Migraines, MItts and Socks.

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

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

... 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

...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

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........

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

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

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

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

... 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 ......

... 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

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...

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

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 ....

..... 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!!