Hey, Hey Their Monkeys!

Yeah I know, goofy title.  I like the Monkees and the Beatles too....even if they were a bit before my time.  Hey I'm a well rounded 28 year old....I'm holdin' on to the 28 for another week.  I'm not givin' it up till I have to.  :~)

Here's what I was knitting on this morning when the sun was starting to rise....Monkey Sunrise socks.  I think they are aptly named being that the yarn color is Sunrise and the fact that the sun was rising when I cast on for these socks.

I decided to go with my trusted 2x2 ribbing for the cuff because it's a tad stretchier then the twisted ribbing.  I'll also make a slip stitch heel instead of the stockinette heel that the pattern calls for.  I think the slip stitch heel has a better look and fit to it.

Doesn't this:




Look better then this:




I dug out the other camera because my new one is giving me fits.  I can turn the flash off but the minute I do it blurs the picture.  So back to my Handy Dandy Sony Cyber-shot.  :~)  At least it lets me do what I want, though it's a tad heavier. 

The yarn still hides the pattern a little bit but the Monkey pattern is a stronger pattern.  I can knit this pattern faster then stockinette and it's not as boring....I already have the pattern memorize from the last pair and a half I knit.  :~)   I'm not ripping them again so these will stay Monkey socks and I will continue to search for the perfect pattern for the other hank of Seacoast my mom sent me.

Speaking of Moms.....mine will be here tomorrow night instead of Monday....eeeek!  Actually I'm joking, it's a good thing for my parents to get her earlier then planned since this will give them more time to spend with the girls.  Kaity is going to be super happy.  I'm not sure how much I'm going to be out here in blogland while my parents are here.  I'll try to take some time out to say Hi and let you all in on what I've been knitting on.

Don't forget, go check out my contest post and leave me a comment to be entered in a drawing for some free sock yarn.  Feel free to pass on the contest to others if you want.  :~)   

It's been fun reading about what everyone would do with the sock.

Opinion Time & A Contest

OK, I'm wanting opinions on the sock.  I can't decide if I want to continue in the pattern I'm working on or find something else.  I think the yarn color repeats are too short to be used with this pattern.  I'm wondering if maybe the Sunrise yarn would like to become Monkey.  Feel free to leave me a comment saying what you would do.  You know I value all of your comments.   :~)

Shoot, why don't we turn this into a contest....everyone else is having them.  Might as well join the party.  The contest will be for enough yarn to make one pair of socks.....my choice of yarn.  I'll work out the details with the winner.....we'll make it fair.

Rules:

-- Leave me a comment telling me what you would do with this sock...keep going in the same pattern or frog it and pick a different pattern. 

-- I'm only going to count the comments in this post.  So if you leave your answer in another post on my blog it will not be counted.

-- You have until Sat at 11:59 pm MST to make your comment.  Any comments made after this time will not count.

-- One name will be drawn via random number generator on Sunday afternoon.

-- I'll post the winner on my blog.

OK I think that pretty much covers everything.

The first shot of the sock:

Here's another shot:

The color is gorgeous and a little softer then in the photo.....so give me your opinion on what you would do "keep going" or "frog it" and you could win some yarn.   :~)

New Sock Project

Here's the start of my new sock project.  Exactly two rows of 1x1 ribbing for the cuff.....you know I love my mama when I'm knitting socks with 1x1 ribbing....I hate it but it will fit with the pattern I've picked out.  The stitches CO just won't work with my normal 2x2 ribbing.  I'm going to be using a stitch pattern out of Sensational Knitted Socks, it's called Waterfall Rib.  I've got to get the second book after I move.  Shock, Gasp a sock knitter without the second Sensational Knitted Socks book!  *trish is hanging her head in shame*    :~)




I'll be knitting my mom a pair of socks using some Seacoast Handpainted Yarns Panda sock yarn.  The colorway is called Sunset and is very pretty.  Kaity decided on the color for Grandma....my mom sent two different hanks.  Of course my "pink" obsessed 6 year old would pick out the yarn that has pink in it.  :~)

Go-Go Socks Are Done

I finished up the Go-Go socks around midnight.

Stats:

Yarn: Cider Moon, Glacier in the Go-Go colorway, 253yds

Needle: US 2 Knit Picks 32" Circ

SPI: bout 7

Cast On: 56 sts

Cuff: 2x2 ribbing for 1", Leg: Stockinette st for 4", Heel Flap: Slip st, 3"

Foot Circumference: 8" (this includes negative ease)

Foot Length: 9.25"

Kaity has caught some kind of stomach bug so I'll be up with her all night.  Excellent knitting time when she is asleep but my butt really starts to drag by about noon.   :~)

Here they are stylin' on my sock blockers....




The blob of yarn is what I had left which actually was a pretty good amount.  I might have enough for Bree socks.  I put it in my stash for now and will figure something out for it latter.  Notice how they pooled completely different.  They have the same amount of rows but the second one pooled more then it striped....the beauty of handpainted yarns.....love em!

Of course you have to have a shot of them in their natural habitat. 

These socks are so soft.  I think next time I'll put ribbing down the cuff instead of plain stockinette stitch.  I may try toe up on the next set of socks I use Glacier yarn on so I can knit till I run out of yarn.   :~)

Go-Go Socks

Last nights knitting:




This is sock number two of my Go-Go socks.  I'm sooooo in love with the Cider Moon Glacier.  I could write odes to it wonderful softness, super squishiness and yummy colors.  The gals at Cider Moon know what they're doing!  It's probably good that I'm trying to save money because I'd so buy more.  :~)    As if this is my last skein of Glacier in my stash.  I have 2 more hiding in the bin somewhere.  I'm sooooo buying more of their yarn as soon as things go back to normal.
I'm only a few rows into the gusset but it shouldn't be much longer before these are an FO and I'm moving on to socks for my mom, finishing up Kaity's dress, and whole lotta other stuff.

Knitting Update

This is what I knit on yesterday afternoon and evening. 




I took a break from the sundress and worked on Blake's blankie.  I'll probably work on my Go-Go socks tomorrow.  I want to get the second one finished up here soon. 

I want to give my thanks to all those who are currently serving in the military, have served in the military and those service members who didn't come home....they gave the ultimate sacrifice.  I also want to thank all military dependents.  They truly are the backbone of a military family.  Sometimes it's harder to be left behind, not knowing what's really happening or having little contact.  I've heard it said over and over again from veterans of various wars that they weren't the hero that the hero's are those who never made it home.  Today please take a few moments of silence for all the hero's who never came home.

Have a great day!   :~)

Kaity's Sundress

Here's what I accomplished yesterday on Kaity's sundress. 




I felt like a Mac truck ran me over all day long so I didn't knit until after the girls were in bed for the night.  What I should have done was hop into bed and catch so extra sleep.....that would have been the smart thing but no one's ever accused me of always doing the smart thing.  :~)  Instead I put about 10 inches on the sundress and there is about a 1" to go before I shape the neck.  The rest of the knitting when quickly because ever so many rows you decrease 2 stitches and knitting across 60 stitches goes a lot faster then 84.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to put the pockets on.  This pattern calls for having several stripes in a solid color, I decided to go with the main yarn and not go with the added stripes.  I'm thinking that the pockets won't look right and would detract from the look of the dress. 

I can see how a person would go completely insane trying to match up the strips.  The balls are not all wound the same.  The yarn is knitting up nicely and I really haven't had any problems with it, so I'd definitely buy more of this. 

Big Kids & A Sundress

Here's what I knit on last night.  7 and half inches of the front part of Kaity's sundress. 




One of those little 50g balls of the Plymouth Bella Colour seems to go on and on and on.  I was beginning to think it was a never ending ball of yarn.  The Bella Colour isn't too bad to knit with.   I can't find a rhyme or reason behind the striping so I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to make the front and back match. I'm just going to attach the new ball and knit away.  Kaity will love it no matter what it looks like because it was made by me for her.  :~)   I love that!   

Kaity's Kindergarten graduation was yesterday afternoon, as many of you know.  The ceremony was good and my baby is now a big kid.  I was a tad sad yesterday, though I did manage to make it through the ceremony without crying my eyes out.  I did have a little bit of cry when I got home and did a little comfort knitting.  I swatched for Kaity's sundress and then took a nap.  :~)  Yesterday was a long day.  Between Kaity's graduation, the stress of having to find a home for one of our animals...long story for another post later on, and finding out that my sis isn't going to be home for another month, I was in dire need of a nap.  Now my sis is in Houston so I have no stress there.  :~)  We can text and talk on the phone all we want. 

So now Kaity is a 1st grader.  We've decided that Skitz kitty will be the easiest to find a good home for.  And my sis will be home in time to watch Harry Potter so all is well.  My mom and I will go see Pirates of the Caribbean when she gets up here.  I know it's probably weird of me but it isn't going to be the same with out my sis...nothing against my mom.  We started watching the Pirate's movies when they came out and have went to each one religiously.  I was 9 months pregnant when we went to see the second one together with my mom.  I made it through the whole movie without getting up once....you know how hard it is to be 9 months pregnant and sit through 2 hrs and 30 mins worth of movie.  I think Bree was napping at that time instead of doing her normal kick boxing routine!   :~)  Mom and I will have to take a pic of Pollie with us when we go to watch the movie so she can be there with us.....I know, I know....I'm insane....lol.

And now I leave you all with a pic of the big girl playing on the playground after her graduation. 

Go-Go Sock #1...Done!

I finished up the first Go-Go sock. 




I figured I'd do a quick post because most of my afternoon will be pretty busy.  My baby is graduating Kindergarten *sniff, sniff*!  They grow up so fast.  I'll get the second sock started tomorrow some time and then I think I will swatch for Kaity's sundress.

Have a great day y'all!

More Sock Progress

For now, I'm just working on my socks.  I'll be starting some other projects over the next few days, but for now I'm being selfish.  :~)




I'm loving Cider Moon's Glacier yarn....I'm so glad I have a few more skeins in my stash.  That should see me through till I can buy more.  :~)   It's knitting up beautifully, it's soft, and to make it even more nice it's knitting up fast.  I'm getting about 6.5 spi on a US 2 needle.  This needle isn't a true US 2 it's a US 2.5....I can never remember the darn mm sizes.  The gauge is actually 5.5 spi on US 4 needles.  I didn't like the way it looked so I grabbed my 2's because I'm lacking size 3 needles for Magic Loop.  I need to get some size 3 needles the next time I order from Knit Picks.  I didn't feel like DPNs this time around.  Not for a plain sock.  :~)

I'll probably start Kaity's sundress this weekend along with some baby washcloths and another hat for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.  If anyone is interested in the Q2 challenge you can read more about it out on Sheri's blog.

Side Note:  Anyone every knit in public and have people stare at you like you've grown a third eye or that you may be a terrorist in disguise? 

I could swear that no one on this base has ever seen someone knit before with the way they were looking at me.  I was at the hospital the other day and took my baby hat with me to knit while I waited....glad I did because I did a lot of waiting.  Anyways, I had quite a few people look at me as if I'd grown a third eye and was radioactive.  To top it all off I had one dude who was  looking at me as if I may be a terrorist ready to commit the final act of treason with my circular needles.  I swear one wrong move and he would have taken me down and called the cops.....lol!  So I guess I will have to continue to educate the poor people in the area on knitting because there's no way I'm not taking my knitting with me when I leave the house.  :~) 

Yarn & New Socks

Don't you just love it when the yarn fairy visits.  I got yarn and I didn't have to pay for it.  :~)   Can't argue with that one.




Actually this yarn is from my mom.  The sock yarn is to make some socks for my mom.  It's Seacoast Panda.  The one on the left is Sunrise and the one on the left is Desert Rose.  The other four skeins are Cotton Tots to make washcloths for baby Blake.  Since I'm the faster knitter, I've been designated as the washcloth maker....lol.  OK, now I really, really, really need to order some size 7 and 8, 16" circs from Knit Picks. 

Now on to my new socks.  I present to you my Go-Go socks.




Sounds a lot more fascinating then they really are.  I'm just using a plain jane pattern to make these.  The yarn I'm using is Cider Moon Glacier in the colorway Go-Go.  Folks you've gotta get some of this yarn if you don't have any.....it's sooooooo soft.....Love it!

Good new:  My parents are coming up to visit in a little less then 2 weeks, which soooooo has Kaity jazzed.  She can't wait for Papa and Grandma to get here.  :~)

Bad news:  I'm going to have to clean and dust the house.....lol!

Baby Hat is Finished

I finished the baby hat for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.  I managed to get a few good shots of the hat on my favorite model before she showed her fussy side.  :~)






I made up the hat as I went so I'll post the pattern out here on the blog here in the next week or so.  It's knit using sock yarn double stranded and size US 4 needles.  I have enough yarn to make a second one so I'll test the pattern out by knitting the second one.  :~) 

It's super easy! 

More on the sock I started later on today.

Sleepy Puppy & A Baby Hat

This was last nights knitting:




I restarted the baby hat for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.  I decided to double strand it and it's coming out a lot better.  I'm kinda winging it with this hat.  I put about an inch of ribbing and then I'll probably knit for a total of 5 inches before starting the decrease of the hat.  I haven't decided how I want the decreases to look....I'll figure that out in the next few days.   :~)
I'm not 100% sure, but I may be able to get another hat out of the skein.  I'll see when I get farther along with this hat.  After the hat I'll start a set of fingerless mitts.  I have some nice superwash sock yarn that I can double strand.....I'm looking for faster knits.  I don't think I have enough worsted weight wool to make a set of mitts.  I'll have to go digging.

And for lack of anything else to post about:




This is what Zeus looked like the whole time I was knitting.  Well that's what he looked like after Shawn went to bed.  It's kinda funny to watch a 200+ lb man cuddling with a 6 lb toy poodle.  Shawn bought Zeus for me but some how the little turkey has become Shawn's dog.  :~)

Mom's Shawl

Warning:  This is a very picture intense post.

Now that the shawl is in my mom's hands where it will be loved and treated wonderfully.  The shawl is now found it's one true home.  :~)

I knit this using Knit Picks Gossamer lace weight yarn and the Janet Lace shawl pattern from Knit Picks.  It's knit double stranded using lace weight yarn, in all actuality you could probably bump it up to a single strand of finger weight yarn.  The pattern called for 2 hanks.....which is wrong.  After I ran out of yarn Knit Picks said that the pattern was under review for corrections and that it should be 4 hanks of lace weight.  Well let me tell ya....I needed more.  I used about 35grams of the 100 gram ball I had wound to finish up the shawl.  I made it easy and pre-wound both strands of lace into one ball.  It took some extra time but worked out great.  :~)
I'd say all total if you are going to knit this pattern using lace weight yarn I would buy 5-6, 440 yard hanks.  You could get away with 5 hanks by winding the 5th into a ball and knitting from the inside and outside of the ball.


First up, the first ball wound up.  Some of you may remember seeing this yarn from a previous post.    :~)



Next, I got this shot because I had to rip back to my lifeline so I figured I might as well snap a progress shot. 

The Pink Blobbed Jellyfish Shawl.  There's just no way to make it pretty but have to throw in this shot.  :~)

The Shawl is now done and needs to be blocked.  Doesn't the pink go well with the plaid couch.  :~)

Blocked out on my bed, which is a queen size so the shawl is a pretty decent size.  All 50 million pins.  I've got to get some lace blocking wires and a bigger house.  :~)  Maybe even get some of those foam mats that lock together.  This is the nicest you'll ever see my bed.....normally it's left unmade.  Shock, gasp!

Full view of the shawl and the best shot of it's actual color.  It's a tad washed out.  I love how the shawl covers up my big butt.  :~)  Must make more shawls.




The obligatory close up shot of the pattern...you can thank Shawn for this one.  It was his idea.  :~)

All in all this was a easy shawl to knit, well it was after I learned that I needed to use a lifeline and not walk on the wild side.  :~)

Needles & Doggie

I really need to work on my titles.  :~)  I wanted to do a quick post to show you all Kaity's new knitting needles. 



She's really wanting to learn how to knit so I bought her a pair of needles made for kids.  They are shorter then most straight needles....bout 7" long.

And since I'm out here I might as well post a pic of my shaggie little toy poodle. 



Meet Zeus, a big name for a little dog who thinks he's ten feet tall and bulletproof.  He has a date with the groomers this payday.  Right now he looks more like shaggy mutt then toy poodle.  :~)

Monday's A Little Brighter

Here's my little packages delivered by the mailman this morning.

First up, a small order from Knit Picks:




I bought some purple sock yarn to go with the pink I already had so I can make some socks for Kaity.  The lovely brown yarn is a splurge and will probably end up as Fetching for me.  I also picked up a US 2 circular for Magic Loop.  I still haven't decided on what cable length I like better for Magic Loop.  I'll probably be buying some more needles this payday.  They have 16" circs now.  I want to get some of those for dishcloths and such.

My row counter bracelet. 




I bought it here (etsy seller).   It just slips on the wrist so I'm going to look for something to be able to clasp the two sides together so it stays on my wrist.  I'll have to go digging through the jewelry catalogs.  I'll figure something out.

My mom got her shawl in today and she loves it.  Now I can put together a big post of about the shawl, show progress pics and all that good stuff.  I'll probably put the post together this afternoon or later tonight.  Whenever I find the time.  :~)

Well I'm off to go get Bree down for a nap so I can attack the mounds of laundry.  I was going to do it yesterday but I was too busy. 

Cloths are Complete

I finished the last dishcloth.  I decided to go with a simple Grandma's Favorite in a green variegated.




I also put another square on Blake's blankie.  Oh boy, I'm just speeding right along.....9 squares done out of 63.  :~)   Though I have to say I'm really enjoying the fact that I'm not going to need to sew this baby up.  I've been making it easy on myself by weaving in the ends as I go.  So far I'm halfway through my 10th square and have used less then half the 200 yrd skein.  The squares are only 4" x 4".

This week is going to be pretty busy in the luvs2knit household.  Tomorrow evening is Kaity's Bridging Ceremony for Daisy scouts.  She's finished Daisy's and is now getting her badges that show she's completed it and is now ready for Brownie's.  We have to call the scout leader up in Montana to make sure that she has a spot waiting for her.  Then on Thursday is Kaity's school play.  They are doing Peter Rabbit and Kaity is one of the McGregors.  The Friday is her Kindergarten graduation ceremony.  Ok, I'm tiring myself out just typing about it.   :~)

Now I need to go grab a few hours of sleep.

2 More Dishcloths

Yesterday I finished up two more dishcloths for Kaity's teacher.







I have the final one on the needles now.  It'll be done later today and I'll start working on Blake's Blankie and cast on the baby hat for my Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.

Kaity has a birthday party to go to this afternoon so while she's at the party, Shawn and I will probably run into wal-mart to pick up a few things.  Then it's back to the house to tackle the laundry again.....the never ending pile of laundry.  Didn't I just do laundry the other day?   :~)

Another FO

Here there are, another FO.  Kaity's socks made with Knit Picks Dancing sock yarn. 




I used 1 50g skein which has about 253 yds.  I have enough yarn left on the one skein to make a pair for Bree.  I'm going to be a little sad when the mini sock blockers won't work for Kaity's socks, though they will work for Bree's feet later on down the road. 

I'll probably cast on a pair for me using my Loopy Ewe sock club yarn here in the next few days. 

Afternoon Knitting

Kaity bounced out the door for school this afternoon as if nothing was ever wrong with her.  So I got to knit this afternoon.  :~)
Here's what I worked on:




It's a sleeping bag for Old Mouw.  This one is a long cozier and it will have a soft squishy pillow as soon as I can get my fiberfill out of Bree's closet.  She's still down for her nap, thus the pic of the sleeping bag with the needles still strung through it.  Once it's stuffed I need to do a 3 needle bind off, weave in the end, and hand it over to Kaity.  It'll be finished by the time she gets home from Daisy Scouts.
Colleen made a sleeping bag for her kiddo's stuffed animal and she passed on the website to me.  So now I'm passing it on to you all.  If you want the pattern you can go here. 
I have a feeling that this isn't the only sleeping bag I will be making.  I have tons of brightly colored acrylic yarn that is soon going to be picked to make bags for all the beanie babies that Kaity plays with.  :~)

No Knitting Yesterday

Here's a News Bulletin:  I did not knit yesterday.  Ack, I'm going through withdrawals. 
Kaity was sick yesterday so it looks like her overheating was actually a stomach bug.   She's doing much better today and I'm actually hoping that I can send her off to school.  She's eating her soup and then going to go take a shower after the soup.  She's wanting to go to school so I think I may just let her.  Kids bounce back from being sick so quickly.
The thing I find odd is that Bree has never once gotten sick out of all of these times Kaity has.  Out of all the viruses introduced into this house the only thing Bree has ended up with was a little head and chest congestion and even that wasn't all that bad.....it didn't keep her awake at night.  Kaity is always playing with Bree so you'd figure she'd pass on her yucks to Bree.  Like I said, it's weird.
So if all goes well I may be able to sit back and relax a little this afternoon.  Maybe even get in a little knitting time.  :~)   
This weekend is going to be a busy one.  Now that moving is now that we have orders moving seems more real.  We are going to be doing some straightening up and then it'll be "Get rid of all the junk" time.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!   :~)

We Have Orders!

It's official.....we're moving to Great Falls, Montana.  As soon as we get the actual hard copy orders we'll be able to request our early reporting.  Right now it has us leaving in October....don't think so not if I can help it!  We are going to ask for the beginning of August.  It feels great to finally know where we are going.  :~)

Now on to my goodies received in the mail.  I bought a few small things this payday.  I still have a row counter bracelet that I bought from an etsy seller out in the mail.  I'm addicted to etsy like some people are addicted to ebay.....sept I don't have to fight to get what I want.  I just load it in the chart and go check out.  I'll post a pic and link to the seller when it comes in.  :~)

First up, small needle stitch markers from ZeroMarkers.  They also threw in some extra stitch markers (the 2 markers on the right hand side).




Next up, handmade soap from Brown Bag Soap.  Brown Bag Soap is ran by Chicken Knits.  Go check out her shop.  I got the Honey and Beeswax, it smells yummy.  :~)  Lookie, I finally found a good use for those tiny plates that came with the espresso cups.....lol!




And finally, Icaras.  OK, I'll admit that this is not my next big project but I saw that Sheri had the patterns in and just had to get it.  It's in the queue for after Ethereal Fichu.




My next project is going to be the Ethereal Fichu Shoulder Wrap by Heartstrings.  Remember that skein of Schaefer Anne I bought awhile back....the pretty blue green.....there's a pic in my Flickr album.   Well the Anne has decided she wants to be the Ethereal Fichu.  I've already talked to the designer of the shawl (Jackie E-S of Heartstrings) and she said that due to the way the shawl is designed it will be easy to adjust if I start running out of yarn...which could or could not be an issue due to the fact that Anne only has 560 yds and is fingering weight and the pattern calls for 600 yds of lace weight.  Jackie was wonderful to deal with.  She answered my email quickly and was super helpful.

I'm not sure when I'll start the Ethereal Fichu but it won't be until after I make Kaity her sundress and finish up my Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge knitting.

Dishcloth #7

Finished this one up tonight.  Meet dishcloth #7, who just happens to be a turkey.   Either  there is an error in the pattern or I knit where I should have purled or purled where I should have knit.  I just noticed the turkey has a line coming out of his butt.  Oh well, it still looks good.   :~)




Kaity came home from school terribly overheated and ended up getting sick so we are up late.  I need to get something in her tummy before we head to bed.  She seems to be doing better now.  Shawn is going to head up to the school to investigate.  I have a bad feeling that they aren't running the damn swamp coolers and it's been in the high 80's to mid-90's here.....it's time to turn the damn things on.  I don't care if there in only 1 week of school left or not.

On another note, is it odd to be drooling over other peoples spinning wheels and spindles even though you don't know how to spin?  It just doesn't seem rational.  Maybe I need to give in and learn to spin....lol.

Well I'm off to go start my Shamrock cloth.   

Dishcloth #6

Dishcloth #6 is done.  I think it came out pretty good.  It'll look better after it's been blocked.  The photo is crappy but needed to take a quick photo so I snapped it here in the house.




Here's my mom's gift.....teaser to what I'll post later. 




If you really really, really want to see the final photo go out to my Flickr account.  I'm quite sure that you all can figure out exactly what I knit for her....hint: It isn't socks, swatches or sock yarn.  :~)   There, now my mom won't see it on the blog by accident and if she clicks on the link before she gets the package in, then it's her decision to see the photo.

I'll do a great big post next week after she's gotten the package in.  I'm sending it out Priority Mail but I'm not going to count on it being there before the weekend.  Their post office isn't open on Saturdays....then again I don't think ours is either.   

Atom & RSS Feed Issues

Alrighty everyone.  I think I've figured out what the problem was with my feed.  Apparently the code that was used to insert photo's on my blog was causing some readers to not pick up the feed properly.  It all has to do with how high the security is on the reader you are using.  Apparently Google and Bloglines security settings are on the higher side.  I understand why the settings are high, these readers are trying to protect their users which I for one support wholeheartedly.

Now that I know it's what's causing the problem I can fix it before I post.  All I need to do is wipe out a little bit of the code that causes the picture to pop up in another window.  So now if you click on a photo it will open up in the same browser window.  Unless I can figure around that without causing a whole lot of work for me, unless you all like it opening in the same window.  Let me know what you think.  Do you prefer that links and pictures open in another window or tab?  Or Do you prefer that the links and pictures open up in the same window or tab? 

Let me know if this helps or not.  I think that is what it causing the problems.  I've ran my feed through Feed Validator and everything is checking out perfectly for both Atom and RSS.

Wednesday

My mailman was kind enough to bring me my order from Herrschner's today.  This yarn is destined to become dishcloths.  I'll probably stick with ordering my dishcloth cotton from them.  It's a reasonable price, their shipping prices aren't bad, and they have a lot of different colors.




The Never Ending Gift Knit has now had it's bath and is enjoying the cool breeze of the fan back in my bedroom.  :~) 

Instead of pics of my moms gift, I give you a cutie baby pic.  :~)

Done!!!!

The Never Ending Gift Knit has finally come to an end.  I finished it up at 1:45 am.  :~)
I'll be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow with hopes that I can get it out in the mail by Thursday or Friday.  So hopefully some time next week I'll be able to show you all what I was working on.  :~)

I also put a few more repeats on the round dishcloth.  It now has 6 of the 9 repeats.  I'll definitely be making this one again.

Yarn Market called me yesterday to let me know that they were shipping Kaity's needles.  I ordered her some kids needles by Pony back in mid Feb.  I guess Yarn Market was having a heck of a time getting them in.  They handled everything great and both ladies I talked to were wonderful so I'll be going back to them again for stuff.  They carry a pretty good supply of needles and books.

Oh, and I didn't get my order from Herrschner's.  They ship UPS Basic which means the box gets turned over to the post office and then the post office delivers it to the residence.  I should see it here in the next day or two.  It's only dishcloth cotton but I need it to finish up the other cloths for Kaity's teacher.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crawl into my bed....I'm beat!  :~) 

Still No Orders

We still haven't found out where we are going but we should be finding out soon.  The other guy Shawn works with found out where he was going today so we are hoping we'll see something tomorrow.  I want to start planning.  :~)

This afternoon I manged to get two more rows done on the Never Ending Gift Knit.  I'm going to work on it tonight so that hopefully I can put the finishing touches on it tomorrow.  I started this darn thing in Feb with plenty of time but Monkey sock nightmares and running out of yarn have slowed me down quite a bit.

Well I'm off to get my kiddo's ready for bed in hopes of some quiet time tonight.

Feed Issues

Is anyone having problems with their readers not updating my blog correctly?  I know for awhile there I would post something and then the readers like bloglines and google would take 5-8 hours to pull the post...normally they post within a few minutes but could take an 30 minutes to an hour.  There seem to be problems where some readers are not picking up my feed at all for days at a time.  Can you all let me know if you've been experiencing these problems and which reader you are using?  Hopefully we can get this figured out.  I thought that deleting the feed out of the reader and hitting the subscribe link on my blog would fix the problem, but it hasn't fixed all of them.

Thanks Bunches!

Dishcloth Knitting

I frogged the 6th dishcloth I had started the other night.  It looked like crap...could have been the pattern, could have been me....who nows, needless to say I didn't like it.  Maybe it was because I was really wanting to try this dishcloth pattern that Sue sent my way.  :~)    Actually, I keep looking at the pattern this evening and started thinking about how it would look with the variegated yarn I have in my stash....lol.




This is a really fun pattern to knit.  So far I've got 2 of 9 repeats done.  It seems to be a fairly quick knit.  If you're interested in the pattern you can go here.  This is one I hadn't seen before and I thought I'd pretty much seen every pattern out there.

I managed to get one round finished on the Never Ending Gift Knit earlier this afternoon before Kaity came home.  I'm going to try to knock out the rest tomorrow.....hopefully!

WooHoo.....I just checked UPS and it's showing that my order from Herrschners is in Boise so if nothing gets messed up my wonderfully fatabulous UPS lady will be bringing the box by tomorrow afternoon.  It's a good thing too...I need that yarn to finish up dishcloths 7-10 for Kaity's teacher and I need to have them done before the 25th which is the last day of school. 
I'm really going to miss all my delivery people when I leave here. 
The Fedex guy is awesome.  The poor guy showed up at the wrong time the other day.  I was changing Bree's diaper when he showed up.  He was so cool, patiently waiting for me to come to the door to sign for my package.  This of course was the package that had Kaity jumping up and down with glee.   We took her Magnetix away from her when the recall was released and sent them in to the company in Jan 07.  We finally got the replacement toys in the other day.  We should have gotten them months ago but things got messed up...it's a long story.  Needless to say Mega Brands came through and both the girls are swimming in Mega Block sets.  They sent some of the small lego like ones for Kaity which work perfectly with her lego sets and they sent Bree some of the big Mega Block sets.  They are happy, happy, happy!

Whatta Monday!

Since I decided to do no cleaning and laundry yesterday I now have to do it today....darn that maid, she never seems to clean like she's suppose to.  :~)  So that's what I've been up to.  I also spent some time winding the yarn I got in from Sue so I can finish my mom's gift and naturally when I finished winding the yarn I had to knit on the gift.  There's definitely and end in sight.  I hope to be finishing it up by this weekend.
I also got a book I won off ebay.  It's called Knitting for Babies and Kids.  I paid like $6.50 for it...pretty good deal if you ask me.  I noticed out at Amazon it's been review and has complaints about errors in the patterns, but that's not much of a worry because I've yet to get a book that doesn't have errors in the patterns.  :~)  There are some really cute patterns in there so I'll deal with the errors....besides isn't having errors in patterns part of the knitting adventure? or is that headache?
I was reading out on Tricotine's blog about a book that she bought.  Well naturally I have to go check out said book.  It's called Bearfoot Knits.....there are some cute kid patterns that come in this one so it's now being added to my wish list.  I may try to get that one on the first of June.  :~)

Well I'm off to swap the laundry out and throw on and other row before Kaity gets home.

Blake's Blankie

This is what I worked on yesterday:




I had started this blankie once before but frogged it because I didn't care for the way it was turning out.  Well this time it is going much better.  The yarn I'm using is Plymouth Encore Colorspun #7117.  It's a mostly acrylic yarn but has 25% wool in it making it a lot nicer to work with then a lot of other acrylics.
  I'm knitting this blankie using the Piggy Back Squares pattern by Sarah James.  The Naked Sheep sells the pattern if you are interested.  It was like one of the only places that sold this pattern online when I bought it a few months back.  This is a pretty easy pattern and would be really easy to adapt for any size blanket.  I have 1 row of 7 squares done, 8 more rows to go.  :~)   For anyone who's counting squares that's a total of 63 squares.  I've completed 7 squares and started number 8....so 56 squares to go....providing I did my math correctly.  :~)   You know what, I think I'm just going to stick with 8 more rows to go.  Doesn't sound like there is quite as much work involved does it?  Although I reserve the right to knit as many or as few rows as I please.  I'll have to see what it looks like with 7 rows and then go from there on if I want to add the last two rows.  Who says you have to follow a pattern to a T.....just call me Trish, Rebel Knitter.   :~)

Yarn Choices

Here's the pic of the four yarns I have that would possibly be manly enough to make socks for Shawn.




From left to right: Opal Masterpiece #3701, Opal Masterpiece #3706, Opal Mosaik #1114, & Fortissima #9094

I'd love to here opinions on what you all would think about manly sock yarn.  This is where I would make an exception to my yarn diet, to buy some to make socks for Shawn since most of my yarn is stuff I know he wouldn't wear.  Yardage isn't much of an issue since Shawn likes ankle socks.

Sock 1 is Done!

Sock number one is done.....for the second time.  This time the sock fits great.  :~)




I finished up the 1st sock and started the 2nd sock.  There's only about 1" done so 3" to go before the heel flap.  It shouldn't take to long to get there.

Added in after posting:

I couldn't sleep after I posted about sock number one so I decided to keep working on sock #2.   Plus I was watching a show on the sinking of the Lusitania that I recorded earlier on the Discovery channel....pretty interesting.

I managed to get another 2" done, so I have about an inch before the heel flap.  Magic Loop seems to be my speedy sock knitting tool.  Somehow the lack of needles seems to speed me up.  I think when this sock is done I'm going to cast on a pair for Bree.  I haven't made any for her lately. 

I've also been tossing around starting a pair of socks for Shawn for Father's Day.....this was Kaity's idea.  She came to me asking if I would make Daddy a pair of socks for fathers day.  :~)   She feels that Daddy needs a pair of hand knit socks.  I think I have a few skeins that will be manly enough for Daddy socks.  You all have seen the yarn I've bought lately....not very manly.  :~)  I have a few skeins of Opal Masterpiece and some Fortissima in blue and white.  I'll snap some pics here in the next day or two and see what you all think.  I'll need to get those socks started soon if I want to have them done by Fathers Day.  I'll only be able to knit on them when Shawn isn't here.  Thankfully Shawn doesn't have sasquatch feet and the major bonus is he likes ankle socks so they will be quick knits.  :~)

Happy Mother's Day to Everyone.  Tomorrow will be busy for me, laundry and cleaning still have to be done.  :~)