Gauge Lesson

The "man socks" are done! I knitted three socks to make a pair! I learned a lesson about gauge! Sock on the top = wrong! Sock on the bottom = success!!! Whew!

If you've been reading this blog you know I started these weeks ago. And, I said I was almost done a while back. Well, something went a bit wrong...as you can see with the sock on the top. It's ok to laugh. It does look pretty funny. And, I've had some pretty funny comments like how the heel is "substantial", and how it looks like it was made for someone with a club foot, and lots of "ohhhh, my!".

I tried to find a pattern that would be perfect for what I wanted and for this yarn (Moda Dea, Sassy Stripes) but had no luck. Through all the patterns I looked at, I decided that casting on 64 stitches would be perfect. As I knit the leg it looked great. The heel was ok. But, as I knitted the foot it started to look weird. I tried it on hubby and it seemed ok, loose, but ok, so I kept going...even if it did look ridiculous. I measured for the length of the foot and added the toe, tried it on hubby again and it was a bit tight in length. So, (I know this was silly) I added a couple more rows and stitched it up. That gave it a pointy toe. Ta Da! A man sock for a club footed elf!

Oh Boy! What to do?! Ah ha! The "Sock-U-Lator"! (there is a link to it on my side bar) I typed in the gauge, shoe size, measurements, etc. and had a perfect recipe for what I wanted. Turns out that I only needed to cast on 56 stitches. Who knew that only eight stitches less would make such a huge difference?! The two new ones fit perfectly now. And, they look like normal socks! Yay!

What a lesson in how important gauge is. Hopefully, as I knit through more patterns I'll get an even better understanding of gauge and be able make it work. In the meantime, I'm so thankful for people that design things like the "Sock-U-Lator" that can save my project.

Best of all...hubby loves them! He was so excited the whole time I was making them. When they were finished last night he put them on right away. I told him it was love on his feet. :-)

Knitting as Exercise

The "Quote of the Week" (on the right) from last week gets to stay longer...at least another week. Wishful thinking! I knit so much that if that quote were true I'd be in such great shape!!! I want to be in shape but I just don't seem to have the motivation or something. Ugh! I walk fairly regularly but it doesn't seem like enough and it's getting pretty boring. I think I'm in the worst shape of my life. A workout buddy would help but I can't seem to find one. Hmmmm? Back to knitting...for now.

Eye Candy Friday

A beautiful Fall day on a Texas ranch. I took this picture a few years ago on a trip to visit family. My cousin's in-laws have a gorgeous ranch with a little lake, beautiful houses, and they'd decorated a lot with pumpkins to celebrate Fall. I love this picture of an old wagon full of pumpkins. It was such a wonderful day and a great trip. I can't wait to go again.

I haven't posted much this week because I don't have any new FO's to show, yet. And, I haven't started any new projects. Although, I have gotten my wheel spinning again. I hope to have something to show for it next week. Which, happens to be "Spinning and Weaving Week". Hey, maybe I'll use that as an excuse to stop procrastinating and order a new reed for my loom. I've been thinking of getting one with less dpi (dents per inch ) so I can use thicker yarns for warp. I currently have a 12. So, I can only use thin yarns. Dish towels, towels, and rugs have been fun but I think something with fluffy, thicker yarn could be fun for a change. Plus, I have some things in my stash that have been there for too long. I'd like to bring them out to play. I'm thinking of getting a 6 dpi reed. If you're a weaver and you're reading this...I'd love any feedback you may have.

We may actually have cool, Fall like weather this weekend. That would be so great! I'm keeping my fingers crossed...or not...it might be hard to play with yarn that way. lol

Have a wonderful weekend! :- )

It's Hot!!!

This last Summer was pretty nice. Temperatures here were usually under 100. I think that's good! Now, the calendar says it's Fall but it sooo hot! It's been over 100 during the day and last night at 9 pm it was 92! Yuck!

Temperatures at the beach this Summer were very cool, often in the 60's. The water temperature was also in the 60's...brrrr! And, it was cloudy and overcast much of the time. We had planned to go often but only went once because of the chilly temps. Now it's hot down there and water temps are in the 70's!

Maybe it's time to go to the beach?!!

Alpaca Farm Day

This weekend is "National Alpaca Farm Days". A local knitting and crochet group that I'm a part of found out about it and a bunch of us met at a local alpaca farm to join in on the fun.

I'm already a HUUUUGE llama fan (I use to have some) and I've liked alpacas. But...now...I'm officially crazy about alpacas too. They are sooooooo cute, sooooo soft, and I soooooooo want to have some. Here's a glimpse of what I saw today...

Look at some of the beautiful colors they come in...


Mommy and baby....


Another adorable baby...


Up close...just look at that face...


My favorite baby alpaca. She's not shy at all. She loves to be in the middle off everything and follows people around. She loves attention. She's so cute and so soft with a nose and lips that are softer than velvet. She's sooooooo sweet!...


It got pretty hot, even in the shade. This alpaca knew what to do...Take a dip in the water tub!...


The farm also has beautiful rovings, yarns, kits, and other alppaca items for sale. They even have Mexican food available that is being cooked right there.

LLamas and alpacas are so magical to me. I love them. It was soooo much fun to spend some time with them. If you're in the area and interested, I'd definitely recommend a visit to "All American Alpaccas". The owners are very nice and their alpaccas are beautiful and well cared for.

Flavor of the Day

Today's muffin flavor...Apple Streusel.

I used some pre-measured muffin mix that I prepared a few weeks ago and got creative. I peeled and sliced a couple of Granny Smith apples and cooked them with a Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, and a little water until they were soft. Meanwhile, I mixed up the muffin batter and had it ready in the muffin pan. I made up some streusel topping (flour, brown sugar, Cinnamon and butter mixed/cut to form course crumbs). I spooned hot apples on top of the batter, sprinkled streusel on top and baked it.

They were soooooo good! My best yet! :-)

Ocean Breezes

Ahhh, fresh ocean air, a cool breeze, and a warm, soft scarf. The beach and knitting. These are two of my favorite things that come together in a book I got this week, "Ocean Breezes, Knitted Scarves Inspired by the Sea", by Sheryl Thies. The photos and patterns in this book are beautiful and unique. They're wonderfully textured and the variety of styles provide possibilities for everyone. There are scarves that are thick and warm, whispy and lacy, whimsical and fun, dressy, casual, rectangles, diamonds, "Goldfish Tails", a cowl, a collar, and more. Some of the inspiration came from waves, shells, mermaids, turtles, and starfish. It's fun to see how she interpreted the inspiration into knitting.

There are so many scarves in this book that I can't wait to knit...it'll be hard to pick the first one. The patterns appear to be clear and easy to understand. The author provides information about each scarf and the inspiration behind it. And, the book provides information on techniques and helpful advice to get the most from the projects. She says that it's a great skill building book. That sounds great to me...especially, with small projects that can provide learning, fun, and quick rewards. I love a knitting book that has lots of patterns that I love. This is one of those books!

I loved how I got this book too...free! I've been participating in Harris Online polls for years. They send me emails to take surveys. I do the surveys and earn points that I can redeem for merchandise or gift cards. I've gotten quite a few great things over the past few years, including gift cards for Target, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and now, Amazon. This time I had enough points to get $20 in giftcards at Amazon and this book is one of the things I got. Fun! I always love free, especially when it's great stuff like this...and especially when it's related to fiber fun!!! :-)

Here's to the sea and knitting, and to Sheryl Thies for bringing these two wonderful things together! :-)

FO!

I've been whining on here lately about some knitting projects that just seem to keep going and going and no matter how much I work on them they don't seem to be nearing completion. Don't get me wrong, I looooovvve knitting on them but FO's help keep some of the excitement going. So, yesterday my goal was to finish something. I just had to start something new to get one since all my other projects want to hang around a while longer. I had wanted to make some kind of "sweater" for my new coffee press (to help keep the coffee warm) and had some ideas rolling around in my head. I did a quick search on Ravelry and found a project that was pretty much what I had imagined. I used it for inspiration and got to work. Here is the result...


It has little buttons to hold it on...


This quick little project definitely doesn't provide the same uplift that the ones I'm working on will but it is nice to have a little accomplishment.

I had an "ah ha" idea this weekend that sort of gave me another FO. Earlier this year I had spun up some yarn to make a bag. The spinning went fine. The knitting went fine. The felting part...not so fine. Felting has usually gone well for me but this bag did it's own thing. It shrank down in height a LOT (more than usual) and got a LOT wider (this has never happened). Very weird! I had spent some time trying to think of a way to save the project, to make it different than originally planned but finally decided to pack it away for a while until I could come up with something. This weekend, I did! A cat bed! I folded down the sides, presented to the cat, she hopped in, and it was love at first nap...well, bath...that's the first thing she did in it, but she loves it. Yay! Another FO!


I think she actually likes this bed more than the one I made that was meant as a cat bed. The sides stay up better on this one and the size is purrrfect for her! I knitted a big rectangle, picked up stitches around the edge, and knitted sides...then it felted into a bed instead of a bag. I had planned to needle felt something onto the sides, add a fabric lining with lots of pockets and make it into a great project bag...but I think I like it better as a bed. :-)

Back to work on my sock and shawl projects!

I'm still here...

I don't have any FO's to post today but I've been busy... I've made more progress on the Pomatamus socks. I finished one of hubby's socks and hope to take a picture tonight to post. I've finished more Christmas gifts but now that some family members have my blog address I can't post pix. I've knitted a lot on the Crescendo shawl and it's now half of the 66" needed. It seems like it's just eating the yarn though because I'll knit and knit and when I measure it seems to have barely grown. I think that's because it's so heavily textured. I just started into the sixth ball of yarn!

The weather was soooo nice this weekend with beautiful days in the 70's and chilly nights. Ahhhhh! I love that! I did a little baking this weekend and made a delicious pot of chicken soup and a batch of biscuits for dinner last night. My daughter was down with a cold most of the weekend and the chicken soup seemed to help. :-)

A Flower for a Friend

This post is dedicated to my friend, Anita. She passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. I met Anita in high school and we've been friends for about 30 years. She had such a big heart with so much love. And, she was such a strong person. She was born with Cerebral Pasly that stiffened her muscles so much that she spent her entire life in a wheel chair. It made it difficult for her to talk and be understood. It even made it difficult for her to hug and be hugged.

She would steer her wheelchair with her chin and a little joystick kind of thing. She needed assistance for pretty much everything she needed to do. Like getting dressed, going to the bathroom, brushing her teeth, eating, etc. But, all that didn't stop her from living. She typed with a pencil clenched between her teeth. She graduated from high school and went on to graduate from college with a bachelors degree. She wasn't able to get a paid job but that didn't stop her from working. She rode a public bus for many years to volunteer in a hospital and then in a hospital for elderly. She loved that because she was able to visit with the patients and felt that she was making a difference in their lives by being there for them.

She did a lot of reading and loved God with a passion that I've never seen. Even over the past couple of years when she was so sick. She was looking forward to going to heaven so much that she was excited about it. I was looking at some pictures of her that she sent to me after she was diagnosed with cancer and on the back of one of them it says: "I am imagining I am in the ocean where there is simply beautiful creatures swimming all around me. This is a fore taste of what's yet to come in the future with the Big Guy up above."

After she got sick she didn't want to see friends anymore (which I still struggle to understand), but I realize that after almost 50 years of being so strong, and with the excitement she had to meet and be with God, I need to be happy for her. I just miss her and I'm so sad that I haven't been able to see her in so long and will never see her again. But, I have to believe she is in a better place and finally free from the stiffness that has restrained her.

Thank you, Anita, for loving me like no friend ever has and being an example that I will continue to learn from. What a woman!

I also just found out that her mother passed away in September after a battle with the same terrible disease. She was 85 and was also a very strong and amazing woman. That makes four people that I know of who have died from cancer in the past year. Cancer is so unfair!!!

A note to any doctors that may read this and to any of us who may ever need to be a patient... Patients need choices and their decisions need to be respected. Anita wasn't given all the information she needed when she was diagnosed and faced surgery. The doctor decided for her that when he did a hysterectomy that he would also take her bladder out as a precaution. She never would have allowed that if she'd known. She ended up with a urine bag on the side of her chair and was so humiliated that she didn't want anyone to see her like that. It took away her dignity and her will to live. That wasn't right! She wished she could go back and figure out how to keep that from happening. Unfortanately, that wasn't possible. But, maybe others can learn from it so it doesn't happen to anyone else.