And then there was knitting

I have been knitting a lot lately. Even sick I've managed to pick up and work on something daily. Here's a run down of what I've been working on lately.

First the lace piece from the cruise.

Then there's some socks that I actually finished.These are my "O Dublin" socks. Pattern "Dublin Bay Socks" (you'll have to scroll down and find the link for the .pdf on her blog. I used a skein of Politically Incorrect yarn I had in my stash called "It's All About the O". I love how they turned out. The pattern really worked well with the yarn or is it the other way around? Either way, they are really pretty and very comfortable.

Been working on the scarf that is beyond addictive. I'm using Noro Silk Garden and Noro Yuzen. I finished it the other night and got a picture of it today. It's so hard to show this off. It's a whole lot prettier in person. Plus it's a really quick knit. I might make another couple of these with some other yarn that has a similar color change and give them as gifts.

Haven't worked on my sweater lately, but need to pick it up and try and get it finished. I lost some steam with the cruise.

Have started another pair of socks. The pattern is so easy, but looks beautiful for all it's simplicity.The pattern is Harris Tweed, and I think it would make a great men's pair of socks, but I'm using it for myself. It's easy to remember the pattern, which is nice for socks that have seen the inside of 2 dr. offices in the last 2 weeks. Using Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in Cranberries and some new square shaped cable needles. The square needles are supposed to be easier on your hands, and I have noticed that my hands don't get as tired working with them.

Last, but not least, is a mobius scarf I'm working on as a gift. I'm using the Fibonacci Moebius pattern (that link is for Ravelry and if you knit and aren't a member, well you should be). I'm using 3 different yarns for this one because I wanted some extra color. I hope the recipient will like it.

That about covers the knitting of late. Kind of all over the place, but that's nothing new for me. I'm trying to come up with some things I can make for presents and I'm trying to knit from my stash some. Hopefully that will continue to go well.

Sunday drive

I ended up taking an old fashioned Sunday drive today. It was nice to get away and do exactly what I wanted to do and not get in any hurry to do it. To top it all off we found a great little place for Sunday brunch in Starke. Seriously, in Starke. There have been good restaurants in Starke for years, but this one was new to me. They had great home cooked food and I highly recommend the fried chicken. Plus the price was reasonable. It wasn't a huge buffet, but it had plenty of good, home cooked food to choose from, plus some cakes and cookies to top off a really good meal. So, if you find yourself driving through Starke, FL take a turn on E. Call St. and find Charlotte's Bistro.

The rest of the day was spent shopping; a little Fresh Market, a little yarn store (Hanks), a little bead shop (Avalon) and finally a cup of Peppermint Mocha Twist (YUM!). In between the shopping that occurred, I did manage to knit on my "O Dublin" socks. Got home in time to watch the end of the race in Phoenix and then worked some more on the tea cozy. It's so close. Now that I know how I want to finish it it's going along pretty quickly.

I'll have pictures of the stash enhancement from today later this week. My aunt & uncle from MI will be stopping by to spend the night Tuesday on their way to spend the winter in Melbourne. Plus I have meetings scheduled at church for every night this week. Thankfully today was a great way to get ready for everything that will be going on this week. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and took some time to relax and do something they enjoy.

Where do Saturday's go?

I always think I'm going to get so much done on Saturday's and then all of a sudden it's 2 minutes until midnight and I realize that I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted. Part of the problem may be that I slept in until 9:30, which was really nice and helped a lot in how I felt. Then there was breakfast, laundry, checking out a new online program for the church, NASCAR Cup practice, college football...speaking of which my 'Noles won...dinner to be made and a bunch of shows to watch that I'd recorded during the week.

In knitting news: I managed to work on the tea cozy. I think I've figured out what I'm going to do to make it work and not have to drive myself insane decreasing the cables. I've also been knitting on the 2nd of a pair of socks I've named "O Dublin". (Yes the link is to Ravelry, why don't you have an account yet?)

That about covers Saturday for me. Tomorrow will be interesting I'm sure.

Socks & hats & shawls! Oh my!

Well, it's not all that much, but I have been knitting some, as well as working on my ornaments for the exchange I'm in. I'm going to be late with the ornaments...big surprise to some I'm sure...but I'll get them done very soon and out in the mail.

Here's what else I've been working on.This is the hat I made for a little girl at my church who had to have brain surgery. She's doing great right now, but the scar looks like a big C at the top of her head. Hopefully the hat will keep her from trying to mess with it while it heals. One of my dolls decided to model it for me.

Then there's the socks. I started a pair for my dad and this is a picture as of a few weeks ago.I really like the way they are coming along. The pattern is called Masonic Lodge Socks and I'm using Berroco's new sock yarn, Comfort Sock. (The link is for the pattern on Ravelry. If you knit and you aren't on Ravelry you should be, so just sign up and by the next day you should have an invite. Seriously, it's great!)

Then there's the scarf I started after I found the pattern on my trip to NC. Here's how it looks right now.

Last, but by no means least, is a Pi Shawl.

I started it in June at the last Midnight Knit-in at KnitWitz. It hasn't moved since then. I want to do something different and I have some patterns that I'm debating about. Until I can decide what I want to do, it's on hold. Hopefully I'll decide this week.

So, you got some pretty pictures of knitting. Tomorrow maybe I'll have a picture of one of my ornaments. Stay tuned.

Memorial Day update

Memorial Day has become about shopping, but for me it was all about cleaning and knitting. I made major inroads into my bedroom. I just need to get my dresser cleaned off and I'm done. I'll do that tomorrow. Ran out of steam today.

Did manage to finish this...

Bremen Muster
in Oldfield Creek Sock, hand dyed

I love how the bubbles worked up with this yarn. It fits wonderfully and I've even cast on for the second sock. I'm going to have to make another pair. My DF Selena saw them the other night at the baseball game when I was working on them and expressed an interest in obtaining a pair for herself. I bought the last skein of this colorway at KnitWitz for her and I'll make them since she doesn't knit. Of course, I'm trying to get her to come learn to knit. I think it would be good for her to help her relax. I'll have to try again.

Also worked some on my cropped cardigan. Almost have that last sleeve done. No pictures, since it's almost impossible to take a picture of yourself in a garment.

That's it for today. I hope everyone here in the U.S. took time out to remember those who have served our country in the Armed Forces, and those who continue to serve. Living in a "Navy town", and having a brother who served in the Navy and now a nephew who is active duty, tends to make you more aware of the sacrifices made by the people who serve and by their families. We owe them our thanks and appreciation for all they do. If you know someone who has ever served in the military, take time this week to thank them.

New socks coming

Oldfield Creek Sock & Yarn
Originally uploaded by bookgrump

I've had this problem.
I have this beautiful sock yarn in great garnet & gold colors. If you are an FSU alumni/fan like myself these colors come in hand during the year. They also happen to be the colors of Gryffindor, so that's wonderful too. This yarn is beautiful and so nice to work with and I really want to make socks out of it.

First I tried this


The pattern is called Reversi and when completed should be completely reversible. Love the pattern, just not in this yarn.

Yesterday I went to my favorite LYS and sat around knitting with a few others. One of the things on my list was to rip this sock out and reball the yarn. Surprisingly I actually remembered and did it. That left me with what to do with the yarn. What sock did I want to make?

One of my friends had made a suggestion, which I liked, but then after looking at the pattern, and a few others in my very large queue in Ravelry I thought maybe, just maybe the Bremen sock by Wolkistchens Musterseite would work. (Yeah, if you clicked through the link you might notice that the site is written in German. However, Brenda has .pdf files of her patterns in English for those of us who are not German speakers.) After a brief online consultation with my favorite LYS owner I decided to go ahead and cast on for them and see if it would work. Something to do while watching the shows I'd taped earlier in the night.

This is what I've got so far.
I think we have a winner! Love the way the yarn is pooling with this pattern. I'm hoping to get to go to a couple of ACC Baseball Tournament games next weekend. I have a feeling these will be going with me if I do. Knitting socks at baseball games looks mighty fun!

I did have a small finish last night, but it needs a strap so I'm waiting for a picture.

A bit of catching up

I don't want to take a whole lot of time, so this may be kind of short. I do want to show you a few things that I've actually finished!

First, I actually finished the knitting of this bag at least a year ago, maybe more. Then it took me awhile to get it felted. Then it's sat for months waiting to have the straps sewn on. Today I sat down and did them. I'm calling it "Brown Goes to Market". The pattern was free when I bought some yarn at the Knitting Emporium in Kennesaw, GA. It's a mixture of Cascade wools and some specialty fibers. It was a fairly simple project. I even made some other things to go with it, but they haven't been felted. Maybe this weekend I'll get that done. I love these colors and it's meant to be a project bag.

The next picture is of my completed "I Dreamed of Africa" socks. Aren't they lovely? They are much prettier in person. They are made with Shaeffer Anne, and I have no idea what the color name is. I have almost a half a skein of the Anne left, at least that's what I think. I've got to weigh it and see. I might have enough to make some other socks with, or do something fun with.

They really do make me think of Africa, with all the reds, browns and tans and then the blue of the sky peeping through. The only part of Africa I've seen in Egypt, yes, part is actually in Africa, but I would like to go to more of the continent. Until then I can wear my socks and dream.

I'm taking a few days to relax and hopefully get some things done that I've been putting off. Mostly some cleaning and some finishing of projects. If I do manage to do more finishing, I'll be sure to post some pictures.

One year ago today!

Can you believe that one year ago today I started writing this blog? My how time does fly. It's been an interesting year, but I have to admit that I hope the coming year is much better then the last one. So, Happy Blogiversary to me!!!

In stitching and knitting news there really isn't much to report. I've been working on another gift, the coffee "Slingshot". I'm hoping this will work out well. If so, then I think I'll make a few to give to some of friends from church. Stitching wise I've kind of stopped working on different things every day and am trying to finish a sampler that I started in 1995, yes, that sampler. I'm halfway done with the pulled stitches on the right side. That means I have the pulled on the left side and some beads to put on and it's finished. I so want to get this one done. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow I'll have some time to work on it and finish so I can take some good pictures.

Speaking of pictures...I think I owe you all better pictures of my Chocolate Zombie socks.
I'll leave you with some pictures of the azalea bushes at the side of our property. This year they seemed to be so full of blooms that they look like waterfalls of pink.My dad's lemon trees are also blooming. I can't send you the amazing scent, but I can send you a picture, or two, of the blooms.They are so sweet smelling. If you've never smelled citrus blooms you have no idea what you're missing. It amazes me to think that these small blooms will develop into large lemons. Not the small ones those of us in the US are used to seeing in the grocery store. These are large and full of juice.

I leave you with a butterfly in the lemon tree, enjoying a wonderful spring-like day.

We interupt March Madness...

To bring you Sock Madness. (Unless you are one of my friends who live in Atlanta and now have a completely new idea of March Madness. See Lottloft's post for more information.)

But my craziness is Sock Madness 2. It's fun, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make the 2nd round. I have finished one sock and have finished 3 repeats of the second, but I'm tired and have to get up early in the morning for church. So, I doubt I'll make it to the heel flap before I fall asleep. No pictures of the finished sock. BTW, this is all I've been working on since about 7 PM on Thursday. That's just insane!

Day One of Sock Madness 2

For me it ended around 3 AM this morning. I don't think I got as far along as other, especially since at least one person finished. I did manage to get through 3 repeats of the leg pattern and started the 4th before I thought my eyes began to grow very heavy and I actually craved my bed.

The pattern name is "Zombie Socks", so mine are "Chocolate Zombies" since the yarn is called Chocolate. It was in my stash and is a hand dyed that my DF Jean picked up for me at The Whole Nine Yarns up near her. It's lovely to work with and I really like this pattern, so I'm very happy with the sock(s) so far. A quick picture, then I'm off to spend the day at my LYS, KnitWitz.

What do you mean it's almost Thursday?

Seriously, it's crazy how fast this week has gone. I spent most of the weekend sitting on the couch feeling pretty sick. Thankfully not so sick that I couldn't knit or stitch while I wasn't sleeping.

Yes, I said stitch! It seems I've found the stitching mojo and it is all my DF Heather's fault. She finished this and I couldn't resist bringing mine out to work on. I actually made some progress on it this weekend and this is what the outside looked like when I picked it up on Friday.
And this is what I looks like as of this morning after I worked on it some again last night.
Pretty good if you ask me. I'm booking right along. Of course I haven't worked on it today since I spent most of the day at a doctor's office, running errands, in a meeting, church and then band practice. Oh, and I did some "work". (My use of quotes will have to be explained at a later date, this post is all about the stitching and the knitting.) The pattern is a class piece from Catherine Theron. If you click on over to Heather's blog (link above) you can see what it will probably look like finished. At least I hope it will look somewhat similar since we're using the same pattern. I also have the stitching done for the scissors fob. Just no picture of that yet and I've not done the finishing.

Speaking of knitting...I've been working on the re-knitting of my "I Dreamed of Africa" socks. I love this pattern and I love the yarn, especially now that I'm fairly certain they are going to fit when I get them finished. Here's what they look like so far.
Unfortunately this picture doesn't show the stitch to it's best advantage, but you get the idea of the colors. Really pretty.

That's all. But I'm happy with how things are going. I'm stitching and I'm knitting and I might even manage to accomplish something in the long run. I think I'm going to have to come up with a day or time or something to work on finishing at least once a month. I've got a stack of things to do and it seems to get bigger not smaller. I know I've complained bitterly about finishing in the past. It's not that I don't love the end result, it just gets in the way of doing actual stitching. But I'm resigned that it's a necessary evil and must be done so I can enjoy some of my pretties. Now to find and schedule a time.

I'm not going to think about that now though. I have yet another meeting at church tomorrow night. In case anyone is keeping count other then me, that's 4 nights in a row if you count Monday's which is really a class. I think that will almost take care of the month though. But tomorrow may just be the beginning of more meetings. Oh well, I didn't say no when asked so I only have myself to blame. I won't complain too much if we can get some things accomplished, emphasis on the "if".

to finish "Winter Garden Gate". I don't have an updated pictureWait, this is about stitching...oh, I know what I was going to post so I'll have it in writing. I want this is the last one I have.I may have actually done some more on this, but not certain. It's actually close to being finished so I'm going to bring it out to work on this month since it's from one of my favorite designers. I'll keep you posted.

Finishes, answers and a picture or two

First the answer. Annemiek asked about contacting Betsy Morgan concerning the "All Year Cubed" kit. I actually don't have information for Betsy. I thought I did, but apparently she's moved. There has to be a way to contact her though, since she is still teaching. If I find out anything I'll be sure to post and answer.

Now, on to finishes and pictures. I only have pictures of a finish I managed last week.This is called "Holiday Ornament No.1" from Suzann Miller. It was a class at ASG many years ago. All I remember as far as dates go is that Suzann taught one of the first couple of years. There's the back of the piece. You stitch it as one large square, then when you fold it just the right way and put it together you get this. I think this was one of my first forays into canvas work. It has cording, very long cording I might add because I am the worlds worst cording maker. I either make it too long or too short. Oh well, it works.

Tonight I stitched the cording on to another canvas work ornament from yet another class that I took in the 90's. I don't have a picture of that yet. It's very pretty, now that it's all sewn, stuffed and finished. It's even hanging on the tree.

Last night I finished a knitted ornament. I may take it with me to WV for the ornament exchange on Sunday. I may not. I love it, but it is kind of funky (again no picture yet). So today while I was out I bought some red wool yarn to make a plain ornament and I'll decorate it with floss and maybe some beads. It's at least 1/2 knitted, they take almost no time!

I kept thinking that I must have a pair of US size 5 DPNs somewhere in my stash. That's the size the pattern for the knitted ornaments calls for. The funky one I made worked fine with a pair of size 6's, and I'm doing the red on in a 6, but I'm not convinced it will work well. (I may resort to a little felting/fulling to keep the stuffing from coming out.) Anyway, I went looking tonight in my knitting bag and realized that I was using the size 5's for the 1st practice sock in the new Cat Bordhi sock book. (BTW, if you knit and you knit socks, you should own this book. It's so cool.) So I pull the sock out and figure out I've got less then 10 rows and this sock is finished. That's nothing, why did I stop? It's a baby sock for Pete's sake! So, I finished it. That's 1 pair of baby socks complete. Now I need someone to have a baby boy, since they are navy blue.

That about covers it. I had another nice day. Watched a little football, eat leftovers and even managed to hit a couple of stores, but not until the afternoon. I didn't really buy much either. A few things in the Target $1 bins for my little cousins. Weird.

Holidays...humph!

Today I decreed that in no uncertain terms would anyone in my family ever "do" anything on a holiday. That's any type of holiday. Even things like Veteran's Day. Apparently there is some "curse of the holiday" associated with my family that I was unaware of until, well today. I'm sure you're wondering what brought on this latest insanity on my part. Even if you aren't I'm going to tell you.

Yesterday started off so nicely. My aunt & uncle had arrived Sun. evening while I was out to dinner with friends before we took in a show. (The Wedding Singer. Highly recommend the stage performance should it be in your area.) My father took them to dinner (it's his brother & SIL so he should take them to dinner). The next morning they left around 9-ish, having not eaten the lovely bagels we'd purchased but I'm ok with that since it means I can have a bagel or 2 now. Rather then go back to sleep - hey, it was a holiday you're supposed to either go somewhere or sleep in - I decided that I needed to do some work on all those ornaments that need finishing. Plus I needed to catch up on some shows I've been recording from TV. All this sounds good. I worked on finishing, even completed one of the pieces that's been stitched for a couple of years at least. (I haven't taken a picture, but one will be taken soon.)

Let me digress from this very interesting tale to inform you that I can't estimate how much actual thread I need to make cording. Invariably I make way more then I need and I haven't figured out how to make it shorter without either cutting it (and I didn't want to do that), or starting over (and I definitely wasn't doing that). So I have this really cute piece with this fairly long cording. I make it work on the tree so I'm not upset, just perplexed.

Back to the Holiday curse...so, I'm doing my thing and at the same time it seems my father decides he should go out to the shed and replace the gas tank on the tractor. By tractor I mean a riding lawn mower that takes attachments, not an actual huge tractor. We own property, but not that much. It seems that when he was through fiddling he was closing the door and tripped over something and hit his head. The good news is he apparently didn't pass out. Nor was he dizzy. He did have a nice little goose egg on his head and managed to mess with it and cause it to bled, but only after he'd eaten lunch. Hey, he was hungry you know. So, off we go to the doctor's office to make sure he doesn't have a concussion, or something worse. Luckily his doctor had a cancellation just as we walked in, so we didn't have to wait long. We love Dr. Goh, he's an amazing doctor who actually takes time with his patients and listens to them. (I think it's because he's a D.O. and they are trained to treat the whole person, but that's just my opinion.) He decided that we needed to be safe, so gave my dad orders to get a CT scan of his brain. That we accomplished today. We'll know what they found, or didn't find, in a day or 2. I'm fairly sure if they saw any bleeding, and that's what they were looking for, they would have told us by now. Dr. Goh thought everything was fine, but better safe then sorry later.

Now, 1 event does not constitute a curse, but several years ago, on a lovely 4th of July, my mother decided that the bleach should not only go in the washing machine with my father's underclothes, but also in her eyes. Sure, she said the bottle slipped into the machine and she hadn't closed it and all the bleach just popped back at her and into her eyes, it was just a silly accident. But I'm beginning to wonder. That day we spent most of the holiday in the emergency room while they washed out her eyes and then put some protective lenses in because she'd burnt them with the bleach. Please note that there is a warning label on those bottles for a reason. Luckily I have been known to wear contacts and had some saline solution so I spent the entire car ride with her head in my lap in the back seat while I pried open her eyelids and squirted the saline solution in them. The ER doctor said that's probably what saved her sight in the eye that took the brunt of the damage. By the time we got there I had managed to bring the PH levels down considerably, one eye was very close to what it should be. (So note to everyone, saline solution isn't just for contacts. It should be in every household in case of eye emergencies. It's what they use at the hospital.)

There have been other incidents, though not as major. Hence my moritorium on work on holidays. The madness has to stop. Not to mention it cuts into my time to do what I want to do.

Ok, rant over. Other then to note that these doctors visits have meant some time spent with my new socks I'm knitting. Yeah, yeah, I'll take pictures of that too.

I did stitch tonight. Worked on a cute ornament. It's a triangular shaped Santa, I think from Bent Creek. One of the many ornament kits I've collected from the exchage I participate in. Should finish it next Tuesday night. (I've re-established Tuesday's as ornament nights after taking a little break.)

No other changes to report on. Boring me.