Stuck on Socks

Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fun Pattern: top down on 64 stitches with a 3x1 rib I finished these up on Friday minus weaving ends that was done today. Nothing special to say about these except that I used over 45 gms on each sock when I usually use less than 40. With these finished, I quickly dug through the sock stash and pulled out a few more balls. Now I have Trekking, Koigu and handspun to occupy my time. I think they're a pretty good mix to keep my attention. The handspun is a bit hard on my hands to knit (I'm doing them on 2 mms to get a really tight fabric) so I'll work on the Trekking to give my hands break. Then when I don't feel like concentrating, the Koigu does the trick. Haven't gotten much knitting done since Sunday though. Poor Marc had to have his first round of shots yesterday and they hit him pretty hard. He'll try to smile and be cheerful, but he can't help whining through it all. Tylenol and cuddles to the rescue!

Fussy Socks

Yarn: Rico StrickSpaß SUPERBA Color Pattern: top down with afterthought heel I picked up this sock yarn awhile because I had never seen it before, it was soft and the colors spoke to me. My initial take on it was that I thought it looked similar to some Regia or even LB Magic Stripes. The softness of the yarn called out for me to knit it up and I did so soon after it came home. I started out with the intention to do my usual top down sock, but as the pattern emerged I knew that this would be a good candidate to try out the afterthought heel. Look at how pointy that heel is! Hmm. I'm glad I tried the technique out as I think it's a good one to have in the arsenal, but I won't be doing alot of them based upon the fussiness of it. Things I would do differently next time: work heel on 60% of stitches for a deeper heel and a central double decrease for a prettier seam. The pattern turned out to be quite different than I imagined. I had to do a little research to see how it was ""suppose" to look. The top is what I was getting and the bottom is what I had to force. In order to get this I had to knit significantly tighter on those bands of blue and white. I didn't think I'd be getting these done for awhile but last night I realized that my June socks for the Sock-a-Month Knitalong weren't completed. So I quickly got to work picking up stitches and finishing the heels. I think the next pair will be some purple cotton that are almost done.

A Case of Startitis

Fresh in the stash: two balls of Regia Bamboo Color. Kathleen finally(!!!) came to see Marc on Sunday and left these bad boys behind. Yum! I in turn sent her home with all of my sock leftovers for her Log Cabin blanket. I do think that there's yarn from about 30 pairs of socks. She should be busy for awhile. Yup, anyone who's wondering if the thing actually exists, yes it does! And it's really cool too. Anyhoo, I'm tempted to cast on with this yarn but I really need to restrain myself. See, I have a bit of a problem: Four pairs of socks and three sweaters need to be finished. Oh and then there's a sweater for Royd I just started along with some potholders. And we won't even get into the yarn that has yet to be delivered for some summer knitting. Honestly, I think I need some intervention! The worst part of it all? All I want to do is spin, but I can't while keeping an eye on the kids. I've tried. It's really hard. In other news, the kids are all sick. Again. In the past month this is everyone's third cold. I'm getting pretty tired of wiping noses and listening to sickly whines. When will it end?!? On a brighter note I'll leave you with a picture of Marc. I've been trying to get a picture of him smiling and this is the closest I've come to yet.

Happy Roving

Why yes, that is a new template. I really like how it looks, but I'm still tweaking it. I appear to have a problem with the coding in the comments section. They show up incomplete, but are right when you click on the "post a comment" link. Anyone know how to fix this? This is way beyond my HTML knowledge. Although I did not sign up for Dye-o-Rama, I have been following enthusiastically. I just love seeing all the beautiful colors everyone has been creating and it's been very hard to just sit back and watch. I've begun investingating sources for yarn and which dyes would be best for me. I'm leaning towards WashFast Acid Dyes but have yet to order any. My itch came to a head yesterday when I just had to play. This is what I came up with using Koolaid. Ice Blue Lemonade, Orange, Lemonade and Artic Green Apple Grape, Lemonade, Strawberry, Black Cherry and Coral (lemonade and strawberry) Blue and Red Wilton dyes mixed to make purple The Wilton dyes broke in the bath which surprisingly turned green. Thankfully, I was dyeing this to go with some previously dyed purple and green roving. I love happy mistakes!

Another?

Go sign up. You know you're knitting them anyway!

Crushed Berries

Spinning in fits of five minutes here and ten minutes there has really paid off. In this time I have managed to get this done: 8 oz. Corriedale Roving from Winderwood Farms 664 yards, approx. 16 wpi Okay, I admit, I did wake up at 5am the other morning and get 2 hours in before I had to stop, but that was only once. Now what to do with it all? Maybe socks. Or a scarf. Or maybe I'll let it sit on the bookshelf for inspiration. I just have to promise myself not to start anything new until I get at least one pair of socks finished. I have three pairs in the works and can't quite get the energy to finish any of them. Instead I've been focusing what little time I do have on Ribby. One sleeve to go!

Mail Call

I finally got my butt to the post office and found lots of great stuff waiting for me. First, there was my socks from Kira. She made me Pomatomus using yarn from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm. My feet are so happy for soft, squishy and gorgeous yarn! Thank you sooooo much, I love them! I've been wanting to make these socks and now I don't have to. Next up is a little fiber. 8 oz. Merino, 8 oz. Merino/Mohair, 24 gms silk hankies, 1 pound Wensleydale Not pictured, 3 pounds of BFL I know I said that I have enough wool to hold me over for quite awhile, but I have a reason. See I needed just a few more ounces of BFL to complete a spinning project. I figured why not get the large lot and save a few bucks with the discount and shipping cost. Well, it kinda snowballed from there when I saw other things that I really liked. I just need to find somewhere to put it! Not to worry that all my fiber is just sitting around taking up space. It is getting spun up! The purple yarn is what I'm working on now and it's turning out quite nice. The other two skeins didn't turn out as well. I had dyed and spun the roving so that when it was knit up, it would stripe, which did turn out. The problem is that I had a hard time finding my groove with the Navajo plying on the first bobbin and it turned out pretty crappy. The original goal of this yarn was socks, but now I'm thinking I'll make some felted potholders. I need new ones anyway so it all works out.

Sockapaloooza

Pattern: Rib and Cable Socks, Interweave Knits Fall 2005 Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot "Wildflower" Close up of ribbing, first picture is better for color accuracy Okay, I know I haven't really talked about these all that much. It wasn't so much that I wasn't excited about making them, I just had a hard time focusing on them. My pal had specified that she didn't like lacy socks, so that narrowed down patterns by alot. I knew that I wanted to have some sort of ribbing to ensure a good fit, but couldn't decide upon a pattern. Initially I had dismissed this one since I had done these for my last pal. Finally I realized that it's a great pattern and there wasn't a reason not to make them. As far as picking the color goes, I goofed. I had meant to order Wild Raspberry, but clicked the wrong button. When I first got the yarn, I thought it looked funny but just tossed the yarn onto the shelf while I waited for the right needles to come in. Well, I didn't get to the knitting part until after Marc was born and then it was way too late to reorder the yarn. So, I forged ahead and think they turned out nice. If she hates 'em, well, then I can redo. I've been spinning whenever I get a few free minutes. Next time I post, I'll give you all the details...

Five

I have survived the past five days since Royd went back to work. Granted, the kids may be in their jammies a few extra hours a day, the laundry is way behind and I really need to do the bills... But, we're getting things done. I was surprised that I get more done with him being gone. Okay! Maybe this shouldn't considering that he thinks he's allergic to housework. ;) Since I've got five minutes to spare, I thought I'd share a few things. Pattern: My usual Yarn: Gedifra Happy Cotton, color 2027 I love these socks! I have a bunch of Regia and I've never finished a pair since the yarn was so stiff to knit with. This yarn is so soft and flexible, that I may rethink cotton yarn. The next picture shows the colors off better. I also started Ribby and another pair of socks (go figure!). In case anyone is wondering Mariah hasn't disappeared from the knitting basket. I just need to order the zipper and then I can stress about that. Last but not least, I have finished the Sockpaloooza socks, but forgot to take a picture before dunking them in the wash so I'll have some next week. Have a great weekend!

Hello World

No, I didn't disappear off the face of the Earth, I gave birth to this little guy. Meet Marc Andrew who was born on April 5th. Long story short, I went to an appointment that morning and wasn't allowed to leave. This turned out to be a good thing since after the doctor broke my water, he was delivered an hour and a half later. No autobahn births here! "Having my hands full" is the understatement of the year. This little guy certainly keeps me busy with hourly feedings and crying like I've never experienced before. But each day gets a little easier and he now has discovered that he can have his eyes open without screaming about it. Reilly and Connor are thankfully in love with him. Connor is all about giving him kisses and "helping" whenever he can. Heck, I can't even get kisses! Of course with all this time nursing, there's been alot of time to sneak in some sock knitting. Three pairs almost done. There's been a little bit of spinning too, but not much. This is some BFL I dyed before Marc was born with Koolaid. I think I used Cherry, Lemonade and Orange. I plan on Navajo plying it and making some socks with it. I also dyed the following for some more socks: These are my latest fiber purchases. Two bags of merino, two bags of corriedale and one of a silk hankie. Please remind me that I have more than enough fiber to spin for a long time! Well, children are calling me. I'll keep you updated when I can find downtime. I leave you with one more picture of Marc, taken just a few days ago.

Still Here

... and no baby, yet. Apparently someone is not in a rush to make his debut. Just as well, I'm not ready for those sleepless nights. I took last week off from blogging. I admit I was kinda in a state of depression because of the baby. Which is unlike me at all; a bad mood usually disappears within hours. I had been sent home from the doctors expecting to go at any time and as the days passed without anything happening, I couldn't quite shake the fog that was surrounding me. Thankfully this past weekend it seemed to lift and I'm pretty much myself again. A big help was my ever supportive husband and Kathleen's phone calls to distract me. So, once again I'm way behind in emails and making the rounds in blogland. If you haven't or don't hear from me, don't take it personally, I'll do what I can to catch up. And thanks for everyone's kind words of support, ya'll rock! Yarn: Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch, color 707 Pattern: my standard top down on 64 stitches This is pretty much the only knitting I got done last week. I needed something mindless and soothing to keep my hands busy. A plain sock is always great therapy for me. You may have noticed that many of my latest socks are plain. I have found that these are the socks I reach for first and only wear my lacy or highly textured ones when they're all dirty. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned patterned socks completely, I'll just be choosing those less. Uh, yeah, another pair has already been started.

Bad Knitting

This week's knitting progress has been pretty much fruitless. Problems keep popping up and I'm unhappy about it. When I had measured Mariah's hood earlier this week, apparently I can't. After a whole day of chugging away on it, I only managed to get about 6 inches done with about 4 to go. For some reason I'm having a hard time picking it up now. The Gentleman's Fancy Sock is being fussy. Or perhaps it's my foot. Once I got past the gussets I tried it on and it's really tight. Granted my feet are a bit swollen right now and perhaps I should just put them down for a few weeks. Once the baby's born and the swelling goes down I can get a better sense of whether I have to rip or not. I really hope not. Reilly's been bugging me about a blue hat for months now. I picked up the yarn on Sunday and casted on last night. I swatched, honest! It lied. He tried it on this morning and although it "fits", there's no room to grow. Since he'll only get maybe one or two wears this season, it really needs wiggle room. Rrrrriiiiiipp... The yarn for my sock pal just shipped yesterday (ordered two weeks ago) so I'm starting to feel the crunch. Yikes! I did receive the Highland Wool from Elann. Both colors were alittle bit off, despite me having a color card but I still like them. I'm dying to start either Ribby or the Manly Sweater but can't bring myself to start another sweater before Mariah is closer to being finished. Honestly, I don't think that the knitting is all that bad, I'm just in a bit of a slump personally. The baby is due in less than two weeks. I want it out now. It's gotten to that stage where every little movement hurts and it's just a PITA to do anything. I don't care that we don't have a name picked out yet or that the baby's room is still covered with boxes of yarn. Or that everyday he stays inside means a relatively full nights sleep for me. Maybe I just need a nap. Or a latte with a big bar of chocolate. Yum.

A Few Blue Socks

Thank you everyone for your nice comments on the Opal socks and all the well wishes for a wonderful weekend! I meant to respond, but then, I'm so far behind I just figured I'd start over. Our weekend ended up being very nice, if not expensive. Friday and Saturday was spent at both the local PX and the big one in Wurzburg getting things he needed/wanted. Me? A candle. On Sunday Kathleen drove over and we headed downtown to the Fishmarkt. It's essentially where different vendors sell a predetermined amount of goods in a basket for a set price. What's in the mix is what you get. Last year we had a great time, but this year it coincided with a Sunday store opening* and it was mobbed. We grabbed some food from some vendors and wandered away from the mayhem towards the other shops. Yes, I mean the wool shops.... I was good and ended up with only four balls of sock yarn. Yarn: Wolle Rodel Sport and Strumpfwolle Pattern: My standard top down on 48 stitches I whipped these up this weekend for Reilly. I really like this sock yarn It's slightly thicker with a suggested gauge of 7 stitches per inch and works up very cushy. I had bought the yarn with the intention of making a pair for myself, but the ball band suggests two balls for an adult foot. I only used half of it (50 gms left) so I could have made them for me. He really likes them, so I guess that's all that matters. I'm rather enjoying the socks again and had to start this beauty. It's the Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. When I first got this book, this was the only pattern that I knew I HAD to knit. I'd kinda forgotten about them in my manic sweater phase. But Kathleen started a pair and showed them to me and the interest was rekindled. I'm using the Trekking she brought last weekend and I'm really liking how it's coming out. Mariah? Halfway done with the hood and then the blocking shall commence... *Stores in Germany are not open, requiring a special permit to do so. Twice a year they're allowed to open for business and it gets quite busy.

UFO #2 and a FO

Yarn: Opal Rainforest, Flamingo Pattern: My standard top down on 64 stitches The strawberry cheesecake icecream socks are done and now I'm seriously craving some icy cold treats. This was my first time working with Opal and I can't say that I'll become a die hard fan. I found that the yarn had no sproing whatsoever and this led to extreme laddering. Granted I always get some, but it's really bad! I haven't worn them yet, so after that and a good washing, I'll decide for sure what I think. The Koolaid dyeing I did last week turned out to be a disaster. I forgot the vinegar and almost all of the color ran out. I know that some people say that you don't need vinegar, but I have never had bleeding this bad. I finally gave in and ordered some Bearfoot in the same colors I had been trying to get. Since my order hasn't even shipped yet, I started on another pair of socks. This time I'm making a pair for Reilly and he picked out the colors: purples, blues and greens. (He also reminded me that he needs a new hat.) I found the best solution for my second UFO for the Lent along. After a year and a half it was time to deal with this unfinished Clapotis: I turned it into this: Perhaps this is cheating? Well, I never liked the dimensions of it; I made it way too skinny. And then the yarn was all wrong, the stitches too loose and the twisted ones looked very wonky. So it's been reabsorbed by the stash until I find another project that will work out better. I'm happy with the decision and if it weren't for the Lent Along, it probably would have sat there for another year and a half. Royd got home last night! He arrived in town late yesterday morning and we fully expected him to be released mid-afternoon. At almost five o'clock he called to say that he had just found out that he couldn't come home until everyone in the battallion was back. They were still waiting for an entire company that wasn't expected for a few more hours. So much for dinner! At nine I heard the tanks rolling down the street and knew it would be quite some time until he got home. Finally, at one am he walked through the door. This morning both the boys were delighted to see him before he had to go back to work. Thankfully we have a three day this weekend to play catch up before his schedule gets crazy again.

UFO #1

Pattern: Mittens from Knitters Handy Book of Patterns Yarn: Woolease Here is my first finished UFO for Kimberly's Lent Along. I started these as a present two Christmas' ago. All that needed to be done were the thumbs. Seriously, how hard is that? It only took me 15 minutes, including weaving in the ends! I've put them into the Charity Pile to be sent off later this month. Now I'm not sure what I'll tackle next. I do believe that my interest in socks has been rekindled. Working on the ill-fated Koigu socks last week left me wanting more. I was craving rounds and rounds of knit stitches. That lead to these: The color is the Flamingo colorway, but for some reason they remind me more of Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. I'd blame it on cravings, but there hasn't been any lately. I started the second last night in hopes of defeating SSS, but I'm seeing that that might be a problem. That's because these little beauties showed up in the hands of Kathleen last night. Yum, I love me some Trekking! It was kinda funny because I had been telling her how much I had paid for some from the States. Ordinarily I wouldn't have done it, but I was already buying and just really wanted some more. Well, she was at the yarn store that carries it and got it for me. Anyway, it's about half the price that I paid! Thanks babe, can't wait for our next yarn crawl! In all honesty, I don't see much progress on Mariah happening until next week. Royd gets home in two days and I've got a million things to do until then. Good thing that socks are the perfect project to work on in between things!

Random Friday

Yesterday was a yucky day all around and although I had meant to post, I just couldn't. Between the nasty weather and the kids driving me bonkers, I was in the foulest of moods. Thankfully today the sun is shining, the snow is melted and at least Connor is in a better mood. Notice I only said Connor. Reilly is driving me insane!!!!!!! Five days left until Royd gets home and let me tell ya, I. Can. Not. Wait! I'll be packing them both up in the car and sending them away for a little daddy time while I take a long soak in lots of bubbles. Aaahhhhh... As far as Mariah goes, I've got about 20 rows left before I start the hood. The yoke is taking short of forever and I had to put it away last night for fear of boredom. I started a pair of socks for my sock pal in Koigu, but I'm going to run out. So, today I pulled out some Knitpicks Dye Your Own and some Koolaid. I hope the colors look as nice knitted up as they do in the skein. Tuesday we had a snow storm and I was quite mad about it. While perusing Elann, I saw that they put up some more colorsof their Highland Wool. Ones I've been wanting and there's been a GC burning a hole in my account, so I had to partake. Nothing like a little yarn therapy. The Oregano will be for a Ribbi and I think the Dark Indigo Blue will be something for Royd. I think he'll like the color and if not, I'll use it for the boys. Blue will not get wasted in this house! Have a great weekend! I hope that I have something to show you next week.

Banish Your UFOs!

There's a new button up in the side bar. Okay, I'm not Catholic but Royd is "technically". But I do have a few UFOs that need to get out of the pile. I haven't decided which will get done since I really only have three more weeks to work on them. I had thought about ripping an ill-fitting sweater and redoing, but I'd rather concentrate on something else. Perhaps I'll tackle some baby blankets for charity so that I can finally mail them out. This weekend didn't produce as much as I'd had hoped, but I'm overall happy with my progress. I just started on the yoke of Mariah, but am struggling with the final cable repeat. I had shortened the sleeves and now am having problems working out how to do the cable. I'm either going to have to eliminate it or make it shorter. I'm leaning towards making it shorter. I did get all of the Plums and Berries spun and plied. Here's one skein and the colors are pretty accurate. The other skein is still dripping wet. I just had to share the following picture. In the past week Connor has become strangely obsessed with his blanket. He carries it around everywhere and snuggles up with it on the couch. It's too cute! Reilly has a teddy bear he has to sleep with, but it doesn't compare to this. Also, he has learned to blow kisses. Adorable! Please excuse the dirty face and shirt. One year olds don't seem to stay clean for long...

Where's Spring?

I find the scene outside my window completely depressing.

Color Therapy

Thank you for all your kind comments regarding my last post. I'm okay and will be during the deployment. It's just the kind of news you can never prepare yourself for, regardless that you knew it was coming. Anyhoo, I'm choosing not to dwell on it right now and focus on other things. Like wool!!! Three pieces down, two to go. So far I've gotten the back, one sleeve and the left front done. I opted to not go in the order in which the pattern called for to break it up. Since the sleeves take about three days and the other pieces only a day, it's all about perceived progress. Hopefully by next week I'll have all completed and can start the yoke. As much as I love how this yarn (Patons Classic Merino) knits up and the color I chose, I'm craving color. Any color. If you hadn't noticed, I'm kinda in a sweater mode right now and haven't touched a sock since my New England disaster. Rooting through the sock stash, nothing quite inspired me (though I am eyeing some online for my sock pal!). Well, sitting next to that bin are the rovings I just ordered. Since I haven't started spinning the next batch of Maple Sugar, the bobbins are free. Yes, they call out to me to fill them! Before you know it, eight ounces of Cotswold are being pulled out and prepared for their destiny. Meet Plums and Berries from the friendly folks at Nistock Farms. What a completely different experiences this is than all my prior ones. The wool is course and prepped into fat fluffy roving. The singles are quite hairy, yet so shiny. I'm excited to see how they ply up. Well, looks like I have an exciting weekend planned. Hope yours is just as wooly!

One Year Later

It was one year and three days ago that Royd came home from Iraq. It's been a short but very happy year. Well, it was great while it lasted. I got official notification this morning of a stop loss/move that will go into effect mid-March. That's all we really know at this point. There isn't a date set for deployment yet, but it's coming up soon. Probably June or July. Admittedly I'm quite teary-eyed today. Although I knew a deployment was coming up, you're never really prepared for it. I guess we just kept hoping that it wouldn't happen before we moved again. Ugh. Well, I guess it's better than the limbo we've been in for the past few months. Now we know and can go forward from here. I know this post is missing explanations and coherent order, I'm just kinda not there yet. I just felt like I should document this day for myself. I'll be back later this week with brighter news!

RIP

Samus is no more. Sadly, she will not fit. For two days I have been in denial, but cannot hold out any longer. Yesterday I tried her on after multiple attempts to get the sleeves right and I knew it wasn't meant to be. Again today I tried her on hoping for a better fit (the entire i-cord edging now complete) and was sadly disappointed. The blasted thing fits over my huge belly with room to spare and the shoulder seams are about two inches farther down than they should be. Dang! Dang! Dang! And I can't rip it out and make the next smaller size. That one will never fit across my chest. Oh well, I'm sure I can find another pattern that will make me just as happy. To soothe my loss, I'll be concentrating on this little number: Yup, after several previous false starts, Mariah is on the needles and is working out splendidly. The finished size of this one is much closer to what will look good (and fit!) so it's full speed ahead!