Wednesday WIP's

Baldwin is taking shape. Tomorrow I'll finish the second arm and piece him together.  I learned how to do a 3 needle bind off that was very nice for his head.  I'll probably use that for my next pair of socks.

(I think I'm going to make him fatter...I mean squishier.)

And I finished the first Regia sock in "Clown Rings" yesterday and got started on the second one.  Still don't like the texture of the yarn, but I do like the sock!

I also started the Opal sock today, but no picture yet.  The kids hate the colors, but it's not like they have the best taste on earth with their underwear hanging out and their britches sagging.  You'd think the socks were for them for as many comments as they make on them.  😳. They wish I would make them socks, but no dice.  Socks only for me....

Baldwin and Sock Yarn

Here's my progress on Baldwin.  (I hope I have enough yarn....he may not have arms....) I love him.  I showed him to Andrew and he was not impressed.  "It's just yarn, Michele....." 😧 (No paracord for you!)

And I may have purchased this yarn tonight with my PayPal/eBay proceeds....  Ok.  I did.

Andrew

As many of you know, Andrew has been out of work since October. He applies constantly and has interviews, but cannot seem to find work.  Well, let's just say he's starting to get bored.  He does the dishes.  He vacuums. I'm hoping that soon he will start to cook. 😳

We were talking one afternoon and I mentioned that I wanted to buy a Lego kit and build something cool.  "Is that dumb?" I asked him and he actually said, "No."  He usually rolls his eyes--especially with my hobbies.  Then one day in Target he walks down the Lego aisle and asks me which one I liked.  None of them were very captivating to me.  I told him I wanted landmarks or buildings like the puzzles we used to do when we first started dating.

Long story short, when we were eating lunch Saturday, he says, "You've got me wanting a 3-D puzzle, dang it!"  I was shocked!  So, I opened up the eBay app and searched for Puzz3D puzzles.  We found 2 for under $10 each so we bought 'em.  Below is one of the ones we bought.  Can't. Wait.

And then, tonight, I knew he was truly losing his mind (as if dishes, vacuuming, and puzzles weren't clue enough) when I caught him watching YouTube videos for paracord accessories.  "I have paracord in the craft room." "Really? What colors?"  Oh my, something crafty?  He needs a job..... 😜

Magic Loop

I took a class today to learn the Magic Loop technique.  This is a technique that allows you to knit socks in the round without using DPNs. It will also allow for knitting two socks at the same time on one needle, but that's a few months down the road....

Here's my little swatch I that I did.  I then came home and frogged it.

Why?  Well, because I learned the technique so I could finally make monsters.  Here's the first leg that I did wrong, but I love!  So I started over.  Again.  The monster starts on DPNs, which is kinda tricky, but I'm sure no one cares how the bottom of his feet look.

Here's the guy with two,legs transitioning to the magic loop.  His name is Baldwin the Bathroom Monster by Rebecca Danger.  I got through 4 rows and he's looking pretty good.   He might actually get finished tomorrow because now that I get the concept, I'm moving pretty fast.  And I get to use up scraps without using new skeins.

Craft Room Success

Despite the failing of my Kandahar socks, I did manage to meet my organizational goals in my craft room.

All my yarn is organized and discretely labeled

Shelves are labeled.

This bad boy is empty and in a different room now!!  (It's holding all my stuff that is listed on eBay.)

I now have room for a bigger chair!

My pegboard is reorganized

And my desk is visible.

But my socks are still dead.😞

RIP Kandahar Socks

I should have stopped hours ago when I made the first mistake and dropped a stitch.  But, I thought I was good. I took this picture of my progress and posted it on Instagram. 

Then I got distracted, folded some laundry, played Dice with Buddies, checked my email and I mistook the middle stitch marker for the beginning stitch marker and worked for 6 rows.  SIX ROWS. But, I did not cry.  I frogged it and put the book/pattern away.  

So, here's my Kandahar Sock in it's current state.  And here's my feelings on that--😣.  Lace patterns for socks are for people who have nothing on their mind, so I'm saving these socks for Summer break.  Or a days when Andrew is not home.

Thankful for Thursday

One more day of work this week. I'm now 25 days away from summer vacation--and I'm pretty psyched. It's been a great school year and I'm happy to close out a year on a good note.

Also........more time for socks.  Here's the latest pair of pairs...

Regia 4-ply in Clown Stripes. I don't really like the yarn against my fingers.  Wool vs. superwash wool--no brainer. BUT, they'll be pretty awesome next winter so I forge onwards.

And to make things worse? My second pair of socks is in Regia 4-ply, also.  Not as scratchy, but not silky, either.  The good things about these socks is the awesome pattern--Kandahar by Alice Yu in her Socktopus book.  Love the twisty lines and the lace work isn't so bad.  I can manage 16 rows pretty swiftly, so they may take longer, but they aren't tedious to knit.  Not the best pick of yarn to pattern, but it's still working out nicely.

AND? I moved all my yarn to the big bookcase today.  Love it!  The small bookcase is about to meet a new room in the house and the craft room is about to have room for a bigger chair!!!! Yay!

Craft Room Revamp

Over break, I used by IKEA wares to reorganize my craft room.  I needed to take out the big bins and put smaller bins In their place so that things epwere easier to find and access.

The IKEA bins are on the third shelf.  I put scrapbook paper in the ends to tell what's in each bin.  Also, I managed to clear out 4 squares since this picture and I brought all my craft books back into the room.

I bought this lovely organizer at Michael's to organize the scrapbook paper I kept and that opened up space in my little cupboard for my stamps, stickers, remotes, and knitting notions.

And lastly, I organized my yarn by weight and managed to empty on bin on the bottom and filled it with my project bags.  Of course, I did not yet clean out the side of the cabinet as you can tell by the crap piled there (Don't tell my dad).  Actually, since this picture, the pillow is in the chair, the box is in the closet and the bag got thrown away.  

I continue to purge and downsize. My goal is to empty the yarn storage unit and move it to the bedroom.  Soon, my stash will be small enough to do this.  I could do it now if I weren't so darn tired and achy from being on my feet all day to monitor the ACT. Sooooo boring.

😜

4 Day Socks!

I mentioned a pair of socks in yesterday's post and then I looked back a saw a previous update that hadn't published and realized you probably thought I had imaginary socks on the needles.  Never fear! I did, I just didn't have proof.  Now, I do.  Here's my beautiful socks that took me 4 days to k it.  Pretty amazing for me.  I'm especially proud of myself.

So proud, if fact, that I cast on 2 pairs today.   This padri to work on at work--plain vanilla knitting. 

And this pair from the Socktopus book I showed you yesterday.  This is the Kandahar pattern.  Kinda tricky at first, but I'm sailing along quite nicely.  This pair will be knit at home where I can concentrate on the lace sections.  

Not bad for a day that started out fighting with a neighbor and being late to work.  Proof that knitting can make a bad day good.

Mail Day Monday

Having trouble getting my photos to sync this evening, but I have reserve pictures!

This beautiful book is now mine!  $4 on amazon!  It arrived Saturday and I was able to stealthily hide the evidence of it's arrival.  On Sunday I made a list of all my sock yarns and the matched them to the patterns I want to do for this book.  Up first is Kandahar in Regia mosaic. Yay!

And today (1 day early and discovered by Andrew) the skein of yarn I bought at midnight last week finally arrived. And it is so much more beautiful in person.  I'll be knitting Socks from the above book in this.  And they will probably get worn every week until they fall apart.

Didn't finish the second sock today, but I'm right at the toe decrease.  I would have stayed up to finish it, but going back to work wore me out.  I'm off to bed! 😴

Spring Break

Here's my spring break in pictures:

New Chucks arrived on Saturday!

Grandpa's Cheese Barn was a pit stop on my trip to Columbus on Sunday. Chocolate was needed.

Conned Dad into taking me to IKEA on Monday.

Dad took me to Schmidt's for lunch! Oy! German Potato Salad!

Midnight yarn purchase.

Snow on Tuesday morning!

Bill Knapp's at Kroger!!  Did you see that?  Bill. Knapp's. Man, I miss that restaurant.

The Glass Axis on Tuesday. (Check out Dad's shoes!)

The Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch--

--with these guys!

Home on Wednesday.  Dentist, dinner with Lisa.

Thursday, this guy got married.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday--knitting!

Two Pair Finished Today

I wanted to have these finished on Monday so I could complete a other pair of socks over Spring a Break, but I did other important things and these guys had to wait until today. 

Desert Vista Dyeworks Logo Stripe socks complete!

Turtlepurl Trenchcoat socks are done.

And I'm going to bed.

Sock yarn is my current weakness

There's this really semi famous yarn called Russian Rainbow. The dyer is AlaskanNancy on etsy.  Well, she quit dying months ago and started traveling the globe. This occurred just as I was finding out about the yarn.  Naturally.  Well, I recently started stalking her shop and casually sent an email that I would like to purchase her yarn if she ever starts dyeing again.

Ta-Da!  She emailed me back and the yarn landed in my hot little hands today!  This picture does not do it justice--but my socks will!!  *swoon*

I also managed to score another lovely skein of LollipopYarn's self striping yarn.  This time I got Watercolor Memories.  It is all kinds of rainbow-y lovely...  (This one arrived yesterday!)

And here's my two finished socks. I started the other ones today!  They should be done over Spring Break--which starts tomorrow after school!  (Yay!!)

3 more days

In 3 days, I'll be on Spring Break.  And let me tell you, I'm ready.  

I would ideally like to spend my entire break in a little cabin somewhere ALONE.  Seriously.  Completely alone.  A chair and a table and a bed. Knitting, radio, wifi, iPad, books that make chuckle, and paper and pencil/pen.  A cat.  No phone.  No husband.  No voices of pubescent children using foul language.

Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind spending my summer break in this same fashion.

Blue thumbs

I managed to turn the second heel today--not yesterday like I wanted.  I needed a nap yesterday--as predicted.  So, today I worked on the Desert Vista Dyeworks sock and ended up with blue thumbs.  The dye rubbed off from the dark blue stripe.  With blue thumbs, there was no way I was going to touch my Burberry socks.

Once I got home where the good soap is, I worked up to the red stripe towards the toe.  Tomorrow, I should get to the toe on both.  I hope.  As for now, my eyes are tired and so am I.  Off to bed!

Socks 6 and 7.1 for 2014

Ah!  Socks!  Oh, how I love socks!

Here's my progress on this month's socks.  Turtlepurl's Trenchcoat is on top.  Loving the Burberry-esque stripes!  And Desert Vista Dyeworks DVD Logo stripes on the bottom. This one is prettier than I thought it was going to be. Love her yarn!  (I've labeled it sock 7.1 because I started knitting the shibui sock yarn first and didn't like it.)

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get to the heels on both!

Knitters Fantasy in Youngstown, Ohio

So, today was a knitters festival in Youngstown.  I've gone for 3 years straight.  You can take classes, swap yarn or patterns, participate in a fashion show, hang out with lots of knitters and of course, buy lots of yarn...

With my self imposed monetary limits, I managed to only buy these 2 things.  Not bad!  I had told myself to only buy yarn for projects in my ravelry queue.  I was not allowing myself to buy yarn because it was pretty and then sit in my stash basket waiting for inspiration to strike.

So, I got myself some #2 needles for "Monkey" socks by Cookie A (they require 64 stitches and my usual socks are 56 so I had to get smaller needles, etc....). And some Opal sock yarn that I've been dying to try. 

But, the best part of the day was hanging out with mom.  It's nice to hang out with someone you actually like to hang out with--in past years I did not exactly have a great time, but I always got great yarn.  This year, I got both. 

Stashbust? Um, no.

Ok, so perhaps I've failed a teeny tiny bit on the "don't buy any yarn this year" front.  There was the yarn mom bought me, the Playstation4 retaliation yarns, and now the craftshow proceeds yarn.

Here's the final retaliation yarn--Kroy Sporty Stripes.  So lovely in person.

And here's the first craft show proceeds yarn--Dancing Dog Dyeworks, I can't remember the color, but it has "Summer" in the name and I'm too lazy to get up and go look.

My students are continually asking me why I knit socks when I can go buy them.  Then they see the finished sock and ask me if they can have it.  Ha!  I also had a coworker jokingly tell me how selfish I was to only knit socks for myself.  I told him, "After all these years of knitting and crocheting for others, I've decided to make myself nice things.  I used to want people to make things for me and I finally decided to take a class and learn.  And everyone else can go do the same.  These socks are mine, pal."  He laughed and said, "I like that in you."