Look at what I received today!! My June prize skein of Lisa Souza Sock! in Gendarme ( for the KAL we are entered into a prize drawing for each pair of socks we complete each month that follow the KAL guidelines using the patterns for that month.)  I am so excited to try this yarn – I have had this type of yarn on my wish list for months now, but haven’t been able to buy any due to budget constraints – now I can try it just for finishing a pair of socks. Thanks you so much Lisa for such a great prize. I love the color and you can bet I will most likely have to move this yarn back onto the wish list soon as there are several colors that I just love.

Hey ya’ll this is going to be a long catch up post.  All of the pattern links are to Ravelry and the rest are to different websites (I will note the websites).

I never mentioned that I had joined the Socks From the Toe Up KAL over on Ravelry.  When I received Socks From the Toe Up (Amazon link) by Wendy Johnson (her blog) in the mail I absolutely feel in love with every pattern in the book.  Then while cruising Ravelry I found this group and just had to join even though I tend to have trouble actually working on KAL projects (the whole, oh look shiny and away I go on another path thing).  We are doing one pattern from the book every month and for those who want we are also voting on one of her free patterns to knit each month as well.  When I first read that I couldn’t believe it because I thought I would have trouble knitting just one pair of socks each month and for people to think they could knit two pairs I thought was crazy.  Well, count me among the crazy then because for June I finished both pairs  in time and I am so pleased with myself since it pushed me to actually knit everyday.  I had become lax about knitting everyday and was sometimes only knitting on my days off.  For June we had the Lacy Ribs from the book and Sprucey Lucy for the free pattern.

I made the Sprucey Lucy’s for myself and am in love with them, except for the yarn choice.  I actually really took the time to check fit and everything and they are the best fitting pair I have made for myself.  I am really loving how well the heel fits me, so I will be using the Slip-Stitch heel from Wendy’s book on most of the socks I make.  I already know from my Leyburns that short row heels don’t work for me due to my instep, so those are out, but I will be trying the Gusset heel on one of them at least to see how they fit.  On the yarn front I love the feel of and the stitch definition of the yarn, but the colorway was not the best choice (for anything, it looks nothing like the sample sock that made me purchase it).  So onto Sprucey Lucy photos and details.

Started: June 1, 2009
Finished: June 30, 2009
Needles: 2 US 1 (2.25mm) 16″ KnitPicks Harmony Circular Needles(KnitPicks) – done 2 at a time (2aat)
Yarn: Jojoland Melody (Jojoland) in a colorway of pale greens, purple, bluish green, and a yellow-green
Cast On: Turkish
Heel: Slip-Stitch
Cast Off: Sewn Bind-off
Mods: I made the toe more rounded by knitting the first 6 rows of the toe as increase rows and then finished the increases normal. I also only made the cuff about 3-4″ high as I prefer shorter socks – had to do at least 2″ of the pattern before ribbing to meet the criteria of the KAL. I also make the ribbing so that it was working in a sort of pattern that flowed with the pattern already established.

I made the Lacy Ribs for my grandma.  Back in April when my great-grandma passed away my grandma saw me knitting the Diagonal Lace socks (FO photos later in this post) and wanted to try them on.  So I let her and she fell in love with them and asked me to knit her a pair – of course I made sure I didn’t have to use the same pattern and also checked on colors she liked.  I ended up falling in love with this pattern so I will most likely have to go back to it and knit myself a pair at some point.  I hope she likes them and that they fit – I had told her that it would most likely be towards the end of the year so I had to guess at the measurements.  I took the sock that she tried on and made the Lacy Ribs skinnier since the Diagonal Lace socks were a little loose on her. I hope they come at a good time – my Uncle Lou pasted away yesterday (her brother). He was in poor health, but it was still completely unexpected. I am hoping that these socks will give her some comfort during this rough time. So onto Lacy Ribs photos and details.

Started: June 20, 2009
Finished: June 29, 2009
Needles: 2 US 2 (2.75mm) 16″ KnitPicks Harmony Circular Needles(KnitPicks) – 2aat
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarn (CHPY link) in Fingering in the Opps! colorway
Cast On: Turkish
Heel: Slip-Stitch
Cast Off: Sewn Bind-off
Mods: I made the toe more rounded by knitting the first 6 rows of the toe as increase rows and then finished the increases normal. I also only made the cuff about 4-5″ high as I wasn’t sure of how tall Grandma would like her socks – had to do at least 2″ of the pattern before ribbing to meet the criteria of the KAL.

For this month the patterns for the KAL are the On-Hold socks from the book and the Nanner socks for the free pattern.  I have plans to do both if I can finish them.  Unlike last month though I am not going to cast on for both pairs to start.  I started with the On-Hold socks and am loving the yarn – so far I haven’t gotten past the toe increases due to being very busy, but I have nothing to do for the rest of today and tomorrow so should make some progress on them yet this weekend.  I really hope I can finish them and get to the Nanners as I have had the Nanners (yarn and pattern) sitting in my knitting basket for almost 2 years. Here is a progress photo and details.

Started: July 1, 2009
Finished: ???
Needles: 2 US 1 (2.25mm) 16″ KnitPicks Harmony Circular Needles(KnitPicks) – 2aat
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill (CTH) Supersock Merino (CTH link) in the Birches color
Cast On: Turkish
Heel: ???
Cast Off: ???
Mods: I made the toe more rounded by only casting on 8 stitches instead of 15, then knitting the first 6 rows of the toe as increase rows and then finishing the increases normally (had to add an extra increase on each needle to account for correct stitch count, should have cast on 9 stitches).

Now onto the Diagonal Lace Socks.  I love these, but they are too big for me.  Not only are they too loose, but they are also to long – by about an inch.  Oh, well they do make very comfy socks for lounging about the house in.  Now, for the photos and details.

Started: March 11, 2009
Finished: April 10, 2009
Needles: 2 US 2 (2.75mm) 1 circulars – 2aat
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight (Blue Moon Fiber Arts link) in the Pink Granite color
Cast On: cannot remember – probably Judy’s Magic Cast-On (link to directions)
Heel: Slip-Stitch
Cast Off: Sewn Bind-off

Now, onto a life update. Obviously I mentioned my uncle’s passing. I would like to note here the message my sister put up on Facebook (do I need to say it – Facebook link)

Rest in Peace Uncle Lou (great uncle) – I will always remember you as the life of the party and I am really proud to have used my daughter’s name as a way to continue your daughter’s legacy… it means so much to me.

Now I want to explain what she meant.  My Uncle Lou had a daughter named Tammie Lorraine who died of cancer when she was a child.  My mom at the time was around 10 or so and was really close to Tammie, so when Jenn was born she asked Uncle Lou if she could use Lorraine as Jenn’s middle name.  Almost 24 years later when Natalie was born my sister asked Uncle Lou if she could continue the name.  When my mom asked he was touched and then when my sister asked he was even more touched.  I just cannot believe that the “life of the party” is gone – he was always so much bigger than life and so warm and welcoming that it will be hard to go home and not see him.

My mom is healing as well as can be expected.  She is finally back at work – with restrictions, but back.  We still are not sure how much of a permanent effect this will have on her as she is still in therapy and regaining lost motions.  That she will end up with a partial disability is undeniable, but as to how much it is anyone’s guess.  We are hoping for the best, which is all that we can do.

My sister has a tentative c-section date of August 31, 2009 to have her baby.  She is having a boy and the main reason that the date is tentative is because he is measuring about 10 days too big.  She was 30 weeks on Wednesday and was measuring at almost 32 weeks, so they may end up either taking him early if he starts to get way too big or she may go into early labor.  She has a name all picked out, but we are not telling anyone until he is born.  Right now the plan is for mom to go up the Saturday or Sunday before the c-section and stay until the Saturday or Sunday after.  The same day that she leaves will be the day I head up for a week (hopefully – my vacation hasn’t been approved yet) so that she will have help for the first 2 weeks after the c-section.  Which with Natalie (2), 2 dogs, a husband, a home, and a newborn she will really need.  I will keep ya’ll posted on any developments with her.

Current knitting is the On-Hold socks (and once they are done the Nanners).  I also need to get the baby’s blanket and sweater done because he will be here before you know it.  I am also making an identical sweater for Natalie and will make some winter white corduroy pants for him and a skirt for Natalie to wear with them for photos.  I am making the Tulips Sweater in stripes of winter white, pale olive, mid olive, and dark olive for both of them.  I thought that it would make for some awesome Christmas photos of the two of them.  I also need to keep working on Christmas gifts and really need to find a pattern for Natalie’s poncho.  I would also like to take my Feather and Fan Shawl (that I was working on last year when Brandon died) out and rip back (I made a lot of errors working on it at the hospital) to the start of the lace and finish it.  I would really like to get this project done because the longer I wait the more the memories of those dark days come back to haunt me when I work on it.  Plus, I could really use the finished shawl to keep warm in the house.  Normally we keep the house fairly warm in the summer (around 78 to 80), well this year for some reason Dad is keeping the house at 72 – which while nice when you are warm can get a little chilly.  Especially for me since I knit at my computer desk normally (which is the only chair in my room, so unless I want to watch a bunch of stupid TV it is my only option) and my computer chair is directly under the air vent.  I wish there was some way to rearrange my room, but with all of the furniture, books, and yarn that I have in here it is impossible to come up with another way to work it all in.

Well, this post has taken me several hours in between eating and cleaning so I am going to go for now, but not before I say Happy Forth of July to all Americans, especially to all the men and women who serve in our armed forces.

Hey  ya’ll long time no blog.  Life just seems to get away from me right now so I may only be do random updates.  Work is crazy right now so that is adding to everything else.

Well, on to the FO.  I recently fell in love with the Ulmus Shawl from Kristen Kapur.  I loved the idea of using up some of the sock yarn I had that I was not going to use for socks.  So, I found the 2 pink skeins and 1 dark green skein of Jojoland Melody that I had purchased to use in designing my own lace shawl (idea backfired since the long repeats of color actually made the lace patterns I was trying to work with fade to the background) and cast on back on May 10th.  By May 22nd I was almost done – so close in fact that I stayed up late to finish the cast off and blocking so that I could take the shawl to work the next day.  I love this shawl so much so that I actually wore it at work most of the day – which is saying something since I work in retail and the store I work at doesn’t over-aircondition.  The only thing I would change about this shawl is the size.  I made the large size and probably ended up with the medium size due to how tight I knit – not much I could have done on this one since I did run out of yarn, but if I make another one I would definitely plan on more yarn so that I could make it larger.

Pre-blocking:

Post-blocking:

I am stealing the idea of the Wednesday Night Bullet Post (WNBP) from Sheepish Annie as I do not feel up to a full post tonight.

• First up is the fact that I meant to post before now, but with my parents both out of town I was living it up with the flatscreen and blue-ray in the living room and ignoring the computer.
• Not to say that I didn’t  knit – I actually finished my diagonal lace socks and started a Clapotis (almost finished it in fact – only have 2 more straight sections and the decrease section to go).
• Photos to come later – have to retrieve my camera from my sister’s – left it there this past weekend.
• Blogging has also been far from my mind the past couple of days since I lost my great-grandmother on April 1st (now I have one more reason to dislike April Fool’s Day) and had to drive all the way to Gladwin, MI and back since then.  We knew it was coming, but it is still hard to come to terms with not having her around anymore.
• Natalie is definitely a terrible 2 – she stamps her little feet, pouts and says no when you tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do, but oh my is she a sweetie at other times – she loves uggs (her word for hug) and isses (her word for kisses).  I cannot wait to see her again.
• My sister will hopefully find out what the new baby will be on April 15th – hopefully the baby will not be modest.
• Going back up to my sister’s hopefully at the end of the month for the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale – it was approved, but between the big reset at work and getting 3 days off for my grandmother’s funeral they may not let me go.  I hope so, though if I don’t get to go that will mean less money spent and I know I can do some damage at the outlet sale.

Well I really need to get going so that I can finish reading my blogs and email before going to bed – work wiped me out today.  Catch ya’ll later.

This was taken on St. Patrick’s Day. Isn’t she just so cute and she is finally getting hair. Will post again either tonight or tomorrow.

I am loving knitting socks now. I sorta understood the love when I was knitting them before one at a time, but now that I actually have my first finished pair boy am I loving them. They are so comfortable that I had to rinse them out this morning so that they would be ready for me to wear tonight once I got home from work. I am not brave enough to wear them with my tennis shoes at work, but I am planning on trying them out with my Birkenstocks on Sunday when I run my couple of errands .

I have managed to get through the first repeat of the Diagonal Lace Socks (scroll down) from my previous post and am loving the pattern – it is so easy to memorize, but yet complicated enough to be entertaining. Everyone at work who saw me knitting on them during my lunch loved the yarn and the pattern. I was slightly worried that the variegation of the STR would cause the pattern to be lost, but between the simple lines of the pattern and the pooling of the STR the pattern is actually showing up very well.

I am almost to the last buttonhole on the February Lady Sweater that I am knitting with the I Love this Wool in Deep Teal (actually deeper in color than the photo in the link) from Hobby Lobby. I am loving the style of the sweater and how well written the pattern is. Plus I am in love with the color and yarn. I am very excited to actually finish this sweater so I may have to start working on it more frequently. Right now I add a couple of rows every couple of days, but my dad brought me home 2 gorgeous necklaces from Hawaii (photos tomorrow hopefully) that I think will go very well with the sweater. I plan on looking through my closet, but right now I think I will have to take the sweater and at least one of the necklaces with me to purchase shirts to go under it. I am thinking both a white and a black short sleeved shirt. Since I wear either a sweater or a sweatshirt year round (yes, even in Alabama) I think that the short sleeved shirts would be perfect. I may have to get some long sleeved shirts come next winter or I may just start wearing my winter jacket. Imagine that – actually wearing a jacket. If I did that more frequently I might not freeze so much during the winter (I tend to just wear a hooded grey sweatshirt instead). I am also still working on my Purple Bountiful Bohus which will also work very well with the black shirt and maybe the white – not sure since I am using more of an off white yarn in that, but once it is done I will see – if not I will just get an off white shirt too.

I am also still working on all of my Christmas 2008 knits – since only my mom knew about them I am going to just try to finish them for this Christmas. Because of our planned trip to Disney at the end of January of 2010 we are not planning on doing a big Christmas and even though knitted items cost a fair bit both in time and money I am going to use them. Now if I can just finish them. To recap them for ya’ll (and also so I don’t forget about them) they are a scarf in Michigan State colors for my brother-in-law, a Serephim Shawl in KnitPicks Shadow in the Sunset Heather color for my sister, a pair of my own design slippers (yes there will be a pattern, but I have to finish them first) for my dad in University of Michigan colors (can you tell that the Michigan State vs University of Michigan game is fun for my family), a Unity sweater for my mom in Omega Sinfonia in the Ladrillo color (the link is to Crafts, Etc! since I could not figure out the Omega website) (she is allergic to wool), and a poncho for my niece out of the Cotton Fleece I bought to make her a color work sweater (definitely the wrong yarn for my first color work attempt).

Well it is late (12:30 am my time) and I really need to go to bed if I am going to make it to work at 9 am in the morning – especially since we went from the mid to upper 70s to the upper 30s to low 40s overnight. I almost cannot force myself to get up – the cold weather makes me just want to burrow into the covers and read and nap.

Wow, a finished object. I love knitting 2 socks at once – no more SSS. Now if I can just get the single socks paired up I will be getting somewhere.

Project Details:
Pattern: Leyburn Socks
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM P324
Needles: US 2 bamboo circulars
Mods: Knit both socks at one time – love this new technique. I also changed the toe to use Judy’s Magic Cast On instead of the pattern toe just because I find it to be easier than the one called for. I also knit a very short cuff since I always wear ankle socks and knew that anything to high would drive me crazy. I also learned a new bind off technique, the Knit-One Purl-One Bind-Off (scroll down) and love how stretchy it is.
Verdict: Love, love, love. Put them on when I finished binding-off at 1:20am this morning and have only taken them off long enough to get dressed.

I love knitting 2 socks at a time so much that I have already cast on a new pair of socks. Using the same needles (have only the one size in circulars for socks, at least until my order from Knit Picks gets here. I ordered the US 1’s Harmony’s since most of my sock yarn needs either US 1 or 2 for my gauge.) I am using Socks that Rock in Pink Granite in Lightweight and am starting toe-up again (love the magic cast on). I was struggling to find a pattern that I wanted to do though since I wanted something simple, but not too simple. Then Wendy updated her blog with a preview of her upcoming book Socks From the Toe Up and included a free pdf of one of the easier patterns – Diagonal Lace Socks (scroll down) and I knew that it was meant to be. I am almost done with the toe and cannot wait to start working the pattern. I already know that this is a book I will have to purchase since I prefer to work socks toe up and since I love Wendy’s patterns so much.

On to a small life update. My mother is healing really well. They believe that she will be healed enough to start the rehab once she hits the 6 week mark, but returning to work will be dependent on how well and fast she gains back strength in the arm and shoulder. My sister is doing well – she had a long discussion with her OBs nurse practicioner and it was discovered that her high blood pressure readings were most likely due to a new nurse not using the correct size cuff (she needs the large cuff and the new nurse was using the smallest available). They will still be keeping an eye on it, but she doesn’t have to take the medicine after all. I cannot believe that she is already 14 weeks along. It seems like she told us just days ago. I cannot wait for her to find out what she is having so that I can start buying things for the baby. Even though my sister saved all of Natalie’s stuff we will have to buy quite a bit for the new baby, even if it is a girl, since Natalie was born in April and it looks like they will do the C-section around August 31st (even though she is not due until September 8th). Well this is getting to be a fairly long post and I really want to go so I can listen to Lime & Violet (trying to get caught up again), so I will catch ya’ll later.

edited to change the photo to a flickr based one

I try to not ask for to much from my readers, but right now I could really use some prayers. Wednesday night my sister called to let us know that at her monthly visit to her OB that her blood pressure is too high and that if it doesn’t come down in 2 weeks she will have to go on blood pressure medication. This is on top of the horrible morning sickness she is dealing with. We are hoping that it comes down so that doesn’t happen. Then yesterday at work my mother slipped and fell in the stockroom (we both work at the same place) and was taken to the emergency room with severe pain in her right shoulder. We were all thinking maybe a dislocated shoulder, but once I made it to the hospital I found out that she actually broke the shoulder. They are saying that it could take 6-12 weeks to heal and then she may have to continue physical therapy beyond that. This means that she will not be working for the foreseeable future since there is really nothing in retail that you can do with a broken shoulder. The worst part of this is that my dad is in Hawaii for business until Wednesday of next week, so I will be alone in taking care of her until then. Since it is her right shoulder she cannot do hardly anything for herself (she’s right-handed) so this is going to be interesting. Try to catch ya’ll later.

Hey ya’ll, I have managed to get to within 1 or 2 repeats of doing the heels for my Leyburn Socks and am fairly excited since I have only been adding on average about 2 rounds a day since they have become my purse project. Having a purse project is great, except since I work in retail I only normally have my break and/or lunch to work on them and most of the time I can only use about 5 minutes of either to work on them. I am going to pull them out tomorrow night though and see if I can at least get both heels done since I really don’t want to attempt working the heel (short-row, never attempted before) on 2 circulars while at work or in the car. Hopefully I can get them done and post another progress photo tomorrow or Saturday.

In other news, I have managed to start yet another project. I recently purchased the yarn for the February Lady Sweater (ravelry link) and just could not stand to wait. So even though I already have 4 sweaters on the needles (2 for me, 1 for mom, and 1 for Natalie), plus countless socks, scarves, shawls, etc. I started another one. I am still about 20 rows from the eyelet increase row and am already loving it – I have the perfect buttons in my button bin and even without having them in front of me managed to work the perfect size buttonhole. I was impressed with myself, especially since I managed to make the first one on the first try – using the method provided in the pattern.

Well, gotta work early tomorrow, so had better get around and go to bed. Catch ya’ll later.

Wow having the card reader makes taking photos and uploading them so much easier that I will hopefully be posting more photos.  Here is the progress photo of my Leyburn Socks (link in previous post) that I promised ya’ll.

Now it is time to go to bed so catch ya’ll later.