Socks and more by Sue

completed socks

2008-05-02T19:48:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of socks recently completed, Jacobeans. I gave them as a belated birthday gift to my sister-in-law. She loved them. This was the first time I did a toe up sock. It's not as hard as I thought, however, originally it should have been a short row heel and I just don't care for the short row heel, so I changed to a heel flap that I found from another designer's sock pattern and adapted that to this sock.

Update

2008-03-17T08:43:00.003-04:00

Well it's been awhile since I posted on my blog. I finished that college class and decided that being a college student again is something that I'm just not interested in doing right now. I fell the beginning of December and fractured my thoracic 1 and 2 vertebrae. I had to wear a lovely cervical thoracic brace for a good 6 weeks, then a cervical brace for a week, then a soft collar for 2 weeks and then finally weaned from that over the next week. While the bones are healed, my muscles are stiff from having been braced for so long. So now I go to phyical therapy to help with that. I am back at work though with some limitations as to how much I can lift/push/pull for awhile. It's good to be back amongst the living though. It was hard being stuck at home for so long. You might have thought I would do a lot of knitting or crocheting, but it was difficult to do so. I would get too tired holding the work up to eye level as I couldn't see very well down into my lap. So instead, I read quite a few paperback books as I could hold them in alternating hands and didn't need to hold them up so high thanks to aging eyes LOL. I did just recently start knitting a sock. It's toe up, my first time doing so. I'm stuck at the heel though as I really dislike short row heels. I found out about some other heel options and now have to decide which I would like to do. I have this week off from work, so I hope to get some knitting time in. Well, that's the short version update. TTFN

Link for Dragonfly afghan pattern

2008-03-17T08:31:00.001-04:00

For those that have asked about where you can get the dragonfly afghan pattern, here is the link: http://www.hassdesign.com/FiletCrochetDesigns/IP/FiletAfghans/

Completed projects

2007-11-26T09:16:00.000-05:00

These socks were first completed back in August with a tabi toe so that I could wear them with sandels. I hated them! The toes were not comfortable for me and I've decided I really don't like the feel of the short row heel on homemade socks. I think I much more prefer the heel flap design. So I frogged the toes and redid them with a traditional toe round decrease and gave them to my youngest daughter whose feet are modeling them. She's happy with them and the colorway suits her. I think that is why I chose to use this skein of yarn anyways when I made them. I didn't think I was going to like them and yet it wouldn't have been a waste of time as I knew she'd wear them!

The dragonfly doily is a Hass design I made for my good friend's birthday, though a belated gift it was. She loved it!

Now I need to decide what I would like to make next. I have a couple of ideas. One is to see what the pattern will be in one of the yahoo sock groups that I belong to that will be coming out the start of December. The other project I can't really say because if I go out and buy the yarn for it, it will be a Christmas gift for someone in the family. So, I should know after this weekend what it'll be that I will start working on.

In other news, my college class is almost over. Yeah!!!! I have class this Thursday evening and my final is the following. I've decided not to continue on with more classes as I really don't want to be a student for the next 5+ years to get a BSN which while it might open a few more opportunities in the future, those opportunities will probably want me to go on for my masters! As it is, I found it hard to find time to devote to school when I had so many other things I wanted to or should have been doing. I also found I don't want to take more nursing courses, I'm all ready a nurse! So I'll finish up this course and hopefully get busy with the other projects I've wanted to work on!

It's been over a month?!

2007-11-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how fast time flies by. I have 3 more classes left for my college class. So far, I think I'm doing okay. I can't wait for it to be done. I don't like being a student again. The bedroom is almost done. Bought new wall sockets yesterday that I need to figure out how to change and not electrocute myself! I want to change them as the previous owners had painted over them with yellow paint and the room is now blue and I don't want to paint them blue. I've also been battling this cold/sinus thing for awhile now. It just saps my energy. I'm just about done with the belated birthday doily I've been working on. Perhaps I'll finish that up today and block it so I can give it to my friend when I see her Monday evening. Oh well. Off I go.....

I hate painting

2007-10-04T16:44:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've been doing prep work for the last 2 weeks on my son's old room so my youngest daughter can eventually move in there. Today, I decided it was time to prime the ceiling. While the nice swirly, ridged ceiling is nice looking, it is not so nice to have to paint. I'm told, that unless I used a primer like Kilz on it, the paint won't adhere and will drip off the little peaks of the swirl design. Before I could start painting, I needed to wash off the walls from all the paint and drywall repair residue. Did I tell you what a mess these walls were????? I then spent a good hour going around cutting the edges... apparently the room had been blue before the previous owners had painted it yellow. There were some blue spots on the ceiling edges. Then came the fun (not really) of rolling it. There is only 1 window in this room, no air draft, and today is one of those hot, humid, days we have been having in New England. At one point I thought for sure I'd pass out and fall off the ladder. I have paint in my hair, on my skin and hands and in spite of washing it won't all come off. After getting done with the ceiling (hope I didn't miss any spots as it's hard to tell where you painted and where you didn't due to the shadows) I decided to roll primer stuff on the walls especially where the repairs were done and where markings were on the walls that didn't wash off (gotta love boys). I can't believe all the spots I found that were missed when spackling. Okay, I can believe it. The people who originally hung the sheetrock and did the taping in this house did a not so great job. You can see old taping lines. I thought I had fixed most of them, but I didn't. It's so discouraging. I'm exhausted now. I'm debating about painting the ceiling with ceiling paint now or just leaving the white kilz stuff as the "new ceiling". I really don't want to roll that ceiling again. For that matter, I don't really want to paint the walls either. I guess it's just that I'm tired. Eventually, all the rooms in the house need repainting, but as I said before, the original people did a lousy job and there are taping repairs that need to be done is several areas. Things we missed when buying the house as strategically placed furniture does a great job of hiding.... believe me, I know! LOL. I wish it wasn't so expensive to just hire someone to do the job because as I said I hate painting! TTFN

Win free sock yarn!

2007-09-29T08:58:00.000-04:00

I would love to win some free sock yarn especially since it's yarn that I've never knit with before! You too and have the opportunity to win, just go to this site http://bellybuttonknits.blogspot.com/ and be sure to leave a comment that you learned about it from me!!!!! Thanks!

I'm going to school

2007-09-08T11:34:00.000-04:00

Well, in part due to peer pressure and in part because there's nothing to lose (except my sanity! LOL) I'm going back to school. I'm taking a course called Physical examination and health assessment. It will be the first (maybe last?) course I take towards earning my BSN. I've often thought about doing this, and have researched the possibility a few times, but stopped short when I saw the cost and time involved. For this course, because of a great tuition reimbursement benefit, I don't have to pay for the course and I can submit to another fund for the textbook cost. The professor is coming to my place of work to teach the course. So really, why not? While there are 16 total in the class, 4 of them also work on my nursing unit. We'll be able to help and support each other. The first class was on Thursday. The professor seemed pretty laidback and put us all at ease. I bought my textbook yesterday evening. I only have about 100 pages covering 6 chapters to read by this Thursday! Needless to say, I don't know how much knitting I'll be doing. I did start a crochet thread doily that is intended as a belated birthday present for someone. The only problem there is difficulty seeing the small stitches. The glasses I got at Lenscrafter's I returned as they weren't working right for me after being adjusted twice. I need to get ahold of the eye doctor about the prescription to see what can be done for me so that I don't have to have 2 different pairs of glasses which is what the technician there was saying might be a solution. Come on, get real. I'm a nurse.... I need to see far away, close up and nearby.... I can't keep juggling different eyeglasses every few minutes. So I will call him on Monday and hopefully he'll have a solution to my vision needs. Well, that's about all for now..............

2007-08-23T22:27:00.001-04:00

Okay, I've let most of the summer go by without a post. It's been a busy summer. I spent a wonderful weekend in Maine during July and spent another wonderful 13 days there again in August on vacation. I did finish knitting a pair of socks I had started at the beginning of the summer, but I don't like them. I used a no-wrap short row heel and a tabi toe. I've decided for me, I prefer the way a heel-flap heel feels better and while I wanted the tabi toe to wear the socks with sandals on a cool night, I'm not crazy about the way they feel on either. So, I'll see if my daughter likes them and if so, they're hers. I got my Favorite Socks book, and there are lots of great socks there to make and on my online groups there are a couple of new interesting patterns being worked on as well. I just can't decide which I'd like to make next. The kids are back to school starting Sept 5th and the oldest starts college on Monday. Speaking of college, I'm going to take the plunge and take a college nursing course towards my BSN. If I like going back to school, then this college has what seems to be a great program for the RN to BSN. It'll only take 5 years, LOL, It's one course a semester. We'll see how it goes..... it's a 2 hour class once an evening for 8 weeks and it'll be held at the hospital where I work. So, I don't know how much time I will have for knitting, but we'll see, I may have to make time for stress relief. I did read 5 books over vacation and started a 6th. I'm on a reading kick at the moment. Well, off I go to finish up a few other things. TTFN

News

2007-06-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well, time has escaped me. It's been awhile since I've written yet again. Life has gotten me a bit down lately and I know I'm not my usual self. Stress, Stress, Stress. The children, the spouse, the house, work..... all of it. And while I usually like to knit to relieve stress, I've just not been wanting to do much of that lately either. I did finish up a lovely pair of socks that are given to my youngest daughter as I figured out a bit late in the knitting progress, I should have used a larger needle if I wanted them to fit me. I need to post a picture soon. I should post a few pics as I think I am behind there too. Good news.....the end of the school year is near. June 25th! We are having a grad picnic for the oldest on the 30th.....(I should get started on cleaning the house instead of writing here) but I also wanted to mention that I've joined another sock knitalong blog. I love the socks in that book from the previews I've seen and reading this blog that I've found. Well, I'll write more another time. TTFN

Here's what's new

2007-04-20T08:34:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I had the first week of April off from work, but didn't get much of anything I wanted to done. Things happen. I did win first place in the annual Good Friday family pierogi cookoff :-) This is such a fun and yummy time. We all make the potato and cheese variety and need to bring at least 1 dozen (but more is better as my brother likes to say) and the kids are the judges. We are all given numbers and the kids don't know who has what number. It's funny though, in the end, each kid has usually guessed which number their parent had....guess they are used to the flavor. What's nice is everyone gets to fill up on some yummy homemade pierogies and enjoy some family togetherness as on Easter everyone is with their own families or inlaws usually. I'm nearing completion on a pair of socks that I'm making as a belated birthday gift for someone......don't want to give out all the details right now. Look perhaps next week for a posting with a picture of them as I hope to have them done and given this Sunday night when we are all together to celebrate my son's birthday. Work has been very busy. Lots of baby's being born and I'm still battleing this cold I've now had for a week. Boy it's knocked me out. If I do too much, I'm out for the count early in the evening or I had up falling asleep in the afternoon for a nap. Well, that's all for now as I do need to get busy and clean the house a bit today so I won't have as much to do tomorrow. TTFN

It's here!

2007-03-28T10:18:00.000-04:00

It's here!!!!!!! I so loved the first book Sensational Knitted Socks I just couldn't go without this one too! The author is from my home state. I wish she would have a book signing or something so I could meet her. That would be way cool! I've only done a quick glance through, but all ready see several that I want to give a whirl. Hopefully this will get me over my knitting slump. Now to decide.......which one to do!

I'm out of the competition....now a cheerleader

2007-03-28T10:11:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn't make it past the first round. The pattern was released on a Saturday morning and unfortunately I had a busy weekend and wasn't able to get started knitting. By the time I got a chance to start, my group had filled it's 16 spots of the first to finish. While I like the pattern for this sock, I've not like the way it has knitted up for me. It has a striping pattern to it and my round to round join looks awful in my opinion. I also wanted to carry the unused yarn up the few rows so I wouldn't have lots of ends to weave in and I'm not happy with how that looks either. This sock also has a short row heel and while I think it may have come out okay, I think what is going to happen is a major frogging expedition and I'll save the yarn for some other socks.

Sock Madness

2007-03-02T06:53:00.000-05:00

Hoping to get over my "knitter's block", I've joined Sock Madness which will be starting March 10th. 7 socks in all will be knitted.

Dragonfly Afghan

2007-01-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of the dragonfly afghan I made for my dearest friend/neighbor Lura for Christmas. She loved it. I so enjoy making and giving a handmade item to someone I know who will truly appreciate it. It makes the time and energy put into creating it so worth it!

Update

2007-01-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

Well I had this long post written and hit a button and it wasn't the save or publish and lost it all! so, I guess I'll start again. It's been awhile since posting so here's the update. January has been busy and stressful. I've been working, and each shift I've worked, it's been quite busy. Twice in the last 2 weeks I stayed an extra 4 hours making for 12 hour instead of 8 hours shifts. It was good to have done so though especially since I gave last Saturday the 20th, away to a perdiem. I had tried to find someone to switch with but had no luck and I wanted the day off as it was Jenn's 18th birthday. She had a bunch of friends here Friday evening with 5 girls spending the night. And on Saturday evening, we had the bunch of relatives (I think there was around 35 total give or take) here to celebrate. Along with planning/preparing for the parties, I was studying for my STABLE certification class on the 18th. I'm happy to report though, I passed. STABLE is a way of stablizing sick newborns. It was a very good class. The certification is good for 2 years at which time I will need to recertify. Now I need to start writing my yearly self review and putting my tier application together. It's due to my nurse manager by mid-Feb. Work has been very busy on the shifts I've been working and I'm involved in some committees and councils and have had to go in to those meetings as well as taking my service excellence class this month. The service excellence class was 4 hours to start and then 6 weekly 1 hour classes after. I'm due to work nights tonight.....not my favorite shift to work, but mostly because of the way it disturbs my sleep patterns for the next week. Usually, I'm not able to sleep before going in at 11pm so by the time I'm getting home the next morning I'm usually awake for well over 24hours. While I'm usually falling asleep by 9:30-10 each night, I have to leave at 10 to head into work. Maybe it will be way quiet and no one in labor tonight and I'll get a phone call saying I can stay home on call.........that would be nice! I'm looking forward to this Sunday. On Saturday, I'm going to work on the tier application, but on Sunday it's Girl's Puzzle Day! This tradition started several years back. One Sunday afternoon, each late Jan/Feb/early Mar, my mother-in-law, her 3 girls, and myself get together. We put together (or at least attempt to) a 1000 piece puzzle. We bring along muchies and drinks and have a grand time. No men or children are allowed...okay, my father-in-law is often home, but he's usully out in his workshop and only comes by to sample a plate of the munchies. We usually have a yummy dessert too. The other big rule is what is said at the table stays at the table unless permission to share is granted. We have some GREAT conversations and laugh a lot!!!!!!!!!! Male/husband bashing is totally permitted! Definitely looking forward to it. My mother-in-law has picked the puzzle all ready saying it's something a bit different than the kind we usually pick to do. I'll have to be sure to write about next week. TTFN

Buddy the Betafish

2006-12-15T08:58:00.000-05:00

It's a sad day today. After my youngest daughter went to school, I went to feed her betafish Buddy and change his fishbowl water. We suspected he was not in the best of health lately, as he wasn't as vibrant in color as usual for awhile now and he was looking "old", but I didn't expect to find him no longer alive this morning. I'm trying to remember how long we have had him, and I think it was going to be 2 years in February. She had received him as a birthday present. The internet says the life expectancy is usually 2-5 years at most and that when you buy one, they are usually close to 6 months old. The above picture of him was taken last June for a school project in which she had to present directions on how to do something. She chose to do a power point presentation on how to clean a fishbowl. She did a great job on the power point. I think she's known he was starting to fail for the last couple of weeks. She has been detaching herself from him, so I've been the one to feed him lately. I'll have to be the one to break the news to her when she gets home from school and we'll be having a "funeral" this afternoon. At least it's the weekend, so she'll have a couple of days before having to go back to school as I know she will be very sad, even I am. It's amazing how attached you become to a pet.... Buddy, may you rest in peace in fish heaven.

No More Quarentine

2006-12-13T09:49:00.000-05:00

Woohooo! The dogs are officially off quarentine. I've instructed all in the family though, if it's dark outside and you can't see what's in the yard, you must go out with the dogs! While the invisible fence is great at keeping our dogs in the yard, it stop other animals from coming into ours and I don't want to have to deal with another episode of this again! The holiday concert for my oldest daughter last night was good. Tonight is the one for my youngest daughter. Looking forward to hearing her sing too. I'm heading off to go shopping for some holiday gifts and then to work this afternoon for a fetal monitoring tracing review and a meeting. Since there won't be much time for making dinner, it's pizza night!!!!!!!!! I'll be picking it up on the way home. Well, off I go........TTFN

Vacation Day 2

2006-12-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

Managed to get off and about later in the morning. Yes, there was hot water! Keeping fingers crossed, the furnance is continuing to work. Picked up a gift for my niece's birthday this coming weekend, bought the 2 gifts for the giving tree at Church, the item for my son to give his older sister, and a little something for my Mom. Came home briefly then had to pick up my son and take him to the dentist. Worked on the Christmas stocking while in the waiting room. Stopped at the grocery store to get something for dinner....hate having to make the decision of what shall we have? My son decided on a spiral honey ham. They were on sale. Needless to say though, we didn't have dinner till 7pm. That was okay though because everyone was able to be home by then and we had a family dinner. I went online to Amazon.com and ordered gifts for 3 of the nieces/nephews. By the time I finally sat down in my rocker to knit though, I was so tired that I fell asleep. I was going to go out shopping today, but haven't really pinned down what else to buy. I do need to get some gift cards. I think instead I'm going to chill out today at home...clean the house a bit, do some laundry, and knit of course! Tomorrow I have a meeting at work at in the afternoon so perhaps I'll head out earlier in the morning and do some shopping. Tonight my oldest daughter has her choir holiday concert at the school. Looking forward to that. Oh darn, I didn't get the picture of the stocking taken. Maybe I'll try to do that today. Well, TTFN.

Vacation

2006-12-11T08:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of my vacation week. I went to Church in the morning and then me, my Mom and 2 nieces that were at Church also went for lunch. Once home, I needed to make a trip to the grocery store. My son and nephew loaded up the car with the bags of soda bottles and cans that have been collecting in the garage. I hate returning the bottles and cans! However, with help, it does make it a little easier. We had about $25 worth hanging around. So I gave them each $5 and put the rest towards the grocery bill. When I got home, it was all ready mid-afternoon. I settled into my rocking chair and sort of watched the Patriots football game while knitting my oldest daughter's Christmas stocking. I finished it up after dinner. It came out pretty good. I still need to crochet the hanging loop for it though. It is supposed to be done with the Twirl yarn as well, but since the one hank should be enough to do 3 stockings, I want to finish the other 2 before making the hanging loops. This way if I do run short, I can use the yarn I used for the sock itself to make the loops instead. If I have time later I'll take a pic and post it. This morning we found the furnace had stopped working during the night. No hot water! So what if the house was a little chilly......I want hot water to take a shower! Initially the reset button didn't work, but after trying it again a short time later, it's working! So I'm waiting for some hot water so I can shower and then head off for some holiday shopping. ACMoore has a coupon for 30% OFF my complete regular price purchase good for today. My son wants me to pick up something he had seen when we were there once before for him to give his sister for Christmas. While there, of course I'll go check out what's new in the yarn section. Unfortunately, other than the Lion's brand sock yarn, there are no nice sock yarns......... and I'm not all that fond of the Lion brand one. It's somewhat limited to a few colors that are jacquard or self-striping. I may pick up a few "notions" that I can use in swaps with my internet groups that I belong to. Speaking of swaps. I mailed my first "bottle swap" on Friday. I was mailing out of the country and was required to mail with a way to track the package. Wow! it's costly mailing that way out of the country. I may have to ask for a domestic swap partner in the future just because of the cost of mailing packages this way. I do understand the importance of being able to track the package though. It protects me.....I have proof that I held up my end of swap by mailing, it's insured in case of loss or damage, and there is proof that the partner did indeed receive it. In the past, I belonged to some crochet groups where people did not hold up their end of the swaps. It's so disappointing when people do that. It may be a bit before I receive my swap though as the coordinator emailed me that the person sending to me was having some health issues and was going to be delayed in mailing to me. That I can understand, I hope for her it's nothing too serious and that she is feeling better soon. It's no fun being ill, especially with the approaching holidays and so much to do. Well, I think I'll go feed the dogs and check on the status of hot water so I can get on with the shopping and be back to pick my son up from school to take him to the dentist for a dental cleaning (knitting time for me in the waiting room hehe) TTFN

Stockings in the works

2006-12-08T20:28:00.000-05:00

I am soooo happy. Yesterday my order from Knitpicks finally arrived! I ordered yarn to make new Christmas stockings for my 3 kids with the free pattern and recommended yarns they have on their site. So today while I was waiting for the 2 new tires I had ordered were being put on my car, I casted on and started knitting away for the first one. I'm about 1/2way to the heel flap. It looks like these will work up fairly quick :-) Needless to say, I'm going to quick finish up checking my email and get offline so I can sit and knit some more tonight before I fall asleep.....I'm working tomorrow so the alarm will be ringing at 5AM before I know it. The only thing good about that is that after working tomorrow, I start vacation for a week :-) TTFN

Chevron Socks

2006-12-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

While these socks have been finished for a bit, I finally got around to taking a picture of them today. The chevron pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks. I really like that book! There is going to be another book called More Sensational Knitted Socks that is due to be published in the Spring that if it's anything like the first, I'll be adding it to my collection. For these socks, I used the 2 circular needles method with Parade yarn by Knitpicks. My oldest daughter is going to be the lucky recipient of this pair. She wants me to make some wrist warmers using this pattern to match, though I'm not sure if I have enough yarn left, so she said I could use a different color if need be. I'm going to give her the socks when she gets home from work as she is going caroling tonight with her Leo Club and it is a bit chilly out there tonight. If she wears them, they should keep her toes nice and toasty warm.

Monica's Birthday socks

2006-11-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

Here are the socks I made for a belated birthday present for my niece Monica. She likes the red/white/blue patriotic theme. Done as ankle socks, her preferred cuff length, in a knit 3 purl 1 rib pattern on 2 circulars. I initally tried to do both at the same time, but it became a tangled mess in my first attemp at doing that. I frogged them and went back to 1 at a time which I'm much more comfortable at doing. I decided on a short row heel as I was afraid of pooling if I did a heel flap and turned heel. This was the second time I've used the short row heel, and it went much smoother this time around. The yarn used is Regia Nation. She did try them on for me and said they fit fine.

Waterfall Rib Socks

2006-11-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the socks I made for my daughter on the trip to Montreal back in October. Actually, I started them then and had to finish them once home. The yarn is Bernat Sox Hot Orange. I used the 2 circular method and the waterfall rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I would have liked to make the cuff longer, but she likes ankle socks. She's happy with them and that's what counts! This past weekend, I finished up the chevron socks finally! I need to take pictures of them to post though.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T08:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! It's so strange today. I have the day off from work and I don't have to cook the turkey!!!!!!!!!! I have been awake since about 4:30am though thanks to my lovely dogs.....grrrrr..... They started barking at something outside, who knows what, and then when I was starting to drift off to sleep again a half hour later, Buster started whining to go outside in his "I need to go" whine. So, up I got and of course it's a bit chilly and rainy outside and it's still dark so I didn't dare just let them out as I wouldn't be able to see where they went and be sure that none of the neighborhood dogs were out and about seeing as mine are still on quarentine from the rabies exposure. Once I got them back inside, I found myself wide awake and it's about 5:30 and now I need to use the restroom myself. After all this, I decided I might as well make the pies now and then perhaps I can go take a nap before we have to leave for my brother's house. He and his wife are hosting our family this year for the turkey dinner. It will be great since we haven't celebrated this holiday together in several years now. Usually it's just my family, my older brother and his family and my mom at either my house or his. My younger brother is usually with his wife's family. It'll be lots of fun. We usually play alot of different games. I know I do need to play some cribbage with my nephew Marc as the last couple of times we've gotten together we haven't had time to play. I love to play cribbage. I really ought to teach my kids to play! I'm finally finishing up the second sock to the chevron one from SKS book. Yesterday I did the heel and started along the foot part. I think I may be about 1/2way down the length of the foot and then will need to finish up the toe. If I remember, I want to bring them along with me today as my niece told me she figured out how to use dpn's and wants to learn socks. I told her that's great!, but I've found that using 2 circulars is much easier and portable and since these are done are 2 circs, I'll be able to show her what I mean. Well the pies are almost due out of the oven so once again, Happy Thanksgiving!

How time flies by....

2006-11-05T15:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's been awhile again since my last posting. I finished the second sock in the waterfall rib pattern that I started on my trip to Montreal. I need to take pictures. Maybe I'll go do that once I'm done with this posting. I have yarn to start another pair of socks. I just have to decide which pattern I want to do. In the meantime, I've started crocheting a filet afghan that is going to be a Christmas gift for a friend of mine. Oh darn, my youngest needs help with some homework, so I guess that's all for now.

It's been awhile

2006-10-18T11:40:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. I need to take some pics to post too. I finished up the red/white/blue socks for my niece and now have the second sock of a pair of waterfall rib ankle socks from SKS. I started these ones while I went on a bus trip to Montreal with my oldest daughter Columbus Day weekend. I still need to finish the second sock of the chevron pair as well. I'll do that after finishing this pair. I joined yet another sock knitting group on yahoo. This one is has a great sock along at the moment. It's a pair of fair isle socks called Iris garden. I've not done stranded knitting yet, so when I start this pair it will definately be a learning sock. I need to find just the right yarn to use for it though. I may need to order some new sock yarn.......

Progress report

2006-09-11T20:06:00.000-04:00

A little update of where I'm at in the sock making. My SKS sock is to the point of the heel. It is the forethought heel and in order to do the heel, I know I need to be focused and not distracted so that once I do the provisional cast on and get started I can complete the whole heel. On the red/white/blue sock, I've just about reached the point of the heel flap since my niece wants the pair to be ankle socks. I don't think I'll get anymore done on the sock tonight though as I need to get the kids to finish up the rest of their homework and get them organized for school tomorrow as I work and will be out the door before they leave for school. So, speaking of getting organized, off I go. TTFN

I've got 2 socks going now

2006-09-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I started the red/white/blue socks for my niece that are going to be a simple ribbing design and stopped after about an inch because I don't remember if she wanted the ribbing to be long enough to cuff over itself or not. It was too late to call her last night, so I started the second sock to the chevron socks I'm making for my oldest daughter. The pattern for this sock is in Sensational Knitted Socks. Off topic......after doing lots of running around today, I picked up pizza for supper and came in the door to have the kids tell me the dogs ate a box of chocolates from a full valentine box of chocolates my oldest daughter had tossed in her garbage having never ate them herself. So....I called the vet emergency line and was told that they probably would have some GI symptoms and that I should give them hydrogen peroxide (she told me how much based on their weight) since we didn't know how long ago it happened if there was still any in their stomach, they would vomit it up. Kaylee the 30# dog vomited a very small amount of white mucous, however, Buster the 75# dog vomited up chocolate wrappers and more....I won't be so descriptive here....guess he's the one who got most of the chocolate.....either way, neither of them get to have dinner tonight. The vet said to continue to observe them for GI symptoms or general "not feeling well", panting, tremors and if by morning they are their usual doggie selves then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Well, gotta get the kids started on the bedtime routine, today was their first day back at school. TTFN

2 socks on 2 circulars

2006-09-04T21:39:00.000-04:00

Well, for the second time I tried to master this and ended up with a big tangled up mess and twisting the socks. There must be a trick to keeping the yarns organized and not tangled. I'm going to have to post for help on one of the sock groups I belong to. In the meantime, since these socks are to be a belated birthday present for one of my nieces, I decided to do one sock at a time on the 2 circular needles. Hopefully, I won't mess it up since the pattern was orignally written for doing with dpns.

Fetzensocken Sock

2006-09-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

Well here it is! The picture of my completed fetzensocken socks that will be a birthday present for one of my nieces later this month. The pattern is designed by Diana Meyers. This sock was the July/August sock along for the sockamaniac yahoo group. New knitting techniques for me while knitting this sock were the creation of the picot cuff edge for which I learned how to do a provisional cast on and short row heels.

I've started the second sock

2006-08-26T08:21:00.000-04:00

Well with less than a week left of August, I finally started the second sock to the sockamaniac July/August sock along. I completed the picot edge cuff and one repeat of the pattern which is 14 rows long last evening. My goal is to finish it before the end of the month. The pattern repeat is pretty easy to remember once you get going. I need to do 4 repeats before the heel. I did a short row heel (my first time ever doing this type of heel) and then 5 repeats of the pattern for the foot length before I did a standard decrease toe. I'll post pictures once I finish the second sock.

Second sock syndrome

2006-08-22T17:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I have it. I've finished the first sock to 2 different ones. I didn't start the second sock for one because I needed the needles to do the Sockamaniac July/August Sock. I finished the first sock for that one, but was waiting for my niece to try it one as she will be the recipient of the pair when complete and she just did that the weekend of the 12th. However, since being back from vacation (I didn't knit at all while away) I've had a busy work schedule and just have been too tired in the evening to pick up the knitting and get started. I'm working the next 2 days, so I don't know if I'll get much knitting done those evenings either. I've told myself though that I will have to get the sock-along sock started by this weekend since there is only another week to the month. It's a lacy sock with a picot edge at the top and short row heel. When I finish the second one I'll post a picture of the pair. After that one is complete, I need to work on a pair for one of my other nieces whose birthday was back in July that I'll be doing in a rib pattern in a red/white/blue striping yarn then it'll be back to the second sock for the other one which I'll be giving the pair to my oldest daughter. If I have leftover yarn she wants a pair of wrist warmers to match. That pair is a chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. Pictures will be up in the future. For now, check my link on the sidebar to my epson photo album where you can see my pics of other knitted socks and knit and crochet projects I've done in the past few years.
TTFN

The Beginning

2006-08-21T16:54:00.000-04:00

Well, here goes the beginning of my blog. I've decided to start one of my own and they require a first post before making any changes to the template. Most of my blog content will be about socks that I'm knitting or have knit, but the "more" in the title represents the fact that I just might add in other stuff as I feel like it. So, now that I wrote something.....back to checking out the template and settings for my blog. I'll write more later.