feeling which may possibly be strep throat, but I've been taking it easy and getting lots of rest, and am already starting to feel better. Saw the doctor on Friday and will know on Monday if it's strep. As a side note, does anyone else have the hardest time with those giant q-tips being jammed down their throat? Man alive!

Between vegging out on the couch watching cartoons, and sleeping, I was able to snap a few photos of my Peppy Long Stockings in all their glory. Here are the pattern notes as well.
Pattern: Peppy Long Stockings
Designer: Me (but based on your every day toe up sock with short row toe and heel)
Yarn: Unknown. It's a self striping sock yarn but I've long ago lost the label. It came in a 100 gram skein, 94 grams of which were used to make the pair of socks. If anyone recognizes the yarn, please let me know.
Needles: Started as 2 socks on 2 circs, switched to DPNs, all in size US #2

I didn't do any shaping in these socks and they fit fairly well. They are a touch baggy at the ankle if I stand on tip toe, but otherwise look pretty cute.

It managed to work out pretty well with the toe, heal and top of the socks coming out in red. It wasn't planned, but it is exactly what I'd want to happen.

And what's a photo shoot without my little glammor girl?

I finally got my India pictures sorted and posted online. You can pop yourself on over to the gallery if you like.
You'll get to see some of the cool gothic architecture of Mumbai.

See the gateway to India

Go with me on a tour of the Prince of Wales Museum.

See the Hanging Gardens

And join me for my last meal in India.

All of this without having to brave the hot sticky monsoon weather. It's a bargain at twice the price.

Since returning from India, I've done way too little knitting, mostly because I've been sick. But I'm finally feeling almost 100% better, except for a nagging cough, and my little Nods to Jaywalker are the project at hand.
You can see the finished one hanging out next to the freshly started one. Don't they look cute?

I think I'm going to need a break from both self striping yarn and socks after this pair is done. Knitting the second sock is a bit of a drag, but I'm I think the end result will be cute enough to be worthy of finishing them.

The yarn is Lang Jawoll which I like to think of as Ja Rule's much cooler, crafty sister. It is wonderful, soft and durable, and vividly printed. I expect to get almost a full pair of socks out of a single 50 gram skein.

For my birthday, Julia got me the Bellwether Exotic Fiber Kit. The first fiber I grabbed was Pygora and having never heard of it I decided to see what it was.

The little cutie to your right is the first picture I saw. Read all about him here. I've quite enjoyed spinning pygora, though I've only spun a small amount. I'm using my 0.9 ounce Golding and haven't had any problems spinning it, yet. The color is actually more of a creamy shade than it appears on screen and I'm spinning the singles at a about a lace weight.

I've also been plodding away on my N2JW sock.

I'm about an inch away from the heel right now.

You know, I never mentioned that the new Spindlicity was up. It's rather silly that I never mentioned it because my pattern, Merigold, is there.

And if that weren't enough, the results of the Shawl Contest that I entered are there too. No, I didn't win, but my god, go see the beautiful piece that did. It was spun and knit by Nancy Ratliffe and it's a beaut! You can see all the other finalists' entries as well. I'm really glad I didn't have to judge that competition.

As always, there are a ton of great articles in this edition. I never cease to be impressed with Janel's in-depth reviews of fibers and/or techniques. Of particular interest to me in this edition is the article on different silk substitutes.

Really, though, maybe it should be:
This Californian is becoming an Oregonian
or
This Angeleno is becoming and Portlandian if the Oregonian variety (so as not to be confused with those Portlandians of the Mainenites variety).
But I'm splitting hairs here, the point is, Leo and I are moving to Portland Oregon. Leo goes up on Monday to start a new job on the 7th.

It is not without some apprehension that I go. I've lived in Los Angeles for almost 5 years and I have met so many wonderful people, a few of whom, to my delight, even count me among their friends. As I'm predisposed to hermit-like behavior, this is no small feat, in my mind. I will miss them terribly.

Yet, I also look upon all this as an exciting opportunity to start fresh and new and discover an area I've never been before. What? Didn't I mention that? Oh, yah, neither Leo nor I have ever been to Oregon. I'm not averse to change, and I love exploring new cities. It's scary to know I'll be jobless in a month, but with rents half the price of the LA area, I can pretty much sell hemp jewelry on a street corner and still contribute my part to the household expenses.

I've already checked and it appears there are several yarn shops in the Portland area. And those cute little Pygoras from a couple days ago? They hail from Oregon, which bodes well for my spinning future.

So if any of you who live, have lived, or frequently visit Oregon, have suggestions for me, please send them my way.

I'll do my best to keep posting during the transition, but with our home computer going up north without me, and with all the upheaval, I make no promises, expressed or implied, that blogging will continue as normal.

Who knew moving to Portland would garner me so many comments? It's almost frightening how many people love the city and how few bad things people have to say about the area (rain and you can't pump your own gas, I think I can live with both).
There are so many of you I need to write back to. I can't believe how many great suggestions you've sent and warm welcomes you've offered. I'm really looking forward to moving.
I don't arrive in Oregon until the end of August, and in the mean time, I hope to be able to see all my LA friends, so I can say goodbye.

But enough of that, take a look at my yummy pygora yarn.

Here it is almost completely spun up. The kit comes with half an ounce (about 14 grams) of each fiber, so that's just enough to fill up one of my smaller spindles.

I simply loved spinning this stuff. I don't know enough about the properties of various fibers to say why, I just know that whatever it is, I'm able to spin it up superfine, balanced, soft and with a bit of loft.

I've included a dime for scale. The yarn is a two ply and check this out...

Balance, baby!

This hasn't been washed yet, it's right off the spindle. I have just shy of 54 yards (49 meters) of yarn here. Since pygora is aplenty in Portland, I plan to get more soon.

I've now started spinning some of the Yak fiber and it's not going quite as well. It's more poofy and fluffy and I don't quite have the best technique for managing that sort of fiber. It's gotten better as I've worked with it, but compared to the pygora, it's pretty crude looking.

In a little while, I'm off to Blogher, then a visit with a friend in San Francisco, then back home to help Leo pack up the truck. It's quite a weekend, indeed.

Well, I did promise that there were pictures of me near a water buffalo. However, it appears that none of them are terribly good representations of our bonding experience. Really, I did actually stand still next to said buffalo and, well, yes, I did scare her quite handily. I maybe, perhaps, did not actually want to be standing in a muddy (I hope it was mud) field so perhaps I wandered off when things seemed not to be going according to plan.
I haven’t lost hope though. I’m told that my boss has finished her roll (yah, like one of them old fangled film cameras) and is sure she has a better picture of Big Birtha and me.

So, the second N2JW has been progressing at a speed that would make most glaciers honk in frustration at my pace. I mean, this baby has been taking forever.

At Blogher, I knew nobody. This is not like Stitches was. I traveled with my mother, and met a great deal of friends while there. Further, in the world of knit bloggers, I'm like a C list star. I ain't no Yarn Harlot, but people have stumbled upon me on occasion. For comparison's sake, I'd put myself at about a Carrot Top. At Blogher, I had my normal anonymity, which is fine, but it does mean that I have to make the horrifying step of socializing without any safety net. Let me see if I can find a good knitting analogy here. That would be like my saying that I was going to use the most slippery needles on earth, and knit a complex lace shawl with 600 stitches per row, in mohair, with no life line. And if that doesn't scare you, I would ask you to shoosh, because I don't want to hear it.

So how does an introvert of my neurotic level adapt? She knits. She knits like a fiend and the results; a finished pair of N2JW socks done lickity split. In fact, I was so sad to be done, I toyed with the idea of knitting a third sock, because the only other knitting project I brought is too complex to allow me to knit while paying attention to things around me.

But Blogher was great. If my battery in my camera hadn't been dead (duh) I would have pictures to prove it. The panel on which I was asked to speak was called "Is the next Martha Stewart a blogger?" and was moderated by Maggie Mason. If you ever meet her, please, stop her and beg her for insight. She did a brilliant job moderating and imparted so much level headed wisdom and kindness. I feel like she could done the panel solo and would not have left a single question unanswered.

My fellow panelists were (in alphabetical order for lack of a better option):
Andrea Scher: Despite her proclamation that she was nervous, Andrea brought a warmth and spirit to the group. She lives by the motto that things should be "Fun and Easy" which are words to live by if ever there were any. Hearing about how she came to an understanding that she needed help with her business and how it really liberated her to do what was most satisfying for her, was wonderful. I think we can all take a page from her book, there.

Gayla Trail: A true perfectionist, Gayla really drove home how important it was to impart your own values in what you do. No aspect of her business is done halfway and she gives a great deal of thought to everything she associates herself with. I really respect her sense of principal and dedication.

Pim Techamuanvivit: Like a sparkly ray of sunshine. Her enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. She seemed to have a little slice of experience in every bit of media and an air of confidence to pull it all together. She offered wonderful pearls of wisdom for expanding one's reach and did it all with a beaming smile.

I felt like a girl among women on the panel but wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Next post: pattern notes for N2JWs.

M for Monsoon!
It's monsoon season here in India and we are getting the full experience.
Apparently, this is not your normal monsoon, but instead it's of the "wrath of god" variety. Check out this headline.

Our 2-hour drive to hotel number 2 took us 4 hours. It was hard to get really good pictures, but these are the best of the bunch.

As you can see, it is entirely logical to be knee deep in water, with driving rains moving both vertically and horzontally, but to still bother with an umbrella.

There were roads that had been closed off due to land slide, gridlock (we spent 1 of the 2 additional hours, going in the wrong direction because there was too much traffic going in the correct direction), and various vehicles spilled or stuck throughout the roads. But, when you aren't in a rush to get anywhere, you can simply sit back and take it all in. As far as I'm concerned, it was all part of being in India. I am, however, pleased that my normal commute is far less arduous.

It's amazing to see the difference between the local shops....

And the offices...

Driving around made me feel, even more, that I couldn't wait for the work week to be over and the sight seeing and shopping portion of our the trip to begin. There is some pretty crushing poverty that is always hard to see, but there is also a lot that is amazing and beautiful.

Yet, while Ganesh was hanging out in the car to ensure a quick and easy ride...

... perhaps he sensed we were undeserving of such fortune, because our trip back from the office to the hotel showed us what gridlock really was.

Traffic was backed up for miles not only because some roads were impassible and this was the best alternative, but also because the rules of the road in India, should be more rightly called "suggestions." Stop lights, lanes, and other street markings need only be acknowledged if convenient. The horn should be used constantly if there are any other vehicles, pedestrians or bicycles around. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. We could be in a single lane of traffic, moving as quickly as it is going to move. Everyone would be honking the horn. One should honk both as a suggestion to others to move and in all futile situations in which no apparent entity is the recipient.

To underscore this rule, all trucks have some sort of saying such as this:

This is roughly equivalent to someone painting "blink" or "breath" on the back of their truck. While it might encourage you to do it more, there's really no chance you wouldn't have done it anyway. I cannot even fathom what someone would do if their horn broke in India. I suspect it'd be akin to losing a tire; one would simply be unable to drive the vehicle until the matter had been sorted out.

Now, where did I put that Advil?

I am very fortunate that I'm traveling with people far more important than I am. We got to fly in business class to India,

This was the appetizer for lunch, on the leg to Frankfurt.

I was more pleased than an adult should be.

The seats fully reclined but I didn't take advantage of this until the second flight because I was forcing myself onto India time. There's a 12.5 hour time difference between LA and all of India, which means that 8PM on Monday night (right now in LA) is 8:30 AM on Tuesday morning in India.

It wasn’t hard to stay awake, though. I started knitting a sock and had my pick and choose of in-flight movies to watch on my personal TV.

If you were wondering, I watched Rumor Has It with Arabic subtitles and Walk the Line with Japanese subtitles.

Flying over Germany, there was a part of me that ached to get off there and ditch the rest of my party. It looked so beautiful from above. This is what most of Germany looked like from the direction we came. Obviously, this wasn't the city itself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the trip, but my focus will be work and all I want to do is see the world.

But we arrived without a hitch, exhausted, hot, slightly on edge but no worse for the wear.

At the hotel they greeted us with incense and placed the red dot on our forehead. I'm sure they told us why, but as I wasn't sure my name at the time, the message was lost on me. I've cropped out the exhausted to protect their innocence.

The sight of our hotel rooms was enough to bring a small tear to my eye. The rooms are beautiful, the bath was a delight and the bed had only 2 things missing.

Do you see it? That's right, no Leo or Panda. *sigh*

Alas, we don't stay here. We head to our final destination after breakfast. If the accommodations are half as nice, it'll be an easy stay (with due consideration that there'll be much work to do) and I should be able to post more pictures.

I am exhausted. I feel like this cat I saw in Mumbai.

I was able to sleep the whole night through, but it doesn't feel like it, it feels like I took one of those marathon naps instead. You know the ones. You wake up groggy, achy and a little slow on the draw.

Coming home was as wonderful as I hoped it would be. Leo took me out for a big salad and then I took a long hot bath and started unpacking.

I'm getting all my photos together to post an album. It was a really amazing trip and a truly once in a lifetime opportunity. There was no lack of work to be done, most work days started at 8 AM, ended at 5 PM and carried on into dinner. After that, I think all of us tried to do some work before bed and first thing in the morning, to catch up with the folks back in LA who would be just starting and ending their days, respectively. Even so, I am amazed at how much we could fit into the remaining free time. I think part of my exhaustion stems from never passing up on an opportunity to see the sights and shop the shops. Oh boy!

The downside to keeping so busy is that I have basically done no knitting at all. I didn't even have time to miss it. I'm hoping I'll have time between laundry, grocery shopping and other errands, to get back into the flow of things.

To all of you who posted comments during my trip, thank you. I know my blog has been entirely devoid of anything that most of you come 'round here to read about. It's like having a big circle of friends to kvetch with. And for any of my German readers out there, fear not, I definitely did not consider that guy representative of the average German. Heck there are jerks just about everywhere.

Hi, yah, it's been a hot day, I know, and the airport appears to be ill equipped to handle the actual volume of people. Trust me, I was pretty shocked when I saw how long the security line was to enter the Luftansa terminal. In fact, I would suspect that most of the mob of people in line were feeling a little bit punchy. I, for one, have only had a couple hours of sleep in the past 36 hours and have spent most of that time in weather that would make your average steam room seem like Siberia.

I admit it, I do, indeed have business class tickets, which, obviously, makes me a bad person, this goes without saying. And, indeed, I AM American which means I have no apparent social graces and I'm selfish. It's all so very obvious.

You see, this is where my logic failed me (it’s because all we Americans watch only American Idol and eat McDonalds) what bothered me was that I was standing in the First Class/Business Class line for security and I'd been waiting there, with the folks I was traveling with, for quite a while. My bags were heavy and when you and your wife decided to skip the process of waiting in line and begin to wheedle your way in between the party with whom I was traveling, and me, I didn't think it was terribly inappropriate to, noticing your economy tickets, point out the line to which you may wish to proceed to.

Your reply, something along the lines of "What, do YOU have first class tickets?" was certainly a valid question, I'm just not so sure that it supported your argument to then berate me for having the correct tickets for the line. When you then asked why I mentioned which line you should be in, and I pointed out that you had just tried to cut in front of me, saying "The plane won't leave any faster because someone cut in front of you." Didn't strike me as a compelling argument. The fact that you were now yelling at me, though, did garner us plenty of the spotlight.

I noted your change of tact though, asking me how I "KNEW" that I had been cut in front of, was certainly a novel approach, but when I then pointed out that you cut between me and the other people with whom I was traveling, it may have been a good time for you to simply let the subject drop. It sort of surprised me that, instead, you used this as an opportunity to verbalize for several minutes, in monolog format, what you felt Americans would be inclined to do about the situation. You see, I had no idea that Americans, once in their own country, were prone to engaging in citizens' arrests for such infractions. I also didn't realize that quietly pointing out that you had cut in front of me was a far greater social infraction than the cutting itself. It's good that I have you, the Frankfurt Goodwill Ambassador, to enlighten me.

It was particularly charming to have you go on at length despite the fact that I had turned my back to you and proceeded on with my life, without ever needing to raise my voice.

It's was so useful to know that by following rules, keeping myself composed and generally respecting other people's personal rights as I would my own, that I had shown myself for the ugly American that I am. I'm sure that the many other patrons in front of whom you cut, were pleased that you had put me in my place.

Thank you guy in the Frankfurt airport who tried to cut in front of me and then yelled at me, you are a true humanitarian.

We here at Marnie Talks would just like to apologize. Apparently a raving lunatic commandeered the blog yesterday and had her way with it. I want to assure you all that I'm in full control of my mental and physical faculties and was not the least bit responsible for that outburst.

Yesterday was a long day, starting with a wake up call at 4:30 AM and finishing with a quick phone meeting at 9:30 PM (luckily, with someone I enjoy talking to). That being said, there was a lot of downtime yesterday. We checked out of the hotel in the morning, had meetings until 2 PM and then began our trek to Mumbai, with a business stop along the way.

There were a couple of other detours, though:
Meet the Water Buffalo

These guys roam the streets freely. Unlike the cows, they are very mild tempered and were a perfect set piece for my vision of touristy goodness. The cars were stopped, cameras locked and loaded and I sprinted to my destination.

As you can see, though, the person charged with my camera managed only to get me in the shot. I swear, there is a buffalo near by. No, seriously, there is. I promise, others got pictures, I'll prove it to you soon.

In defense of the photographer of the above photo, I was rather lacking in decorum at the moment, resulting in a none-too-pleased buffalo. There was a moment; I am bounding over puddles and shrubs, Ms. Buffalo was partaking of a salad, she lifted her head to see what the commotion was and our eyes met. I'm not sure if it was fear or confusion but whichever it was, it did not bode well for the photo op. I would step a bit closer, she'd amble out of frame. This repeated a couple of times until she finally decided that pastures were greener elsewhere.

So my muddy feet and I got back in the van and we all headed towards Mumbai. It speaks to the human ability to adapt that I feel the ride was relatively uneventful. Playing chicken with oncoming traffic whilst attempting to pass the traffic in your own lane is simply par for the course, I believe I may now completely filter all noises that exist at the same frequency as the average car horn and even sights like this seem more or less normal.

I will admit to an inordinate amount of pleasure in being able to see some monkeys, though.

Ok, so the picture is grainy enough to end up in an Oliver Stone documentary on the assassination of Cornelius but you can sort of tell they are monkeys, right?

There was one moment, though, when my heart dropped a little. Our driver took a wrong turn and moments later, was pulled over. Immediately, I had visions of all of us being hauled off to who-knows-where for a cavity search or some such indignity. Of course, nothing of the sort happened but I have a relatively active imagination. While our driver hashed things out with the horde of local police, I sneaked a little picture through our back window.

A couple minutes and 100 rupees later (about $2 US) we were back on the road and on our way to the hotel.

I have many many more pictures to show but not another moment to spare, so for now, I'm signing off. It's time to eat and then spend the say shopping.

I'm pretty sure that some sort of torture is going on in the guise of hospitality. We wake up early every day (hello, 5:00 AM, nice to see you), eat a huge breakfast, waddle to our cars, begin our day of work, with a constant stream of coffee and cookies if necessary. Then, before you know it, a giant buffet of foods from traditional Indian to classic Italian will be spread before us. One cannot pass up traditional Indian food while in India, so down the gullet it goes. Ooooh, so good!

Meeting after meeting continue, with more coffee to artificially maintain momentum. Then we're broken off into groups where we sight see or shop until Dinner, which, of course, will be huge and run until all hours of the evening. One must be sure to simply sip the wine because the glass will be surreptitiously replenished when least expected. Then, it's back to the hotel, where exhaustion causes the bed to nearly sing to me (that's normal, right?) yet it is the start of the day back home, so there is much more work to do. I attempt to wade through the mountains of emails and sort out various issues before passing out cold.

If I don't completely explode from overeating, I'll surely go mad from exhaustion.

I say all this only to relieve my self of all obligation to put together a coherent and interesting blog post. Instead, I present to you, a rag tag selection of images with no apparently segues or useful narratives.

So without further ado...

For my crafty friends, here's a little fabric porn.

I'll only be showing you a fraction of what's inside. I'm pretty sure that after a certain point, I lose all sense of reality and go into some sort of silk related sensory overload.

These are all printed silks that are so cheap, one might be inclined to shed a tear. If you were to turn the corner, you'd have wall after wall of silk saris to choose from. If I hadn’t been mopping my drool up off the floor, you would see a pictures.

Along the other wall were their cottons

I'm pretty sure my host cannot fathom why I'd care about the cottons, but my god, for 12 dollars I could get enough fabric to recreate Princes Dianna's wedding dress, train and all. The printing is easily as beautiful as the silks yet with loads more practicality. Also inside were gorgeous pashmina shawls and other hand crafted textiles. If I told you the prices, you probably wouldn’t believe me. I recall seeing pashmina shawls in stores for over $100. Here, you can get a hand loomed, reversible one for under $30.

If money were no object, this store would have afforded me the option to look as lovely as some of the staff who joined us for dinner last night

This is the prelude to yet another binging incident.
Must...find...stretch...pants

But what is a blog post about India, without the obligatory cow?

It has been my goal to attempt to get my picture taken next to one of these fellas. I'm informed that no native would every consider having her picture taken next to a cow. I pointed out that most New Yorkers wouldn't deign to have their picture taken in front of the Statue of Liberty either. It's all part of tourist adventure. If it happens, you’ll all be the first to know.

Now back to the salt mines for me.

I finally got my India pictures sorted and posted online. You can pop yourself on over to the gallery if you like.
You'll get to see some of the cool gothic architecture of Mumbai.

See the gateway to India

Go with me on a tour of the Prince of Wales Museum.

See the Hanging Gardens

And join me for my last meal in India.

All of this without having to brave the hot sticky monsoon weather. It's a bargain at twice the price.

For any of you that feared I might be wracked with malaria or some other such disease, fear not. I've been fighting a fever, cough and general run down feeling which may possibly be strep throat, but I've been taking it easy and getting lots of rest, and am already starting to feel better. Saw the doctor on Friday and will know on Monday if it's strep. As a side note, does anyone else have the hardest time with those giant q-tips being jammed down their throat? Man alive!

Between vegging out on the couch watching cartoons, and sleeping, I was able to snap a few photos of my Peppy Long Stockings in all their glory. Here are the pattern notes as well.
Pattern: Peppy Long Stockings
Designer: Me (but based on your every day toe up sock with short row toe and heel)
Yarn: Unknown. It's a self striping sock yarn but I've long ago lost the label. It came in a 100 gram skein, 94 grams of which were used to make the pair of socks. If anyone recognizes the yarn, please let me know.
Needles: Started as 2 socks on 2 circs, switched to DPNs, all in size US #2

I didn't do any shaping in these socks and they fit fairly well. They are a touch baggy at the ankle if I stand on tip toe, but otherwise look pretty cute.

It managed to work out pretty well with the toe, heal and top of the socks coming out in red. It wasn't planned, but it is exactly what I'd want to happen.

And what's a photo shoot without my little glammor girl?

You'll have to excuse the bad photo, Leo has the camera today and so I had to use my phone.

This is the sock I started on the flight out to India. I call it "Nod to Jaywalker" because it uses a similar stitch to Grumperina's Jaywalker. The scale of the pattern I used is quite a bit smaller and the increases and decreases are paired unlike Grumperina's which uses double increases and decreases. This sock will have a ribbed fold over cuff, which is what I'm working on right now.

Oh and if I see out of sorts lately then:

1. You are very very observant, or stalking me.


2. It's because I'm sick and partaking of an at home pity party of one.

I was wondering why I was having such a hard time re-acclimating. I mean, I expected to be tired, but I was nearly useless. It hit me the night before last, but didn't seem too bad, however, as the work day proceeded, I just felt worse and worse. But the end of the day, I could hardly talk and was switching between bouts of sweating and bouts of chills. I had a meeting and the consensus was that I looked like hell. I've been joking that it's SARS or Avian Flu. Everyone loves hanging out with a sick person who just got back from a developing country.

So as a courtesy to everyone else, I'm taking it easy today, being well attended to by Miss Panda and all the cold soothing remedies that Leo hooked me up with last night. Go DayQuil Go!

Well, I can't show you everything I got because much of it is gifts for people who read this blog. No need to give them a sneak preview. But I can show you a few things I acquired for me.

These books were gifts from the hosts. I haven't had a chance to crack them open but I'm looking forward to it.

But books, smooks, you want to see the fabric, don't you?
I bought myself 2.5-4 yards of each and they are all silk.

This is a gorgeous iridescent green and purple fabric.

I should stop right now and explain that I have no idea what any of these will be used for. I think this one would make a great lining for some hand knit or crocheted purses, but who knows what it will actually become.

This is some light light sage green raw silk. The color is very hard to capture, trust me, it's a lovely shade.

This stuff was so cheap, I'm embarrassed to say how much I spent on it. I have 4 meters of it and I think it's about a 48" width. I think it'd make a beautiful structured mandarin collar jacket with princess seams, but, again, I reserve the right to completely change my mind about that.

These next two fabrics were a little pricier but so beautiful, they make my heart skip a beat.

I think I might like to turn one into a gored skirt maybe with some black chiffon insets or with some contrast piping. Did any of you even know that I know how to sew? Well, I do, though I'm not incredibly good at it. I have more vision than skill, that's for sure.

And yes, I did buy a sari.

No, I'm not going to model it for you. Not yet, at least. I think I've figured out how to do the standard drape, but it's pretty crude, sort of the equivalent to one's first fun fur scarf, if you know what I mean.

Finally, I bought shawl/wrap type things. The first two are a very soft wool. If I recall they are pashmina but not of the super fab variety. Both are reversible, in the way that double knit is reversible. The dominant color within a section of the weaving becomes the secondary color in the same section on the back.

The last one here is silk and hand dyed. They use a tie dye type process and the result is a light and crinkly silk scarf that is surprisingly warm when needed.

All three are about 2-3 feet wide and at least 6 feet long so they are perfect for casually throwing about the shoulders when there is a little chill in the air, but the fold up small enough to fit in a decent sized purse when it's warm.

Oh and jewelry is quite a bargain in India too. There is gold aplenty, but I prefer silver for sure.

Much of these have or will go to friends, but I don't think any of them wander by my blog. All are sterling silver with semi-precious gems.

Oh, and by the way, I did work on one sock while I was there:

It's a bit small. If after blocking it's still tight, I may actually have to rip it out.

Really, though, maybe it should be:
This Californian is becoming an Oregonian
or
This Angeleno is becoming and Portlandian if the Oregonian variety (so as not to be confused with those Portlandians of the Mainenites variety).
But I'm splitting hairs here, the point is, Leo and I are moving to Portland Oregon. Leo goes up on Monday to start a new job on the 7th.

It is not without some apprehension that I go. I've lived in Los Angeles for almost 5 years and I have met so many wonderful people, a few of whom, to my delight, even count me among their friends. As I'm predisposed to hermit-like behavior, this is no small feat, in my mind. I will miss them terribly.

Yet, I also look upon all this as an exciting opportunity to start fresh and new and discover an area I've never been before. What? Didn't I mention that? Oh, yah, neither Leo nor I have ever been to Oregon. I'm not averse to change, and I love exploring new cities. It's scary to know I'll be jobless in a month, but with rents half the price of the LA area, I can pretty much sell hemp jewelry on a street corner and still contribute my part to the household expenses.

I've already checked and it appears there are several yarn shops in the Portland area. And those cute little Pygoras from a couple days ago? They hail from Oregon, which bodes well for my spinning future.

So if any of you who live, have lived, or frequently visit Oregon, have suggestions for me, please send them my way.

I'll do my best to keep posting during the transition, but with our home computer going up north without me, and with all the upheaval, I make no promises, expressed or implied, that blogging will continue as normal.

So, the second N2JW has been progressing at a speed that would make most glaciers honk in frustration at my pace. I mean, this baby has been taking forever.

At Blogher, I knew nobody. This is not like Stitches was. I traveled with my mother, and met a great deal of friends while there. Further, in the world of knit bloggers, I'm like a C list star. I ain't no Yarn Harlot, but people have stumbled upon me on occasion. For comparison's sake, I'd put myself at about a Carrot Top. At Blogher, I had my normal anonymity, which is fine, but it does mean that I have to make the horrifying step of socializing without any safety net. Let me see if I can find a good knitting analogy here. That would be like my saying that I was going to use the most slippery needles on earth, and knit a complex lace shawl with 600 stitches per row, in mohair, with no life line. And if that doesn't scare you, I would ask you to shoosh, because I don't want to hear it.

So how does an introvert of my neurotic level adapt? She knits. She knits like a fiend and the results; a finished pair of N2JW socks done lickity split. In fact, I was so sad to be done, I toyed with the idea of knitting a third sock, because the only other knitting project I brought is too complex to allow me to knit while paying attention to things around me.

But Blogher was great. If my battery in my camera hadn't been dead (duh) I would have pictures to prove it. The panel on which I was asked to speak was called "Is the next Martha Stewart a blogger?" and was moderated by Maggie Mason. If you ever meet her, please, stop her and beg her for insight. She did a brilliant job moderating and imparted so much level headed wisdom and kindness. I feel like she could done the panel solo and would not have left a single question unanswered.

My fellow panelists were (in alphabetical order for lack of a better option):
Andrea Scher: Despite her proclamation that she was nervous, Andrea brought a warmth and spirit to the group. She lives by the motto that things should be "Fun and Easy" which are words to live by if ever there were any. Hearing about how she came to an understanding that she needed help with her business and how it really liberated her to do what was most satisfying for her, was wonderful. I think we can all take a page from her book, there.

Gayla Trail: A true perfectionist, Gayla really drove home how important it was to impart your own values in what you do. No aspect of her business is done halfway and she gives a great deal of thought to everything she associates herself with. I really respect her sense of principal and dedication.

Pim Techamuanvivit: Like a sparkly ray of sunshine. Her enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. She seemed to have a little slice of experience in every bit of media and an air of confidence to pull it all together. She offered wonderful pearls of wisdom for expanding one's reach and did it all with a beaming smile.

I felt like a girl among women on the panel but wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Next post: pattern notes for N2JWs.

Well, I did promise that there were pictures of me near a water buffalo. However, it appears that none of them are terribly good representations of our bonding experience. Really, I did actually stand still next to said buffalo and, well, yes, I did scare her quite handily. I maybe, perhaps, did not actually want to be standing in a muddy (I hope it was mud) field so perhaps I wandered off when things seemed not to be going according to plan.
I haven’t lost hope though. I’m told that my boss has finished her roll (yah, like one of them old fangled film cameras) and is sure she has a better picture of Big Birtha and me.

Who knew moving to Portland would garner me so many comments? It's almost frightening how many people love the city and how few bad things people have to say about the area (rain and you can't pump your own gas, I think I can live with both).
There are so many of you I need to write back to. I can't believe how many great suggestions you've sent and warm welcomes you've offered. I'm really looking forward to moving.
I don't arrive in Oregon until the end of August, and in the mean time, I hope to be able to see all my LA friends, so I can say goodbye.

But enough of that, take a look at my yummy pygora yarn.

Here it is almost completely spun up. The kit comes with half an ounce (about 14 grams) of each fiber, so that's just enough to fill up one of my smaller spindles.

I simply loved spinning this stuff. I don't know enough about the properties of various fibers to say why, I just know that whatever it is, I'm able to spin it up superfine, balanced, soft and with a bit of loft.

I've included a dime for scale. The yarn is a two ply and check this out...

Balance, baby!

This hasn't been washed yet, it's right off the spindle. I have just shy of 54 yards (49 meters) of yarn here. Since pygora is aplenty in Portland, I plan to get more soon.

I've now started spinning some of the Yak fiber and it's not going quite as well. It's more poofy and fluffy and I don't quite have the best technique for managing that sort of fiber. It's gotten better as I've worked with it, but compared to the pygora, it's pretty crude looking.

In a little while, I'm off to Blogher, then a visit with a friend in San Francisco, then back home to help Leo pack up the truck. It's quite a weekend, indeed.

You know, I never mentioned that the new Spindlicity was up. It's rather silly that I never mentioned it because my pattern, Merigold, is there.

And if that weren't enough, the results of the Shawl Contest that I entered are there too. No, I didn't win, but my god, go see the beautiful piece that did. It was spun and knit by Nancy Ratliffe and it's a beaut! You can see all the other finalists' entries as well. I'm really glad I didn't have to judge that competition.

As always, there are a ton of great articles in this edition. I never cease to be impressed with Janel's in-depth reviews of fibers and/or techniques. Of particular interest to me in this edition is the article on different silk substitutes.

For my birthday, Julia got me the Bellwether Exotic Fiber Kit. The first fiber I grabbed was Pygora and having never heard of it I decided to see what it was.

The little cutie to your right is the first picture I saw. Read all about him here. I've quite enjoyed spinning pygora, though I've only spun a small amount. I'm using my 0.9 ounce Golding and haven't had any problems spinning it, yet. The color is actually more of a creamy shade than it appears on screen and I'm spinning the singles at a about a lace weight.

I've also been plodding away on my N2JW sock.

I'm about an inch away from the heel right now.

Since returning from India, I've done way too little knitting, mostly because I've been sick. But I'm finally feeling almost 100% better, except for a nagging cough, and my little Nods to Jaywalker are the project at hand.
You can see the finished one hanging out next to the freshly started one. Don't they look cute?

I think I'm going to need a break from both self striping yarn and socks after this pair is done. Knitting the second sock is a bit of a drag, but I'm I think the end result will be cute enough to be worthy of finishing them.

The yarn is Lang Jawoll which I like to think of as Ja Rule's much cooler, crafty sister. It is wonderful, soft and durable, and vividly printed. I expect to get almost a full pair of socks out of a single 50 gram skein.