One fish? TWO fish!

My name means "fisherman" (I'll let you figure out which one), and is entirely accurate-- I have the blood of fishermen running thru my veins. My grandfather's solo vacations several times a year consisted of piling aboard rickety boats with other 60+ Japanese men headed to Alaska, the California coast, Mexico to fish for the big fish. He'd bring home the giant IGLOO coolers, always the red & white ones that had his name in block Sharpie lettering on all 6 sides, packed with glassy eyed giants... break out the good, heavy knives and fillet them all himself, get on the horn and within the next few days a small flood of people would come to visit and leave with pounds of fish (always leaving something behind... chocolates, crates of seasonal fruit, teas and cookies). I never had sashimi (or sushi!) in a restaurant til I was in college, it was always in my grandparents' kitchen, with a plate of shoyu for dipping and maybe a smear of wasabi if I wanted to be tough like grandpa that day. My favorite remains yellowtail, sashimi and cooked. (And don't get me started on hamachi kama, yum!!)

My favorite fish story from my grandpa... He came from a family of 12 brothers and sisters (!!), and the brothers loved to fish as much as he did. He and two of his brothers, and all of their sons (including my father, age 7), got up in the dark of morning, got dressed, headed to the all nite diner for a 3am breakfast. The boys (my father and his cousins) were stuffed to the gills with pancakes, waffles, all of the sweet breakfast foods while the adults sipped coffee, waking up for a long car ride. Clamboring on the boat, the kids were bundled against the cold but not against the rocking of the boat... on the ocean face, sick kids leaned over the boat rails and purged their sickly sweet breakfasts into the water, supposedly attracting fish for the catch.

My grandfather said it was cheaper than buying the chum at the dock. Yes, it was on purpose. No, my father doesn't fish now.

So, in honor of that, one fish...



Isn't this cute?! Zonda made me a sockfish for being the 1st commenter on her 100th post (hm, good idea! I just sent my 1000th commenter, Anastacia, some sock yarn to celebrate happy 1k to me-- but since it was a surprise I'm not going to post a pic!)



She also tucked in these adorable, perfect for socks stitch markers...

I am so spoiled sometimes :) I am waiting to use this bag to house my morale builder stockings... I'm still waiting for my acid dyes to start them! I was hoping to have them *done* by the first of September, but I don't think so now... :(

BTW, anyone care to share their favorite lace panel motif? I'm looking for something "leafy" to face downwards on my stockings... I still can't find one, my favorite points up not down (I don't have too many st dictionaries and don't know how to change it)... any suggestions? Something about 30-36 st wide, either single or doubled...? I'll be poking around online later today, hoping to find one...

Hm, did I say two fish??


Pomatomus by Cookie A., Winter Knitty 2005
Started: July 15, 2006
Finished: July 26, 2006
Trekking XXL yarn, colorway #100
US 1.5 (2.5mm) dpns, 4
16 gm left over from 100g ball
(this pic's for HPNY knits!)

Yeah, so its my favorite pattern :) Knitting it again (my 3rd time), I kept thinking... its like that boyfriend who was absolutely fabulous but yall broke up since it was too soon, you were too young, it wasn't right at the time... and then when you get back together again later, its even better than before-- no awkward getting to know you conversations but just where you left off with someone who knows you inside and out and just happy you're back in the arms of a good friend (i've got the Matthew Sweet "Girlfriend" album running thru my head lately)...

hm. maybe i took it too far that time.



Anyway. Third verse, same as the first-- the Trekking yarn (coloway #100!) seemed to make it fly off the needles as well, I was just fascinated watching it change over the "scales". It is a *warm* sock yarn, I don't know why but it feels like it will be warmer than any yarn I've used so far, interesting. It's not a soft yarn, not like the merinos, but just fun to watch knit up (not scratchy, but not soft being knit... not sure about after the wash). I found a few spots of overtwisting, but nothing that didn't even out over a few yards. I thought it would be splitty with the distinct plys of yarn and all, but no-- I didn't have any problems at all with it. I also had a lot of yarn left over-- I kept the sole at 36 sts (instead of 32) for a slightly wider foot, and did 3 repeats + 5 rows of chart B for the foot length (10.5" incl. toe, that was longer than the patt given the larger # of sts), and still had 16 gm of yarn left over.



I used the Holz & Stein ebony dpns I reviewed when knitting them up, US 1.5 (2.5mm). Tell you a secret, I didn't swatch this time-- I knew how stretchy the pattern was and that I was planning on adding a few sts @ the sole for a wider foot, so no worries-- I just dove in. I just measured the stockinette sole: 8 sts/inch and 11 sts/column inch on US 1.5 dpns in the round. I like the fabric it made.





My non-feetie pyjamas make another entrance. :)

Previous posts on Pomatomus in Trekking:

July 18, 2006

Previous posts on Pomatomus in Lisa Souza (2nd knit):
June 25, 2006
June 19, 2006
June 14, 2006
June 12, 2006

Previous posts on Pomatomus in Fleece Artist (1st time knitting the pattern):
January 3, 2006
December 28, 2005