More Birthday Socks

We had a bit of snow, I can't even remember the exact date, sometime after my last post. The dogs loved it. However, the next day it was really mild, and it pretty much all went away. First Maggie checked it out...

...then Jewel checked it out.

She looks kind of bug eyed cuz she was just getting ready to shake the snow off.

Saturday the 14th was the Littlest One's 9th birthday. He went bowling, too.

These are two of our nephews. The little one on his hands and knees is four and has never bowled before. He was so good, I couldn't believe it, but he made me nervous cuz every time he'd throw the ball he'd pretty much fall, and I was scared he'd hit his face. There is a thing for kids to use to roll the ball down instead of throwing it (not sure when they got it, first time I've ever seen it there), but he only used it once or twice, and he did much better on his own. I think his final score was 69, he tied for first!

Then it was presents, pizza, and cake time. The only picture I got of him with the cake, he didn't even wait for the Happy Birthday song to finish, he blew the candles out, lol.

I finished his birthday socks up on the 15th. They are a plain 3x2 rib over 55sts (had 56sts on for the cuff, then decreased one stitch), heel over 28sts so I could get purl stitches on either side of the top of the foot. I cast on one stitch on the top of the foot before toe shaping so I'd have 14-28-14sts. Toe to 20sts. The yarn is ONline Supersocke 100 Walking Color, Ravelry details here.

So we had a little bit of snow again last Friday. It ended up snowing, then raining, then snowing again, then the sun came out. Then it got cold, and the little bit of snowy slush we had turned to ice. But that didn't last, today it's like +8C and raining, everything is gone.

I had a very pleasant surprise the other Sunday (Jan 15th). Suppertime my doorbell rings, and I go to answer it. When I open the inside door there standing is my very BFF of 33 years. The surprise part was that she lives in Alberta, I'm in Nova Scotia, and I didn't know she was coming! It was a last minute thing more or less, she found out that Friday that she was coming home for four or five days, and she wouldn't let her family tell me she was coming. She works in a bar/restaurant, and her boss sent her home to get lobsters. This weekend past they had a Maritimes Festival, so they wanted nice, fresh, Maritime lobsters. So she stayed til Wednesday, but that afternoon they headed back to the city. She went with two of her brothers and her father to a comedy show in the city, then her plane left 7am on Thursday. Hubs was like, "They could have arranged that over the phone", but I told him not to look a gift trip in the mouth, lol. Any time her boss wants to fly her home for a few days for lobsters we'll take it!! (And I had a pair of socks put away for her to give to her this summer. I gave them to her now, and she said they were the best fitting pair of socks I've knit for her so far!)

Happy knitting!

PS Hop on over to new Mom Heddy's blog and see her little Munchkin -- he's SO cute!!

Belated Birthday Socks

Last Saturday was the Oldest One's 12th birthday. It was a busy day, he had a bowling party with some friends, then they came back to the house for a bit for video games, snacks, opening the gifts, and cake, of course. This Saturday we get to do it all over again when the Littlest One turns 9.


The Oldest One got $60 in his birthday cards. He's ever such a pack rat and bargain hunter, he's forever on Facebook on one of the local classified ads groups looking for bargains. He found someone selling a Rock Band set, microphone, guitar, and drum set along with three games. They wanted $75, then $65, then he got them down to $60. They love it, and it wasn't a bad deal, either. Lots of good, old songs on there that Dad and I will play, too.

So last night I finally got his birthday socks finished. He likes bright socks. This yarn was gotten at a Knit Nite exchange. It's Phildar Hobby, the socks are plain vanilla 60sts on 2.5mm needles, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. Ravelry details here.

So now I get to try and crank out a pair of socks for the Littlest One for his birthday, but I figure they'll be late, too. I took the girls for a walk this morning. Maggie can be really weird on a leash, she'd definitely be run over if she was loose anywhere, she chases cars. She's not too bad if we're walking with the traffic (usually). But when we are facing oncoming traffic she tends to try and run out into the road when the car gets beside her and try to chase it. (I love her dearly, she's my baby, but she ain't playing with a full deck.) So I wrap the leash around my hand and keep it really short when we're places with much traffic where she might try and chase cars. The leash attaches to a coupler that has two teethy grip things near the top that are supposed to keep the dogs on even leads, but they pull so much that they must be wearing the teeth down, and sometimes it moves, so Jewel ends up with a shorter lead cuz Maggie pulls the most. Anyhoo, I've got them held short, but Maggie decides to lunge off the sidewalk after a car, Jewel isn't pulling, so Maggie starts pulling the coupler longer on her end. I yelled at her, yanked back hard cuz by this time she was out in the road, and in the process hurt the three middle fingers on my right hand. The finger next to the pinky is hurting big time, I'm trying to type without using that finger, it's got a nice, black bruise on it now, too. Silly girl. Haven't tried to knit on it yet, could be interesting. (And of course, I'm right handed.)

Happy knitting!

Open Studio

The first FO of 2012, it's Open Studio, started Jan 1, finished on the 3rd. Knit on 4.5mm needles with MacAusland's Woolen Mills 2 ply fine yarn that I picked up on our PEI trip in August of 2010. I followed the pattern to the letter, I did 12 rows of ribbing, then I did the size with five cable repeats before top shaping. Ravelry details here.

The Littlest One modelled it for me when I was getting ready to take them to school. It was just starting to flurry a bit, thus the little specks of white on the hat. He had ants in his pants, it was hard to get good pictures, I guess he was excited because of the snow.

We ended up getting our first "real" snowfall of the season today, even though it still didn't amount to much. I class it as the first "real" snowfall because I did actually have to take the shovel and scrape the steps and walkway off. It's just enough to cover the ground, maybe two inches at most. I took the girls for a walk in it, they must have thought they were part of a sled dog team, they pulled really bad today. They love the snow. On the way home when we were just up on the corner from our house Jewel thought it would be fun to try and rave with Maggie. I didn't think it was such a good idea, two dogs trying to wrestle on a leash with a divider on it.... Luckily Maggie didn't really play back, so Jewel settled down again!

Happy knitting!

FOs of 2011

FO count for 2011 was WAY down compared to previous years. Here's the breakdown:

adult socks - 20
child socks - 2
felted slippers - 14
other slippers - 1
hats - 9
scarves - 2
shawl - 1
baby blanket - 1
dishcloths - 6

TOTAL -- 56 finished items

2010 was 124 FOs, 2009 was 98... most years I'm over 100 FOs or close to it. Hope to do more in 2012!

Happy knitting!

FOs of 2011:
Camo Harris Tweeds 16
Smores Socks 17
Reversible Cabled Scarf
Nola's Slippers
Chestnut Pumpkin Slippers
Valentine Socks 18
Rosewood Chestnut Slippers
Gedifra Socks 19
Wasabi Vanillas 20
Basketweave Baby Blanket
Rainbow Socks 21
Desert Storm Socks 22
Five Pairs Felted Slippers
Bamboo Cafe Mocha 23
Silk Socks 24
My Mexicalas 25
Sporty Footies 26
Nation Footies
Laura's Slippers
Teachers' Dishcloths
Winterscape Socks
Ribbed Socks 1
Brown Watchcap
Four Pairs Slippers
Socky Socks 2
Hermione Cable and Eyelet Hat
Merry Merry Socks 3
Cascade Socks 4
Jacques Cousteau Hats
Copper Socks 5
Pinkie Socks 6
22.5 Degrees
Longish Traffic Island Socks 7
Greg's Replacement Slippers
Step FIL Slippers
Jamie's Tube Scarf
Three Marsan Watchcaps
Thujas 9
Traffic Island Ankle Socks 8
Grey Watchcap