Wire, Wire!!

I remember a number of years back, I was at Saratoga. The horses were at the 1/16 pole and a 'man' in front of me had placed a large bet on the horse that was out in front by over a length. A closer was rapidly closing the gap on the outside, gaining quickly and steadily and this man yelled, "Wire, wire!!!" That all came back to me as I was finishing up my socks. 420 yards of yarn, plenty, you say? I had very little leftover. Here's a peak! See that tiny ball!? That's the leftover! Oh my! I was yelling, "Wire, wire" myself there at the end of the toe decreases. But all in all, it worked out well, see the finished product and there is an additional shot in the brag book.

I love them. They're to be a gift to my aunt. I'm sure my uncle will want a pair, too.
I loved the pattern. The STR is calling me but I am really scared about running out. I am nearly ready to attempt toe up, two at once..It must be that I have huge feet. Not long, but very wide. Originally, I had knit an entire sock of these but it didn't match the first one because I casted on less stitches. Just increasing that pattern one repeat was a big difference. Making a sock that is 9" or more in circumference really eats up the yarn. I frogged it all and started again and ran out of yarn about an inch from the toe decreases. I will weigh the remainder of the ball just to see how much I have left over.

I could do the STR and make them a little smaller and give them to my sister in law for Christmas. She LOVES pink and the lace pattern would be lover-ly in pink. Her foot is narrower than mine (as is 99% of the population's because I have flippers).

I am so happy that I have another FO. Now, what's next? Pink lace socks will probably get started. All that's on the needles now is the Wallaby and that's not portable. I want to finish that up, get the pink socks going, too. I may cast on tonight for the pink socks during the Sopranos. Two at once, top down, methinks...

After the Wallaby, the poncho and then a probably a baby project being they're coming in droves around me lately.

More later, time for breakfast. Little bear is saying, "Here's looking at you, kid" so the ravioli and fried rice are a definite no-no. I think we'll do a beach walk tonight, go check out the high surf from Tropical Storm Barry that should be battering us later today. It's a bit chilly at 69 today and the kids want to swim but that's not looking very good right now.
"Here's lookin' at you, kid. Keep up the good work, eat the bran flakes and skim and you'll look like Angelina Jolie in no time" - NS Bear.

Bear Necessities...

Nutrisystems sends you a stuffed bear every time you lose 10 lbs. Mine arrived today.

Isn't he adorable?

He posed with the socks and he posed with the Wallaby. Later, we got a knock on the door at 8:20 AM. I was in my PJs working on the sock. I couldn't let whoever it was SEE ME. I totally forgot about the rocks being delivered. They came today!

Isn't that a cool action shot of the dump truck? We are going to put them all around the pool. The kids are supposed to help with that project and I am supposed to be food shopping. They're upstairs destroying the house and I'm here blogging away.

In the knitting world, the socks above SHOULD be done tonight. Maybe not kitchenered closed but maybe so. I like this two socks at once bit. Ok, ok, I did knit them together last night but that's what happens when one knits and sleeps at the same time. I am just about up to the toe decreases and I am getting very excited about it. I will try them on tonight. They're a gift for my aunt and her foot is a little smaller than mine. (a little shorter, a lot narrower so I am a bad model.) My foot is so incredibly wide...like 10" in circumference, maybe even more. I just don't know if the STR is going to cut it for me. Even this pair, I'm using cherry tree hill, 420 yards and I'm starting to run low. Remember how I took out an entire sock because it was too narrow? Well, that yarn only lasted to the ball of the foot when I widened the pattern by a few stitches. Amazing.

It's sad because I am considering making the cross hatch lace pattern out of the rose quartz but I don't want to run out and I don't want anklets. Let me think about it. I am going to finish this pair tonight so I have one night to 'sleep on it'. The poncho won't be started until the Wallaby is done and that seems to be going slowly now that I have had to knit it twice. I'm up to the rib area somewhere. I may work on that tonight instead, depends on how tired I am.

Hey, Knitpicks now offers 32" cabled circulars in some new sizes. I have to get me some of those. That should work fine for two socks at once. It's ok now that I have the hang of it, just a little tight. I also want to do two socks, toe up someday. I'm not brave enough to try that yet though.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I will have a fo to show you. Nice new socks!

Looka Me!! Ya hoo!!

Two socks, one circ, two socks at once on the magic loop!!!

Remember the socks that didn't match? Well, I ripped out the entire leg of the smaller one and re-knit it with the correct number of stitches. I did both gusset decreases separately and now I'm working on the foot, two socks on the needle at once.

My opinion, I love it. There is a big advantage:
Two socks get done at once. OK, Ok, the needle length isn't ideal. BUT: Two socks get done at once, buy a longer needle. You like the Addis...let your conscience be your guide. Time to e-mail knitpicks to come out with size 0 and 1 in 40" cables. I am very excited about this. I may attempt to do two socks at once pretty much the whole way next time. I think the cable is too short to accommodate all the sts through the gusset decrease though. Here's the plan.

1. Get sock 1 started, do 10 rnds of ribbing, put on holder.
2. Get sock 2 started, do 10 rnds of ribbing.
3. Put sock 1 back on the needle with sock two, continue in ribbing (I usually do 20 rnds) and do all of the legs at the same time.
4. Do sock 1 heel flap + turn while sock 2 hangs out on the cable.
5. Do sock 2 heel flap + turn and then put on stitch holder.
6. Do sock 1 through the gusset and gusset decrease, put on holder.
7. Do sock 2 through the gusset and gusset decrease.
8. Put sock 1 back on the needle and sail through the foot and toe.
9. Kitchener both and they come off the needles within a few mins of each other.
Ta-da!

I am going to attempt a toe up sock soon. It would be really nice to finish two socks at once and not have all these little balls of sock yarn decorating my house. I could basically just go until I ran out of yarn for the most part. Not the next pair though. I am itchin' to try out my STR Rose Quartz and I am going to do the Crosshatch Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

That's what I'm going to try, so stay tuned.

As for the Wallaby, I've nearly recovered from my nervous breakdown short dilemma, I was able to knit enough rounds and I will be re-joining the pouch tonight. Then, only 10" more to be back where I was the other day.

In other news, I went to NYC for work. I used to go every single day and now I only go once in awhile. It was an adventure and now I'm back to my LI office which is about 1/3 of the commute so I have a 'longer day'. That means more free time but I usually spend it working.

Two more weeks of double daycare and I will be home free. I think I will be a millionaire. Maybe step up a few things around here. Let's see what do I need? More stash? A new set of needles? (I'm wearing out my Options?) I know, time to save for a new front door and to fix the leak in the roof and to finish the basement. My contractor will retire someday so I need to get this done. I just have to plan out the basement and we'll have a nice big playroom. We'll wire the walls for optimum sound and get a nice large screen tv down there. I have two gliders to knit in and one can go down there. I'll put in a nice dehumidifier that drains to the outside so I don't have to dump the tray. It'll be nice, I'll the kids will have a really nice playroom. Too bad the lighting sucks. I do have a good electrician now though. Outside outlets and pool grounding will be done on June 29th. Yippeee!!!

Ho hum, it's 7:25am, time to get ready to make license plates go to work.

Stay tuned for more stories of the Wallaby and the Socks.