A Little This and That

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?????

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

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.......

... 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....

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

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.....

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....

..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

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......

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!!