Yah!

I heard from my Sockapalooza receiver She did receive the package and says it’s “WONDERFUL”.

PHEW!!

Now off to take my whiny self a nap!

 

Sockapalooza Four socks are here!!

And oh my gosh are they gorgeous!!!

I have never had someone else knit me socks before. These are so so so soft, a Merino/Cashmere blend. Another first for me…I’ve never had cashmere anything (well, unless you count my Body Wash ). The fit is absolutely perfect! I didn’t even have to struggle to get them over my heel…something I almost always have to do with socks I make for myself. The stitches are so even and neat, I love the pattern on the leg and how it switches to wide ribbing on the top of the foot. The heel is gorgeous, with ribbing identical to the top of the foot and a nice garter stitch edge. The colors are fantabulous!! It’s called “Orange Blossoms”. She also sent some extra yarn for darning, two very cool skeins of Opal Glitter yarn, and an awesome card (where did you find them!?).

Thank you thank you thank you to my wonderful partner Suzann!!!!

 

Smokin’ Needles

I think I have a case of the “smokin’ needles”. I just keep banging out FOs left & right. I was checking out my Ravelry Projects page…I have completed 13 projects in the month of July. And there are still three days left!!

I finished my Jaywalker socks. They turned out lovely. I love them. Can’t wait for it to cool down enough for me to actually get to wear them lol. I like the pattern. It did get a little bit tedious which is why I finished so many other projects while doing these. But I you can’t complain about the finished socks. They are fantastic!

After I kitchenered the toe on the second Jaywalker, I immediately cast on for another pair of Thuja socks. This time for my youngest daughter. I finished those in just over 24hrs. I absolutely love that pattern. It works up so quickly and the finished product is just great!

I’m not sure what’s next for me. I know it will be socks, that’s all I have a taste for right now. It will either be Blueberry Waffle Socks or River Rapid Socks (PDF file).

I have my Sockapalooza Four package all ready to go. I can’t wait to send it out!! It occurred to me the other day as I was finishing up shopping for my pal…I have been so involved with this package, the socks, my partner that I completely forgot…someone out there is knitting for me too!! Not only did I get to have fun knitting & shopping for my partner but I get a new pair of socks made especially for me too! Can’t beat that

 

Socks, socks, & more socks

I am on a sock knitting binge. Actually, I’m on a ’start a new project every 5 minutes’ binge. I’m going to fast, I don’t have time to update my WIPs thingy on the side there.

I’ve started my very first pair of jaywalkers using the Sockpixie yarn I purchased few weeks ago. They are lovely. I love how the striping is so even and neat. Like I planned it that way. Well, at least until I get to where I do the heel flap. Then the stripes get smaller, then on the foot where the stitch count goes from 84 (for the leg) to 76…the stripes get more tiger looking than I’d like. I’m about 5″ into the foot and I think I’m going to (gasp) rip it out back to the bottom of the leg and try a short-row heel instead. I’m thinking that might help keep the striping a little more uniform. I’m not all that fond of heel flaps anyway. Any advice?

I am loving the yarn though. It has a shine that makes it look like it has tencel in it, but it doesn’t. It’s 100% superwash Merino and oh so yummy soft.

I finally made my mom the pair of socks I’ve been promising her for months. I decided on the Thuja pattern from Knitty. They were such a quick and easy knit!! I started the first sock around 3:30 in the afternoon and finished it by 9:30 that night. That’s with lots of starts & stops (remember, I have four kids home on vacation who for some reason feel the need to EAT, several times a day…three dogs who need to go out ever 15.3 seconds or they will DIE…and three cats who think my knitting needles & yarn are on this earth purely to entertain THEM). I started the second sock the next morning and finished it before lunchtime. They are sooo super soft & comfy, even though I used Moda Dea Sassy Stripes (mom’s choice) which is 100% acrylic. The color is “Crayon”. I also managed to make them twins. No small feat considering the striping on different skeins does NOT match up at all even though the dye lots on the label are the same. Found that out when I made “My Socks” a while back.

I also started a pair of Cable Footsies from my “One Skein” book. I’m using Artyarns Supermerino #103. It is so soft, I can’t wait to get them on my feet. I’ll try to forget that it’s July and eleventy billion degrees outside. I started the first one last night (while contemplating frogging the jaywalker) and am already onto the foot part. I’ve been working on another Booga Bag for my niece, who’s birthday is NEXT WEEK (eep!). I’m using Patons SWS in “Natural Geranium”. The girl loves pink! Practicing my continental while doing the boring round & round knitting every row for eternity (it seems).

What else? I’m getting my Sockapalooza Four pal’s package ready for sending off in about 2 weeks. I decided on some stitchmarkers made by me, some soak wash from the Loopy Ewe, maybe a Bee Bar. Of course, I’ll send some yummies. It’s just a matter of deciding. I’m not too keen on sending chocolate to where I have to send it in this heat. Still thinking.

It’s very quiet. I wonder what my children are doing…..

 

‘Saucy’ Sockapalooza socks DONE!

Sorry for the crappy picture of the pair…that’s what I get for waiting until sundown to take a picture.

Here is a close up of the heel, the way it’s supposed to look:

Now just to wash & block them and they are all ready to be sent off in August. Now to figure out what else to put in the package. What are y’all sending with your sockapalooza packages?

 

I am alive

But my children might not be by the end of the summer!!
KIDDING!!

We are all trying to find our rhythm for the summer. My youngest had the hardest time, oh my heaven the child was possessed. It’s getting better, as evidence I am able to blog finally! Thankfully, for my sanity’s sake, I have been able to knit. OTN I have the Dream Swatch Headwrap. I also knit another Easy Baby Cardigan. This time in lavendar for another co-worker who is due in October (I swear, I am NOT drinking the water there!). I forgot to get a picture of it before getting it to her I probably won’t get a picture either because I put in my notice last week. July 3rd will be my last day. I’m staying home with my kids for the summer, then it’s back to college (again) at the end of August.

**KIP note**

I was working on the purple Easy Baby Cardigan in the van while waiting for my boys to get out of school on one of their last days of school. A woman came up to my window and asked me about my knitting, if I did a lot of it, etc. She knits too, but prefers crochet because “knitting takes too long”. Then she started asking me about the baby sweater, asking if I sold them. I said no, I usually give them away as gifts. She chastised me! Said I should be selling them (yeah right…even at craft fairs people look but don’t buy, saying stupid things like “I could do that!” *huge eyeroll* ). She asked if I would knit her two boys sweaters for two baby showers she has at the end of the summer. Gave me her number & everything. I haven’t decided if I want the hassle. I knit because I don’t have to YKWIM? It’s relaxing because the only deadline I have is the one I give myself. There’s no boss/client/co-worker waiting on me to finish my part. Anyways…

I’ve been working on my Sockapalooza socks. They’ve been giving me fits. Well, actually the first one is giving me fits. Yes, the one that’s been done for months now. I realized I did the toe & heel wrong. So after I finished the second sock, I went back & ripped out the first one all the way back to before the heel. I worked on it over the weekend while we made the looooong drive to the inlaws to see oldest nephew graduate high school. I thought I finished it, I must have been drunk. I was getting them ready for pictures this morning, innocently giddy that I’ve finished them WELL ahead of the deadline….when I noticed the first one is a full pattern repeat smaller than the second one. Grrr!! So I have to pull out the toe, do another repeat, and redo the toe decreases & kitchener the toe for the third time. Can I tell you just how difficult it is to undo the kitchener?? Yeah, not fun.
I have another finished project that I did manage to get pictures of, I finished it about 3 weeks ago while waiting for the Nacsar race at Poconos to start (damn rain delay). It’s from KnitGrrl 2, Workout Water Bottle Holder:

Now I just have to find time to workout again

On the drive down to the inlaws I scored BIG TIME at an estate sale. I got a bag full of crochet cotton, mostly white but with one hank each of ecru and lilac. Total of 30 hanks (400yds each), 2 vintage steel crochet hooks, and a YARN SWIFT!!! for a whopping $3 OMGosh I was so excited. I actually cradled the yarn swift in my arms like a baby and held it for the rest of the way to the inlaws (at least an hour lol).

Here’s my loot:

Now I have to take my boys outside to play & attack that damn sock….

 

Blogging, what’s that again?

I thought that when I was done with my classes, I wouldn’t be so busy. I thought wrong! My kids’ schools cram everything into the last 3 weeks of school. Award ceremonies (my boys each got one :D), field trips (four just in the next two weeks), school “fair” fundraiser for new playground equipment, the list goes on.

I don’t have any progress pics, but I have been knitting. And frogging. I frogged the All Season Shell. Again. I have completely 200% abso-freaking-lutely sworn off any and all LionBrand patterns. I consider myself pretty adept at reading patterns (not charts…yet), I haven’t had even a quarter of the problems with other patterns I’ve used that I have had with LionBrand Patterns. From a hat where the increases were wrong to the felting disaster of ‘06 where the row count was wrong, to this A.S.S. where the row count is also wrong. I managed to correct the back but not the front. By the time I got to the front I was so fed up with the damn thing. I mean, it’s not a hard piece. It’s a straight 2×2 rib all the way until you get to the arm holes, then you decrease/cast off, then you work the neck/shoulder decreases. Yeah. They can do 2×2 rib just fine (who can’t) but when it comes to decreases and having the row counts add up to the wrong side/right side they indicate in the pattern, forget it.

But I’m not bitter lol.

I’m still working on my felted bag. Mostly in my head, thinking how I want to attach the flap and the handles. It will be drawstring closure with a flap over it, but I haven’t decided if I want backpack-like straps or a purse-like strap…decisions decisions.

I also started another project born out of frustration. I was frustrated with the commissary (grocery store for military & their dependents) never having plastic bags. They have paper, and yes I know they are better for the environment but they are NOT better for my back. I have to carry them up the steps into my house then somehow figure out how to set them down without bending over. They pack them so that each bag has about 30lbs in it and unlike plastic bags where you can let them hang off the bottom of your hands and drop them (gently!) to the floor, you can’t do that with paper. So I went in search of a knitting shopping bag. Tried the one at MagKnits (Saturday Shopping Bag?). Didn’t like it. I don’t know why it’s done on circs because it’s in two peices that you sew together. When I did it on circs, then tried to slide the stitches off the cord & back onto the needle, the yarnovers got all mixed in with the psso’s and k1s so I was hopelessly lost. Screw that. I don’t like the Itsy Bitsy on Knitty.com, at least not for a shopping bag. It would be great for a beach bag though (hmm, thinking…). There’s another mesh bag, but it calls for 13dpns and I don’t have them (yet) nor am I planning on buying them just to make some shopping bags.

So, I’m making on up as I go along. I’ve got the bottom and the first few rows of the sides done. I think I’m just gonna do k2tog yo around…still thinking about it some.

I have not cast on for my second sockapalooza sock. I’m pacing myself. I know they aren’t due to be shipped until August, so I’m indulging in a little procrastination

 

One sock down, one to go

My first sock for my Sockapalooza pal is done. I kitchener’d the toe while watching the last few laps of the Coca-Cola 600 (talk about a let-down!). Between the kids being home from school for a four-day weekend, dh having yesterday off & me having to work yesterday I just haven’t had the time to sit down and blog much.

Here is sock #1:

Excuse my homemade sock blocker. It leaves a lot to be desired lol.

Close up of the cables:

I’m almost finished with the All Season Shell. All that is left is to finish shaping the neckline, sew the front & back together and weave in the ends. Still working on the felted bag. I’m getting bored with both of these projects, so I just need to hurry up & finish them so I can get started on something a little more exciting! I want to make a few pairs of baby booties, but I’m not allowing myself to do so until I finish these two things that have been on the needles for FAR too long!

 

Sockapalooza Update

This has been a busy week! Dh is still getting into a rhythm with his new job. My youngest son turned 9 on Wednesday, so the beginning of the week was filled with making his birthday cake, wrapping presents, buying groceries, taking cupcakes & juice up to his class, cleaning the house, blah blah blah. The end of the week, I am working. Thursday through Saturday. Yuck.

I have been working away at my sockapalooza socks. Last time I posted, on Monday, I had gotten 1.5 repeats into the pattern (this was after frogging that no less than 2 times). Monday night I got 2 repeats into the pattern and found a mistake I had made. I tried tinking back but got lost in undoing the cables (I am a pro at this now lol). I ended up ripping out the whole thing. Not just that once, but two more times.

I am now convinced that the L&V yarn does indeed hold up quite well to frogging lol. It is just WONDERFUL to work with. I am in love with this yarn. I need to get a second job to pay for my habit now.

Back to the progress. Since Wednesday I have been plugging away at it. I am now past the leg, turned the heel and am working my way down the foot. The pattern is intended for dpns, but I really do prefer working with one circ. With dpns, I am constantly getting ladders, no matter how I tighten, turn, twist, whatever…they still appear. With circs, I do not get them. I did have to switch to dpns to do the heel flap. (and nearly got a ladder on the bottom of the heel in the process!) I promptly switched back to my one circ as soon as I had picked up all the gusset stitches. It’s fitting right in with Project Spectrum’s April/May colors Green, Yellow, Pink too.

It wouldn’t be a blog post by me without progress pictures

Here is a closeup of the cable pattern:

And the sock on my foot. Lucky me, my partner has nearly the same size foot as I do

And a closeup of the heel. I really like the way this turned out. Even though I had to use dpns to do it lol:

I predict that sock #1 will be done before the weekend is out. There’s lot of knit friendly activities planned for this weekend (around working, of course). Saturday night we are going to the drive in. I will knit on the sock before the sun goes down, then switch to something simplier for knitting in the dark (no lit needles for me). Sunday night is the Coca-Cola 600 so I will be knitting furiously while watching my favorite drivers. I have the entire Monday off and the weather will be perfect for sitting in my backyard knitting while the kids play themselves silly.

I’m also still working on the All Season Shell. I finally got more yarn to finish it up. It’s hard to go back to it while working on the Sockapalooza socks because they are so fun and the A/S/S is so boring with it’s k2p2 over & over. I also have my felted bag to finish, got more yarn for that too.

Oh! A really good book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, about a boy growing up in Afghanistan pre-Russia/Taliban invasion, who escapes to America but still can’t escape his past. Very good book. I finished it in 3 days, only reading at bedtime and staying up WAAAY too late to do so.

Now if only there were more hours in the day…..

Got my grades for the semester. Three B’s and one A. I will take it!! I feel kind of bad because the three that I got B’s in, I really did not apply myself as much as I know I could have. With two of them it was hard because I found out mid-semester that I did not even need them. It’s really hard to get motivated to get an A in a class you don’t even need and are paying for for nothing. Blah.

I have three months of FREEDOM until it starts all over again. Do you know how much knitting I can get done in three months

 

Finished Shawl & Sockapalooza progress

Grrr. I had a whole long post written and WordPress ate it!

Anyway, I finished my Project of the Month shawl. It’s nearly impossible to get a decent picture of it. Here it is folded in half and draped over the back of a chair. This is 1/4 of the actual length:

The obligatory closeup:

I started my sockapalooza 4 socks. I’m using Lime & Violet’s “Seller of Stardust”. It’s superwash and sooo soft! It was a little splitty at first and doesn’t frog well, but now that I’ve got it started, it’s beautiful. Although, it’s not nearly as stripey looking in person as it looks in this picture:

This is 1 1/2 repeats into the Cider Moon “Saucy” pattern. I’m liking it a lot so far
What do you think?