rpms

As a finale to my SOS, here's pair #8. They are Noro Kureyon Sock rpms in shade 184. Started August 18, finished August 27. It's the largest size on 2.25mm needles. I started off on the "wrong foot" so-to-speak with this yarn. The first sock had two breaks in the yarn in the cuff, even though I was very, very careful when I came to the thick wonky spots in the yarn. However, it redeemed itself by not doing that again in either sock, nor did I come across any knots.

For the second time ever I finished a pair of socks with short row heels. I followed Aija's instructions in the pattern which was different from any other method I'd tried. It worked very well! I'll definitely refer to her instructions any time I try SRHs. I had to rip the heel of the second sock out cuz I messed up somewhere along the way and had a large hole in one spot. I made the mistake of not finishing the heel in one sitting.

Although the Kureyon Sock wasn't the best sock yarn I'd ever knit with, I would use it again. We only had two colorways in this yarn, and I like the other one better. I think I'll make myself a pair out of the other colorway. (Here's what it looks like knit up.)

I'll still be knitting socks, but now that SOS is over for me I can contrate on other things. I want to make a couple of my baby sets for the store, work on the afghan, knit a sweater for the store.... I still have to work in at least one pair of socks per month for the Sock-A-Month KAL. That shouldn't be a problem since I need a few pairs for Christmas gifts.

I have to work tomorrow night and Saturday if any of my yarn floozies are around and want to visit. After work on Saturday we'll head to the camper til Monday. The kids go to school on Thursday. It is the Littlest One's first year. The Oldest One is going into grade three.

Happy knitting!

PS I just remembered that these socks were soaking in wool wash, been there for hours. They did soften up a lot and feel quite nice.

Upper Clements

I've been chugging along on my afghan squares. So far I have 8/48 completed, four sage green and four variagated. Four squares, two of each, make one "block", so I want to get these seamed (on Marti's excellent advice) before I make any more. I also finished one of the Noro Kureyon Sock rpms (pictures to follow next post) and started the second. I want to get them finished before the end of SOS, my 8th and final pair.

Friday we went to Upper Clements Park. I had all kinds of air miles, and since West Jet ended their Air Miles partnership I've been using them for Sobeys gift certificates, and I also got five premium passes to the park. We took the boys and our 17 year-old nephew. (Five premium passes are $112.50. With the certificates -- $0.00!)

This is the roller coaster. It's wooden and quite a short but rough ride. I find it beats you around too much. I did go on twice with the kids, and that was enough for me. I don't like heights, but for some reason this roller coaster has never bothered me. (Now a ferris wheel, that's a different story.) You'd never catch me in a million years on anything like what I saw in the West Edmonton Mall in Galaxyland. Never this thing, either. (Every time I see the commercial it's like, "No, not for me."


There was bumper boating.

Bumper carring.

But the best ride of all in the park is the Flume ride. This doesn't bother me for height either, for some reason. Maybe it's cuz I've been here nearly every summer since it opened and have always done the roller coaster and the Flume.

That's Hubs, me and the boys going down the second and steepest drop.

We are inside that splash somewhere!

I got totally soaked no matter where I sat. Back, middle, front.... It took a long time to convince the Oldest One to go on. The Littlest One loved it and would just go up the stairs after the ride and get right back in line. It's great to go on a weekday cuz it isn't so busy. We didn't have to wait for more than five minutes or so per turn, and towards the end of the day it was even better. I've been there before when it's been fifteen minute waits.

We went into Annapolis Royal on the way home for supper. We went here and got the best pizza EVER! The crust was perfect, never had such a good crust on a pizza before. Everything was just great. Too bad it's like an hour-and-a-half drive away. They sell chicken, too.

There were loads more rides, like the train that goes across the park, the airplane and big truck rides, water slides, etc, but these were the highlights and probably what was enjoyed the best. I know the Littlest One went at least 12+ times on the Flume.

Must go finish supper so I can go outside and sit. I find it incredibly hot here today, and my house is like an oven.

Happy knitting!

The Beach

I took the boys to the beach on Monday. It was a gorgeous day. We went to the little beach down the road from Nova Knitter's place. It's small and quiet, the way I like it. I finished another afghan block.

I started the Noro Kureyon Sock rpms. I only got a row or two finished, and the kids wanted to leave. I'm liking this yarn a little bit better now. I am almost to the heel of the first sock. It twists on itself, which is annoying. The thick/thin thing is a bugger as well. Twice the yarn broke on me in the cuff cuz I hit big wonky spots. I didn't pull much, but it broke anyways. So far (fingers crossed) I haven't had it happen again. The color changes are gorgeous, though. If all goes well with the rest of the sock and the other one I may be convinced to make another pair. Maybe.

There's a wharf across from the beach.

The boys played in the water. I'm convinced kids have no feeling. Too cold for me. (The pictures aren't the greatest. My camera batteries were mostly dead, and I was zoomed way in on them from my chair where I was hunkered down with my knitting. My AA battery charger is among the missing. Can't find it anywhere, so I'm using batteries from disposable cameras from work which only last for a couple of shots.)

There were some gull visitors and lots of plovers, but I didn't get any pictures of them. They're fast, and I was too busy fighting with the camera.

There was a kayaker and a father and son snorkel team. There are cabins to rent right on the beach, so it's a great spot for tourists.

There was a big, pretty, shiny rock. That would make a pretty sock, I think.

The sea-worn brick looked outta place on the other rocks. I have this picture as my desktop background right now.

That's about it. I couldn't get on-line at home this morning, so I couldn't upload any sock progress pictures. Hope it works tonight, I'll go nuts without the internet. I will probably miss Knit Nite tonight. I have to pick my lawnmower up after work. I hit a rock a couple of weeks ago with it, and it's finally fixed. The grass looks like a jungle. Tomorrow I have company in the afternoon and a corn boil in the evening, and Friday we are going here. Didn't get there on Monday cuz Hubs got a good run Sunday night, too good to pass up. Good miles and good pay slips for loading and delivering. Then it's camping for the weekend, so I only have tonight to do the lawn.

Happy knitting!

Boot Socks

We went camping on the weekend. I took the boot socks with me. It rained all day Saturday. It slowed down enough that we got a campfire going in the evening. Sunday was beautiful, so the sock went to the pool.

I finished them last night, thus making seven pairs for SOS so far. Here's the low-down on how I did them:

On Your Toes DK Boot Sock Yarn.

Ladies Large/Mens Medium:

Cast on 52sts on 3.25mm needles. Rib 1x1 for 20 rows. Rib 3x1 rib for 25 rows. Heel over 26sts for 24 rows. Turn heel starting as follows: S1, K13, SSK, K1. Turn. S1 P 3 P2tog P1. Continue like this til 13sts remain. Next row: K2tog, K to the end. Pick up 13 gusset stitches each side, continue 3x1 rib on top of foot. 19-26-19sts. Decrease gusset stitches every second row til 13-26-13sts. Work 40 rows after gusset decreases. Standard toe to 20sts.

I can see some of the men on my Christmas list getting these this year.

I also started my mother's afghan. I have a goal of six blocks per week, and I need a total of 48. I figure if I achieve that it will get me til the end of October. I surely must be able to seam it and do the border by Christmas. This is my first afghan and also my first foray with bobbles. Not a fan, I'll admit. They look wonky to me, but I guess that's how they go. I'm sure my mother won't notice that they aren't perfect.

The neighbors had a bunch cut off their tree the other day. It's really old and big but had a lot of rotten branches. They were scared in a big storm that branches could hit their house or land on my truck. (I did move the truck while they were working. Good thing, too, cuz a lot of it landed in my driveway.)

After. You can't see really well, but there are a few skinny limbs with leaves on them still attached. Years down the road it should fill in again. The guy who we bought our house from did this to his trees the year before we bought it. (So it has been eight years that the trees have been regrowing.) They have filled in very nicely. I hated it at first, now they look decent again. Hopefully theirs will fill back in, too. They've been there for fifty years, built the house, and the tree was there then, and it was big. So she's really old, and they hated to do that to it but didn't really have a choice.

Anyhoo, must go start supper. We went to the beach today. Maybe I'll get some pictures up in the next couple of days.

Happy knitting!

PS -- Marti has a big announcement, and so does Nova Knitter. Go look!

Quill Lace

I finished BF's second pair of socks, right on the deadline I had chosen. These are Quill Lace socks. I added 5 rows of 2x2 rib at the cuff, downsized to 2.75mm needles, did the toe to 20sts. The yarn is Kertzer On Your Toes Bamboo in ivory. Started July 31, finished August 12.





These make pair six for SOS. I have another pair on the needles now, just a boot sock in Kertzer On Your Toes DK. I also have one more pair of socks I'd like to finish before the end of SOS, but we'll see. I have some other projects I'd like to start working on that aren't socks. We're going to the camper this weekend, and Monday we are taking the kids and our nephew here. (Used air miles to get five premium passes for free.) I'll probably just work on socks both places, maybe take the stuff to start my mother's afghan squares.

We got our yarn order in yesterday, but unfortunately the Patons Stretch Sock is backordered til the end of August. The supplier was out of stock due to overwhelming demand. I had also ordered the new Kroy striping colors, and none of that arrived. All we got was more Bernat Sox and a bag of Handicrafter that was ordered in for a customer.

Happy knitting!

PS Chrissy has started a new shop. Check out this post with details on how to get your hands on a free skein of her gorgeous yarn to test knit for her!

There Was a Little Dress

The cutest little dress,
The cutest little dress you ever did see...
(To the tune of a song called "There Was a Little Car" that we sang in music class back in grade two or so. I still remember the entire song and used to sing it to the boys all the time. I actually sang it to them the other night.)

Here it is blocking.

Of course, I wanted to take some nice pictures outside, and it decided to rain on me and thwart my plans. The pictures don't do this little dress justice. It's probably the cutest baby thing I've ever knit. I've never knit the dress before, but I did take the lace pattern and modify it to make one of my 0-3 month baby jacket sets.

Snuck out on the side steps to snap a couple. Pretty Dress Up, started July 4, finished August 7. Phildar Phil Luxe yarn received from my pal during Secret Pal 4. It's 85% acrylic, 15% wool. Time consuming with all the lace and picot edges, but well worth it!

I spied these buttons at the store ages ago and SO wanted to make something with them. They're just the cutest. There are other colors as well.

Jewel sticking her head of the hole she made in my screen door. Brat. I have to watch the cats cuz I caught Pumba trying to hoist his roly poly-ness out the hole. Must get new door. (A whole new door cuz the glass is long gone out of this one. Hubs put his elbow through it once upon a time by mistake.)

"You went outside and talked to someone one night and left me inside. I could see you, and I didn't like it that you were outside without me. I showed you!" Yes, she's my Evil Baby. Good thing she's cute.

She put herself in time out the other night. I looked around for evidence of buggeriness but didn't find any -- this time. Maybe she just wanted to be alone. She goes in her from time to time, but usually just when she hears strange noises and gets spooked.

Up close and personal with Pumba. He doesn't mind til she gets those teeth going at him! She's starting to get along a little better with Simba and Nala, especially Simba. He isn't flying into her as much any more. He actually lets her sniff him a little tiny bit, but not too much. She takes it the wrong way that he may want to play, so then it's over.

The boys got to watch some construction today. The neighbors have a leaky water pipe, again! They just had their driveway (shared between the white house in the front there and another house you can't see directly behind it) dug up a couple of weeks ago, just in front of the spot being dug up here. Not sure who's pipe it was either time. The kids liked watching the digger. I'm sure my neighbor(s) didn't like the bill.

That's about it for now. I'm working tonight and tomorrow, so any of my yarn floozies that wanna visit me feel free! Sock yarn is the yarn of the month at the store this month, probably the last time for quite awhile. We'll start featuring more "wintery" (yes I said that, and yes, I got a slip to pick up the Sears Wishbook today!) yarns starting in September.

Happy knitting!

Broadripples

We went to the camper this past weekend. It wasn't a good weekend for camping weatherwise, it rained most of the time. It did make for excellent knitting conditions, though.

Broadripples in On Your Toes 4ply in turquoise print. Started August 1 for our knitting group's Blue Sock KAL to help Heddy get her sock mojo back. Friday at 7pm.


Friday at 9pm.

Friday at 11pm, gusset decreases finished.

Saturday at 1:45pm. Sock one completed.

Sunday at 1 pm, second sock completed! I think this is the fastest pair of socks I ever knit. I changed to 2.75mm for this pair, cuz I find they run a little big using the recommended needle size.

There was a break in the weather long enough to have a campfire Saturday night. It was the first time we've had one since the fire ban was lifted.

We had some stuff called Mystical Fire that makes it burn funky colors. It lasted a really long time, I was surprised. Ours turned greeny/blue.

Happy knitting!