Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend - that means family camping trip. I keep telling myself, "I love camping, ah, the great outdoors". Is it all worth it?

A week before the trip, I start packing. Two of our nice LL Bean sleeping bags were ruined this past winter when a bottle of bleach leaked, ate through a shelf and dripped onto them. The bleach ate through the bags, through the zippers and destroyed them. Ok, so that's $150 to replace....mere headache. I did 200 loads of wash, washed up the camp knives, forks and cooking stuff. Oh, did I mention my dishwasher picked this week to die? Well, it did. I replaced it and the new one is coming on June 4. Until then, we eat on paper plates. I simply refuse to do dishes. Then came a full day of packing, shopping for food, exhaustion and trying to get out of here by Friday afternoon. Around 2pm or so on Friday, I noticed that the windshield cracked. Sigh.... The Glass Man said to leave it alone and take it camping and we'll fix it on Monday. Then, we're all ready to leave and hubby, who was expecting a 3pm dismissal found out that he had to work until 5. Ho hum. 5 turned into 6:30 because of overtime and an unexpected trip to another branch of the bank. Now we're up to bad headache and the kids are itching to leave. He gets home and we can't find the adaptor to the gas grill. We can go camping but we can't cook. Trip to Sports Authority only to learn that he has the right parts. It's now 7:30pm. Van gets packed up. Not sure I could make it 130 miles away before 11PM. We tell the kids we're leaving in the morning. They cry. Headache intensifies, I fall asleep. I get up at 5, rouse the kids, head upstate.

At this place, electric and water are shared between sites. The people next to us were very nice but must've not ever gone camping before. Who sets their tent up practically on top of the water?

If you look closely, you can see the front of that box is the electricity and the back is the spigot, the rock is all wet as is the bottom of their tent. Their table was located where my screen room is (the right of the picture). They set up all the way at the edge of their site and I felt a bit squished. Actually, initially, they were in my site. I had them move their table to give me access to the water and electricity. They weren't too happy but understood. They had miles and miles between their tent and the tent on the other side. Ok, fine......I guess. I could hear someone snoring and it had to be them.

The weather cooperated, it was sunny and in the mid-70s which meant the first swim of the year in the heated spray pool and in the frigid built in pool. Kids do not care. They're happy as long as there is a playground, a pool and a tent. They love to see Yogi and Cindy, too.

Seeing my babies glow and my DH interacting with them, quality family time, that's what it's all about. It's worth it to spend 18 hrs packing and unpacking for these Kodak Moments........right?

Here's my dear hubby and baby girl. That's our tent in the background.

Being it's the unofficial beginning of summer, it is time to start working on a pair of socks. Here we have a pair for DH, in man boring black, Knitpicks Essentials, size 2.25mm, 64 sts casted on, pattern is Seeded Ribbing. Let's see how dark my thigh gets by Labor Day weekend.

I leave you with this pretty picture as I head over to Ravelry to see if I can do a Summer of Socks KAL or something!

Hello February!

Another month. It's the dead of winter here on Long Island. It snows a bit nearly every day, 2 inches here, 2 inches there. There have not been many warm days and I think we have snow on the ground from around Christmastime, believe it or not. Ugly bits of dirty icy old snow were covered today with a blanket of new snow. It was springlike yesterday and yet today we got another winter storm today and about 4" of snow. I would much rather have 30" of snow than all these itty bitty 'storms' because I only want to shovel once. Hello February.

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. Puxatawney Phil said six more weeks of winter but what's-his-face in Staten Island said spring is just around the corner. What kind of drugs was he on? Once the weather pattern is in place, it stays that way for the entire season pretty much. I predict spring will be late and I'm nearly regretting not digging up my Dahlias. Best to start shopping for bulbs now.

Anyway, I was able to knock out a third pair of socks for January. (well, technically, I finished them on February 1st.) Ok, I knocked out the first pair of socks for February. I finished a pair of Ridged Squares for my Dear Son. He wanted green socks and he got them.

Here's a close-up of the Eye of Partridge heel and the nice gussets. Much nicer than some of my earlier pairs. I used exactly 49 grams of yarn so I can easily make him another pair. The leg on this is on the longish side and they're a bit big for him so I'll be fine as long as it isn't a yarn eating pattern.

For the February KAL for Solid Socks, I'm working on Milanese Lace in a none green color. See if you can guess what it is. Hint: They're not red either! Pictures next time!

Until next time, happy knitting!

Another Knitted Pair of Socks is Done!

Tout Fini!



Ta Da! I finished Trekking 126 last night. I wish I could find my sock blockers and take a nice picture. Maybe if I spend more time cleaning and less time knitting, I'd be able to do exactly that. For now, here's a crappy picture of them.




These were knit on size 1, 2.25mm, two at once magic loop over 68 stitches and took two weeks. (I worked on some other stuff during this time plus I spun a bit). I like them very much but should've gone with 60 sts as I originally intended.

They match up pretty well, one of them was kitchenered at the color change so there are some 'sprinkles' on the tip of my toe.


Apparently, I wasn't paying as close attention when I divided this up as I have ball of yarn left and one scrap of yarn left instead of two balls! Luckily, I had enough on the smaller ball to finish the pair so I didn't have to hunt through the 13 color changes to find the right spot to knit the toe.


They're simply, delicious!

Slipped Stitch Ribbed Socks

I'd like to start off this post by wishing everyone the very best of the season and hopes that we have a great 2009. Pray for peace and for a more stabilized economy this coming year.

Next up, actual knitting! We're all spun out, time for a post of some nice new socks that I made for my little girl. I finally finished the slipped stitch ribbed sock. Ravel it for the details. I was very happy with the way they came out; they're just a wee bit small. The little girl has grown about six inches in 10 months and I did have to buy her new shoes, new sneakers and new clothes. These are snug around her ankle now so next pair will need to be bigger. I bet I can't get two pairs out of one ball of yarn much longer. She needs to go to a 50-56 st sock in order to get them on her little feet.The colors are awesome! I made them out of a STR mill end that I got at the Fold booth at Rhinebeck. These are all her favorite colors, Dora and Neopolitan ice cream all mixed up with a little blue. No attempt was made to match the striping, obviously. I deliberately used this pattern to break it up. Straight stockinette would've worked, too.

The toes are different but they're really cute!

As for this pattern, eh, so-so. It wasn't that fun to knit (as you can tell, these took me two months!) and I'm not so thrilled with the fabric. It's somewhat dense because of all the slipped stitches (maybe why they came out so tight?). I really liked the pair that I made my son, the Seeded Ribbing, much better. I made them slightly larger, anticipating growth as I made them this past summer. You can see them on the Ravelry page for this pattern. (Notice I told you that the other day as well as today, you can see that I'm still happy about that. I don't know if they chose my picture because they came out nice or the photography was nice but I think it may be a little bit of both! I sure hope so! DH, who is discovering that hand knitted socks are a wonderful thing, truly liked this pair and wants some for himself. I have some woodsy brown Lang Jawoll that I can make him a pair out of but I have my eye on the Merino Lace from Favorite Socks. The picture in the book doesn't do it justice. I was checking out a few on Ravelry and they're beautiful!

Alas, while I'm in get things finished mode, I'd like to finish up the Shawl Collar Sweater which has suffered a major setback. I was sailing along until the stupid instructions had me knit "20 rows less than on back" for the front and it just didn't work for me. I finished the front, seamed the shoulders and guess what? The front was about 1.5" longer than the back. So, finally, I got up the mo-jo to take out the seam and rip out out down to a point where I can fix that, along with the decreases for the collar. What a pain in the @(!&%@. Of course, it's now sitting on the needles and every night he says, "So, how's my sweater? I could've used it today, it is wintertime".

I'm adding some craft books to my library, I'll show you to them next time. I got a gift card for Christmas so I used it. I also think I'm going to order a camera bag with my other AmEx gift card, or maybe save it and use it towards a lens....we'll see. Gotta wait until things turn around a bit.

Have you seen mortgage rates? Hmmnn...maybe refi the house at 4.3%, pull out enough money for an alpaca farm....get the bag and the lens...some fiber...

Goodbye, Summer 2008

I woke up this morning and it was only 69 degrees. In only two more days, school begins here in New York. The skies are lovely and absolutely clear but there is that feeling of fall in the air. In no time at all, we'll be picking pumpkins somewhere. Fleeces and long sleeves will make their appearance, chilly chilly mornings, very cool and very crisp. Gone is corn and tomato picking as we soon welcome the harvest time.

I thought I would post a few nice summer pictures today, just so we can remember what it was this year. Summer eye candy seems a nice way to say goodbye to the season. FO at the bottom of these for those of you keeping track of knitting things. First up, photography.

Jones Beach tower and Seagull.

Goodbye Summer......sun set at Jones beach, ugly light post in the way....

Not to spoil the mood, but I did finish one last pair of socks for the season...the seeded ribbing. If you want more pictures, Ravel them here.

Pattern: Seeded Ribbing, More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch Start Date: 8/24/08
End Date: 8/30/08
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote, Blue Flannel
Needle: Knitpicks Options, Magic Loop Method, two at once, size 1, 2.25, 48 sts casted on.

I used about 1 skein of yarn for these little boy sized socks. He loves them so much, he wore them all day yesterday, even to the beach!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Catching Up...

It's been a rough week. Kids are getting ready to go back to school, parents are ready to rejoice. Only a few more days, hang in there. It seems that at the end of the summer, they go a little crazy. Summer vacations are usually done, camp is done, days are getting shorter, fall is in the air. They're itching for something new. It's an ugly, rainy Saturday morning today. Husband went all the way out to Montauk to play a Wedding Ceremony at 1PM. In order to make it there on time, he left the house at 6:30AM. Holiday weekend, gotta pass the Hamptons, one road...could take a few extra hours. I miss him already. I need him to help me with my kiddies who have the End of Summer Crazies. Don't believe me, do you? Read on.......

This week, I telecommuted on Thursday. I got up extra early so that I could do mommy things before work. I planned on making meatballs and sauce at 5AM. So, at 5AM, I got up and went downstairs. I heard the pitter patter of little sneakers....I went into my sunroom to see my son.

"Hello, Mommy. I got up at 4:48 o'clock today. I made this".

He is very proud of his art. So, I let him play with it and proceeded to make sauce and do laundry before I had to start working. See those meatballs floating around in there? I dumped them in the pot, raw. It adds fat to the sauce and makes it extra delicious, of course. It also saves time, no frying or baking. The disadvantage is they tend to fall apart which is ok because then we just have meat sauce. I think next time I will lightly brown them in a hot oven on my Pampered Chef bar pan. Sauce was perfect. Kids and husband gobbled up almost all the meat. I stole two meatballs when no one was looking.

After making the pot of sauce, two loads of wash, running the dishwasher, I worked. At lunchtime, I stopped. I had to make him one of his favorite sandwiches. It had to be cottage cheese on white bread, not toasted and cut exactly the way he likes it. Surrounded by cherries to make it visually appealing. Surrounded by cherries so he could save the pits and plant them in the backyard so we can have a Cherry Orchard.

Can you cut a sandwich like that? Who said girls are harder than boys? She eats whatever is put in front of her. This applies even if it happens to be in someone else's bowl.

DS & DD,Sharing a bowl of Rice Crispies. Noticed they used a divided bowl, don't want to get each others "COOTIES".

By nightfall, they were tired. Work was done and it was time to knit the socks. I got up to the heel flap and I crashed. (Remember, I always tell you, never knit when you're too tired! I do not take my own advice often enough and this is what happens.)


These are for my DS, who has little boy feet, size 12 shoes. I will make them a little longish and hopefully he can wear them 2-3 years, we'll see. I guess that depends on how he grows. I wanted to use the regular slip stitch heel flap but I didn't. I put in stockinette stitch, forgetting to slip. Dopey. Also, pattern has an odd number of sts in the heel, which I DETEST because I can't think that way. 48 sts around, 24 each sole and instep. Bada-bing (I'm keeping with the Italian flair to this post, have you noticed?) and you're done. No dice. I ripped it out. I also had to be a smart ass and knit them both at the same time and I turned in the wrong place. I ripped it out. Then, I noticed that a stitch that was supposed to be a purl was a knit. It was about half way down the sock. In fact, there were two of them that were wrong. Very, noticeable. You probably can't see it here but I can. I put the sock to bed Thursday night and scheduled its surgery for 5AM Friday morning.



Friday morning, I prepped the socks. (one stitch each sock was wrong...) I put one sock on a holder and worked on the other. "Crochet Hook", I said to the nurse, my trusty dog, Zoey, and I proceeded. I dropped the stitch back eight million rows and fixed it. Second sock, at 5:25, alot faster. Probably because I had my coffee. DS stayed in his bed a little later, thankfully. DH got up early to help me handle the kiddies, thankfully. Sock was fixed.

The crazies continued during the day when the little Punkins called 800 numbers to buy stuff off the television. You know, stuff they need, Rainbow brushes, Oreck Vacuum cleaners, that chamois wipey thing that the "Germans make", Hank Williams classic CD Collection and Sledge-o-Matic. Thankfully, DH was able to nip this in the bud.

Friday night, socks were together at last on one needle. I clipped them together with a holder, a guaranteed prevention of turning in the wrong place. I knit the heel flaps, turned heel on sock one and turned heel on sock two. I actually knit them together on a single needle all through the gusset decreases and no errors. YAY. Don't ask me how I did this. I know how to do it but I haven't figured out how to explain it. You need to have a spare DPN or two and it's not really hard once you think about it. Just remember, you have to knit all of the soles and then all of the insteps. If the sts are in the wrong place, slip them to the DPN. Keep slipping them and knitting them on and off in order and voila, at the end of a row (or two, if you miss the first time) everything will be lined up. This took me three attempts when I first did it and now it's cake. I will attempt to document it and photograph it someday.


Finally, this morning's knitting session, which began at 6AM (I let myself sleep in a bit because it's Saturday) went swimingly. I know this is a really cruddy picture but I'm well on the way to completion now. I'm past the halfway point of the foot and should have nice FO pix within a day.

Ah, Saturday. We didn't have eye candy yesterday but I have a feeling we will have a nice sky picture for tonight....hopefully a good one. The end of a rough week.

We'll be saying goodbye to summer tomorrow and I hope to have some nice pictures to help us all remember it. This way, we can look back in January and say, "look at that nice rainy weather".

Stay tuned, I can't wait to tell you and show you my new trinkets. I am going to work on a special project next and guess what? It's not a sock!

Seeded Rib Socks..

Yes, another pair of socks is on the needles. I can't have my son feeling left out so I started these during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics on Sunday night. Start date is 8/24/08. I worked on them after I took this picture and I am nearly up to the heel flap. Maybe tonight I'll do that and take another shot!

My fall project is going to be a nice bulky tweed pullover from Knitting for Him. He has picked out "Shawl Collar Sweater" - ravel it here. Only a few projects in Ravelry so far so we'll see. It seems that it knits up with alot of ease and I'm considering making it out of Cascade 128 Chunky Tweed, the same yarn that I used for my Hooded Danbury Coat. My coat is also quite large (and STILL not blocked) so I'm going to carefully swatch out of the leftovers from that and calculate what we'll need. The yarn calls for even bulkier yarn but I can't afford the Rowan and I was thrilled with the Cascade so I'll use that.

Gotta walk just 1 mile this morning while reading Farmer Boy. I am re-reading the Laura Ingalls books as I walk across the country in my quest to be fit and literate. I read these back in grade school and they're great for treadmill walking, large print and easy words. One chapter is usually 20 minutes and it's perfect. I am not enjoying this one as much as the others, very descriptive. I don't remember reading this back in the day, it's the one about her husband's boyhood. It wasn't available on the bookmobile so I skipped over it when I went through the series.

Treadmill time!

Amazing Lace, Take II and Disco Socks

For those of you who remember, awhile back, I wanted to make the Waving Lace pattern from Favorite Socks. I chose Lorna's Laces Douglas Fir, a beautiful greenish blue yarn, and didn't like it. It was just, I don't know, too loose, too lacy for me. This time, I picked up some Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Blue Blood Red at The Village Knitter and whipped out the pattern again. The pattern is lovely. I thought that it would be more interesting to knit but it wasn't. I like the way the scalloped cuff looks, also very pretty, but I don' t know if I will like wearing these. They are just a teeny bit too big for me. I wanted to end the pattern in a place where it would even out the pattern and I wanted to use my Harmony needle size 1.5 (2.5mm) or the next size up or because I was camping when I started these and had them with me. I should've gone down a bit. Maybe that was the problem with the Lorna's Laces? I will have to look back at my notes and check.

But anyway, now, appearing for the first time in public as a FO, I give thee, Waving Lace.

Pattern: Waving Lace from Favorite Socks

Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote, Blue Blood Red

Start Date: August 7, 2008 - Completed: August 20, 2008

Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Circular, size 1.5, 2.5mm, 64 sts casted on.

You can see that they are a wee bit baggy on the blockers. :( But they do fit ok. They're not big enough that they will bunch up in my shoe. Maybe I will give them away to someone with bigger feet than me. I was very concerned that that funky ribbing wouldn't be elastic. It's not very elastic, actually. If I make these again, which I might, they're really pretty, I would use regular ribbing for the cuff.

A nice segue into my next topic, itty bitty socks. DD is going to start Kindergarten. She did not hesitate to take me to The Children's Place and select an entire new wardrobe. She picked out several dresses, a few skirts, a pair of pants, tights and some argyle knee socks. We also went to the shoe store and got a new pair of sneakers and a new pair of shoes. Now, she wants sparkly hand knit knee socks to go with her little shoes. Patent Leather...Mary Janes. Now, I don't spoil DD (well, maybe just a little); however, the poor child was in need of clothes. She grew about 5 inches since January and has moved from a size 4 to a 6! Her feet got bigger, too. She really needed new clothes because pretty much nothing fit her from last year. Here's my new project.

Pattern: Elongated Corded Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks.

Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Colori Disco Socka
Start Date: August 20, 2008
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Circular, size 2, 2.75mm, 40sts casted on.

Aren't they cute and little? Let's call these Disco Socks. That k2, p2 ribbing is so itty bitty. I started my swatch with 48 stitches which was too big. being these are knee socks, I was thinking that I would make the cuff and over the calf with one size and then drop down a needle size for the ankle and the foot. We'll see. Like me, she is blessed with extra wide feet so we'll have to try these on. I'm sure the rib pattern will be very accommodating. I should knock these out in a few days, they're so tiny. All I need to do is stay up late tonight, knit the entire leg and then do the heels tomorrow night or Saturday morning when no one is bothering me. Early Saturday morning, that is; we're having a block party on Saturday so I won't have alot of knitting time.

That's about it on the knitting update for today. Not too much other news going on. The homefront is still here, albeit kinda messy. Because of the growth spurt in little Boobette, I needed to get her a brand new uniform for karate. That means that I have to whip out my sewing machine and put on the 900 decorative patches she has. That should take me a full day, I really suck at sewing. Plus, I'll have to hem the pants, another nightmare for me.

I am really happy with my Froot Loops Socks and the Smooshy sock yarn. I wish that it came in a nice dark green....or more colors. I love it so very much. Maybe I'll buy classy and make myself a Very Harlot Poncho so that I can wrap my body in it. Ponchos usually fit no matter what size one is and being I plan on losing weight, it may be a good project for fall knitting. Plus, planning to my DH a sweater, probably a pullover. I have been eyeing Saranac and looking around for other patterns. We'll see.....

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.

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?

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....

Knitting Update-Baby Fern and Dragon Scarf

The Dragon Scarf grew enormously when blocked. It is now a perfect 60" long. Today I will sew on on the eyes and the nasal tassals and take him out for a photoshoot. We're supposed to get yet another thunderstorm today and the dark lighting may make for a mysterious picture.

I've also picked up the Baby Fern Sock, the one I'm doing on size zero needles in Valley Yarn's Huntington (shh! I believe it to be the same as Cascade Heritage!) in a lovely dark green. It's a bit hard on the eyes to knit at night with this small a needle with such a dark color but they're coming along nicely. I was going to work on them a bit over this weekend but didn't get to them.

It was sewing time! Yesterday, Elizzabetty and I worked on a small knit top for my DD, the fashion plate. I was assigned a small homework project of doing the shoulder straps on my own so I will try that during the week and then I will show you my progress. Oh boy! I am so excited to be learning how to sew. To tell you the truth, I really thrive on the repetitiveness of knitting and crochetting. That is part of the reason why I think that I will like spinning. It can be mindless and rewarding. The other reason why spinning is turning me on is because I love things that are historical and having a nice spinning wheel in my house as a piece to admire would be lovely. Ah, beauty.

Speaking of beauty, the front of my house faces the north and it's always a few weeks behind the seasons. The lillies are just starting to bloom...

Yet the other plant, in the brighter light, is in full bloom...

And, the pansies are looking happy, like little smiling faces...

Such beautiful colors all around us.

"Life is just a box of...crayons"

Knitting Update! Palindrome & Baby Fern Socks

Will wonders never cease? I actually got a chance to knit today AND to finish an object. I currently have three WIPs and that's too much. I like to have one or possibly two pairs of socks and another project going at the same time, tops. Lately, I've been slacking. I have been working on the Palindrome, mindless knitting, for quite some time. Today, I took it out, in the 100 degree weather, and finished it. Also, in the 100 degree weather, I put it on...ok, just for a brief moment.

These were taken with my new Canon Rebel XTi...

A beautiful approximately 60 inch Palindrome scarf, hand knitted out of Plymouth's Royal Silk Merino. I used a little more than 4 balls so this was a bit more expensive than I had originally anticipated. I would have liked it to be a teeny bit longer but I was afraid that it would grow a foot or so when I block it. Actually, it doesn't really need to be blocked. this yarn is luscious, a pleasure to work with. It is soft and cozy and the cables just pop. Just look at this nice detail... don't look too closely, I wouldn't want you to find a mistake.....

Palindrome Scarf, looka that detail! (The yarn, not the camera!)

Next up, we have Baby Fern Socks, posing for you on a nice bush to add interest. (Don't you just love how my photography skills have improved? Much better than using a piece of my couch or the wall or having bad lighting, hah? Like, you'd think that I was hanging out with Ansel Adams...) Ok, maybe not great, just better, right? Gotta keep things interesting around here.

Baby Fern Socks...12 st pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

Valley Yarns - Huntington

Most importantly, I am working on this with size 0's, 72sts casted on, two at once magic looping. I was the very first project to use this yarn on Ravelry. It's Valley Yarns Huntington (shh! I believe this to be Cascade Heritage but don't tell anyone.) I might've been able to get away with size 1's but in the long run, I know that I'll be happier with itty-bitty stitches. That's me - queen of the tiny gauge socks. More stitches, stronger fabric, last longer....and takes alot longer to knit. These could take awhile. I felt like I was knitting for hours and only got a teeny bit done. We'll see how it goes, I was tired and watching tv and it's a 12 st repeat so I have to somewhat pay attention. Alot of knit rows in there though. Now that it's my main project, I expect to have the leg done within a week.

And lastly, ominous clouds. We had a nice thunderstorm with some wind blow through here around dinner time. That usually happens during a heat wave. It did cool us down to a sultry 78 degrees though. June heat is so weird, it's HOT HOT HOT but not sweaty overly humid. Strange.

I'm going to have to move to a house that doesn't have telephone lines in the view from the front door. A few blocks away, the lines are run through the backyards instead of in the front. Oh well, that's another post: History of Suburban Long Island, NY, for those of you who don't live here.

That's about it for the Weekend Update. Time to knit the socks and plan out another project.