On the Mend

I woke up the other day (mind you, I started this post on the 9th of July) feeling great without a care in the world not knowing that later in the morning my back would starting screaming in pain for apparently no good reason. I suffered with it for one day, went to bed early and woke up the next morning in even more pain. So when you're in pain, what do you do? Why call your doc to see if you can get an appointment. The military treatment system being as suckish backed up as it is didn't have an appointment till mid Aug....uuuuhhh, nope not waiting for that appointment. Thankfully we can go downtown to be seen in one of the the walk in clinics, which incidentally are 500 times better and staffed with much more friendlier, helpful, caring people then a military hospital. Amazingly enough the clinic wasn't to busy and I was only in there for a little over an hour. Turns out I was having a severe muscle spasm and possible muscle strain.

Just as my back pain was easing up I came down with some kind of virus. You know the routine, fever, sore throat, body aches so bad you want someone to shoot you. Except this time I ended up with the most unbearable dizziness. I was fine if I laid down but with two kids at home that really isn't much of an option. I finally figured out I could stop the dizziness if I chewed a piece of gum. The dizziness went away a few days later. I think it was a combo of headcold/allergies.....as if the allergies aren't bad enough.

So now that I'm on the mend I can get back to my some what irregular blog posting. It's been a very long time since I last posted. I'm trying to figure out where in the world to start first. This post is probably going to bounce around a bit between FOs, WIPs and stash enhancements.

I finally acquired my first skein of Numma Numma.

I swapped with a fellow Ravely user. I love the colors. The colorway is called No Substitutions. Now to find a pattern and knit this up. Hahaha yeah right it'll probably sit in my stash for the next 6 months before I figure out what I want to knit.

I finished my Hearts and Flowers Socks (Ravelry).

This is one of the patterns out of WendyKnits toe up sock book. I have plans to start another sock from her book soon. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy, color Plum Paisley. I just can't get enough of this yarn. The only mod I made was to knit 4-5 rounds before starting the picot edging.

I started a pair of fingerless mitts for my mom.

The pattern is Merletto Mitts (Ravelry). I have no idea who dyed the yarn or what brand it is. I can tell you it's soft, it's definitely superwash and it's a tad heavier then fingering weight yarn, maybe sports weight. It was part of the winnings from one of the contests Woolgirl had on her blog.

I've acquired a good amount of fiber since my last post. I'm not going to post all the pics here but you can see them here on Flickr if you want.

I did acquire this lovely skein of BFL sock yarn from Zen Yarn Garden.

I placed an order when Roxanne opened up her new shopping cart and had a 10% coupon. I picked up 2 different fibers, BFL and Merino/Seacell. I'm currently spinning the Seacell right now. Anyway back to the sock yarn, this one is a new BFL sock yarn that ZYG is carrying called BFL4 Sock. It's absolutely delicious. I've been pondering what I want to make with this, socks or a cowl of some type.

I finished another pair of socks the other day.

These socks were a nightmare to get started. The yarn wasn't playing very well with any of the patterns I picked. I finally went with the Seeded Ribbing (Ravelry) pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks. The yarn is a skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot that I acquired as a pick me up when we first moved here. Some of you may remember that we found out we weren't going to get our house for over a month and were stuck in TLF (TLF means Temporary Lodging Facility, it's a military hotel for families). It was one of my very first purchases from the yarn shop here in town. I really liked knitting with the Bearfoot yarn but from here on out I will be sticking with their semi solid colors.

Here's the latest skein of handspun.

It's approx 148 yards of thick and thin yarn that's between worsted and bulky. I spun this using the Yarn Love Marianne Dashwood roving I picked up from TLE. The colorway is Bayfield Apple. This picture was taken before it took a dip in the woolwash. It's currently hanging out to dry right now.

I'm working on a new pair of socks for my mom.

This is the Halema uma u Socks (Ravelry) pattern from the TLE Anniversary kit I purchased last year. The pattern will most likely be made available on TLE's site for sale in the future....most kit and club patterns are made available 6 months or so after the kit is sent out. Actually I found a Ravelry user who was destashing so I have two skeins of this yarn. I bought the second skein with my mom in mind since she commented on how much she really liked the color. The yarn is Handmaiden Casbah and the colorway is Loopified. I'm not following the pattern to a "T". I cast on more stitches for a less narrow toe and I've opted for an afterthought heel since I really liked the striping that I was getting. I didn't want to mess that up.

My "on the go" socks have a heel.

Yup, I know, exciting stuff! Plain stockinette socks with self striping yarn, can't get much more easier then that. I knit them in the car and when I have doctor/dentist appointments. No pattern required and I don't even have to look at them while I'm knitting. The yarn is Paton Kroy self striping that I picked up from Michaels. The skeins were completely messed up due to one of the them having a knot part way through so there was no way to make the stripes match. To keep my sanity I decided to knit not matching pair. I like them so that's all that matters.

I've also finished a few more test knits for Woolgirl and I have another one to start that the mailman just dropped off. I'll be able to show you two of the knits in my next post.

On the upside my tomatoes are doing wonderful. No red ones yet but we have a few that are getting really close. In the few days I was down from the virus the amount of tiny tomatoes I had tripled. I can't wait to get my first tomato...mmmmmm!

Bree says she can't wait too!

Stay tuned! I'm gearing up for a blog contest. We have some celebrating to do since we made our final payment and are now debt free!!! I'll post more about the contest in the next few weeks.

Happy Crafting!