Playing Catch Up

Oy! Life has been insane! After my shoulder break (June), possible unnecessary gallbladder surgery (July), blood clot from said surgery requiring a 5 day hospital stay (Aug), I'm still working on healing from EVERYTHING. Anyone who's had their gallbladder out knows it takes time to, well, ..."adjust'. Lets just say I'm still "adjusting" so I stick close to home.  My shoulder still hurts but my range of motion has improved over time although I've got to get better about doing my stretches everyday.  I'll probably be on blood thinners for about 6 mos for the clot (Portal Vein Thrombosis - Not good!), I have another CT scan mid-November to see if it's dissolved at all (please, please, please...). All of this in addition to the fibro pain and inflammation I suffer from has made life just... dandy. But I'm still here (weaker and shakier but surviving).

And I'm still knitting! (slow as it may be)

Pattern: Just my usual basic 64 stitch sock.
Yarn: Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett in Exotic Color Pool Colorway
Hmmm, I wasn't crazy about this yarn. It felt like knitting with Paton's Kroy Sock: sort of rough when knitting up & slighty itchy. Not a favorite but I do love the colors. I'm sending these to my Mom for Christmas and she wears her socks around the house so hopefully they'll feel okay to her. She's not a big wussy pants like I am about the itch factor.

To compensate I'm sending her these too:

Pattern: My same ol' basic pattern
Yarn: Knitting Fever Indulgence in Colorway: 115 (Pinks, greens, white)
Now these are SOFT! I wasn't thrilled that the gorgeous colors in the ball sort of got "muddied" up in the knit fabric but they feel so good it's okay, the pink still comes through some. Mom will certainly enjoy these too! (my photo taking skills are so below par - I blame it on not feeling good and being too lazy to edit right now).

I also finished a simple pair of ribbed fingerless mitts for my daughter for the high school football games but I haven't seen them since they came off the needles in time for last game night - so no pics yet. I have another pair in the works for my other daughter but it's been slow going working with Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn. People are right in saying it's tough on their hands, it does feel like knitting with cotton - no give = pain in your fingers and hands. Not fun.

I also gave up being chicken about getting back to my spinning. When I broke my shoulder I was about 1/3 into spinning some gorgeous hand-dyed Polwarth I picked up at the last fiber festival I attended. I had such an amazing consistency streak going I guess I was afraid to mess it all up after being away from it for so long. I finally got up the nerve, oiled my wheel a bit, and was off to the races again:

I have to find the tag to check the info but I'm pretty sure it's Rivers Edge - Out of Oz (Reflection colorway). It's 4 oz of Polwarth. I'll probably be working this as a 2 ply and it should be a fingering/light sport when it's done. I can't wait, plying makes it all magical for me!

I've got so much blog reading to catch up on. Someday I pray things will be back to normal in my world.
Happy Knitting!

March Post - In The Nick Of Time...

Creative titles for my Blog don't really seem necessary since I only manage to post once a month anyway! (Which actually is a good thing with my sleepy brain). Wow, I'm sitting here totally bewildered! Where did the month go?? I figured I was good for at least TWO this month! I'm such a slacker!

Well, on to the knits:

I realized that I never posted my finished colorwork mittens! These were really fun to make despite my mistakes along the way. There's one glaring right at me in the pic, but they're still warm. Sometimes you just have to let things go. My friend Mona designed these, she's got some great patterns in her head!

Pattern: Ambassadeur d`amour-Ambassador of Love
Yarns: Cascade 220 in pink fuchsia and black.

Next:

Pattern: Tie Band Chevron Beret
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Cranberry
This was a last minute test knit on Ravelry (as I wasn't aware I was an "official tester" until things were already underway) so I had to marathon knit to get this done. Overall I enjoyed knitting it but the yarn wasn't the best. I wouldn't buy this again, it was badly spun/plied, really rough in some spots, very raggedy looking at times. Maybe I got a bad skein, but even Red Heart has never been this bad for me, and that's really saying something in my book. The color was the only saving grace for me.

Next:

Pattern: My basic 64 st stockinette sock
Yarn: Paton's Stretch in Cherry Sours
There's a "weird" feel to this yarn when knitting it up, sort of "rope like" sticky, but they end up softer somehow. My daughter loves them.

Next:

Pattern: Basic Socks (again)
Yarn: Premier Serenity Sock Weight in Spring Fling
My usual formula didn't work so well on these, they came out on the small side. The yarn felt thinner but I'm next exactly an exemplary "swatch" knitter so they are what they are. My youngest can still wear them, barely.. but they'll last a bit. I guess the sock bug has bit me again because another pair is in the works.

Next, since it's my Auntie's Birthday today, I'm posting what I made for her:

My FIRST embroidery project ever: Pillowcases.  I enjoyed each and every moment of it so I've already started on some more for myself. These fit her perfectly, she's always had a thing for "little blue birds". I hope she'll  enjoy these. Happy Happy Birthday Auntie! (I didn't iron them before I sent them but they still look cute!) I guess I'll save the remaining knits for next month since it's almost here!

I suppose the Lyrica has been making me sleepier than I realized because I swear the month just began! I've also just started taking Plaquenil for my auto-immune problem. My numbers are increasing in that department and my pain has been SKY HIGH, so, as chicken as I am, I'm also pretty darn desperate for some kind of relief. Here's to hope for less pain and having a "life" again.

I'm looking forward to Aprils post, I went to a fiber festival last weekend and had a blast. :O)  I paid dearly in the pain department, but it was still so much fun!

Happy Knitting!

Catching Up

I've been a really slow knitter this year as well as a really slow blogger. Seems I can spend time on Ravelry daydreaming everyday and watching what everyone else is up to - but marking my own progress hasn't been as exciting as it used to be, here or there. Maybe it's because I'm not really knitting anything super duper outlandishly special, but basic necessities, gifts, and simple things.

Here we go with my Simple Parade:

Patterns: Waffle Hat & Noro Fingerless Mitts 
Yarn: Bernat Mosaic in Spectrum Colorway
This yarn is a bit softer than Noro (and machine washable). People have complained of it pulling apart easily but I didn't have that problem at all, just one knot which happens to the best of them. I knit the mitts pretty tightly too so if it was weak, I would've known it. (Maybe there was a bad batch out there). These are for my Auntie for Christmas. She's awesomely Knit-Worthy, she uses everything down to the last thread! ;O)

Next:

Pattern: Hats From The Heart
Yarn: Berroco Jasper
Size 8 needles.
A great Ravelry Buddy sent me this yarn awhile back because I was admiring her hats. I started it (barely cast on) and it promptly got put in (one of) my UFO bags for the longest time. Now that my hubby is golfing come cold weather or not (he has a driving range near his work) I want him to at least be WARM out there. This project was perfect. The Berroco is very soft but I'm going to have to be careful with the care of it. I can see that it will pill quickly since it's loosely spun. Kind of like Malabrigo Worsted.

Onto:

Patterns: Oops. I'm not sure.
I made these for a friend who's expecting a new Grandbaby in the family and I can't remember what patterns I used. I got them done early even though we weren't going to send them out until closer to the due date, I just hate waiting on things for too long or I'll forget.
Yarn: Bernat Cotton Tots - One skein did both projects. I went with a neutral color since we don't know if it's a boy or girl.

Next:

Pattern: Plain Basic Socks (My Favorite)
64 Cast On - Size 1 Magic Loop
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Sock "Crock-O-Dye"
I made these for my Freezing Cold Cousin in Montana. I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn, it's really soft and has a great feel. I may get some for me one day since I have another coupon for my LYS. She wears a lot of black and browns, neutral shades, so I wanted to go crazy with color and look what I ended up picking out? It just shouted at me that it was HER though. Too funny! I must knit her some PINK socks soon.

And:

Scarves for The Special Olympics 2011 to send in for my state. These aren't due until mid January, but again, I'm crazy about deadlines. I hate them. If I know it has to be done, I get it done ASAP. I only managed to get two done, I actually had to return two skeins because I just couldn't cope with using the Red Heart again. Until they've been washed a few times they're stiff as a board, it's just too hard on my hands and I've been having enough trouble with hand pain recently, it's just not good to push things when you hurt that bad. Although I'd love to do more, I figure two is better than none.  

There has been some simple Christmas Knitting that's been done and I wish I could've done more but I can't post those right now. At least I know I'll be back blogging before the year ends - I hope! 

Happy Knitting! 

Whiskers On Wednesday (and some Knitting!)

No Kitties. Just ONE of the things that's left in their wake. Just about every morning. What do those cats do all night?

Some knitting has been done recently:

Pattern: Petunia Socks By Jeanne Cotter (My blog buddy)
Yarn: Joann's Sensations Bamboo & Ewe
Mods: All I changed was to use size 1 needles and add stitches to compensate.
This pattern looks great in a hand-dyed yarn like she used, I've slowly swayed to more striped or solids over time but I think they came out nice. Comfy yarn as well, has a decent softness to it.

Pattern: My Plain socks. 64 st cast on.
Yarn: Paton's Kroy Jacquards in Fern Rose colorway.
Size 1 needles
These are the socks that gave me a major reality check. I was so excited to be on a roll with socks once again that I over-did it trying to get these done. I think the combo of very small needles, being out of practice for a few months, and wanting to keep going, gave me Repetitive Stress Injury. My doctor thinks there's some slight carpal tunnel in the mix as well. All I can say (besides a few bad words) is OWWW!

You just can't ignore pain. If it hurts in the slightest - STOP!!!! My thumb/hand/wrist hurt so bad, I can't say how panicked I was thinking of all the yarn in my closet. I can NOT knit when I want to, but to HAVE TO stop, geez, that's TOUGH! I took a week off (staring longingly at my knitting), and now have to take frequent breaks.  I HOPE I've learned my lesson. I never thought my hands would quit on me. Never. Don't take things for granted, take care of yourself.

Note: This yarn is tough as iron too, that may have been part of the problem. It's also slightly itchy but will probably wear forever. Not a favorite of mine needless to say.

Pattern: My Basic Socks. 64 st cast on.
Yarn: Knit One Crochet too Ty Dy Socks
Colorway: 1713
Size 1 needles.
These are for my Mom's Birthday coming up soon. This yarn was a tad splitty when casting on, but after that it was fine for the most part. And soft?? VERY! I got these done with LOTS of breaks and little pain so I see another pair working it's way to my needles very soon. I've got the "sock-bug" once again.

My picture taking/editing abilities need major work as well. Happy Knitting! And Happy WOW!

Where is my blog mojo?

I've got my knitting mojo going somewhat with Christmas looming closer, but blogging has been WAY on the back burner for me lately. I've always thought it was kind of sad and wondered why people just abandoned their blogs, or decided to say their "blogland farewells" when I'd be browsing. Now I understand. I'm tired. And time gets away from me because of other things going on.

But I got the push I needed today because Dawn in CA is having a contest on her blog. I'm adding your button Dawn.

Gotta keep up with my knitting at least. Here's some of the latest:

Pattern: Embossed Leaves
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Select Semi Solids
Colorway: Lotus
Size 1 needles magic loop
Heavily modified: Long tail cast on used, not as many repeats on leg, didn't cut yarn for heel, and I did a regular toe as I didn't like how the star one looked. All in all, I changed it quite a bit! But I got a sock that was more fun for me to knit.

I really liked this yarn worked up in simple stockinette but thought "LEAVES would be GREAT with this!". Sometimes it's better to leave things alone. So what do you do when you change your mind after the fact? Dye them.
I used my Knitpicks acid dye to make them a deeper emerald green. I think patterned socks look so much better in a solid color and now these make me happier. Now I can see the leaves and the pretty details even with some slight varigation still.

Next:

Pattern: Merlot
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden
Colorway: #8
Needles size 7 & 9 (I always use a smaller needle for the brim of hats).
This is a Christmas present for my Auntie in CA. She loves, loves, loves Blue. This was a cool pattern, I'll defiitely use it again. The yarn is such a pretty, bright, and vibrant blue (even though my picture doesn't portray that as much) so I made her these to match:


Pattern: Cranford Mitts
Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Superwash Fingering - Dyed with Sapphire Acid Dye
Size 2 needles

Loved this pattern but they aren't very warm! I may make her a plain set as well for a bit more coverage. It's funny, my hat picture is too dark and this one is too light! These are a deeper blue than they appear here. Someday I need a digital photography class!!!

A few more things have been in the works. Not always working out to my satisfaction. I just finished a cabled scarf for The Big Guy for Christmas but it turned into a big, fat UGH! I used Caron Simply Soft in Black (because I've always been happy with this yarn) but I could tell even when I was knitting it up that there were fuzzy issues already happening. I should've just STOPPED, but I thought maybe with a wash and some de-fuzzing it might be salvageable.

NOT.

He's getting a store bought one this year. I'll try the pattern again one day in a different yarn. Fathers Day 2010?

Happy Knitting!

More socks.

I'm in sock mode again.

Simple Stockinette Socks
Yarn: Patons Kroy Stripes - Mulberry
Size 1 magic loop - 64 st cast on.
This yarn is a bit "odd" feeling to me, but they washed up nicely, got a tad bit softer, so we'll see how they wear.


The picture on top is with photo editing, the bottom is without, and the reality is somewhere in between! It's been cloudy all day today, we've gotten 8+ inches of rain in May alone. Now is the time for the standard southern afternoon/evening "pop-up" thunderstorms. There should be another one along any minute now. I'm just tired of everyone mowing every 5 minutes. sigh.

Memorial Day I had a 50% coupon for AC Moore so we went and I got these. I scored Cookie's book for 1/2 off! I'd been seeing the The Red Heart Sock yarn on Ravelry and I just love these colors knit up. I can't wait to make my own socks out of it so I can smile when I see them on my own feet.

That's it. I've got other projects in my mind (and the yarn wound up ready to go) but all I seem to be doing is socks lately.

Happy Knitting!

Just Socks

But I'm - Oh So Happy They're Done-!

Cat hair attached and all. (They're going to be washed this weekend).

I truly wish the colors would show better in the pictures. This colorway has a funny vibrancy about it, it reminds me of a fairy tale lagoon, with the blues, bits of purple, green, and black. I really like how comfy they feel on my feet too. These weren't an easy sell for me to work up because I've really been leaping away from varigated sock yarns a LOT lately. I'm tired of worrying and fighting with icky pooling or random striping anymore. Semi solids and solids have been beckoning me. But the pooling issues that came about with these were all My fault, not the yarn's. (Take THAT picky knitter!) Cast on amounts make all the difference with some of the varigated yarns, and also how dyers do their thing. It's all a learning process to find what you personally like and I think I finally got that.

Colinette Jitterbug

I think the "Jay" Colorway.

Size 1 Magic Loop needle

64 st cast on

Now to rack my brain on what to knit next!

I Don't Even Know....

how to title this post because I'm still puzzled on how I did this.

And I'm embarrassed to say that the big "revelation" didn't come until I was about to start the TOE shaping!!

See the big ugly "splotch" on my sock? Well, so did I. Ewwww. But I kept going. Hello? Anybody have any smart pills??

This didn't happen on the first sock I made, but I just kept knitting along and then decided to "cut" (which I HATE to do on socks!) and reattach the yarn to break up some of the pooling (ahem, 3 or 4 times -see the piles of yarn on the couch?). All in all it was still looking pretty ugly.

Then all of a sudden....it dawned on me: "COUNT THE STITCHES".

I knit my socks magic loop style now and I knit different stitch counts depending on the yarn. For this sock I used 64 sts and therefore should've had 32 on both needles to proceed down the foot. Well, I had 36 on one and 32 on the other. Yea, you see where this is going. It's amazing what havoc 4 extra stitches can cause.

Out of probably 30 or so pairs of socks I've made so far, and my experiences in the past with changing cast-on's due to ugly pooling, this was the first time I totally messed up on the gusset decreases! You'd think it would've dawned on me SOONER to consider WHY it was pooling so bad!

It's kind of funny NOW when I think about how long it took me to figure this out. But I wasn't laughing yesterday when I realized what I'd done and started tinking back 40 plus rows....

Now I'm back on track. At least I hope so.....

By George! There's some Knitting going on!

I finally dusted off my needles and got a sock going.

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug
I think this is the "Jay" colorway. (My LYS wound it for me back when I bought it and I can't find the label.)
64 St Cast on
Just my basic recipe, a plain ol sock!

I love this yarn, it's really soft and squishy and a pleasure to knit with. I've read the negative reviews about it on Ravelry, but so far I haven't had any knots in my skein. I'm not done with the second sock so I don't know if they'll felt with use yet, or if they'll bleed really bad when washed. So, my rating on "knitting" with it is 4 out of 5 stars, but the rest is still up in the air. We shall see. These will probably go to my Mom for her birthday next month. She loves blue and greens and the colors in these are really pretty even with the striping. It's hard to capture the vibrancy with my camera but I'm pretty happy with them.

The Big Guy took the girls to the Smokey Mtns last weekend. They're on Fall Break from school this week so we're just going to lay low. The trees haven't hit their peak for color changes yet, but you can see Fall is definitely here. It got cool overnight it seems like. One day we're all sweating and the next day we're digging out sweatshirts and jeans! But boy does it feel GOOD!

It's still very pretty up in the mountains. And they brought me fresh pecan fudge on the way home again so I can't complain!
They hiked different trails this time and found some really good spots. Cooked their hot dogs and didn't get eaten by bears so I was relieved! They're going again later in the week and then we're off to the in-laws for a visit. My youngest will be hitting the "double digits" next weekend and I can't even believe it. This momentous occasion in MY life (cause where the heck did the time go??) means I deserve to stop by The Yarn Patch on the way there! You gotta work it when you can baby!!! Happy Knitting.

What's up?

I wish I had a fun answer to that question!
Since I'm about ready to be put out to pasture (same old pain, I know, I'm so tired of myself !) I haven't been knitting on much of anything lately. Well, ONE sock, but that seems to be turning out kind of "icky" so I'm not going to be braggin' on it anytime soon. The pooling is turning me "off" (and I refuse to start over-just too tired!) so I may just knit the socks up and over-dye them a darker blue. We'll see, and I'll show pics when I decide.

I did finally get this in the mail last week:



My new Ott Light from Joann's. It's taken some getting used to, but to read or knit by it really helps. It's not as pretty as some of the other (much more expensive) ones they have, but I'm "Mrs. Frugal To The Max" at times, especially if I'm not sure I'm going to like something beforehand. I miss a more "sunny" glow (this is super-WHITE) but it works well for it's purpose (to help these OLD eyeballs!)

I've been reading up a storm since my pain level has been on the high scale again. In the past few weeks I've read:

by Mary Kruger:
Dyed in the Wool
Knit Fast, Dye Young

by Maggie Sefton:
Dying to Sell (not a knitting mystery)
Knit One, Kill Two
Needled to Death
A Deadly Yarn
A Killer Stitch
Dyer Consequences

Fleece Navidad is coming out September 30th so I sure hope my library gets that one in as well.

I've already read all of Debbie Macomber's Blossom knitting series, The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (both terribly depressing in my view). I never even bothered with "Knitting: A Novel" by Anne Bartlett because it outright tells you it's about grief, and I don't do so good with that. I want to feel good by a read, not worse off than when I began. I guess I'm overly sensitive about that subject, it deeply affects me and stirs up too much pain.

I'm now reading Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum (will be done today, most I can finish in a day) and I have the three Chicks With Sticks books (It's a Purl Thing, Knit Two Together, and Knitwise) waiting in the wings for their turn. They're geared toward girls my daughter's age (tweens) but us old fogey's seem to really enjoy them as well!

I have to admit, these are all fast, easy reads but very enjoyable for people who love knitting and like me can't get enough of it. I usually figure out who the "murderer" is (in the mystery series') by the middle of the book, but a couple of times I've been wrong!! LOL! I just grab what's available at my local libraries and that's what I read. Checking out Amazon today though, I see a few more I may have to try to find....

Outside of Knitting, I also just read "Mistress of The Sun" by Sandra Gulland. It had me crying by the end, but in a good way I guess. Sad, but good. That's different than overwhelming grief. Next up is "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent. Looks like a good one! It takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. So much to read, so little time....if I could only enjoy audio books I could knit at the same time, but getting lost in my own imagination with the printed word is what I REALLY enjoy most of all.

I better get back to my books!! I miss them already!

UPDATE: Thank You Girls for all of your prayers!! Grandpa Ken was released from the Hospital today and is feeling stronger bit by bit!! God is Good.

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.