LYS De-stress

I finally got to head into the LYS. Here's what I came home with.




As if I needed more sock yarn. The hank in the middle is Mountain Colors Bearfoot, color: huckleberry. In the back is Regia Bamboo, color #1062 and in front is Panda Cotton, color: Dreamy. The Bearfoot is mine. Kaity picked out the Regia for herself and the Panda Cotton for Bree.

The yarn section was on the small side but they win major bonus points with me because they carry Mountain Colors yarn.

Here's a shot of Kaity's Simple Sock.

This is the second sock and it's about an inch from the toe decrease.  It shouldn't take more then an hour to finish.

I'm beginning to believe that the mail around here runs extremely slow. I'm still missing a box. It was mailed Monday via Priority mail and it's still not here. If it doesn't come in next week I'll probably have to chalk it up as a loss which is sad because it contains yarn.

It's An FO!

I finished the Simple Sock this afternoon.

Sock Stats:

Yarn: Trekking XXL, color #154

Pattern: My own: 72 st CO, 1.5" 2x2 rib cuff, slip stitch heel.

Needles: 32 inch, 2.5mm Knit Picks Classic Circ

I finished just in the nick of time to enter them into TLE Q3 Challenge which ends the 1st of Oct. They are by no means fancy. Nor was it a challenging pattern. The only challenge was getting them knit.

I also ordered the yarn for my cousins blanket today. I decided to go with Cascade 220 Superwash. I bought it from Yarn Country. I've never ordered from them but they get excellent ratings through BizRate and they have a great selection of Cascade yarns. Plus they have a good selection of Malabrigo worsted and lace colors. I'll let you all know how the shopping experience was.

I'm going to try to sucker Shawn into a trip to the LYS tomorrow. Must--go--drool--on--yarn!

More Goodies

Lookie what landed at the post office this morning:




My box from Knit Picks made it in safe and sound.   I got three pair of 2.25mm 32" Circs for Magic Loop.  I got 2 that are metal and one set of Harmony wood.  I also got the Autumn Leaves Lace Socks pattern and some Felici in the color Hummingbird for Kaity.

So now the only one left AWOL is my YP Booty Club shipment.  I'm holding my self back from starting a pair of sock using the CTH yarn I got from Tammy in our trade.  I have my ball winder so I can use the chairs here in TLF as my makeshift swift.  I'll probably end up getting it ready to start a pair here soon.

We've been told we'll be able to get the house next Thursday afternoon.  Unfortunately the moving company can't come out to deliver our stuff until the following Monday.  Shawn's going to stay at the house with the dogs so we can get them out of the kennel.  The girls and I are going to stay here in  TLF.  What a pain.  So next weekend I'll have photos for the blog.

Well I'm outta here.  It's almost time to pick the kiddo up from the bus stop.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Goodies & Socks

Both packages from UPS made it in today fine.  It remains to be seen if the one from Knit Picks will make it here or not. 

One of the boxes was knitting related the other was not.  I will save you all from pics of my new purple winter/snow boots I picked up from Sierra Trading Post.  If you really want to see what they look like you can click on the link and check them out. 

Now on to what you all came here to see, the knitting goodies I got in the mail.




It's the yarn and pattern needed to make the Knit Lucky Stripes Cardigan....psst, it's still on sale for anyone who's interested.  It's one of Lion Brand's 50% off kits.  I couldn't pass up $16.47 plus shipping to get the pattern and yarn.  There's enough yarn in this kit to knit the largest size which is 8 years old.  I'll probably use this kit to make the cardi for Bree.  Now all I need to do is hunt up some cute buttons.

Sock number one of Kaity's worsted weight Simple Socks.




It didn't take long to finish this up.  Little socks work up quickly and worsted weight little socks work up even faster.  I think while Bree's taking a nap tomorrow, I'll work on my sock.  I'm getting pretty close to being finished.  I'm wanting to start another sock for myself.

Socks & Aggravation

The aggravation doesn't have anything to do with the socks.  The aggravation has to do with some packages that I'm waiting on.  I'll get into that in a second.

First up, the socks.




I worked on Kaity's Simple Socks last night.  I'm just starting the gusset but this sock is moving along quickly.  That could have something to do with the fact that I'm using worsted weight yarn.

Yesterday I had to go round and round with UPS on some packages that they have of mine.  You all remember the package I got in from Amazon containing my new knitting books the other day.  I got the box from UPS and it was delivered without a problem. 

I used the same address to order some winter boots for Shawn and I and to order a 50% off Kids Cardi kit from Lion Brand.  Well the address wasn't good enough for UPS this time around.  From what I gather the address we were given to use was the old address for the post office.  They moved 2 years ago and lodging never seen fit to change their info.  So after several phone calls and several Tylenol later everything was straightened out. 
The worst thing would have been that I would have had to take a drive into town to go pick them up from UPS instead of them being delivered.  No biggie, I can handle that.  We've already stumbled upon where the UPS sorting center is anyway.

The kicker is that I used the same address for an order with Knit Picks and they took it upon themselves to change the zip code.  *Sigh*.  No problem.  General Delivery is a military thing, the USPS in Great Falls should know what to do with it.  With General Delivery a street address is not important.  They see General Delivery and send it out to the base.  It may take a few days extra to get here but it will get here.  The box was suppose to be delivered today or somewhere near that day.  Anyone who's ordered from Knit Picks knows that the tracking leaves little to be desired.  To put it kindly it stinks! 

Nope, isn't going to happen so delivery today for me.  For some reason my box ended up staying on the FedEx truck so it went from Denver, CO to Salt Lake City, UT then from Salt Lake City back to Denver and then from Denver back to Salt Lake City.  I guess the yarn and needles wanted to do a little extra traveling.  All of this took about 6 days.  *double sigh*. 

So now my box is sitting in Salt Lake City waiting to head out again.  I was told by Knit Pick's customer service that if I don't get the box by 1 Sept they will ship out a new box.  At least they will ship out a new box but I wanted my needles to start another pair of socks.  Plus I have one circ Harmony needle in there and I think a lot of sizes are now back ordered until Oct.  *Super Sigh*  But I ordered several of the nickel plated needles so I'm good to go.  Thankfully my Simple Socks are almost done so that needle will be free again to start another pair of socks.  What a pain.

The good news is that we may be in our house by the beginning of next week.  I'm not going to celebrate until we're in the house though.   :~)

I've Been Tagged

Susie tagged me for a meme.  So here we go!

Here's the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post rules
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird
3. Tag 7 people at the end of the post and list their names
4. Let them know they were tagged by a comment on their blog.

These may be a tad boring!  Since I'm a rule breaker and a rebel I'm following the first two rules.  If you all want to play, consider yourself tagged by me.

1.  I've only been knitting for a year and I only knit a very small handful of dishcloths and 2 scarves before knitting my first pair of socks.

2. I spent four years on active duty in the US Air Force.

3. I'm only 4 classes away from having my Bachelors degree in Management/Computer Information Systems.  It's only taken me 6 years to get there.  Here's hoping it doesn't take another 6.

4.  I go absolutely crazy when the internet goes down.  I can live without a lot of creature comforts but I need my coffee and high speed internet.

5. I have a hard time making friends and have more blog friends then I do local friends....this could also stem from the fact that I just moved to a new state.  :~)

6.  My family drives me nutty from time to time but I would help them out in a heartbeat if they needed it.

7.  I love my kiddos like crazy but I don't want anymore kids.  Two is plenty enough for me.

Told ya they were boring!

Socks, Socks, Socks

I can't believe it's been 4 days since my last post.  Everyone in the house has been sick with a head cold.  I was the last one to get it and it's want to hang on.  To keep me going I've been knitting.  If I don't knit I'll curl up and sleep. 

First up is my socks:




As you can see in the photo, my helpful little one is trying to run off with the sock before I get the photo taken.  I'm a few rows away from starting the heel.  These are also my TLE Q3 challenge socks.  They aren't super hard but they are working up quickly.

Next, socks for Kaity:




I'm not using a pattern, just taking notes since they are stockinette socks.   I'm using Lion Brands Lion Wool so these socks are going to be a quick knit.  The color is Autumn Sunset.

We are getting closer to moving out of TLF and into our house.  We should find out on Thurs the exact day we are moving in so we can schedule our household goods to be delivered and the cable company to come out to hook up the cable.  Hey all I need is my bed and internet the rest is trivial.  I can always order take out from our favorite restaurant the Maple Garden....it never takes us long to find a good Chinese/Japanese cuisine restaurant.  They have the yummiest Sesame Chicken and Crab Rangoon.  Kaity loves their Shrimp Fried Rice.

Kaity's home sick today.  I don't think she's really sick but she didn't eat very well this morning and she's complaining about her tummy hurting.  I could have sent her to school but I would have ended up having to pick her up before the end of the day anyway.

Some Updates

I have an update on my Simple Socks and some goodies I got in the mail yesterday.

First up, the goodies:




I got More Sensational Knitted Socks and Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. More SKS didn't disappoint.  I can't believe I waited this long to get the book.  I will admit that I bought LMKG for the Chevron Scarf pattern but ended up liking several things. 

Next up, Simple Socks:




I'm about halfway done with the gusset.  These socks will be my submission to the TLE Q3 Challenge (if I can finish them on time).  I had originally started the Twisted Flower Socks for my challenge.  This move has kept me pretty busy.  Add in that the yarn needed to finish the second sock is packed away in my stash.  Also throw in that we've all managed to pick up a head cold and it's really messed up Bree's schedule.
Since everything is hectic I've decided that my challenge is just to finish a pair of socks.  :~)

Long Post

This is going to be a long post with lots of pics.  The highspeed is back and I have a lot to post about.

First:




The Forest Canopy Shawl.  All that's left is to block it and re-photo.  I really liked this pattern and the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted was a dream to work with.

Second:




The Comfort Cable Throw.  I'm using Wool-Ease Thick and Quick, color Cranberry.  This is only a few repeats into the first panel.  I have 4 more to complete after this.

Third:




Simple Socks.  The yarn used is Trekking 154 and they're for me.  They are going to be plain stockinette socks.

Fourth:




Here's the dishcloth that I started in Idaho.  I finished a few days ago but wasn't happy with the way it turned out.  I've tweaked the pattern and am reknitting it.  After I've reknit it I'll be posting the pattern in my free pattern section.

Fifth:




Here's a shot of the dishcloth being reworked.  I added some more cast on stitches and have added a few rows to even things out.

Finally:



Seacoast Panda, color Blue Spruce.  Purchased from TLE right before we left Idaho.

And Tofutsie:

Purchased from an eBay seller.  I was so happy to have snagged this because I basically got two skeins for the price of one.  Who can argue with that!

Here's hoping that the internet doesn't go down again.  Dial-up just plain stinks. 

Packages Safely Delivered

Shawn brought back the two packages that I was worried about.  They made it here safe and sound.  Now as to the rest of our mail, well we aren't sure about that.  Thankfully the bulk of our bills are available electronically so the paper copies aren't super important.  Most of our mail is junk mail.

I got two skeins of Tofutsie that I won off of eBay, colors #729-Pink/White and #726-Pink/Purple.  I also got my TLE order which was Seacoast Panda color Blue Spruce.  I really wished I had highspeed so I could share photos with you all.  I took pics so all I need is the speed back and I'll post all the stuff I've been wanting to share.

Luckily I got my address change in time for this next shipment of the Yarn Pirate Booty Club.  I'm sticking with it.  I love Georgia's colorways.  I'm hoping to get into Zen String's sock club the next time it opens up.  I missed it this time around because of the move.  I think it opens every three months.

Score One For Me

Score one for the knitter.  Ah life is good.  We went clothes shopping yesterday since Shawn got off work early.  Old Navy was having a sale on a lot of their clothing so we managed to snag several outfits for all 4 of us for less then $300. 

Then to make things even better I found the Lion Brand Wool-ease Thick and Quick on clearance at Wally world for $4 a ball.  They had 10 balls all in the same dye lot so I snagged them.  I'm using the color Cranberry.  I'll post pics when the highspeed comes up again.  Hopefully that will be Monday but I'm not holding my breath.

I also got some more needles from Knit Picks and used a gift certificate to pick up from Amazon.com: More Sensational Knitted Socks and Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  All I need to do is order the yarn for my cousins blanket but first I need to decide on a yarn.  I did find one at Webs by Reynolds called Kids Collection Wash Day Wool.  I'm not sure about the wear-ability though.  It's $6.50 for 176 yds making the cost less then $40.  Not to bad.  Though I may go see what the LYS has.  I may find something there too.

Now the bad news which made me cringe and yell a few choice obscenities.  When it comes to my yarn the cussing may come out.  The building that holds the post office in Mtn Home had a section of the roof collapse.  It's a big building with several other military offices in it.  It use to be where the Commissary (military grocery store) was so it's a fair size building.  Now my mail was being held and we had just put in a forward but we aren't sure if they sent our mail out before the roof collapsed.  I have an order from TLE and my yarn I bought from eBay there.

From what we gather, the roof collapsed in the center of the building but not over the post office.  Everyone was evacuated out safely but they haven't been cleared to go back in and probably won't be.  Any mail coming in to my old address now will forward fine because the post office has set up shop elsewhere on base.

Shawn just left to run some errands so here's hoping our stuff made it out fine and is already here on base.  We did find something interesting out.  Even though we live on base our address is going to be Great Falls, MT instead of Malmstrom AFB, MT.  That is going to be so weird to write. 

Well I'm outta here for now.  I need to swap the laundry and get the dishes done.  I have a mega laundry mountain today between the dirty clothes and all the new clothes that need to be washed.

Help, Help, Help

Ok everyone, I need a little help.  Awhile back I had decided on a simple cabled baby blanket pattern an had decided that I was going with Knit Pick's Swish Superwash.  Now I'm finding all sorts of people that hate Swish because it pills very badly.  I don't want that so I'm in search of something else.

Anyone have a great recommendation for yarn that is machine wash & dryable?  Remember that I do have a budget so Debbie Bliss & Rowan are out unless someone knows of a mega sale going on.   :~) 

I don't want typical baby colors so that isn't an issue.  I've thought of Cascade 220 superwash.  Anyone use this?  How does it hold out?  I have some but it's in storage!  I need about 800ish yards for the blanket.  So that keeps Cascade in the "I can buy it" range.  I'd love to stick with wool but Encore is another choice for me.

Anyone else have any favs or recommendations?

FO Update

I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl last night.  It still needs to be blocked, which sadly will have to wait until we get into our new house. 

I took pics but since I'm in what can only be referred to as "Dial-up Hell" I'm not uploading the pics.  As soon as the highspeed is fixed, I'll upload the pics of the shawl for you all to see.  The highspeed is suppose to be fixed some time between now and whenever.  When it comes to the military some things are fixed faster then others and the internet in lodging isn't going to be fixed as fast as say a F-15E fighter jet.  :~)

So if it seems like I'm a little quiet it's because it takes forever for my gmail to load so I'm not checking my email mucg or surfing blogs.  Definitely not blogs because they take forever to load. 

Movin' On Up

We finally got to move to a bigger TLF.  WooHoo!  After seeing this place all I could think of was the theme song to The Jeffersons. 

Ah, I'm happy now.  The living room:




It's like twice the size of the other place.  Smack me silly and call me happy.

The kitchen is roomier. 




We still have the breakfast bar for a table it's just a little roomier around the back.  The coffee pot sucks so it's going to be replaced this weekend.  I need a new coffee pot anyway so might as well take care of it now.  We even have a radio/CD player in the kitchen.

This is the second bedroom. 




This is probably the room Kaity and I will share.

The laundry room:




This one is actually a little bigger so I can keep the soap and fabric softener in there on the floor.

The sinks:

The shower & toilet:

We actually get double sinks and the sinks are separate from the toilet and shower.

Bree is taking a nap so I didn't take a pic of the other bedroom but it's a lot more roomier and it has a big dresser for our clothes.

This weekend we are invited to a BBQ with the other guys Shawn works with and we are going to go clothes shopping and I'm going to snag some yarn for that Comfort Cable Throw. 

Our mail is being forwarded so I won't have to worry about missing out.  The post office here on base is great.  If all goes well I'll be getting my box here in the next day or two from TLE (I ordered a hank of Seacoast) and the Tofutsie I won off of eBay (I snagged 2 balls for $15) before we left Idaho.  Now I just need to get use to the layout of Great Falls and all will be well.

Still No Knitting

I haven't touched my knitting since the day we left to come up here.  Of course I haven't managed to find space or quiet time to knit either.  I'm hoping that will change tomorrow since Shawn will be at work and Kaity will be at school.

There is no way that I'm going to finish the Twisted Flower socks for the Loopy Ewe Q3 challenge, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to wind and pack the other hank of yarn needed for sock number 2.  It's buried in storage.  I think right now it would be a major challenge for me to finish a plain pair of socks.  If I can scare up another pair of needles for socks I'll start an easier pair out of the Trekking I brought with me. 

I was going to join the Monkey Sock Swap 3 but am glad that I didn't because I just don't have the time.  As it is I'm probably not going to have the time to do Secret of the Stole KAL either.  It starts around the time that we will be getting the new house set up.

Lion Brand has a Cable Comfort Throw (you'll need to log on to Lion Brand to see pic) that I like.  It's knit using Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, which is what I'll probably use unless I can find a better sub.  It's going on the back of the couch so it needs to be durable and easy to wash because Zeus gets up there to lay down.  Our Wal-Mart has the Thick & Quick so it's the easiest thing for me to get my hands on.

Speaking of Wal-Marts, the one here in Great Falls is Gynormous.   We decided to head out for a drive through town and splurge on some Starbucks....Yum!  That was enough to help brighten my day.  I'm still in a wee bit of culture shock.  I've lived and shopped in a "military town" for over 8 years.  When we'd go to Wal-Mart it was a guarantee that we would see at least 3-4 people that we knew and all but a small handful of cars in the parking lot would have base stickers on them.  Mtn Home's the kind of town that would probably fade away to almost nothing if the base were to close down. 

Obviously the town of Great Falls would not be hurt if the military base decided to close down.  This weekend I managed to get my first taste of "I hate you military types" attitude.  I can honestly say that in the 11 or so years I've been associated with the military I've never ran into military haters.  I guess I've been lucky.  Then again, I was living in ID when the attacks on 9/11 happened.  Let me tell ya, I was not the one who started the war in Iraq so don't blame me for the damn thing.  The jerks comments made me kinda sad and made me really miss Mtn Home.  Ack, who would have thought I'd miss that place.  So right now I'm a tad homesick for Idaho....lol! 

I'm sure that I will run into others who will hate me or my family because we are affiliated with the military and I'm going to try very hard to not let it affect me.  It's just tough when you're trying to find your niche and you run into jerks. 

31 days to go till we get our new house and hopefully some normalcy.....I want my doggies back!  It looks like I may have a nice section for my stash in the Den.....Yup that's right we'll have a Den, Living Room, and a Rec Room.  I can't tell you all how much I love the layout of the new house.  I'll take pics when we get the keys.

Hopefully my next update will include some knitting photos and progress.  I really appriciate you all hanging around even though the blog has been pretty much void of any knitting. 

Our Temp Home

I do have some pics after all.

First up is my Idaho souvenir.




It's a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle.  We picked it up at the Spencer Opal Mines in Spencer, ID.  We decided to stop there at the little cafe for lunch.  If I remember correctly Spencer wasn't very far from the Idaho/Montana border.

Now we come some pics of what we're staying in now.

First:  The Living room/Kaity and Shawn's room

Then: The breakfast bar which is what we have in leu of a table.




Next: Kitchen.  It's small but workable




Finally: The bedroom/Bree and I's room.




We also have a bathroom and a laundry room with a pretty nice washer/dryer set.  As you can see the place is cluttered and cramped.  We are hoping to get a slightly bigger place to finish out our stay.

Montana, Here We Are!

**Warning: Long Post, No Knitting Content, No Pictures!

Yesterday is a day I'd probably rather forget.  We found out the kennel closed at 6pm so we had to basically drive as far as possible and stop as little as we could.  We still didn't make it.  Missed the kennel by about 40 minutes.  We did find someone who was willing to take them for the night.  They are being moved back over to the other kennel where they will have 24hr access to the outside, weather permitting and they are a lot closer to the base for easier visiting. 

So needless to say I have no pictures of my travels which really bummed me out.  I did get a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle when we stopped in Spencer, ID for lunch.  I'll take pics later for the next post.  It's cute.

Good News:
The house they have for us is a newer home and according to others who are in them, they are really nice and we are going to love it.  It's just a two story, no basement and it has a garage....yippy! 

Bad News:
The house isn't going to be available till like 10 Oct.  So we are staying in a 1 bedroom TLF until the house is available.

Kinda Good News:  They are going to try to move us to a 2 bedroom TLF after this weekend.

More Bad News:  Our dogs have to stay in the kennel until we get our house.  They can't come anywhere near TLF.  If they come inside they'll charge us $150 and kick us out, so they'll be staying in the kennel.  I miss the little pains already.

Even More Bad News:  All the stuff we brought with us has to go in storage.  Yup, my yarn too.  There is absolutely no room for storage in this place.  Talk about a super bummer.  My yarn is going to be in storage for the next month....sigh!  I may try to squeeze an order on payday from Knit Picks for some yarn for the baby blanket, sock yarn, and a few more 32" circ needles for sock knitting.

Kinda Good News: Since we rented our trailer from Uhaul we get 30 days free storage from them.  At least I don't have to worry about that.

Some More Bad News:  Most of our winter stuff is in storage with all our household goods so I'm going to have to go clothes shopping for all of us.  I quite sure that we are going to need warmer clothes before the end of the month.  This makes me want to smack my head against the wall.  I already planned on clothes for Kaity and Bree but not for Shawn and me.  We only need a few things to make it till our house is ready and our stuff is delivered but it's still an aggravation.

I keep wondering what else can go wrong.  Don't worry, I'm swaying with the punches and going with the flow.  I was really upset and on the verge of crying myself silly yesterday evening but today is much better.  Now Shawn and I are kinda laughing and trying to joke about it.  All that matters is that we have a place to stay, the dogs are in a good kennel where we can visit often and we have a house to look forward too.  Home is where your family is, not the house itself. 

On a bright note, I can sooooo see why Montana is called Big Sky Country.  I've never seen a sky go on forever.  The mountains and the blue sky are gorgeous.  The drive from Helena to Great Falls wasn't too bad.  I'm sure it will be much better when we make the trip without a trailer loaded with over 900 pounds worth of stuff.  We'll definitely head down to Helena to explore.

Dudes, I'm seriously in trouble, Great Falls has a Starbucks.....I squealed when we drove past it which made Shawn chuckle....he knows how much I love my coffee.  There was a double squeal when I seen the Barnes and Noble.  The base is fairly small, so I'm happy about that and it won't be long before I'm feeling totally at home here.

On the Road Again

We're up here enjoying Idaho Falls for the night.  Our trip was pretty uneventful and we didn't stop to see anything.  Not that there is a whole lot to stop and see along the way.  Tomorrow there will be more stops for leg stretches and such.

The only thing of interest that we saw on the way here was a plain white billboard with: buyhashbrowns.com written in bold black letters.  It's a real website.  I don't know why but it made me laugh my butt off.  Guess you would have had to have been there.  If the weather wouldn't have been crappy and there was somewhere to pull over I soooo would have gotten a pic.

I did start a new dishcloth. 

This one is of my own design, well kinda.  I found some stitch patterns I like and threw together some patterns.  I'll be offering this up as a freebie on my pattern page as soon as I get it typed up and converted to a pdf.  Plus I need to come up with a name for the pattern but nothing catchy has hit me yet.  I'm using Peaches n' Creme in the color Winterberry.  I'm using US 7 straight needles.

This morning was super hectic trying to get everything cleared out of TLF before 11am.  We ended up getting another 30 minutes from the front office.  It was close.  Shawn checked us out at like 11:20am.

There was lots of water works.  We stopped to say good by to Kaity's teacher (from last year) Ms. N and my sis.  I'm really going to miss my sis but she'll come visit us.

Well I'm outta here for now.  I need to catch a shower and try to relax a bit before bed. 

 

Knitting Updates

Ah, finally some knitting updates.  I've been knitting every night since we moved over here to TLF. 

First up, the Melon Stripe Blanket:




This ones coming along well.  It's my "I don't wanna think, my brain hurts too much" project.  I'm going to keep knitting farther then the pattern calls for.  I want to make this blanket big enough for the girls to cover up with.  I have plenty of yarn for this.  I my use the first skein until it's gone and then start decreasing with the second skein. 

Next, the Forest Canopy Shawl:




I'm loving this shawl with every pattern repeat.  I've completed 11 repeats of the pattern.  I'll probably put several more on before I put the edging on.  I want this to be kinda on the big side.  I have more then enough yarn to keep knitting away.  I can't wait to block this one.

Finally, Twisted Flower Socks:




This sock is coming along very nicely.  The only thing I've done differently is to make a slip stitch heel instead of the patterned one.  I'll probably make this pattern again so the next one will have a patterned heel.  I'll need to rework the chart into written instructions.  The chart just makes my head hurt because there are five symbols that can stand for two different things depending on if you are working the on the RS or WS. 

If I finish the Twisted Flower sock before we get set up at the new place, it will have to sit alone.  I didn't get the other hank wound into a ball before we packed everything up....I forgot about it.  It looks like I just might get a sock for me out of one ball of yarn.  I bought three hanks of the Louet Gems just in case.  I wasn't sure if I would need it or not.  It looks like I won't but looks can be deceiving   Unfortunately my scale is also packed so I can't weight the yarn still in the ball to see what I have. 

So now you all know I've been knitting.  I need to go feed the kiddos.  I'm not sure when I'll update the blog again but I'll be checking my email at least once a day.