Noolie Knits

SAM3, Sockamania, Holiday Headstart

What do these all have in common?  This is what:

Pattern: River Valley Socks by Anni Design
Yarn: Tofutsies, color 793
Needles: Crystal Palace size 2 dpn

This one pair of socks fills the June requirements for three Knit Alongs; Sockamania, SAM3, and Holiday Headstart. Whew! I finished them just in time. (I just have to weave in the ends on one sock)

Seeing as it's Saturday, here's my Saturday Sky:

Don't forget to enter the contest; you have until midnight tonight.

Now, I'm going to go float in the pool; have a wonderful day!

Busy!

Sorry I haven't been posting as regularly as I should or responding to all the comments like I should.  I feel like I have no free time anymore and I can't figure out why.  I can blame Ravelry for some of it; but since I've only been on that for a week, that's not really it.  Do you ever have times in your life like that, when it feels like you'll never have enough time to do all the things you want to do?  Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I can and try not to worry about the things I don't have time for.

Another thing taking up my time is the spindle spinning. I've been doing quite a bit of it lately. I've pretty much filled up the spindle with my first real spinning (even though it is a bit thick and thin) and I've been working with my new spindle and the fiber Gina gave me.  I brought it with me to Chicks with Sticks last night so I could show off my new skills.  Can you guess what happened?  That's right; I couldn't spin without the yarn breaking to save my life.  I blame it all on Roger; he put a jinx on me (just kidding, Roger; I still love you. But don't tell Patti).

This new spindle is quite a bit lighter than the other one, and I've been able to spin some pretty fine yarn; fine as in skinny, although I think it is mighty fine looking too :-)

I've also gotten quite a bit done on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I'm at the garter ridges before beginning the lace section. I tried it on when I joined it and it seems like it'll be a good fit. The garter ridges and lace portion are knit in a smaller needle size (of course I didn't do a gauge swatch for the smaller needle size so keep your fingers crossed for me).



The V-neck turned out a bit lower than I wanted, but not quite as low as the pattern called for. I guess I'll have to wear a cami under it after all. Although, with the lace section in the middle, I probably would have anyway.

The second River Valley sock for Sockamania hasn't seen much action lately. I've completed 2 1/2 pattern repeats in the cuff (nothing picture worthy) and will be ready to turn the heel after I finish the third repeat. I don't really need a lot of time to finish this; I just need to pick it up again. Perhaps tonight.

That's it for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow; I'll be announcing a contest!

My New Knitting Spot

For months and months I've been wanting a glider chair and rocking foot stool to go with it; but not enough to buy a one new.  My boss/neighbor, Rick, deals in antiques and used furniture (and anything else he can make a buck on) so I asked him to keep an eye out for one.  A few months ago he came in and told me he found one that I could have for $300.  No thanks, I could buy a new one for that.  So I waited and waited and figured I'd be knitting in my worn out corner of the couch for the rest of my life.  Until Saturday evening when I heard a knock on my front door.  It was Rick; he had just picked up a glider with the foot stool and I could have it for $20!  That's more like it.  I quickly gave him the 20 bucks before he could change his mind and sent hubby across the street for the chair.  It came out of an old woman's house and kind of smelled like it, but after giving the cushions a bath in the tub (twice), there's no smell at all.  I did a bit of rearranging in the living room and here is my new knitting spot:

Everything I need is nice and handy. I did switch the printer and the laptop after taking this picture; the laptop is on top of the book case and the printer is on the shelf below it.  It's just easier to move the laptop back and forth from the top (yes, I'm incredibly lazy).  I also have all my reference knitting books next to the laptop and my knitting magazines on the bottom shelf (the rest of the stuff on the bottom shelf are Samm's beading supplies).  Next to the bookcase in the plastic set of drawers is where I keep all my active WIP's and knitting supplies.  What you don't see in this picture is my other bookcase which is filled with the rest of my knitting books; that's on the wall in front of the chair, not too far away.  So, I've taken over about 1/3rd of the living room for my knitting (not to mention a big closet downstairs and a spare room upstairs, but like I said, we won't mention those). My daughter told me I look like an old lady rocking and knitting in my new chair; I told her, "At least I'm a happy old lady." :-)  Who'd have thought that something so little could bring so much pleasure?

Okay, enough of that.  I've got some knitting to show you (not much, but some).  I finished the Magic 28 socks I was working on last week.  This is pair #4 and my favorite so far.

Pattern: Magic 28
Yarn: Reynolds Odyssey, color 409 (left over from this sweater)
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn

I k2p2 for 2 rows then k a row for the length of the leg. I don't usually enjoy doing ribbing, but with the knit row to break it up, I enjoyed doing this. And it gave me an idea for my Sockapalooza pal's socks.  I'm not going to knit them quite the same; I'm going to purl the 3rd row for my pal's socks. She said she doesn't want anything lacy and she prefers a thicker sock, so I think this will work out perfectly. I haven't decided definitely on the yarn yet. It's between the February STR club yarn and the May Spunky Club yarn; both are colors that she likes. Of course, I love both so I'm having trouble deciding.  I'm leaning toward the STR because it's a heavier weight yarn (medium weight), but I still have time to decide.  I figure I'll have to get started on them by the beginning of July to make sure they are ready to be shipped on August 2nd. This will give me plenty of time in case I run into any issues, I don't expect to, but if I wait until the last minute, something is sure to happen to hold me up.

I started the June socks for the Sockamania KAL last week but wasn't able to work on them much until yesterday. This is a great pattern. I'm using Tofutsies in color #793 and Crystal Palace size 2 dpn's. This is my first time using the Tofutsies, and even though it is a teeny tiny bit splitty, I really like it. The colors are beautiful and it feels sooooo nice.

I've finished another 16 row repeat since taking this picture.  The colors in this picture are pretty accurate (at least on my monitor). I am really enjoying this pattern; it is easily memorized but not so easy that I don't have to pay attention.  The only thing I will do differently on my next pair is to use a smaller needle for the leg. It's just a bit loose in the leg, but not so loose that I won't enjoy wearing them.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great one!

Randomness again

I received an e-mail at work from hubby this afternoon that read "Water is going in the pool starting now."  WooHoo!!!!  Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be much of a pool kind of weekend.  Maybe I can squeeze in a little time on the floating lounge chair on Sunday afternoon if the temps reach the higher end of what's being predicted.  Keep your fingers crossed for me; you know how much I love my pool and the sun!

Check this out:
I'm winning the battle! I know it doesn't really look like much, but I really am getting more comfortable with the spindle spinning and am actually starting to produce something that resembles yarn. It's getting a little more consistent, too; no more huge chunky sections followed by lace weight. It's starting to look more like a heavy worsted weight. This is a real accomplishment for me. Thanks for the "park and draft" tip, Amy; it's making all the difference. I'll keep working on this a bit each most nights and before long, I may even spin some useable yarn.

My crochet bag is coming right along. I have about 2/3rds of the body done and then it's on to the straps. I toyed with different ideas for the center section to give it some texture, finally deciding on a section of half double crochets and bobbles. I think it works; what do you think?


I packaged up the Dulaan knits and sent them on their way yesterday.
Thought I'd take a little break from the charity knitting once that was in the mail but remembered that I am teaching a sock class tonight. I need a sock that's at the start of the heel flap so I can demonstrate how to do the heel. You tell me; what's quicker than a little Magic 28 to accomplish that? Here's the cuff of sock #1 of pair #4 ready to to start the heel.

For this pair, I'm using some leftover yarn from a sweater I made last year. I love the subtle changes in color and the yarn is very soft. I decided to shake things up a bit and knit a ribbed cuff. I get too bored doing plain ole rib, so I did a 3 row repeat of K2, P2 for 2 rows, then knit a row. I know there's a name for the pattern, but don't ask me what it is.

I don't even want to think about how many WIP's this makes; seems I've been starting an awful lot of projects lately and have precious few FO's to show for it. Oh well, such is the life of a knitting addict :-)

Lazy Blogger

Wow, I've certainly been neglecting the blog this past week.  It's not that I've not been doing anything.  I have a lot to share with you; too much for one post, so I'll spread it out over the week.

Today I'll show you the knitting (and crocheting) I've been up to.

I finished the sweater for my Holiday Headstart May project.  This will be for my very handsome great-nephew, Colin.

This is not the best picture, but it does show the color accurately. You may have noticed that the color of this sweater seemed to change each time I posted progress pictures. Who knew that dark green could be so difficult to capture with the camera.
Pattern: Yankee Knitter's Fisherlad Guernsey (child's size 6)
Needles: Addi Turbo sizes 6 and 8
Yarn: Plymouth Encore, Color #1234

I thought I had finished the knitting at Chicks with Sticks last Tuesday night and did the seaming when I returned home. Wednesday morning I looked a little closer and realized that the last cuff I knitted was much bigger than the other (it fit loosely on my wrist; way too big for a 3 1/2 year old!). I not only forgot to switch to the smaller needle size, but I also forgot to decrease 8 stitches before beginning the ribbing! I ended up taking the seam out up to a couple rows above the cuff and reknitting it. Oh well, at least I finished it in time to count it for my May project :)

I finished the first sock of my first pair of toe-up socks. I decided to go with the heel called for in the directions for the Sherman Sock given to me by Mel. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd like that heel, but I really do. Now, to start the second sock.


Next up:


Pattern: Magic 28 by Norma
Yarn: Cascade 220, lost the band ages ago, but suffice it to say the green is MUCH BRIGHTER than the picture depicts (believe it or not). I could have used some sunglasses while knitting these.
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn's
This is pair #3; 25 to go.
This pair of socks ends my Dulaan knitting for this year's shipment; I'll be packing up the knits and shipping them off sometime this week.


There has been a bit of progress on the "Monkey Blankie" but it's nothing to look at yet. I really don't know why I haven't finished it; it's a teeny tiny mini-blankie, but I just can't seem to stay interested in it. I better get going on it though; my co-worker's baby is due very soon!


I started a crochet summer bag yesterday. I'm designing the pattern as I go. I'm using Plymouth's Fantasy Naturalle mercerized cotton yarn in a light green color (I'm too lazy to get up and look at the label right now). I haven't been able to get good pictures yet, but I'll give ya what I've got:

This is a really lousy picture of the outside; it doesn't really reflect how the finished bag will look, so I really don't know why I'm bothering to post it. It does, however, show you how much I did yesterday. (It also explains why my hands hurt today; crocheting is much harder on my hands than knitting.) Here's another picture for you:

This is the inside, bottom of the bag. I think hope this bag will turn out nice and if it does, I'll post the pattern in case anyone would like to make one.

That's what I've been working on over the past week while I've been lazy about blogging.

I've also been doing a couple things for my health. Actually, doing one thing and not doing another. Today marks the beginning of DAY 9 of no cigarettes!!!! I'm telling you, Chantix is a miracle drug! I took it for one week while continuing to smoke and then quit on day 9 (you're supposed to quit on day 8 but I had plans that I knew would make it too hard to quit that day). I'll continue to take it for a total of 12 weeks and then decide if I need it for another 12. I haven't had any physical cravings at all; although I have had times when I've thought "I'd normally have a cigarette now" and that felt strange at first. I'm getting used to not smoking, and I know that I am through with it.

I've also gotten back into a regular workout schedule. Thanks to Patti who has agreed to be my "gym buddy". It's harder to blow off the gym when someone is expecting to meet you there. I went three times last week and will go 3 or 4 times this week. Now I just have to get my eating under control; I'm thinking it's time to get back to Weight Watchers.

Well, I've got to go get ready for work.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our trip to Amy's (some yarn may have followed me home).

Have a great day.

Lots of Random Stuff

·        Samm’s Etsy store is finally up; I've put a link in the sidebar.  She’ll be updating it later this week with some more earrings, a few necklaces, bracelets, and at least one watch.  I’ll keep you posted when she updates in case you’re interested J

·        We had a beautiful long weekend; the weather was perfect all three days.  I went to dinner with a friend in Portsmouth on Saturday night and we ate outside by the water, had a couple Margueritas, and did some shopping.  It was the perfect weather for it.

·        I’ve almost completed the Fisherlad Guernsey that I started way back at the end of April.

 

Since taking this picture, I’ve knit to the cuff on that last sleeve; just a few rows of k1 p1 ribbing to go and then seaming up the sides.  I’ll finish this up tonight at Chicks with Sticks.  It’s always good to bring something mindless J

·        I’ve given up on my May Day socks for Sockamania.  While I love the pattern and I love the yarn and the way it’s working up in this pattern, I keep making stupid ass mistakes.  Also, for some stupid ass reason, I cast on for the small size (knowing full well that my size 8 ½ feet are not small).  I kept telling myself that they were going to fit.  Ha! Joke's on me.  When I got this far, I decided to try them on.  That was the final straw; the sock is in time out.  I’ll frog it and reknit it after I do the socks for June.  Not a very good start to this knitalong!

/

·        I started another pair of socks yesterday while sitting in the sun.

 

You are not imagining things; I am knitting a sock toe-up!  Mel gave me directions to the Sherman short row method and showed me how to do it a while ago when he came to Chicks with Sticks (I promised him I wouldn’t call him a dick, so the name must remain the same).  This method is so easy and very, very neat – no holes!  I’m going to try the heel flap for toe-up socks that Chris suggested for this pair of socks.  Getting pretty adventurous, aren’t I?  (I'm using Cascade Fixation on size 3 dpn's)

·        I received this beauty in the mail last week 

 

It’s the May Spunky Club yarn;  Spunky Eclectic Tough Sock,  Superwash Wool/Nylon blend, “Nightshade”.  Pretty, yes?

·        Being the big ole copy cat that I am, I ran right out to Kinko’s yesterday, after reading Auntie Ann’s post, and got my copy of this book spiral bound:

Now that it’ll stay open, maybe I’ll use it more.

 

The End J

Pick a Title (cuz I've got nothing)

The weather seems to have taken a turn away from winter around here.  We saw temps in the high 70's on Saturday!  It's been beautiful weather ever since.  We do expect to see a change back to more "normal" temps by the end of the week, but that's okay.  I think (hope) we have seen the last of the winter weather for a little while.

So, what have I been up to?  Well, before we get to that, let me tell you a bit about what Samm's been up to.  She has been making some jewelry to sell and plans to give 10% of all her sales to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Betty.  Isn't that sweet?  She makes me so proud.  We plan on setting up an Etsy store for her soon (where I may add some things too), but in the meantime I've posted a link to her finished jewelry in the left sidebar.  I think she does very nice work; check it out.

On to what I've been doing.  I finished the Garter Cardi for my great-neice on Friday night (except for buttons).  I went looking through my Lamb's Pride stash to see what I had to use for sleeves that would look nice with the pink body of the sweater.  I found some deep purple that I love and I think it looks great.

All it needs now are 3 purple buttons and it can go in the FO column and I can post it on the Holiday Headstart blog as my April project. Do you know how hard it is to find just the right color purple buttons? Not easy! I spent a good portion of Saturday searching for buttons with no luck. I decided why not crochet some buttons out of the leftover purple yarn; didn't work. I made a very nice button, but Lamb's Pride is just to heavy to make a small enough button for this sweater. I had to teach a class last night at the Yarn Sellar, so I looked at their buttons; nothing in the right color. I checked out all the purple yarn looking for some lighter weight purple in the same shade; I never realized how many different shades of purple there are!  I left empty handed and discouraged.  Then, this morning, just as I was getting ready to leave for work, I remembered that I had lots of leftover yarn from the Christmas stockings I made.  Success!  There was some purple Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the EXACT shade of purple I need.  It is worsted weight, but it's a much lighter worsted than Lamb's Pride so I plan to give it a shot tonight.  Wish me luck.

I also finished the Mason-Dixon felted boxes.  I ended up cutting pieces of cardboard to put in them while they dried so they wouldn't droop and lose their shape.  I think they came out pretty good.  Hopefully, the intended recipient will think so too.

Here they are stacked. I've been pretty lucky lately with the felting; these stack just the way I was hoping they would.  

I have just one more FO to show you.

 

Some Magic 28 socks.  This is a great little toddler "sock recipe" by Norma.  She's started a blog ring to "Stamp out cold feet".  Check it out; it's a low pressure knit-a-long for charity.

I was able to start and complete this pair during my 6-hour shift at the gym (in between cleaning and helping customers).  Fast, easy, and for a good cause; these are going in the Dulaan pile.  I used left over scraps of Patons Classic Merino from the felted boxes  for these.  1 down, 27 to go :)

I have started another sweater for another of my great-neices; it's the Mock Cable sweater by Yankee Knitter.   I'm just about done with the back, no picture yet. I think I'm going to do the cardigan version, but I haven't made a final decision yet. I'm using some DK wool yarn that I bought from an estate sale a few years ago.  I think it's probably from the 70's.  It is a really pretty shade of light blue.  It's not the softest wool, but I'm hoping that a soaking in some wool wash will soften it up.

Well, that's about all I've got for you today. Have a wonderful day!

A Post With Knitting!

Can you believe it?  It seems like it's been a while since I've posted any actual knitting content.

It's still rainy and nasty outside, but nothing like the past couple of days.  Kevin tells me the storm is going to pull out of here by tomorrow and be warm and sunny Friday and Saturday. YAY!  I could stand a little sunshine :-)  Enough about the weather, let's talk knitting.

There has been some knitting going on around here.  Wanna see?

• Two Dulaan Cupcake Hats

 Pattern courtesy of Norma.  This is a great, fun, and fast pattern.  I think it took less than two hours a piece to make these.  I see more cupcakes in my future (at least these cupcakes won't make my pants tighter than they already are!).  These, of course, are going in the box for the Dulaan Project.

• Rainbow Ripple socks

 

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock

Needles: Crystal Palace size 2 dpn

This pair of socks is a gift; can't say who they're for yet because she has been known to occasionally check out the blog.
I have a confession to make about these socks; I didn't really knit them.

Peaches did. And she was some pissed when she caught me trying to take credit for her knitting!

 

• There has been progress on the Minnowknits Garter Cardi

Do you see the problem I've run into though? One sleeve and a collar left to knit and very little yarn left. I bought this Lamb's Pride yarn 2 or 3 years ago and thought I had more than enough to knit this sweater. Hmm, I think I was wrong. So, what am I going to do? I had some very good suggestions from Brenda and Patti. Brenda suggested removing the cuff of the sleeve and reknitting it in a contrasting color and then knitting the other sleeve the same and using the contrasting color for the collar. Add a flower or something in the contrasting color to the bottom edge of the sweater and it'd pull it all together. Very good idea which I was all set to do until I took a really good look at how much yarn I had left. Nope, not enough to knit the main part of the sleeve even with the yarn from the cuff. I showed Patti last night at Chicks with Sticks and she made another very good suggestion which requires a little more work, but not much.  Frog the completed sleeve and knit the main portion of the sleeves in a contrasting color and knit the cuff in the pink.  Then knit the collar in the contrasting color and use buttons in the same contrasting color.  So, I guess that's what I'm going to do. Hopefully this will be an FO by the weekend.

•   Felted Boxes from Mason Dixon Knitting.  This is the mid-sized one, pre-felted:

I've also finished the smaller one and plan to make the large one tonight. These will also be a gift.

I was going to show you the squares I've received so far for Betty's blanket; I took pictures the other day.  But then I received SEVEN additional squares yesterday and haven't yet taken pictures.  I'm going to try to get pictures tonight or tomorrow and then I'll post them for you.  They are absolutely gorgeous!  I can't tell you how much this means to me.  This is going to be one very special blanket which I know wil bring a lot of comfort to Betty.   

I have to take a minute right here to apologize to those of you who have sent squares and haven't received a thank you e-mail from me yet. It certainly isn't for lack of appreciation, more like lack of any ability to be organized. I'm so far behind in my e-mails; I promise to catch up in the next day or two. I know, I'm lame.

I'm also way behind in my blog reading.  I've only managed to read a few posts a day.  So, if I normally comment on your blog and haven't for a while, please don't take it personally.  I'm trying to catch up!

 
I had a lot more to talk about, but I think I've rambled on enough for one post, so I'll close here.
Have a great day, everyone!

Ready for Round 3 (sort of)

The pattern is due out anytime now, between 7am and noon today. I've got the supplies. Yarn: Scout's Soctoberfest sock yarn, Needles: Crystal Palace size 1.5 dpn's.  Now, I just need the pattern and some time to knit.  I'm working until 4:30 today, taking my neice to driver's ed at 5:30, and teaching a crochet class from 6 to 8.  It's not looking too good for me this round.  Not only am I not able to cast on until tonight, but my opponent can whip out a pair of socks in all of about 2 minutes (well, maybe not that fast, but she is FAST!).

I finished the first of the Lorna's Laces socks this morning before work.

That's Ruby wondering why a sock suddenly appeared on her pillow.

Well, that's all I have time for right now; have to go to the dentist - YUCK!
Have a great day!

Chicks with Sticks meet the Manchvegas Knitters

What a fun day I had yesterday!  Gina's Manchvegas Knitters group came to York to have lunch and spend the day knitting with the Chicks with Sticks at The Yarn Sellar.  We ate at the Chinese restaurant, Greenleaves, next door to the yarn shop.  Luckily (for the other patrons) we were located in the bar area by ourselves.  Quiet is not exactly how this group would be described :)  Once we were done eating some very good food, we went back to the Yarn Sellar where we spent the entire afternoon knitting and yakking and laughing.  There was A LOT of laughing. 

Sitting from left to right: Lauren, Gaye, Ericka, Gina, Me, Melissa, Amanda, Chris (Amanda's hubby), Chris (Ericka's fiance), Heather, Mary. Standing from left to right: Patti, Lisa, Jackie, Lora

Thank you Roger, for being our photographer. 

He stood on that stool and took the group picture with 5 or 6 different cameras.  What a good Doobie!

 

Gina fondles yarn (pink, of course).

Gina gives Roger a neck massage

A great big thank you to Patti and Roger for hosting this get together!

I finally finished my Round 2 socks for Sock Madness.

I started these on Thursday around 5:30pm and knit almost the entire first leg Thursday night. I stopped to take a look at the Flickr site where some closeup pictures were posted, then took another look at the pattern and realized I had done the leg WRONG! I had to rip back to cuff.  Friday on the way to my meeting in Augusta I managed to get back to where I was before ripping.  I finished the socks this morning around 11 while at work at the gym and had to wait an hour to go home and upload the picture.  I didn't see my opponent's socks, but I could have missed them, so I won't know for sure if I've made it to Round 3 until there is an official post on the Sock Madness blog.

I didn't do much knitting at all this afternoon; just a few rounds on Betty's hat. I spent some time trying to catch up on blog reading; it's hard to keep up with the blogs when your in the heat of a knitting battle!

Tune in tomorrow when I tell you why it's a miracle that I have any hair at all left on my head!

Saturday Sky (and other stuff)

Today's crappy Saturday Sky

Here's a picture of what I woke up to this morning:  

Hubby had to force the door open to get inside to get the snow brush and ice scraper:  

Hmmm, where am I while they're all out there shovelling? Inside staying warm, of course.

I finally finished my Dad's birthday socks this morning. His birthday was Thursday, but he was busy then anyway so it's okay that I didn't finish until today. He loves thems (good thing considering all the grief they caused me).

Details: Yarn: Regia Bamboo color #10604

Pattern: Top down stockinette over 64 stitches on size 2 dpn's

I managed to put the right zipper in my Big Balls sweater on Thursday night. It's not perfect, but it's a good as I can do. I love this sweater!

I don't, however, love having my picture taken. What a stupid look I have on my face. Just look at the sweater, okay.

Details: Yarn: Spunky Eclectric's Chunky Big Ball Sweater Yarn in the Vineyard colorway.

Needles: size 10 addi turbos

Pattern: Chunky Everyday Cardi by Amy King 

It feels really good to have two more projects off the needles! Perhaps the Faina's scarf will see the light of day again. That might be nice since I'm supposed to be doing this as part of a knit along. I think I'll work on it for a while today and maybe start a baby sweater tonight for some mindless knitting. Faina takes complete concentration so she can't go to work with me tomorrow. I'd totally screw it up if I got interrupted in the middle of a row.

I've got a couple other pictures for you:

Jay, Rico, and Samm.

Aren't they cute? Rico really does love that little t-shirt. He'll walk around all day in it. Cindy wants to know why she doesn't get a t-shirt (or maybe she's wondering what's wrong with Rico that he likes wear t-shirts, especially peach colored t-shirts).

Did I Make It?

I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning; but I think I may have finished my socks in time to move to the next round of Sock Madness! 

Pattern: Mad Cow Socks by Jennifer Booker Young (for Sock Madness competition)

Yarn:

Brown-Fortissima Socka

Multi-Spunky Eclectic's Skinny Socks 

Needles: Crystal Palace size 1.5

Started Saturday, 3/10

Finished Monday, 3/12

This pair of socks counts not only for Sock Madness, but also as my March socks for the SAM3.

This and That

I have a lot of random things to talk about; hopefully I won't bore you to death!

• Hubby and I are going to Boston for the weekend.  We're going to see BB King at the Opera House on Sunday evening - YAY!  I LOVE BB KING!  We're going down Saturday morning and returning Monday morning.  There will be lots of walking, which is good because there will also be lots of eating!  Can you say "North End"?  Yummy.  I'd like to hit some yarn shops, but I know of only one yarn shop (on Newbury Street); anyone know where there are others? We don't mind taking the T, so if you know of any, please let me know.

 

• I took Betty for her treatment yesterday.  That woman is amazing; she has the best attitude!  She knows she doesn't have as much time left on this earth as she'd like (and deserves!) but she doesn't dwell on that.  She is living her life the best she can.  Even with all she has to deal with, she still is always thinking about and doing for others. As you know if you've been reading for a while, Betty was the teacher's aide in Samm's 5th grade class.  Samm absolutely loves her.   She is thrilled that Samm has found what she wants to do in life and wanted to support her by going to the "Around the World" banquet at Samm's school yesterday.  Obviously, she wasn't able to attend.  Betty is an amazing cook herself; she could easily be a very, very successful caterer.  She felt very bad that she couldn't go, so she gave Samm a gift; check it out:

   

She wrote her the nicest, encouraging card to go with it.  Samm was thrilled with it.  We were both so touched that she was thinking of Samm during this particularly difficult time in her own life.  Samm brought home some of the leftovers from her project to give to Betty so she wouldn't feel like she totally missed it.

•   In knitting news, I completed the first of what have become known as the "Socks from Hell" for my Dad. 

 

• I plan to work on the second sock on the train to and from Boston.


• Faina hasn't been picked up in days.  I'm thinking it may come with me to Boston, too.


• I've just started the second of the Big Balls for the  Big Ball Sweater.  I'm loving this sweater and can't wait to be able to wear it.

• The other night, I mentioned to Samm that I'd like it if she'd make me a watch similar to the one she made her friend for Christmas.  I haven't been wearing a watch for the last year and 1/2 or so because I wasn't able to see it.  Now that I'm wearing bifocals (because I'm old), I can see well enough to wear a watch.  She went right out that night and bought the supplies and I had a watch that night.

Isn't it beautiful? And it fits! I've NEVER found a watch that fits my wrists; this is perfect. I told her again that she should make some jewelry and stitch markers and we could open up an Etsy store. I'm hoping she does it because she does some really nice work and has an amazing eye for color combinations.

• My spindle and I are not currently on speaking terms.  I told you that the wonderful Gina taught me how to use it at SPA and that I just needed some practice.  Well, I've been practicing and practicing and all I seem capable of so far is C.R.A.P!  I so badly want to get the hang of it. I even bought a different kind of spindle with a stationery bottom.  Someone at SPA had one and I tried it there and it seemed easy.  Well, that was just a disaster!  I'm determined though; I'm gonna win this battle.  Brenda told me about a place in Portland where she has just started some spinning classes and they let you take a wheel home with you each week. A new session should be starting in April and I'm thinking I may have to do it.  It's very reasonably priced and I'd get to try out different wheels.



• Big storm expected tonight through tomorrow; I'm hoping they'll close Town Hall tomorrow and I can stay home and knit (yeah, that's gonna happen - NOT!).  Guess I'll go watch some tv and knit now. 

Have a great night!