Knitty Gritty Thoughts

I'm Here, I'm Here!

Well hello there, long time no chat! =)  I'll update ya'll on the home sitch at the bottom but first I want to talk about knitting! =)  Suprise, suprise, huh?

First off, I finished the knee socks - they still rock.  However, I DO NOT rock the knee socks.  I tried, really I did, but these things make my legs look like big barrels.  And everytime I walk, they start to fall down.  The woven in elastic at the cuff helped a bit but I just didn't add enough negative ease, shame on me!  I may try to shrink them in the wash however if that doesn't work out it's doubtful that these will ever see the light of day.  I will however sleep in them because they would be oh so cozy in the wintertime.

STR Knee Socks in "Midsummers Night" (2 skeins) with contrasting heels and toes in "love in idleness"(1 skein)
Needle Size - 2.5mm magic loop
Pattern - Generic Knee sock pattern, very easy to follow.
Time to Knit - 2 months or so.  Good, easy stockinette, throw 'em in your purse project.
Interested in more info?  All posts about the knee socks here.

Contrasting heels and toes, yum.

I also purchased the often written-about new selbu knitting book, and immediately ordered satakieli from Schoolhouse Press to make the mittens pictured above (that's cream and brown in case you can't tell.)  I keep wavering back and forth between mittens or gloves, mittens or gloves.  Which would you do?  The book itself is lovely, filled with lots of patterns and impeccably charted.  My only wish is that some of the pics were in color.

I also had a lovely swap with Miss Rfg, to introduce her to the world of swaps!  She sent me the loveliest of packages, yummy koigu, chai, chocolate a lovely zippered pouch which has instantly become my project accessory bag for the ripple blanket, it holds all my extra crochet hooks!  And don't forget the yummy fabric, wow!  Aren't those colors gorgeous?!?  Thank you so much for a lovely swap!  PS - if you're interested in seeing what I sent her, go check it out.  I made another Shim+Sons Inspired bag, similar to the one I made Amanda and I love them both very much, it was hard to mail them off to their new homes!  Oh!  And go read about her post office snafu - it's rather funny! =)

These pics are for Stacia (she knows what I mean! =)) Who has patiently awaited another ripple update.  It's growing and I still love it, however I have almost ran out of yarn.  I have 5 balls left of the main colors but need to add some more contrasting colors in so I'm waiting to see what colors I want to pick and if elann will get anymore.  Check out all those ends, can you believe it?  I haven't woven a single one in yet.

Anyhow so home-wise/life-wise, let me update you in bullet points since I've already typed waaay too long. =)

• My house is closing next Monday
• No, I do not have a house to live in yet or really know where I am going
• I think I'm moving in with one of my SIL's (Hubby's family is amazingly supportive)
• Still don't know where I'm buying a house yet, it keeps changing every minute
• I've seen so many houses I feel like I can't remember what any of them look like
• All of my stuff is moved out of my home, however I have a blowup mattress and a lawn chair.  Guess where I'm typing this from?  Living the high life, huh? =)
• My grandma went into ER for emergency surgery, she is very weak and not doing well.  This makes me very sad as we are very close.

I think that's it.  I'll keep you all updated and try not to be such a stranger as things wind down! =)

Well Hello There!

Hi Everyone - betcha didn't expect to wait so long to hear from me now did you?  I certainly didn't expect to leave that last post up so long, life certainly has gotten the better of me lately.

There have been lots of things happening lately- I am a total introvert so when the going gets tough, the tough get quiet! =)

To start off, minor but yet annoying was that my internet was down for about two weeks (thanks Comcast!)  And then I took on a second, well technically third job.

Then the company I work for was "acquired."  As you can expect in these types of things, many people were let go immediately, some are on board only for the transition and some lucky ducks got jobs with the new company.  I was one of the lucky few, however I've been away from home, travelling and spending time in the new corporate office all last week meeting everyone and getting a feel for the company.

On top of that we are packing up our house, finishing renovation projects, painting and getting ready for it to sell.  I have no idea where I'm moving now, the last planned location was Raleigh however my new company would prefer me to work in the corporate office which may mean I'm relocating to Virginia instead.  That area of VA has a higher cost of living than GA as you can imagine so I'm testing the waters, looking at houses and see what comes of it.  The house isn't "on the market" yet however we've had a few showings and may actually get an offer this weekend.  I'm ready to sell but yet I'm so not ready to sell at the same time.  I better find someplace to live, fast!

Oh, yea and did I mention that hubby is leaving in less than two weeks for Iraq for his second tour?  He has been home on leave before he goes, so I'm trying to spend my free time with him.  And of course he will be gone longer as well, since they've upped the deployment time to 15 months.

I work hard for a balanced life and things are a wee bit off kilter right now.  Things will right themselves (they always do) but until hubby leaves, I'll be online only sporadically.  I do deeply appreciate all your friendly thoughts, checking in on me, and the hugs.  They keep me sane and smiling in any and all situations, keep 'em coming! =)

Until then, here's what I've been working on...I packed up all my yarn (sob!) so I'm stuck with finishing my WIP's.  Ripple Blanket and the STR knee sock are getting top-billing right now.  My love for the knee-sock has come back in full force and I can barely put the darn thing down!

Calling All Woven Cables!

Hi there- I'm feeling back to normal now, thanks.  It's amazing what a little restful weekend full of sleeping, laundry and errands can do.  I feel like I'm back on schedule and raring to go!

But first, CALLING ALL WOVEN CABLES SCARVES! =)
- I'm working on a photo album of finished scarves, and Fredabeth (sadly blogless so no linky) sent me in a photo.  I even saw one in the wild over here, how exciting!  So, if you happen to be knitting one, send me a pic and I'll post it in the album along with a link to your blog if you have one.  It's so much fun to see other versions knitted up!

Anywho - people have asked how the Seattle trip was.  It was really nice, we had a great time seeing family and eating at some great restaurants.  Unfortunately, we didn't find what we were looking for so we're still on the hunt.  It's making it a little bit harder because hubby was only home two days before he left for another month.  I'm working hard on cleaning/organizing/finishing up projects to get the house ready to sell in the meantime.  Our house is actually pretty clean on a daily basis, but you know how it is when you have people coming in to look at it - it's gotta shine!

I didn't buy yarn in Seattle even though I did go to a few yarn shops, but I did find fabric instead, including that Linen I was looking for at Stitches Seattle.  I used two of the prints and turned them into a project pouch.  It actually was supposed to be a small project bag with straps, but the straps were NOT working out so I had to rethink it.  The bottom is boxed up so it supports itself open like that.  I like the way it worked out and love love love the fabric, the outside feels very "french" to me, with fun matching dots on the inside.

Ms. Nuttnbunny and I had a fun, improptu swap and she sent me the yummiest goodies!  A lovely handmade japanese lunchsack, super soft suri dream yarn from knitpicks, a wonderful, handknit washcloth (such a treat when people handknit things for me, LOVE IT! =)) and not pictured is chocolate (it lasted about 5 mins!) and fun new music to try out, to get me out of my music rut.  Thank you so much, I love it!

Above is my new start on the second knee sock, after some consulation and support from Sarah, she helped me on my way to finding some good elastic thread to use on them.  I don't know how other people knit in elastic thread but I can tell you how I do with mine.  I simple carry along the elastic in my left hand, as if it's a CC in stranded knitting.  Every knit stitch I catch the elastic as if I am weaving in a color on a long float.  I did that for a few rounds, just enough to give it a little shape.  It's invisible on the right side, I'll show you how it looks when I get further along.

The knee sock hit the brakes suddenly on saturday.  Poor little STR yarn, it didn't stand a chance against my dogs who fished it out of its little bag.  If you look closely you can see all the chewed off ends and slobber spots.  I'm working to see how much of it is salveagable.

@#*(@#$(@#)$()@#$@(!!!*
Is all I can say.

I'm Here - Barely

The sock and I have made it back from Seattle.

I'm here- barely.  There's a lot of email sitting in my inbox that I need to respond to.  If you've sent me an email I'll get back to you in the next few days, wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you!

It was quite a trip, all that flying cross-country has left me a bit jetlagged, combined with not getting enough sleep while I was there and almost getting stranded at the airport has drained all my energy reserves.  Yep I said almost stranded - I did one of the things I fear most- MISREAD THE TICKET!  I am always so organized and well, on top of it but in this case, obviously not.  I thought we left at 8:30 am, at 6:40am I realized that our plane really left at 6AM! D'OH!  After a mad dash to the airport, we were pretty much out of luck - all the flights on our airline were overbooked after the long holiday weekend, we were number 5 on the waiting list.  We waited for hours, and kept getting rolled over to the next flight, then the next flight after that.  And so on.  I finally got on the laptop/wifi and went online and purchased very expensive tickets on another airline and we grabbed our bags (all carry-on) and went to the next terminal.  I'm calling this my spinning wheel mistake since I could have bought a spinning wheel for the price of those tickets!

Our plane left a few hours after that and it was such a relief to be on a plane headed home.  After 18 hours of travelling we got home at 3 am and then had to get up at 6am the next morning for work.  It was a rough day, I can't wait til it's the weekend and I can relax. =)

Anyhow- you're here for the knitting right?  All that plane time allowed me to finish my first knee sock.  I tried it on last night and it is sooo luxurious and soft - something about all that merino feels so decadent! 

I only had .7 ounces out of 4.5 left from the first knee sock - that's almost all of a 360yd ball of sock yarn!  Toldya I was tall! =)


I tried for the patented Cara "Sock Shot" but it wasn't cooperating. =)  I'll block the sock after I finish the second one and block them together to the same size.  I'm currently experimenting with adding in some elastic to the cuff to help hold the sock up.  It stays up right now but I can tell with wear it would stretch out (like all socks do) and may become draggy.  We'll see how it goes!

Have a great rest of your week! =)

WooHoo!

You know that old saying, "It's better to give than receive??"  I truly believe that, I love giving presents, finding things that I know they would enjoy and enjoying their happiness.  However in the case of this secret swap, I may have to make an exception. 

My secret swap package arrived yesterday and my pal was the lovely and talented Lynne (who is also the hostess)!

The theme was hearts and roses, and if you know me I'm not too much of a red/hearts sort of gal.  She did such an amazing job picking out wonderful things that were just up my alley, including a gorgeous heart sock pattern, yummy treats and a neat heart shaped baking dish, fun kitchen towels and "Knitting over the Edge" which is a book I have been wanting for so long.  But wait, there's more!  2 YUMMY skeins of malabrigo which is so amazingly soft AND a gorgeous bag that she sewed herself!!!  The whole package/experience of secret swap was wonderful and I just love everything, she gets me to a "T"!  Thank you so much Lynne!  PS - if you're curious, my package to Lynne is up on her blog right now, I had such a great time putting it together!

So yesterday I took a half day off work for some much needed "me time."  I went and got a pedicure and got my hair cut/colored.  I love my hairdresser, she is so talented.  We had a little bit of fun curling my hair kinda fancy/fun and I really liked it so I thought I'd put a picture up for posterity.  It was kinda late at night and bad lighting but I think you get the idea.  I may have to curl my hair more often!

Anyhow, the knee sock and I are taking it on the road.  I'm picking hubby up at the airport tonight and then we drive down to Jacksonville to fly to Seattle for the long weekend.  I have a preapproval letter in my hand, appts with realtors and some houses to see.  If all goes well who knows - I may be moving coasts.  Cross your knitting needles for me that it goes well, please? 

I'll be back middle of next week- until then, Happy Knitting!

My Knee socks rock!

I have a very serious problem right now.  I can barely put down these addicting knee socks to even take a pic and show you guys.  You may remember awhile ago I asked you what colors of Lorna's I should do knee socks in?  I soon came to the realization that 2 skeins probably won't cut it on the legs/feet.  I am taller than 6-foot people with boat feet to match. So - I know I needed more yarn and rather than buy more Lorna's, I splurged.  2 skeins of STR shaded solid and 1 skein of the contrasting for ribbing, heels and toes. 

This is very serious indeed, all I can say is that -

This Yarn

+

This Pattern

=

A very happy camper!

The yarn is brand new socks that rock, it's so new in fact I don't even think I've seen anyone blog about it yet.  It's a new line called Shaded Solids and the color is called Midsummers Night.  The contrasting color is Love in Idleness.  Don't you just love the calf shaping?

Yummy.  Me and my knee sock are going to go commune quietly now.  Send food- and chocolate. =)