Toeing the line

I finally got a picture of the toes of DH’s socks.  I am really enjoying doing two at a time. I keep thinking that I need to keep track of rows and such. Then I remember that I am already working on the second sock. It is very liberating!  I think that I am going to look for a more rounded toe for the future.  I think this toe is a bit pointy, but I am not starting over!  DH will be fine as his own toes are pointy.

I also have been doing more sewing. I have done a secret sewing project for a swap pal. I also made a blouse out of the sheet fabric.  I used McCall’s Easy Stitch n’ Save M5451. I used fold over elastic at the neck and arms.  I didn’t hem it, but used bias tape.  I think that the shirt would be too short otherwise.  It is a nice summery top.  I like this pattern, but wish it was a bit longer.  I will lenthen it next time.

 

Why I shouldn’t be allowed to play with scissors!

I have had a busy day today. I decided to go to the thrift store this morning to look for sheets. I saw a really cute skirt tutorial where the skirt is made from a sheet. The biggest bonus…no hemming!  I knew I had to make this skirt.  I managed to find two sheets. One is a blue floral. The other is a yellow and white check.  It already had a ruffle on it!  I knew it would make a really cute skirt.

When I got home, my 2-at-a-Time Socks book was in the mail.  I quickly read it. I then printed out the Judy’s Magic Cast on Tutorial.  I cast on immediately.  I had decided to take the Panopticon yarn from the failed Monkeymen and do a toe up 3×1 rib sock for DH.  Right now, I am about halfway done with the toe increases. This method is really clever. I also like that both socks will be done at the same time. I don’t mind the second sock when I am making socks for me, but a second sock for DH is too much!  I do think that I will still use DPNs in the future, but I also love this method.  I will post a picture later. I just couldn’t get a good one today!

After the boys went to bed, I got to work on my skirt.  I was just finishing the waist elastic, when I cut my finger. It is a pretty deep cut.  I was cutting through the elastic when the tips of my scissors caught my index finger on my left hand. I managed not to bleed on my project (only my white carpet suffered). After performing the necessary first aid, I finished the skirt.  It is so cute! I can’t wait to wear it (of course, I will need a white slip before I can, but that is a problem for another day).  After I cut my finger, DH took the scissors and told me that I couldn’t sew anymore tonight.  I picked up my knitting, but am finding that holding the yarn is a bit strange.  I may just read for a while.   I am still proud of how much I have managed to get done today.  I also think that I will be able to get a blouse out of the rest of the sheet (and probably some sleep shorts for the boys).

Besides all the crafty stuff, I have been learning my new phone too.  I got an HTC Touch Pro. I love it.  I can check my email, Twitter, keep track of all my contacts, keep track of my calendar, and play games (all from anywhere…even court).  There is a lot the phone can do that I haven’t figured out yet, but I am getting there!

One last thing, I realize that the last post seemed a bit scattered. I was going to go back and fix it, but decided against it.  LB had been having some health issues.  He had toxic synovitis (an inflamation in his hips following a viral infection). He has been in a lot of pain.  On Monday night (when I wrote the post), he was supposed to be sleeping. The pain was keeping him awake. He was crying every few minutes. It made it a bit hard to concentrate.  I ended up taking him to the doctor on Tuesday, where he had x-rays and blood work.   He is doing better now, although he still has times when he is pretty sore. They say that it will last for up to two weeks and will return anytime that he gets a viral infection in the future. It is pretty yucky stuff.

 

Cuz that’s how I celebrate WWKIP day

Saturday was WWKIP day (or at least one of them). There was an event at our local mall.  DH agreed to watch the two boys (something he never does alone) so that I could go.  It was great.  I worked on my Shawl that Jazz. I got to the beginning of the ruffle on it. I am still on the first skein, so I am going to do the extra ruffly ruffle.  I might also make the ruffle a bit longer.  I learned that there is a local group that meets 2 Sundays a month.  I am going to start going to that. I am pretty excited. It is hard for me to go to group in Gainesville because the drive is so long. A 2 hour knitting group becomes a nearly 4 hour trip.  This avoids all that travel time, so I am able to go more often!  I am pretty excited.

We also had the option of making a donation and getting a goody bag.  The goody bag was great. There was a skein of yarn. It was Classic Elite.  It came with 2 soap sweater patterns. I love these things!  I can’t wait to make one.  I think my first one will be out of this yarn for my mom. I bought her some handmade soap at Hanks for her birthday (in January…yes, it is still in my house). I think I am going to put a sweater on that yummy soap!  The bag had all kinds of coupons and adds for local crafty places. There was some wool wash and lotion, a needle gauge, a ruler, and a button too.  It was pretty fun!

While I was there, several people were knitting 2-at-a-time socks toe up.  I have been thinking about knitting toe up socks.  I promised myself that I would not cast on any socks until I finished DH’s socks.  I had gotten to the toe decreases and realized I was still on my first skein of Lorna’s Laces (this was about 6 weeks ago). There is no way I should be able to get a whole sock for DH out of one skein of LL.  I had that sick feeling that the sock was too small. Naturally, I did what any good knitter does…I put the sock in a drawer hoping it would grow on it’s own.  While watching everyone knitting socks, I confessed that I had DH’s socks in timeout.   I was told to get them out, frog them, and cast on a toe up sock for DH out of the yarn.  I decided this was a fantastic idea as it kills two birds with one stone.  I have decided that I will not only do a toe up sock for DH, but I will go ahead and do it 2-at-a-time (on one circ).  I have an extra 47″ cable, so I just need some tips. I am going to make a Knit Picks order tomorrow and will add those on.  I ordered 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes today too.  I think I am going to ditch the Monkeymen pattern for know. I think I am just going to do a ribbed sock.  So my knitting disaster that I have been avoiding has turned into an opportunity to learn something new.  So, I celebrated WWKIP day by frogging a nearly complete sock!

I have also finished the second April Square. I have one more April Square to do. Then I have to do the May and June squares!  For some reason, I don’t love knitting the April Square. I haven’t been working on them. I am excited to try the May one. It is a cabled square.  I have never done cables.  Even that has not gotten me moving like it should.  Once I get this last April Square done, things should pick up on the blanket making!

 

Picking back up

In church last night, we were talking about an outlook on our spiritual life. One of the people in the group said that he views life like a video game. When you mess up, you have to start the level over.  He said he realized that wasn’t really the way it was. When you mess up with God, you can just pick up where you left off. I realized that I treat a lot of things that way. I haven’t been blogging because I got “behind” and didn’t want to have to do a big post.  I realized, I can just pick up where I am. I am probably missing a bunch of stuff, but that is going to have to be ok.  I am not starting this level over!

Thank you to everyone who asked about us during the household battle with the plague!  DH, LB, CB, and MIL/FIL all got sick. I didn’t, thank goodness.  Everyone spent about a week sick and then another week just feeling tired.  Everyone is better and my carpets are nicely shampooed.  Hopefully, we will avoid such a nasty bug in the future!

Sometime ago, I got the first installment of the Loopy Ewe sock club. It is wonderful!!!  It has a beautiful yarn, Casbah, in Ocean Currents. This yarn is so soft and so vibrant!!  It also came with a pattern (toe up) that I am hoping to try soon!  There were also other goodies including a tool kit that clips on to your knitting bag and candy!  It was a wonderful package.

I have still been working on squares for the blankets. I have three of each month except April. I am almost done with my first square. I set the squares aside because I am desperately trying to finish my shawl before the 24th, when we go to Wicked.  I am finishing the last repeat, and then I will need to do the border and block it. I am worried that it won’t be big enough.  I am also looking for something to wear with it. I should find something before next Friday!

I have also made some progress on DH’s socks.  I even got to work on them at Hanks SNB on day (one of my birthday presents way back in March was to get to go to knitting group). I have the first one almost done. I am a little worried it might be to tight. I have my fingers crossed.  DH complained that his other socks get a bit saggy at the end of the day. Maybe these will avoid that problem.

We did the Voluntary Pre-K screening for LB. He will start pre-K in the fall. He charmed the evaluators.  He scored very, very high, too.  He is so excited to start school. We have to keep reminding him that he is going to have to wait a while.

 

Soooo excited

I got an email today! I won the lottery (not the crazy Ugandan lottery, a real one)!! I am in the Loopy Ewe Sock Club this year!!!! I try to limit myself to one at a time, but haven’t been in one for a while! I am so excited!

 

A little of this and that

This is sort of a catch up post. I have had a lot of things on my mind and have done a lot of things, but haven’t had time to post it all. I am just going to put it all in one post.

1. The Sock-it-to-me scarf for my niece is completed. This will be a Christmas present and has gone into the Christmas Present Box.  I got the yarn (Trekking XXL) in a swap. It is not exactly my kind of colorway, but it is perfect for my niece. She is going to go crazy over the scarf!  The yarn was scratchy to knit with, but it softened nicely after blocking.  The pattern is a really easy pattern (from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders). The only thing that I don’t like is that you kitchener the two pieces together. I love doing kitchener stitch. That isn’t the problem. I just don’t like how it looks with this patterned yarn.  I think I should have gone a little farther into the yarn to a solid color. I might have liked it a bit better.

2. DH’s Panopticon Monkeymen socks are coming along.  The pattern is so similar to the Monkey socks, that I had it totally memorized before I finished the first repeat (I am doing the version with purls).  The only difference is yarn overs are replaced by make ones.  I really love the colorway too! It is amazing. The striping is my favorite part. The photo was taken indoors with no flash, so it is blurry.  That is what happens when it gets cold and rainy here…no outdoor photos.  Despite the really bad photo, you can see the cool stripe effect!  The Lorna’s is so soft too.  I really, really love this yarn.  By the way, these socks are knitting up super fast despite being really big!  DH will never get plain, vanilla socks again. Patterned socks are so much more fun and so much quicker!

3. I got to go on a Girl’s Night Out this weekend!!  I went to a bridal shower. Afterwards, several of the girls were going to the movies.  I haven’t seen a movie in a theater since LB was 2 months old. I haven’t been on a girl’s night out since law school (at least 6 1/2 years ago).  I had a blast. We saw Bride Wars.  It was cute.  The best part was hanging out with some girl friends.  I really, really need to do more of that. I have been fairly isolated since moving here after law school. All of my friends have been male or “work friends”.  I didn’t realize how much I missed having girl friends until recently.

4. It is cold.  Admittedly, not the kind of cold that I experienced growing up in Wyoming.  That kind of cold is intolerable!  However, it is cold for Florida.  There was frost on the ground this morning.  Things were frozen (fortunately not our pipes as we ran a tiny bit of water last night).  I hate cold.  That is why I moved to Florida!  I miss it at Christmas time. This weather would have been welcome then (instead it was 80 degrees on Christmas day). I am seriously thinking I need a scarf and some mittens, but I want them now.  Unfortunately, by the time they would be knit, I wouldn’t need them. I am putting knitting a scarf and mittens (or maybe some handwarmers) on my calendar this fall so that I will have them for the next time it gets cold.  Today, I am wearing my first monkey socks.  They are warm. I am sure it is a horrible fashion faux pas as they don’t really match what I am wearing, but I don’t care.  I wanted warm feet. Only handknit wool socks will do when it is cold!

5. My shawl is coming along (although I don’t have new pictures). I finished another repeat last night (7 repeats are done).  The pattern calls for 10, but I am thinking I may want around 15 repeats.  It is so wonderful to work with. The silk content makes the yarn so soft!  The only thing I wish is that my needles were sharper (I am dying for the Harmony options).

6. I am not going to talk about yesterday, other than to say that it was a really terrible day in court.  I really dislike being in front of a certain judge.  Court drags and this judge treats me very badly.  I had court with that judge yesterday.  It sucked.  I couldn’t wait to get home and knit. I handle stress so much better with knitting.  I think I am going to claim a medical necessity and ask to knit in court. If all else fails, I could stab myself in the eye with my needle to make the day less painful (just kidding…although I really think that might be less painful sometimes).

 

WIP update

I have several works in progress right now.  The first is Shay’s scarf for next Christmas.  I finished the knitting, kitchnered the two pieces, and wove in the ends.  It is blocking right now.  The picture above is unblocked. The picture below is while being blocked.

I have made some progress on my shawl too. I have completed 6 repeats. I am thinking that I will need around 15 pattern repeats to get the size that I want.  Here are a couple pictures. Lace doesn’t look like much in progress (mostly it looks like a blob of string). It is still pretty cool. I love the yarn colors.  I wish I could really get a good picture. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a really true picture.

I am also making progress on dishcloths. I have half of another one done. I haven’t taken any pictures of that. I also cast on for DH’s socks.  There isn’t really anything to photograph…yet.  I will post pictures soon. DH and I are both excited. I love the yarn. The color transitions are so beautiful.

 

Of yarny goodness and lacy lessons

 Mmmm….new yarn!! I went to Hanks on Saturday. I intended to go on Friday, but CB was with me. He got very grouchy in Target. I decided I didn’t want to bring a screaming baby into Hanks (I am sure that everyone there that day is grateful…or would be if they knew what they had been spared).  I knew I was getting yarn for DH. I thought I would get this yarn, but decided to look around. I nearly ditched the idea of yarn for DH and bought myself some Malagbrigo sock yarn.  After looking, I decided to buy DH’s yarn, and this was still my favorite!

Since then, I have been looking for a pattern to knit these up in.  DH is a little nervous about the way Lorna’s Laces can pool a bit. I hate the thought of giant stockinette socks.  I finally found the Monkeyman pattern.  I love my monkeys.  DH does too, but didn’t fancy the idea of holes in his socks (not lacy is a big requirement for men’s socks, apparently).  I am pretty excited. It is taking all of my willpower not to cast on tonight.  I have promised myself that I will finish Shay’s scarf first (it is about 50% done).

Speaking of works in progress, my shawl is at the same point it was during my last post despite lots of knitting on it.  How does that happen?  Well, I decided I didn’t need to do lifelines because the lace pattern is easy and easily memorized.  Why would I need a lifeline?  Well, it turns out the silk content in the yarn makes it slippery.  I dropped a stitch. When trying to fix it, I dropped several (they just flew off the end of the needle and then pulled all the way down to the garter stitch border).  It was beyond my ablility to fix.  I ended up frogging and beginning again. I was halfway through the third repeat when that happened. I am once again halfway through the third repeat, but the difference is my very cool dental floss lifeline!  If I don’t have to keep reknitting the first couple of repeats, I might make some significant progress!

 

New Years = New Projects

For some reason, I have a terrible case of startitis.  Something about the New Year. I have been doing more tribbles and garterlac dishcloths.

I have another of the pink/blue (Winterberry) garterlac cloths on the needles. Michael’s was having a sale on all yarn. I got even more dishcloth yarn on sale today.  They were 2 skeins for $5 (that means I can get 2 cloths and 2 tribbles for $5!!).

I also did a tribble for myself (I really needed one…actually, I need several).

I also started a scarf for my niece Shay.  It will be for Christmas next year.  I got the sock yarn for it from the Sock Yarn from Stash Swap.  It is neat, but I don’t wear many of the colors in it. I had been looking for a pattern that would really speak to me for the yarn.  DH got me 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders for Christmas. I am doing the Sock It To Me Scarf. I really like how it is turning out.  It really looks like something my niece would buy for herself!

I had planned to go to Hanks today, but CB was with me. He was in a foul mood, so I decided to wait. I plan to buy some skeins of Lorna’s Laces in the Panopticon colorway (3 skeins).  I am going to start socks for DH. He has been wearing the big socks I made for him very frequently.  I have been dreading doing another pair because they are huge and take forever. They are also a bit boring.  I love the colorway, so I am hoping it will help me speed along.  They will be for DH’s birthday (in May, although I hope to finish them long before that).

I still have my shawl on the needles. I have done a few repeats. It is growing faster than I could have anticipated!  I love how it is looking.  I know it will grow more slowly the bigger it gets, but it is still surprising given the skinniness of the yarn.

It is really unusual for me to have so many projects going on at one time!  I normally have only one or two at the most. Right now, I have several. I keep thinking of other things I want to start.  I have been trying to use my queue on Ravelry instead of casting on, but I can’t seem to help myself! If only I could do nothing but knit! I might be able to get it out of my system!

 

Celebrating my blogiversary

I am celebrating my blogiversary (one year blogging) with an FO!  My Raphael Monkey socks are done, done, done!! I love how they turned out. The photos can’t really capture the colors. They are purple, peach, pink, teal, brown, and tan. So pretty. They remind me of sugar cookies and candy.  They are also super soft and comfy!

After finishing these socks, I then made a block for my blankie from the leftovers. I have just enough for one more block.  I was worried about cutting it close with this yarn, but there was plenty for the socks.

I started another new project, but it is late. I will post about it tomorrow (ahh…a cliff hanger)!