Knittin' and Lovin' It

Knitting, RA, and Other Ouchies

I think I remember posting awhile back that my RA meds weren't working anymore and that it feels like my joints are constantly trying to kill me. There have been quite a few mornings and many more nights where I wished they'd hurry up and finish the job already which led my doctor to give me Humira but my TB test came back positive which means nine months of TB meds and a swap to a new medication because I guess Humira is super dangerous to take while being treated for TB. How I managed to contract TB I have no idea. It's been in the last 11 years since my last TB test was in 2001 and it was negative. It's not like I make a habit of jotting off to third world countries or anything like that. I have almost 3 months of TB treatment done and 6 more to go. I finally got the approval from my insurance for the Enbrel and the foot doc gave me the green light to start. I was waiting on her because of the two toenails that I had removed. I took the first shot yesterday and so far so good. No serious reactions so now it's time to sit back and see if the meds help reduce some of my RA symptoms. This complicates our move a little more since I'll have to find a suitable way to keep the meds cold because they have to stay refridgerated. I did some research on how much this medication costs and from what I've found if you don't have insurance you're looking at $2,000 to $3000 per 30 days for most of the basic biologic meds, Humira, Enbrel, Orencia, etc. Makes me very thankful for the health insurance we have and will continue to receive after Shawn retires but also makes me sick thinking about the people who aren't getting the help they need because they don't have insurance. It's a rather scary thought. I don't know what Shawn and I would do if we didn't have insurance to cover my meds.

Moving day is happening 5 Sept. WooHoo!!! I'm not looking forward to the drive back and all the stuff I have to do to prep for the move but I'm so looking forward to being home again. MyiPod will be loaded with music and I need to find a good bluetooth headset for my iPhone. Budget gave us one hell of a deal for a moving van rental since we're military and they gave use 150 extra miles since we have to drive over a 95 miles to pick up the truck in Helena. A little over $300 for 5 days is an awesome deal and they frickin rock!! U-Hell wanted over double that. We've opted to move essential stuff that we need since we're living with my sister for awhile so most of our stuff will go in storage until we get our own place. Plus there are things I just don't trust the movers to pack and move, ie family photos, computers, my yarn, etc. I'm already in contact with a realistate agent. I've found several houses that I would absolutely love to have but buying isn't an option yet.

I've been working on a few things on the knitting front.

First up is my It's A Wrap shawl.

 

 

I'm using Miss Babs Yowza in the Tulipa colorway. Right now there is a knit along over in the Woolgirl group. You don't have to have the kit to participate in the KAL. The pattern is available for sale seperately. We're running the knit along through the month of March.

Second on the list is my Love Bug socks. 

These are knit using Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! and the colorway is Longhorn Beetle which is a drop dead gorgeous red!

 

Next is my knitting on the go socks.

Toe up socks knit with Opal 6 ply sock yarn. I think this one is called Lollipop. These are my basic toe up short row heel socks. Nothing fancy but they always fit great.

 

I'm working on a baby blanket for my cousin.

 

 This is actually a mish mash of patterns to get the look I want. The basic look and layout is a modified version of the Bedtime Story Afghan (ravelry)(non ravelry). The original pattern called for duplicate stitch to put the animal pictures on the blanket. Since I'd rather cut off my foot then work duplicate stitch I'm using a knit elephant dishcloth pattern (ravelry). I had to cut a couple of knit stitches on each end but all in all I think the elephant looks pretty damn good on this blanket. I'm alternating the elephants with the blanket blocks. I'm actually working on the 3rd row of elephants now. I think I need a total of 6 rows to hit the right size blanket.

I knit these lovely socks for my last TLE Swap partner.

The pattern is Twinkle Twinkle (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the yarn is Studio June Super Cash Sock. To add a little twinkle to the socks I used 6/0 Toho glass beads.

I finished my fingerless mitts and cowl for the TLE Q1 challenge.

The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in the London Sky colorway. I asked the fine folks at Malabrigo if they were going to be doing this colorway in their sock yarn base but sadly they are not. I think it's rather gorgeous and would love to make a shawl or socks with it in the sock yarn. The fingerless mitts pattern is Princess Mitts from The Knitters Book of Yarn (ravelry)(non ravelry). The cowl is Diamond Leaf Cowl (ravelry)(non ravelry).

Kaity has a new pair of socks.

These were knit from some ONline Supersocke that adopted  from someone who hated the way it looked. Kaity liked it so I paid for shipping and gave it a new home.

Bree has a new pair too.

It's just my basic toe up sock with some ribbing on the foot and cuff for a better fit. It's funny how much she loves her handknit socks.

I'll leave you with a shot of the boys in their new birdy McMansion.

This thing is super roomy. We went with PetCo's parrot cage. Between the sale, discount coupons, and free shipping it was the best deal over all the other cages around the same size. They have tons of room for toys, perches, etc. I have to very happy birdies now.

Until next time.....Happy Crafting!

Meandering, Babbling and General Craziness

Sounds like the title of a good book. It would definitely work as a great title for my memoirs. Note to self, must add that to my bucket list. I think I could sell all of maybe 5 books if I published it. Naw, scratch that my life has been rather boring and uneventful, well to me it hasn't been boring but to the everyday Joe my life would be rather dull so maybe unpublished memoirs would be the way to go for me.

Shawn's retirement is now official and he should be seeing his official orders here soon. Hard to believe it's all done in 226 days. He's started the job hunt and we've had a few nibbles but nothing to write home about. There are a handful more that would be great but now it's a frickin waiting game. We've start checklists and have a million and one things that need to be done. We're doing a partial move so that we have our clothing, beds, etc. The stuff we can't live without while we're living with my sister since we don't know for sure how long it will be before we get out own place. Uncle Sam will pay to move the rest and for a year of storage for our household goods so that gives us time to either buy a place or find a house to rent. My sister and I spent 3 hours on the phone talking about the move and getting all excited about us coming home.

I had a mini freak out moment when we signed the lease. I might also want to add that I was already upset because I found out my great uncle had passed away. Our base housing is going through the privatization process so we had to sign a lease with the company that's taking over and I started reading their stupid little booklet on responsibilities and such because I'm smart like that and I want to know what is going on before names are signed willy nilly. I get to the carpet replacement price and see that it starts at $1400 and goes up in price and my little mind starts chanting "oh shit oh shit oh shit". I have dogs, birds and kids plus my carpet has seen two other families besides mine so it's looking shabby and crappy. It's cheap carpet and even cheaper padding, Uncle Sammy only pays for the best for his military troops (must insert a lot of sarcasm here). Then I hit the next part that starts talking about how you have to pay to have your carpets professionally cleaned when you have pets in the house when you move out. Now I'm chanting "oh shit, oh crap, wtf are they "F"-in crazy" because it would cost in upwards of $700 to professionally clean the carpets in my house from top to  bottom. My house is frick huge and I live in a two story house. I have 14 stairs and it would cost me an additional $3 per stair....the prices are damn crazy if you ask me!!! Note to self, no I repeat no carpet in my house when we buy one!!! My mind was so not G rated that day. So I'm ranting and pissed and complaining about how in the hell they expect military people (who don't make that great of a paycheck to begin with) to pay for this crap. So of course I pissed Shawn off because apparently I'm not suppose to be pissed about having to come up with $700 we weren't counting on for the move. It's not as if the uHaul (they want over $900 for one of their crappy frickin vehicles) and house cleaning fees weren't bad enough. So Shawn's nonchalant, don't worry be happy, can't change it so why get pissed attitude pissed me off even more. His comment was like oh well guess we're going to have to use the income tax refund to pay for it. Nevermind that our income tax refund was for paying off some damn bills we really need to pay off. If I would have had a frying pan I may very well have walloped him on the head with it. Apparently he's not been paying attention over the last 13+ years of marriage that I need to rant and bitch which needs no response from him at all. It's not as if I was doing it standing there in a public place (something I would never do) we were in the car/at home. Anyways back to my freak out, all is well that ends well, after a nice chat with the military housing office and the new civilian company taking over, we are not responsible for the carpet at all because it's already past its 7 year life cycle. It's the original carpet that was put in the houses when they were built like 10 years ago so all we have to do is vacuum because they're ripping it out. So I guess Shawn's don't worry attitude would have been better but I vented my stress and anger so at least I know I won't explode now. When I internalize stress it never ends well.

Anyways on to knitting and other fun stuff.

I received my TLE #9 swap in the mail today.

 

I love everything! I got stitch markers, hot cocoa, chocolate coffee, hot tamales, a lovely pair of socks made with Hazel Knits artisian sock yarn, Koigu Kersti, BFL/Seacell fiber, and an emergency fix key chain.

My It's a Wrap mini kit from Woolgirl.

 

I test knit this a while back and I've been patiently waiting to post about it. I'm co-hosting a KAL with the designer. I can't wait to get started on this. The yarn is Miss Babs Yowza worsted weight which I absolutely adore. The colorway is Tulipa which is a lovely deep purple.

I knit a Darkside Cowl (ravelry) for Bree.

Of course it's warmed back up and now she doesn't need it but it's ready for when the temps drop again. The yarn is the Premier yarns serenity sock yarn that I picked up on sale at JoAnn's. I held it double stranded and let me say that I think I'm going to knit more of these double stranded with sock yarn. I just need to add more stitches for myself and Kaity. This is a great pattern and double stranded with sock yarn makes it extra squishy and warm.

Yarn for a baby blanket for my cousin M.

She's due this summer with her second child. I need to check with my aunt to see when little dude is due to join this world. The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Worsted and the colorway is called Macaw which this does remind me of the green on some of the Macaws. Cousin M already has a blue baby blanket so I figured I'd change it up a bit and use a non standard baby color.

Finally I finished the first part of my 2012 Quarter one challenge from TLE.

The pattern is Malabrigo Silky Merino and the pattern is Princess Mitts (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) from The Knitter's Book of Yarn. It's also a free pattern. I think it was one of those patterns that Potters Craft released as a teaser for the release of the book. The pattern had a error in the thumb chart but by the time I noticed it it was too late and I was too lazy to rip and reknit. The error wasn't that big of a deal for me. Note to self, check for errata before starting to knit, bone head!!

I'll leave you with a shot of George and Bill hanging out and getting to know each other over pop corn.

 Bill is on the left and George is on the right pigging out on the popcorn. Bill and George will be getting separate big cages not because they don't get along because they're not to bad together it's because George absolutely hates Shawn and Shawn's afraid George is going to hurt himself if Shawn puts his hand in the cage to get Bill. George freaked out when Shawn uncovered him this morning and ended up rubbing his wing so hard it bled. So each birdie will be getting their own big, sturdy cage and Shawn will ignore George from here on out. I'm aggravated with the both of them.

Till next time......Happy Crafting!

Retirement Time!!!

Shawn submitted for approval to retire. Shawn hit 19 years of active duty Air Force service on 7 Dec 2012 so he submitted his eligibility check for retirement earlier this week. We're done and ready to move on with our lives. It's time to take control of our life back from the military. I can't begin to explain how much stress was relieved with that decision. So barring any unforseen issues we will heading back to Boise, ID on or around 5 Sept 2012. I can't believe we're down to the last 8 months. We were originally going to drop retirement papers in Sep/Oct of this year so we could move during the summer of 2013 but the AF dropped High Year Tenure (HYT) for Technical Sergeant (TSgt) from 22 years to 20 years which meant it was up in the air on if they would extend Shawn's time out from April of 2012 to Sept 2012. If they refused to extend him out it would have meant a move in the middle of Dec or Jan for us, something neither of us want to be doing so we decided to take the money and run.

Uncle Sammy and his cronies are really screwing with the lives of military members right now. You use to be able to retire from the Air Force as a Staff Sergeant (SSgt) with 20 years of military service. Now you can only do 15 years as a SSgt meaning you have to make TSgt to retire from the military. Add injury to insult that they also want to keep retiring military members from drawing their retirement pay right away. They want to make it to where we have to wait till we're 65. Screw that! The average american citizen doesn't have to pick up a gun and fight in a foriegn country to earn their retirement. They don't have to worry about if they are going to make it home safe and sound to their family. Just because you come home from a deployment without any external injuries doesn't mean you came home unharmed. PTSD is a very common and very serious problem. I can't tell you how many people I've personally seen flinch or flat out drop to the floor when they hear a car backfire, fireworks and other loud noises that sound like gunfire after spending time deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I wonder how many military members wake up in the middle of the night to some nightmare of what they saw over there? Until ALL of Congress puts on full battle rattle (military protective gear), picks up an assult rifle, kisses their family goodbye, gets on a plane and spends 12-16 months away from their loved ones to stand on the front lines worrying about getting their asses shot off, not knowing who is the enemy and who needs help, they don't have the right to the decision to take away our armed services ability to draw our retirement until we're 65. There are only a few current members of congress who know what it's like to go to war. I know Sentors John McCain and Jim Webb both served in Vietnam. There are also a few that were cops so they know what it's like to put their butts on the line every day but the bulk majority of them have never went to war and have never even served in the armed forces so how can they make such important decisions about the military when they haven't walked a mile or two in our shoes. 

My sister and I are so excited about the move. She's in Boise and I can't wait to get home. I desperately miss my best friend and shopping buddy not to meantion my most trusted babysitter for the girls. I miss my family and this move will put me closer to them again.

Yes I know I know I'm rambling and I need to get to the knitting content. Lets me think for a moment....ah now I remember where I need to start my post.

I finished my Marilinda socks (ravelry)(non ravelry).

This is a CookieA pattern and can be bought as a seperate pattern or it's in the book Knit.Sock.Love which comes in a print or pdf version. The yarn is Wollmeise I picked up from a destash. The colorway is we're different Ruby Thursday. I love the red color but bought it more for the name since it has sentimental value to me. I love these socks. I'm only so so on the Wollmeise base. The base yarn is OK but her colors are what draw me in. There are indie dyers out there with much nicer base yarns in my opinion. Will I buy more Wollmeise? Yes I will but it will never be one of my favs. I'd love to get my hands on a skein of Wollmeise lace in the Ruby Thursday colorway for the next shawl I'm planning for my mom. I've seen a few being destashed but can't spend the money right now. With the move coming up the only way I could do it is someone was willing to trade and most people want to trade lace for lace. Oh well, maybe after we get settled after the move.

One of many candy cane ponies (ravelry)(non ravelry).

This is a quick and easy pattern. I really love these and have plans to make more this year for my cousins, nephews, my girls, and some other family members. I have wiggle eyes and ribbon for the next handful of ponies I plan to make.

I picked up some new to me sock yarn on sale at JoAnn's the other day.

The yarn is Premier Yarn Serenity sock weight yarn. It's a merino/bamboo/nylon sock yarn. It's übercheap. I think it was like $3.99 per 50 gram skein. JoAnn's was having a buy one get one 50% off so I figured why not. It's the cheapest sock yarn I've found so far.

Finally I picked up some Malabrigo Silky Merino for the 1st Quarter TLE challenge.

The challenge is to knit something with yarn that has silk content. I'm planning on making fingerless mitts and a new cowl for myself. 

Until next time......Happy Crafting!

Knitting Knitting Everywhere

I have lots of knitting stuff to post about and a few non-knitting goodies too. Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. My RA doc has given me a round of methylprednisolone and it seems to be working. It's just a 6 day dose pack but he wanted to give me something to help bring down the inflammation while he waits for the metric crap ton of tests he is running on my blood. The lab vampires pulled 6 tubes of blood. I think they should have given me juice and a cookie. The Red Cross does when you donate blood. ;~)

We got our first snow back in the middle of September. 

Look I have a picture to prove it! It wasn't much and it never stuck to the roads but with the nice weather we've been having since then it was hard to believe it had ever snowed. If I remember correctly the year we had 30+ inches of snow dumped on us in December we had very mild fall weather. The girls only wore a light weight sweater to go trick or treating that year.

I got enough money in my yarn destash to buy the electric kettle I really wanted.

I picked up the Cuisinart PerfecTemp Electric Kettle. It has 6 different temp settings and a keep warm function that keeps your water at the temp you set for 30 minutes. It also has a cordless base so no more plugging and unplugging it to fill it up. It's one of the best reviewed multi temperature electric kettles I came across and the price while a bit high isn't bad for a multi temp kettle. I'm definitely getting my moneys worth out of it. We have a wonderful little tea shop (In Cahoots for Tea) here in town that fuels my tea addiction. They have a wonderful selection of loose leaf teas and I don't have to pay shipping and handling to get new teas.

New sheepy pj pants.

Aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen? I found them on sale at JcPenney's the other day. Cute and on sale! That's a great combo in my book. 

I think we'll start with finishes projects first and then move on to goodies I've got in the mail.

I finished my Stripey Socks I was knitting for the TLE 3rd Quarter challenge.

I was going to knit a fancy pair of colorwork socks but this was about all my brain and hands could handle at the time. The yarn is TLE's new solid sock yarn line and the colorways used are Strawberry and Smoke. The pattern is my own basic toe up sock pattern with a short row heel and a picot cuff.

I finished my blue striped "on the go" socks.

These are my basic toe up sock recipe with a short row heel and picot cuff. The yarn is Fortissima Socka, color # 9094. This yarn has been marinating in my stash for years. It was a gift from a dear friend. I didn't bother to match up the stripes because I've learned that leads down the path to madness. I tried that once with some Patons Kroy sock....lets just say I said some very inventive cuss words and threw the skeins across the room. If I can't match it in less then 30 seconds they get knit as mismatched socks. I honestly don't care if they aren't perfect matches.

My Sun Ray Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry it's a free pattern from elann but you have to log on to view them) is finished. 

I finished this one up the other day. The yarn was originally being used for a Mara shawl but I quickly got bored with it and went searching for another pattern. The yarn is Araucania Natures Wool Multy, colorway #415. I still have some left over and haven't decided what to do with it. It's a bit scratchy so I won't be making a cowl of it.

I started the Rosalind Shawl (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for my mom. 

The yarn is Dream in Color Baby and the colorway is Blue Sage. I picked up some beads from Earthfaire. They're 4mm frosted Megatamas. Cables, lace and beads....what more could a gal ask for.

New pair of "on the go" socks.

My basic toe up pattern. The yarn is from KnitPurlGurls Etsy shop, the Rainbows and Clouds colorway. I'm using some coordinating red yarn for the heels and toes and I'll use an after thought heel to keep from breaking up the stripes.

Now on to yarn that I've gotten in the mail. First up is some Woolen Rabbit Harmony Sock.

The colorway is called Boysenberry....yum! Purchased it through a friends destash.

Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Sport.  

This was a custom dye job. The colorway is called Spruce Tree and it's absolutely perfect! Roxanne did an awesome job with this one. I'm planning on knitting Poplar and Elm (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I purchased a new case for my Knit Picks Options Interchangeable needles and cables.

This has got to be the best case I've come across. Here's the Etsy site. The only thing I might do is buy some elastic to run across the top of the needles to make sure they're definitely in there secure. I was browsing for cases on Etsy when I came across one that was pink and well I'm generally not much of a pink person so I contacted the shop owner to see if she could custom make one for me. In addition to the different fabric she also added more pockets for mine. It was absolutely wonderful working with her for this custom order. Now I need to find the perfect case for my sock needles. I Magic Loop so I need to find a good case to hold all my 32" and 40" needles.  

I've also received some kits but don't want to post photos so as not spoil it for some one. I'll link to my Flickr account. Here's the ones I've received: Wicked Witch Returns, Divinely Inspired Cupcake Kit, and Lollipop Guild. All of these are kits from Woolgirl.

Wow, that was a long picture filled post. I think that sums up everything quiet nicely. Hopefully I'll be back soon with an update on the socks I'll be starting for my mom using some ZYG Bling! sock yarn.

Nada Zip Zilch...Well Almost

The title sums it up quiet well. I don't have a whole lot to post about. I have a few projects going on but I've kind of stalled on knitting. I have a few little projects that I'm working on but haven't cast on any more big projects. I really need to finish Shawn's sweater so he can wear it this winter.

On the non knitting related front our poor tree in the front yard died.

I looked out the window the other day and noticed our dead tree was noticeably shorter. The tree chopper guys came through and lopped off the top. They should be back by the end of the week to dig up the stump and plant a new one. I don't know what happened this year but there were a lot of dead trees here on base and around town.  

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

The pattern is Basketry Mitts (Ravelry). The yarn is from The Loopy Ewe. It's their solid sock yarn brand in the Strawberry colorway. The yarn is really nice to work with. I'll definitely buy the yarn again.

Striped socks for The Loopy Ewe's 3rd Quarter Challenge. 

The challenge is to make something using their new solid sock yarn brand. I was going to knit some socks with fancy colorwork but frankly my brain isn't up to the challenge right now so I opted for some simple striped socks. Their my basic toe up, short row heel sock recipe and I opted for a picot edge. The red stripe is the Strawberry colorway and the gray is Smoke.

My "On the Go" socks.

These only get knit when I'm in the car so they take awhile to finish. The yarn is Fortissima Socka. I think in my last post I said it was Regia. This yarn has been marinating in my stash for several years now. I was originally going to use this yarn to knit socks for Shawn but he doesn't want hand knit socks.....I know the shock of it all.

And that covers all the knitting content for this post. I'm trying to get my Sun Ray shawl done so I can start my moms shawl. It's a big lace one with beads and cables so it's going to take awhile to complete.

I'll leave you with a photo of our newest addition to the household.

Meet Mr. Blue the parakeet. He's a crack up and full of entertainment. He loves to get out of his cage and hang out with Shawn and I in the evenings after the girls are in bed.  

It's All Moved!

In the last post I promised photos of my new stash set up.

It's now in my bedroom. We were going to try to put it in the walk-in closet at the top of the stairs but as we started moving things around we realized that when we put the drawers in the closet it would be very difficult to open the drawers. With some creative rearranging everything fit nicely in our room. It's not as if I need to hide the yarn from hubby. He really doesn't care that I have enough sock yarn to insulate a 3 room cabin. Besides if he ever gives me a hard time about it I can calmly point out that I didn't raise a fuss when he decided to get a motorcycle. ;~)  

I now have my sock yarn stash split up into groups...semi solid, variegated, self striping, and workhorse sock yarn, ie Opal, Regia, Patons, basically anything that doesn't have to be wound into a center pull ball. Lone hanks of sock yarn that were bought for the girls socks are in with the self striping I have a few single skeins of Lorna's Laces and Claudia Handpaint that isn't enough for adult socks. My roving has it's own drawer now too. I'm using the cedar chest to hold sweater quantities of yarn and all the plastic drawers that have wool now have some cedar balls that I bought from The Loopy Ewe a while back. I haven't seen them sold there in awhile now. I may have to hunt for more somewhere else.

Anyway, I've been knitting too.

Bree decided that she needed a bunny blanket, which has been named Bunny Boo. I used the Bunny Blanket Buddy pattern (ravelry)(non ravelry). The non ravelry link is to Lionbrands website and you have to log on to see the pattern. I didn't have any suitable yarn in my stash so we headed out to Michaels to browse through the yarns and pick out an appropriate color. I went with Lionbrands Baby's First yarn which is a super bulky acrylic/cotton blend which passed Bree's snuggle test. It took less then one skein and it's really soft and cuddly. It would definitely be great for a quick baby blanket.

My birthday gifty from Colleen.

Well actually she sent me a gift card to Amazon. I was originally going to buy a knitting book until I stumbled upon the fact that Adagio sells a few things through Amazon. So I picked up the ingenuiTEA. All I can say is AWESOME! I picked up a cheap electric kettle. I'll eventually upgrade to one with temperature control but for now this one does the job.

I've made more progress on Cassidy. I'm actually hoping to have it done by the end of the this weekend but that may be wishful thinking. I have about 4 inches left on the sleeves then I'll have to block it so I can seam it all together to knit the hood and button bands. I'm actually contemplating leaving the hood off. I don't really use the hood so not sure if it'll be a waste of time. I may go with a nice fold down collar.

Until next time....Happy Crafting.

Yarn on the Move

A couple weeks ago I decided that my stash needed to move from its current location to a less stinky spot in the house. Our house is connected to our neighbors house and our neighbor stores their gasoline and lawn mower in their outside closet which unfortunately is next to my yarn closet and the stink is seeping into my yarn closet. So for two days I worked on moving everything around in our bedroom so I could move all of my yarn and fiber stash upstairs. I'm keeping my swift, ball winder, and knitting books downstairs but the yarn and fiber had to be moved before it started taking on the nasty smell of gasoline. I also bought some more plastic drawers for yarn storage. I lucked out and found a sale at ShopKo so they were buy one, get one free. I'll take some pictures for my next blog post. All my sock yarn is sorted out nicely but self striping, semi solid, variegated and mass produced balls of sock yarn like Opal, Regia, Patons, etc. My sweater yarn has a home in the cedar chest Shawn bought for me years ago.

Now if this was my house I would look into fixing the problem, unfortunately I live in military housing and anyone who has ever lived in military housing knows that it is like pulling hens teeth to get housing maintenance to fix something. They act like it's a crime to want to live in a house where stuff isn't broken. The less they fix the more money they save thus more money for the military to piss out the window on stupid stuff....course that is a whole new can of worms I'd much rather not ponder about. Thankfully we only have a little over two years and then I can buy my own home which after seeing the craptastic way most of the newer homes are being built I we will most likely look for a older home with a sound structure and a little fixing up needing to be done. I don't mind doing some of my own house renovations.

Now on to knitting which sadly there is some I can't show you.

Here's Cassidy (ravelry)(non ravelry) in all her not finished beauty.

I finished the other front panel so next up is the sleeves. I'll most likely knit both sleeves at the same time which may be a bit of insanity on my part since I'll have four balls of yarn going at the same time. I'm alternating rows to make everything blend better.

I frogged my Mara shawl and started a different shawl with the yarn. I was counting on getting most of the Mara shawl knit in the car when we were traveling from here to Oregon and back when we visited my Granny last October. Unfortunately I didn't get as much done as I had planned and while tons or garter stitch while traveling in the car is fine I haven't touched it since we got home so ribbit ribbit.

Here's the pattern I went with.

It's the Sun Ray Shawl (ravelry). It's not a complicated shawl but there is enough going on that I'm not completely bored out of my mind which unfortunately is why I wasn't working on Mara. It probably didn't help that I knit the sample for Madelinetosh so I'd already knit one. I rarely go back to knit a pattern again.

I also have a new "on the go" pair of socks on the needles.

This is just my standard toe up sock pattern with a short row heel. The yarn is Patons Kroy sock yarn that I picked up from Michaels. It feels a tad thicker then most sock yarns I use. To save my sanity I didn't bother trying to match up the stripes.

I finally decided to start working on a sock yarn blanket.

This is based off a pattern I used to knit a baby blanket for my sister-in-law. You knit a mitered square and then pick up stitches along one side, cast on the other half of the stitches and knit another mitered square. You just keep going until your row is long enough and then go back to the beginning and pick up more stitches and start a new row. No sewing up your little squares and all you have to do is weave in the ends. I'm working on this off and on. 

I picked up some yarn to make another shawl for my mom.

The yarn is Dream in Color Baby in the Blue Sage colorway that I picked up from The Loopy Ewe. I received the beads I ordered from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads but they are to small to work with DIC Baby which is a light fingering weight yarn. These beads would work perfectly with lace weight. Unfortunately Fire Mountain didn't really list what size these beads are so I was kind of flying blind. Oh well, I'll set them aside for another project. I have the right beads on order from Earthfaire which is where I should have went in the first place and since I was ordering the beads from them I picked up the pattern too. I've heard nothing but good things about Earthfaire. I'm going to knit the Rosalind Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry) by Sivia Harding. It's a lovely combination of lace, cables and beads. I got hooked on her patterns after a test knit I did for Woolgirl. I love knitting lace shawls but don't really use them. The only ones that I really use are worsted weight shawls that I can snuggle under during those cold winter days.

Oh and I finally blocked my Rivolo (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I have no idea who will give this scarf a good home. I started out making socks with this yarn but the a portion of the skein didn't have the little bits of green color so one sock was coming out a dark purple/pink color and the other part was much lighter with the green and lighter coloring so I figured a scarf would work best. You can actually see some of the color difference when you look at the scarf. I'm not much of a scarf wearer but I really wanted to knit this pattern. I normally wear cowls because they are easier to put on and take off when you're out and about shopping. Plus the bonus is that you can pull them up to cover your mouth, nose and ears. When a biting wind is ripping through here in the middle of winter it feels rather nice to have as much of your face covered as possible. 

I have some fabric to make a doll blanket for Kaity which I really need to get started on next week. I'm thinking about going with a simple four patch quilt. I need to do some measuring but I think I'll go with 2 inch squares. Time to bust out the sewing machine. 

I think that sums up what I've been up to. Until next time!

Happy Crafting!

Bad Blogger, No Cookie

Wow, my last blog post was written at the end of March. This could be why I've had a serious drop in readers. Sorry for not posting, things have been busy. I'll try to post more often but I'd be crazy if I made promises. Now that Shawn has a motorcycle to get him back and forth to work I have the car with the exception of nasty weather days then he takes the car.

I've been pretty busy with knitting, between test knits and my own knitting I always have something on the needles. I've finished a few pairs of socks since I last posted.

First up is a pair of basic socks knit with self striping sock yarn.

The yarn is from Studio Avenue Six and the pattern is my basic toe up pattern with a short row heel. For a little excitement I worked a picot cuff.

Next up is a pair of socks from Wendy Johnsons new book Toe Up Socks for Everybody.

These are the Laurel (ravelry) sock pattern and the yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in the Flamingo Pie colorway. Very comfy socks! My next pair are going to be the Diamonds and Cables socks (ravelry)using String Theory Caper sock.

I've also finished two pair of socks for Bree.

The top photo is Regia sock yarn and the bottom pair is made with Knit Picks Stroll sock yarn. She requested socks out of the blue one day so I cast on right away. I have some Patons stretch sock and Kroy sock in the stash that will soon become socks for her.

I started a baby blanket for my sister in law who is due in July.

The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy and the pattern is Pine Forest Baby Blanket. It's a freebie pattern available for download on Ravelry. It's an easy pattern without being completely boring. I've set the blanket aside to work on other things but will get it finished before the wee one is born.

I've also started my Cassidy (ravelry)(non ravelry) sweater for the Loopy Ewe quarterly challenge which is now due 1 July instead of the original date of 1 May. 

I'm using Dream in Color Classy in the Deep Sea Flower colorway. I'm alternating skeins every other row and it seems to be coming out nicely. I'm actually a lot farther along then this photo shows. I've finished the back piece and the left front piece. All I have left is the right front piece, 2 sleeves and a hood and the button bands and I'll be done. If I keep going the way I have I should be done with it in time.

I also have a new pair of "on the go" socks on the needles.

These are once again a basic toe up sock with a short row heel. The yarn is Lion Brand Sock-ease in the Lemon Drop colorway.

I got my May Loopy Ewe sock club package in.

I really like this one and it does scream summer. The yarn is Fleece Artist BFL sock and for the extra goodie we got a set of Oh Snap bags from Namaste. I've been wanting a set of these for quite some time now.

I've also acquired quite a bit of yarn since my last post but I think that could be a post all on it's own. If you're on Ravelry and are on my friends list then you've most likely seen all the yarn added. If you're not on my friends list and want to be, let me know and I can add you.

Happy Crafting!

Some Updates

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

First up, the goodies:



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

Next up, Simple Socks:



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

What A Wonderful Day!

I received my YP Booty Club shipment today.  I love, love, love it!  Enough said....I'll post pictures later.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.

I started the Twisted Flower socks last night.   I decided on the Carribean Louet Gems.  I'm saving the Bright Red for a cabled sock pattern out of Sensational Knitted Socks.



I'm about halfway through the first repeat of the leg chart.  The first thing I had to do was blow up the charts.  There is no way that anyone could read those charts without Super Powers.  So Shawn, being the fab hubby that he is, made all the charts bigger.  As you can tell by the Chart Key in the photo I did some color coding.  Each of the twists and cables have their own color for easier identification.  I also outlined the k2tog with bright pink so it stands out so I won't mistake a ssk with a k2tog.  Once I did that the chart was extremely easy to read.  The only time I slow down is for the cables and twists.  I don't have those memorized.

I've found the sock isn't overly difficult but it isn't a normal pattern for me.  I generally pick patterns that are super easy to memorize or require no memorizing at all, like 2x2 ribbing or stockinette.  I won't be working on these socks when the kids are awake since they need all my concentration.