Smooshy Froot Loops!

What do we have here? Is this adorable or what? It's a new sock! I'm using my Smooshy sock yarn, Butter Peeps, size two needles and knitting away. I really love this yarn. It's the perfect width for socks. STR is lovely, albeit a bit thick and the socks aren't as comfy to wear. It is a dream to work with. However, I really don't like all the striping or pooling. This is more of a mottled effect. The yarn is very different than others, it's got smoosh to it. It doesn't split at all, it sails across the needles and the colors are beautiful. Gotta use my Gothic Rose next. I'm thinking that that might work for Bavarian Sock that I've been eyeing.....

Anyway, in other news. We had major thunderstorms roll through here yesterday. It was muggy and ugly and rolling thunder on and off throughout the day. My roof leaked. That's another story though...Plus, I think my wonderful little dog thinks that the hose to the pool is her play thing and she keeps putting holes in it, draining the water out lower than the filter. That's a real pain. We're not sure if its her (although we don't put it past her) because the holes are little pin holes neatly punched. She likes to tear things up, as she did to my Ruby Slippers sock, the louse. I don't think it's vandalism, so that rules that out. It may just be cheap plastic hoses. Hmmn...

I'm not feeling all that great. I have scratchy throat, cough, fatigue. I feel like the kids did last week. DS is still coughing and not 100% despite a five day course of antibiotics. DD is tougher and was only on the couch for two days. DH is sick. He feels terrible but is off working today because its my day 'off'. I get to clean the house and watch the kids today. Won't be too much knitting time until later in the evening. I don't think that I'll finish these socks in a week as I have for the past two pairs. Maybe...this pattern is a snap. We'll see. It's not that it's a race or anything. I just want to get my real Christmas Knitting projects underway.

Stay tuned for more tales of smooshy.

Lost Leaves .. a New FO.

Another pair of socks in a week. I've finished the Embossed Leaves. As suspected, the pattern is lost in the yarn. Sigh...
But here they are in their heavenly completion:

Embossed Leaves

Start Date: July 20, 2008

End Date: July 26, 2008

Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome, Birches colorway

Knitpicks circular, Harmony US 2, 2.75mm

The jury is out as to whether or not I like this CTH Sockittome. It's got nylon in it, which isn't a bad thing. It almost feels acrylic-ish though. I'll see how it is after it has its bath. It is loosely spun and tends to split from time to time. The colors are beautiful though. I have three hanks of it which I bought on clearance when a store was going out of business last year. So, have to use it up! I like the more tightly spun yarns, they show the stitches better.

What's next? Smooshy Froot Loops, anyone?

Embossed Leaves Update

Lately, the cost of things has really gotten me down. It's absurd. The dollar seems to have virtually no value. Everything is expensive. I filled the gas tank in the Equinox yesterday, $79.41. For the first time in my adult life, I've really curtailed my spending habits on the necessities. We eat steak less often. Once a month or so. That's probably a good thing. We eat out less. We drive less. I try to work from home one day a week, saving $8 in gas and whatever I would spend eating out. Another good thing. I'm also trying to limit the use of electricity here. I've been going around my house checking to see what's just plugged in and not doing anything. There are tons of things plugged in that don't need to be. I wonder how much I spend just keeping little lights on electronic appliances? Plus, the five computers, various ones plugged in. No need to keep that printer powered on all the time. These are called Vampires. So, not only do we have the knitting gremlins but we have vampires. Additionally, please consider all the non-green things that have to happen in order for you to have food, eat a cheeseburger. They have to raise the cattle, truck them food, the cattle produce methane, (from the stuff that comes out of the cattle), they have to transport the cattle to the slaughterhouse using gas, transport the meat to the butcher, wholesaler, supermarket you have go there, buy it and bring it home (assuming you don't walk to the market you'll use gas). Please do your part, continue to knit socks and try and reduce your carbon footprint. Watch out for those vampires and gremlins.

All of this leads to global warming, melting the ice caps and reducing the glaciers in Greenland drastically. Go GREEN.

Can you tell that I have been watching "Earth, the Biography" on TV lately? Excellent series. I knit to it all the time. Knitting can almost be considered going green. The lambies produce methane of course but a little wool goes a ways. I'll have to start spinning. I'm still kicking that around for my fall project. September always inspires me to do something. I love those first crisp days of autumn, which I call, "First Day of School Weather", makes me feel motivated. Of course, when I was a kid, September was cold. It kinda doesn't get cold anymore.

But anyway, wanna see my socks? I really wanted to have them done today. I may be able to finish them, we'll see. Here's what they look like lately:

As of yesterday, midday:

As of this morning:

Three things you'll notice, "What's wrong with this girl? She needs more solid sock yarn, the pattern is beautiful and lost here". Honestly, I wasn't expecting this to be as variegated as it came out. I was thinking more white...

Secondly, it's only a little bit larger. I finished the gusset decreases and I've moved the socks to have the instep on one side and the sole on the other. I'm about 6 rows into the foot now. Sailing through now! Two reasons I haven't finished: 1. I had some minor surgery on my right index finger's knuckle. Not a big deal but it hurts a little when its stretched.

Finally, the last reason is that my son has been on a puzzle kick. He wants so badly to be able to do a 500 piece puzzle. We just graduated to 300 pieces...

First, it looked like this:

And, two hours later:


It was done. So, not only do I secretly color in their coloring books but I also play with their toys. Honestly, I really coached alot here but he's gotten really good at puzzles. I showed him 'puzzle strategy', I like to do all the ends first and then sort out the pieces. This wasn't difficult at all but he's only 6. He was very happy to do this and get it all together. Sock knitting had to stop for a bit.

So, I can probably finish the socks today. We'll see. First karate, then they'll go in the pool and I can knit after that. DH is at work...I'm planning my next pair now, as we speak.

Eye Candy Friday

It's been raining here every day. When it's raining and even when it's stopped it's been muggy and somewhat hot. Today, refreshing cooler air has moved in ah...crisp cool air.

Tall Twin Pines, my backyard

In other news, last night, for the first time since the Jurassic period, I was able to attend knit night at the Village Knitter. The Village Knitter has relocated to a new space within walking distance of the old space and I love it. The other space was a bit too cozy and the new store has twice the amount of space, its clean and bright and painted a lovely color of orange. It's stunning. It brings life and brightness into the place. It's a great choice of color! I don't want to post too many pictures just yet though because they're still unpacking and tidying things up a bit. The yarn selection is expanding and I'm sure you'll be pleased. Stop in and see for yourself!

Here's a sneak peek...

Lamb's Pride, above, Lorna's Laces, below. OMG!

That powder blue / light aqua on top is grabbing me...I used my consolation prize from the Elizzabetty Knits contest (a nice gift certificate to this very store!) and got me some SOLID sock yarn. I got a nice blood red, Wildfoote and a nice natural green from Fortissima. I have yet to try the Wildfoote, which gets mixed reviews on Ravelry.

We also had a FO by Erica!

Pedicure Socks in Cascade Fixation, Erica in her Village Knitter wall color coordinate shirt.

As for me, Embossed Leaves is up to the heel flap. Waving Lace in a solid could be next. Stay tuned for updates and pictures! I need yet more solid color yarn.

How Much Do You Knit?

I should've joined the 52 pair plunge. I don't think that I would make it but I keep checking out the knitters and watching it, I'm like, ... glued. It's more exciting than the Olympics. Some people are off to a late start and some are on pair 10 already. Imagine, knitting 10 pairs of socks since Memorial Day? Geez Louise.... Some people knit '16 hrs a day' on the weekend. I wonder how much I knit?

How much do you knit? Maybe this week, (being I'm a math nut and find such things 'fun') I will keep track. I know that I knit an average of 4 hours a week in the morning. In the wee hours, before work. Sometimes, I walk on the treadmill and sometimes I blog, which would take away from knitting time. Then, I knit at night. Possibly three hours. Maybe a little less. Let's say that I do that almost every night. So, maybe 24 hours a week is spent knitting. That's one whole day and only a little less than half of what I spend working. Wow. It's like a part time job. No wonder I can't keep up with my housework, yard work, children's activities.....Then, there is all that time I spend glued to Ravelry minding everyone else's business, checking out what they made and in what color to see if I should do something similar or completely different...Oh well, time to show you my Embossed Leaves Socks which I started the other day.

Here's the cuff....

And here's what they looked like this morning....

Not that much done. Sunday night, I made a mistake, although I can't figure out for the life of me what I did. I didn't photograph it (because I didn't want to hear you howl with laughter) but I had a giant hole. I keep knitting along, too, thinking it would either heel when I wasn't looking or 'work itself out'. It didn't. Soon my leaves would be called Swiss Cheese Socks. So, I had to rip back about seven rounds on one of the socks, separating them and then putting them back together. That's always fun....thankfully, things are moving along swimmingly now.

This is Cherry Tree Hill in the Birches colorway. I don't know why I wasn't smart enough to knit this in a solid. I just don't have suitable yarn in my stash and it really is in need of an enhancement. Anyway, I like the colors in this. It reminds me of the sunlight going through the leaves in the springtime. There is some colors of the new leaves, the white light and some browns for the shadows. It's beautiful. This is Sockittome. Don't let it fool you, the yarn is thick and fat but when you knit with it, it goes skinny on you so don't think it's more of a heavyweight than it is. It's not. It has some nylon in it and it doesn't have as tight of a twist as the supersock but it's nice! Supersock is possibly my favorite sock yarn. It has excellent stitch definition, the multis don't pool, the colors are nice and there is adequate yardage for a pair of socks for people with chubby legs and feet.

I am a little further along than this picture and if the kiddies go to bed early (and stay there) I can do another repeat (16 rows) and start the heel flap if I'm not too tired.

I leave you with a poor photo of my blooming Lily.

Greetings from Sock Heaven!

I'm so happy! I finished my Spinel Spring Forward Sock! YAY!
Pattern: Spring Forward - knitty.com
Needle: Knitpicks Options - size US 1.5 - 2.5mm
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Spinel
Date Started: July 12, 2008
Finished: July 19, 2008
Gauge: 7 sts per inch


They're super nice. This is an easy lace pattern, more of a snap than Monkey although I think that I like Monkey better. I am not so sure that I like it in the variegated yarn. I loved it in the beginning and was falling out of love with it in the middle. I was back in love with them after I put them on. According to Elizzabetty, it takes that with lace. "Lace Socks tend to look like Shar Peis until you try them on." Words of wisdom. See my little Shar Peis?


No sooner did I put them on that I decided the next project would be Embossed Leaves with long tail cast on, twisted rib and there is NO WAY I am breaking the yarn after the heel flap so stay tuned. That just seems silly to me. Especially in a place where (EEK!) one could possibly get a hole at a later date.


I couldn't decide whether to do these in a solid or a variegated and the Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome that I bought last year has been burning a hole in my dwindling stash lately. I wanted to try it out. I don't have a solid but for some reason I thought I had Cherry Blossom, which is more white than anything else. I have birches. BUT, look what they did to me!

The label lies:

ahem.... The scale doesn't. (Unless it's weighing me, of course.)

Yes, I weighed the entire thing before I started to wind it up and yes both of my yarn cakes weigh 45 grams so I'm good and should have plenty of yarn. But 9 grams is alot to be shy! Those Cheapskates. Weasels. Infidels. AND, this is my favorite yarn, more so than STR because it's thinner and nicer to actually wear. I like CTH, Valley Yarns Franklin and STR. In that order.


Let's see how this goes. This yarn looks really fat in the hank but smooshes down like the Smooshy when you actually knit with it. The twist is looser than STR and CTH Supersock. I'm liking the colors alot! It's Birches.


Stay tuned for pictures of my newest WIP!

Eye Candy Friday - The Potato Chip

Posted on Saturday due to major stressing yesterday...



That's a heart shaped Potato Chip.


This is poor photography..unlike the conjoined cherries.

They're both cute pictures.

Spring Forward Update

Woo-hoo!

Leg is almost done! I had some time last night so I completed 2.5 repeats of the pattern to complete the leg. Per the pattern, the heel can start here or after the third repeat. I'm going to keep going, 12 more rounds and then it's heel time! I should have enough yarn.

I don't believe that this is as stretchy as the pattern led me to believe. The ribbing is STILL snug on my leg. Could it be that all this treadmill walking has given me Incredible Hulk Calves? I'm thinking, on my next pair, to go up a needle size for the ribbing only. Also, the best ribbing is the K2, P2.

The other thing is, this is the first time I did the twisted rib ribbing. Maybe it's a teeny bit smaller?

Have you seen the group "52 Pair Plunge" on Ravelry? You have to knit 52 pairs of socks in a year. from Midnight 6/1/08 through midnight 5/31/09. I mean, I think I could knit a pair of socks in five days, or even less if I have the time and I put my mind to it. But this, it'd be like working overtime for an entire year! Knitting and working would be my life. The way I figure it, you'd have to do a pair every 4.5 days on average, just to keep up. Somewhere during theyear, there's going to be a time where you can't do a pair in 7 days. Things happen, weddings, vacations, busy weeks with school/work/family, holidays, business trips, illness. You might be at places that wouldn't be as receptive to public knitting or you might just be too plain tired. Or the Gremlins might get you and you have to frog back. This is harder than the Knitting Olympics. SOCKS, EVERY SINGLE DAY. ALL YEAR. Membership is closed now but some people have already knit 9 pair! WOW! Hats off to them! I don't even think that I could blog every day for a whole year.

I'm going to watch, see how many really do it.

Spinel Spring Forward Socks

Yesterday, my husband decided to do a gig for his computer consulting. He left the house early and left me with the children, fast asleep. It was early. I had plenty of time. I figured that I would pick a color and wind it up into two balls and knit (reknit?) the Spring Forward socks.

After examining my stash pile of STR ... Downpour, Hard Rock, Rauen, Stormy Weather, Spinel, (I know, it's kinda small)...and, sadly, no really springy colors....I decided to go with Spinel. I saw YarnGurl's Waving Lace Socks on Ravelry and thought that my Spinel would knit up into a nice Spring Forward sock with minimal pooling. Waving Lace is a similar pattern and also in my queue. (I don't really like pooling all that much). Then, the Gremlins came out. They came out just as the yarn was on the swift and the kiddies woke up and were downstairs yelling something about wanting Rice Krispies and where's daddy. The swift was flying away and I hit a bump. Damn yarn got all tangled up in many places. I don't know how that happened, stuck down in the bottom of the ball winder, wrapped around the pole of the swift, underneath my foot. They move fast, those little buggers. I left it. I went out to feed the kids and came back to yarn hell. It took awhile but I was determined not to have Ruby Slippers, Butter Peeps and Spinel strewn about the house along with the laundry, dust bunnies and the dog hair.

It worked out ok, I got two nice balls wound up, each at 2.5 oz each. I didn't want to knit and be lost with the ends getting tangled, but I took care of that. Yes Siree, those Gremlins ain't gonna get my yarn tangled this time!

Then, kids were yelling about something again. So, I told them they could swim and I would watch them and knit. I can do that with this pattern, it's easy. (Not like Baby Fern, I have to pay attention more and the needle is smaller.) In the pool they went and I knit for a bit.

I photographed them against natural colored cement and these colors are very true.

Pattern: Spring Forward from knitty.com

Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight

Colorway: Spinel

Needle: Knitpicks Options US1, 2.5mm

Start Date: Saturday, July 12, 2008

What d'ya think? Nice, hah? I wish with all my heart that STR would come out with dark green semi solid like this. This is more blue-green / tealy. I like some of the new colors they have. It may be time for another four to add to my stash.....so much yarn needed, so little money to spend.

......Is there prize money for beating the Gremlins?

Back to the Drawing Board...Again

I'm beginning to think that the Knitting Gremlins are back. I just can't catch a break! They got me on the Asherton scarf issue, they got me on the Ruby Slippers toe-up sock which Zoey ate and now they got me Smooshy!

Last night, I was watching TV and happily knitting along on the Spring Forward socks and I thought they were coming out smallish...too smallish. I thought they might be smallish when I was working on the ribbing but with a lace sock, things are a little different. I did one 24 row repeat and tried them on.

Pardon the bad picture, I'm tired. They look normal but they're too small. Way too small. When I tried them on, I could hardly get it over the ball of my foot and the lace pattern became very, very distorted. I can't take this up to a size two needle because you-know-who ate that one. The yarn is really nice and this pattern really works with it. I don't want to use a larger needle because the YO's make larger holes and I don't really like that. Cookie A. says that you can skip YO's and use M1's on the next row and all the holes will be the same. That makes for much neater lace.

What to do? Put them aside for now, take up Ruby Slippers yet again and knit a toe up sock? I think that I may run out of yarn now that the doggie ate some of it. Hmmnn....I love this yarn but I'd have to use a different pattern and I like the way it looks with this one. I'd have to do a sock with 72 or so stitches if I were to use this on this sized needle. Lace sock? Ribbed sock?

Of course, I could roll the dice, buy a vowel or take STR for 1000. I could be daring and use the Ruby Slippers yarn, this pattern size 1.5 needles, cast on 66 sts and go for it. Hope that I can finish these with the yarn that I have and save the Smooshy for another day.

BTW, take a look at that wave crashing picture below. It's one wave, right behind/on top of the other. I can really watch the waves forever and I love when the ocean is rough. It was relatively calm yesterday with a few bigs waves but they were far apart. Anyway, doesn't it remind you of my Tidal Wave Socks? Pebble Beach, by STR? The colors are awesome in both the yarn and the ocean.

Meanwhile, shall I send my Dragon Scarf off to slay the Gremlins?

Eye Candy Friday - Ocean Spray and Socks on the Beach

Today, we finally made it out to the....

Beach!

The water temperature was nice, 72 degrees. The water is nice and clean and clear, no seaweed and no jellyfish. Look, you can even see that guy's legs through the wave.

And, there were some really awesome waves. (I just love this 4000th of a second shutter speed)

As you can see, I took my camera to ruin it take pictures. The beach isn't the best place to take a nice camera, the salt air and ocean spray work wonders with electronics. Anyway, I had a blast. DS and DD have been bugging me to take them to the ocean for several weeks now. In fact, Little Girl asked if we could go in like..February. Needless to say, they were ecstatic!

We stayed there really long, nearly four hours! I was doing a little knitting when I wasn't watching the kids attempting to drown.

Socks on the Beach!

Pattern: Spring Forward

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, "Butter Peeps"

Knitpicks Options: size 1 2.25mm

Start date: July 11, 2008

Once again, I put the Ruby Slippers yarn back into the stash bin and I pulled out Dream in Color Smooshy, Butter Peeps. I am making them into Spring Forward. Nice pattern, I have it memorized already and this yarn should work very well with it. So, another new sock project. I normally like to start one sock project and keep it going until its done. I almost never knit two pairs at once but because the baby fern yarn is so dark, I need something with a light color that I can knit at night. (note to self: look into buying a real lamp)

It's getting time for me to feed the kids, they're really tired, which was part of the idea. I have to finish the legs of the socks tonight, you know!

Stay tuned for an update to see if I can do it!

Later, that Same Day..........

This morning, I told you about working on socks toe up. I was very excited about these socks, actually. I chose the pattern Laburnum from Sensational Knitted Socks. I got them on the needle the right way and was merrily on my way to the heel.....see!

So happy was I that I even took them outside....

ah...so lovely my little toes.

In the afternoon, it was warm and I needed to take a lunch break from work. The kids were back from karate camp and hubby was on his way home to watch them while I finished working. I took the sock outside for some sun and to watch the kids in the pool.

They spent the afternoon there, in a basket.

I spent the afternoon working and then cooking dinner.

The dog spent the afternoon.....

Eating my socks, making a hole in the yarn and breaking it AND eating the needle. (Note the broken end!!). UGH! GOOD GRIEF!! WTF?

(calming down to my usual motherly, non-cursing self...)

Boys and girls, can you say, LIVID??

So, back to the drawing board for a third time with Ruby Slippers. I hope I can still reuse this yarn after frogging and refrogging and winding twice....better take out Butter Peeps instead tonight. Nice light color...probably top down it this time. I will work on them after treadmill, kids get bath and husband is sleeping.

Ok, in case I don't post tomorrow, I leave you with three pictures..
Dragon in a tree.

Life Among the Dahlias... Baby Fern progress here! More on this in a future post!



Dog doing time.....
No explanation necessary.

Bad, bad, Zoey....

Sheepy Power!

Last night, I finally got around to putting the finishing touches on the Sheepish Sampler scarf and taking her outside for a photoshoot. I am extremely pleased with this scarf. The yarn is superb (Debbie Bliss Rialto) the pattern is really cute and my DD loves her! I'm sure this scarf will be named before long...

Oh my, and what have we here?

And I thought I had to chase the doggie off the furniture. Better pictures coming but it looks like the dragon scarf is also finished. Ta Da!!

Will miracles never cease?

In other knitting news, since I have frogged the Asherton I decided to try something new with sock knitting. This would be new to me, not new to the craft. I'm attempting a toe up sock. I don't think that I will prefer toe up knitting although it has it's advantages such as not worrying about running out of yarn. Or, from another point of view, limited amount of little sock yarn balls strewn about the house. Plus, no worries about casting on too tightly and ruining the top. I'm just thinking that I won't have the heel in the right spot. I think you knit until the sock reaches the ankle bone. And then what happens.....? Well, stay tuned to find out. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. There must be a reason why most people knit top down. Stay tuned for some pictures of that. I'm going to do two at once, magic loop. I really have it in for myself.

Asherton....Frogged!

DOH!

Duh. What was I thinking???!!! Don't you see those two purl rows on the bottom of my lovely scarf? Well, they're not part of the pattern. I think it was supposed to be 2 rows of k1,p1 and two rows of p1,k1 and my brain didn't process it. How could I not notice that? Or did I and I just thought it was supposed to look like that??? Unfreakin'believable.

Frogged. Remember the Golden Rule of Knitting: Don't knit when tired. If you must, use a light color and a SIMPLE pattern.

I can't knit my Baby Fern socks at night because I have crappy lighting. So I am going to do something with my Smooshy Butter Peeps.....

Stay tuned for an update and a photo of an FO.

Asherton and Independence Day

After careful scrutiny, I have decided that I did not err in my knitting of the Asherton Scarf. It's either supposed to be that way or a mistake in the pattern. After the forty-something row pattern, I did the repeat and you know what? It matches the first one. So, it's right. It's staying. It's an official WIP. You be the judge - see anything out of wack at the bottom of that knit stitch diamond?

Asherton Reversible Scarf - by smariek

Mirasol Miski - 100% baby llama

Size 7 Knitpicks options

So, stop looking now, it's going to stay and no one will ever look that closely. Besides that, its correct...

I hope that everyone had a Happy Fourth of July.

~ Suburban Block Party 2008 ~

We attended our friend's annual Block Party. Unfortunately, the past two years we had some rain. I usually bring an apple pie but this year we got a late start and the bakery didn't have any large apple pies. So, I got a nice strawberry cheesecake. ALOT of calories and I had two nice sized pieces....good thing that I did 62 minutes and 3.589 miles on my treadmill. Now, we're even...sort of...

My children had a great time at the block party...especially my little girl.

They had a whip ride!

a bouncy obstacle course

a sheep, a goat, chickens and a bunny...

and TONS of fireworks.

Happy Birthday America! You don't look a day over 200!