Love/Hate

I finished a pair of socks. These are Baby Backward Ribs Socks. I used On Your Toes 4ply. Started May 10, finished the 27.

T at work took this picture of my feet for me, a new angle!

Closer look at the stitch pattern. It's P3, K1tbl.

I like the stripes on the heel.

I also finished two dishcloths in our new Bernat Handicrafter Stripes yarn. They are for the store cuz they just look like variagated skeins. This way people can see that they actually stripe. The first one was knit on May 28 and is lime stripes in just the basic pattern.

The second one is natural stripes, and I used the Reverse Miter Dishcloth pattern, started May 28, finished the 29th.

I've decided that the Knit Nite girls and I have a love/hate relationship. I love them all, they are great friends, great knitters, loads of fun, BUT they are also trouble makers! (I mean that in a nice way, though.) After much hesitation I joined Ravelry. They are all in there, and one in particular had a slight pick on me. So I had made a deal. If she bought sock yarn during our sale, I'd join Ravelry. So I joined. (darganknits) I hadn't done a thing other than pick a user name and password -- until yesterday.

Work was especially slow in the afternoon, and I know I logged in at least twenty times! I printed off sock patterns, added stuff to my queue (and just from looking at other friends' queues!), got a couple of projects posted... All the time thinking, "Dang those Knit Nite girls!" They have me hooked. Ravelry must be just like crack, I guess. I'm already planning on at least adding my sock yarn stash to Ravelry and maybe all my FOs from this year. I'm working this weekend, so I see lots of time spent you-know-where. I obviously will have to refrain myself from going there if I really have other pressing things to do. (Or else they won't get done!)

And I gotta show you this. A lady bought this cotton Regia, and it had a knot in it. Knots are by no means strange in the world of yarn, but this is the first time I've ever seen two totally different colors joined in the same skein! One color was inside the skein, and she didn't know til she pulled the end out to start to knit. At first she thought it was just a bit, but it's half the skein! Luckily we had more, so she just grabbed a new one. Too weird.
This is just too sad. Pop on over here and give some knitterly love. Also remember her contest.

Happy knitting!

Finally a FO

Been a long time coming, but the pink sweater is finally a total FO. (Click here to see a better picture. It's the same, but it looks better here.) I can't remember exactly when I started it, can't seem to find where I had it written down. I think it was sometime in March. It sat for weeks waiting for the ends to be weaved in. I finally got it done on May 17. It was knit with Patons Fresco, a discontinued acrylic ribbon yarn. It wasn't bad to work with, but I had to keep untwisting it as I knit. The worst part was weaving the ends in. That was a pain. The ends keep wanting to stick out, so I'll have to watch for that when I wear it.


Heddy's tractor sweater front finally got finished, too. I definitely won't be knitting the Littlest One the tractor trailer sweater. Too many colors happening at once for my likings.


We also got in some new yarn, Bernat Handicrafter Stripes. The boss lady wanted me to make a couple for display cuz it looks like the regular variaged kind in the skein. The other two cottons are to make dishcloths for me.

Our camper in our new spot. It wasn't the spot we were supposed to have, I won't ever go there! But this one will do. I like the trees, and I also like the grassy area. I am going to plant flowers. (Have to thin some of mine out at home.) This lot gets sun and shade, and there is a nice area under the trees for the dog to lay in when it's hot.

The Oldest One and his salamander. I think he only had one at this point, but he arrived home with four!
Spoiled rotten! Even using a pillow! She wasn't scared camping this time since she wasn't being electrocuted. She was quite a bugger at times. We had a friend and her two kids the first night with us, and I had to put Jewel in time out in the kennel at one point (which I don't like to do) cuz she was being bad. Plus she peed on the carpet under the table, and I was NOT impressed. She knew she did bad, too. It's aggravating cuz there's no need of it. She wasn't left alone, and at night she goes in the kennel. I'd like to get a wire kennel like Hank's for home and keep the one she came in at the camper.

I am on the toe of a pair of socks for the store. I will have them finished tonight. I took them today to hubby's doctor's appointment, but we only had to wait five minutes, so I didn't have much time to knit. Should have at least the socks to show next post.

Happy knitting!

PS Contest alert. Pop on over here, see this post for details. It's for a great cause, and you can win yarn! What's not to love?!

New Stuff

Just a quick post to let you know that we have a couple of new yarns at the store. We now have Bernat Handicrafter Stripes, and it's moving very fast. We also have Bernat Cottontots.

I have my pink sweater blocked, but I didn't get any pictures of it yet. Over the weekend I will. Yesterday I ended up mowing the lawn since it actually wasn't raining for a change. Then I had a friend and her son visit, so I never got around to taking a picture of it.

I am almost finished the tractor on Heddy's sweater. I only have maybe eight rows or so of tractor left to do, then it's all straight stockinette in one color. I had originally thought about making the Littlest One the sweater with a big truck on it. After this adventure I have decided against it. It's not my kinda knitting. I can handle two colors stranded, that's about it.

I still haven't done anything with Ravelry. I decided that until Heddy's project is done that it wouldn't be a good idea. I work next weekend, so I'm sure I'll spend Friday night and Saturday checking it all out. At least now when I'm blog reading and someone links to a pattern on Ravelry I can see it!

Off to the camper tonight. I think we're coming back tomorrow night. Heddy, I'll call you or send you an e-mail when it's done. Hopefully he'll get some wear out of it, if not then fingers crossed that his little brother will like tractors, too!

Happy knitting!

PS Blogless Donna, I ordered your blue sock yarn today. Shouldn't take long. We'll put two aside for you. I ordered a whole bag of that color, so we won't have to fight over it! I need another pair of Broadripples after seeing these ones. :)

Camping 2008 Has Begun

We went camping for the long weekend. It didn't cooperate all that well weather-wise. It was nice Friday evening, rained all day Saturday, sunny Sunday morning til before noon, then it rained til late, then it rained Monday again. We got home around one, and the sun came out. It's hard to keep the kids inside when it rains, so after awhile I just gave up. They got out a bit on Saturday when it briefly stopped or died down to showers a couple of times.

When we got there Hubs went to put the slides out. He didn't know it, but the bathroom door was open, and the doorknob was hooked on the side of the slide. Now we have a dented and crooked doorknob, and it cracked the inside of the door a tiny bit around the doorknob, but it still works. A camping friend has a spare one he is going to give to us. He had changed his to a knob with a lock on it. Needless to say Hubs was extremely irate.

This is our future spot. It's two that are going to be flattened into one. It's not big enough for our camper. Friends of ours have their lot right beside this one.

This is where we left our camper all winter, and we're still set up here on a temporary basis. I'm standing pretty much in front of our new lot taking this picture. As you can see, the frog pond is our front yard. It's very hard to keep the hoodlums out of there.

As you can see...

If the Oldest One can't be found, it's pretty much a safe bet that he's at the frog pond. Catch and release, of course.

Poor Jubie-Ju didn't really enjoy her camping excursion. She didn't take it lightly when Daddy tried to electrocute her. It was all accidental, of course. We are in a very open spot and didn't have much of a place to chain her, so he hooked her around the axle of the camper. The poor thing was acting quite odd. She refused to go in or out of the camper, so I had to carry her in and out. Once inside she would refuse to go out. Once outside she'd want to come back in but wouldn't go near the steps. One one occasion when she was out she got tangled in some stuff under the camper. Hubs went to fix it, and he got shocked off the chain. He ended up moving the chain and hooked it around the picnic table. Come to find out our power post had a broken ground wire, so the camper wasn't grounded, and she was getting shocks off her chain, the poor thing! Took her to late in the day Sunday to actually go in and out of the camper on her own. We plugged into the post the lot over, and someone came and fixed our post. She wasn't herself at all the entire weekend, but things were back to normal when she got home!

The Littlest One and his new pillow. Yes, he fell asleep that way.

Hubs and our friend with her runt Jack Russell terrier. The dogs are the same age with probably a 30lb weight difference. Trixie thinks she's a Rottweiller, though. What a little instigator!

I had to get the Oldest One new sneakers, so I got myself a pair finally, too. His are on the left, mine on the right. My eight-year-old has the same size foot as me! I wear a ladies eight, and I can easily wear his sneakers and vice versa.
I did get some knitting done. I had taken Heddy's sweater with me, determined to finish it. I got it out and started knitting. However, I was starting the top of the tractor when I noticed a boo-boo that I thought at first I could duplicate stitch after the fact. However, I deemed that would be rather difficult. I had already weaved the ends in, so I couldn't really back it out. I looked into the bag and saw that there was enough to start anew. I decided to do that, but I didn't have the needle size I needed to do the ribbing! So I worked on my socks instead, and I also finally got the ends tucked away on my sweater. No pictures yet, it's blocking. When I returned home I started Heddy's sweater front, and I won't knit anything else til it's done! I am up to the start of the tires already. Got my fingers crossed that I'll get most of the tractor done tonight.

I'll leave you all with a taste of spring -- turn your speakers on! There's nothing to see, but I wanted to get an audio clip of the peepers in the frog pond. Every time the door opened they'd stop peeping, so pardon the background noise of me trying to stick my arm out the door while keeping the door from moving. Edit: The video doesn't seem to be working even though it shows it shows in my draft and when I edit my post. Will work on it when I get off work. Well, now it seems to be working, but I didn't do anything to it.

Happy knitting!

PS I got my Ravelry invite. I haven't done anything yet except pick my user name, darganknits.

Do You Ever Get the Feeling...

that you are being followed?

Someone or something is hiding in the bushes, around corners, behind trees, in the flowers...

And then they pounce!

Take us to your stash. Resistance is futile.

All hail the sock yarn! A part of my stash you have become. I am weak.

Happy knitting!

PS Yesterday at work first came Nova Knitter, then Heddy, then Marti. Amazingly, this new Stretch Socks did the same thing to them...

(The Regia is not new, just two single skeins that came along to be kids socks or anklets.)

They Are DONE!

The Irritating Austermans are finally done. Vanilla socks to fit ladies large or men's medium. Austerman Step, 68sts, 2.25mm needles, heel over 34sts, toe to 24sts. Started April 19, finished May 10. See this post for the explanation on the mismatched top of the cuffs.

I brought this home Friday night. No, it's not mine. It's all to make sample socks for the store. There's On Your Toes bamboo, DK, and 4ply, and Kureyon Sock.

When the Littlest One got over his flu, I had to get him some chicken. Daddy promised him when he was sick that when he was feeling better Mommy would get him some. He is his father's son, a KFC man through and through!
Have to keep this short. I have to take Ma to get hip xrays in a bit. The doctor thinks she has osteo-arthritis in her hips and may need both replaced.

Happy knitting!

It's On Its Way!

The Patons Stretch Sock is finally released! K called the company to order some stuff, and they told her they received it last week and has shipped ours out. I'll do a post when it arrives. We ordered every color.

Happy knitting!

Socks of Frustration!

Knit Nite: I can drive if you want. I know Marti is sans vehicle this week. Post a comment or pop in to the store, I work til three. Hopefully Heddy can be on backup, though, if the Littlest One isn't feeling well. Edit: I guess Heddy's driving. Now I won't have to clean the truck out. Yes!

So I've been working on the socks for the store. Those terrible socks for the store. Socks of Frustration. I had decided that since I was making them a little bigger than usual to be a ladies large or men's medium that I wouldn't try to match the stripes. I had wound what was left after sock one to see if I had the same number of pattern repeats, and it didn't look good. So I decided to just knit. (I'm usually very anal and HAVE to have matching stripes.) I got trucking along, and I came across a teeny, tiny knot. See that dark brown single row stripe near the needles?

Knotted, and knot/not in color sequence. See? Also....

It started to match back up to the first sock. So the top half of the cuff is all wonky, then it looks like the first sock. I'm just knitting. As much as this is annoying the heck outta me, I'm just knitting. They're meant more for display so people can see and feel how it knits up. (But I'll sell 'em if someone wants 'em! Money talks, and I can always make another pair.)

I've been thinking about World Wide Knit In Public Day. It's my weekend to work. I think this year I'll push it more. I am going to see if we can have a fishbowl sale for that day only. I will do like last year and knit outside the door it it's nice out. If not, I'll be inside. Anyone is welcome to join, just bring along a camp chair or something to sit on. Last year Heddy and Nova Knitter came down. Back to the sale -- I'm thinking that I'd get everyone who was there to shop in the yarn department to take a slip out of a bucket (not a real fishbowl, I doubt) before shopping. I'd like to have a couple of 40% off slips, a few 35% and 30%, mostly 25%, and 20% slips. See, that way if someone hauls a 40% slip then she's most likely going to buy more than if she hauls a 25% slip. It would suck to pick out your yarn, then haul out a big discount and wish you'd gotten more yarn. Have to talk with the Boss Lady first, and I hope she won't have any problems with it. (We'll have to do something, I just listed it on the website.)

So last Saturday was the annual Firemen's Banquet. Marti and her husband were there since they get invited because of his job. They didn't stay to the dance, though. It was a very sad occasion this year. A couple of hours prior to the start of the banquet one of the honorary Ladies Auxiliary members and mother to one of the current firemen and a very good friend of ours passed away unexpectedly. She is also the great aunt to my good friend and co-worker, T. Everyone in heaven better look out now! She was one fun and great lady, they'll get no rest with here there now. She was really good friends with hubby's grandmother who died in February. They were auxiliary members together. It's sad, too. This lady who just died bought a plaque in memory of hubby's grandmother as a bowling award. On the top it says in memory of hubby's Nanny, on the bottom it says donated by M. It was being presented to the winner tonight. There are spaces on it for 16 names, so it will be in circulation for 16 years.

The boys stayed with Nanny all night Saturday. Hubby was sick at the dance, and it wasn't alcohol induced! I think he had a touch of the flu. He ended up drinking water. He's the only one of us who had a flu shot. So the next day I go to get the Littlest One for Sunday school. Nanny informs me that he wasn't feeling well and didn't eat his breakfast. He wanted to go anyways, but he started crying near the end of Sunday school. Hubby's aunt came and got me and said he was laying on the floor out back, crying that he needed me. When we got back to my mother's he was sick. It got worse when we got home. All day long if he wasn't asleep he was sick to his stomach. Monday morning he woke up fine, his usual self, starving, of course. But tonight he started complaining about his belly again. He ate a really good supper. But come nine or so he was sick to his stomach again. He took some medicine and went to sleep. My fingers are crossed that he doesn't pass it around.

Lastly, I have signs of life in my garden! I'm so impressed. A green thumb have I not. Radishes -- planted with help from the boys. (Briggs n Little lilac yarn of some breed as a row guide.)

You can see some of their seeds got a little wayward in the foot path!

Happy knitting!