What a Week!

As some of you know, I have been knitting in the Solid Sock KAL on Ravelry. I started my peach pair of Milanese Lace on February 2nd all set with the intention of finishing within a week.

It's been a rough month. I did work on them and they're finished today, 26 days later; however, not without a war wound. These socks just weren't meant to be.

First, a broken needle.

Then, I couldn't find the matching wooly nylon which I had to use on sock 2 being I used it on sock 1.

Then, the directions being wrong for the lovely eye of partridge heel I wanted to do.

Then, I accidentally put a twistie in the microwave. Did you ever read that metal in the microwave causes a fire? Well, it's true. I burned a nice hole in my left thumb the size of a pencil eraser. Major delay of game.

Then, we were fooling with the furn-a-kit hutch; changing it into a coffee table. Great idea until we had a small mishap and DH put his end in first and it gouged a piece of my left index finger out. Yep...1" long and 1/4" wide. That'll probably leave a nice scar.

Thing I learned this month: NuSkin really works!

Then..finally, I was on the foot of sock 2....then the toe this morning...and voila!

That's my lovely sock and a nice close-up of the pattern. I love them. Let's see if they grow when I wash them.

Hoping for better things in March. Color is GREEN!

Can I knit Green Socks or what??

Milanese Lace Sock

Happy President's Day!

Without further ado, Milanese Lace Sock #1 is done.

Here's a close up of the heel. I've used Wooly Nylon as a reinforcing thread and it was a perfect match. Good Stuff!

The pictures are a little dark, sorry about that. I'll take some good ones when both socks are complete. Busy today trying to clear out my office and balance my check book from 1997 to the present on Quicken so I can work on my taxes.

Back to the shredder.....

Low Hanging Froot

Look at this:

Just wanted to show you a picture of my Froot Loop socks after washing. They grew and grew and grew. Next time I use Smooshy, I will knit them smaller. They seem to fit ok although they went from mid-calf to ... stockings! They looked normal size here, no?Odd. Oh well....I must say, they do feel nice and soft and I still do really love the colors.

My son is completely enamored with his blue socks and tries to wear them everyday even though it's been hot enough out that we can still swim in the pool. Next time, I'll make cotton or cotton blend socks.

Also, I wanted to tell you about my new project. I am making the Shawl collar sweater from Knitting for Him. It's huge. I am using Cascade 128 tweed, gray and charcoal and I have the gauge exactly right but it seems like it is gargantuan. I was going to knit it in the round but didn't because then I couldn't neatly make the seams big to take this in if need be. Pictures will be posted soon, maybe Saturday morning when I have time to blog.

I have to go out and take a picture now so I'm all ready for eye candy Friday and don't miss it this week!

Socks on Vacation - Part I

Let's begin, "Vacation Series", a group of smaller posts because I have a lot to say and alot to catch up on. First off,

I'm Back! Froot Loops are Done!

We took a week's vacation in the Adirondacks, starting on August 5. Yes, something weird did happen on that day. I had everything packed up and we needed one more bag for extra shoes. DH went downstairs and brought up this bag and I opened it up and found out that it was an old overnight bag that my father used for golfing. It had his had, a pencil, a change of clothes, a hairbrush and his glasses in it. Weird that I should find that on the five year anniversary of his passing. It was like he was saying hello......

Anyway, we packed up everything for car camping...in a tent...in the Adirondacks. The weather forecast was rain every day. Wet...damp....DH being sick, kids coughing. So, we went. Little Zoey went off to the vet's to spend a week on vacation in a crate being boarded and getting a spa treatment. I gave my son a half does of dramamine for the ride, my neighbor watched Bonnie, my 15 year old Shelty, and off we went. Not having any compassion, I let DH drive all 286 miles so that I could finish up Butter Peeps socks....We later found out that he does, in fact, have pneumonia, which explains his lack of doing anything so I have cut him some slack and allowed him to sleep in this morning. We arrived at the Yogi Bear Campground in North Hudson, NY around dinner time, August 5th. It was dry when we got there but they were predicting rain. We were able to set up the tent and have dinner and get the kids to bed before the rain came. And rain it did. Hours and hours of nasty rain, thunder, lightening, luckily with little to no wind. The next morning, a deluge. We got up and went out for breakfast. There was a small amount of water that came into the tent. It came up from the bottom, through the tarp, through the floor and through the interior tarp. The ground was so wet that I seriously doubt that that could've been helped.

The whole time we were there, it rained. Every day. Even so, we were able to squeeze in a few activities between the raindrops. We hit Lake George the first day, where it cleared a bit. We went to Fort Ticonderoga to go to Rite Aid and visit Lake Champlain briefly. We did make it up to Whiteface Mountain for the Memorial Highway Drive, something that was on my "Things to do Before I Die list". We made it over to Lake Placid for a stroll through the town. We also stopped at Lake George on the way home for breakfast and made a stop in Saratoga for a snack. I have many, many pictures for you and will show you a few each day. My socks had a great time. DH is worn out. I was a sport and drove home from Lake George to the bottom of the NYS Thruway in the driving rain for a good part of the trip. He finished up the last 80 or so miles. As for the kids, they could care less about the weather. They were happy to be away, running around and having fun. I am not a fan of camping, especially in the rain, but I must say that is is really good for them. It tears them away from the regular life and gives them a chance to actually play with other kids. Play like in the old days. Bikes, hide and seek, toast marshmallows, things like we did when we were kids.

Now for the first part of the Photo Album..

Home Away from Home...?

Our View of the Schroon River

Flowers at Lake George (Note: I like this photo very much, it is one of the top five I took this trip)

Froot Loops in Smooshy Butter Peeps over Lake Champlain

Fort Ticonderoga Ferry, Lake Champlain

Froot Loops over Lake Champlain

I tried something a little different on these socks, twisting the picked up stitches. I won't do that again. I need to work on neatness there. That one spot of knitting socks is what separates the Men from the Boys. It looks very professional if you get the gussets nice. More on this when I block them and photograph them on blockers.

Well, time to do 18 loads of wash. Please tune in tomorrow for a glimpse of my new project plus some really special eye candy. Here's a sneak "Peak", New Yorks High Peaks and Socks....."Ultimate Eye Candy".

August 5 - A Day That Will Live in Infamy

August 5. A very strange day for me and it's coming up fast!

Seems I have had alot of life events on that day and it's upon us once more. Sad ones and happy ones. My grandfather passed away, my father passed away (10 years later), my dog passed away (the same day as my grandfather), I took my road test, my husband and I went on our first official "DATE", we made an offer on our house, (comon guys! That was a different year, too!)

I wonder what this one will bring?


Rough week all around, first off, kids were sick. Then, DH got sick. Coughing, hacking up a lung, sneaking the occassional cigarette, bad boy that he is. It got to the point where I couldn't take it any longer ane neither could he. He went to the dr. and it's more serious than he thought. It isn't just congestion, it's down in his lungs. Fortunately, no fever, but she's treating him for pneumonia. He gets a chest x-ray tomorrow.



I got sick, too. I'm the mommy and that doesn't matter. Mommies aren't allowed to get sick and if they do, pretty much no one notices. If it lingers for awhile, the house gets dirtier. They may notice that the toliet is dirty, there are toothpaste stains on the mirror and all the silverware and the dishes are in the dishwasher and there is a funny smell coming from it. That's how they know that I'm sick. I am much better now though...no one noticed that either.

Because of all this, the Smooshy Fruit Loop socks are taking me a long time. So much so that it's been a week and I am just finishing up the gusset decreases today. Maybe, it's more than a week. They noticed that I was sick. They don't get knit as quickly and they have to hang out in the basket wondering if they'll ever have toes. Plus, I didn't take another picture of them. Not even an eye candy Friday picture was taken this week. Not even a knit night picture. I got plenny a nuttin'. Ok, you twisted my arm. I'll post an Eye Candy picture now. Belated but a photo nonetheless.

Another lily has bloomed!

This one is white. (duh!) I like my flowers . We'll be enjoying these pictures come the long dark days of February so I matters well post them now.

Let's see what this August 5 holds. Nothing is as exciting as when I was younger. Life, it kinda slows down. I used to think it was great to run around and see Elton John, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen. Nowadays, bravo for life's little miracles. For example, I was really excited the other day when The Village Knitter got a nice shipment of Smooshy! I now have Giant Peach in my stash!

And, it wasn't even August 5th....

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.

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!

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.

Dream in Color Smooshy!

Well, I promised and I deliver!

Here's som photos of my new Dream in Color Smooshy taken in bad light:

This one is "Butter Peeps". The yarn is fluffy and looks almost like worsted weight until you stretch it a teeny bit and then it's thin like fingering weight. The colors are beautiful, creamy buttery and cantalope! Tons of yardage, too!

This is Gothic Rose, sort of a nearly solid black cherry.

I have tons of things to do today so I probably won't be doing much picture taking. We'll see though..

Here's a picture I took last night of my Snapdragons which I planted two years ago and come back every year big and strong and pretty!

Time for morning exercise and knitting before the family gets out of bed!