It's a good thing it's only a practice sock

I have started my practice sock for the second time. I was going to use the Cable Twist socks with a few modifications for a sock weight yarn as Grumperina did, but I was having issues since this is only the second adult size sock I have made and a different type of heel and toe than I did on my first sock. Luckily I ordered Favorite Socks and it arrived yesterday. As I was looking through I noticed a pattern by Ann Budd called Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks.



They have the same stitch pattern as the Cable Twist socks but the pattern is written for fingering weight yarn! Now I don't have to think so hard. I only had the leg done on the Cable Twist socks; there were a couple of minor mistakes and it was a little tight, so it wasn't overly painful to frog it all. I knitted most of it while I was on the plane to and from Atlanta. At least I got better at the left twist stitch so this new sock should go a lot faster.


Before frogging.

I joined my LYS's sock of the month club and I am really excited. Sock yarns and sock knitters!!!!

Home again, home again jiggidy jig??

I hate the first day back at work after a vacation. I am so tired and could really use another day to regroup, but I would feel guilty for taking another day off. I had a bunch of nice pictures but I accidentally deleted them so I am waiting for my cousin to send me her pics from the trip. They are essentially the same.

Our road trip did not end up being a road trip. On the drive to my place, my cousin was in a car accident that totaled the car she was driving. She only had a few scratches and bruises, and I believe the other guy involved is fine as well. So instead of driving we were given a couple of buddy passes by our uncle and flew to Atlanta from Minneapolis. It was cheaper to fly so I can't complain too much. Our plan was to stop in Nashville and do some exploring on our way back from Georgia, but we may still do that later in the summer.

We arrived Sunday at ATL around 6:00 Eastern and stayed with our aunt and uncle in Peachtree City, a suburb south of Atlanta. It is a planned community and they planned it with miles of golf cart paths. We spent a lot of time riding around on the golf cart looking at the houses, getting ice cream or smoothies, going to Target and Kroger and taking my cousins' dog for a run. We went all over the place while there. Every morning we took the

Tuesday we drove to Lake Wedowee where my uncle has a lot on the lake and keeps his boat. We road around on the lake for almost two hours, swam around a bit then hooked up the tube and took turns tubing at up to 45 mph for about another hour. It was great. I got a nice tan and a little sunburn. I could have sat in the boat all day driving around the lake looking at the houses.

On Wednesday we went to Stone Mountain. We rode a tram to the top and stayed up there for about 45 minutes checking out the view. It was really neat to see the Georgia landscape from that vantage point. I could barely see Atlanta. Thursday we went shopping at one of Atlanta's malls and some of the shops in Peachtree City where I picked up a Vera Bradley bag (in the fabric in the middle row, last on the right). Friday was spent at the Delta headquarters in Atlanta. My uncle gave us a tour of the flight simulators and brought us to the museum where we sat in the engine of this plane for a picture, which my uncle has flown a couple times. We ate some excellent clam chowder at Spondivits for lunch. I think I have the days correct, but I am really not sure. We saw Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End that night. Saturday involved a lot of golf cart rides around Peachtree City and dinner at Mellow Mushroom It kind of all ran together.

I chose the Cable Twist socks for my sock pal. I started on the practice sock on the drive to MSP and started the heel flap on the return flight. Not a lot of knitting in a weeks time, but it certainly looks nice. I need to take a picture and will post it as soon as I do.

In other news, Josh found a Nintendo Wii for us. Currently we only have the Wii Sports which came with the Wii, bu that may change tonight. I am not very good at any of them games yet, but I had a lot of fun.

Help me choose a pattern

I have created a poll to help me choose a pattern since I am quite indecisive. Please vote and let me know what you think. You can choose more than one and also suggest other ideas. The yarn is shown in this post.

Edited to add:

Here's another pic of the cable rib socks, so you can have a better idea of what they look like on a foot. I think the other's are shown pretty well.

My mom's new bunny

When we were kids, my cousins bought the cutest little bunny and named her Esther. My sister and I decided we needed bunnies too. We each got a bunny and named them Simon and Sophie. One died a couple of years later and a few months ago the other died. It had been living with my mom and she was rather sad when it died. Lexsea and i decided she needed another pet. We considered a cat because my mom used to have a couple of cats, but then we decided a bunny would be much easier for her to handle. So yesterday Lexsea came to town and I tood the afternoon off of work so we could get her...


...this adorable little bunny. you can't tell if it's male or female yet but it has been given the name Hunny Bunny by my mom. It's a dwarf lop eared rabbit and probably won't get over 5-6lbs.



Here's another shot of it in it's little purple igloo. It was the first of the bunnies I picked up out of the pen. There was also a cute black colored one with stubby little ears.

I have my yarn!

Koigu!

I will decide on a pattern when I get pack from my trip. I should have my new sock books from Amazon by then.

And here's my sister's birthday gift!



Pattern: Norberta
Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky Hot Pink and Hot Lime
Needles: Denise US7

She still needs eyes and nostrils, so Lex didn't get her today. I will have to send Norberta to her after I finish her.

Can't forget my cute new shoes! I am a little obsessed with shoes and the from ones are just to perfect since I work with frogs in my lab.

I'm not alone, which is good since I had a scary dream

It's good to hear I am not alone and Blogger either hates me so it won't cooperate or likes me so much it won't let me leave, one blog that is. Anyway, the UPS guy came yesterday and left me a little sticky note which I have signed a secured to the outside of my door so Koigu for my sock pal's socks should be in my hands later today. I have ordered so much stuff online lately it's ridiculous, mostly knitting related and some shoes.

My order from Webs, superwash Cascade 220 and TOFUtsies, arrived a couple days ago and I have been playing with scarf patterns for my cousin. I think I have settled on a tube scarf with stripes so I can practice combined knitting. I haven't tried purling yet, but the knit stitch is coming a long nicely. Obviously I have abandoned my plan to use the chart I came up with. I intended to give him this scarf on June 3rd, his graduation party, but I don't know that it will happen. I will take it and my Jaywalkers on my road trip next week, but I am not sure I will get much knitting done. I hope my Knit Picks dpns arrive before I leave so I can switch my Jaywalkers from the circs to dpns.

I had a dream the other night that it was mid July and I hadn't started my pal's socks yet! At first I remember thinking oh that's fine, I don't need to send them out until August 2nd, but then I realized August was only 2 weeks away and I didn't have a pattern picked out or my yarn and...and...Ok, so I was a little traumatized, but at least I probably won't let that happen. I may sign up to be a sock savior now.

Does any one know where I can get a cheap, but quality, ball winder?

Edited to add:

I have been obsessiveley checking the UPS tracking on the yarn and cute shoes. I couldn't help myself. Both packages are currently at my apartmement!

removing sockapalooza blog probs

I keep getting a server error when I try to remove myself from the Sockapalooza blog. I will keep trying though! Are other people getting this error?

The yarn for my pal's socks is coming today!!!! Well, I won't be home to sign for it so it will probably be tomorrow before I actually see it. Actually my really cute Keds shoes should be coming today too but also need someone to sign for them. Maybe I will get lucky and Josh will be home to sign for them. If only Amazon would ship my IK Favorite Socks and Sensational Knitted Socks.

Jaywalking and a wedding

I have started my third pair of socks. I thought I should get a little more practice in before I knit for my Sockapalooza pal.



These are Jaywalkers by Grumperina. I am using Trekking XXL on 3.25mm Knit Picks circs. The cuff was done on 2.5mm circs. They are a little tight, but I didn't want to have to start these again and I don't have any larger needles that will work. This is the fourth time. I will probably go in to more details when I finish them. Here's a close-up of the zig zag. It's a little blurry. I think I like dpns better than two circs, but I don't have any dpns in the correct size. I don't need to be spending extra money right now.



I love the colors!

My replacements for the needles I broke a few weeks ago arrived on Saturday. I asked for one and they sent me three! They are too nice. I need to send them a thank you email. I found a case for my dpns at Hobby Lobby the other day. It is a plastic pencil case with a drawer that slides out and snaps in the front to keep it closed. It is just the right size and only cost $1!

Saturday was the Corey's wedding. I wore my new dress and shoes and showed off my new hair cut. I received a compliment from a stranger (the maid of honor) about my dress and shoes, which felt nice. I usually get told by old men at church that I look nice :) the blisters on the back of my heels don't feel too nice. Actually, no one noticed the hair, including my mom. My mom was too busy being busy. She was helping set up for the reception and flowers and couldn't let herself relax. Her feet were really swollen but we had a hard time convincing her to sit down. Josh came with me and met a lot of people from The Dora. He and Jeph had matching outfits!

patterns I am considering.

I haven't seen too many of the Queen of Cups out there and am thinking about them for my sock pal. Has anyone knitted these? Also have any knitters out there made shorter version of the IK Winding cables or the Clessidra Stockings? And one more question before I stop: Is there a version of Twinkle Toes for fingering weight yarn out there somewhere?

I went with the Koigu. I ended up buying it from purlsoho.com because they had the color I wanted. I was going for a bright shade of pink that wasn't completely solid. I think I found an almost perfect match to what I had pictured if what appears on my screen is true to the color of the yarn. Now all I need is a pattern.

I just got an email from my sockpal asking for help. I am thinking I may need to do the same. I can't decide if I should choose the pattern or the yarn first. My pal likes bright stuff and so far I like a lot of STR yarns. I like Chapman Springs, Farmhouse, Rhodonite, Titania, and Lovers Leap. Lorna's Laces also has some wonderfully bright colors like poppy and berry that are hard to pass up. If I could find a good Koigu supplier online I might have to consider those as well. Does anyone know any? I have only found purlsoho.com, which seems pretty good to me.

I guess I am starting with the yarn. As for patterns I think I am going to go for something that I probably wouldn't wear, i.e. lacy, but a pattern I really want to try. I am leaning towards Cookie A.'s patterns.

I bought a dress from Ann Taylor Loft to wear to the wedding I am attending this weekend. I first went the the local store, but I didn't like the colors they had in stock so I decided to check online. I found the brown one, so I went back to the store tried on a dress to figure out my size and ordered it online. I probably could have just asked the clerk to order it for me, ahhh...hindsight. Anyway, I went back to the mall this weekend to find some shoes. I stopped in Ann Taylor Loft, just to look, and my dress was there and in the size I needed. Doh! I could have saved $15 in shipping. I went for the faster one to make sure it arrived on time. I love the shoes I bought even though they were more than I was hoping to spend.

I am going to make a scarf for my cousin for his graduation gift. I am going to try some colorwork so I made a chart of his future college's logo.


I used KnitProto get the basic idea and went from there. I am going to try double knitting so it will be thick and essentially reversible. I bought some Superwash Cascade 220, but accidentally didn't order enough yarn, so I had to order some more today. I hope it comes soon so I can get started.

I gave away the baby socks last Sunday, but I didn't remember to take a picture of them. I have a few shots of the in-progress sock though. See below.


I also made a bib and washcloth out of some Bernat Cottontots. I didn't get pics of those either. Another picof the cuff of the socks.


I took some pictures of the items I got at the farmers market. I think my favorite is the eggs.

They are produced by free range Araucana chickens from a farm in the area. I love that they are green!

Here's another pic of them.


I also got some excellent looking asparagus, green peppers and strawberry rhubarb jam. I need to make some more of my baking soda biscuits to try the jam on. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow.

Today is the first day of the Iowa City farmers' market. I don't think I will be able to go since I have tae kwon do tonight, but I am definitely going on Saturday morning. The Coralville farmers' market starts next week and is on a day that I actually may be able to get to during the week. I forgot to put the UPS sticker on the outside of my door yesterday, so my new shopping bags didn't arrive as I had hoped, but I should get them today! I am really looking forward to some fresh produce. The stuff at Hy-Vee and Fareway has not looked good lately.

Happy May Day!

The UPS guy tried to give me my new shopping bags and a container to contain my knit and crochet WIPs yesterday, but I wasn't there. I am quite looking forward to their arrival today. I need to go to the grocery store and want to try them out.

I have restarted Norberta because I am actually better at knitting than when I originally started her so she hopefully won't be quite as sloppy as my first attempt. I am also working on a baby hat that I didn't get done for the baby shower on Sunday. I want to have it done by Friday because I know I will see the mom-to-be at our tae kwon do club's testing. I should try to finish Wicket sometime too. I am having trouble with his arms. I may just need to make him larger in general to get the arms to work.

I found out who my pal is for sockapalooza4 and I am looking forward to finding some yarn and a fitting pattern. It may be my excuse to go to my LYS today. I haven't been there for quite awhile.

I was totally not prepared for almost 90 degree weather this weekend. It's April so we should have temps in the mid 60s with light spring showers. It was about 68 when I went to the gym at 6:00 this morning and it is already 70 at about 9:00am.