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!

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!

Disco, Disco Done.

Jump for joy! Another pair of socks!

The flame is still lit. Well, according to NBC it is but it has really been extinguished. These weren't an Olympics project. I'm with the Harlot, it should happen only every four years.

Gotta wash them. She says they're itchy. They probably are. That metallic stuff that makes them sparkle is polyester. I'll see how they come out after they've had their bath.

Gotta catch the closing ceremonies.

Hope you like them!

The Sands of Time

Only one more week of summer vacation. I took the little girl clothes shopping and she came home with a huge haul. Dresses, tights, knee socks, more dresses. She is particularly fond of her school shoes.

Odd that she would choose these. They made me think alot about my childhood. I remember my first day of Kindergarten. Unlike my baby, I was the firstborn. I remember that I wanted to be an adult. None of that kid stuff for me! The first day of school, I had a jumper, It was teal. I had a long sleeved white shirt under it with ruffles. I had white knee socks and shoes. Shoes that looked very, very much like these. Mine didn't have the skid resistant rubber sole though; that probably wasn't invented yet. My mother pinned a little handkerchief to the left side of my jumper. I have no idea why she did that? Maybe it was the style? She did it every day. Little ruffly handkerchiefs. I distinctly remember my mother asking me, "Are you going to miss mommy"? And, I answered back, seriously, "no". I really, really wanted to go! I didn't go to daycare, nursery school or any type of program. I stayed home with my stay at home mom. The term Stay at Home Mom wasn't coined yet. Why? There was almost no such thing as a "Working Mom". Almost every mom stayed home. Like on Leave it to Beaver, Donna Reed, Bewitched and other shows of the time. I saw the tears well up in her eyes. "Really?" "I want to go to Kindergarten". Then, we gathered up the other kids and moms that were in the "Morning Program" at PS 12 and we took stroll over there. I was so excited and didn't cry or miss my mom at all. I knew she would be there to pick me up. No separation anxiety, nothing. School was great!

And now, decades later, I send my own little girl off to school. In less than two weeks, my baby girl will start a new chapter of her life.

I hope that I don't cry like I did with my son. I hope I can handle this. I hope she does well.

When stressed...knit!

Maybe I'll have to send her off with socks so she can feel the love. Will they be done in time? Knee socks to go with those cute little shoes...these are the colors she picked out. They're coming along nicely. They're certainly going to work as knee socks for her. I wasn't thinking that this yarn would stripe but it is and it's even striping per the pattern repeats, interesting. I should make 40 stitch socks more often. She can't wait to wear them with her new school shoes.

Must knit...keep my mind off of, "I no longer have babies".
I can still get a thrill out of watching them sleep though. I took this picture to remember how cute they look when they're small. I will have to show it to them one day when they're like, 20.

Sigh.

She wants to go to Kindergarten ............just like I did.

Eye Candy Friday - The Food Edition

I've been a very good girl this week. I even went to a birthday party and didn't eat anything. Not even a taste of the cake. So, here's a picture of what I would love to eat.

Mrs. London's Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Yes, it's $35 for a pound cake sized loaf and it's $7 a slice. But they do have a mail order program.

Yes, it's alot. And, uh, how much did it cost you for that last ball of sock yarn? And, you had to make them yourself? And, they're "just socks". They're just socks like this is "just cake". I've been to Paris and this is just as good, if not better than some of the pasteries I had there. Of course, you can wait outside the store in the line for awhile.

I think I'll go back up there on Columbus Day for some....just ... a slice.

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.....

Saturday Sky

Early Sunset, Massapequa

--

Well, I promised a picture of finished Froot Loops, Dream in Color Smooshy, Butter Peeps Colorway and here you have it. I made these in nine days, finishing them on the infamous August 5th.I also would like to share a picture of the newest member of Thursday night knit night, Lars.

He's knitting a beautiful sweater in Lobster Pot and it's cashmere and we all got to feel it. It's gorgeous! Odd how the stripes photographed kinda blurry, they're not like that in person.

This is knit in the round and he's been working on it as an Olympics project. He's inspiring me to knit another sweater, which I will be doing in the near future, the fall, when I want this thing keeping my legs toasty. I am thinking about a nice pullover, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman.

That's it for now, time for the beloved treadmill and then heels and gussets on my socks!

Next time, Waving Lace update!

Eye Candy Friday

Boxwood Against a Stormy Sky.

Socks on Vacation - The Final Chapter

Well, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, I knew it would stop raining. DH was exhausted and not feeling all that well, DD was coughing, it poured. We packed up our campsite inside of three hours and headed down the mountain to good old Long Island, land of flatness with beaches.

We stopped in Lake George for a nice breakfast and a chance to get out of the rain, plus to fill the gas tank. Miraculously, the sun came out. "May I suggest that we stop in Saratoga? Let the kids run around?" By the time we got there, it was after 1PM and the entire town would be at the races. What better time to stop for a snack at my most favorite, most delicious boulangerie?

Mrs. London's Bake Shoppe, Saratoga Springs, NY.

The most scrumptious, most delectable goodies. Coffee, breakfast, cake, it's almost like being in Paris.

Doesn't that look yummy? I had to shove the lady in front of my out of the way to take this picture. It was what I felt like eating but I was so stuffed that I couldn't squeeze it in so I elected to get a chocolate chip cookie for the road instead. YUM!!!

Next, we took a stroll down the block to another landmark...

They have tons of stuff in here, plus, they have pretty window decorations.

That's DH peaking into the doorway, far right. Even he can't tear himself away and he knows as much about yarn as I do about the NBA.

They have so much yarn there! Probably because they grow it on site..

Right in little clay pots! Very imaginative, don't you think?

Inside, DD was thrilled to see funky hats. She was also spending alot of time inhaling vinegar fumes from many a hank...a lady stopped me and said, "I can see she's already into it".

Yes, a musician and a knitter and a crocheter she will be. She is such a mini-me it's scary sometimes.
Naturally, I didn't really buy that basket of yarn in my previous post. I took some Colinette Jitterbug in Fruit Coulis colorway.

Here it is near the Tappan Zee Bridge. I also took some Reynolds Soft Seal Wool in red. I haven't photographed it yet. Other than this brief moment, it rained or looked like it almost the entire way home.

I drove from Lake George to the last rest area on the Thruway, just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge. I wanted DH to drive so I could snap some pictures. My supercool beloved camera can take pictures out of a moving car with ease. So, here I have for you, the little cloud who grew.

Look closely, that's the same cloud and it was rising rapidly. I watched it grow and grow, it darkened and turned into this.
and, finally, the little cloud grew and grew. And, others all around it grew and grew. It was able to take this shot from the Throgg's Neck Bridge. The thunderstorm was over Manhattan, see the Empire State Building there? That's the Whitestone Bridge.

Thunderstorm over the Whitestone Bridge, NYC, August 11, 2008...my birthday!

Stay tuned! Next up, a FO, a new project and a new friend!