Finally Finished!

It was a long weekend at work. 21 hours over Saturday and Sunday. But enough time to finally finish the Welsh Country stockings. And I am so glad that they are done. It wasn't a problem with the pattern; I really didn't find that the yarn (Schoeller Esslinger "Hit", 100% acrylic) felt good to my hands in a sock gauge. But I hung in there and now they are finally finished. These are for Joe, who wanted a pair of socks for himself. These have taken me so long, that I am certain that he has forgotten all about them. So I've put these aside for a Christmas gift for him. I will wash them sometime before then, and hope that it will ease out the ladders in the socks. I had a terrible time trying not to ladder these socks, and wasn't very successful. I think it was just in the nature of the acrylic. And it's not hard to see why these took so long. Look at the size difference between his socks and one of mine! (Yes, I am married to Bigfoot.)

These will probably be the only Christmas knitting done. I'm trying to avoid casting on for anything new until I get some of my other WIPs finished. However, there's been a pair of mystery socks cast on a few days ago.....

Nana's 91st birthday was Sunday. All the grandchildren, even young Joe from Rhode Island, were present for her little party on Saturday afternoon at the care center. Even I was able to get off work for the party. She was in good shape this weekend, no doubt due to everyone being there. And it was fun for me having all five of the children in the house again and around the dinner table. Hubby Joe cooked a big spaghetti dinner with salad, garlic toast, and apple dumplings with ice cream for dessert. Too bad I had to work so many hours!

This coming weekend, however, I will have off. Joe and I are going to a retreat in Tucson. It will be good to get away for a couple days of quiet and reflection. The weather will probably be pretty warm still, but that's okay. All the better to get out and enjoy the outdoors. And knitting, as well. I promise to take some scenic pictures of the desert in November. All our trees here are at their peak of fall color. Too bad it only lasts such a short time.

November Flowers

The front yard looks like spring.

I've been told that pansies are a good choice for a winter garden here, as the temperatures will be ideal for them. So when the garden center got in a big shipment a couple weeks ago, I bought a flat and replanted the beds in the front yard. Since I planted them, it's been sunny, dry, and warm -- in the 80's still some days, but cool at night. The pansies are doing very well right now. So we will see how this garden experiment works as the year draws to it's close.

There has not been much knitting going on since I returned from Michigan. Not as much as might have been. Nana, who will be 91 a week from today, has been back in the care center for the last few weeks. It has been fairly stressful for us, but she seems to be doing a bit better now. This time around I really didn't feel much like knitting while visiting. Just this past Monday I felt optimistic enough to be comfortable knitting while there. But then I didn't go anymore this week because I came down with that stomach bug that seems to be making the rounds. Unfortunately, I still had to struggle through working, since we were already short handed. So I packed up plenty of tea, fruit, and crackers and found an isolated area to do what I had to do. Fortunately I seem to be better now.

There has been knitting, though. There was ONE finished knit in October, but it wasn't socks. I've been working on the Welsh Country Stockings, and have finally passed the heel and gusset. This took awhile as I was doing a reinforced heel with two strands of the black yarn, and I'm still not fast at two handed stranded knitting. I hope to rectify that situation one of these days, though.

Pictures of the one FO soon.

Plans

It's been another one of those time-consuming medical weeks that have become all too familiar around here lately. Outpatient surgery for another family member, and three days at the pharmacy trying to sort out prescriptions and pounding my head against figurative walls. (I've been tempted to do a post entitled "Walk With Me Wednesday Through all the Pharmacies I Have Known", but I digress.) All is well, but I'm worn out from the caretaker role this week. This year has certainly been one for medical issues right and left.


Once again Project Spectrum got away from me. And now I find that the Red Scarf Project is running and is almost finished! Guess I really missed that one somewhere. Now I won't have anything knit for this time around. Too bad, I was planning on this for December and January knitting.

It's time again for Socktoberfest. I'll still be working on the On-Your-Toes socks and the Welsh Country Stockings. I'm still determined not to start any of my new sock yarns until the Welsh Country Stockings are finished. Too bad Joe has such big feet!

I've also joined a Read and Knit-Along. I've had the Anne of Green Gables books for several years, but have only read the first book and Anne's House of Dreams. This will be a nice incentive for me to read all eight books. Some of the members are going to knit Anne-themed projects, but I'm just going to continue with the knits I've currently got on the needles. I've already read the first book and started the second.

This is the first Anne book I owned. I found it years ago in a used bookstore/antique shop. It's a very early edition and I do treasure it.

Next week I am abandoning the family to their own devices and flying out to visit my family in Michigan. I haven't been out there for a visit in over four years. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing the autumn colors and enjoying the last of the corn crop and the prime of the apple crop. We're planning a day trip for fresh cider and doughnuts, a treat I haven't had in years.

Knitting to take along? The On-Your-Toes socks and a new knit: I'm going to do a diagonal rib scarf with this Noro from the stash. It will make good airplane/travel knitting. I don't want to take anything too involved to work on because most of what I knit will be taking second place to visiting, etc. And -- a special treat -- son and DIL and grandbabies will be coming in to join us for a couple days later in the week! So there will be much fussing and playing with babies to keep me occupied!

The Cherry Leaf Shawl is about half finished. I'm already looking ahead to the next shawl I will work on, and Clapotis is right up there at the top of the list. I bought this yarn about a year and a half ago specifically to do this pattern. The colors are autumnal enough for me; funny how I get to crave colors depending on the season!

And finally, what would Friday be without Friday's Flowers? The big lantana bush is going wild since the temperatures have cooled down a bit.

I'm off to pack. See you again in about ten days, unless the possibility for remote blogging presents itself. Happy knitting!

Two Gray Socks

I've been working on the second Welsh Country Stocking. Progress is slow. The yarn, Schoeller-Esslinger Hit, which is sport weight, knits up very firm in this stocking. The firmness is good, but it's hard on the hands and wrists. So, despite the fact that I really want to get these finished, I'm being forced to take my time and not do any more than a dozen rounds a day.

The new pair of socks is Ann Budd's On-Your-Toes Socks from IK Summer 2007. I am making these with the gray/black Regia Spirit Color that Maria gave me for Christmas. These are my first toe up socks and I found the Eastern cast-on to be a real nightmare. I kept trying and trying, but each time ended up totally knotted up and twisted every which way. I searched Google and anything else I could think of for tutorials. The same results, knotted up and twisted and ripped out. I was at rope's end. And then, staring at it again for the umpteenth time, the stitches suddenly made perfect sense. Once more I ripped out and started over, and this time it worked beautifully. And I'm in love with toe up socks.

I've found a new use for Ravelry. Now when I am surfing yarns and patterns, I hit the queue button when I see something I like. Then when I want to find it again later, I will only have to scroll through the queue until I see it. No more racking my brains trying to remember a few months later where I saw something! So my queue will probably be larger than I will ever manage in this lifetime, but at least I'll know where to find everything!

Brick House, Cherry Leaf, and Where Did the Week Go?

The weekend away was totally wonderful. Wonderful food, wonderful wine, wonderful accomodations, wonderful weather -- no high temps and no high humidity! A very much living-in-the-moment weekend, just what a 32nd anniversary weekend ought to be.






Then reality hit. We got dropped off at LAX on Monday morning to the mother-of-all standing room only out the door on the sidewalk waits. We waited to check in. We waited to drop off our luggage. We waited to be searched. And in the middle of it all, a phone call from home about another medical emergency. As if we could do anything about it then. Finally get home, drop everything, rush to the hospital. Where we spent most of the week. I finally finished unpacking yesterday, a week after we got back. It was Nana who had the health crisis and she is now in a 24 hour care facility to finish convalescing. I think my nerves are recovering. But now I need another vacation!

Not much knitting got done at first, although I did end up taking knitting finally while sitting at bedsides. The new Brick House Monkey Socks are coming along; I'm ready to start the heel flap on the first sock. This is being made from KnitPicks' new sock yarn, Felici, in the Clay colorway. The yarn is nice and soft and I like the staggered stripes in this one.

At one point I was so desperate for something to keep my hands busy that I picked up the very neglected second sock of the Welsh Country stockings and got back to working on some straight stockinette stitch. This sock was definitely suffering from second sock syndrome, but I think that after this last week I'm getting back into the groove for it.

However, I've been desperate to be knitting something with some concentration involved in it. The socks are nice, but the patterns are easy; my other current knitting, the two blankets, are just garter stitch. (The Icarus has been abandoned; new yarn will be acquired at some future point.) I needed something that I would have to concentrate on in order to get my brain and nerves to relax. Garter stitch may be relaxing, but it still leaves the mind too much room to think. And worry. So I cast about for something to cast on and finally decided on the beautiful light fingering weight yarn that Roxie sent me a good while back. I perused my books to find something that I could make with a thousand yards and the Shoulder Shrug in Cherry Leaf Pattern from Victorian Lace Today leapt out at me. I used Ravelry to see what other knitters had done with this pattern and the choice was clear. I cast on and started knitting this afternoon. But not until the laundry and the bills were caught up.

I'll be visiting Bloglines soon and trying to post more regularly now. I'm so behind on my Ravelry notebook and groups! Hopefully as things ease up around here I'll get back to more normal activities. I miss visiting with you all each day! Sorry there is no time to add links for everything in this post, but it's time to start dinner and then the nightly visit at the care center. And then hopefully more lace knitting. And a glass of wine. And maybe cheesecake. Or chocolate. A girl's gotta have her stressbusters.

River Rocks Monkey Socks

It's not been as hot here as it had been a couple weeks ago, but the humidity has gone up into the 80 percentiles and that's very humid for out in the desert. It means that the swamp cooler isn't good for much except to put on the blower and let it blow air around the house. Not much cooling, but at least it moves the air a bit. It also means that I break out in total drenching sweats at minimal provocation. Therefore knitting of only the most minimal is taking place.

Socks are perfect for this. I had a couple hanks of Koigu color P 137 that were marinating in the stash for quite a while, and I decided that I simply couldn't wait any longer. The colors are wonderful; very muted but very detailed. They make me think of rocks in the bottom of a riverbed. Blues and grays, as well as the sandy browns and touches of green weeds amidst the blues of the water. There is nothing like an ice-cold mountain stream to dunk one's feet in after hiking. Many times I have stripped off hiking shoes and heavy hiking socks to bath my swollen, sweaty feet in a stream in Grand Canyon or Zion. The cold water cools the blood and the body, as well as reducing any swelling or puffyness.

But what pattern to use to best utilize the yarn? Obviously I chose the very popular Monkey socks pattern, but not until I had combed the Ravelry files and decided that this pattern would suit the Koigu to a T. Ravelry, I've decided, is really wonderful for this sort of thing. By grouping pictures all together, one can see very easily and with no internet searching how other knitters have worked a particular pattern and all the different yarns they have used. It made my decision very simple, and I am madly in love with the results.

However, Ravelry did get me off on a bit of a wrong foot. Pun intended. I noticed that many knitters of this pattern used Size 1 needles with the Koigu. So I merrily began knitting with my US1's, only to find out about half way down the leg that this was really coming out too small. So I frogged the thing and started over again with US2's. The thing is spot on now and I have turned the heel on the first sock and am heading madly down the foot. I only hope that I don't run out of yarn before I finish the toe. If that happens, I'll just have to frog back and make the leg a bit shorter. I hope not; I'm really anxious to wear these socks. And maybe one of these days I'll actually get back to the poor hibernating Welsh Country Stockings.

Buddy says, "Is it time to go for a walk yet, Mom?"

Casting on the Twosies

I've finished my first project for 40 Days. I whipped up a little hat in the Live Dangerously-No Swatching pattern, using up some leftover Encore worsted in the process. I ran a bit short at the end and used some of the leftover Fun Fur from the chemo caps to finish it off. Joe says it looks silly, but I choose to disagree.

I also finished his first Welsh Country Stocking. It fits him perfectly; however, he is complaining that the heel feels funny. Since he normally wears tube-type socks, or else socks with very plain heels, the double-thick shaped heel probably does feel unusual. I'm telling him that he'll get used to it. I'd hate to think that I'm putting the effort into these socks that he may decide he doesn't want to wear. And they certainly won't fit me!

So today I decided to cast on for all the number two portions of the projects at hand. At the top is Fetching Mitt Number Two; on the left is the 40 Days Hat Number Two, and on the right is the Welsh Country Stocking Number Two.

And because I'm going a little crazy longing for some spring-like color, I cast on another little number. Socks for me in shades of yellow, blue, and lilac. Who cares if it will soon be too warm for wool socks? It's the colors to cheer my soul.

Random Musings

Another blogger gone missing in action for more than a week! Actually, I think I've been in a sort-of-end-of-winter-not-quite-spring funk. Our weather has been going from lovely and warm to windy, cold, and wet and back again. And I finally went over to our new building to check things out, and that didn't help the funk. The building is no where near finished, is very badly laid out, and has more wasted space than a body could imagine. Now I understand why for weeks now I have been hearing how awful the design is. No one is happy about it. In the meantime, we are still in our old office, but everyone else has moved to the new complex (their new digs are lovely, bright, airy, and enviable!) and we are stuck in an old building that is falling apart and which no one will spend the time or money to fix. Such is progress.

A year ago last weekend, Joe had his "mini-stroke". This was on our minds a lot last weekend, of course. I'm pleased to say that his health is excellent and that whole episode seems to be safely behind us now. And I can also say that now, a year later, it really did affect our lives; now there is none of this "Someday we'll do this or that or whatever". Someday is now, today, and if we want to travel or do something, it's time to plan it and do it. No more putting things off for us. Life is fragile and precious and nothing should be put off if it can be done now.

I've been working a bit on Joe's sock; I'd like to say that I'm racing towards the toe on the first one, but it's halting progress at best. Although I am getting pretty close to the toe shaping. I've been spending a lot of time lately raking up the yard and going through old papers and files. When we were in the military and moving every few years, it was easy to keep things from piling up; sooner rather than later I would have to throw out all the junk before the movers showed up.

Now we have been in one spot for 12 years and the "stuff" has become unmanageable. So the garbage can has been pretty darn full every pickup day for the last couple weeks. And after a day of sorting crap, I've been looking for some low-key knitting, and finding myself picking up the sock yarn log cabin blanket. The colors have been very soothing and the simple garter stitch has been suitably mindless. Very relaxing.

I haven't picked up the Icarus Shawl for quite a while now. And spinning has become a Friday night only event. In my carry-around bag are the makings for a hat for 40 Days For Others. In the past two days at work I've managed to get a couple inches done on it. Prior to starting the hat, I've been making myself a pair of Fetching mitts; I've managed to complete one mitt in the odd moments at work when nothing else is going on.

The yarn is Malabrigo, in the Sunset color, I think...I absolutely adore the softness of this yarn. Once I'm done with my 40 Days knitting, I'm sure I'll make the other mitt, but there's no hurry. Spring is fast approaching and I can't see a need for hats and mitts lasting much longer. The rose bushes and the trees are trying to bud. Soon it will be time to head to the garden center and pick up some annuals for the flower beds. Certainly in time for Easter!

Project Spectrum

Today begins Project Spectrum, and I'm beginning it with Joe's socks in two shades of gray Schoeller Esslinger "Hit", a washable acrylic sport weight which I think has been discontinued; I was able to get a bunch really cheap at the local shop. (The man does. not. wear. wool. Yet.) The pattern I'm using is the Welsh Country Stockings from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. Perhaps to you that's not a traditional bed sock, but it is to him. And they'll be his socks, and he gets whatever he wants for his first pair.



Next post, a surprise!