What a Mockery! & I Lost My Needles!

First, I'm talking about my socks of course!


Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock - Cool Colorway
Pattern: Mockery Socks
Size 1 needles (should've used size 0)
Eye of Partridge Heel
(These look really cool with the pattern carried all the way down the foot, but I got too lazy tired.)
These did come out too big and too loose. I forgot that I should always use size 0 needles with my Lorna's Laces. Sometimes I just operate on "Auto" and forget to edit for my needs. I'm not crazy about the stripes on these but they're done and "just socks", so I guess I can live with that. I was going to over-dye them, but "que sera sera"...life's too short and I have so much to do.

This was my first time trying the Eye of Partridge heel and it's WAY TOO BIG for my ankles/heels. Maybe I'll try it again with a smaller needle someday. I think I prefer the regular heel flap better, it just feels snug and comfortable. These are SO saggy as you can see in the picture! Oy. The truth is, my heels and wrists are probably the only skinny places left on my body so I'm going to enjoy that while I can and do right by them!

Second -My Next Dilemma: I'm trying to work on some baby things now except I can't find the size 1 straights that I was using for the baby booties! I'm thinking they must've been thrown away by accident!! I Know! GASP!! I've looked everywhere and can't seem to locate them for the life of me...I usually only knit in one place - although I have several knitting bags around here, they aren't here. They just aren't. I keep hoping one will poke me in the behind sooner or later, but no such luck. Oh well....guess I'll have to place another order with Joanns.....

bummer!

And Now A Commercial Break

The olympics are still going on and my Haruha Scarf is on the floor blocking as I write this. I am SO CLOSE to the finish line - I can smell the taste of victory! But this is a break from the scarf so onto other stuff that's been going on.

We went this past weekend to the inlaws to visit with my husbands nephew who came down from Missouri with his girlfriend. I almost thought we weren't going to make it, this is what traffic looked like right out of Knoxville. It took an hour to go about 5 miles. Typical Tennessee stupid &^$#@#! road construction. It NEVER ends.... It ate up so much of our time that I didn't get to stop at The Yarn Patch to buy more yarn either. I know...I know... that is so not fair and I complained about it for several hours (okay, minutes).

I wouldn't have been so upset about all this trips misfortunes if this hadn't also happened:

That's "half" of my BRAND NEW KNITPICKS HARMONY SIZE 8 STRAIGHT NEEDLE that I stepped on (crunch) when getting back into the car on our way there. Boy, some days you should just stay home with your head under the covers... The other half is somewhere in The Big Guys car. I gave up looking for it (I didn't try that hard once it fell between the seat and console). My heart was just broken. I guess I'll just have to order some more....

After all that turmoil though, I was so glad I went and got to see him before he leaves. He's due in Fort Bragg, NC in late September for a couple of months of deployment stuff and then is off for a tour of duty of 12+ mos in Afghanistan. (He's Army Nat'l Guard.) I'm so not looking forward to him leaving. I feel so bad for his Mom as well. She has two boys and both are totally serious about being soldiers. It just breaks my heart to know he has to go and what he'll have to deal with. Thank God for our troops, and God Bless all the Mothers out there who have to let their boys go. We are a military family, this isn't new for us, but it's NEVER easy. Never.

In between the scarf though I finished these:

And I'm in LOVE. Lorna's Laces Purple Club (Shepard Sock). Size 0 needle (magic loop) and 72 st cast on. Simple. Soft. Comfortable. "No One Is Getting These But Me" kind of socks. I must go put them back on.

Father's Day SOCK

One Father's Day sock done. Full of cat hair and a few snags (Sophie got a hold of it! Bad Kitty! Grrrr!) but it's done and going to be washed (again!).

This pattern turned out a little big unfortunately. Yes, I had him try it on because I was having a hard time knitting these at nighttime and I was crossing my fingers hoping it would fit. It's a 72 stitch cast on which is BIG - but for a guy I figured I'd be okay.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Sport Weight (I should've used fingering I'm thinking) in Charcol and I used size 2 needles rather than size 3 that the pattern called for. I don't much care for the Cheshire Cat stripes on these I must say, I think I would prefer a solid yarn. Ok, they aren't "that" noticeable in truth, but they make them seem more like "fun" socks than fancy dress socks to me. Good thing The Big Guy rarely has to dress up for work, his standard outfit is jeans, nice shirts, and tennis shoes (being that it's a manufacturing plant), but every so often he has to suit up for meetings with customers. It was so funny the last time we had to scramble for a suit for him...he had to borrow a tie because we had given them all away years ago!



Well, he just informed me I have to make the other one so I guess I will. He can wear them around the house and let the cats lay all over them (they LOVE them!) It just sort of bummed me out because I usually make his socks a little too snug!! Oh well, someday I'll get it right!

What a difference 4 stitches make!

This was the Monkey that I was working on a bit ago and Dawn was absolutely right when she commented about the size of these.
They WERE too small. I couldn't fit my big toe in there (okay, that's an exaggeration but that's what I get for not bothering with gauge-ever). Monkey's need room, they don't stretch much, so make sure and double check your gauge and fit. Some of us (like little ol me) don't seem to learn...

So.....
Here's try number Three:

"Three" because I worked them for a bit with a 68 st cast on and the pooling was close to the Monkey but WORSE imo. Instead of going in a pretty spiral it was straight up and down! Total bad pool. Ick Bad. Could not live with it bad. No pictures of that, I ripped straight away.

Facts: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in "Desert Flower" - Magic Loop Size 1's.

These are much more to my liking but still are a bit on the tight side. Good thing my Mom has small feet since they'll go to her now! I'm just off my mark lately.

My favorite Magic Loop is even bugging me! I keep getting ladders no matter what I try. I know Lorna's Laces is a pretty thin sock yarn though, I should stick to DPN's with it. I don't know if the cable on my Knit Picks Fixed Circular is too thick? I pull tight, I get ladders, I don't pull tight, I get ladders. Whatever I do: ladders (see above)! These didn't go away either, this was AFTER their bath!

The Fibro has been kicking my butt bad since late April. The exhaustion and pain have been at least an 8 or 9 on a scale of 10. I slept almost 12 hours (I would say last night but actually it was today since I'm still nocturnal). And any rest I get helps but I hate missing so much of my days. I started taking the Lyrica again and I think it's helping a tiny bit. I really need to find something else for the pain, and a new Rheumy DR to help me figure this out. If I could only get up in time....

Well, Dancing With The Stars is over and I was happy as pie that Kristi won! I was worried there for a bit. I don't usually vote because I'm always disappointed (am I a jinx??) but I voted online for her anyway! I gave up watching Survivor and American Idol awhile back because it was always so frustrating! grrrr Rotten people wouldn't get kicked off and I'd be pulling my hair out, cussing out the TV and driving The Big Guy nuts. It's better that I changed the channel. And that I watch things like "Dancing" that he wouldn't be in the room for if I paid him.

Like Anna, who's not alone in her Ninja Warrior obsession, I'm hooked on shows like Deadliest Catch and Everest: Beyond the Limit on the Discovery Channel. These people (men) are amazing in how far they push themselves. I wouldn't want to do either thing if my life depended on it so it's kind of thrilling to watch someone else live on the edge. I do enjoy some competitiveness now and again though in shows like Project Runway or Top Chef. I love those too. They don't need my votes, it's frustrating at times, but it's still fun to watch. Deadliest Catch marathon starts tomorrow...I hope I can get up to watch it! LOL!!

Hope everyone has had a great Memorial Day Weekend.

To all our troops, past & present -God Bless and Thank You.

I think I'm alive again...

After that test I had on Friday, I was pretty miserable. That night my legs were still hurting and I could still feel those "zings". They were also jerking some, it was driving me nuts. I took everything I had to try to sleep so I could get thru the night. After Tylenol PM's, Vicodin and ibuprofin, I finally remembered I had some Rozerem (a sleep RX) . So I took one of those with a Xanax and I feel asleep after 5 am (which is almost my regular time anyway !) . I slept literally all day Saturday and barely was awake on Sunday. I still don't know what's wrong with me, but this wasn't fun.

Today I finally got up and took a shower (I'm sure the big guy will be grateful) and got moving around some again. It's easy to tell when I haven't been downstairs for a few days (and the natives take over). Needless to say I had to do some quick sweeping, vacuuming (and laundry etc) so I could rest better today. I also got the checkbook balanced after not writing anything down for about a week, (darn debit cards!) I swear, I think I'm really losing it. I wrote things down that I thought I had paid online already, and today I checked and I never paid them!! I'm really scaring myself with my forgetfulness! Well, at least I have some yarn and got these done (which took forever in between all the Christmas Knitting):


My Girls Best Friend Anklets done in Lorna's Laces Old Rose. They're soooo cushy and soft. I think I'm going to send them to my Mom....I almost want to keep them....I'll have to make another pair soon! LOL!
Okay, I'm off to finish some laundry and "try" to work on a couple of quick IPOD cozies for the girls. I'm not sure what to use, but we don't have a shortage of yarn so that's not a problem.....

Dark, Cold, Windy, Rainy..No sleep here.

Yep, I'm unable to sleep so here I am blogging this late at night. I already flickr'd and ravelried so I might as well let everyone know we're having some crazy weather tonight. We really need the rain, it's the wind I'd be happy without. It sounds like the top floor of my house is going to blow right off! I just went downstairs and brought our dog into the garage to sleep, the poor baby was all wet (she's happier outside, even when it's storming) but I want her to get some rest!


Finally I can post pictures of some of the knitted items I finished for Christmas presents. There's two pairs of socks for my Best Friend Julie in CA. I sure hope they fit, I tend to knit socks on the small size. LET ME KNOW JULIE!!

Below are Lesley's Socks, really the first lace sock pattern that I've done. I loved working them up, they were a fast and fun knit. I shortened the leg part because I like my socks to just go to the ankle or so. Any longer and I can't wear them so I only make them that one way! LOL! These are made out of Lorna's Laces Red Rover (which really isn't RED, more like "hot pink red". ) I should've gotten Poppy or Tulip....

Next are just basic St st socks done in Austermann Step yarn. I liked the colors for her since her favorite color is Red, and she's a February B/D gal so the purple and pink totally fit in there. I really messed up on the toe's though (can you see?). I didn't even notice that one had more Red on top than the other until I had already fastened off. Boy do I suck sometimes. **That's why I made her the Lesley's too, they were my "see, I'm not a total dork" socks! She's a rock-n-roller though, I think she'll wear them even with the toes not matching up "exactly"! That's why I sent them to her anyway!

Below are some more Lesley's that I just finished up this weekend for my MIL for Christmas. I hope she doesn't read my blog and see them ahead of time!! She has small feet, so I hope I did okay. I love the lacy part of these, it just makes me happy happy. To be honest, some of the patterned socks that I see out there are just so funky. They remind me of elephant legs or something, just not very attractive! Like some skin disease! ewwww. These are just right. Elegant and stylish.

These are done in Dream in Color's Smooshy. I had blue dye on my fingers as I knit these, so I hope they don't lose too much color after washing. I didn't have any trouble at all with the Classy (worsted weight) so I hope these stay like they are, they're just the most gorgeous color.

More knitting is under way. I did a lot this weekend even with a migraine and other health issues. I was already cutting it close and then I added a scarf for my brother to the list.

I think I'm nuts.

Busy Busy

Hubby's out of town on business for a couple of days so I've been a "knitting tornado" trying to get his socks done (and my wrists and fingers are feeling it..). Both are on the needles (Knit Picks DPN's - Luv Em!) so I hope to finish soon. These are Lorna's Laces - (Charcol) and in real life they look way more dark brown then here. Funny, in this pic they really DO look more like Charcol don't cha think? The tops are in the simple Garter Stitch Rib pattern and I'm going to work the foot in plain ol St St.

I've been diagnosed with having "something" off kilter recently with my auto-immune system but arthiritis was ruled out. Gotta say though, this almost could pass for it as bad as I've been hurting. It won't stop me though (I hope), I have finish-itis really bad with these so I'm on a mission! Wish me luck!

PS. I have to say, it's so awesome to have visitors here from all over the world!! Your blogs are so awesome and I'm enjoying reading thru them! It's so cool that you can find knitting friends near and far! I'm thankful for your comments and input and can't wait to get to know all of you better!

More projects getting done...

I'm trying not to stress about Christmas this year. But it already seems to be happening anyway. I keep thinking of more and more things I'd like to make but as I'm a slower knitter, it probably won't happen! I have to just try to relax so I can enjoy what I'm supposed to be enjoying! Isn't this supposed to be fun?

I finished one pair of socks for my Hubby (Lorna's laces-Pewter/worsted) and am working on another pair that's really my first "patterned" pair. I'm using a really simple one for my first dip in, just the garter rib stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks. They're turning out rather cool, these are sock weight and taking forever but he's going to be really surprised. Everytime I make socks he always asks "are those for me?" I know he's kidding most of the time, but he's going to be surprised at his stocking stuffers this year! Get it? "Stocking Stuffers" and they'll be "socks"! hahaha! Here's his first pair:

I'm still working on the blog. It's been interesting fiddling with things and I'm checking out others to get ideas. Bear with me please!