Knitting Update

Yes I actually do post about knitting/crafting on this post once in a while ... I have been working on my socks this weekend, working on the instep area.

My problem is that it seems as if I will not get the stretch that I want in that general area with the pattern I'm using ... and if I lossen it up I'm afraid that I will have gapping holes in that area ...

the other color changes have been fairly minor only occuring at the beginning of the rows ... but this one is different.

oh well -- I will write my partner and get the measurement of her instep and see if I will need to increase for that area ... that could be the problem too but normally socks have just enough stretch to make it.

good day....bad day

Good day: Hubby took me shopping at the grocery store. I know for a lot of people this seems rather mundane, everyday dread....but we don't go to the regular store very often so it is a real treat--especially if he lets me buy stuff I want.

They had Yoplait yogurt (all styles) on sale for 20/$10 (can't beat 20cents a container, no limit)...so we did a really good job at cleaning them out. My daughter stopped counting at 40 when she was putting them into the 'over flow' refridgerator.

He also let me get some Coffee Mate creme....Raspberry (I have got to do a review on this too)
and some International Instant coffee (orange something--I'll review that too)...and some barley for soup....and some canned soup they had on sale (trying to get the kids to eat more soup in their lunches)...and some rutabagas, turnip, & parsnips (they are hard to find at this store)...and they had Hamburger Helper/Chicken Helper on sale for 10/$10!

I love this stuff--it is a great launch point for meals. The box says it feeds 4 but I need to make enough to feed at least 8 (I have two teenagers and a preteen, plus there's hubby)....so I figure out what's in it and stretch it out.
Take the "Lasanga" that's going to be easy....an extra can of tomatoe sauce and a few wide egg noodles...viola supper for 8.
Or the "Chicken Fried Rice"....extra rice, as much chicken as I need, maybe an extra cup of peas...whammo-dinner for the family!
Then as I eat them I pick them apart....trying to figure out what they used for flavoring (being careful not to get anything with fish)....then when I'm out of the boxes I can figure out how to make it myself...and save the money.

Lets see we got chips & ginger-ale for flu season (best to have on hand ahead of time) and little samplers of coffee.
They are the cutest things...they were 10/$10 and are going to be perfect for a gift for my SIL. We figured we could get a couple of coffee cups from Dollar Tree, stuff them with a few of the samplers, put them in a nice basket and give it to her that way. I think it will make a nice gift...maybe I'll even include some Romance novels (I think she likes that smut....I know she wouldn't be into Bronte or Austin).

We ever worked outside with the dog on some basic obedience--she really needed it....we have let it slide the last month or so. She did really well.

Straightened out my cupboards so it would actually hold it all (couldn't believe all the stuff I had to find a spot for).

Bad Day:
While making the bed, the corner of my pillow knocked off a statuette I had in my window and it broke.
I was a beautiful statuette of two cherubs sitting on a bench; one had a basket and the other held a little birdie in its hands.
I kept it in the house because I was afraid that it would get broken outside (ha!) and I've been able to keep it fairly safe for the last 5 yrs. It has taken a couple of spills but nothing really happened to it.
This time...a feather pillow smash the sucker to smithereens!
Okay, technically it wasn't the pillow...it was the floor/wall as it fell. I totally lost one of the cherubs....she lost her head and her wings---insert joke here---there was not saving it. No just gluing it together.
It was a resin statuette and once they break they are ruined.
It was so hard to throw it out....it felt kind of like throwing out an heirloom even though it wasn't that old...but it had to go. [sigh] Somedays I miss my mom.
Hubby tried to make me feel better by telling me to look at Design Toscano for something simular (love them) but he doesn't know I just spent way too much at Herrschner's again....and I swore I wouldn't...swore it....looked at their pages and said 'nice but I can live w/o it' then placed too big of an order the next day figuring that most of it would be out of stock because the prices were so good.

I just got the shipping notice yesterday (the day after placing the order-very unusual for them) and I did get EVERYTHING I ordered. {sigh} not that I'm not happy....I just don't know how I'm going to hide it all from hubby.

I'll have to post some of the stuff I got later.

But good day/bad day.....lets hope the good day just keeps going.

NEW PROJECT

Okay---enough newscommentary, time for crafting.

On the All Craft Exchange group (http://groups.yahoo.com/AllCraftExchange) we are doing a themed exchange this time---well a loose theme that is. We will be exchanging ANYTHING that is home/handmade and deals with Divination.

So I came up with about 4-5 ideas of things to do based on what type of divination my partner might like to do, or is already doing.

I was so excited to hear she does Tarot cards--I have to admit it is probably the easiest one to make something for---and crystal balls.

I had the perfect idea for each of them. Then the gods thru a loop to me....she is blind. The tarot deck she uses has been adapted to her needs and I'm not quite sure how she uses the crystal ball but then being that you see things in it with the third eye--I could see how it might work for her.

But it took what was supposed to be a very easy project and made me have to rethink it.....I haven't thought about adapting items for the blind since college days, when we had to come up with a unique idea for a single room within a museum and I thought of one made especially for the blind.

One where art peices would be meant to be touched, rubbed, felt--where normal art peices are hands-off. Art work out have texture, density, sound, taste....things to stimulate the other 4 senses. I got an A+ on the paper thank you very much....but anyways. After college I stopped thinking of things in those terms...it became even farther from my mind after my eye operation and I didn't feel the need for such things in my own life---kind of ironic when you learn my son is nearly blind in one eye.

So now I have had the oppotunity to rethink this way again---and I am so grateful for it!!!

It has taken a lot of thought on my end but I think I have finally figured out what to do....the beauty of dimensional paint and online braille translators! So now I'm off to make her a couple of nice feeling objects for her tarot and her crystal.

This is sooooo fun.

Twinkle Toes update 2

OMGs! I can not believe how quickly this toe-up pattern is going....I've been working on this sock for less than a day and I'm almost done with the foot!

If it goes this fast then I think what I will do is start on the second sock for my daughter and use it to practice the heel turn before I try it on my partners sock--that way any little mistakes will be forgiven.

Then too I will have a sock ready to practice the cast off with as well.

I am so used to doing a three needle bind-off at the toe that I am sure I will have some troubles with the cast-offs I've seen connected with toe-up socks.

Well off to do the last two rnds of my foot section and then get ready to make the heel....if I can figure it out that is.

Twinkle Toes update

well I have inc the number of sts needed for my partners foot....actually I'm not doing the Twinkle Toes pattern, just using it as a guideline....but I should have probably inc the number of cast ons to 12 (total) and worked 2 inc rows before moving onto the inc row/k row combination.

Also I waited until I had 32 sts on the two needles before splitting the stitches onto the 4 needles....I found this gave a better base to the sock and helped to prevent the needles from twisting backward--I actually got stitching and found that one of the needles had twisted around making a very ugly pucker...had I been working a cable st it would have been different, but it would have been very uncomfortable on the bottom of the foot....or on the top of the foot for that matter.

These are going to be some very interesting socks--not only am I using different tachniques for each of them....I did decide to use different needle sizes. This means that one sock will be just that much bulkier than the other...but hopefully not so much as to cause a real problem...I really like the concept.

The only thing the socks will have in common is the yarn, but even it will be slightly different due to pooling effects. I loved the way it ringed around the toe area! I wish it would do the same all the way up, but it has already gone to the single row of a single color...although it does change a little sooner than before so I'm hoping it will start to swirl around.

Now to prevent having to over frog I have inserted a peice of emb floss thru the stitches/loops of the last reg row for the toe---just incase I go on and find that I do not have enough stitches I will be able to stop the unraveling and easily find the stitches to simply pick them up and replace them onto the needles.

If I do not need to frog then I can simply pull the floss out later without having to pick it out--just so long as I did not split the floss at any point without realizing it.

I will more than likely do this every few rounds just to save myself some work--by doing a little more work now---should a problem arise like a dropped needle, a dropped stitch, a picked up stitch, etc.

This technique will come especially handy when I get to the heel flap/gusset.

Because I have never done a toe-up sock before I am anticipating a lot of issues with the "wrap, turns" on the short rows. I will check out knittinghelp.com as well for a video of the procedure but I want a stand by just in case as well.

If I run into too many troubles I can always contact one of these sock groups on Yahoo groups that I belong to:

T_Socks_KAL:Townsend Current Knit A Long
TownsendSocksKnitAlong:T-Knit A Long (I love the current group photo!!)

If you aren't familiar with Jeannie Townsend, that's okay...I didn't know about her until I started looking for sock groups either...if you decide to join check out the groups files---she offers tons of free patterns there, all of her own design! Some of the members have posted their own patterns up there as well. She is very talented, I don't know why she hasn't sold any of her patterns...although she did say once that the purposes of the group was to build internet buddies not make money....so its probably because she just has a really big heart!!

If you are interested she also has a blog:

Just Jeannie

Nerves acting up now

Okay so I got an email from the HSS (Hogwarts Sock Swap) yesterday.

Good news is my partner is still interested in doing the swap with me...yea!
Bad news is she asked for my snail mail address--I'm afraid this means that my partner is ready to send...but since I was waiting for the single measurement for my partner and couldn't go any farther without it I'm way way way behind.

I've only reached the heel flap...time to dig in and knit!!

I like the simple pattern I've chosen....its real simple. Its kind of tough to see with the varigated yarn BUT you can see that there is a change.

I'm thinking about doing the second sock in a larger or smaller needle....same yarn, same pattern just a different size so they can be mismatched but still matched.

Does that make sense? It will change how the color works up too so the pattern will be the real tie into each other.

Partner sock update

Okay so I got out my black, got out my yellow and tested/swatched the pattern that I thought would make a great Hufflepuff sock. Hmmm, tried doing it with black as the background color but it got lost in the yellow, so I switched....figured if the yellow was too overpowering I'd try the black as the main color, but it too "disappeared" with the yellow.

I really like the pattern but it just won't work with what I have....so what is it about the yellow that makes the black disappear, you might wonder?

I'm not telling! Back to the drawing board.

I'm not giving up just yet....there's a few other patterns I thought would look great too that might work out better actually!

Still Waiting....

Okay so I am really trying to keep myself busy waiting for a "yea" or "nay" from the sock swap....I've given hair cuts to son and hubby....I've fed the gargoyles....I even worked on my sock yesterday (some concerns here)...but this is really testing my will power not to send off yet ANOTHER plea to be let in.....how UNslytherin of me, if I give in I would suspect the others will really trounse me!

About my sock...

Well I noticed after I put up the photos of it that I was getting some pretty funky pooling of color suddenly. I rechecked my gauge, nope it was still the same....8sts/inch, 9rows/inch....so the color should have been the same. Then it dawned on me that what it could be is the dying sequence had changed....hmmm, why would they do that?

Because that was were/when they expected me to be at the HEEL...instead of the decrease of the calf! So now I had this really nice wide striping going on with a big muck of muddiness...but really that's not my issue with it...it doesn't look the best but I can live with it (so can my daughter for that matter)....by issue is:
what if there isn't enough to finish the foot!!!

I mean think of it....I could be most of the way done with the foot and suddenly run out! That would be disastrous because I only have 2 skeins of this yarn....the last two herrschner's had...and buying a new skein risks mismatching dye lots (even though bernat is usually really good about it, I ain't pushing it). I even thought of using a second yarn for the heel and toe decrease, but then I thought....well if there IS enough yarn I would have a bit left over from each ball and then I have to worry about matching the striping and working in ends on the other sock. yada, yada, yada.

That is the one thing I do NOT like about the Arachne sock calculator....it doesn't give you approximate yardage needed. I don't know why it couldn't....I mean its a simple mathematical equation...

(#of sts needed to complete) X (# of yds needed to make gauge swatch of specific portions)=yds needed

OR

(#of rows) X (yardage in 10 rows)=approximate yardage needed

since the calculator asks you to enter in your gauge anyways, all it would need to know is the international size of the yarn to give the best estimate of yardage (1-5, based on thickness).

I suppose I could figure it out on my own too, but it would be easier if I had one of those cool tools that you just pull the yarn thru and it tell you the yardage you have....that would really be SWEET for something like this.

Just think all I would have to do is make swatches for every size of yarn with all my different needles and then measure it out...viola! Instant yardage chart! But that seems like just too much work for this time of the morning.

Besides, it won't help with the problem I have now....although the number of yardage/sts. would be the best way to handle the decreases and increases....AHHHHGGG! Now that will be stuck in my head and rattling around all day.

But then.....it might be better than obsessing over the Sock Swap!

Waiting is the Toughest part

I don't know how the gargoyles do it....just sitting and waiting....being so patient. I have sent off my application to the Hogwart's Sock Swap (I'm a first year since I missed the deadline for the last one)....well okay I have sent 2 applications.

I would love to get in on this deal....as long as I don't have to spend a ton on sock yarn & needles. As you can probably tell from my other posts I am a bit cheap when it comes to paying full price for things. I was looking at some of the photos the original swap had and found that some of these ladies paid $25 a skein for their yarn!!! GET OUT!!!

Well at least that was the prices I came up with online, perhaps they had a better deal. Although I have to say they did make for some really pretty socks.

The other thing that worries me is that each person has to send a set of new, unused sock needles to their partner in their partners preferred size. Now I've seen some sets out there that cost as much as $14 or so and I'm sorry but that's a tad much....granted they were the ones made with the special woods...but for that money they should be gold plated in my mind!!!

Maybe I will get a partner who likes to use tw0 circulars....I wonder what you do then....do you have to get them two circs then? or will one cover your obligation? I would think two since that's what would be needed to finish a sock, but that could get costly as well....some circs can be $20.

I know hubby won't allow me to spend quite that much...okay not even close to that.
The stitch markers I'm not too worried about.....I can make those myself...as a matter of fact I should have everything I need to make a set for any house using genuine gemstones.

Well, off to knit and wait some more.

Waiting. waiting. waiting.

On My Needles

Not too shabby for two days worth of work and doing all the other stuff that has to be done at the cabin as well, huh? This is the test for the "Arachne Sock Calculator" that takes your measurements and makes a simple sock pattern for you. It can be found at:
http://www.panix.com/~ilaine/socks.html
This pattern is great for self striping yarns like the Bernat Sox that I'm using in Hot Tamale! I also thought I would challenge myself and broke out the size 0's for the ribbing, a single row in size 1 to step up to the size 2 dpns....normally I hate working with anything smaller than a 3 but I like the fabric made with the smaller sizes much better (I even make my washclothes with size 4s instead of the 7 or8 that's recommended).

I purchased the yarn last year when I was planning on making tons of socks for my niece who we dubbed "Dobby" because whenever you asked her what she wanted for Christmas or her Birthday the answer was always the same---SOCKS!!

The Sox yarn is made of 60% acrylic and 40% nylon which gives it a wonderful memory, it doesn't hurt my hands like wool tends to, but I know many sock enthusiasts are just dieing now yelling "NO USE WOOL"...I'm sorry my hands just can't take it, but then I've only used LB Wool-Ease yarn so who knows what other brands will be like.

Actually this is the second attempt at these socks....I was almost finished with the leg last week when I realized that I had been marking my rows wrong and I hadn't put enough rows before the decrease began and then had too many rows between the decreases. So I frogged it all and restarted it last Friday night and churned this much work out on Saturday (sunday was a travel day so nothing got done....I can't knit in the car).

New Stash Arrivals-2007Jul8-14, part5

So finally....I had to add to the embroidery/cross-stitch pile as well. A few years back, before gas prices went thru the roof, my husband decided that he wanted to see all the light houses in the USA...so we started with the nearest one and have yet to see any of the others, but knowing his passion for the sea we will see them all. {have I mentioned that I'm deathly afraid of water?}

So I got this wall-hanging/lap quilt when it was on sale at http://www.herrschners.com/ and decided that in order to give him some incentive I will only do the light houses that we have actually visited...well okay that HE has actually visited.

So right now the only one I can do is Split Rock in Duluth, MN. It is the one in the middle on the top row. We, okay he, had to walk all the way to the end of the pier there. He had our oldest take a photo of the rest of us....under the pier beacon so that I could hold on tight to the supports because I hate water...our son had to back up so far on the pier that I thought for sure he was going to slip off the edge (he had one foot half way off).

Now last I checked the site they had sold out of them, they were on clearence for $5.97 so I can't blame the ladies for grabbing them all up!

New Stash Arrivals-2007Jul8-14, part4

This is actually my biggest weakness when it comes to sock yarn these days....Brownie Socks. My youngest is a Brownie scout (entering her second year) and I just refuse to pay the prices they want for the extended uniform parts. I know it goes to support the cause, but still I just can not bring myself to pay $5 a pair that she will just out grow and I can't recycle the yarn. At least if I make them myself I can "unstitch" them and then make them to fit her leg & foot again using the same yarn! AND each pair will only have cost me....get this....$1.94 with the Starlette Chocolate, and $3.98 with the Mellowspun Camel & Cocoa! And depending on how well they work up, I may even get two pair out of each....we will have to see. Both yarns are available at Mary Maxim's online.

I can't find a pattern online yet for the official Brownie pattern, but I don't think anyone in her troop will grimace if I find something close (currently the online GSA catalog are out of stock of them and they don't know when they will be coming in... So making is my only other option...the local store didn't have any either).
Well, that's it for stash adds for now! More next week....yep, more!
I've heard of ladies going on "yarn diets"....but remember....as Richard Simmon says "the first three letters in the word diet spell the word DIE!"

New Stash Arrivals-2007Jul8-14, part3

This RH stash is from herrschners.com and share the color "Crayon" but notice the difference? The RH Sport is so much darker than the worsted RH Kids yarn that I'm not sure the hat/mitten/cowl/liner set I had planned for my daughter will work--of course we just got the list required supplies for next year and it specified "Waterproof" mittens which means the really expensive ones that she will lose after a week or so anyways and then we will have to buy more...I've been wondering if felting would make a garment more waterproof. I know I can't do that with the RH because its acrylic, but http://www.knitpicks.com/ has some really nice wool for sale at a decent price...

New Stash Arrivals-2007Jul8-14, part2

Oh these I really like...the RH Soft Yarn is for an afghan I have been coveting in a book I have for about 10 years but I just couldn't find a yarn I thought it would look nice in. Each of the fall colors will be crocheted into filet panels depicting different types of leaves and then joined to make a beautiful Equinox Afghan! The colors are: Dark Leaf, Paprika, Paprika, Toast, Tangerine) the Sweet Pea on top is for my oldest daughter to "play" with...cost? $2.97 at Herrschners (reg. 3.19, so not a huge savings but still...). The other yarn, RH Sport is in Camouflage color to go with the worsted RH I used to make my youngest son's hat, cowl, and gloves (on the needle now) with...I thought a matching set of boot liners would be nice, but now that I have it I think it might be too thin for what I had planned so I may make him some slipper-socks instead.

New Stash Arrivals-2007Jul8-14, part1

Okay, so I was very naughty last week....but then when isn't a Slytherin naughty, right?....and ordered some more yarn (like I really needed more....but hey I got inspired).

Here are photos of what I got and what my plans are for each of them:

This is my Bernat Galaxy Yarn....this yarn has been discontinued so I've been having quite the time finding it at a decent price--I just refuse to pay $6 a skein for yarn! I thought it would be great to crochet an afghan that utilizes all the colors in the order of the solar system. So I bought (left to right) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, and Neptune from Mary Maxim's @ $0.97 a skein (I pay full price for very little, let me tell you!). I have located several more colors at http://www.joann.com/ and http://www.herrschners.com/ (they have one called Deep Space, that I would love to use for the background color...I figure 10 skeins would cover me, but they still want about $4.50 a skein...I can wait them out)