SoS 08 Has Begun .....

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

......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

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

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.