Monica Knits ...A LOT!!

Secret Knitting

2010-07-19T13:19:00.006-04:00

.... no more. Sheri has posted a spoiler picture on the Loopy Ewe Ravelry site so I think it is safe to share one of the stealth knitting projects I have been working on. I designed the sock portion of the July Socks and More Club for The Loopy Ewe. DD's feet (she is my foot model) are about an inch shorter than mine so the fit is not perfect on her, but they fit me perfect. The yarn is Alchemy Juniper and was lovely to work with. So very soft. More stealth knitting in the works, but it will be a while before I can share that with you.

We have been busy getting things together for the college girl. I really don't know where the last 18 years have gone. It is so hard to believe that in a month we will be packing her off to college. And goodness, it is like setting someone up in a new house. So much to buy. We have been busy shopping for towels and sheets etc, and lamps and clocks and the list goes on. She is enjoying it, and I am happy for her, but I have a knot in my stomach the size of a boulder. I know she will do well, she is a wonderful young lady, level headed, responsible, intelligent... it is me I am worried about. Crazy huh?? I keep thinking she is leaving and in 2 years her brother will be on his way, and then the youngest 4 years after that. It boggles the mind how quickly time seems to go once you have children. The hubby and I will definitely have to get some new hobbies so we aren't sitting here staring at each other 24/7. Not that the kids are hobbies, but they do consume a large portion of the day.

Well I guess I ought to do a little housework before I get my haircut. More later. Stay in the AC if you can, it is so nasty hot and humid out.

Work, Work, Work.....

2010-07-14T10:25:00.005-04:00

It sure has a way of interfering with the knitting. But I really do love my new job. Who knew I would like working in public health, even with the big pay decrease. I find it very rewarding and interesting. You definitely encounter all kinds of people. Last week I was in Indy for training and enjoyed that also. However, as I mentioned before, it sure does interfere with the knitting time.

I mailed a box of patterns off yesterday to Allison at SSYC. The girls at work, all non knitters, were intrigued about just what it is I do. I mailed the package on my lunch break. So I pulled up my Ravelry web page and showed them my designs. Can you believe I have been there since April and have not once taken my knitting to work. I really don't have time to knit at this job, so no reason to bring any temptation. I think they may all be looking forward to knitted Christmas gifts.

Remember the Cherry Tree Hill Fingerpaints yarn from the previous post? I know it has been a while ago, so I will wait while you scroll down to take a gander. It has become this. This yarn is nice to work with, very soft and smooshy. I do love Cherry Tree hill yarn. This pattern and Deverell from the previous post are on their way to SSYC and are in my Ravelry store if you are interested in them

I have done some stealth knitting, but I can't share that with you. Well I need to get ready for work. I have a very short day today to make up for the extra hours I would last week. I hope to have more later. Have a great week all.

I Think The Knititng MoJo Has Returned

2010-06-06T15:09:00.009-04:00

Well, after a long hiatus, I think the desire to knit has once again returned. I am so happy!!! It is sad when something you truly love to do no longer becomes desirable. Almost like losing a best friend. I don't know why it went away, or what brought it back, I just hope it sticks around for a while. I still have not finished the sweaters, it is much too hot to sit and knit with either of those on my lap right now. They will be first on my list of things to complete in the Fall.... I hope!! I have knit something I can't share with you yet, stealth knitting, but I have finished a pair of socks. These are knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Woodlawn colorway. Lorna's is always a pleasure to knit with. I have named these socks Deverell. The pattern is available in my Raverly shop if you are interested.

And I have made a few yarn purchases. Cherry Tree Hill has a new yarn available, Fingerpaints which is a self striping yarn. I am knitting in the Pacific Rim colorway right now. I have the first sock just about finished but have not taken pictures of it yet. The colors are much richer in person with the lighter blue shown in the picture being more of a Teal. It is very pretty and wonderful to knit with. Pictures to come soon.

This past weekend was the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival. DD1 and I went. I unfortunately forgot to take my camera, so no pictures of the lambs or the Angora bunnies, and there were plenty of bunnies. It was pretty hot this weekend and the AC was not functioning properly in the buildings, but it was still a good time. I showed great restraint, and only purchased yarn for 2 pair of socks. DD1 will get a pair in this. She does love her blues. This is MacKintosh Yarns, it doesn't have a color name on the label. I think she just likes it for the puppy on the label : ), I have been instructed to let her have it when I am done knitting... the label that is, the socks are a given. She took the pictures so I am surprised the puppy is not showing in the picture.
And for me, also something in blue. I really had to show great restraint at this booth. I loved her color combinations. There were so many semi solids to choose from, and they were all calling to me. However, my stash really is lacking in blues so I went with that. Greens and fall tones I have oodles of, and she did have some lovely ones of those. It was so hard to leave them behind, but I was strong. This is a Merino, Bamboo, Nylon bend and is very soft. It is from Ogle Designs The color # is 440. My daughter informed me that I look very strange when I am yarn shopping. I have a confession to make. I sniff yarn, I love to smell the yarn. I can't help myself. What can I say, but apparently she finds this shopping habit of mine embarrassing. Are any of you yarn sniffers?? Please tell me I am not alone.

On a different note, last weekend my eldest graduated from High School. We are so very proud of her. Next fall she will be off to college, and I fear I will have 4 years of no sleep. Even though she has turned into a wonderful, intelligent and responsible young adult, I fear I am not ready to let her go. But go she will. I know she will be fine, me, I am not so sure about. Here she is with her 2 younger siblings. As you can see, I will have another one leaving for college in a few short years. So I guess in reality, I will not get any sleep for the next 12 years or more.
Until the next time, and I hope it will not be as long apart as the last one.

OK.... so the Sweater is not Finished.

2010-02-16T17:17:00.008-05:00

Edited to add a better picture of the sweater on 2/17/10
But I will show pictures of what I have so far. I am still stuck on sleeve island and not making much progress since the last time. It is a terrible picture, I will take a better one when I am finished. I am losing the daylight already today for anything better. Here is the front, back, and 1 2/3 sleeves. The pattern is Gathering Intentions by Fiona Ellis from the Inspired Cable Knits. I am knitting it in Cascade 220 I don't have the color # though, as I bought this yarn years ago and no longer have the labels. It is a denim heather color.

I started a new mitt design the other day. I am knitting them in Regia solid sock yarn. I have had a hard time getting a good picture of what I have so far of these also. I had bought some Fibre Company, Road to China to knit these with, but the yarn is too soft and has too much drape to show the pattern well. I will knit something else with that. If you have not touched or knit with Road to China yet, I can tell you it is lovely.

And today, the mailman finally delivered my new Shibui Sock yarn. According to the USPS tracking, it was delivered last week, but not so. I was very disappointed when I remembered yesterday was a no mail day. I have a sock design in mind for this yarn, but I will make myself wait to wind it until I finish at least one of the above projects.

We have finally gotten some of the promised snow for this winter. The last two weeks has brought us quite a bit. I love the snow and the kids are loving the snow days. We will see how much they enjoy making them up at the end of the year though. The eldest won't have too since she is a senior and they don't make them make up snow days. This is the view out my front door yesterday. It sure took me a while to shovel the drive and I am sore today, but I loved doing it and being out in the snow and wearing my hand knits to keep me toasty warm. I will be back when I have something finished. Take care and stay warm.

Still Knitting

2010-02-07T18:19:00.002-05:00

I am still working on the sleeves of the sweater. I am on the second one and about half way finished with it. Pictures to come soon. See you when it is finished. Need to go make pizzas and watch the football game. Go Colts!!!!

I will Be Back

2010-01-19T00:58:00.002-05:00

Oh my gosh, I have been gone forever. I have been doing some knitting (not a lot, mind you, but some). I have no excuse other than life has just gotten in the way of blogging. So for anyone that has been checking in, I am sorry for not posting.

I am working on a sweater right now(for me, me, me!!!) and I am approaching the completion of the front (the back is finished), then onto the dreaded sleeves. Everyone in my family knows my history with sleeves, but I will prevail and finish them in a timely manner. I want to wear this sweater before Spring... umm I mean this Spring. So with the next post, which I hope will be in the next week or two, I hope to have a finished sweater. I will also show some mitts and socks I have knit since the last time I posted.

And I will try to get back into some sort of regular blogging routine : )
Until the next time Happy Knitting!!!

Rain, Rain go away....

2009-06-10T15:08:00.007-04:00

....at least until we get the new roof on please. Torrential downpours are not a good thing when the roof really, really needs to be re shingled. It also means no Parks and Rec for the youngest, which makes for a very sad young lady. She is keeping herself busy with practicing her clarinet. Summer band began last week and she is really doing well with it... hardly any squeaking at all.

I have knitting to share. I have been busy with socks. I am on a yarn diet and I have lasted 2 whole weeks with no new yarn purchases. I am starting to get a little twitchy though so, we will see how long I last. I have been going through the stash to see if there are any long forgotten sock yarns hiding out that I absolutely need to knit and I think I really do have enough to keep me busy for awhile. However, I didn't knit with any of the yarn that has been in hibernation. Instead, I knit with some of my most recent purchases.

I finished a pair of socks knit in the Monica's Sunset from Sheepaints. The design is Malu. The design kind of gets lost in the contrasting colors of the yarn, but I like how it plays with the yarn. I knit them again in the Claudia Hand Painted in the Shells on the Beach color. And I have found a short row heel I really like. It is the boomerang heel. It is fast and easy and most important, no holes. I may have even convinced Karen to give it a try. I am also really beginning to like the Magic Loop method for knitting socks. I tried to knit with dpns the other day and I find I really didn't care for it anymore. I can't believe I just wrote that as I have always been a die hard dpn gal. I guess I will have to purchase more long cable circular needles as I don't have near enough of those to keep up with my start(itis)

Also finished, the Tempted Glam Grrl in the Bruisenberry colorway that I raved about in my last post. I loved knitting with it as much as I thought I would. It has a wonderful tight twist and knits beautifully. This design is called Katrin. Both of these designs are available in my Ravelry shop and will be at The Loopy Ewe soon. The box of pattern s shipped today.

And last night I started a new pair with a design I had been working on some time ago. I had originally started these in some CTH Sockitome, but I think that yarn may be a tad too fluffy for the design. It kind of flattens out rather than defining the stitches as I would like them to be. I will probably still finish it in the Sockittome, but wanted to try it in the yarn Karen gave me for Christmas. Araucania Ranco Semi Solid. I don't know the color number right off the top of my head but it is heathered grays and blues. I had the design already typed up, but I making a few changes to it as I re knit these. The back of the sock is a twisted baby cable.

Look at this precious little ball of fur. My sister's dog had puppies and one of my other sisters was able to bring one home to join their family. Her name is Sadie and she is just as sweet as she can be. She will be even sweeter once she is potty trained. The driving daughter is so happy that she is going to be puppy sitting for her when her aunt needs to go to the office to work. I heard plenty of whining the last few days about how much they would like to have the last available one, but the allergies and the asthma make it impossible. Sorry kids!!! And no I won't give in even if you keep nagging nonstop.

I think that is about it. I need to straighten out a few things and then get myself ready for a date with my dear husband. Today is our 20th wedding anniversary. I don't know where the years have gone, but I feel so blessed to be married to a man I love more today than I did 20 years ago.

Have a good week all!!

Ahhhchooo.......

2009-05-21T15:50:00.011-04:00

Does anyone else seem to be having worse than usual Spring allergies. We are having a sneeze fest here. I was hoping when the trees were finished budding and blooming it would improve, but the sneezing continues. Maybe I should buy stock in the company that makes Claritin.

Oh, and so much for trying to blog every week. It would seem I don't have much to share every week. I haven't been knitting as much for some reason. Maybe once the kids are out of school I will have more knitting time and less taxi time..... wishful thinking, right!

I got some yarn goodies. I was stalking the mail box today. We must have a temp. mailman because he was unusually late. But better late than tomorrow. On the left is Lorna's Laces Sock in Maple Grove and on the right is Claudia Hand Painted Yarns in Shells on the Beach. Both from Sonny and Shear That Claudia is so soft, and I love it, but I wish it had just a tad more yardage.

Last week I bought my first Tempted Good Girl in Bruisenberry, and as soon as I finish a pair of socks, this is getting wound and knit. I think I am in love with this yarn. The colors are so rich and saturated and the yarn feels nice a soft and has a good twist. I am sure it is going to be a wonderful knitting experience.

On the needles: A pair of socks I started about 2 years ago... yes, that is right, I said 2 years ago. This is not one of my favorite yarns to knit with however, I like the finished product. If it just weren't so splitty. These will be finished today and as soon as they are the Bruisenberry is taking their place on the needles.

And I frogged the Sheepaints Magic Potion from this post and it is becoming this. I had hoped that this would be my first Christmas project of the year, maybe for one of my nieces, but the Driving Daughter has laid claim to them. They are a much deeper purple in real life. Sorry A or E as one of you two would have been the recipients of these come Christmas. I fear I will have to do all my Christmas knitting on the sly or the Driving Daughter will lay claim to everything.
WARNING!!!
Now if you are a Loopy Ewe Sock Club member, and you haven't received your May sock club and don't want a spoiler, read no further. OK.... are you leaving, there are going to be pictures.... I warned you.

I designed the May Sock Club pattern. The yarn is Dye Dreams Luster Sox in Shades of Ireland. The design is named Kinvara. At first I was sent a mini skein, which was enough to design the sock, but not enough for a pair. So I designed the sock with the mini skein and have since frogged it and re knit with a full skein, you know, so the socks would match. The mini skein will no doubt become a pair of fingerless mitts. The yarn was a challenge to design with due to the dark color, and the fact I was trying to design it when my father in law was ill, making it even more of a challenge to knit, let alone design. All said I am quite pleased with the results. If you are a club member I hope you enjoy knitting them.

Sorry this has been so lengthy. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend. Hopefully I will be back next week..... but no promises.

What happened to Spring?????

2009-04-26T14:18:00.008-04:00

It seems like we only have 2 seasons any more.... Summer and a chillier than usual Fall. After a pretty mild winter, temperature wise anyway, (we had plenty of freezing rain and ice here) we seem to have skipped Spring and jumped right into Summer. Temps yesterday topped in the high 80's ... ugh!!! It is much too early for that kind of weather. I would like some nice cool weather to be able to go out and work in the flower beds. Not 80+ degree and high humidity weather in April. It just isn't right. And of course the few days we have had in the 60's have been rainy

OK, enough complaining about the weather and onto some knitting related material. I won a contest on Ravelry from the SHEEPAINTS group. Submit a picture of something with your favorite colors or a picture with colors you would like to see in a yarn, other members in the group vote for their favorite photo, and that person gets a skein of yarn inspired by the photo. Woo Hoo!!! Driving daughter took this picture from our front porch and I loved the colors in it, so I submitted it. Now, I had to order a few more skeins to go along with it, I mean it is a long trip across the ocean and I didn't want the prize skein to get lonely. This came in the mail Friday

The colorways are Tulip, Monica's Sunset and Splash. Didn't Sabine do a great job with the colors of the sunset. I can't wait to knit it up.... but which to wind first.

I am so in love with Malabrigo Sock Yarn. I have finished my first pair of socks with this wonderful yarn, and it will definitely not be my last pair. This pair was knit in the Solis colorway. I think the next color I will get will be the Archangel. If you haven't already knit with it, I highly recommend it. I have named this design Aislinn (according to the Gaelic translation, Aislinn means dream, and this yarn is a dream to work with) The pattern is available in my ravelry shop at the link above and will be at The Loopy Ewe soon. I just sent some patterns yesterday.

I frogged the Sheepaints sock I had started earlier. I think it needs a few modifications made to it. Due to the tight cables there was not enough give as I was knitting it. So, to the frog pond it went and will be re knit at another time. I have, however, started another design with the same yarn and will share that when I get a little more done on it.

I think that is it for today. I am going to go find a cooler place to sit, enjoy some iced tea, and knit for a while. I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend and have an even better week to come!!

Happy Easter!!!....

2009-04-12T12:57:00.011-04:00

....And many thanks to all of you for your wonderful comments and prayers the last few weeks. They are all greatly appreciated. My Father in law will be missed deeply by all who knew him.

While sitting in the hospital room I managed to do some mindless knitting. I knit a pair of socks for my sister in law. My brother said that she really liked the pair I made for him and hinted that she would love a pair too. He knew her shoe size, but when I asked if she had skinny ankles, wide or narrow feet etc. he was no help ... "you know... they are normal". Here is the obligatory picture of them on her feet, they fit perfect ... H, your wife has skinny ankles. She says she will wear them a lot more often than my brother to which he replied , "he is afraid he will wear them out, and who knows when he will get another pair" I guess five years in between pairs is a bit long to wait.

I also started a pair of plain socks for the driving daughter. She picked this Cascade Sassy Stripes out 4 years ago and I think it is done marinating. Not one of my favorite yarns to knit with, but she likes it. I have knit 2 other pair of socks for her with this yarn and they have worn well, so I can't complain too much, esp since the yarn is inexpensive.The second sock is started and half the leg if finished.

I finished the first sock in the Shalimar Zoe Sock yarn. There is an error in my knitting, I was silly enough to think I could stay focused enough to knit on this after days of no sleep and sitting at my FIL's bedside. I noticed it several pattern repeats later and will leave it there.

Also on the needles, some Sheepaints yarn from The Loopy Ewe (I have start"itis" really bad right now). The colorway is Magic Potion. Lots of lovely shades of purple, and I am lacking in purple in the sock collection, so I needed it.... right!. I think I may need the Lederhosen colorway too, even though it is not purple.

We also had a little Christmas in April here, (well in Ohio). Yesterday was my niece's 19th birthday. We had not had the opportunity to have Christmas with them yet, so we celebrated a late Christmas along with her birthday. I love this T shirt Karen got me. I was actually tempted to buy it for myself when I was in the yarn shop getting things for her... So glad I didn't. She also gave me a skein of Araucania in color 107. Lovely shades of gray and blues. Hmmm ...what to make with this...I did buy another size 1 circular needle while I was there, so I have empty needles. I got a Ped Egg too, I have really been wanting one of those. Thanks Karen for all the goodies!!!

More Prayers Please:

A wonderful online friend of mine, Helen is in need of prayers. Her husband has been fighting cancer and lost the battle. Please keep her and her family (esp their son) in your prayers as they mourn his passing. And thank you again for keeping my family in your prayers.

Prayers Please

2009-04-04T14:42:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post. My FIL passed away on Thursday evening. He was a wonderful husband to my MIL, a loving and caring father and FIL, and the best grandfather,( he was the only grandfather my children knew as my dad passed away when I was 19). He never knew a stranger and was loved by all who knew him. Please pray for comfort, peace and healing as we morn his death.
Thanks so much .

No Knitting Content Today

2009-03-26T12:02:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post asking for good thoughts and lots of prayers for my FIL. He has been on a ventilator since Monday. I have spent most of my time at the hospital, so only very mindless knitting has taken place.

Your prayers are very much appreciated.
Hopefully we will have good news soon.

Spring Break and...

2009-03-19T12:54:00.005-04:00

...unfortunately, we didn't go anywhere. Unless you count a short trip to Bloomington. The kids are beginning to get on each others' nerves, which in turn drives me a bit crazy. When we went to Bloomington the other day, I was really wishing I had taken along some knitting, but since I was driving, ( I can't convince the driving daughter to drive the van) I didn't think I would need any.... and then we sat at a stand still for nearly 45 minutes for a traffic accident. I need to remember to put the van knitting back in the van, where it belongs. We did visit a new to me yarn shop while we were there, In A Yarn Basket. It is a small shop, with mostly Cascade, Brown Sheep and Plymouth. But they also carried Tilli Tomas (I think you can go broke just looking at that yarn) and Blue Sky Alpacas. The sock yarn selection was limited, but I did see the Cascade Heritage Handpaints I have been looking at online and decided there were a few colors I am going to buy next time. I wanted to feel it first. The weather has been beautiful this week, except last night when we had some pretty nasty thunderstorms, but it is nice again today, a bit cooler than it has been at the beginning of the week, but still, very nice for this time of the year.

I have done a little more knitting on the Zoe sock. I have been busy on another project so this one has been a bit neglected. It will see more knitting time soon. As I said before, I really like this yarn.

Also on the needles is a sock I am knitting in CTH Sockittome in I think the Indian Summer colorway. I hope to finish these both soon, and maybe have a chance to wear them before it gets to warm.

Well the girls have a doctors appointment this afternoon, so I must scoot. It is just a check up. They are not happy about it, but I need to get a medical release form signed for the youngest for her school trip, so they are both going. The boy child went last week. Their regular doctor is on vacation, so they are seeing his partner, which neither of them are thrilled about. I am sure they will survive.

Oh, does anyone have any hints for deterring chipmunks or moles or what ever critter ate all my bulbs. I have a few lonely tulips poking through, and that is it. No crocus, no daffodils, just holes where they used to be. I am so disappointed. Any tips on this would be appreciated.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Fleeting Signs of Spring....

2009-03-12T15:33:00.006-04:00

For nearly a week, we have been teased with Spring like weather. Temperatures warm enough for shorts and flip flops, windows opened to let in some fresh air, flowers popping up and then......yesterday morning it was 20 degrees...argh. It was 74 the day before that. My kids were none too happy to have to bundle up to go catch the bus, and it took quite a bit of convincing that it would be necessary for the rest of the week.... esp. for the youngest who put shorts on under her jeans. It was in the high 30's when she came home from school with her jeans in her backpack, donning her shorts. I was not a happy mom , but she was a very happy child. I guess she thinks that by wearing shorts in 30 degree weather she is the victor in this temperature war mother nature is fighting. Now I want you to know, I love winter, I love crisp, cold air and clear blue skies. I love snow. I don't like 74 one day and 20 the next.
The sock yarn I received from Kristi at Shalimar Yarns is knitting up beautifully. I love this yarn. It has fantastic stitch definition, it is very soft and has a great twist and it feels wonderful going through your hands as you knit. I love a semi solid yarn, it is the best of both worlds, a little color variation, but still great for showing stitch design. I will definitely be purchasing this yarn in the future. Thanks Kristi for allowing me to try it!!!! I am working on the heel now so I should have a finished sock soon.

I did finished the Blackberry Jam socks I was working on. I love the feel of the Numma Numma Yarn. It is so light weight, and the finished sock weighs next to nothing. It has a nice twist and is a pleasure to work with. I was a little disappointed with the unevenness of the dye. It got progressively darker as I knit, so one sock is noticeably darker than the other. I doubt that will deter me from purchasing more of this yarn though.

I think knitting wise, that is it for this week. Driving daughter came home today all excited. She is being inducted into the National Honor Society next month. I am so very proud of her. She takes her academic studies and responsibilities very seriously and willingly participates in community services. I couldn't have asked for better children, I have been truly blessed. Also congrats to her best friend M for also being accepted.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!! Until next time.

March Madness Sales...

2009-03-05T12:17:00.007-05:00

...and the temptation is overwhelming. Too bad the yarn budget was spent for a school trip for the youngest. Do you think she would mind staying home for a week while her classmates are away in VA? I am thinking I better just pretend I haven't seen all these fantastic yarn sales. But.... being the enabler that I am, I will pass them onto you, just in case you aren't aware of them and your yarn budget isn't going to VA. These are some of my most frequented yarn shops that have wonderful sales going on right now. The Yarn Grove, SSYC, Pick up Sticks, and Sonny and Shear. Go ahead and check them out. I will live vicariously through your new yarn acquisitions. I know there are probably several more shops having March sales, but these are the ones I get newsletters from with sale notices.

I have to confess, I did take advantage of one of the sales and bought my first skein of Malabrigo sock yarn in the Solis color. I wish I had purchased this yarn sooner. It is wonderful...what was I waiting for?? I now understand the love affair with the MMMMalabrigo Sock. I have knit with worsted weight Malabrigo and loved it, but this is simply wonderful. I cast on last night, but was so tired I only knit a few rounds.

And today the mailman delivered more goodies. Kristi of Shalimar Yarns has given me the opportunity to try their Zoe Sock yarn. It is 100% Superwash Merino, and it is lovely. I will have to get out the swift and ball winder after I finish posting and wind it. I have an idea for this yarn already. She let me choose any color I wanted, and after drooling over all the colors on her site and projects knit up with the yarn on Ravelry, I chose Passionfruit. And I am glad I did, it is even more gorgeous in person than on the monitor. Hopefully by the next post I will have something knit with it to share. The yarn is very soft, and smooshy, it has a nice tight twist and the shadings are gorgeous.

I do have a few finished projects to share. I am so happy to say that the socks I was knitting for my brother fit him perfectly. And I even had some yarn left over. I could have made the legs longer. Here they are on his dainty size 13 feet. He loved them and I am sure if the weather gets cold again they will get some wear. His biggest problem will be keeping them away from Sophie, their Golden Retriever. She seems quite enamored with wool socks. It could prove to be a challenge.

Remember the Mini Mochi I bought a few weeks ago? It has become my Fronds Fingerless Mitts pattern. This is a single ply merino/nylon blend. Because of the single ply and extremely loose spin it is splitty, making the k3tog's in this pattern a challenge, but I am very happy with the finished results. It knits up to a very soft fabric, and the colors are beautiful.

Well it is simply gorgeous outside today, maybe a little on the breezy side, but temperatures are in the 60's ( it was in the single digits at the beginning of the week). I think I may wind my new yarn and go sit on the back porch and enjoy the sunshine and knit. I hope the weather is beautiful where you are too and you have the opportunity to enjoy it. Have a great week!!

Has It Been A Week Already....

2009-02-27T13:07:00.004-05:00

...I spent the last week with sick kids. All three of them have been to the pediatrician, 2 of the 3 are on antibiotics and feeling better, the 3rd is all viral and just has to wait it out. I would much rather they all needed antibiotics, at least they feel better much faster when they have something bacterial that can be treated with medicines. And with the puny kids comes all the extra hugging and cuddling which leads to a sick mommy.... of course the viral stuff. We have gone through a lot of kleenex in the last week and a lot of hand soap too.

The little knitting I have done in the last week has been on a pair of socks for my brother. I have a wonderful brother.... but gosh he has big feet. He wears a size 13 shoe which = a really long foot. I was worried about yardage so I knit the heels and toes in black. I also knit a short row heel so I wouldn't use a lot of yarn for gusset decreases. I have enough yarn left over that I now wish I had made the legs longer. I just have the toe to finish on the second one. I know he will enjoy these. He wore out the last pair I knit for him.

I worked a little on the blue Knit picks sock too while waiting in Dr's offices. Not a finished sock yet but soon. Once I get the toe finished on H's sock, these will see a little more knitting time. The driving daughter would really like to have this pair. She keeps letting me know just how nice they will look on her feet. She is too funny.

That seems to be all the news I have to share this week. The week almost slipped right by me without a post. Hopefully a little more knitting for next week. Have a wonderful weekend all!!!!

A Little This and That...

2009-02-17T15:24:00.007-05:00

First let me say, that it is my intention to blog at least once a week again. I started out doing really well, blogging at least weekly, but usually twice, and then it became once a week, then every 10 days.... you get the picture. So my goal...weekly blog posts, hopefully with finished knitting content.

I finished a pair of socks. The Lauren socks I showed last week. They look a little odd in the picture, but I really wanted to show the front cable. I couldn't get an angle that didn't distort one or the other sock. Anyway they are finished and I love them. The pattern is available at The Loopy Ewe and at my Ravelry store.

Also on the needles and close to completion are a pair of socks knit in Numma Numma Toasty in the Blackberry Jam colorway. This is a very soft and super light weight yarn. It took me a while to find a gauge that worked well with it, but once I did I loved it. I will definitely be purchasing more of this yarn. It is hard to capture the correct shading of this color, it is much prettier than it looks in the picture.

I also knit a few dish cloths, I don't know why since I certainly don't need more right now. I now know that you can almost make 3 dish cloths from 2 balls of Peaches and Creme cotton. I will have to finish the 3rd one with some left over cotton in a different color. I gave one of them to my sister, so only 2 in the picture. I also knit a pair of mittens for my great niece in some very pretty Blue Faced Leicester, but gave those to my sister before I took a picture of those too. I will have to remember to take my camera over next week when S is visiting and take a picture of them on her sweet little hands.

I had to drive up to work today to sign my yearly performance appraisal. It is electronic now so I have to drive an hour one way just to sign on to the computer. I liked it so much better when they would just mail it to me, I would sign it and take it back when I worked next. It was due a little while ago, but I was never there when the manager that did the evaluation was there, it is so complicated. Anyway, since I had to drive up there, I decided to make a little stop at a yarn shop along the way. A couple of the girls at work were talking about it, so I thought I would take a looksee. They also sell fabric there. It is a small shop with a small assortment of yarn, but the ladies that were working there were very nice. I will no doubt be going back again. I bought a ball of Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in color 107 that will soon become a pair of fingerless mitts. The driving daughter was oohing and awwing over the color of the yarn so she will no doubt lay claim to them when they are finished. I also bought a pair of Knit Picks fixed circular needles there. I didn't know they sold to retailers. I love my Harmony needles so I thought I would give these a try, even though I have heard from numerous people that the join is very susceptible to breaking. At least I know they replace them. They also had some lovely colors of Rowan Pure Wool Aran that I think I must have for a sweater.

Well that is all for today. I hope everyone has a pleasant week. Until next time...

2 Posts in One Week....

2009-02-06T14:11:00.010-05:00

... how unusual for me. I am so happy I am knitting again. During my 2 month absence I was really worried about my total lack of desire to knit. I didn't even miss it. That bothered me more than not knitting. For the last 3 or 4 years I have not gone a day without knitting, unless I was sick or just crazy busy,and then ...nothing. Even my husband commented on the situation, and he doesn't "get" the whole knitting thing at all.

I have more knitting to share. I finished these a while ago but don't think I ever posted them. A pair of socks I knit for the driving daughter. These are knit in Regia Crazy Color 6ply that I won in a blog contest from Romancing the Yarn I also have a pair started for Little Miss (the youngest) in the same yarn but a different colorway. Little Miss's feet aren't so little anymore, she is 11 and her socks are 9 inches heel to toe. I seem to have misplaced the second ball of yarn so these are on hold right now.... much to her chagrin.

I got some yarn this week from Yarn4Socks. It was on clearance. I can't resist a good price on yarn I have not tried and this was on the list of "want to try this yarn" It is Mirasol Chirapa color 702. It is bright and cheerful. It is a sport wt yarn, so it will make some nice, thick, warm, socks.

I also ordered Square Circular Needles. These are supposed to be more "ergonomically suited to your hands, decreasing stress and strain for those who love to knit" OK, I was sold... but I am not so sure I really enjoy knitting with them. While they may decrease stress and strain on your hands (they don't weigh a thing, virtually light as air) the cable is driving me batty. It has an extremely thin cable that really doesn't kink and has no memory, but is a bugger to glide the stitches onto the needle portion. I spend more time getting the stitches from the cable to the needle than I do knitting them. Though I have to admit, it seems to be getting a little easier as I progress, I still find it somewhat annoying. So less hand stress, but more mental stress. Can you see that tiny, thin, cable in the picture?? it is thinner than the yarn. I have read reviews (after I bought them, of course) that state the larger sized needles have thicker cables. I am also getting about 12.5 stitches to the inch with these, so I probably should have bought at least a size 2 or 3 instead of the size 1. I normally knit 9 stitches to the inch with size 1's. The yarn is some Knit Picks I won from the same contest as mentioned above. It is extremely soft.

Well I think that is it for today. I need to get some things organized for the fund raiser garage sale at the elementary school tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to that, but it will be nice to have some of these no longer needed items out of the house.

Have a wonderful weekend all!!!

We Finally Got Snow!!!

2009-02-02T13:09:00.009-05:00

.....and unfortunately a lot of ice too. In fact, I really should be outside trying to get the remaining ice off the driveway since they are predicting more snow tonight. I do love snow, but am not fond of the ice at all. Driving daughter got her first experience in driving in the winter mix, and her dad says she did really well. They had a great time while they were off from school. Patricia the "snow woman" is wearing a hand knit Merino scarf and has choc chunks for eyes and a mouth... what more could a snow person ask for. It was so much fun to see them playing in the snow. DD is not thrilled about making time up at the end of the year though.

And I have actually done a little knitting. I designed and knit a new pair of socks.

this pair is named Lauren and is available at my Ravelry store and soon at The Loopy Ewe. Knit in Araucania Ranco Solid in color 102. Lots of cable(y) goodness.

I am also making the girls each a pair of Thrummed Mittens. My first time for this. I bought some lovely roving from Poppy Flower Fibers . The colors are gorgeous and really much too pretty to be hidden inside mittens, but I am not a spinner ...yet, so this lovely BFL roving is reduced to be used for thrums. It sure is time consuming making all the thrums.

The mittens look so funny because they are so fluffy and fat from the roving, but they are so soft inside and will be incredibly warm. I was originally going to use Cashmerino for the mitten but went with some Heirloom 8 ply. I think it will hold up better.

I think that is all I have to share today. I hope everyone is having a lovely new year so far.

Oh and I ordered some square knitting needles, I will let you know how I like those when they arrive.

I Seem To Have Lost My Knitting Mojo, Will Be Back When It Returns... Hopefully Soon!!!!

2009-01-07T17:04:00.002-05:00

November Must Be With October....

2008-11-25T17:18:00.011-05:00

...because it seems to have slipped away from me too. This year is just passing by much to rapidly. Why does that always happen when we seem to need more time. The holidays just appear to make time vanish. Please tell me I am not alone in this time factor dilemma. November did bring our first dusting of snow, and it was just a dusting, but I was ever so happy to see it. When it was falling, one would have thought we would have had some accumulation, but it was short lived. North of us had the lake effect, and had almost a foot of snow.... they are so lucky.

I really need to get back into the habit of blogging more. With the big time lapses, I forget what I have shared. I was a fortunate winner of a sock yarn give away on Romancing the Yarn A Priority Shoebox size box crammed full of yarn, how generous is that?!! It is an assortment of Regia, Knit Picks and Elann sock yarns. The driving daughter promptly went through the box and claimed the yarns she wanted socks knit out of. I have a pair started for her, but have not taken a picture yet.

I have started and finished a few pair of fingerless mitts. The first pair is knit in Louet Gems fingering wt in the CrabApple color. A cabled pattern. I loved knitting these. I think I will have to look through the stash for yarn for another pair of these.

This weekend I knit these in Jojoland Melody. I don't know what I did with the yarn label, so no color number...sorry. I had tried this yarn for a pair of socks and just really couldn't get a gauge that I liked, but it seems to work nicely on size 2 needles for mitts. I still need to write the pattern up for this one.

I have finished the baby blanket from the last post, but it is in desperate need of blocking, so I will wait to take a picture of that.

This weekend I also knit a hat for CAS (Christmas at Sea) I will have to go through the stash and see if I can get another one or two knit up before the end of the month.

And I have knit a few pair of socks for CIC. I really need to work more on these. I have been quite the slacker this year in knitting for charity. It doesn't take long to knit up a pair of these so I really have no excuse.

I bought some yarn from Sonny and Shear in their Thank Ewe sale a week and a half ago. Some Fiesta Baby Boom in Adirondack and

some Blue Ridge Yarn Jubilee in the Rainforest color.

And from The Loopy Ewe I got some Spindle City yarn in the "A Day at the Beach" color but apparently didn't take a picture of it yet. I will post it when I get around to doing that.

And I wanted to share this picture of the driving daughter. She is in a program at school that allows juniors and seniors to take college credit courses while in High School. There are a handful of state colleges/universities that work with the High School on this. One of the things required of this program is for the kids to do a certain amount of community service. They have worked on houses that were affected by the flood in June and they have also been doing work at the Youth Camp. It is all manual labor, something she is not used to, but I think she enjoys it... for the most part. Anyway, we had about 3 or 4 inches of rain just before they went to Youth Camp for the last time for this year and she sunk into the mud up to her knees and got stuck. I am so glad she had the fore thought to call me and ask me to bring some sort of covering to protect the car seat and floor. She even cleaned everything up on her own. She doesn't even look upset about the whole situation. And thankfully she wasn't wearing hand knit socks. (Ignore the messy garage.... please)

Sorry this has been so long and I will try not to wait so long to post again.

Wishing everone a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Where Has October Gone????

2008-10-22T14:51:00.009-04:00

I cannot believe it is the end of Oct. already. This year has just flown by. It is finally starting to feel like Fall here. It was a brisk 30 degrees here this morning, and there are hints of snow flurries Friday morning.... I am so happy. I love this weather!!!! I don't think there is anything prettier than a clear blue October sky and the changing leaves. Soon this tree will be a beautiful yellow and orange, it is always one of the last to change colors. I wish the colors of Fall would last longer.

There seems to be something in the water again at work. Several of the gals I work with are pregnant. Here is the current baby blanket in progress. I am knitting this one in Bernat Baby Softee. One of the other girls is expecting twins in April and will find out the gender, (hopefully they will cooperate) in a couple weeks. I was commissioned to make a blanket for her first child and it was eaten by the puppies of the person I actually did the knitting for, so she never got it. So, I am thinking I will make some thing for the big brother too. I am hesitant to make anything with wool again though , since the puppy incident. And I will be bringing my own water to work :)

My sister, Y, has been taking care of her elderly mother in law. She is approaching the end of her time here on earth. Y asked me if I would make a pair of mitts for her since her hands are so cold all the time. She has lost so much weight and just seems to always be chilled. I had some left over Lorna's Laces in the Devon colorway, so I knit a pair. I ran out of yarn just before I finished the second one. Thankfully, Karen had some left over in the same color (thanks Karen) and she was able to drop it in the mail. I finished these yesterday. Y says her MIL likes them and they fit really well.

I started another pair of mitts. I need to finish typing up the pattern. I am knitting these in Louet Gems fingering wt. in the Aqua color. I have another design in mind and have the yarn wound, so I just need to finish this pattern and then I will start on the other one. These fingerless mitts are such quick knits. It is almost instant gratification.

I started another pair of socks too, but they are going to the frog pond to be tweaked. There is just way too much bias in these. They will be similar, but different enough to eliminate the excessive twist.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I was awarded the "I Love Your Blog Award" by both Jennifer and Missy
I love their blogs also, go on and check them out, I will wait for you.
Here are the instructions: 1. Post the award on your blog 2. Post a link to the person who awarded it to you. 3. Nominate four other bloggers 4. Add links to the bloggers 5. Notify the recipients

OK, well I already told you I like Jennifer's and Missy's so here are the other 4, I know that is cheating, I should do 8 but this post has been way too long already.

Well of course Karen, it is a great way to see all the stuff she is making, we talk all the time on the phone or online, but without her blog, I wouldn't get to see pictures of all the stuff.

Deb of Wound too Tight, I love that name for a blog. Anyway, she just cracks me up. I love to read her blog, and see what she is knitting, and now spinning. And her blog always makes me smile and laugh.

Beth I met Beth online about a year or two ago and we have become friends. We live in the same state, but at opposite ends of the state. She makes beautiful knitted and crochet items. Go and look at the lovely afghan she just finished. I never would have had the stick-to- it-iveness to finish that.

Helen is another fellow knitter/blogger I have met online and consider a friend. She knits beautiful lace, and socks and sweaters.

I really could go on and on, there are so many blogs I love to read, but I will stop with these 4.
I hope you all have a fantastic week and get to enjoy the beautiful Fall weather, and wear all your hand knit goodies. Until next time.

Thank you(s) and a little this and that

2008-10-07T12:40:00.006-04:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you for sending your thoughts and prayers to our family. Karen and her children are doing as well as can be expected and greatly appreciate all the prayers and well wishes. I forwarded all the responses to her, and they mean so much to her. Thank you all again.

And thank you to Helen. Helen was my partner in the first Hot Socks swap. She was the person I sent to. We have stayed in touch with emails and by leaving comments on each others blogs. She lives in Australia. It amazes me that through the Internet you can develop friendships with people you have never met in person. Helen is one of those people, and I am so happy that knitting and the Internet have allowed us to meet. I was surprised to receive a package in the mail last week from Australia. And a lovely package it was. I love Jo Sharp designs and The Knittery yarns. The Merino Slim Sock 3 ply is a yarn base I have not knit with and it feels lovely. I will soon wind it and decide what to make with it. And, I have found several designs in the book that are calling to me. Thank you again Helen, for your kindness, friendship, and generosity.

It seems like it has been so long since I have blogged, I can't remember what I have shared, or even finished since the last post. I knit a Ballband Tote for DDK. I knit it with Cascade 220 in Navy and Schaefer Miss Priss in (what I believe is a discontinued colorway) Mr. Funny. She loves this bag and has been putting it to good use. I think it has (for right now anyway) replaced all her other bags. With what was left over from the tote, I knit a cabled hat for her. Her younger sister is modeling it and would also like one. Apparently K gets all the "cool" hats. I will have to find something in the stash to knit a "cool" hat for her.

I was lucky, and was able to get a skein of Wollmeise in the last Wollmeise restock at TLE The color is Dornroschen. I also got some of the CTH in the Burnished Berries color. Both are lovely and I must think of what to knit with each of them. And I haven't taken pictures of either of them , but I purchased some Louet Gems in Aqua and and CrabApple Blossom. They will become fingerless mitts.

I am working on a shawl for Karen. It was originally intended for her Birthday, but she has seen me knitting on it and knows it is for her. I am knitting this pattern in Dream in Color Baby in the Deep Sea Flower color. No pictures of it as I can't spread it out to get a good picture, but I am close to finishing it. It just seems to take for....ever to get across a row now. I have also been working on another pair of socks for CIC, pictures of those when they are finished. And I hope to start on some Christmas knitting soon. Can you believe it is October. It is hard to believe with the 80 degree temps we have been having here, but I am sure sock weather will be here soon.

I think that is about it. I hope you all have a wonderful week and Happy Knitting!!

Sadness

2008-09-29T19:41:00.003-04:00

I know that this blog is usually all about knitting, but this weekend has brought great sadness to our family. Saturday morning , my sister Karen lost her husband. His death was quite unexpected, and the entire family is in shock. He was only 48, soon to turn 49. I ask that you keep Karen, her children and Tim's parents and siblings in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this trying time and that they would find strength and peace in their time of grief. I was with her this weekend to offer my love and support, there is really nothing more anyone can do at a time like this.
Again, I ask that you would keep Karen and her family in your prayers.

It Is All About Socks......

2008-09-05T14:27:00.008-04:00

That is all I have been knitting. Now that the SoS 08 is over, I think I am ready to work on a sweater for the DD's upcoming Birthday. But for now, all I have to share....that is right...socks.

I finished 2 pair of socks that I had started and shared in the last post.

The Victorian Swags knit in the Opal Petticoat.

And also finished is Miriam knit in Pagewood Farms Chugiak

This is a pair I started several months ago and put away when SoS started. They wouldn't count, due to the start date. These are for the eldest girl child. She is happy these are finished. I didn't weave in the ends until after she left for school though, so I could take pictures of them before she wore them. She thought they looked way too long in the foot for her, but they are a perfect fit. I keep telling her that her 5'9 1/2" tall body would look funny on size 7 feet, but she still can't believe they are that long. These are knit in Regia Cotton Surf. I knit a pair of anklets for my niece with this yarn too. 2 pair with one ball, what a deal.

And I started and finished a pair of socks knit in ShibuiKnits Sock in the Blossom colorway. I love this yarn, and I love the fabric it knits into. These are the Coral Bell socks and will be available at The Loopy Ewe soon. I mailed a box of patterns yesterday.

I also knit a pair of socks for CIC. A knitting friend of mine has developed an allergy to wool. She has always been sensitive to it, but I guess it has progressed enough, that it has caused her to need to visit the emergency room. Anyway, she gifted me some of her wool. Most of it is remnants, and will be perfect for CIC knitting. This pair is knit in a variety of colors of Lambs Pride Bulky. And here is the youngest modeling one of them. I ran out of the off white a few rows short on the second one, so it has a little more of black, but I think it will be OK. Knit on size 7 dpns, these are tightly knit and will surely be toasty warm for some little child. I will be able to knit several pair with the wool she brought over. And I get to try some wools I have not knit with. Her husband travels abroad a lot with his job and would always bring back yarn from wherever he was. Some of them just have hand written labels on them, so I have no idea where they came from, it just says "really soft merino" and the yardage. DD1 has laid claim to the alpaca, but we will see.

It has been gray and raining off and on all day today. But if feels a little cooler, thank goodness. It was in the 90's on Tues and not much cooler the last 2 days. I am ready for some cool, crisp, Fall days. That is about it for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

I Have No Excuse .....

2008-08-19T14:18:00.007-04:00

... but I am going to blame it on Ravelry and Plurk.... my absence that is. I really don't even have a lot of knitting to share. I just happened to look and noticed it had been almost a month. We have been busy here though, shuffling children around, getting ready for school (started here last week), filling out the endless forms that goes along with that, and celebrating the youngest 11th birthday. I think we finally have found all the little specific items requested on the school lists and the kids are settling into their new schedules. They sure are tired at the end of the day, so there is not much arguing about when it is time to go to bed.

Now for some knitting; I did finish the Diamonds in Lace I was knitting in the Lime & Violet Sasquatch yarn. This is a pretty quick knit. I need to finish one other pair of these, but that will have to wait for another week or two, until the SoS 08 is over. They won't count, since I started them prior to June 21.

I started and finished 2 pair of a new design Take Flight Both of these are knit in Lorna's Lace. One in sock and one in sport. I knit them both to the same gauge and with the same number of stitches. The finished sock in the sport is more dense and will be very warm. The one knit in the sock wt, is of course lighter, and more lacy. The colors are Devon for the sport wt sock and Seaside for the fingering wt sock.

I also cast on for another pair of Victorian Swags. I am knitting these in some Opal Petticoat that has been marinating in the stash for a couple of years. I enjoy knitting this pattern. I am taking the design down the foot on these, which I didn't do didn't do in the original pair.

And still on the needles: Miriam in the Pagewood Farm Chugiak. I will be finishing these next. The first one is finished and I am close to the heel flap on the second sock. They always seem to go really fast once you turn that heel. I should be able to get that part done tonight and hopefully have these finished in a day or two. Have I mentioned how much I love this yarn? It is wonderful.

The youngest just walked through the door. She is excited, talking really fast and loud so I better finish here and listen to her.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!!!!

Somewhat of a Sock Break

2008-07-23T13:19:00.007-04:00

I have not touched a sock in almost a week (unheard of for me), but I have been knitting. When I was organizing my stash last month I came across some yarn I had long forgotten about. I bought this yarn at Distinctive Knits a couple years ago when it was on clearance. I thought I would make a sweater for my son with this yarn, but he was not too thrilled with the little nups of color, so it was put into hibernation. When I came across it again, the youngest said she liked it. Last week I gathered up all the yarn I could find ( I must have used 2 balls of it for something else because I could only find 8 of the 10) and took some measurements, knit a swatch and cast on. She was all too happy to try it on several times for a custom fit. I started knitting Thursday 7/17/08 and wove in the ends last night 7/22/08. You would have thought I was knitting on a deadline. I was somewhat obsessed with getting this finished. I can't explain it, as I am usually bored out of my mind with stockinette stitch. I threw it into the wash for a good soak with some Eucalan and blocked it. It washed up so soft, no complaints about itchiness with this one. I had wanted to put a hood on it, but the unaccounted for 2 balls nixed that idea. Instead I applied an attached I-cord around the bottom, neckline and wrists. I will take it along to JoAnn's later and see if we can find a zipper. The yarn is Cleckheaton Snowflake.

I do have socks on the needles and a finished pair to share. I finished the STR in light weight Lover's Leap. I used my Hearts- A- Plenty pattern for this yarn. I am really happy with the way these turned out and I loved knitting with this yarn. I have only knit with the medium weight, and this was lovely to work with.

And on the needles, "Miriam" in Pagewood Farm Chugiak 2 ply, in the River Rock color. These socks met an early demise. I had put them in my knitting bag, sans ziplock bag, and it lost 2 of the needles. Instead of trying to retrieve all those lost yo's I just frogged them and began again. Just as well, this way I can count them for SoS 08. This yarn is wonderful to work with also. It has a beautiful tight twist, and knits up into a very nice fabric.

And also on the needles "Diamonds in Lace" knit in Lime and Violet Sasquatch sock yarn in the Spooky Pooky color. I have the second one started of this pair. I hope to get atleast one pair finished this week ... we will see. The eldest really would like me to work on her sweater.

I believe that is it for this week. We have had quite a few storms blow through the last few days and the one that came through last night brought some cooler temperatures. It has been hot and humid here, and today is lovely.

Have a wonderful week!!!!!!

It's a Sock Parade!!!!

2008-07-08T14:23:00.011-04:00

Warning, many pictures to come!!! I have been a sock knitting fool.... I know ... how is that any different from any other time. I realize now that I cannot compete with many of the sock knitters in SoS 08. Some have knit 12 pair since the beginning of the KAL, which started June 21. Why do my kids think they need to go all these places, and have meals provided, a clean living space and clean clothes? Don't they know there is a sock knitting competition going on?

I have finished a mere 4 pair. The first finished were the ONLine Beach socks, just plain stockinette stitch and a short row heel. This yarn was on sale at a wonderful price to just try it out. I don't know if I will buy more of it though. There were several breaks in this yarn, I think 4 in the second sock. That alone is enough to make me not want to buy more. I love the colors though.

Second off the needles were the Koigu socks . I have named these Pretty in Pink. The color # is KPPPM147. I won this yarn in a sock knit off a couple years ago. I can't wait until it is cool enough to wear these. I want to make another pair, but with yarn that has more yardage. 350 yards just isn't enough for a nice length leg for me, since the foot has to be so long.

The 3rd pair, were knit in the Online Supersocke 100 in the Afrika color, also bought on sale at SSYC. This yarn feels pretty much like Opal. Again a few breaks in the yarn, so I didn't even try to get them to match. I used my Tiger Socks pattern for these. That is a Ravelry link, you can also get it on the Free pattern pages at The Loopy Ewe or on the side bar of my blog if you are interested in it.

Then last night I finished these. I don't know what the color is, but the yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot and has been cast on so many times for different socks, I have lost the label. It is predominately reds, with blues and greens. I used the Broadripple pattern, (Hi Rob!!), for the leg with added stitches to make a 64 stitch sock. I knit the foot in stockinette stitch. I bought this yarn from ThreadBear when they were still here in town. Someday I will get to the shop in Michigan.

I have one sock finished in the HipKnits Ophelia sock yarn in the Splash color. I was not aware (I didn't read the directions carefully), of the 2 inch leg rule for the SoS, so I was quite relieved when the cuff of these measured in just at 2 inches at the tallest part of the scallops. I hope that will be sufficient. I am going to give it a try anyway. The driving daughter really likes these, so she just may get them when they are finished.

I have one pair on the needles, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet. I am knitting them in Lime and Violet Sasquatch in the Spooky Pooky color. I have the first one finished and the second one is cast on.

And for a little break from sock knitting, I cast on a pair of fingerless mitts. I am knitting these in Cascade Indulgence on size 2 dpns. I am trying to figure out how I want to finish these, and once I do they will be a pair. The driving daughter was a bit put out to model these, so I better take her to get her haircut to make it up to her. I hope you all have a great week, with a lot of knitting time.

SoS 08 Has Begun .....

2008-06-23T09:48:00.011-04:00

I had my empty needles waiting and yarn wound and I was ready to go at 12:01 June 21 for the Summer of Socks 08. This should help me in my 52 Pair Plunge 2 also, since I am behind already in that. I cast on for 3 pair of socks. I need a variety , you know. All three are pretty much mindless knitting (or semi mindless). Given the time of day (or middle of the night) they were started, I needed them to be mindless. Sock knitting then commenced for a good part of the night.
First on the needles was Koigu KPPPM (I don't know the color # as the label is long gone) I won this yarn last year in a knitting contest, or maybe it was 2 years ago, I don't remember. I was supposed to work Saturday night, but was put on call instead. I hate to go to sleep before 2 or 3 in the morning when I am on call, just in case that phone does ring. Well it didn't, and I was up until almost 4 working on these. There is a huge difference on the shades of these two balls of yarn. The one is much brighter than the other. And in the one there is a lot of orange and yellow, where as in the other it is more gold. At first it bothered me, but I am over it now, and I will love wearing them as they are.

Also on the needles, the OnLine sock yarn I got a couple weeks ago. I am making good progress on these too. At first touch I thought this yarn was going to be very similar to the Regia Cotton Surf (which I like), but it is not quite as thick or soft. It isn't as rough to work with as the Sockotta but doesn't have as much give as I would like. This is the Beach color. Just a plain stockinette stitch sock, it will no doubt go in the van for the emergency knitting while waiting for kids.... And I will have a lot of that in the next few weeks, as they have all started new vials at the allergist and need to go more frequently to get back up to maintenance dosing for their allergy shots.

The other one I started, was the other ball of OnLine in the Africa color. I am knitting this one in the Tiger Sock pattern. It is a fairly quick and mindless knitting pattern, but not so boring as stockinette. Anyway, I hope to have 3 pair of socks finished by the end of the week and 2 or 3 more cast on.

I got some yarn from TLE too. I am not sure if this is a yarn that is a short time offering, or just what the story is with this. I haven't seen it anywhere else and I didn't even see it on the Cherry Tree Hill site when I looked last. It is called Summer and is a Merino/Cotton/Acrylic blend. The color is Little Boy Blue. I will have to wind this so it is ready to go when I get one of the other pair finished. More summer socks!!!

Friday also brought the first clue for the Casablanca Kal ( I think sign ups are closed for this group now, but I am not sure) I don't know what possessed me to join another shawl KAL . I have a terrible track record with them as I have not finished even one of them so far. I have even frogged one to use the yarn for something else. The plan was to use some lace wt yarn I have had in my stash for years. Did I end up doing this .... well of course not. I ordered some Dream in Color Baby in the Deep Sea Flower color. Oh my !!!! I love this yarn. I have knit with the Smooshy and liked it, but this I love. I am sad that I don't get another clue until Friday. I am hoping that the love of this yarn will keep me on track with this KAL. I will have to buy some 3.75 Addi Lace needles though, the regular Addis are driving me crazy with the knit togethers. It was a very short first clue. I am knitting mine sans beads, I am just not much of a bead person, although I love the ones I have seen with beads. I really hope this weeks clue will be longer, so I can enjoy this wonderful yarn longer.

I think that is it for knitting. It is sunny here today, things are drying out. The Hospital is getting a Mobile Emergency Room set up, so they will be able to have emergency service again. I think it will be several weeks before the entire hospital will be able to open again as they sustained a lot of damage in the flood. We have continued to have thunderstorms off and on throughout the last week but nothing like 2 weeks ago. These sunny days are most welcomed. I hope the weather is good where you are too!!!!

Have a great week!!!!

Hey .....I screamed UNCLE

2008-06-09T13:50:00.005-04:00

......But it fell on deaf ears I fear. What a weekend. I know I have been whining about the rain for quite awhile now, but really, enough is enough. We got flooded this weekend. Something like 10 inches of rain in 12 hours or some insane amount. This weekend was my nephew's wedding. It was about 200 miles south of here. Just the girls and I were going, the boy child and DH decided to stay home. I planned to leave about 1 1/2 hours earlier than needed as there are 2 yarn shops within 3 miles of where the wedding was..... I have my priorities straight here.... right?? So, as we are approaching the interstate there is a little news blurb stating several sections of 65 are closed due to flooding. I am heading south, and the closings are about 2 miles north so I continue on, but call my sister and let her know that if I hit high water, I am turning around. We got there without trouble, except for all the road construction which drastically ate into my yarn shopping time ( My 1 1/2 hour was shortened to about 20 minutes, who can yarn shop in 20 minutes??) I did however stop at KnitWitts Yarn Shoppe just long enough to get directions to where I needed to be. They were all very friendly and helpful and the shop is wonderful, what I got to see of it. I may just have to schedule a trip down there for a yarn crawl. I didn't get to make it to the second one The Village Knitter which was a little east of where we were heading. Anyway, back to the weather. As we are sitting in the reception hall, DH calls and says he and the boy child went to see Ironman (again) and found themselves stranded on that side of town. The flood waters rose so rapidly they could not get across town to return home. He said "don't even try to come home" the interstate is closed and there is no way into town. He and the boy child managed to get to a hotel for the night. I was feeling a little panicked, which is unusual for me. I am generally very laid back and don't worry about too much, but for some reason I had to at least head toward home. So we left after the dancing began. We drove for about an hour and was told by DH to stop driving and find a place to stay for the night. I am glad we stopped when we did, I didn't think about everyone else doing the same thing. We stopped at several hotels before we were able to find a room. After a sleepless night for me ( the girls slept like logs) I was ready to go. DH calls and says the roads are still closed but they should be opening soon, "just stay where you are until check out time". In the mean time the toilet in the room overflows ( I can't get away from high water it seems) They were nice about it and put us in a different room, but I really wanted to go, so we headed north. By the time we approached home the interstate was open and all was well we got home safely. But boy is there a lot of water everywhere. We will definitely be keeping all the displaced neighbors in our prayers. So many people we know have lost their homes or suffered severe water damage. We were very fortunate and suffered no damage. My brother's house had water right up to up to the house, but none came in. And my sister, (mother of the groom), was fortunate also. The Hospital suffered a lot of damage and evacuated all the patients. It is now closed for an indefinite amount of time. And the headlines today: Thunderstorms and flash floods are in the forecast.

How about some knitting. My youngest was so sweet, when we got to the hotel and settled in, she brought me my knitting and said, "here mom, you need to relax a bit" Oh, they know me well. I have finished a few socks, not pairs, but they will be soon. This one is knit in ShibuiKnits in the Marine color. I love this yarn. It is soft, it has a lot of "sproing" And is just really nice to work with.

The next one is knit in Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in yellow.

I am close to finishing the second one of this pair.

And I finished one in some Louet Gems in the Linen Grey color. This pair is for the driving daughter (who by the way would not help me drive this weekend). I have started a pair for myself in this design in the Pagewood Farms River Rock color. I will post a picture of it when I have more knit on it.

And in the mail from SSYC from the SALE section (there is a lot of nice yarn in the sale section, go check it out) I got some OnLine sock yarn. The wool/nylon blend feels like Opal and the cotton/wool blend feels like Regia Cotton Surf, both of which I like. I was hesitant to order more of the OnLine sock yarn since the only other one I had purchased was the Highland, and I really didn't like it. I didn't like knitting it and I don't like wearing them, but these are both to my liking : )

That is about it for today, I must go buy some water as we are on a boil water alert. I hope they are not sold out all over town. Have a wonderful week all!!!!!

Stepping into Summer

2008-05-24T17:04:00.009-04:00

Wow!!! We have had a ton of rain. So this beautiful, sunny, day is most welcomed. I think tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. I know in a month or two we will be begging for rain, but right now I am screaming Uncle.

I had ordered some yarn from TLE last week. I got it on Monday or Tuesday and immediately cast on for these socks. I feel like I have not knit socks in forever. I can't show you the yarn in balls, because I have already knit this pair up. These are knit in Crystal Palace Panda Cotton Print in the Painted Iris color. The pattern will be available at TLE in the near future.

Also from TLE came Paca Peds in the Carribean Chocolate color. I got the Heels and Toes version, so hopefully there will be no stressful moments worrying about running out of yarn . I must really, really like this colorway, because I have A LOT of it now in my stash. Well I guess blogger wants to load that picture sideways, I can't get it to turn the right way.

And then the next day came this lovely yarn from The Yarn Grove. I have to say I was torn between this and the Misty colorway and I am so glad I chose this, but I may still have to order the Misty. This yarn is so beautiful. I fear some of my other favorite yarns may be taking a backseat to the Pagewood Farm yarns. This one is Denali in the Sky Blue Pink colorway. I love the color name, it reminds me of all the Uncle Wiggly books the kids and I used to read when they were much younger.

And I don't have pictures of it, but my order from the Etsy shop Gudonya Too came too. I ordered the Whipped Clean in the Italian Lemon Cream and the So Delicious. They smell heavenly, but I fear I may be allergic to the Italian Lemon Cream. I used it yesterday and was quite itchy for the rest of the day. The So Delicious seems to be OK... so far. I will have to try the Lemon again, but it will probably end up going to the girl child. Driving daughter will probably be allergic to it too, so the youngest will no doubt get it. I was so disappointed when I started getting itchy all over, it smells soooo good. That was the only thing different used that day though .... bummer. I am still waiting for an order from the UK, so I will show that when it comes. The rate exchange really stinks, our poor American dollar is worth practically nothing elsewhere. What surprised me though, was that the shipping was no less then most places here in the states.

That is about it for this week. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend!!!

A Little This and That

2008-05-16T17:00:00.008-04:00

I really don't feel like I have been doing much in the way of knitting lately. Must be that I haven't knit any socks. I don't know what is up with that. I did order some yarn from The Loopy Ewe this week, and it should be here tomorrow. And I got some lovely sock yarn from Karen for my birthday. She sent the Folk Shawl book too.... you know what that means .... yep, I need to buy yarn for shawls : ) The Paca Peds is the Fireside color. She doesn't know how close I came to buying that myself this week. Thanks again Karen. I got money for my birthday so I am waiting on orders with yarn and needles and bath products and we will see what else I can find to purchase. There is some yarn at The Yarn Grove calling to me.

I am almost finished with driving daughter's top. I just swatched, took some measurements and cast on. Top down, no pattern required. I still need to figure out what I am going to do with the neckline, and of course weave in all those ends. I doubt seriously she will wear this (but I hope she will). She picked the yarn out more than 5 years ago. I bought it when Threadbear was still here, and that has been a while. And you know how tastes change in young girls. I really could not get a decent picture of it, I think all the bright pink and yellow was wreaking havoc with the camera. She was clowning around, not wanting her picture taken. She is such a silly kid.

I also seem to be on a dish cloth/towel kick. This is what I have finished/started this week. The dish cloth is of course the ballband dishcloth. The dish towel is a pattern I saw on Hakucho's blog. It is a free pattern from Creative Knits. I have always liked the hand knit dish cloths, and now I have found I prefer the hand knit dish towels too. Needless to say, I purchased several balls of Peaches & Creme when I was out this week.

I knit up a little doily too. The pattern is titled, Small Doily , and it is. I think the youngest has decided she want to give this along with a candle to her teacher for the end of the year gift, which is next week ( I can't believe the school year is over already). I still need to weave in ends, put some kind of edging on it and block it. It just looks like a lump of lace right now. It was super fast to make, even with crochet cotton and size 1 needles.

Remember me mentioning that the driving daughter found an afghan she liked, and wanted. You know... a crocheted afghan (yikes). I am not much of a crocheter, so keep that in mind.... I started the squares. We saw the design on Ravelry, and she decided she had to have it and it had to be in blue, brown, and cream. I have started the endless squares. I have more than this finished. I am almost done with the 16, needed, small squares. Then onto the medium and large ones. The pattern says to make all the small squares in the same sequence, but I just couldn't make 16 identical squares. There sure is a lot more wrist action with crochet, and my wrists don't care too much for it. I hope to get the desire to work more on this, hopefully this weekend.

Well, I think that is it for today. Have a great weekend. We actually had a break from all the torrential down pours we have been having. It was so nice to have a partly sunny day today.

Moley Potter?????

2008-05-05T13:19:00.008-04:00

The driving daughter came home Friday and asked if I wanted to help her make a Mole this weekend. She is taking Chemistry this year. So I am thinking.... 6.023 X 10to the 23 power, how do we make that. No she means a mole like the little silky, furry animals that dig up your yard. They get extra credit for making the mole; extra, extra credit for making a mole with a theme of some sort; and extra, extra, extra credit if it has the same mass as an element.... or some such thing. She cut it out, and came to me with thread and needle and asked me if I would show her how to start the sewing process, so I got out the sewing machine...I am not sewing this thing together by hand. She stuffed it and made the scarf and I added claws and the eyes, nose and scar. She drew on the glasses and viola, a "Harry Potter" themed mole AKA "Moley Potter". She colored a toothpick with a sharpie for the wand and we tucked it under an arm. She loves him. This is the only mole I hope to see in my yard this year.

I was stuck on the couch for the weekend with my leg elevated and my stylish TED hose on. I have a tendency to get DVT's (it is a genetic thing) and am on anticoagulants for life (blood thinners) but still, a clot reared its ugly head towards the end of the week. Anyway, I was able to finish the girl child's top. It is not easy to seam a garment half reclined with your leg elevated. When I got up Sunday morning she had it on, so I guess the first time it is washed will be when it gets blocked. You can see more pictures of it on my Flickr site, just click on it on the sidebar or on Ravelry. She loves it, but she says it is itchy.....it is 100% Mercerized Cotton, how itchy can it be? other than the alleged itch factor she loves it, it fits great and she wore it to church on Sunday. I promised the driving daughter I would make a top for her. I bought the yarn years ago, for said top. That will be next, after I finish at least one pair of socks for the month. Driving daughter has also found an afghan she wants ..... it is crochet(not my preferred method of needlework)... so I will be working on that too.

I have nothing else to show, I can't believe I haven't started a gazillion different things to share. Have a fantastic week all!!!!

UFO Resurrection

2008-04-22T13:36:00.008-04:00

A couple years ago I purchased this cute little Sassy Skeins Kit. I was going to make it for my youngest daughter, even though it was designed to be a boy sweater. She liked it. Well, like a few other projects, ahem... maybe more than a few, it was started and then packed neatly back into the cute packaging and forgotten about. The other night I ran across it and thought I would just take a look at how far I had actually knit before putting it into hibernation. I had knit probably 10 or so inches. Looking at the measurements I knew there was no way it would be long enough for the girl child at today's height (it changes daily it seems), but would still be wide enough. I also knew I would not have enough yarn to make it as long as I would need to fit. So I toyed with the idea of frogging it, I looked online to see if I could find more of the yarn to finish it as designed but much longer (no luck), but the girl child had other plans. I asked her what she wanted me to do. We toyed with the idea of a tank top or a tee shirt style top and she chose a tee shirt style top. This surprised me, because she is a big fan of the tank tops. Her reasoning.... if it is tee shirt style she can wear it to school. What????.... she expects me to finish this so she can wear it this school year. So a dropped sleeve tee it will be, and I am making fairly good progress on it. She doesn't even mind being measured frequently so I can get the neckline and shoulders right. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that I will have enough to finish it as a tee.

I finished the baby socks to match the little dress I designed. These are knit in the Katia Mississippi 3, as is the dress. I was thinking of giving this little outfit to the driving daughter to gift to her Japanese teacher, she is expecting in June, but my niece has other ideas. She would like me to save it for her, "for when she starts a family". Since niece E is only 19 and in college, I am hoping that will be awhile. She also suggested "I might want to design a few more" : ) And this is the girl who has repeatedly stated she wants NO children. My sister let me borrow her Lee Middleton doll to model the ensemble. These are life like, newborn proportionate dolls. I didn't think about it having cloth arms and body or I would have tried to find a little shirt. It is a perfect fit for a newborn to 3 months size. I am sure my sister's neighbors were wondering what I was doing with that baby. Esp when I was in the flower bed with it and trying to get it to keep its head up. It really does look pretty real from a distance. She slept right through the ordeal and was not harmed : )

Well, I believe that is all for today. I will leave you with yet another picture of Springtime beauty from my flower bed. Have a great week!!

Can It Be.......

2008-04-17T12:39:00.008-04:00

... Something other than socks???? Yes, it is true, I do on occasion knit something other than socks. Last weekend I went to visit my sister, to celebrate my niece's 18th birthday ( I don't know how she grew up so fast) We took a trip down the road to visit Yarns and Fabrications. I was going through "yarn shop" withdrawal, since I do most of my yarn shopping on line. I have had in mind a design for a baby dress for a while and was in the market for some inexpensive yarn to knit one up. I don't have a baby to knit for, so no need to spend a fortune. They had the Katia Mississippi 3 on clearance, 40% off, it is the right gauge for what I had in mind, so it came home with me. It is still in need of a good blocking and buttons for the shoulders, but all in all, I am happy with it. Once it is completely finished I will take better pictures of it. It is a bit breezy out today and difficult to get a picture of it not blowing around in the wind.

Karen and I had not seen each other since Thanksgiving, so we exchanged our socks. These are the ones she knit for me. Knit in Trekking. I couldn't get a good picture that shows all the colors but they are beautiful. They are really more navy than the picture represents. The other pictures I took of them make them look solid black, so at least with this one you can see there are other colors in there. It is so nice to get a pair of socks someone else has knit. And I have such huge feet, I know it is a labor of love. Hopefully, we will get the cool front they are promising and I will be able to wear them at least once before it is time to retire the wool socks for the summer.

And on the sock front, I did cast on a pair of socks. I am knitting these in Shibui Knits in the Marine color. I really like to knit with this yarn. It has a soft hand and a tight twist.

I believe that is all I have to show and tell today. I will leave you with a picture of Springtime beauty. It is wonderful to see the rebirth of nature that comes with this season, but it sure is making my family miserable with the allergies.

Have a great week !!!!

Spring Has Sprung....

2008-04-03T15:19:00.010-04:00

The flowers are beginning to bloom. I have no idea what happened to my Crocus this year, I didn't see a one, and I have tons planted. And these Hyacinths are usually much fuller... they must have had to much water and warm temperatures over the winter. And the April showers have been in full force since, oh lets see.... all year. We are pretty soggy here, with more and more rain in the forecast. Hopefully it will stop raining long enough for me to clean out the flower bed on the side of the house.... it really needs it since someone didn't do it in the Fall.... something about too much knitting to do : )

Daffodils added for Allison's Contest

I started a sock with the Jojoland Melody sock yarn today. I have to say it is not one of my favorites to knit with. I am glad it is relatively inexpensive as far as sock yarn goes.... I hate to waste good money on sock yarn I don't care for. It is exceptionally splitty and really seems rather thin. It does, however, knit up into a nice soft fabric ... but I doubt I will buy any more of it.

Now, this lovely yarn, came in the mail yesterday from The Yarn Grove. It is Pagewood Farms Chugiak in the River Rock colorway. I loved the Glacier Bay sock yarn so I had to give this a try too. 450 yds of tightly twisted yumminess. And the price is fantastic. I have a feeling the sock above will be frogged, and this will take its place on the needles.

I was somewhat of a slacker, (actually a total slacker) in the 25 Things for Charity last year, and am hoping to do better this year. I am already sadly behind, as I should have a minimum of 6 items knit already this year. I have 2 1/2, unless I count the baby socks, but I am pretty sure those will be gifted, or at least one pair of them. One of the driving daughter's teachers is expecting soon. Anyway, I have knit a few pair of socks for CIC this week. Knit in worsted wt yarn from the stash, the blue one has sock yarn held along with it for the heels and toes. Hopefully, I will remember to knit a few pair of these each month and I will stay on track this year. That is, once I get caught up.

Well, that is all I have for today. I think I am going to go wind a ball of yarn and start a new pair of socks, after I finish the other blue CIC sock, of course : )

Have a great weekend all!!

Edited to add: I got my Wee Tiny sock today from Donna Thanks so much for the adorable wee, tiny sock. Isn't is cute : )

Wee Tiny Sock Swap

2008-03-31T09:43:00.009-04:00

Yarn Miracle was hosting the Wee Tiny Sock Swap this weekend. It was uber simple, knit a wee tiny sock, write a note, and drop it in the mail to your wee tiny sock swap partner. These wee socks are addictive and distracting. I really should have been knitting to finish the 52 pair plunge, but have just seemed to lose the desire to finish. The larger sock of the two is knit in left over Yarn Love sock yarn and the smaller wee sock is knit in Tofutsies. I had forgotten how splitty that yarn is.

I did finish a few pair of bigger socks. The Koigu socks are finished. I love them. The second skein had a few blemishes in it, but was still wonderful to work with. I thinks it will be cool enough for a little longer so I can still wear them this spring.

And another pair, knit in Opal Rainforest Tiger. These were a pretty fast knit. I probably should have made the leg a little longer, but I was anxious to finish them.

And I thought I would make myself a pair of ankle socks in a cotton blend sock yarn. I am knitting these in Regia Cotton Surf. Unfortunately, there is a little more negative ease than I care for. The eldest daughter is very happy about that, since they fit her perfectly. My hope is to finish these tonight. This pair would be pair 51.

And for pair 52, I started a pair of socks for CIC. Nothing like a child's size , worsted wt sock when you need to knit something fast. This is about 25 minutes worth of knitting. I will finish this one and then knit up the other one and then spend the rest of my knitting time working on the second ankle sock. Hopefully the 52 pair will be finished by midnight.

K, the knitting daughter, the eldest of my babies, is now a licensed driver. She went Wednesday to take the written portion of the test and Thursday to take the driving part. She did "very well" says the driving test person. And now a new anxiety will begin every time she leaves the house. So far she has still had either her dad or me in the car with her, but that day will come very soon when she backs out of the drive, and takes off on her own. I hope I am ready.

Well, I am off to knit these socks. Wish me luck: )

Finally.....

2008-03-14T14:51:00.010-04:00

We got a good snow. Last Friday and Saturday the winter storm finally hit. I was up late and was watching the beautiful, white fluff fall. I was going to go out and shovel a little bit, but it was a very wet snow and coming down faster than I could shovel, so I opted to just watch it fall. I am a pretty sedentary person, but I love to shovel snow for some reason. Anyway 2 days later it was in the 50's and then the next day in the 60's so it didn't take long for it to melt, but I enjoyed it while it was here. The tulips are popping up through the ground, so I guess it is time for Spring, which I also love.

I was able to finish a few pair of socks over the weekend. The Denmark socks are finished. I have worn them already. I am so glad I finished these. I love the thickness of this sock and they are so warm. At least I got to wear them before the Spring warm up is in full force.

And I finished the pink Triple Twist socks. I did a yarn over short row heel on this sock. I needed to try a different heel for the Sockknitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. I am still a heel flap fan.

I also knit another baby sock. This one is for a baby boy. I knit these in the Hercules color way with left over Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn. Sheri asked if I could combine the two patterns, so I did and it will be available soon at TLE. I have named the pattern "For the Wee Ones"

And I cast on for another pair. I am knitting these in Koigu. I got this yarn in coffee/sock yarn swap last year, or maybe the year before last. Thanks again Anita. Since I have size 10 feet, yardage is always an issue. I had a little left over Koigu in a solid blue, So when I ran out of the beautiful yarn Anita sent me, I finished the toes in this blue. Both of my daughters told me they looks silly with just the toes in the blue and I should have made the heels blue too. I was going to do that originally, but was afraid I did not have enough for heels and toes for both socks. I would rather be safe than sorry. Anyway, I love them, and since they are for me, that is all that matters : ) This pair will be 49 for the 52 Pair Plunge ... woo hoo!!!

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful comments about the designs in the Cables on the Go book. I loved and appreciated them all. I don't have email addresses for all that commented, but I tried to respond to all of them. Thanks again, and have a great weekend everyone.

Shameless Plug....

2008-03-05T14:33:00.011-05:00

..But first, some finished socks to show. The 52 Pair Plunge ends this month. So I have a little over 3 weeks to knit 7 pair of socks. How I wish I had knit a pair a week. It would have been so easy to do. Anyway, now the rush is on. So first finished this week were the Makin' Waves (I have given them a name) I knit these in Pagewood Farms Glacier Bay 3 ply sock yarn. This yarn is wonderful to work with. It has a super tight twist, and a ton of "sproing". I purchased it at The Yarn Grove The color is Navajo. It is similar to Jitterbug, but I think I like this a bit more. This pattern will be available at The Yarn Grove in the near future.

The second pair off the needles this week ... Cables Galore in Opal Uni ( don't know the color # ... sorry ) This pair was a victim of second sock syndrome. I don't even remember when I started them, but it was sometime in 2007. I really like this color of blue. They will look great with jeans.

And I have not finished the pair, but I did finish the first Triple Twist sock I started in the yarn I had dyed a few years ago. I had to let my eyes rest before I could cast on for the second one. I am making this pair with a short row heel, instead of the heel flap.

And while my eyes are recovering from the bright pink of that yarn, I am finishing a pair of Denmark Socks, from Nancy Bush's "Knitting on the Road". I am knitting these in King Cole Merino Blend 100% Superwash Merino. These would be done if it weren't for the fact I knit 4" of the leg with the cables going in the wrong direction. I am blaming it on the eye strain from the pink yarn.

And a little, instant gratification was needed so I knit a pocket book slipper yes that is correct, just 1 ... so far. I am going to knit up several pair of these and send them to the local women's shelter. I was looking at this when I finished it and thinking no way will this fit on a foot, but it does, and a variety of sizes too. It fit all three of my kids..... and mine too..... amazing, I tell you. And it only took about 45 minutes to knit one of these.

OK, now onto the shameless plug. A little over a year ago, I was toying with the idea of submitting a few of my designs to magazines. I contacted several places for submission guidelines and then really did nothing with it. Karen was very instrumental in encouraging, pushing, talking me into doing it. So when Vogue sent a request for designs with cables for an up coming Cables on the Go Book, I submitted 2 designs. And then the waiting began. I had actually given up any hope after about 4 months and then I got an email. They had accepted both of them..... I was shocked and elated all at the same time.

A few months ago I got my copy of the book, and I was even more elated than when they accepted the designs. There is just something so neat about seeing "designed by", with your name behind it. Anyway, the book is available now, so I can show pictures. This is the hat design that was accepted.

And this is the scarf. These are not the photos from the book, they are my own. As you can see the shrubs were in bloom, so it has been a while ago.

And oh my, the yarn the scarf was knit in is yummy. It is Sublime/KFI Cashmere Merino Silk Aran. The hat is knit in Classic Elite Yarns Desert.

OK enough of the shameless plug. I have to take the eldest back to the library again today. I had to take her yesterday to return a dvd and she forgot to put the dvd back in the case .... so we have to go again.

Have a great week all!!!!!!

Craziness

2008-02-27T14:23:00.011-05:00

OK..... now I don't want anyone to hate me for saying this, and I don't mean to offend anyone who participated in this, but I think this is crazy. I am usually all for "all things knitted" but knitting sweaters for trees????? I just don't get it . The Area Arts Council in our small town decided the trees downtown needed a little color, and asked area knitters to knit tree cozies. When I first read about this I thought it was absolutely insane to spend time knitting a sweater for a tree when there are so many worthy causes we can knit for. A couple days later they posted another article saying that the winning tree cozy knitter would win $1000 to be donate to a local charity of their choosing, (I wasn't the only one thinking it was nuts, and the letters to the editor in the paper supported that) That made it seem like a more worthwhile reason to knit tree sweaters. Some were pretty simple, most knit with size 35 needles, some were just ugly,and some were just down right cute. I had to take the kids to the Library yesterday, so I decided to check it out. I did like the snowman cozy, but I won't be knitting one.

I think the real reason they did this was to distract from the ugliness that is happening the next block down. This was in today's paper. They are leveling a mall to build a hotel. I am glad my kids are older now so I don't have to listen to them whine about the play ground in the mall being gone. We spent many a hour at that play ground in the winter, when the weather was too bad to play in the park or in the back yard. It is sad to see it gone.

Not much to show in the way of knitting. I did finish my Woolly Boully Neapolitan socks. I love, love, love this yarn. And I love these socks. As I said in a previous post, so does the eldest daughter. I may have to purchase another hank of this so she can have a pair also. We will just have to see.

And I started another pair of the Triple Twist pattern. I neglected to include the heel flap set up in the original pattern, so if you purchased one, please note the errata in the links area on the side bar. I am knitting this pair with a short row heel, still trying to find a short row heel method I like, still haven't found it. The yarn is a 100% superwash merino I dyed about 2 years ago. They are a pretty quick knit, and I am trying to finish my 52 pair for the 52 pair plunge. I have 43 so far and need to knit 9 more pair before the end of March to meet the goal of 52 pair in 52 weeks. Those are some pink socks, and I am not really a pink person, or anyway I never have been a pink person, but I kinda like these.

Well, that is all I have for today. Have a great week!! I am going to go knit.... and not a tree sweater : - )

Snow Day......

2008-02-22T15:11:00.006-05:00

Woo hoo!!!! I got to sleep in today. That is, until my son could wait no longer to wake me up so he could go to a friend's house. We had a pretty nice snow yesterday. Today, a little freezing rain, and I think more of a winter mix is moving in later today. I love snow : ) Have I mentioned that before?

Look what the mail man brought.... a wonderful package. I had entered a contest at The Spirit Trail and I was the fortunate winner of some hand dyed, in the colors I chose, 2 ply cashmere. It is so yummy. The colors are beautiful and it is so soft. Now to find a pattern as beautiful as the yarn that requires 500 yds. Thank you so much Jennifer It is so lovely. I just keep looking at it and touching it. I can't wait to knit with it.

I finished the pair of Wollmeise Socks I was knitting for Karen. They are not knit in Wollmeise but in Great Adirondack Soxie in the Beach House colorway. Her feet are shorter than mine, so the socks are stretched somewhat taut on my blockers. I knit the foot plain as I was worried about yardage. The Soxie is a 360 yd hank, and causes a little anxiety. This hank felt so much different from the first socks I knit with this yarn. The first hank was very similar to Cherry Tree Hill, this one, not so much. But still a pleasure to work with. I am pretty sure I would have run out of yarn if I had continued the pattern down the foot.

And I have made a little progress on the Neapolitan socks. This is a nice yarn to work with. I am anxious to see how it washes and wears. It is so soft. I love the way the colors worked up on the heel turn, almost makes me wish I had done a short row heel.

And earlier this week came the Louet Gems fingering wt from The Yarn Grove, they were having a Valentine's Day Sale last week: ) I think I will design a pair of men's socks with this yarn. The color is Linen Grey.

Well that is all for this week. I hope everyone has a great weekend filled with knitting and family fun!!

Instant Gratification....

2008-02-18T15:50:00.007-05:00

... That is what you get when you knit baby socks. I had enough left over Cherry Tree Hill in the Tide Pool colorway to knit up a pair of newborn socks. If only I had a wee one to model them. These will either be put aside for a baby shower or donated to the local Pegnancy Care Center. I knit a 1 x 1 rib under the cuff so they would be more likely to stay on. I sent a copy of the pattern to Cindy to try out, she has a new granddaughter, so she can give them a test run. I have a pair of sage green cable socks, (more boyish) in the works too.

Remember the "Navajo" Pagewood Farms, Glacier Bay 3 ply yarn, I shared last week from The Yarn Grove ... I wound it and started a pair of socks. It is a dream to knit with. Tightly spun, no splitting, and feels a lot like Jitterbug. My eldest is reluctantly modeling them for me, (she doesn't like the color). This one is a tad tight over my heel, but fits her perfect. So I am knitting the second one on a size bigger needle for the leg and then will frog this one and reknit it to fit my foot. I decided to see how it would knit up with a slightly thinner yarn too. So, I modified the stitch count a bit and cast on in the Woolly Boully Meanie "Neopolitan" color. The eldest does like these, but so do I, unfortunate for her. This yarn is so soft and is as light as air almost. It also has a nice tight spin. Notice that little bit of snow on the pine. The sun is shining now and you would never have imagined that this is what it looked like a few minutes ago That foggy look is snow coming down. It has been doing this all day, snow storms with near white out conditions, and then sunshine. Since it was 62 degrees here yesterday I don't imagine any of this will stick around, but the roads will be a frozen mess tomorrow since it is supposed to get rather cold tonight.

And of course blogger has not fixed the spell check yet, so again, my apologies.

Have a great week!!!

Whoo Hoo ....

2008-02-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

...a two hour delay this morning. I am not a morning person. I never have been, and working night shift for several years has not helped to change that. So this morining when DH got out of the shower and told me there was a 2 hour delay, it was music to my ears. If I could sleep until 8:30 every morning, I would be a happy camper. It is like an ice rink in our neighborhood, in some places it even loooks like someone has driven a Zamboni over the road. The kids were "skating" up and down the sidewalk this morning while waiting for the bus. That always makes me nervous. I am so worried one of them will slide out into the road.

Look what I got yesterday. I ordered it from Sonny and Shear Today is the last day of the 1 st year anniversary sale, so you still have time to order. Everything is 25% off, just use the code OneYear. The yarn is from PigeonRoof Studios and the color is Delight. I have not wound it yet, but on the hank it reminds me of Koigu. I wish I had thought to take a picture before I opened everything, the packaging was to nice.

I finished a pair of socks yesterday too. The Lace -agons are officially finished. They are knit in Cherry Trre Hill Supersock in the Tide Pool color. The pattern and yarn are available at The Loopy Ewe. It is a pretty quick knit also.

And I have been working a little on the Dream in Colors "Into the Mystic" socks. This yarn is reallly nice to work with. Also from The Loopy Ewe. And The Loopy Ewe just got in some Paca Peds sock yarn. I have not tried this yarn yet, but the colors are gorgeous, and I think I am going to have to order some very soon.

And, lest you think I have abandoned the mission of knitting mates for all the singletons, esp with all this new yarn joining the stash, I am happy to let you know, I cast on for the second sock of a pair that has been long neglected. Maybe I will be able to finish it this week.

Well, I must slide back over to the doctors office. As much as I like sleeping in, it kind of messed up the routine. The office only draws blood from 7:30 to 11 in the morning and with the girl child not getting on the bus until a little after 10 this morning, I managed to get to the office at 11:01 and the lab girl was already gone. So back I go.

Have a great week everyone. OH, and of course the spell check is still not working : (

Adding to the Collection

2008-02-07T15:14:00.000-05:00

The Yarn Grove had a wonderful Superbowl Sunday sale this past weekend. Each quarter they had different yarns, accessories and patterns on sale. It was hard to make a decision each quarter, not knowing what was going to be coming up in the next quarter. So in the first quarter I purchased this J. Knits Superwash Me Sock in the Connecticut colorway. I love this color combination.

Also in the first quarter I purchased a hank of Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in the Indian Summer colorway. I love how this yarn knits up, it is soft and smooshy, and I love this color.

I sat out in the second and third quarters. I loaded up my shopping cart and then emptied it again. I was on a budget and was really hoping to acquire some of the new Pagewod Farms sock yarn. Finally in the fourth quarter it popped up on the sale page. Then the hardest part was deciding on a color. I chose the Navajo. This stuff has a wonderful, tight spin. And since I have already broke my commitment to finish all socks before starting new ones, I am going to have to wind this.... and of course, knit with it. And I am happy to say, my sock yarn collection is no longer lacking in blues.

And here are some of the socks that I have started. I can't believe how quickly I caved in. .... who am I trying to kid, I am surprised I lasted as long as I did. Anyway, I realized I have not knit a pair of socks for Karen in a while, so I started a pair for her in my Wollmeise pattern (it is a free download from The Loopy Ewe.) I am knitting these in some Great Adirondack Soxie, in the Beach House color. She knows I am knitting them for her, so it is OK to show and tell. Twice in the past week she has told me she is not a "green" person, so I was worried about giving these to her. I am further along now, but I had to tell her about them so I would know if I needed to knit them longer to fit my foot : ) She said she likes the color so these are for her.

And then Cindy started my Furrows sock pattern in some Trekking and I really liked how it was knitting up in a self striping yarn, so I started another pair of those in some Meilenweit Multiringel. I omitted the ribbed cuff on these and started with a short garter stitch cuff which forms a nice little scalloped top. These are now the take along socks. The pattern is easy to remember and it is a quick knit. I got quite a bit done on these today waiting for the kids at the allergists.

And the Dream in Colors Smooshy in the Into the Mystic color is becoming this sock. I am on the gusset decreases of this sock now.

Well I think that is it for this week. I am going to go sit with the DH and watch a little TV and knit. Have a great week end everyone.

Oh, and Blogger still doesn't have the spell check working, so ..... sorry !!!

Disappointment With the Weather "people"...

2008-02-01T15:05:00.003-05:00

For the past two days, the weather"people" and their fancy radar and doppler equiptment, have been telling us to prepare for the winter storm of the season. The "storm" was supposed to blow in around late afternoon yesterday and continue through today. At 5, they changed the time of the pending "winter blast" to 7 PM, at 7, it was changed to 10 PM. I love snow, so I was very excited about all the winter weather advisories and the promise of 8 inches of snow. I didn't even care about the threat of the sleet we may get before the snow. As much as I love the snow, I don't care for the ice. I gave up waiting for the arrival of the white, fluffy stuff around 1 AM and went to bed. Imagine my surprise when I got up this morning and DH said, "why are you up, there is no school today?" You would have thought I was the one having a snow day. I went to the front door to take a look out side ........ NOTHING. Why is school cancelled?... where is my promised, biggest snow of the season? This is what it looked like. How sad is that? We did have a little ice. DH said the roads were clear all the way to work. Two weeks ago, the kids should have had a snow day because of the ice, or at least a 2 hour delay, but they didn't. Instead all the buses were late, and the kids were standing at the bus stops forever waiting. I don't understand the weathermen/women and their faulty radar, and I don't understand the requirements for snow days. I am happy to have the kids home though.

Now this, brightened my day. I got a package from Jessi. It had the beautiful prize yarn I won from her blog contest. I have not knit with either of these yarns. The Yarn Pirate is Butternut and the Lime & Violet is Spooky Pooky. There goes my resolve to finish all the singletons. I am a comfort knitter. I am going to wind some new yarn and knit something else to ease the disappointment of not being able to go play in the snow.

I finished the Ballband Bag. It is felted and blocked and dry. I need to give it a light shave as it is a little fuzzier than I prefer. It needs a button too. I will have to search in the button drawer, but I am pretty sure I don't have anything that will work with this. I searched and searched for something to use to block this. When I made the first couple, we had some PC game boxes that were the perfect size for this bag. DH threw them away when he was cleaning out the closet. The girl child just did a report on the Manatee, and these books were the perfect size. I put them is some plastic bags....and into the bag they went. No Library books were damaged in the process.

Well Blogger is being a stinker. It has taken forever to get pictures to upload and the spell check won't work. And trust me, I need Spell Check. So, I apologize.

I am going to go wind some yarn now. Have a geat weekend!!!!

We Have a Winner!!!

2008-01-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

Adrienne guessed the correct number of socks in the sock drawer. There were 48 pair in that drawer. I have sent you an email Adrienne, and I will get your Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in the mail as soon as I get your mailing address. Thanks so much, all of you, for participating in my little guessing game. It was fun, I will have to have another contest soon.

Now, the finished sock parade continues. First finished, are the ones I started last week. These are the Aran Socks and are knit in Louet Gems Sport Wt in Cream. I knit these at a pretty tight gauge for sport wt yarn, but I think it is perfect for socks. Karen is knitting them in CTH supersock at the same gauge and says they look great. I haven't seen hers yet, but she promises to post a picture of them soon.

Next finished were the Mini Pretzel Twists. I don't know why I waited so long to finish these. I think it may have been because I know it will be a while before I can get more Wollmeise, and I wanted to prolong the knitting experience. I do love this yarn. It is a bit splitty at times, but the knitted fabric is wonderful. And the colors are fantastic. I think I am going to have to order directly from The Wollmeise. It is like a Wollmeise frenzy at The Loopy Ewe when it is in stock. I was fortunate to get a skein in two other restocks, but not the last one. It went unbelievably fast.

And off the needles last night, Furrows knit in Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn in the Hercules colorway. This yarn was a gift from Karen. Sorry about the picture. It is rainy and gloomy out today. This is a really quick knit. When I got the toe closed on this pair and the ends woven in, I started the second Lace-agon sock. I am working on the heel flap of that one. The pile of singletons is dwindling, thank goodness. I have yarn screaming at me to be tried. The Dream in Color Smooshy is talking the loudest. I may have another distraction..... like the Aran socks.

Well, I am off to do more laundry and then knit for a while.

Have a great week!!!!

Awards and Contests

2008-01-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

I got a comment from Hakucho yesterday, telling me to check her blog for an award. And there was this : That is so sweet. I have seen these on other blogs and I am so honored to get one myself.

Here are the rules:

Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about Blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

There are way more than 10 but I am going to list the ones I check first every day.

Karen : my sister and best friend. She just started a new job, go wish her good luck.

Hakucho : who gave me the award but not because she did that. I love the items she makes and that she shares them with us and she always seems to be working on a charitable gift like a prayer shawl, she always has a kind work to leave in the comments...etc

Janice : I love to read her blog and see what she is making both crafting and cooking : )

Beth: She has given me so much encouragement in my knitting ventures and I appreciate

that.

Pat: Pat makes the most beautiful socks and other knitted goodies too and she makes wonderful quilts too. What an inspiration.

Brooke: knits wonderful things and her blog always makes me smile and usually laugh.

Another Beth : I love looking at the socks she is knitting and the yarn she is spinning and Thursday dog pics.

Sheila : who knits beautifully but she also posts the most beautiful pictures of the South West

Allison: Also another fantastic knitter, but I am so inspired by the way she photographs her yarn and knitting works of art, I often find myself going to her blog to look at all the beautiful pictures.

Diane I love that she is able to stick to her charity knitting goals. I found the 25 things for Charity through her blog and I joined and failed miserably last year, but seeing she has already knit more than that so far this year, has inspired me to do better.

OK that is 10, there are many more that I read daily, but I am going to stop there, just in case I need to tag more at a later time.

And I have decided to have a little contest too..... just because I feel like it. I am going to post a picture of 1 of my sock drawers. This drawer is 2 feet x 2 feet and is about 11 inches deep. It by no means holds all of my hand knit socks. It is usually a little more organized than this but I didn't want to make it too easy for you.

So all you need to do is guess how many pair of socks you think are in this drawer and leave a comment on this post. The prize will be a hank of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Brights. How that ballband fell off of that yarn is beyond me, because I cannot slide it back on. It is reds, with some blue and black in it. I will stop taking guesses next Monday January 28, and will post the winner Tuesday. If more than one person guesses correctly I will let the random number generator pick the winner from those.

Have a great week all and Happy Knitting!!!!

Failure .... Kind of

2008-01-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I gave into the temptation and started a new sock. Surprisingly enough, not with one of my new, beautiful, sock yarns. It was something in my stash. Something plain, calling out to be knit into a nice cabled, textured sock. Something other than a plain vanilla sock that seems to be the majority of the singletons I have stashed everywhere throughout the house. I have to tell you, I think I just need to stop knitting basic stockinette stitch and ribs. I cast on for these, and as soon as I wove in the last end of the first sock, the second one was on the needles. I love them. The first one fits wonderfully,and it is very comfortable. I will get back to the singetons as soon as I am finished with this pair .... I promise.

I also started another BallBand Felted Bag . It has been a while since I have knit one of these. Beth brought it to my attention that there was a group on Ravelry knitting this, so I joined. And since it has been a while since I knit one, I thought I better cast on for one to refresh my memory. So I dug through my stash. Wouldn't you know, I gave my last 2 balls of Noro to the knitting daughter about a week ago, so that was out. I found some Rio De La Plata in Chinchilla and some variegated Malabrigo, I am unsure of the color, and cast on. They are more complimentary colors than contrast colors, but I think it is going to look very nice. I forgot how fast these are to knit.

And I was so excited to learn I had won a blog contest. Alabama Fiber Dreams was celebrating her blogiversary and was giving away some wonderful prizes. And I was a lucky winner. I have not knit with either of the 2 sock yarns she is giving away, Lime & Violet’s Sasquatch Sock and Yarn Pirate’s Merino/Tencel blend. I have seen beautiful socks knit with both of these, and am looking forward to knitting them up into socks. Thanks Jessi !!! for the yarn and the wonderful blog. Go check out her spinning, it is wonderful. That is on my list of things to learn to do.

Well, I better go do a little house cleaning (yuck) before the kids get home from school. The boy child needs to get allergy shots today, so that will be an hour of knitting time later on : )

Have a great week!!!!

Socks And a Bag ......

2008-01-15T16:38:00.000-05:00

.....from the knitting daughter 1. She swore off knitting for a while after the fingerless mitt knitting marathon we had. But her friends were so impressed with her knitted gifts, she decided to make one of her friends a felted bag for her Birthday. We still need to get a few buttons for the little tab thingy, otherwise it is done. Apparently I have no suitable buttons in the infamous button drawer. She knit this bag with Cascade 220 and the pattern is Lagoon from the Pursenality Plus Book. I think she did a fantastic job with just minimal assistance. She has picked out a few more bags she would like to make for herself, so I am sure she will be raiding my Cascade 220 stash in the near future. She already has several felted bags, but apparently you can not have too many.

And on the sock knitting front, I have finished 2 more pair. Thank you all for your encouragement and compliments. I have come to find that most of the singletons are plain vanilla socks, either a simple rib or a stockinette stitch. Maybe I should not make as many of those, since they seem to be put into hibernation the most. It just seems that some yarns and colors want to be plain vanilla. First finished is Mountain Colors, Bearfoot in the Firestorm color. I know this sock was at least 3 other patterns before it became a 4 x 2 rib. 60 stitches and size 1 needles. These are wonderfully soft, and smooshy. I know they will be exceptionally warm. I will wait to wear them this weekend when we have single digit temperatures.

And the second to be finished this week are the Great Adirondack Soxie in the Kenya color. Again a plain vanilla sock, 68 stitches and size 1 dpns. This yarn is very much like CTH Supersock. Same feel, same tight twist and wonderful to knit with. I have 2 other pair close to being finished, maybe by the end of the week. One pair knit in CTH Supersock Potluck Brights, and the other in Fleece Artist in the Hercules color.

Last night was the sneak up at The Loopy Ewe As soon as I go the email I dashed over to the site, only to find all the other Wollmiese shoppers had crashed the site. By the time it came back up the site was soooo slow and it was saying there were only 6 colors left, actually there were only 3. As I was putting them into my shopping cart, loopy fell over again, so I waited a minute and tried again, by now there was only one color remaining so I put it in my cart since it was one I wanted, only to have it bought out of my cart before I could click on the checkout button. I guess it was not meant to be. I have been fortunate to get some in other sneak ups so I was not too disappointed. There is always the next time or the time after that. But I do love the Wollmeise and the fantastic colors she produces.

I did, however, decide to try out some new needles. I went over the The Yarn Grove to order some of the Hiya Hiya needles . Has anyone knit with these. I have heard good things about the stainless steel circular needles, but have not heard much about the dpns. They are reasonably priced, so I thought I would give them a try. I am expecting some Harmony dpns any day now too. What am I thinking, ordering more needles when I am trying so hard to get my other needles empty. I may be my own worst enemy in this endeavor.

Happy Knitting everyone and have a great week.

Is Gopher Wood Still Available ?????

2008-01-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

......I think we need to build an ark. We have had so much rain in the last week, with more still to come. DD1 is worried they will have to use snow days for flood days, and she is not thrilled about having to make up any time at the end of the year. They used to allow 3 incorporated "snow " days into the school schedule, but have reduced it to 1 ... I think. Not much of a winter so far here, but it is early yet .... maybe we will get some snow worth mentioning sometime, we are definitely making news with the rainfall.

Well.... there is a crack in my pursuit of finishing the singletons. But just a crack. It is not broken .... yet. I have heard so much about this wonderful Dream in Colors Smooshy, but for some reason had not purchased any. That is until this week.... I caved. And surprisingly, I bought a color I would not normally purchase. But I was drawn to it. I put it in my cart, and then took it out of my cart. Then I left The Loopy Ewe site all together. About 15 minutes later I went back, put the same color in my cart, looked around, put numerous other items in my cart, then emptied my cart and again, left the computer. Only to come back about 20 minutes later. This yarn was still there. It must be a sign ..... right? So I clicked checkout and it was promptly delivered today. Into the Mystic is the color. I may have to wind this .... I have no control over some things in life. So far I have been strong, but I have only had it in my possession for an hour. It feels really nice. It is soft and "smooshy" but honestly, I have fondled, umm I mean felt other yarns just as soft. So I am thinking I will just have to knit it, to see what all the hype is. That must be the true test. And only then will I know...... you know, just to be sure I have not been mislead.

I have finished 2 more pair of socks. I am close to finishing 2 other pair. But darn, if I don't keep finding more of those pesky singletons. How does one cure oneself of the Second Sock Syndrome.

First: the Opal Fish. I know I started these over a year ago. I had forgotten all about them. When I was searching for a different yarn I found the lonely sock, and since I think it is the oldest singleton I have, it was the first to be finished. Just a simple 3 x 1 rib on the leg and a stockinette stitch foot. Size one needles and 68 stitches. And they match perfectly. Look how dark the picture is, and it was 3 PM when I took it.. Flash required even outside. But I couldn't go off the porch due to the rain.

Second: the Stone Barn Fibers in the Lamurple colorway. This is the Zig then Zag pattern, but with a short row heel. This yarn feels very similar to Cherry Tree Hill and Shibui. The design shows up better in person and in better lighting.

Speaking of Cherry Tree Hill, earlier last year I designed two sock patterns for Cherry Tree Hill in the Sockittome yarn. They are available now where their patterns are sold. Sockittome Lace and Simple Sockittome are the 2 I designed. I am so excited about this. I have really been enjoying designing and actually having then published.

Well I need to pick the youngest up from church..... and then maybe google that gopher wood. Have a great weekend and Happy Knitting!!!

Same Mission ... New Year

2008-01-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

I am still on the same mission .... the one I get on every now and then, that is until I am overcome with the overwhelming desire to cast on with a new yarn or a new design. I am finishing single socks .... I know .... again !! We will see how long my resolve will last this time.
First up: Kaitlin's socks. These were supposed to be for her Birthday in October. Better late than never right. She loves them. She says they are quite warm and her chilly toes appreciate that. The picture really doesn't show the unusual color combination in between the primary stripes. She asked for them not to match, but I couldn't bring myself to do that ... esp when it was so easy to match these.

Next were the Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in the Baby Blues. This is my Cool Breeze pattern. Very warm socks even with the lace. I wore these the other day when it was in the single digits outside with my Birks and had very warm footsies. And they are oh so soft.

Then were the Spritely Goods in the Peppercorn color. A cabled sock. It is the Cables Galore with a ribbed cuff instead of the cable cuff. I purchased this yarn from The Loopy Ewe also.

And then last night I finished my first pair of the New Year. These are knit in Yarn Love. I don't remember the colorway name and have misplaced the ball band. This yarn was in my Loopy Groupie prize bag when I attained groupie status. Just a 3 x 1 rib on the leg and a plain stockinette foot.

And as soon as I wove in the tails on these I cast on for the second sock of another pair. I think this one may have been hibernating for almost a year. I will post a picture of them when I finish the pair. They are knit in Opal in the Fish color from the first Rain Forest collection. I think when I go searching for all the singletons I may be surprised or shocked by the number of socks there are stashed throughout the house. I know I had forgotten all about the Fish socks and a pair I discovered last night knit in Bearfoot. All I can say is, I should never run out of hand knit socks.

My patterns have been restocked at The Loopy Ewe if you care to take a look. Included in the last shipment were the patterns for the new mitts and the latest socks.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

A very Happy Boy Child

2007-12-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished knitting for the boy child and he is very happy. I didn't get the fingerless gloves done until today, but finished they are. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the pictures. It is blindingly bright out today, casting shadows everywhere. I no sooner got the last tail woven in and these were grabbed from my hands. This is what he has really been wanting me to make him the most. I hope he takes them off to bathe. You just never can tell with a 13 year old boy. He did take them off when he loaded the dishwasher, so there is hope.

And, I finished both pair of socks. And they fit wonderfully, Fred Flintstone feet and all. The multi colored pair is knit in Lang Jawoll. I couldn't tell any difference in the yarn even though the skeins were bought in different stores and 7 years apart. Well, the second skein may have felt a tad thinner, but no noticeable difference in color.

And the second pair is in Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply. That was probably a big mistake on my part, as there is no nylon in the yarn. I have talked to him about running around outside in his stocking feet, and the fact they need to be washed on a regular basis. We will see how that works out. If he wants me to knit more socks for him, he will abide by the rules. Esp, since his feet are adult sized now and it takes longer to knit them. That time could be well spent knitting socks for moi.

DD1 was having a fit because I knit 3 items for him and I still have not finished her socks. She seems to have forgotten the fingerless mitt knitting marathon that went on last week. But I will work on those this week and a pair for the youngest DD also. (I have to keep these things even, lest I hear I have favorites :) The youngest loves the thought of having the hand knits but she really doesn't wear them. She loves to be bear foot, even in the winter. She is always hot, so she peels sweaters off as soon as she is inside. But still she asks for them, and I oblige ... usually.

Well I am off to knit the socks for the eldest. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a safe and Happy New Year.

How Many Days Left 'Til Christmas????

2007-12-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

Wow!!! it has been a while. I am going to whine a bit, so beware. Two weeks ago I felt an odd sensation in my ear. I rubbed it and discovered blood running out of my ear. hmmmmm ... this can't be good. After a visit to the MD to confirm I had a ruptured eardrum I realized the ear pain really was ear pain and not my TMJ. It seems to be doing well now. But then came the flu. I am calling it the flu and not a cold as I have ached in every possible joint in my body, fevers, chills, a throat that feels like it is on fire and a cough you would not believe. How am I supposed to get my knitting and shopping done. Does my body not realize it is Christmas in just a few short days?? OK .... enough of the pity party and onto knitting content.

I have finished a pair of socks and all I can show you are the feet. I will tell you they are knit in J. Knits AC 130. I really liked knitting these and the yarn was great to work with.

I have another pair half finished. I was lucky to get some of the one of a kind special yarn from Cherry Tree Hill, that The Loopy Ewe had last week. This is in the Tide Pool colorway. Their same fantastic yarn, I think they are just trying different dyes out, or something like that. This pattern will be available sometime after the New Year at The Loopy Ewe.

As will this design for these fingerless mitts I am knitting for my daughter's teacher. I must get these finished today as their last day of school is tomorrow. I should have no trouble finishing them as long as I can convince the knitting daughter she really can finish the last pair of her Christmas knitting on her own.

And speaking of the knitting daughter's Christmas knitting. She came home a week or two ago with this idea that she was knitting fingerless mitts for several of her friends. At their request, I might add. I have been knitting fingerless mitts, but they have disappeared as quickly as I finished them. And apparently, none of those were in the correct colors. She wanted to know if I had any left over yarn I didn't need anymore???? Is there even such a thing??? So I searched through the stash for odds and ends or balls that are too small to become anything big and came up with yarn she needed for all of them. Some of the yarn is nicer than some others, but what is a mom to do. I feel kind of bad about the baby blue pair because it is Red Heart baby yarn, but only because the teal pair is Classic Elite Posh, a Cashmere/ Silk blend and the gray pair is a handspun, wonderful merino I got in an exchange. There was just enough for a small project and I hate to part with it, but at least I get to knit it :) The other pair, she was on her own. Well, except for joining, (so she doesn't make a moebius), and the picking up and starting the thumb. And I get the privilege of weaving in the ends ... isn't that special. These are basically a shirtless pair of sleeves and I hate to make sleeves. One of her friends requested a pair that came to her elbows.... she obliged . She knit these in some Plymouth Encore.

And the boy child checks the progress on his almost every day.They have not seen any action in a while. And that has been intentional. If I finish them he will take them, and I want to put them in his stocking. As you can see, I caved, and went ahead and gave him the fingers he wanted. He is happy ... but in all honesty, he would have been happy if I hadn't too. He is easy to please. I need to work on his socks, once I get this "needed by tomorrow" knitting finished. He is so funny. He told me 'he was on to me' yesterday. He said, "I know what you are doing, you are waiting until the 24th to finish those so I can't have them until Christmas" He is a wise one that boy child of mine.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a Merry Christmas!!!!!

Knitting for the Boy Child

2007-12-03T13:42:00.000-05:00

This weekend I knit nothing but things for the boy child. He guilted me into knitting socks for him when his dear Aunt was visiting for Thanksgiving. His feet grew several sizes in what seems like overnight, so none of his hand knit socks fit him anymore. Who knew he was a descendant of Fred Flintstone. I started the first sock Friday and finished it Saturday. He was at a sleep over, so he wasn't here to try it on before I wove in the ends. Sunday morning he comes home bright and early and I have him try the finished sock on. It is the perfect length, but he is complaining that it "pinches his toes" ..... What????? So I fiddle around with the sock to make sure he has it on straight and he says "I am sorry mom, but it feels too tight across the toes". I have him take off the sock and take a look at his feet.... he has Fred Flintstone feet. They are rectangular, very little tapering at the toes. So now I have to frog the toe and make them more square. This is the sock. I think it may be cursed though. I was going to start the second one right away, and couldn't find the second skein of yarn. It has been in the stash for a very long time. It is Lang Jawoll, and is not one of my favorite yarns to knit with. I searched everywhere and then I remembered I had used some of it for baby socks for charity knitting. What to do????? I could either totally frog this sock, (which he likes, I might add) and knit with something else, or see if I could locate a skein of this 7 year old yarn. I know the dye lots won't match, but I did mange to find some in the same color, so I ordered it. Karen is knitting him a pair of socks for Christmas, I called her, hoping that she had not finished the first one yet, but she had ..... so we will both be on a lily pad in the frog pond.

So , while I am waiting for the other skein to arrive, I started another pair of socks for him in some Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply merino, in Sage. I have come to discover my stash is lacking in masculine colors. Wonder if I can convince the DH I need to fix that situation. Probably not since he refuses to wear anything knit. Both socks are just a 3 x 1 rib with a plain vanilla foot, just the way he likes them.

He has also been asking for a pair of black fingerless gloves. They will probably end up being fingerless mitts, because I hate making all those fingers. I am just knitting these in some Cascade 220 I had in the stash. He will be very happy with his new knitted accessories. I need to make him a new hooded pullover too.. I asked him why he never wears the one I made him at the beginning of the year. Apparently, his feet are not alone in the growing department, and he doesn't like sweaters with 3/4 length sleeve : ) I have to knit him another one so he will let his little sister have that one, otherwise he won't part with it.

That is all for today, have a great week!!!

27 F and clear blue skies here today. What is like in your part of the world?

Migraines, MItts and Socks.

2007-11-29T01:37:00.000-05:00

And pretty much in that order. I had a lovely time visiting with Karen over Thanksgiving. It boggles the mind how a person ( uhhm, myself) can consume as much food in one day as you (I) would not normally eat in 3 days. Anyway, it was good. I love turkey, why don't I make it more often?? I love pies too, but I know why I don't make those more often ;) The Migraine came Saturday and decided to stay for the long weekend. Thank goodness for Imitrex is all I am saying.

I finished the orange mitts. We went with the name Argyle Mitts. The pattern is on its way to MO to The Loopy Ewe, along with several others and another new sock pattern. This pair will be for the eldest child to gift as a Christmas present. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.

I finished the Spritely Goods socks in the Manzanita in Bloom II. I am wearing them to day and I have to say, they are quite comfy. These are in the Dancing Tulips pattern.

And I had plenty of yarn left over so, I knit up a pair of fingerless mitts for the youngest. She has been wanting a pair with all the mitt knitting I have been doing. The pattern for these will be available on the free pattern page at The Loopy Ewe soon. I emailed the pdf to Sheri tonight. They fit the 10 year old's hands very nicely and she loves them. Because of the rib effect they have a great deal of stretchability and I think they will easily fit a child from 6 to 10 or 11.

And I finished the new sock. This pattern is also on the way to The Loopy Ewe. We went with the name Wedge for this one. This yarn is Gypsyknits in Sock it 3 ply Merino. In the City Blues colorway. It is a lovely yarn to knit with.

That is it all I have and I am going to call it a day. Have a great rest of the week, and Happy Knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T00:46:00.000-05:00

No knitting today. After going to see the DD2's school play, (Charlie and Chocolate Factory) I spent the day baking pies. I love when my house smells like a bakery. Final pie count: 2 - Pumpkin, 2 - Apple, 2 - Lemon Meringue, and 1 - Blueberry.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Finally Finished

2007-11-20T13:44:00.000-05:00

... A pair of socks. It seems like I knit so many socks that some of them have to make a pair. These have been my knit in the van, while waiting for the kids socks. These are a simple 5 x 2 rib, knit in STR Scottish Highlands. 56 stitches and size 2.75 mm dpns. I need to take another pair of mindless knitting socks out to the van now. Probably the Yarn Love socks.

I have been working on the sock I started last week. It is a little further along than pictured. I really like this yarn. It is ever so soft. Gypsyknits: Sock it 3 ply merino.

And, I started on another fingerless mitt design. These will be a gift for a friend of my eldest daughter. She goes to the "other" High School in town and their colors are orange and brown. So these will work great for her. They are knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in orange of course. I don't know if that is the real name, I don't have the ball band anymore, but they are orange.

And look what I got in the mail yesterday from The Loopy Ewe , some Woolly Boully Meanie in the Neapolitan colorway. DD1 saw it, and the silly girl thought it was for her. She is so mistaken. She is trying to talk me into buying another hank, so we can have "matching" socks.... except she wants hers plain vanilla and wants me to put a design on mine. Matching????? I don't think so. Isn't it pretty, and I am not a pink person, but I like this.

Well that is all for today. Another crazy weather day here in south central IN. 70 and the windows are open. What is the weather like where you are?

Fall Friday

2007-11-15T23:11:00.001-05:00

...well close to Friday anyway. This is the view out my kitchen window. I love the Oaks in the Fall. The neighbors have Bradford Pears in their back yard and they are a beautiful red right now. We have been having crazy temperature fluctuations. Yesterday it was 70 and I had windows open, today it didn't get out of the 30's. My poor kids don't know how to dress for school in the mornings. We will be busy raking leaves this weekend :)

Birthday Alert:

Friday, Nov 16th, is Karen's birthday, please stop by and wish her a happy one.

I cast on for another sock last night. I am a little further along now than pictured. I am working on the gusset decreases. This one is being knit in Gypsyknits Sock It, 3ply Merino in the "City Blues" colorway. It is lovely to work with, very, very soft. I hope to have it done over the weekend and have a pattern written up shortly there after. Karen, you need to come up with a name.

I cast on for the second Yarn Love sock, and worked a few rounds on that, and am doing toe decreases on the STR socks so I should have a few more to add to my 52 Pair Plunge total soon. I wish I could count all the singletons I have, I would be so much closer to that goal if I could just make those into pairs.

I sent a big box of patterns to Sheri at the beginning of the week and they have been restocked already. A couple new ones were included. The Croc Socks ( which I misspelled on the pattern. I changed it on the pdf file name, but not on the word doc... duh!) and the Cool Breeze socks. Thank you all for you interest in them, I am happy that so many of you have enjoyed knitting them.

That is it for today.

I think I will go knit a few rows on my sweater and then call it a day. Have a great weekend and:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!!!

Finally Finished

2007-11-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

The baby blanket is done!!! This child had the nerve to make an appearance a month early, so I had to hurry. I knit this for a co worker. The pattern has errors in it, so if you decide to knit it, keep that in mind. The stitch count is wrong for the seed stitch to work as written and the directions for the cable pattern are off too. It hasn't been blocked yet.

I restarted the Yarn Love sock too. The yarn is pretty busy, so I am just knitting a simple 3 x 1 rib with a plain foot. I am working on the toe decreases. I will soon be finished with the STR sock too. I have it in the van, so it sees a lot of knitting time as I wait for the kids. Maybe I will get a few finished this week for the 52 Pair Plunge.

And I have a little progress to share on the sweater. A much better picture of the cables. Hmmm... and another cable error, but that one will just stay.

And I am sure all you dish cloth knitters have seen the self striping Lily Sugar'n Cream . I saw it at Hobby Lobby and had to have some. Maybe the DD1 will like this one more than the last one I made for her since the colors are her favorite : ) I will probably get the same enthusiasm as with the last one.

Well, that is all I have for today. The baby blanket consumed all my knitting time this past week. Hope everyone has a great week!!

WARNING........

2007-11-05T17:31:00.000-05:00

Knitter's discretion advised. Some knitters may find the following scene disturbing, so if you are faint of heart, you may want to look away.

I finished the back of the sweater I started for myself. I have decided to go with a hooded pullover. And, I decided to put a cable up the center. I should not have worked on this yesterday after working the night before and having little sleep. I am not following a pattern, I am winging it, I expect that there will be a little trial and error. I got about 3 inches into the pattern and noticed one of the first cables got twisted the wrong direction. This is what it looked like around 2:30 (remember you were warned, it is not pretty). My mom was a pro at this fixing style. I used to be so disappointed when she would have me rip things because I had seen her work this magic before. I know now, that it is not always advisable to do this. It worked in this case though. This is what it looked like a little later. I have lost the sunlight though so I can't get a really good picture. There is a storm coming and it has gotten dark and gloomy out really quickly. The cables show up much better in real life. I am sure I will be taking a better picture of it soon.

Remember that knitting goal I had for last week? I failed. Not miserably, but fail I did. I have one pair very close to finished. I am blaming it all on work. I took my knitting along Saturday night. You know that extra hour I had to work because of the time change. I was hoping to squeeze some knitting time in. Hopeful thinking I know, I didn't even get to take a potty break, let alone get into my knitting bag. Now, I don't know if I will get them done this week. I want to finish the sweater. The "snow" word has been mentioned in our weather forecast for this week :) Just flurries, but it is still snow, and I love snow. A nice warm, woolly sweater will be wonderful. I hate to wear coats and I think this will work splendidly.

I have a little progress on the blue Alpaca Sox sock. I have decided to call these Cool Breeze. They really are a little darker than this in real life. This yarn is soooo soft. It would make a lovely warm scarf, I may have to buy more : )

Well, I am going to go play on Ravelry for a bit. Have a great week all.

My Invite Came

2007-11-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

I got my Ravelry invitation late Thursday night. I was clicking that waiting list checker all day long and it didn't budge from 63 people are ahead of you : ( I was so disappointed. And then I checked one last time before I headed off to bed and it said the invitation had been sent and they would send it again. Sure enough, there it was in my junk folder ( gasp). So of course I had to check it out. Two hours later I was bleary eyed and almost too tired to walk up the stairs to bed. After assuring myself it would still be there in the morning, I tore myself away from all the eye candy the site was offering and went to bed. Wow! that is all I have to say about Ravelry. Someone has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into this, and it is wonderful. It is going to be so time consuming for a while. Why didn't I start organizing and photographing this past month as I was waiting for the invite??? Live and learn, I guess. I am MonicaJ on Ravelry. That was my fourth or fifth choice, so I just went with it. My son the computer whiz is not as excited about the Ravelry thing as I am though. He is afraid he will never get to use my computer for his gaming again : )

Contest Alert : Cass of Shut Up I'm Counting is celebrating her 333 post. Some of you may remember the 222 post celebration she had not too long ago. Tell her about 3 of your favorite knitterly things and be put in the drawing for a prize. I was singing raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens all day, thinking about my favorite things : )

Don't forget to turn your clocks back. I have to work tonight ugh!!! an extra hour of work while everyone else in my family is getting an extra hour of sleep .
Have a great weekend!!

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T14:21:00.000-04:00

Remember to keep a careful eye out for those little people tonight. I hate to even think about backing the car out of the garage, they are so excited and seldom look where they are going.

I got a surprise in the mail today. A cyber friend (thanks Beth) of mine sent me a little gift. Some of the new Harmony dpn's in size 0. I needed more needles. And a pencil case to hold my needles. Great minds think alike, that is what I store my needles in. Karen started that for me. I met Beth online, she lives about 2 and a half hours north of me and we are both nurses. How wonderful is the Internet. I hope to meet her in person some day. The needles are so pretty and smooth. I will have to cast on with them today. I am on a mission this week to make pairs of some of the singletons. I have a pair that requires size 0's so they will be used for that : ) Thanks again Beth!!!

I told Karen about my goal for this week (knitting goal that is) I hope to finish 3 pair of socks. I am well on my way. The Trekking socks are finished and so near to matching it makes me smile. I love the colors. I love that there is not a single matching repeat on the entire sock. And I love that they match each other without any effort on my part.

And, I finished the Cables Galore pair. I only need one sock for the pattern, so I have many singletons. Esp since I am getting smarter and taking better notes. Before, I would knit the first sock, and if I really liked it, then I would knit the second sock to figure out what I did the first time ... and then write the pattern. With the excellent note taking skills comes a lot of single socks. Maybe not taking notes wasn't such a bad habit after all? Karen wanted me to tell her which 3 pair I plan to finish. I won't commit to that, I like a variety. I feel pretty confident that I will meet my goal.

I was late in getting on the Ravelry bus. But I am so close to getting my invite.

You signed up on October 1, 2007
You are #38452 on the list.
383 people are ahead of you in line.
12585 people are behind you in line.
68% of the list has been invited so far

I think I will get it tomorrow. I have probably worn the check your status button out this month. It has gone surprisingly fast though. Great job!! to who ever has that job.

Thanks to all of you who have been so wonderful in supporting my pattern writing venture. I really appreciate that you are buying my patterns and also mentioning them on you blogs. It means so much to me.

Weekend Knitting Update

2007-10-29T17:46:00.000-04:00

This has been the most unusual ball of Trekking I have ever knit with. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would not have matching socks when I got to the heel and had not yet had a pattern repeat. And then to reaffirm this thought, there was a knot (join) while I was knitting the gusset. I decided then, that I would not make myself crazy trying to match the socks and just begin the second sock where the yarn ended from the first. Imagine my surprise when they ended up being so very much the same. Maybe not a perfect match, but so very close. There is not much yarn left on that ball, it felt skinny from the beginning, but I am sure there is enough to finish the sock. This has been one that I have just kept knitting to see what would come next, no second sock syndrome. And it is just plain stockinette stitch. Amazing, I tell you, just amazing. It is color 82 if any of you are interested in it.

And Fall is truly here. It was 32 degrees yesterday when I got up to get ready for church and 29 this morning. I love it. It has been a sunny, very pleasant 60 degrees today. The kids were grumbling about it being cold this morning, but I loved watching them put on all the hand knit sweaters, mitts and hats this morning.

The cooler temperatures have me wanting sweaters, so I cast on for a plain vanilla sweater for myself last night. I have a few sweaters in the works for myself and one of them is so close to being finished. I have no idea what is keeping me from working on it. I like the pattern ... still, I like the yarn, I just don't want to finish it. It must be the thought of seaming it keeping me from knitting those last few inches on the front. Why do I think this sweater is going to be any different?? I have no clue. But I had an uncontrollable urge to cast on, so cast on , I did. The yarn is ( long discontinued I am sure) Froehlich Wolle Swiss Challet. I will have to make a decision soon as to whether I want fitted sleeves or dropped sleeves. Karen was shocked I was knitting stockinette stitch, I think she may have fallen out of her chair when I told her. But when I get to the front, and I decide if I want a cardigan or a pullover, I may put a cable or two on it.

Many of my patterns have been replenished at The Loopy Ewe if you care to take a peek. I must run, I need to go pick my little social butterfly up from a birthday party. Have a great week all.

Fall Colors

2007-10-22T14:59:00.003-04:00

... We are finally being blessed with the beautiful colors of Fall here in South Central IN. I was worried we wouldn't see them this year with the crazy weather. I wish I had thought to take a picture of this tree yesterday, when the sun was shining through it. It was beautiful. This one loses its leaves rather quickly, so I thought I better get a picture today. The storms we are expecting will probably take half the leaves off. We went to Bloomington this weekend. The traffic was horrendous, as expected this time of year. The fall colors were worth it though. I can't wait for the Oaks in the backyard to begin to change colors, they are always beautiful.

The Shibui was just too much for me to resist. I wound a hank of it on Friday and knit this sock. I don't think I will have second sock syndrome with this one. I really enjoyed knitting it, once I figured out that the reason I couldn't get the pattern to work was because I temporarily forgot how to count. The pooling is not what I expected. Those small balls of yarn sure do make me sweat bullets as I get close to the toe. I made the leg on this one a tad shorter than usual, just to be safe. I think I had maybe enough for half a stitch pattern repeat left from the first ball. This is what it looks like from the front. Karen is busy thinking up a name for it. I took good notes, and they are in "the notebook" so I should have a pattern written up for this one soon.

And I did finish a pair that I started long ago. It has been a singleton for some time. The Triple Twist socks in the Lorna's Georgetown colorway. This pattern will be available again soon at The Loopy Ewe I just mailed a box of patterns to her last week. They are really more blue looking I think the yellow from the leaves and the overcast day are playing games with my camera. And the Ariel mitts are now a complete pair. I finally wove in the ends today.I wonder how many more pair I need to knit for gifts?? They keep disappearing.

Well, I need to wind another ball of the Shibui. I hope everyone has a fabulous week and Happy Knitting!!

And The Winning Name IS ......

2007-10-16T11:15:00.001-04:00

... First of all, thank you all for the wonderful name suggestions. It is amazing how someone can suggest a name and you have that V-8 moment, and think, oh yeah, I see that. I tried to send emails to each of you that left a suggestion, but could not find email addy's for all of you, so to those of you who did not receive one, I am sorry, and thank you very much for suggesting names and visiting my blog. After reviewing the names and discussing the reasoning behind each suggestion, we (meaning my girls and I, and Karen) have decided on "Ariel", suggested by Hattie . Hattie I will email you for you snail mail address and your color choice from the Loopy Ewe. Thanks again to all who participated. I think I will have another contest in the near future, it was fun.

Well, neither the Shibui nor the Woolly Boully made their way on to the swift this weekend. I don't know how that happened. But part of the reason was, after I took such careful and meticulous notes for the fingerless mitts .... I threw them away. I usually write my notes down in a notebook (that is, when I remember to write them down) but these I wrote on a loose piece of paper. When I was cleaning the other day ... you guessed it, I threw them away. I also threw away a prescription for blood pressure medicine, and I am somewhat ashamed to admit, I went dumpster diving for that (well at least the dumpster, aka. very large trash can is our own and in my garage). I need my blood pressure medicine and it was the weekend, what else could I do???. If only I had realized at the time that the pattern notes were in that pile too. I wonder what else was in the save pile that made it to the trash. I hope nothing too important, because it is long gone now. Anyway, I had to write up another pattern for the mitts.

I did finish one sock. The Fleece Artist in the Hercules colorway. I am naming this one "Furrows". It would maybe seem better named if the yarn was brown or earthen colored, but the design reminds me of a ploughed field, so "Furrows" it is. They fit great too!!! Or I should really have that in the singular form, it fits great. I am going to work on that for the rest of the week. I have so many singleton socks. I am going to knit mates for a few of them before I cast on for more. I have the Shibui and the Woolly Boully here on the desk, reminding me of their loveliness, so I will have to knit fast so they can be wound. Yeah right, we will see how long I can hold out.

That is all for today.

Thanks again to all who left name suggestions and have a great week!!!

Sometimes The Postman is My Friend

2007-10-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

And I have liked him the last two days. Yesterday, he brought a package from The Loopy Ewe. I ordered some Shibui in the Seaweed color, I love it, this yarn is so soft and squishy, and the colors are so beautiful. I cast on with some Shibui yesterday in the Marine colorway, but it is vacationing on a lily pad in the frog pond right now : ( Not the yarn's fault though, knitter's error. I think this is going to be a lace and cable sock when it grows up.

And today, that sweet postman delivered this. Woolly Boully, Meanie Sock Yarn from, well Woolly Boully. Oh my goodness, this is soft yarn. Here lately, I have been changing my "favorite" sock yarn every time I order a new to me sock yarn. Soft, soft, soft I tell you. I can't wait to cast on with this. I will have to wind it tonight. The color is Red Robin: Bird, Nest and Eggs. The colors are vibrant, it looks like it has a wonderful twist and it is ever so soft. It will be in the weekend knitting queue for certain. And look at that adorable baby skein that was included. It is Texas Fields of Sunflowers. I think it will have to become a key chain sockie.

I finished the first of the Wollmeise Mini Pretzel Twists. I like it . It was fun to knit, and I love the fabric Wollmeise knits into. The pattern is typed, I just need to get it printed and then it will be on its way to The Loopy Ewe. You can make it bigger by clicking on the picture to see the little pretzel like cables. Anyway, I think they look like pretzels.

And because I am seriously afflicted with the"startitis" I cast on for a pair of socks in the Fleece Artist Karen gave to me. It is the Hercules colorway. I need to stop this. I have all my size 0 and 1 needles full, and have been looking online to buy more ... it is a sickness I tell you. So far I have shown great restraint, and have not given in to the temptation to purchase more. I don't know how much longer I can hold out though :)

OK, I am going to have a contest. I need a name for the last pair of fingerless mitts I knit. I have no idea what to name it. All you have to do is leave a name suggestion on this post, and if I choose your name you get the pattern to knit the mitts, and your choice of a skein of Lorna's Sport from The Loopy Ewe. I will choose a winner after midnight Sunday, Oct. 14 and announce the winner either Monday or Tuesday.

Happy knitting all, I am enjoying the cooler weather we are having here, I have on my handknit socks and all is well : )

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy...

2007-10-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

OK, I am excited!!! several of my designs are being sold at The Loopy Ewe. This alone makes me very happy.... but what really brings a big grin to my face is that when I last checked, 2 of them had sold out. How cool is that. I am so unbelievably happy :) OK enough of the shameless plug and onto knitting.
I have been plagued with a headache and sore throat, chills ...etc this weekend and yesterday. I feel a little better today. You know you don't feel good when you can't even muster up the energy to do some light knitting. I have been knitting on a baby blanket. It is pretty mindless knitting, and other than the fact that the huge needles hurt my arthritic hands, this is what I worked on, well off and on anyway, this weekend. I should be further along on this, but I was late in getting the yarn for it. The baby is due next month and I am hopeful it will be done before that. The yarn is Plymouth Encore, machine washable, which is a must in my mind for any baby knitting.

I can't remember when it was, I am thinking in August, I won some Peaches n Creme from Romancing the Yarn. Barbara had bough several balls, and was not happy with her dishcloth knitting results, so she had a give away, with the stipulation that if you are a winner of the cotton, you show the dishcloth you create with it. This is the dishcloth I made. The variegated is what I won and the black is from the cotton stash. The pattern is of course the Ball Band cloth. As I was weaving in and trimming the last end, I showed my DD1 the new cloth I had made just for her, you know, to make that dish washing experience more enjoyable. Let me just tell you, she was less than enthusiastic about it. I was shocked :) And I even put trim on the sides so it would be prettier, just for her.

And lest you think I have abandoned sock knitting, I have a few progress pictures to show. The Wollmeise in the Zenzi colorway are coming along nicely. The design in this sock reminds me of pretzels, so I have named it Pretzel Twists. Karen thinks the yarn makes it look like chocolate drizzled pretzels, yumm!!

And the Classic Elite Sox yarn in Baby Blues is becoming this. It is so soft and nice to work with. I was worried it would be splitty, but it is not. The color in the larger view is more accurate than in the other. I may take the foot out and carry the lace down the instep. Any suggestions for a name for this one??

I think my flowers are confused by the weather. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this one, but it has looked exactly like this all summer. Through the heat and the drought, and with no care (shame on me). I seriously think it has thrived being neglected. I searched the yard and the neighborhood for some changing leaves, but no luck. It is cooler today, and very little humidity. It was 90+ yesterday, but they are promising more seasonal temperatures for the rest of the week. Sock wearing weather is coming... yay!!!!

How Does This Happen So Fast

2007-10-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

Can someone please explain to me how you can come home one day with the most precious gift, small and helpless, and the most beautiful thing you have ever seen and then in a blink of an eye, she is a beautiful, independent young lady. Yesterday was my firstborns 16th birthday.....how did that happen? It boggles the mind. Happy Birthday my dear sweet daughter.

I finished a set of fingerless mitts for her and a hat she requested. I thought I was safe posting them on my Flickr site, thinking she wouldn't go there ... but she did. Apparently she likes to frequent my sites in her Web Page Design class at school....who knew. She was thrilled with them . She wouldn't stop messing around, so I couldn't get a good picture of them on her, but I have a back up.

I started another pair of fingerless mitts. I will have to ask DD1 just how many pair of these she is going to need to gift this Christmas, they can be addictive I tell you. The center panel is borrowed from the 365 day stitch calendar. I really like these, and she says they fit great! They are being knit in Lorna's Laces Sport in the Somerset colorway.

Well I have a ton of things to do today, so I must scoot. Just a short post today.

It is unseasonably warm here today, but not too humid which helps. I want the cool crisp fall weather, I have socks I want to wear :) I am sure it will get here eventually.

Have a great day all.

Its Monday ....

2007-10-01T13:36:00.001-04:00

..... time for the weekend knitting update. I worked Saturday night so I didn't get as much knitting done this weekend, but was still pretty productive. I finished a pair of socks for DD1 for her birthday and started another pair for her. I need to safeguard my socks by knitting her more of her own. She likes to sneak mine onto her feet, and she is hard on socks. She doesn't mind wearing them outside with no shoes on (gasp). This pair is knit in some Cascade Sassy Stripes I bought a few years ago when it was on clearance. Same dye lot but one is definitely a different shade than the other. I have more of this so she will be getting at least 2 more pair of stripey socks. They won't get done for her B-day Wed, but she will get them.

This weekend was the annual Scottish Festival at an almost local apple orchard, The Apple Works. We love to go to this every year. I always think of Forrest Gump when I go there. You remember Bubba and the shrimp, well that is what it is like there, .... but with apples. Apple pies, apple bread, apple dumplings, apple cider, apple cider slushies .... you get the picture. And great Scottish history and music. The music is what we really look forward too. We probably have no more than a drop of Scottish blood in us, if even that much, but we love to listen to the music. All that Scottish music and the men in their kilts made me want to get my Black Watch Lorna's out and knit with it.... it may be put into the queue. I can't believe I didn't take my camera along, it must have been the sleep deprivation from working all night. I only slept for about an hour or so after work since I was late getting home ( let me tell you ... 6 AM is the worst time for a night shift nurse to get a complicated admission). I did however remember to take along another plain vanilla sock in progress to work on. I will try to get this pair done by Wed. As you can see they are being knit in the Regia I won in a blog contest this summer.

And the Wollmeise won ... I cast on with it. I have even come up with a name on my own for this one . This is the Zenzi colorway. Have I mentioned how much I love this yarn :) I am also working on a baby blanket for a friend at work, I will show that later when there is more to show.

And look what I got in the mail. Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in Baby Blues from The Loopy Ewe, and my replacement yarn from Cherry Tree Hill. It is the Sockittome in the Misty Moor colorway. I love them both.

Well I am going to knit for a bit, before the kiddos get home from school. Have a great day all!!

A Productive Weekend

2007-09-24T17:57:00.000-04:00

Knitting wise anyway. The eldest was dog sitting this weekend, so we were somewhat housebound, the CW was busy with youth group stuff. They went to a popcorn factory about 15 miles from our house ...Black Cherry Vanilla Popcorn is yummy, but the dill pickle... not so much. I may have to go check this place out, apparently it has been featured on the Food Network and I didn't even know it existed. So, I got to knit ... a lot! I finished the first sock in the Zig then Zag design in the Stone Barn Fibers in Lamurple. I like them!!

I cast on and finished one fingerless mitt, knit in some left over Wollmeise in the Spice Market colorway. I like these too. So does DD1 and 2 but the youngest's hands are too small. She was a little sad about that.

I finished the mitts I started last week. Knit in the Louet Gems Sport in the Sage color. The girls love these too, I am afraid they may not make it to become Christmas gifts. Apparently, a girl can not have too many pair of these. Both of the mitt patterns will be available some time in the near future at The Loopy Ewe I need to get the patterns typed up and printed.

And I made some progress on the Spritely Goods socks. Karen says it reminds her of tulips blowing in the wind, so she suggested the name Dancing Tulips. I really wish I was more imaginative when it came to naming things, but I just don't have what it takes for that. I am really enjoying knitting this sock .... but the Wollmeise is calling my name. I thought knitting the mitts would help, but the Zenzi wants to be knit. I think I need help, the Knitter's ADD just keeps progressing, it is almost out of control!

Dual Purpose Knitting

2007-09-21T15:41:00.000-04:00

I joined 2 KAL's this week, the Fingerless Mitts For Fall and the Fall Cable KAL 2007. I hope to get my sweater done this year. Well, I hoped to get it done 6 months ago, but knitting all those socks gets in the way of finishing other things. So, I decided a little dual purpose knitting was in order. Thursday is allergy shot day for the CW, so I took along a cake of Louet Gems Sport wt and cast on for these mitts. They went to the frog pond no less than 3 times, but I am happy with them now. I will write down the directions as I go for the second one. I think they fit DD1 perfectly.

And these new socks will count for the Fall Cable KAL too. They are little further along now. This is the Spritely Goods in the Manzanita in Bloom II. I love the colors in this yarn, and it is so soft. I am starting the toe decreases on the Lamurple sock, and I wound the Wollmeise the other day. I cast on with it and started to knit, but the design was getting lost in the dark shades of the yarn. It looked beautiful in the light shades though. I will let it rest for a while and then it will be put back into the queue. As will the Spring Morning colorway, it too went to the frog pond, as expected.

Well, the CW is patiently waiting to get on my computer. The kids have there own, but mine is faster and he likes to play his games on it. I hope everyone has a great weekend, filled with lots of family fun, or knitting, or both!

Weekend Knitting Update

2007-09-18T12:31:00.000-04:00

Well, there really wasn't a lot of weekend knitting since I had a monster migraine all day Sunday and into yesterday. I did however, get a little done on Saturday. Karen gifted the STR medium wt yarn to me last year. I have cast on several times with it and off to the frog pond it would go. I think it just wanted to be plain vanilla, or close to it anyway. The colorway is Scottish Highlands. 5 x 2 rib all the way, on size 2 dpns. I love the color and what a quick knit. Thanks again Karen for my very first STR yarn. I think I am going to knit the Lover's Leap prize yarn in the Hearts-a-Plenty design.

And I have knit this sock in a different yarn, but I wanted to knit it in the Lamurple from Stone Barn Fibers I got from The Loopy Ewe The design is my own. I really don't like the feel of a short row heel on my foot, but I love the way they look. So, I keep trying different methods, trying to find the one I like the best. I like the look of this one, but still don't care for the way it feels on. I think I will stick with my heel flap.

My Wollmeise came in the mail at the end of last week. It is in the Zenzi colorway. From The Loopy Ewe, of course. I have it sitting here by the desk. I want to wind it, and will probably cave in here shortly. I wanted to get the designs ready to ship off. Sheri, at The Loopy Ewe is going to be selling some of my designs in the near future. I hope to get them mailed out to her at least by Friday. So, if you have been asking about some of my sock designs, keep an eye out for them there. She just posted my pattern for the last Wollmeise Sock, (which I neglected to give a proper name), on the free pattern page .

Hmmm, I think that is it, nothing else to share today. I will sit here and enjoy my Citrus Green Tea and enjoy the quiet for a few more minutes before the youngest comes bounding through the front door. They have ISTEP's this week, so she will have a lot of energy to burn, and a lot of talking to do.

1 Step Forward 2 Steps Back...

2007-09-13T14:40:00.000-04:00

Well, not quite. but, 1 sock finished, 2 socks started.... instead of finishing one of the several others already in progress. Just off the needles, are the socks my sister has named Hearts - A - Plenty. I knit these in Gypsy Knits in the Rose Garden colorway, purchased from The Loopy Ewe. I am very pleased with the way they turned out. I had nursery duty on Sunday at church. We haven't been having many kids in the nursery here of late, so I took my knitting along, just in case :) I was able to put several rows on. Immediately after the service was a picnic and fun and games for the kids for Rally Sunday. I had my knitting bag out in the hot sun with me and decided to play a few games. While my knitting bag was unattended, someone was curious I guess, because when we were ready to leave, the socks were off the needles, yikes, and lace too. My family was forced to wait as I carefully picked up the stitches. Even though we live super close to church, I was not willing to chance any of those yarn overs disappearing. Anyway you can see they survived the ordeal, and I love them.

I started 2 more pair, but I am not certain they will stay on the needles. I see a trip to the frog pond in our future. The first is in Yarn Love in the Spring Morning colorway. I think this yarn is too busy for the design. I had started this same design in another yarn but it was pooling so much that it looked like the front of the sock was purple and the back was turquoise. Now I don't mind a little pooling, in fact I like it most of the time, but that was a bit much, even for me.

The second sock is in Lorna's Sport in the Devon clolorway, I love this color. And everyone who knows me knows I love Lorna's Laces. Not much to see in this one so far. It is going to be a textured socks. I will knit a little more on it before I decide whether or not it needs to vacation at the frog pond too. Both of these yarns came from, yes that is right, you guessed it, The Loopy Ewe, my favorite online sock yarn shop. I should be getting a hank of Wollmeise this week from there, so I fear both of these socks will be neglected :) I do love the Wollmeise. Sheri should be getting more in stock in the next month or so.

Well it is allergy shot day for the CW (my son the computer whiz) so I am off to round up some knitting to take along.

Have a wonderful day!!!

I think it is Lady Bug Season

2007-09-07T15:16:00.000-04:00

I have been a lucky blogger here lately. I won 2 contests. And the prizes for both involved lady bugs, which I love. Alisha has been having monthly stitch marker give aways, and I was a lucky winner. And the pretty lady bug markers came in a really neat beaded pouch, I love them !!!! thanks Alisha.

And Kimberly, has been playing BINGO, great fun I might add, and I won some of her beautiful, hand dyed yarn ... in the Lady Bug colorway. How neat is that. Isn't it pretty?!! Thanks Kimberly!

Wed. night was the quarterly 6.5 hour staff meeting at work. We sit and listen to them talk to us for 6 of those 6.5 hours and I get paid to sit, listen and knit. I was able to finish a pair of socks and start another one. Unfortunately, the one I started was one of my own designs ... I am terrible about writing patterns down as I go, and I didn't take the finished sock with me, so the 3+ inches I knit went straight to the frog pond. I shorted each cable repeat by 1 round ARGH!!!

Anyway, I finished the Spanish Moss socks in the CTH, Sockittome in the Spanish Moss colorway. I got this yarn from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe I don't know if this colorway is still in stock, but I think she still has the Sockittome in stock. It is really soft and squishy. The design for this one is also my own.

Well, all the kids are home from school now, and want to talk, all at once too. So I better go listen to what went on in their day.

Happy Knitting All!!

I Was Tagged

2007-08-29T19:22:00.001-04:00

And in my haste to get that cloth knit and shipped back out I forgot to take pictures of everything. My hands kept going numb from the speed knitting of cotton ... give me some size 1 dpns and some squishy sock yarn any day. But this was fun. It is not a fancy cloth, but hey ... I was in a hurry. The pattern is Garter Stitch Lace Facecloth. This cloth and some Sugar n Cream is on its way to Missouri, with a few other goodies in the box. Not a bad turn around time, I got the mail at around 2 PM and had this back to the post office before 5PM.

I made a pair of baby socks with some left over Lorna's Laces Sport in the Irving Park colorway. I hope they will fit a 7 month old baby. I didn't have one to try it on, so I am keeping my fingers crossed it will fit come Fall. 36 stitches and a short row heel, no pattern required.

I don't have any other finished pair of socks to show, but I do have some singletons. They are basically the same pattern knit in Spritely Goods Peppercorn, Opal Uni I can't remember the number, and Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Spring Frost.

That is all I have for today. I need to go pick DS up from confirmation class.

Happy Knitting !!

Yay!! ... there was enough....

2007-08-23T15:02:00.000-04:00

....yarn to finish the socks. I even had a little left, about 4 or 5 yards I would say. The yarn is The Knittery Merino Cashmere and the colorway is Grace. 64 stitches on size 1 needles. The design is my own. I think I may need to buy some more of this yarn. I got it at The Loopy Ewe and I know it is in stock :)

And for my August UFO Resurrection, I dug out this sock. I had forgotten all about it until I was searching through the stash for something else. This poor sock hasn't seen the light of day since April. I was beginning the gussets when I last worked on it. I am almost ready for the toe decreases. Darn those size 10 feet. I thought about letting DD1 have them for her Birthday in October, but she likes a plain vanilla sock, so the cables just will not do. I don't have enough blue socks anyway, so it is just as well I keep them for myself.

And just because I had empty needles, I started this pair. It is the Spritely Goods in the Peppercorn colorway (from The Loopy Ewe). The colors of this yarn were calling to me. It knits up really soft. I made a few minor adjustments to the design I am using for the blue sock above. It is knitting up pretty quickly, I started it this morning and knit on it as I chatted with Karen on IM. If only I could type with my feet I would be set.

Well, I better get off here and take the boy child to get his allergy shots. I don't want to go out as it is 99 degrees with a ton of humidity. They keep threatening us with rain, but it is everywhere but here.

Happy knitting all !

Added 8/24/07 Contest alert: and it is an easy one. This Kitten Knits is celebrating her 1 year blogiversary and is having a contest. Just go leave a comment on her blog.

Running Out of Yarn

2007-08-20T13:38:00.001-04:00

Oh my that was close. I was working on the sKNITches socks this weekend, and when I finished the first sock I thought to myself, "this doesn't look like much yarn." Wanting them to match, I wound a little off the ball so I could start at the same place, and cast on for the second sock. When I turned the heel I was pretty certain I wasn't going to have enough, but on I knit. And then I got to the point (to the left) in the picture..... crud, and so close. It was funny though, as the ball was getting smaller and smaller, I found myself knitting faster and faster, as if I could out knit the amount of yarn I had left. Then I realized that the faster I was knitting the tighter my gauge was, making that small amount of yarn go even less in distance. I began searching the Internet for another hank. I bought this at The Loopy Ewe but they are sold out :( And then the light went on. I had a tiny bit from the beginning of the second sock. Those toes don't match, but that sock is finished. And I think I have about a yard of yarn left :)

But I fear that is not the end of the yarn shortage. I don't think I have enough to finish this pair. These are knit in The Knittery Merino Cashmere sock yarn in the Grace colorway. I am going to work on these tonight. It is still in stock, well the last time I checked it was, at The Loopy Ewe, so if I do indeed run out there is a chance I could get more. I knit this same sock in CTH Sockittome and had plenty of yarn left over. The CTH has a little more yardage 480 as opposed to the 458 in the Knittery yarn. I am keeping my fingers crossed, well maybe my toes so I can still knit. I hope the knitting faeries will be with me as I finish these.

Happy Knitting everyone!!

School Days ...

2007-08-14T13:55:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of the new school year for my babies. The youngest one is the only one that will still let me photograph this momentous day. She is the only girl in the picture. She was so excited, she came in and woke me up way before the alarm went off, which was a good thing since her older brother still hadn't drug himself out of bed. The older two get on the bus 45 minutes earlier than she does. It was so fun to watch the other moms who are sending their little ones off for the first time. It brought back memories of DD1's first day of school. DD2 (in this picture) was a week old, and I was standing there with her in the baby carrier, my 3 year old at my side, I had every piece of photographing/filming equipment we owned hanging around my neck, trying not to cry as my eldest child stepped onto the bus. She was supposed to climb up the bus steps and turn and give me a wave to photograph. She climbed on that bus and never looked back, and I cried my eyes out as the bus drove off with my baby. I followed the bus to school to make sure she got there OK, she thought it was so I could take a picture of her getting off the bus and walking into school for the first time. I thought the mom of the little blond headed boy was going to hyperventilate as she watched him get on the bus. It is so hard to let them take these big steps on their own.

DD2 celebrated her 10th birthday yesterday. We just had a small family celebration yesterday. Once school is going full swing, we will have a friends party. It is so hard to schedule friend parties in the summer, everyone is on vacation, and the week before school seems to be the worst. Here she is cheering herself on because she was windy enough to blow out ALL 10 candles in one breath. She is too funny. She requested a DQ ice cream cake, which is fine with me. I don't have to spend hours decorating a cake that way.

Now, onto knitting... I finished the Wollmeise socks. These are knit in the Spice Market colorway. I love, love, love this yarn. I love the feel of it, I love the sheen it has, and I loved knitting with it. The Loopy Ewe is going to be getting more sometime soon, and I will be up for that sneak up. Sheri calls them "sneak ups", I refer to them as "drive by yarnings", because the yarn is here and gone before you know it, and so few witness it. Esp. if it is something that is hard to get your hands on, like the Wollmeise. And to celebrate finishing the socks, I wound more yarn and started another. The sKNITches in the Handsome Devil colorway. This yarn is unbelievably soft. I am enjoying working with it. And it has great stitch definition.

Well, DD2 will be walking through the door in about 5 minutes and will be talking my ears off, so that is it for today. Have a great week and Happy Knitting!

Better Late than Never.....

2007-08-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

The throw is finished. Well close enough to say it is anyway. Here it is, damp and laid out on an old bedspread, ready to be pinned out. The fan is on to hasten the drying process, the finish line is in site. Yeah, yeah, I misssed the Aug. 9th deadline. The in laws are coming over tomorrow for DD2 10th birthday, so I got an extension. It feels good to finish something big.... who am I kidding, it feels good to finish anything. Now I need to do some house cleaning.... yuck!

Look what the mail man brought to me the other day. I was a lucky winner of a blog contest. Some yummy STR in theLovers Leap colorway. Thank you so much LaVerna for a great contest and the lovely yarn. I will have to wind it now that the throw is finished. I think it wants to be something textured.

Well just a short one for today, I must get the house tidied up a bit. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and Happy Knitting!!

Groupie Status Achieved

2007-08-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

Two posts in two days...... unusual for me I know. But I was so happy when I got the mail today, I had to post again. I have attained Loopy Groupie status at The Loopy Ewe I am so happy. It has been my goal since I found them to become a "groupie" I wish my yarn budget was much larger, so I could have met this goal quicker. Isn't that a nice project bag, you can see everything you are carrying, making it easier to locate those little items that like to hide in the bottom of the bag. And I got a hank of Yarn Love in the Spring Morning colorway. One I would order for myself, it is very pretty. And also some samples of Soak Wool Wash. I love that stuff!

And for my order. I bought sKNITches Syncopation in the Handsome Devil colorway. It is lighter in color than I thought it was going to be. On my monitor it looked like a charcoal gray, maroon and tan. In person it is a dusty rose, blue/ gray and tan. But I still love it, so that is great. And the other hank is Gypsy Knits in the Rose Garden colorway, which is also very pretty in my opinion. I am going to have really warm feet this fall and winter, that is assuming I can finish more than one sock in each colorway.... that SSS you know.

The Wollmeise was screaming at me to wind it and knit with it last night. Not wanting to be a negligent knitter, I granted its wish. That is one big hank of yarn. I thought my arm was going to fall off before I finished. This yarn is a very tightly spun yarn, and has a nice sheen to it, and it is a joy to knit with. I will be buying more of it, and I think Sheri is expecting more sometime this month :)

Well I am going to go fondle the new yarn, have a great day!

Contest alert: wonderful goodies for the prize at Shut Up I'm Counting don't you love that name, go check it out.

I Really Have Been Knitting

2007-08-02T12:44:00.000-04:00

Seems like it has been forever since I have finished something .... no I don't have anything finished to show today. But I am making progress. Aug. 9 is soon approaching, the in-laws anniversary, so the afghan has been consuming much of my time. After about 15 minutes, I really start to get bored with it and have to make myself knit just a few more rows. I do this a couple times a day, or try to anyway. It is getting close, it is for sure getting cumbersome to move around when knitting it. The pattern is Spring Lace from The Little Box of Throws.

The MS3 has seen a little knitting time too, but I am no where ready for the next clue that is going to be released tomorrow. Here it is in that "lump of lace" state. I didn't feel like pinning it out for a picture, because...well, I am just too lazy, so the kids are helping to stretch it out. Not very pretty to look at like this, I know, but at least I am knitting on it a little more now.

And I have finished 1 sock in the CTH Sockittome in the Spanish Moss colorway that I got from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe I like this yarn. And the second one is in progress..... No SSS.

DD1 is back home, I am so happy. She had a wonderful time at my sister's. And as soon as she got home, she was off running around with her friends, so I still haven't seen much of her, but is is wonderful to have my baby home. Well I better knit on the afghan.

Mail Call

2007-07-21T12:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, DD1 left to visit her cousin in Ohio. She will be gone for 10 days. I miss her already, in fact, I called her as we were getting on the interstate to come home to ask her if she was ready to come back yet. She declined, so on we drove. I know she is in good hands with my sister, but it is so hard to take them somewhere and leave them. I hope I don't drive Karen nuts with my ten thousand calls a day. I have only called once today .... so far. Anyway, as we were getting ready to leave yesterday, we checked the mail and I had a package. (I really like the mailman so far this week.) The prize package from Heddy's blog contest came, full of Canadian goodies. My kids were as excited as I was. There is the Regia sock yarn, Farbe 5384 Partie 50958, I didn't have this color in my Regia collection. Maple Syrup suckers, 1 for each on my kids and 1 for me (thank you Heddy), Smarties, which are like our M&M's, (the candy coating is a little different), not like our smarties, a Canadian pencil, Canadian tattoos, wonderful stitch markers, and a deck of Canadian playing cards. What a great package, thank you so much Heddy.
And then today, a package from the Loopy Ewe. I showed great restraint in the wee hours of Thursday morning. It was hard but I stuck to my pre-set $$ limit. I got 2 hanks of Spritely Goods yarn. Lovely, lovely stuff. The greens, brown and coral is called Peppercorn Blend. I think this may be my favorite colorway of all the yarns in my stash, well for right now anyway. Now I have to admit, I am not much of a "pink" person, but this colorway reminds me so much of Dogwoods in bloom, (my mom's favorite tree) I had to have it. The pinks and the browns mixed with a shot of bright green just made me happy, so into the shopping cart it went. The colorway is Manzanita in Bloom II. And then I was so excited to try the Wollmeise. She had a great color selection, but the Spritely Goods colors really appealed to me more, so I only got one hank of the Wollmeise. There will be more coming soon to choose from .... :) . Beautiful shades of brown and gold and rust. It is perfectly named Spice Market. All three of these hanks have well over 500 yards of yarny goodness, so there will be plenty left over to make a baby hat or maybe even ankle socks for DD2. Sheri always puts a little something extra in the package and writes a little note. It is such a nice touch. There were yarn samples from Apple Laine and Yarn Pirate included and a lovely stitch marker. Thanks Sheri!

My take along project has been the Kenya colorway socks. I was able to do the heel turn and gusset decreases in the van on the way to Ohio yesterday. I was to the toe decreases by the time we left and closed the toe of sock 1 this morning. I have to cast on for the second one so I can put it back in the van. It is amazing how much knitting you can get done waiting on your kids :)

Have a great weekend everyone, it is gorgeous here in south central IN.

Just a small post

2007-07-16T17:55:00.000-04:00

I finished another pair of socks this weekend. I knit these in the new Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome yarn, in the Monet colorway. I really like the feel of this yarn. And on other knitting fronts: I am still plugging along on the afghan for the in-laws, the deadline for that is quickly approaching. I am officially behind on the MS3 as I have not finished all of clue 2 yet and clue 3 is out. And this weekend when I was looking for something in the yarn stash, I rediscovered a UFO that I really want to finish, the Fiona Ellis sweater I started over the winter. I knit about 8 inches or so on that this weekend. The back is almost finished. I was thinking about how long it has been since I knit a sweater for myself. I think it has been 20 years or more. The in-laws have each been gifted 2, my sister and my niece have received a few, and of course my children have many. I think it is my turn.

More later with pictures.

Stash Enhancement

2007-07-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

I am so glad I didn't join any of those knit from your stash groups. I would have failed miserably. I went to my mailbox today hoping to find a hank of Sockittome by Cherry Tree Hill. I bought a hank from the guys at Threadbear. But instead I was excited to see a bundle from the UK I still have a few balls to come of the Matchmaker merino. It was on back order. But WOW that was fast. I ordered it last Tues. and here it is today, in just under a week. I ordered a little surprise for my sister from an online company here in the US a few days before I ordered this and she still hasn't received it :( Anyway back to the stash enhancement, I got some Twilleys Freedom Spirit in the Air colorway, it will become a hat and mittens for DD1. When she saw it, she asked "what are you going to make with this? I really like it" She was very happy to hear it is destined to become something for her. Jaeger Matchmaker in Thyme and Ice Green which is actually pale yellow, so it will probably end up in a baby garment. And Trekking in colors 82, and 161.
This weekend, I drove up to Greenwood, Pam, was opened for a few hours and I got this: Cascade Sierra, in pink and peach to make DD2 a tank that fits a little better than the toddler tank she has laid claim to. Louet Gems Opal in off White and Sage and Artyarms UltraMerino 4 in color 121. I am working on that solid yarn deficit I have. So see, I really "Needed" to do some stash enhancing, anyway, that is my story and I am sticking to it.

And there will be even more coming, because I was the lucky winner of a blog contest last week and won some Regia sock yarn, stitch markers, Canadian tattoos, which I am sure my kids will love, and maple syrup suckers. Go on over and take a look at Heddy's blog, it is fun.

Because I am severely afflicted with the SSS, I did not finish a pair, instead I cast on for another sock in the CTH Potluck Brights. Karen gifted to me a little while back, and it has been screaming to get out of the sock yarn bin. I do love Cherry Tree Hill yarn. Very springy, it feels a lot like Koigu, I think so anyway. And boy did this stuff pool. I cast on 3 different times and it was always the same, so I knit on after the third attempt. It is a good thing I don't mind the pooling. I know it drives some people nuts, but not me.

As I was talking with Karen on the phone last night, I came to the realization that July is close to half over, so I need to concentrate on the afghan for the in-laws. I need to make myself knit on that every evening (wish me luck) as I need to have it done by the first week of August. I hope my family doesn't mind living in the deep freeze while I am working on that. It is growing and is very Hot working on it, with it on my lap. They will have to put on some woollies when I knit that, but it must get done.

Well, I am off to knit a sock or something, until it is time to pick DD2 up from her daily Parks and Rec fun. I love that program, and even better, so does she!

First Finished Pair for July

2007-07-05T14:12:00.000-04:00

And hopefully there will be many more to follow. I am determined to defeat this second sock syndrome. These are a pair that I started a while back, I don't remember how long ago. The pattern is my own. They are knit in Lorna's Sport in the Irving Park colorway (sorry Karen, I told you the wrong colorway), on size 2 dpns. The second ball felt so different from the first though. They matched well in color and "pooling" but the yarn of the second ball seemed so much thinner than the first. Not quite fingering, but definitely thinner than the first.

I have made a little progress on the socks I started last week. The sock I am knitting in the Opal is coming along well. I am working on the gusset decreases. You get a side view this time. I ordered some solid yarn from Angel Yarns in the UK, so I will knit these again in a yarn that will show the design better when the yarn comes. I will finish this pair too, because I like them, and I know what the design looks like.

And the Kenya socks are growing too. Just the Plain Jane stockinette stitch socks in some absolutely, wonderful to work with, yarn. Sometimes you just need plain vanilla. These have grown a lot just waiting in the van for the kids to get done with all the things they need to do.

The second clue for the Mystery Stole 3 group comes out tomorrow. I am ready!! I finished the first clue in the Pacific color, alpaca/silk lace yarn, I got from Webs. I finished it on Saturday. I thought a knitting friend of mine might like one for herself, so I started another one in a red Mohair lace wt. I will give it to her for her Birthday. I won this yarn last summer in a blog contest. I need to finish the first clue still on the red one ... I have a little tinking to do :( I missed a decrease somewhere, I think one of the double decreases I knit as a single decrease. That is what I get for thinking I don't need life lines. Anyway it is further along than the picture represents, and I should be able to finish it tonight. Tomorrow, July 6th, is the last day for sign ups for this group, so if you are interested you need to click on the link above and join.

And I love my Hibiscus, so I am going to leave you with a picture of it. Sorry about the sock blockers in the bottom of the picture. Last year, this was a new plant, and we were lucky to have 2 beautiful flowers. This summer it has blessed us with a new flower every day and sometimes, even 3 or 4, with many blooms still growing. I love it!