Inspiration & Passion

Dyeing is consuming me. I mean all of me. It's all I can think about.

Well, when I'm not thinking about where I need to drive my boys next, or how much time I need to knit projects for the store.

After those things, I'm finding that I'm randomly putting different colors together in my head.

Trying to imagine them together on yarn.

Spending so much time on it, in fact, that I'm sure knitpicks.com will soon think of me as some kind of dyeing freak.

Take this one here. It's similar to one I posted last week. Similar, but not quite. This one has much stronger colors due to difference in fiber and more food coloring mixed in with the Kool-Aid.













I'm calling this one Rustic Rainbow.

I'm hoping this will make a very pretty pair of socks. The yarn feels heavenly and I can't wait to knit with it.


That is, if I ever knit anytime soon again. I've been so busy with yardwork, dyeing, and working that knitting time comes few and far between. I miss it.

But the one nice thing is, I'm making all of this pretty yarn to knit with once I do get the chance.

And to be able to knit with yarn that I dyed myself? Such a luxury I know I'll adore.













I can't wait to show you the one that's drying right now. It's probably my favorite one yet.

Tomorrow, I promise.

Memory Lane

Come stroll with me for a bit, ok?

I've got nothing, absolutely nothing, to blog about lately.

So I thought I'd dig up one of my favorite memories. I'd post pictures to go with it, but I still haven't found that box yet. (I know. And we've been here how long?)

When I was about 9 and my brother was 11, my mother and I were in the living room watching a movie. Suddenly my brother came in the room wearing a hooded sweatshirt and had a basketball for a head.

Seriously! It was the goofiest looking thing I'd ever seen - this big tall torso with waving arms flailing about and sticking out of the hood of the sweatshirt was an orange face with black curved stripes atop a strangely elongated neck.

My mother and I laughed so hard we almost peed our pants.

And then my brother started really hamming it up. There were noises, (noises!) to go along with this little charade of his.

At which I got to the point where you laugh so hard that there's no longer any noise coming from you; your body is just violently shaking.

I don't know why I chose to share this little tidbit today, other than every time I remember this, it brings back fresh giggles. I wish I could share the picture with you. It's freakin' hilarious.

Thanks, Babe

Not much to say lately, but I did want to show off the beautiful roses that my husband brought me on Mother's Day.

A question: anyone know what kind of rose these are? They're red on the inside and a delicate butter yellow on the outside of the petal. Very beautiful with a strong and enticing scent.

They were such a lovely surprise!

To Dye or Not to Dye - There Is No Question!

70% Merino/ 30% Silk, Kool-Aid:













Colors were Grape, Ice Berry Blue, Lemon-Lime, and Black Cherry.













I absolutely LOVE yarn dyeing. Love it.

OH. And one of the biggest perks of working in a yarn store? Steven got a free sample shipment of beautiful silk yarn from India the other day. There are about 12-15 hanks of beautiful white silk yarn of different weights and textures.

He sent them all home with me to pick a couple out and dye one of them for the store, and one of them for me.

100% silk! I can't WAIT!

He also asked if I could teach a class this fall on yarn dyeing. You bet! I think it will be fun.
___

To all of you Mothers out there - have a wonderful Mother's Day. Spoil yourself a little!

It's Game Time, Baby

Oh yea, we're going.

Gotta go see my boys! I hope Danks can bring it tonight.

Go White Sox!

edited to add:

THEY WON! 6-3, Danks got his first major league win tonight. Nice game, guys!

Look What I Did!

I hand-dyed yarn yesterday.

Oh it was awesome. So fun and easy.

And did I mention fun?

I've been wanting to try hand-dyeing yarn for quite some time, but only recently have I gotten up the nerve to actually do it.

I ordered some bare laceweight hanks (4!! of them) from Knitpicks last week. It was torture waiting until yesterday to actually try this process out.

This hank (all 880 yards of it - good lord, have you any idea how much yarn that is??) was done in a two-step process using Kool-Aid.

I dyed the first step with black cherry, grape, pink lemonade, and strawberry. While it was in the crock pot, I loved the colors - they looked so pretty mixing and blending together.













But after it had some time to dry I wasn't so crazy about the overall look. It was too ... I'm not sure. But I wasn't as thrilled as I wanted to be with it. I loved the black cherry and grape areas, but the strawberry completely took over the pink lemonade part (I thought it might - reds bleed a lot) and that whole area just didn't meld well with the more muted colors on the other end.

So back into the crock pot it went for session #2: Project Overdye. This time I used just grape and black cherry. The grape was poured liberally all over the yarn and the black cherry was put here and there in various places.

Rinse, hang to dry, and wait. This morning I went to take a look at it.


Immediately fell. in. love. The gorgeous muted purples, berries, and pinks I had originally wanted were there and so beautifully blended! Oh, happiness and joy!

I've got three more hanks of the bare laceweight to dye and one hank of a merino/silk blend that I'm really excited about. The wool and the silk will take the dye differently and I can't wait to see what they look like.

I went today and bought a virtual crapload of Kool-Aid.

Um, can you say new obsession?

A Little Yarn Pr0n

Oh. So. Yummy.













And some purples:













Enjoy!

This Is Too Much Fun

I got one of these today!

Yes, for me.

What? I like to play games.

Anyway, I've been having the most fun with it this afternoon. Although, not a lot of that time was spent actually playing games. Most of that time was spent browsing the internet on it! It's WiFi capable! It's a total trip to load up my blog on this thing - anywhere!

This, along with my lovely iPod, will be excellent companions on those long trips down to Illinois to visit family.

Well, except when I can knit. Yarning over gaming? Yarning wins hands down.

I. Am. So. Tired.

Yarn Over was yesterday.

Please click here to read all about it on my Yarn Garage blog.

We worked our asses off yesterday. I kid you not.

I hurt from every possible place on my body. Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release gels are sooooo my best friends right now.

But... it was a great day and I think our store did really well. Really well.

All right. I'm off to soak in a loonnnng hot bubble bath.

No-No? Hell Yes!

Photo downloaded from WhiteSox.com

Oh. My. God. Buehrle pitched a no-no! A NO HITTER! It was incredible.

Hubs and I watched the game last night, loving the excitement that our favorite team was bringing to the park. I mean, Thome nails a solo homer, Dye goes long for a Grand Slam, and then Thome gets another solo shot! (I read on their site this morning that Thome went boom-boom. I laughed my ass off at that.)

And that's just what they did on offense!

As for defense, Buehrle pitched one hell of a game. Almost perfect. As my hubs said, leave it to Sammy-friggin-Sosa to ruin a perfect game by getting that walk. BUT, Buehrle made up for it by picking him off at first right away. I mean, this IS Sosa we're talking about here. He's not exactly known for his wheels.

And what about the rest of the guys on the field? Dye, thank god he's so tall, made a great catch at the wall in right field that would have been a home run. Crede and his fantastic ability to dive and get up lightning quick made a couple of great plays, most notably throwing out Hairston at first (for which Hairston got ejected - don't fight with the umps, man.) Uribe saved the day more than once with stellar grabs and Iguchi came up with one sideways. Mackowiak almost set his feet on fire running one down to catch it in deep left field.

All those plays, all those outs. Hats off, Buehrle.

Thanks, guys. It was one hell of a night.

Diversity

Just thought I'd show what I'm knitting for the store.

It's a shrug/bolero that's really really easy. Per Steven's suggestion I'm using Katia Pinta Print ribbon yarn. Not exactly my taste, but it's working up nicely.

A texture shot:













I have a feeling through the projects Steven asks me to knit for the store I'll work with a variety of yarns that I would never have given a second look to. It'll be good for me and I certainly don't expect I'll ever get in a rut with my knitting!

Steven once described my style and taste in the things I choose to knit as "classic with an urban kick." I like that.

Some exciting news!

A few weeks ago Steven and I were talking after we closed the store about ways to bring more business in. He asked me to give it some thought and come up with some ideas, either for new and fresh classes or some other way.

A couple of days later while working on those sleeves, an idea popped into my head. For about a half hour I tossed it around trying to figure out whether it was good enough to pitch to him. I called my hubby at work and told him about it. His extensive praise gave me the confidence to call Steven.

My idea, essentially, is to have a Show & Tell night. One night a month we'll host a little get together at the store where all of our customers can bring in their finished projects and show them off!

Imagine! A night where other knitters, who understand the time and skill it takes to make something, can ooh and ahh over the things that you've labored so lovingly to knit! And retrospectively, where you can gain inspiration off of your peers, find new yarns to work with, or even discover new patterns.

Steven suggested the idea of having goodies to sate the palettes. I'm really excited. The inaugural Show & Tell night will be next month.

Ok, kittens, this is where the whole point to my telling you this comes in. Would you, as yarnies, be attracted to an event like that if you lived near here and could come?

Swing This Way, Baby

Now that I'm out of the dark spell I was in, I thought I'd share one of the ways of cheering up that works for me.

Music. Absolutely works. Always has for me. Playing it loud, soft, through headphones, and even really playing either on my cello or violin.

But this time I just made a playlist of songs that were upbeat and played it to my heart's content. I even put the playlist on my iPod and every night when laying my head down to slumber, in my ears flowed the musical stylings of various artists.

Warning: (well not like a true warning, I mean there's nothing scary here and this little added statement certainly won't save you from any danger.) This playlist is all over the place as far as genres go. My taste in music is very broad and I seem to go through phases where one style appeals to me more than another. Right now Swing and Cabaret are extremely fun and get me moving, which is why there's quite a few songs on here from those particular genres, especially by Michael Bublé.

The list:

1. Moondance - Michael Bublé ~ Absolutely can't sit still when this is on. Just love it. A fantastic cover of Van Morrison's classic.
   
2. Feeling Good - Michael Bublé ~ Builds. Oh how this song builds. Wow.
   
3. Have You Met Miss Jones - Robbie Williams ~ Any fans of Bridget Jones's Diary will recognize this song. "You remember Bridget - she used to run round naked in your paddling pool."
   
4. Stir It up - Patti LaBelle ~ Three words: Beverly Hills Cop
   
5. Mack The Knife - Robbie Williams ~ Exciting rendition of this classic! Robbie's voice coupled with the strong brass of his musicians lift this song to new heights.
   
6. That's Amore - Dean Martin ~ I remember the first time I saw Cher's movie Moonstruck with my mother. We cracked up at the lyrics of this song.
   
7. The One & Only - Chesney Hawkes ~ A great little 80s gem of a song about being proud to be yourself.
   
8. Holding Out For A Hero - Jennifer Saunders ~ This version is from Shrek 2. Ab Fab's Jennifer Saunders blew me away.
   
9. Save The Last Dance For Me - Michael Bublé ~ Makes me want to Salsa.
   
10. I've Got You Under My Skin - Michael Bublé ~ When hubby and I first started dating he was going through a huge Frank Sinatra phase. He used to sing this to me all the time. Michael Bublé's take on it is fantastic.
    
11. My Song - Brandi Carlile ~ An empowering song. Her voice gives me chills.
    
12. This Is The Day - The The ~ "This is the day your life will surely change." Yes.
    
13. Nobody's Fool - Kenny Loggins ~ That's right. From Caddyshack II.
    
14. Life Is Short - Butterfly Boucher ~ 'Nuff said.
    
15. Ride - Amanda Marshall ~ This is a great song, but one of the things I noticed is how many words she included that end with "-tion."
    
16. Intuition - Jewel ~ Not your typical Jewel at all. But that's what makes it so great.
    
17. The Beauty In Ugly - Jason Mraz ~ From Ugly Betty.
    
18. Real Gone - Sheryl Crow ~ From Cars, which I've seen more times than I care to admit. This song hasn't got old for me, though the movie did a long time ago. Sheryl never disappoints.
    
19. New Day - Kate Havnevik ~ I love Kate. Her breathy haunting vocals stay with you long after her music has ended.
    
20. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini ~ Great beat, great lyrics. Catchy and fun.
    
21. Objection (Tango) - Shakira ~ Because every once in a while you really need to shake those hips.
    
22. Downfall - Matchbox Twenty ~ Rob Thomas. One of the greatest songwriters of my generation.
    
23. Every You, Every Me - Placebo ~ That beat! Another song that makes it impossible for me to sit still through it.
    
24. Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson ~ Must. Dance. And sing.
    
25. Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants ~ Flood is probably up on my top 10 favorite albums and this song is one of the best off it.
    
26. Gone - Kelly Clarkson ~ I love to sing this in my car.
    
27. Separate Ways - Journey ~ Oh, you gotta have a little Journey!
    
28. I Am A Rock - Simon & Garfunkel ~ I remember my first real exposure to S&G. I was on my way to a state wide Orchestra festival in high school with about three of my classmates and our orchestra teacher. We listened to all kinds of music on that four hour drive and S&G was one of them. I've been hooked ever since.
    
29. Happiest Girl - Depeche Mode ~ This is a dirty little song, done only how DM can do it.
    
30. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode ~ I don't know which was better; the song, or the video.
    
31. Surely (I Love You) - Colin James ~ A bouncy little swingin' song.
    
32. Watch Me Shine - Joanna Pacitti ~ "Girl Power" at its best.
    
33. Cherry Bomb - John Cougar Mellencamp ~ A fluffy little song about being nostalgic for a simpler time.
    
34. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison ~ My song. My mom used to sing this to me. A nod to all of my Brown Eyed Girl contemporaries.
    

Well there you have it.

What songs lift you up?

Thanks, Ladies

I greatly appreciate your kind words on my last post.

Today

I had typed up a very long-winded diatribe but I'm not going to post it.

I'm in a very dark place today - darker than I've been in a long time.

They're Done!

And turned in. Whew!

What do you get when you combine seed stitch, naughty yarn, three individual frog sessions, and different dye lots?

One very relieved-that-these-are-done knitter!

To those who asked, I was knitting sleeves for a sweater with the Feza Dazzle yarn.

A week ago my boss asked me if I could help him out with a project for a Twin Cities-based celebrity. He was going to do the body of the sweater and asked if I could knit up the sleeves.

So here they are:













And a close up shot to see the textures of the different fibers:













This yarn drove us both crazy! All those different fibers took white differently, so in some places it looks stark white, some a gray white (that's mostly because of the silver strands in those areas), and other places it just looks yellow.

BUT, when I started the new skein, from there UP looks perfectly snow white! Steven and I are so frustrated with the difference in the dye lots.

Anyway. So these were all I knit this past week. I'm glad to have them done.

The Culprit:

Uggh!

Seriously!!

I'm working with the most recalcitrant yarn right now. For every step forward there's two steps back.

And by two steps back, I mean frogging. Uggh! I have never frogged this much on any project!

I feel better now.

Happy Easter!

What did the Easter Bunny bring you?














Have a great Easter!

MeMe M&M!

Ok, so today I'm a follower. Whatever.

This was too cute not to join in on.

Netter found the M&M Character Creator and showed us what she would look like as an M&M.

Then Brandy shared hers last night.

So here's mine. Picking her name from the save options on the M&M site I came up with...

Are you ready for this?

"Sister Sparkles Like You Wouldn't Believe"

Knit N' Crazy

Behold, kittens, I've got not one, but two finished objects to show you!


First off, let the Jaywalking commence!

I'm all ready. Got these babies finished yesterday and I'm raring to get out and do some, er, well, Jaywalking.

...


Ok, enough of that.



Details:

Pattern: Jaywalker pattern, Grumperina
Yarn: Austermann Step Sock yarn in colorway 13 Holz (wood)
Needles: Addi Turbos US1 32" circular
Started: March 20, 2007
Finished: April 3, 2007

These were SO fun to make! I'd definitely knit this pattern again. Not to mention the Step sock yarn feels scrumptious when donned. The aloe vera and jojobo oil in it is quite luxurious.













And the second one:













Bombastic Booga, v2!

Pattern: Booga Bag, Julie Anderson
Yarn: JoAnn's Sensations Bellezza Collection Dolcetto, lime, peach, yellow, blue, and purple
Needles: Clover Bamboo US 10 1/2 16" circular, Clover Wonder Knitter for i-cord
Started: March 31, 2007
Finished: April 2, 2007
Dimensions:
- Pre-felting: 12 3/4" w x 14 3/4" h
- Post-felting: 6 1/2" w x 8 1/2" h
- I-cord pre-felting: 64"
- I-cord post-felting: 54"

As I said a few posts back, I made a few modifications so that this one would be bigger. Instead of only 15 rounds per color, I knit 20 rounds per. And with almost a year of constant, er, frequent knitting behind me, my gauge loosened up from the first time I knit this bag.


I also added the purple i-cord bind off, just for a little splash of color up there.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. I'll definitely still use the "mini" Booga (because I think it's cute as hell) but the bigger one will come in handy when I've got more in my purse than just sunglasses and a checkbook.



Next up:

Pomatomus!

Peek A Boo ... ga

You'll just have to wait until tomorrow for the full (and felted) version of this Booga Bag.

The one in the lower right hand corner is the Bombastic Booga I made last September. I love the bag, but it turned out just a wee bit small. Since I had more than enough leftover yarn for another one I decided to make it again, with some modifications.

Stay tuned for the full reveal!

Oh, and these colors just happen to coincide with Project Spectrum!

Project Spectrum

I've joined in on this fun project!

I chose to start (albeit a little late) because I miss my camera and need to get out and shoot like I used to. I figure this will be a good way to get me to do that!

So here's my humble start - just in time for the beautiful blues to wrap up. Oh well. April's and May's colors are green, yellow, and pink, and I've already got something in mind for that!





















1. Jellies, 2. Cold War, 3. Nuzzle, 4. Sky Blue, 5. Hubby's sock, 6. Entrelac Bag, 7. Entrelac Bag, 8. Entrelac Bag Bottom, 9. Entrelac Bag Handle

Spring Has Sprung!

Indeed it has! It's been lovely outdoors lately. Spring has brought days with sun and gentle breezes and days with cloudy skies and the scent of spring rain in the air. Days with temps so warm you forget that just a couple of weeks ago we were still bundling our loved ones in mittens and scarves and drinking hot cocoa to take the pink from our cheeks.

Spring has made its presence known here in Minnesota and it's welcomed with open arms by my family. We're more than ready to bask in the warmth, to let the sun kiss our bare skin, and to enjoy a plethora of outdoor activities.

Good-bye, Winter. I won't shed a tear for thee as I shake off the last dregs of cabin fever and enjoy a bit of a renewed spring in my step.

Halt!

There's a Jaywalker in our midst!

As you know, I finished the fabulous Monkey socks the other day.

You don't know, however, that I finished hubby's blue socks Sunday night. Pictures soon!

So, what's a girl to do when she's got brand new sock yarn and not much else on the needles? That's right! More socks for moi!

Last week I made something to display in the store as a sample. When I brought it in, Steven said for payment for making it, I could pick out a couple of things from the store. I picked the needles I borrowed to make it and a skein of Austermann Step Sock yarn in colorway 13 Holz (wood).

I love the colors in this! I knew from working on hubby's sock that the yarn would stripe in beautiful long and short color progressions. This time, though, since my sock has more contrast in colors, I wanted something that would play up the stripes so they wouldn't just be plain old stripes running on my legs and feet.

Enter the Jaywalker pattern written by Grumperina! Now, this is a pattern I've been tossing back and forth in my mind for months now. Should I make them? Everyone and their brother has made these socks, which made me kind of leery of knitting them. I guess because I didn't want to seem like a bandwagon jumper.

And also, because really, I hadn't yet seen a yarn that really said to me, "I want to be Jaywalker socks!"













But this yarn did. Despite the fact that when I cast on for them yesterday, I ran into a few problems (which were my own fault - I was in a hurry and had no business trying to cast on for a pair of socks at that time.) Anyway, yesterday afternoon I finally sat down with some time and patience and started them properly. And knitted. And knitted.

You know how sometimes you find something that you really really like and it just captivates you? Entrelac is like that for me.


And so is this sock. I love how the stripes are playing out. Some large, some quite small.

At the rate I'm knitting on this baby I expect to have my Jaywalkers done by next weekend!

Well, maybe.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Er, what's left of it.

Go drink some
Guinness for me!

Cheeky Monkeys!

They're done!

Details:

Pattern: Monkey, Knitty, Cookie A
Yarn: Anne from Schaefer Yarn Company, Rosa Parks colorway, 1/2 of hank
Needles: Addi Turbos US1 32" circular
Started: February 28, 2007
Finished: March 16, 2007

I want to profess my undying love for these socks right here and right now. Easily my favorite out of all the socks I've knit to date.

Cookie A is a wonderful designer and her patterns are *really* well-written and easy to work.

I'm sure I'll be doing this pattern again sometime. Or maybe another of her designs: Pomatomus.

But we'll talk about that another day.


This yarn is awesome. I love the mohair content in it. Not too much to make them fuzz like crazy, but just enough to make them soft and beautiful.

These will be making their inaugural debut tomorrow while I'm at work.

I can't wait to show them off!

PS - be sure to click the pics to see larger versions - the detail in the yarn is worth it!

@!$(%#

This Monkey has been a very naughty little monkey.

Tuesday night I did the short row heel. And then 10 rounds of the pattern after the heel. And everything was going great.

Until.

I put it on. And realized I forgot to "unwrap" one of the short row wraps, which, to put it bluntly, means I left out TWO ROWS during the heel.

Now, that doesn't sound like it's all that bad. The heel closed, it went together beautifully, and no one would ever notice. But I would. Because right there at that diagonal line where the short rows line up and the sock changes from being on the ankle to being on the foot? Yea. Too tight.

@!$(%# @!$(%# @!$(%# @!$(%#

A LOT more yarn came out of the sock, along with a lot of choice words.

I'm so mad at myself for this. That's the last time I'll knit late at night with little sleep.

Edited to add:

Everything's good now. Monkey and I have made up and there's a shiny new short row heel (and some pattern rounds) where there once was a pile of crinkled yarn.

And best of all, it fits perfectly this time.

As Told By my Five Year Old

I was sitting on the couch earlier working on my sock when my younger son started telling me stories. I thought, "How cute would it be to have him narrate one to me to put on my blog?"

Here are a few that he told me as I typed verbatim. "Home" seems to be a bit of a theme in all of his prose. Enjoy!

One day there was a little piggy and he stayed home. But one day, he got disappeared. And and he went all the way home.

The End.

Well one day there was a little piggy and he stayed home. Well he saw a bat in his school, but all theotherday. (the other day was said very very quickly, hence no spaces between the words.)

The End.

There was a little boy named Lucas and he stayed home with his ants and he just don't let go of the ants and he went all the way tiny because the ants made him tiny.

So Lucas was on the blue team and he was really and the ants said, "Don't let go!" and he lived Happily Ever After.

The End.

Well one day there was a different Cars and but one day Lightning was a bull driver and 75 was lightning.

The End.

One day a kitty got on a balloon and kitty went all the way up to space and the kitty was so afraid it didn't let go, but one day it let go of the balloons and the balloons popped and the kitty went all the way home.

The End.

Well one day there was a little chicken and he crossed the road, he don't know why and he blowed away with the wind and he went all the way home.

The End.

Oh Well

I was going to blog, really. I had the best intentions.

But, eh.

So I'll give you some eye candy instead. From the archives.

Whew!

Isn't this yarn pretty? It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Wisteria.

These will be for my mother in law, who put in a request for socks via my sister in law. Her favorite color is purple and even though we carry a plain LL purple, I thought I'd splash her socks up a bit with a few more colors.

I also, as you can see by that beautiful yarn cake, bought a ball winder last night! Oh heaven! It's so much easier than rolling yarn into a ball by hand, and it makes a center pull cake!

Can't get any better than that.

I'm going to attempt (key word here, kittens) to knit her socks two at a time on Magic Loop. We'll see. I bought a US 1 Addi Turbo 60" circular set last night (loooooooong cable!) and we'll see how it goes.

While I was at the store yesterday I also bought goodies for Nett, who won my blogiversary comment contest. I hope she likes them! I'll show pics after she's received the package - don't want to give away the surprise!!

Drum Roll...

And the winner is....

Netter from Nothing but Nett!

More details to come - I'm off to go shopping for the goodies!

Congratulations, Nett!!

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

My blog is a year old now!

Gosh, that's a lot of writing.

About crocheting. And knitting.

And, well, some crap in there, too, you know, for flavor.

But now that I've hit a year, it's time to step things up a bit! I mean, after all, my blog's "grown up" (go with me on this.)

So I think that means more writing about, well, anything, in general.

Oh, and maybe some writing with Vodka. Because that makes for a very interesting post.

Well, maybe not interesting, but funny.













Enough of that. To quote Ross from F·r·i·e·n·d·s, "I believe the word we're all looking for is ... anyway...."

I've got stuff to show you!


Don't you love my mis-matched socks?

The blue one is my hubby's sock and of course that beautiful multi-colored sock is my Monkey sock. Oh, and with their corresponding mis-matched mates on the needles.

I finished these on Monday: mine during the day and hubby's at like, 11:00 at night. Eeesh! I dreamt of sock knitting.

I made some alterations to the Monkey pattern. As some of you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of heel flaps. And since the Monkey pattern calls for heel flaps, well, I changed it and did mine with a short row heel. But I didn't stop there! I short rowed the toe, too, because heaven forbid I actually follow a pattern to the letter. (It's a sickness... I don't know why I can't do it.)

Anyway, this was the first time I'd ever done a short row toe and oh, it's SO nice to wear. The fit is fabulous and there's zero bulk. I showed it to hubby and told him all the details (and watched his eyes glaze over with that look of "Oh MAN do I have to listen to this again?") and asked him if he wanted me to do the toe for his socks the same way. Well, then his eyes came back to life and focused again and he said, "Yea!" (Love you baby, sorry I torture you with knitting details.)

So hubby's socks are short rowed in heel and toe, also.

Cute story about when I was working on the heel of his. Last weekend hubby was volunteering at a bike show in Minneapolis and the boys and I went with him. We were going to just wander around during his shift and then we'd all walk around together when he was done.

When we got there, the kids saw they had these HUGE jumping tents for kids set up, three of them, actually, and the boys literally spent all but 20 minutes of my husband's three hour shift jumping and playing in those things. I was SO grateful I brought my knitting with me.

I parked myself in a chair and worked on hubby's sock. It was the first time I'd ever knit in public. How exhilarating! A few people asked what I was doing, most just stared at the crazy knitting lady.

But I didn't care! I got the leg finished, short rowed the heel, and did about 15 rounds into the foot during that time. And all the while I was smiling to myself at what a good idea it was to bring my knitting. I would have been bored STIFF without it!

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And now... what you've all been waiting for! The contest!

I have to work tonight (last minute thing), so I'll draw the winner tomorrow morning. Sorry! Hope you can wait one more day! I'm excited!

And with that, I'll leave you, kittens. Go forth unto the world and create something.

Or, well, just go on with your regular day.

Happy Birthday!

To my darling baby boy, who sadly, is no longer a baby.

He's a proper big boy, all at the tender (and hard to believe) age of five!

Happy Birthday, C!! Love you, Bubs!

Boys Who Knit, (& the Mom Who Is Proud of Them)

So I'm knitting last night, and my youngest son, C, comes up to me and says, "Momma, I want to knit like you."

Well, how can I turn that down?

So I got out my biggest needles (US 10 1/2) and some soft creamy white yarn, and set off on teaching him. I had him sit in my lap and put his hands on the needles where they needed to be, then I held his hands, and we knit like that for about two rows.

After which he was delighted, but firmly said he was done.

Then my older son, T, said, "Well, I wanna learn."

(Keep in mind, this was the same child who said he didn't want to learn to knit when Steven told him I should teach them.)

So I had T sit in my lap and we did the same thing. And he knit for a couple of rows. Then I let him try it by himself. I saw he was having trouble knitting Continental like I do, so I showed him English style, which (from my teaching experience) I think is easier for kids to learn.

He sat next to me on our loveseat last night knitting his white swatch while I sat knitting on my sock. Well, I had my knitting in my hands, but I honestly wasn't doing much.

What I was really doing was watching my little boy maneuver the yarn and actually make it work - watching him as he knit his stitches, so carefully. Watching as the lightbulb went off in his head that recognizes the joy to be able to create from our hands.

He now totally gets why I love knitting: the joy of creation.

He wants to make himself a scarf, maybe some mittens, and a hat. He said he really thinks it would be cool to wear something that he made himself.

Isn't that awesome?

Sock Day!

Today, for me, is all about socks.

Knitting socks, wearing socks (of COURSE! It's cold here in Minne-SNOW-ta), and darning socks!

Hubby and I love wearing these wonderful wool socks from Eddie Bauer (plus the ones I make.) Trouble is, some of the pairs we've had for a few years are starting to wear out, or actually break open holes.

Hubby brought me a pair a few days ago with a dime-size hole in the toe and asked if there was any hope for them. I looked carefully and said, "Sure, I bet I could fix these."

Yesterday I decided I'd dive right in. I looked up darning socks on the net and found a great tutorial. Sock in hand, burnt out light bulb placed inside (what? I'm not proud), and some leftover yarn from these socks and I was good to go.

It was so easy! And took about 20 minutes to fix. Hubby was uber pleased. (He'll get a kick out of it that I said uber when he reads this later.)

Fast forward to today, he asked if I felt like fixing any more of his socks. He brought me three pairs: two of which had dime-sized hole(s) in the toe, and one poor pair that had four ginormous holes in the ribbing on the leg. I told him there was no way they could be fixed - they were really really bad. So we tied knots in those and gave them to the dogs.

The last pair I decided to shoot pics of the process. Enjoy!


Ohh, the poor things. These had two holes in the toe. Luckily these were knit with reinforcing thread all the way through so they were much easier and quicker to fix since the wool was the only part to break apart.







This pic is after the first row of duplicated and new stitches. You can still see some of the bare reinforcement thread.













Here you can see the hole closed, just one more row of duplicated stitches and it'll be good as new!













And here's the finished sock with both holes mended. I found this process not only rewarding, but also fun! (Excuse the dark areas on hubby's sock - he wears a lot of dark shoes.)













And here are the two pairs that are on my needles right now!

A pair for me:













These will the Monkey socks from Knitty. The yarn I'm using is Anne from Schaefer Yarn Company in the Rosa Parks colorway. I love how they're striping! I hope I can get the second sock to stripe this way. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here's a close up:













Aren't those colors gorgeous?

And here's a pair that I'm working on for hubby:













These are just a variation on my own sock pattern with Austermann Step Sock Yarn in the Jeans colorway. I love how these are turning out and they're so soft and squishy!

So that's what I'll be doing today while we're getting buried under the snow.

Uh, yea. Did I forget to mention that? There's about 3 1/2 feet (FEET, people) of snow outside my front door.

Minne-SNOW-ta is friggin' right. Land of the Great White Shroud.