Update, Then Bed

Tonight I knit on my gift knit. I can't wait till I can post pics for everyone to see. Hopefully I will be doing that here in about 2 weeks. It's knitting up faster then I thought. The only prob is I missed a YO back 2 rows so I need to run a lifeline tomorrow and rip back. I'm glad I counted stitches and realized it now and not 10 rows later. :-)
Really don't have any news on the sock front. I worked on my "Martha" socks yesterday evening but wasn't able to pick them up tonight. I've got about 1/2" or so before I start the heel flap. I don't think I'm going to make the cuff 7.5" like the patterns is calling for. I think I'll stop at 7" and call it good. The heel flap is going to add about 3" so that will give me a nice long cuff, just the way I like em. :-) And I wonder why I like hanks with a lot of yardage......lol. Between the 9-10" cuff and the Size 10 foot I eat through a good amount of yardage in my socks. There are times when I wished I had a size 8.5 like my sis. She's about my height 5' 8" maybe a smidge taller then me and she ended up with feet over a size smaller then mine. I just can't figure it.....lol.
The "Martha" socks have swapped needles 4 times now. I started them off on my US 1, 5" Brittany's from Full Thread Ahead, then moved them to the US 1, 5" HiyaHiya needles I got in from The Knitting Zone, then moved them to the US 1, 5" Lantern Moon Sox Stix that I got in from Yarn Market, then finally they were moved to the US 1, 6" Knit Picks Nickel Plated DPN's that I got from where else, Knit Picks.....lol. I've already got $11 in stuff just sitting in my cart. All I need to do is add some yarn and click buy. I'm resisting the temptation right now....lol. I'm eying some lace knitting books right now. I need to add something to go with all the sock books. Though I do have to buy More Sensational Knitted socks when it comes out.
Now back to my sock talk, the poor socks just don't know what to do with all the needle swapping. Right now they are lovin' the Knit Picks needles so they will stay on those. Gotta love pointy needles.
I wasn't sure if I would care for the Knit Picks DPN's. I've only used wooden DPN's to make socks. I really like them. They are a little heavier then my birch and bamboo needles and definitely slicker, but I didn't seem to have any probs using them. I love the Knit Picks but I think I'll still find myself reaching for my wooden needles more. The Knit Picks are going to come in handy knitting up lace and other patterned socks.
Oh, oh, I ordered more books. I got the first book, A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker and Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I'm going to work on getting the other 3 Barbara Walker books in the Treasury set over the next few paydays. I got them out at Amazon so of course I got free shipping.....gotta love free shipping. I also ordered Favorite Socks and Knitting Vintage Socks from Overstock with my $25 gift card that came in the other day. I was surprised on how many knitting books Overstock had. So now I have to sit here patiently waiting for those to come in.....lol.
OK, time to stop rambling. My eBay auction has ended, winner has been emailed, so I can stop my shameless use of my blog to kill time and go to bed.....l0l.

Skitz Kitty

Here's some pics of my fuzzy, tubby, some times crabby, Skitz. This is my kitty with a 'tude. As you can see she's way over her ideal weight. She's being rationed on her weight loss food and we're hoping to get her weight back down a little. She would eat every time she thought that Mr. Puff was thinking about eating. Needless to say the goofy cat was eating all the time. Her over eating is one of the reasons Mr. Puff went back to live with my aunt. The other was of course our allergies. I'm happy to report that since Mr. Puff left Kaity hasn't had to take her Zyrtec and Bree isn't having stuffy nose problems either. Thankfully it looks like keeping Skitz is not going to be a problem for everyone in the house.

Kaity's Birthday

Tomorrow is Kaity's 6th birthday. Since we didn't know when Shawn will be home tomorrow because of the exercise going on, we decided to let Kaity open some of her presents tonight. She still has a couple to open at her party on Sunday. She's been driving us crazy wanting to know when she could open them.....lol. Figured I'd also throw in a pic of Bree. Doesn't that look like one happy baby.

She's happy with all her presents. We got her a gigantic floor coloring book, a Cars video game for her V-Smile, and some Moon Sand. She's in the kitchen right now playing with her Moon Sand. Let me tell you, this is some strange feeling stuff. It's pretty cool to play with though and for everything that we got, it was a pretty good price. I didn't buy it off the TV commercial. I've found that if you wait long enough Wally World gets all of that kind of stuff in.

What A Day

Thank you for the comments to yesterdays posts. It's helped me to put it all in perspective. Bree is fine, she's just my little happy health midget and to not let it bother me that the docs aren't happy. She's going to grow the way she wants to grow.

Kaity woke up this morning a for some reason felt that she didn't need to wake me up. She sat in her room watching cartoons....no biggie except that she didn't eat anything. When Kaity doesn't eat her stomach hurts and when her stomach hurts she won't eat and if she won't eat, her stomach will continue to hurt and eventually she'll get sick to her stomach. You can see where I'm going with this one *sigh*. Well to top it all off today is class picture day which we didn't want her to miss. To make a long story short Shawn and I got her to eat a little bit of food then Shawn took her up to the school to get her pic taken with her class and now she's back here at the house eating crackers and driving me crazy. She's fine but try to convince her of that one. :-)

To brighten my day I got in my order of Opal from Little Knits. They were having a sale and I couldn't resist. The green and purple ones are Prism and the red/blue and yellow/blue are Masterpiece.

I also got in some hand painted yarn from an eBay seller. I love the imperfection of hand painted yarns. Of course I'm a goof and love self patterning sock yarns too. I've seen a lot of posts from people who hate self striping.....I for one think they are fun. I'm taking everyones advice and stocking up while I can....never know when you might hit those rough patches where a big stash will be nice. I am going to focus on other yarns now instead of just sock yarns. There are lots that I haven't tried yet. I'll still buy sock yarn, just not as much as I've been buying. :-) Plus I figured I'm 28, ok 29 here in like 3 months, that gives me a good number of years to stock pile for retirement.....lol. Of course I don't want to bury the family under my stash either.....lol.

One Bad Day

**Disclaimer: This is going to be a major ranting post with the possibility of a little whining!

Ok, it's bad enough that I can't seem to find the time to knit today, no biggie, it won't be the first time and definately won't be the last time. Hey I have to kids and one is an infant. I'm not going to count Shawn since technically he isn't a kid but it seems like it when him and Kaity are arguing or he is forever looking for something that he misplaced. :-)
Anyway, Bree had an appointment with the doc this afternoon. Well she was suppose to have an appointment but the exercise has screwed everything all to hell....what's new. Anyone who has any dealings with the military will know what I'm talking about. No one wants to get me going on the exercise we are having now......I'd rant for way tooooo long.
Back to the matter at hand, the appointment was canceled and I was told to just bring her in.....no prob, that went pretty quickly. I only waited in the lobby for like 5 minutes or so and talked to a very nice lady about her grandbabies and great grandbabies. Now we go back and they weigh her and measure her and then have a pow wow with the doc. This visit was a follow up to see if she was growing right. Some how this appointment turned into the fact that my 7 month old daughter isn't fat enough. Yup that's right she's too skinny. Shit what's next. Guess I could give her some of my fat. Apparently she has lost around 10 ounces some where in the last 30 days. I have no idea where it is but I guess I need to start looking for it. I wasn't aware that this was something to freak out about. OK maybe I would freak out if she had lost like 2-3 lbs in 30 days but not 10 friggin' ounces.

Weight Correction: (I looked up her weight after I had already posted.....I'm too damn lazy to go back and edit the post. :-)
***I just looked up her weight from a month ago and it was 13 lbs 3 oz so she gained 2 ozs instead of losing in a 30 day period. Still not enough in the eyes of the doc. I'm getting a headache thinking about it.***

Anyway back to the story again. So then the nurse comes in and tells me that I need to be feeding her more. I guess I'm now going to have to poke her awake in the middle of the night and early morning so that she can nurse. She nurses when she wants too and she eats baby cereal in the morning and evening and in the evening she normally has a veggie or fruit to go with her cereal. Plus she has 2 ounces of juice some time in the afternoon.
So basically the feeling that I got while there at the doc was that I'm a bad mom because my daughter isn't up to their weight expectations. I can't help it that my girls are petite. Bree is 7 months old and is weighting in at 13 lbs, 5 ozs. Shoot Kaity is 6 years old and is like 40 lbs soakin' wet. I know that the doctors are just doing their jobs but you can't expect every baby to be the same.
Well I'm off to go smack my head against the wall and find some other outlet for my pissed offedness.

Stash Enhancement

I got my orders in from Knit Picks and The Loopy Ewe. The Loopy order was to replace a pair of socks for Kaity that met a horrible fate....we're not ready to talk about it yet....still in mourning. Well Kaity isn't ready to talk but I will. Her rainbow socks made with Lorna's Lace were too big....my fault completely on that one. They've been frogged but the yarn just doesn't look like it will knit back up into another pair and look good. I'm thinking about double stranding it and making socks for Bree....haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do. So I let Kaity pick out some yarn and since I was there I figured I'd throw in the pouch too. It'll be nice to have for my smaller projects so I don't lose needles and such in the bottom of my bag. I hate it when I lose needles. :)

Next up is my order from Knit Picks. I picked out one skein of Wool of the Andes and one skein of Swish Superwash. I got one chocolately brown color and one dark green.....I'm really loving both colors....decisions, decisions, decisions! I'm going to work up some swatches with cables and such to see which one I like better for my Central Park Hoodie KAL. Of course you can't go out to Knit Picks and just buy two things so I picked up a new needle gauge that will read ALL needle sizes including the 1/2 sizes, one US 1 circular needle, a set of US 1 Double Points, some more pouches for my Options set, and the color cards for Wool of the Andes and Swish Superwash.

I still have some more yarn coming in that I bought from eBay. I think KnitTech is right, why would I need to go to my LYS (there are several I can chose from)...I've got enough yarn in my stash to sustain me for awhile. I can start one of my own with the yarn that I have.....lol. Heck if I knew I could get enough business I would start one down here in my itty bitty town. :)

I have Sue to thank for some of my stash enhancement. She's the one who helped me get my little stash a little bigger by sending me a goodie box with some sock yarn in it. From there the stash has started to grow out of hand.....lol. I need to stop buying sock yarn for awhile and use some up. I need to go on a sock yarn diet.....lol. It's almost like a sickness......lol. Do I need to be at a Stash Enhancement Anonymous meeting? I can stand up and say "Hi my name is Trish, and I have a sock yarn buying problem".....lol. Do those meetings exist? If not maybe I need to start the first branch.....knitters around the world can unite at these meetings for support. I've seen people who stash would bury them if it were to topple onto them....mine hasn't made it to that point yet.....not even close.....lol. I'm might bury me up to my calves, not to dangerous yet! :)

Progress on Martha Socks

I've got about 5" of 7.5" done on the cuff of the first sock of my Martha socks....the quarterly challenge from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe. I'm really liking this sock. I love the colors, although the picture just doesn't do the color justice. Normally I would make a pair of bright socks but the challenge is to make a pair of socks using yarn you wouldn't normally purchase. I went with Cherry Tree Hill in the Tropical Storm colorway and Parallel Socks pattern by Wildhorse Farms. I love their patterns and there are more that I want to pick up soon. I have noticed a small amount of dye on my hands after working with these socks. The colors are really dark so I'm really not shocked at all. Doesn't hurt a think and it washes right off. I'm going to really enjoy knitting up the other two hanks I have in my stash. I think my green/blue mix which was a part of Cherry Tree Hills potluck brights. I think that they were special dyes that were only going to be sold till they were out of stock and then they wouldn't make anymore. Needless to say that one will probably be used for my Monkey socks. I found it at my one of my LYS's, The Yarn Shoppe. I still haven't managed to make it to all of them yet, mostly due to ***geographical difficulties ***. I've got to move *sigh*, maybe one of these days. Unfortunately the military is the one to tell were we are going to live for another 5.5 years. We've tossed around the idea of moving to Kuna or Boise but decided the commute isn't worth it right now. Oh I can't wait for retirement.

***Please read: Them Being To Damn Far Away*** :-)

Well I am off to catch a few hours of sleep. I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow. They are going to be doing a lot of work on the upper left side of my mouth. My fault completely I was a bonehead and didn't go to the dentist for about 6 years. When I was in the military they forced me to go every year but after I got out I didn't go again. Yup I know I'm an idiot. :-) I had dental insurance but kept coming up with reasons I couldn't go. This will lurned me. I will now be going to the dentist twice a year since that's what my insurance will pay for. Wish me luck.....wonder how miserable I'll be tomorrow when I get home. I'll take my knitting with me, might get a few rows in while I'm waiting. Hope everyone has a nice day and gets some good knitting time in.

Look What I Woke To

This is what I seen outside my door, snow. Here's a shot of the side of the house leading to the back yard. It's starting to warm up so the snow is slowly melting. It doesn't seem to stick around long. Wished we would have gotten more so Kaity could have made another snowman.

1st Sock....Done!

I finished the 1st sock of the Magic Loop socks I was working on for Kaity. It went a lot smoother dividing the sock the correct way. :-) Here's some pics. Notice the lovely way the sock is divided up, it works much better this way. I'll be typing up the pattern here in the next few days so hopefully here in the next few weeks I'll be posting it out here to the blog. I still have to knit the second sock. There's no way Kaity is going to let me get away with letting that wait for too long. The girl loves her hand knit stuff which is a good thing I need someone to knit for....plus Kaity and Bree are small so anything I knit for them is almost instant gratification. There was probably almost 2 inches of the cuff knit when I started knitting on the sock today and I just finished them up a few minutes ago. :-)
Socks are done and blogged about. I'll cast on for the second one tomorrow. I don't have a prob with second sock syndrome or at least I haven't yet. I'm off to go catch a few hours of sleep. At least I'm getting to bed earlier tonight. :-)

Bree's Socks

Here's the picture of the first sock of Bree's. I'll take a picture of both sock on the model when they are done. Can't go wrong there, cute pics of a baby and pics of socks. :)
All right, now that I've got the pic loaded I can go get something to eat and continue with the dread monster piles of laundry. Ok so maybe I'm exaggerating about the piles being monster size....lol.

This Sucks!

It's after 1 am and I can not sleep to save my life....no it's not the triple shot in my Moxie Milky Way I had earlier today. For some reason caffeine doesn't seem to have much affect on me. Probably several years of drinking coffee constantly while I was in the military. I'm not a morning person so I needed coffee.....no seriously I needed it.....to get me going. I'm sure that there are other out there that would agree with me.....lol. Me at 5 am without coffee is not a pretty sight. I guess the equivalent would be a really pissed off mama bear. :-) Of course you have a better chance of seeing hell freeze over then you have of me getting up at 5 am, unless one of the girls is sick then it's different. I don't really have the desire to see the sun come up in the morning, I'd rather see it set. Maybe that will change later in my life.
I think the biggest part of the not being sleep is that I haven't gotten a chance to go for my long walks for the past two days. We normally get out and walk for at least 2 miles every night but the wind was blowing like a banshee the last two evenings. The wind blows a lot here but with the wind chill it was like 24 degrees and the gusts were coming in at 25 mph or so. Way to windy and cold to take the girls out in. I'm hoping for a nice day so I can go for a long walk this afternoon.
You ever notice that there isn't much on in the wee hours of the morning, even when you have satellite? Right now it's Nick at Nite for lack of anything better on. I kinda miss my movie channels. I could normally find something on Starz or the Western channel. I love old movies specially John Wayne movies. The Western channel that comes with the Starz movie package plays some good movies from time to time.
I finished the first sock of Bree's and now I'm working on my Martha socks for the Loopy Ewe quarterly challenge. I'm too damn lazy to go hook the camera up to the computer so I can download the pics. I'll do it some time tomorrow and put the pics out here.
My fun for tomorrow.....LAUNDRY!!! Wee Yippy Fun Fun Fun. I could have swore I just finished laundry the other day.....probably did. Oh well, time to start the viscous cycle again.

Nice Surprise

This is what my wonderful UPS delivery lady brought for me today. My new Lantern Moon Sox Stix DPNs in US 1. I got the Blondewood ones. I got them from Yarn Market along with a set of US 10 kids needles for Kaity. Unfortunately the kids needles made by Pony are on back order and Kaity is trying so hard to be patient in waiting for them to get here. I knew they had shipped but I didn't think about the fact that they were coming UPS. I remember seeing that they would be shipped UPS when I ordered them but you know how the mind works at times. I don't know about you all but mine has a tendancy to dump random bits of information and it's normally the stuff that I wouldn't want to forget about. I have to write down everything or I'll forget.
I'm happy with my order from Yarn Market so I added them to my sidebar of favorite shopping places. I also added The Yarn and Fiber Company. I bought the KnitScene mag that I'm going to need for my Central Park Hoodie KAL. The magazine wasn't over priced and she shipped it to me for free. I love it when I can get no or low shipping on orders. I hate having to pay $6-7 to have a magazine or pattern shipped to me. Of course it was an older magazine so I needed to buy it online. The current KnitScene could be bought in Boise but that requires more then $6 in gas to get there and back *sigh*.....I so wished I was closer to my LYS. Cindy from The Yarn and Fiber Co was very help and friendly. I was right away when it looked like my order went through twice to make sure that I only wanted one magazine and to keep me from being charged twice. I've shopped at plenty of places that don't care and will charge you twice instead of giving a quick call before they process the order.
WooHoo....the kiddo is a sleep and the other is going to a friends house to play. I'm off to go enjoy the quiet and get some knitting done.

FO & Sock Updates

Yeah! Last night Bree went to bed and stayed there. Talk about major happy dance. So last night I finished up my mid-month Monthly Dishcloth KAL. I think it looks pretty good. It would have more lacy holes if I would block it but I absolutely refuse to block something that is going to wash dirty dishes. :)
All in all I think it came out looking good. I keep them so I can hand them out to people who want them. I like the color so I guess that means I need to buy a few more when I go to Wally World. It's Peaches and Cream in the Lemon Lime colorway.
I also join another KAL. It's the favorite socks KAL. I don't have the book but I will soon and I'm sure there will be plenty of socks that I'll want to make. I put in for my gift certificate to Overstock so I should see that here in the next few weeks. It normally takes MyPoints several weeks to get your card mailed to you. That's $25 toward knitting books....Yippy!

The other think I worked on last night was Bree's sock I started the other day. It's turning out really cute. How can baby socks not be cute. It isn't going to take long before I'm casting on for her second sock.

Now it is time for me to get Kaity some lunch and get Bree down for a nap. Happy Knitting All!

What Kind of Coffee are You?

I just seen this out at Isabelle's site and figured I'd give it a whirl. I had a good laugh over the description. I'm a coffee lover. I love coffee in all forms, plain, latte, Cappuccino, Expresso....just love them all. Coffee, Coffee, Coffee....Yum!

What Kind of Coffee are You?

You're a Cappicinno!
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Lottsa Updates

OK I've got a few things I need to post about. I got absolutely no knitting done yesterday because Bree refused to take a nap and last night she didn't go to bed till after midnight. I haven't done any knitting this afternoon but I will when I get done with these posts. Hopefully tonight I may have some knitting content. :)
First off we have a my book and pattern booklet that came in from eBay. I snagged the Wendy Knits book for like $8 and there are definitely enough patterns in there I'll use to make it worth the money. I got the little booklet of Mittens, Socks and Gloves for Kids as kinda a reference to have when I try to making the girls some mittens/gloves later this year. There is a cute pair of cabled knee socks for girls in there that I know Kaity would totally love.



Next up is some sock yarn I bought off of eBay. It says it's 100% Peruvian Wool so I would imagine this stuff will felt if not careful. It's a little less bright in person which suits me fine. It's pretty but not as tightly spun as some other sock yarns I've used. The plus side is it doesn't stink and it's not super scratchy. It's not as buttery soft as Lorna's Lace or Cherry Tree Hill but it's not like touching sand paper. All in all not to bad a buy for $10. I might have been disappointed if I'd have paid more, like say around $25-30. For that I expect superior quality.



I'm now officially a Loopie Group. You become a Loopie Groupie when you place your 6th order at The Loopie Ewe. I've received my 6th order and in it I received a Loopy Ewe tote, a pretty blue multi sock yarn by Online, a pattern for fingerless gloves, and a bag with Dove Chocolates....Yummy! The chocolate isn't going to last long...lol. Dove is like my favorite chocolate. Ok time to stop thinking about chocolate. I don't know about you but I'm starting to drool like Homer Simpson when he thinks about Beer......Ummmmm Chocolate. If you haven't bought yarn from Sheri you are missing out. Go over and order from her.....you will not be disappointed.



Finally, last but not lest is my order from The Loopy Ewe that got me in as a Loopie Groupie. I picked up the Yarn Pirate in the Apple colorway (which is sold out now)......Oh my, oh my, oh my this has to be some of the yummiest yarn and it's soooooo much more gorgeous in person. Pictures just do not do this yarn justice.....I'm totally in love with it and will probably have to beat Kaity off with a stick saying "Mine, Mine, Mine" cause I know she's going to start drooling too. Most of the order was for the girls. The Yarn Pirate was for me. The two hanks of Lorna's Lace are for Kaity. I got her Tickled Pink and Iris Garden. She hasn't seen them yet because they came in after she left for school. The purple/blue skein is for Bree. It's the Crystal Palace Panda Cotton. This skein is so cute. It's smaller then the little skeins of Lang Jawoll sock yarn. You get like 6-7 sts per inch and there's 170 yards on that tiny little skein. I'd buy more for the cuteness factor.....lol. I like the feel of it and I think it's going to knit up nice. I'll probably be buying more. There is a pink/green mix that is bright that Kaity loves.

Another KAL

I needed to join another KAL like I need another whole in my head...lol. But they are fun to be a part of and I really do like these gloves. My newest KAL is called KAREN's Glove KAL. Go check them out, hey you can even join in on the fun. :-)

Help Julie Amero

OK, normally I don't do these kind of things but after reading up on her story I just couldn't help it. I first read about it on ScoutJ's blog. As she said "It Makes her blood boil". Well let me tell you something it makes mine do the same. I went out to Julie's site and I also googled her story. I'm making sure that my readers know about it and hopefully you can help out even if it's just a dollar or two. You can read what ScoutJ has to say here. You can go to Julie's site to donate through PayPal and on that site are a lot of references so you can check it out to make sure that everything is on the up and up. If you can please donate if you can. This poor woman is facing 40 years in prison all because of some internet porn pop up boxes. I know it's happened to me quite a few times over my years of using the net and I don't think it's right to prosecute a teacher for something like that. She didn't do it intentionally. Go out and Google her story. Pop up boxes kept coming up over and over again. I've had that happen to me several times. You close 1 and 5 more take it's place. It's frustrating and those boxes always piss me off to no end. Please read about Julie's story.
Even though it's not necessary, I'm going to mention that ScoutJ is going to have a drawing of all those who have donated and such and a prize will be issued. You can read more about it on her site. My decision to help wasn't because of the drawing but because of Julie's story. It pisses me off the way they are treating this poor teacher and she's going to need all the help she can get. Let's show Julie the power of the internet and the kindness of knitters.

Socks for Me and Yarn for Bree

OK that title was kinda rhymie. I started a new pair of socks for myself last night using the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Tropical Storm colorway. First of let me say that if you haven't used Cherry Tree Hill, you need too. This stuff is soooooo soft and super yummy. It's really nice on the hands when knitting. I rate it's smoothness up there with Lorna's Lace. I haven't had any problems with it being splitty either. I've got 2 other hanks of CTH in my stash so I'm glad it's so nice.
I got my order in from Mary Moran at The Knitting Zone. I'd definitely recommend buying from her. She's got great customer service and she ships out your stuff fast. Plus the shipping is very reasonable. I ordered a skein of yarn for Bree and a set of HiyaHiya needles and it only cost me $2.87 for shipping instead of the standard $5.95 that most places charge. She's got a Customers Award program that keeps track of your orders and when you hit $200 you get a $10 store credit. I'll be ordering from her again.
The nice pastel skein of yarn is for socks for Bree. It's Katia Mississippi 3 print. I bought it from The Knitting Zone when I bought my needles. I figured I'd give it a try and see how well it knits up.

Mystery Yarn

OK folks, here's a shot of the mystery yarn that I'm using for the gift I'm making. Any guesses on what yarn this is? This is the last you'll see of this yarn until after it is knitted up and in the recipients hands. I really love the color. You can click on the picture to get a better look.

**Hint: it is wound up into the ball double stranded.

**Disclaimer for Dialup users: the pic is kinda on the large size so it may be very slow to pull up for anyone using dialup internet service.

The New Swift

Weeeeee! That was fun. I used my new swift today to wind up the yarn for Kaity's skirt and for my first knit gift. Here's a shot of the swift. I just had to share my new toy with everyone. It's holding a hank of Lorna's Lace worsted weight yarn....the stuff Kaity picked out for her skirt. I bought the swift at JoAnn's and it works like a dream. It will hold hanks up to 100" so that pretty much covers any yarn I would ever knit with. :-)

Clutter Free

No knitting this afternoon but I can honestly say that the living room/computer area is now clutter free....Yippy! Junk mail....gone, desk....can see it again. Next weekend is reserved for de-cluttering the bedrooms and cleaning out the last few small boxes that were left in Bree's bedroom when we moved over a year ago.
I got my swift today....Yippy. The whole family gathered around the kitchen table to watch me wind a hank of Cherry Tree Hill into a ball....lol. My 7 month old, Bree, was completely fascinated with the swift going round and round. She sat in her highchair with her eyes glued to the swift....lol.
Now I just need to wait for the other 10 boxes to come floating in. There's only one big order coming from The Loopy Ewe, the rest are small little items. I have a few different things coming in from ebay, sock yarn books, patterns etc. I know that two of the boxes will take a bit of time. One is coming from Germany and there is a baby pattern book coming in from Canada. International orders take a few weeks depending on how they are sent.

Busy Night

I managed to get a few things done with my knitting. I finished the Feb Monthly Dishcloth KAL which is designated to go to Old Meow....he needed a new blankie. : ) Kaity seen the hot pink hearts and asked right away if she could have it.
I also started the the Feb Mid-Month Dishcloth KAL. There are two KALs each month. I'm doing this one in Peaches and Cream Lemon and Lime colorway. I have to say I really like the bright colors. I may have to go pick me up a few more balls the next time I'm at Wally World.
I also managed to put an inch on my wristers....3 or so more to go before I pick up the thumb gusset. I didn't take a pic......I'll post one when I have the final product.
I also placed my order with The Loopy Ewe for my final stash enhancement for awhile....yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I said before....lol. But this time it's true. I finished off my stash money so I have to be good. : )
I got 2 different hanks of Lorna's Lace for Kaity and a skein of Crystal Palace Bamboo to try for some socks for Bree. I also couldn't resist getting a hank of Yarn Pirate for myself. I'll take pics of everything when it comes in later this week.
I have figured out what I'm going to get when I've lost my first 10 lbs.....only 8 lbs to go to hit that goal. I've decided on a set of needles from the Celtic Swan. Mind you I can only afford the bronze ones, but I'd really love a set so that's going to be reward number one.
See I told you I was busy. Now it's time to go to bed. I'm going to be super busy straightening up my living room/computer area tomorrow so I probably won't get in any knitting till after the kids are in bed. The rooms are really getting cluttered so unfortunately I need to get them uncluttered. : )

Another Tulip Skirt Pic

Here's the better pic of Kaity in her new Tulip Skirt, plus my toy poodle Zeus who thinks he has to be the center of attention. :-) **Please excuse the clutter in the background, we've been doing a bit of organizing in the living room.**
Now let me remind you that it is in the low 40's here today so it's definitely not skirt wearing weather. I made her change into jeans to go to the store with her Dad but she changed back into the skirt as soon as she got home....lol. There are definitely going to be lots more of this skirt before the end of the summer. She's already picked out the yarn for the next one. For the next skirt I'll be using two hanks of Lorna's Lace worsted weight in the Lakeview colorway (see pic below). Of course, they are hanks so they will have to wait till the swift comes in. I want to get my socks started first so these are in the queue behind the socks....lol. I can't wait to knit with it though. Lorna's Lace is so soft and definitely worth the money.
I'm going to be buying some hanks of the Shepherd Sock some time this week to make socks for the girls. I'm just waiting for The Loopy Ewe to get the new shipment loaded on their website. Kaity is wanting the new color Tickled Pink.....see color here. I wouldn't mind getting some Red Rover too. Hopefully Sheri gets the Tickled Pink in. I'm also looking into getting some yarn to start another pair of socks for my sis soon. Maybe I'll make her another pair or two and give them to her for her B-Day. Who knows, I have time to figure that out.

Knitting Update

I didn't do a whole lot of knitting last night. I did start another pair of Magic Loop socks for Kaity, this time using Caron Simply Soft in pretty pastel colors. I'll post some pics out on my blog tonight after I get the kids in bed. I also did quite a few rows on my Dishcloth KAL. I'm really falling behind on that one. Considering we just started a new KAL on Fri so I'm 3 days behind now. What I have left I'll finish up in about 30 minutes or so. Kaity's already claimed the dishcloth I'm working on now for Old Meow.....she said he needed a new blanket....lol. I don't need any dishcloths right now anyways. They just go into a bag and get handed out to anyone who wants/needs them.
I put in an order to Knit Picks for the skeins of yarn for me to swatch for my CPH KAL. I want to start that here in the next few months. I also ordered some Opal Rainbow and Opal Hagebutte (Rose Hips) from a seller in Germany off of eBay. Once again I've ended up with a lot of boxes floating around out there in the mail.....lol.
Well I'm off to go wipe the baby drool off my arm and finish up the laundry. Hope everyone has a chance to fit in a little knitting today. :-)

Forgot to Mention

I forgot to mention that Kaity totally loved this skirt and is dying to wear it. I told her that I needed to wash it today and that she could wear it tomorrow. I'll try to remember to get a better pic of her in it sans the messy hair.....lol.

Another FO

Wow....I'm knocking out the projects. Here's another FO of 2007. I finished up the last 15 rows of Kaity's Tulip Skirt yesterday. I took my knitting with me yesterday so I could knit while I was waiting for Shawn to drop off Kaity at school, run in to the bank, and then the trip to and from Wal-Mart yesterday. I got the last 4 rows of stockinette done and then I pulled a Homer Simpson *smacks head and says Doh*. I forgot my smaller needles so I couldn't work on the waistband, which is K1, P1 ribbing with an eyelet row because I needed the size 6 needles that were sitting so nicely at home in their case....lol. So the knitting road around in my car all afternoon unfinished. To make up for it I got a Moxie Java Milky Way.....mmmmm hot coffee with chocolatey, carmely goodness....Yum Yum! I finished up the skirt last night and decided to use the I-cord tie that was suggested in the pattern. I-cord is soooooo easy to make.

I picked up a cute little tote bag that has Tinker Bell on it for my knitting tote while I was at Wally World. It's cute and you can't beat $10. I also made my first order from The Knitting Zone. I ordered a set of HiyaHiya DPN's and a skein of pastel fingering weight yarn to make some more socks for Bree. The skein was on sale so I thought I'd give it a shot. So now I have a few boxes and packages that should be floating in all next week.

**Disclaimer: Kaity's hair doesn't normally look that ratty. I snagged this pic when she was getting dressed this morning. I'm going to get a better pic of her in the skirt and a pink tee. The white Daisy Scout T-Shirt just doesn't look right with the skirt.....lol. :-)

Tulip Skirt

I'm so close to being done with Kaity's Tulip Skirt. We watched a movie since Shawn doesn't have to go to work tomorrow. I'm still doing nothing but stockinette so I was able to knit and not really have to concentrate all that much. I have about 3-4 rounds of stockinette left and then there are the 11 rounds for the waistband and I'm done....Yippy....Another FO! I'll probably be using this pattern again with different types of yarns.

Where Have You Been

I haven't managed to make it overseas yet but I've been all over the US.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

What Some Will Pay

I was sitting here at the computer surfing eBay checking out the sock yarns. I look for really good deals and there are some really talented dyers selling out there too for good prices. I just picked up some sock yarn that is a mix of yellows, oranges, and reds. I'll take pics when I get it in.
Anyways, as I surfing through what's getting ready to end I come across some Socks That Rock Medium Weight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the Watermelon Tourmaline colorway. Anyone who has ever sat and drooled at the Blue Moon site knows that Watermelon Tourmaline is a current color and you can get the medium weight sock yarn for $21.50 and their shipping is a $5 flat rate shipping if I remember correctly. So if you buy it from Blue Moon Fiber Arts your looking at $26.50, a good price for sock yarn. I've been told that it's definitely worth the price. I haven't knit with it yet but it's on the list to buy. But back to the matter at hand. The current price on the Socks That Rock that I found on eBay is $37.99 plus and additional $4.05 for shipping. Yup, you seen it correctly $37.99 plus shipping and there is still like 4 hours to go on this thing. This is for ONE (1) hank. I could understand this if it were a discontinued colorway, but not one that you can buy from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Someone must want this hank really, really bad.....they've got Bid Fever.
I just wanted to share the giggle I got out of this bid with you all. I found it some what amusing.

Fun Fur

I've finished the last of the fun fur hats. I ended up making a total of 9 fun fur hats for Kate's Charity. I'll have to take a pic of all those wildly colored hats before I throw them in the mail. I want to get them out to Kate by Friday, which works anyways because I've got the stuff I'm selling on eBay that ends tomorrow. I can kill two birds with one stone.
I'm working on one last fun fur hat which is for Kaity. With Kaity's hat I'm adding a strand of Caron Bliss to add a little warmth so she can replace her current winter hat that keeps falling off her melon. I still have some fun fur left but I'm sure I can figure out something to make out of it. I may throw a little onto the top of a pair of socks for Kaity. I'm sure that would just tickle her pink.
I was rather disappointed to find out that my swift which is traveling around on an UPS truck isn't going to be here till Monday the 19th which is Presidents Day. Does UPS deliver on Federal holidays? If they do then I should get my swift Monday afternoon, if not I'm going to have to wait till Tuesday.....Crap!
I'm patiently waiting for Sheri to get the new Lorna's Lace sock yarns up. I'm waiting to snag a hank of one of the new colors to make a pair of socks for Kaity. Of course I'm sure I could find something for myself that I like.

The Loves of My Life

Happy Valentines Day Everyone.

I have several loves in my life. I could not picture my world without any of them.

First is my Hubby Shawn:
He's been the love of my life and best friend for over 9 years. He's always there for me even during the rough patches and there's definitely been a few over the years and I'm sure there will be more. He is a wonderful and loving father to our girls. He's not afraid to get down on the floor to play or snuggle up and read a book to them. He knows me (almost) better then I know myself. He never lets me stay mad and is always making me laugh. He is supportive of my knitting addiction (oops I mean Hobby). Actually one would probably consider him an enabler to my yarn buying. He's always there to lend a hand with cleaning, cooking, laundry and anything else I may need help with.

My Oldest Daughter Kaity:
My baby, though she'll tell you that she not a baby any more. It's true in a sense, she'll be 6 here in a few weeks. I love her with all my heart. She is my pride and joy and my greatest accomplishment. She is bubbly, extremely independent, out spoken, lovable, and loyal to a fault. She aggravates me to know end with her mouthiness and snotty ways. She loves to argue....I'm thinkin' maybe she needs to be a lawyer...lol. Though she's quick to feel guilty and apologetic about it after it's happened.

My Youngest Daughter Bree:
She is definitely still my baby, though she is growing so fast so it won't be long before she's my little toddler. I can't believe she's almost 7 months old. Bree is a happy baby and is quick to give smiles when she's smiled at. She's a Daddy's girl....of course so is Kaity. She love to share, be it her toys, smiles, or slobber.....There's definitely enough of that. Like Kaity, Bree is also my Pride and Joy and greatest accomplishment. I don't think there is any thing that can top the importance of my two girls.

Next are my 2 dogs and 1 cat:

First is Skitz my loving, lazy, at times grouchy, pudgy kitty cat. She's been with us for over 8 years. We got her as a little kitty. This cat has a 'Tude. She'll be lovable one minute and then turn into demon kitty for no reason....though she's mellowed some in her old age. She' vey mouthy....wonder if Kaity has been taking advice from the cat.....lol.

Next is Shadow my lovable, goofy, pain in the rear Cocker Spaniel. She'll bark at absolutely nothing for I believe the fun of it. She's spoiled rotten and has never had to spend a night outside since she's been with us. She doesn't know the meaning of outside dog. But she knows when you're feeling blue and will curl up with her head in your lap to help you feel better. She's been with us for over 7 years now.

Finally we come to Zeus my odd ball, loving, super playful, little 6 pound toy poodle who thinks he's human. Zeus has been with us for the shortest amount of time. We've had him for a little over a year. This dog is a constant crackup....he's always doing something to make us laugh. He's also like having a toddler in the house, constantly leaving his toys laying in the middle of the walkway. Let me tell ya, nylabones do not feel good to step on with bare feet at 3am. :-)

Happy Valentines Day From Idaho!

Answering Some Questions

Ok here's a post on some of the questions I received about Kaity's Magic Loop socks. Lets see if I can be a good blogger and answer them all. :-)

First Up are the answers to RC's comment:
"you did cuff down? what size foot does she have? how did you figure how many to cast on?"

I knit these socks from the top down, the first inch is a 2x2 ribbing and then the rest is Stockinette. My daughter were's a US 10.5, I believe they still consider that toddler shoes. Her foot is about 6.5 inches long and the circumference around the ball of her foot, the widest part of her foot is about 6.5 inches. These socks are a little snug so I may try to work in a few more stitches to loosen them up a little. I think I cast on 36 stitches so I may shoot for about 40. When I knit with Acrylic I don't put in any negative ease because the acrylic doesn't stretch as much as wool and wool blends. I've figured out what works best for Kaity mostly from trial and error but I've also found that the article from Knitty worked great. You can find it HERE. The calculations work pretty good. Basically you multiply how many stitches you get per inch by the foot circumference minus 1 - 1.5 for negative easy. So for my foot and fingering weight it would be: 9(sts per inch) x 9.5-1 (my foot size minus 1 for negative easy) = 76.5. Which is about right. Then you fudge the numbers around a little to make it work in your pattern. The article also describes about dividing up the stitches and all. I'd recommend it for a good read and reference. I've got it printed out so I can refer back to it.

Now We Come to Tammy's question:
"I've never tried Magic Loop - do you prefer it over dpns?"

This was my first shot at Magic Loop and I didn't get it completely right. I've found the way to do the gusset correctly so I will be trying it here in a few days with the next set of socks. The way I did it still produced the same results. But I digress....back to answering the question.

I like Magic Loop and I can see doing more plain socks this way but as for patterned sock I will probably stick with my beloved DPN's. I just love my little wooden sticks. :-)

I haven't tried Magic Loop with fingering weight yarn because I don't want to pay $13 + shipping for Addi needles. Nothing against Addi needles, I'm just being a stubborn cheapskate. I'm holding out till Knit Picks releases their longer cable classic circulars. I've been told they'll be out later this year. Yippy! I think I could make a pair for Kaity using the 32" length they have out right now. I may buy a pair the next time I order.

I'll be posting more on Magic Loop soon. I'm going to be working through my pattern again before I post it out for anyone who wants it. I want to make sure I've gotten all the rough patches worked through. I may ask anyone who uses the pattern to send me feedback on it.

Hopefully I've been a good blogger and answered everyones questions. I would reply to everyone individually but blogger doesn't make that easy. If the person doesn't have an email linked with their account that is visible in their profile I can't reply back to the comment I get in email. I wished they'd make it like Typepad and some of the others I've seen where you can put in your email but it isn't visible to anyone except the owner of the blog. *sigh* Maybe we all need to bring this up to Blogger.

Magic Loop Socks

I finished up Kaity's Magic Loop socks today. They are fraternal twins, I wasn't going to sit there and try to figure out where in the repeat I started the first one. With that type of multi it's darn near impossible to get a perfect match. Plus Kaity doesn't care if they are identical, all that matters to her is that they are done and she can throw them on her feet.
After a good amount of internet searching I found a better way to do the gusset on magic loop. I was just winging it with this pair. I didn't do it the proper way but the end results were still the same. I'm going to type up the pattern and knit another pair here in a few days. I want to test it out before I post the pattern out on my blog.
I've got a few stitch patterns that I would love to tweak and put into a sock pattern. All I need to do is figure out how to make it work. I'm going to need to figure out how to make the patterns work in the round. But that's for another day.
We all went out for a walk again tonight. This time we walked down to the store, walked around the store for a bit and then headed back home. All in all I got in about 2.3 miles according to my pedometer, which believe it or not is pretty accurate.

Wristers

We all went out as a family after dinner for a walk. We did a little over 2 miles. My legs are sore but the exercise has been nice. Bree seems to love our walks. Of course she is bundled in her fleece cozy baby bundle so she doesn't feel any cold. It's been pretty nice here, today it was in the mid 50's....T-Shirt wearing weather, although it got really cloudy in the later part of the afternoon. It's only 33 out right now.
I worked on my wristers tonight. I think they are turning out pretty nice. The picture doesn't do the yarn justice. It's Knit Picks Sock Garden in Hollyberry. I think I may tweek the pattern and work a set of these in some worsted weight. Of course I also want to make Fetching. So much to do, so little time to do it in.
It's going to be short tonight since it's so late. I don't want to have my butt dragging tomorrow.

Valentines Day Present

I received my Valentines Day present in the mail today. Shawn and I ordered our presents last week in hopes that they would be here before Valentines Day. Mine came in today and Shawn's is floating out there somewhere in the mail.
I got a new pattern and some Cherry Tree Hill in the Spanish Moss colorway. I can't wait to try out my new pattern. Unfortunately the yarn is in a hank so I need to wait till my new swift gets here. I'm not going to have a repeat of what happened the other night. : )
This time Sheri threw in a pretty stitch marker and I received my other mini sock blocker for the pictures I uploaded to her photo galleries. I love opening up the boxes I get in from The Loopy Ewe.....you never know what little surprise you may find next. It's fun.
I also have another box coming in with the new hank of CTH to replace the one that met a horrible demise. I won't bother with pics when that one comes in since you all have seen it anyways.
I'm off to decide what's for dinner tonight and snagged a little knitting time.

Here It Is

Here's the pictures that I promised. Believe it or not this sock took me a total of about 6.5 hours. I put down my start and stop times so I could add them up when I finished. That 6.5 hours was from "Cast On" to "Ends Weaved In". I've never knit a worsted weight sock for Kaity that fast. It normally takes me a few days to get one sock done. I'm not sure if it was because I was using Magic Loop or if it's because my sock knitting mojo was in high gear. : )
I'm using 40" US 6 Knit Picks Options needle and Red Heart Super Saver Multicolor in the Banana Berry colorway. I really like the way the colors pool together.
I still have the second sock to knit up and the pattern to put together. Then I'll go through and reknit according to the pattern to make sure that everything is right. After that I'll post it out here as a free pattern.
I'm not sure if there are others out there that do things the way I do, but I have to have a pattern when I'm knitting. Well it's more like I need a reference, I can jot down numbers and stuff for turning the heel and decreasing. I can't do it from memory I have to have something to refer back too. So hopefully this will help out someone else who's wanting to use Magic Loop to make socks for their kids.
On a sad note, I had a very beautiful hank of CTH supersock that met a very sad, horrible, demise during a tragic winding accident. Lets just say that there is enough to make a pair of socks for Kaity and some little balls that will work up nicely for socks for Bree. It was sad, sad, sad. Hubby believes it was his fault and after listening to my cussing and seeing the pain of having to cut the hank he quick authorized the purchase of swift and a new hank of yarn. I do love my hubby.....lol. Seriously though, I was almost in tears I was so upset. :)
So Sheri is going to think I have a major buying problem (5 order in less then 30 days). I have an order in the mail from her store and I just placed an order to replace the hank that died. I got a wooden swift from JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon. I figure it it's crappy I'll send it back and get my money back.