I'm at 20!!! Holy Crap!!!

Well it's official... I've hit the 20 pair mark for this year! That makes my average a little under 2 pairs a month, which is nothing to be ashamed of, unless you include the fact that my sock yarn stash doesn't seem to be getting any smaller!!! That's another 420 metres added to my total, which is now at 6087 metres... I'VE BROKEN THE 6 KM MARK!!!

On Tuesday afternoon I did the final stitches on the "Boss Wife Socks". These are the socks that I knit for the wife of Derek's boss Henry... whose socks were the last sock FO featured here. They've really been wonderful in everything they've done for us since {and even before} we moved out here, and it's just a small token of how much I {we} appreciate it. Clicking on the picture will take you to the Flickr page for it, or you can visit my main Flickr page to see all of my photos. If you want more details on these socks, leave me a comment, or go visit the project page on Ravelry. Of course you can view all my projects on my main projects page on Rav too!

Nineteen and counting!!!

Well, it's official now... I've finished my nineteenth pair of socks this year. The "Boss" Work Socks are done. I'll be taking pictures the morning and posting them then, but I just had to brag now!!! I've cast on another pair of work socks of course! This pair is an oatmeal pair with green stripes for Derek. Until I get my initial order from Briggs & Little for the store, I only have one more pair's worth of Tuffy left in my stash. I *finally* started my paperwork for becoming a retailer, so hopefully that will all be getting off the ground very soon. I also cast on a pair using the yarn that Derek bought for me when he was in Winnipeg last month. This pair will be one of the new designs I'm hoping to feature at the store when I get it back online.

You oughta be in pictures!!!

I've been busy with another one of my weekend goals... PICTURES!!! The quality ain't the best, but that's about all I can do with the dial-up. I'm gonna separate this into a couple of posts so that I don't overwhelm my system! This post will be my current socks.


These are Henry's socks... nearly done! The gusset stitches for sock #2 have already been all picked up, so it's just a matter of knitting the foot and weaving in ends on this one.


This is the first sock for Henry's wife. It will be staying at this point until I find out what her shoe size is.


This is the first picture of my Tofu socks. The pooling is... well... interesting. The tiny needles and resulting tiny guage is driving me crazy!


This shows the other side of my first Tofu sock. The pooling between the two sides makes me think of a 60's flower power design!!!

Back online... well sorta!!!

Well we are now officially residents of Griswold... or as Alex puts it, "the middle of nowhere!" The kids have started school, Derek is used to the commute on the highway, and I'm back at work on Monday night. I'm quite upset about that, as I wanted days, and was trying to find something closer... but in the meantime it will pay the other mortgage.

The biggest problem in being out here is the lack of services... BIG TIME!!! Until finances allow for a riduclous monthly internet bill, I'm stuck with dial-up. What's super crappy about it, is that I can only connect at 28.8 kbps... I'm not going to get into how long it's taking to get ANY of my podcasts!

In better news, I've finished sock pair number 18. I will need to add that to the totals, but I'm not chancing it right now as I've had major issues even logging in to blogger. I've also been knitting up dishcloths like they are going out of style. There's a flea market here on the 29th, and I'm hoping to be able to clear out a bunch of stuff. I'm also trying to work out the details in expanding my online shop... Wish me luck in all of this!

Hey, hey, hey seventeen!!!

Yup, it's official now... seventeen freaking pairs of socks that I have finished this year!!! I grafted the toe on Derek's bluejean Tuffy pair last night while watching "Thirteen Days" for the third time. I actually made it through the ENTIRE movie this time without falling asleep! I'm quite proud of myself for both accomplishments *teehee* That adds another 392 m to my total. I'm nearly at 5 KILOMETRES of sock yarn!!! Can you believe it? I know I can't! I'll be casting on an oxford grey pair of work socks for Derek as soon as my hands behave this morning. I hope to have the stripes done before I go to work tonight.

The next two weeks are gonna be busy ones. I only have 7 more shifts at work. *YAY* I have Knit-out at the Forks on Sunday, and McNally's on Tuesday. Next Friday is my last night at work, and Saturday is the party my aunt is throwing for us. Sunday-Monday-Tuesday is moving. I'm very proud of the progress I'm making here. I've put up quite a bit on Freecycle to get rid of, the garbage bins behind our house are never empty, and the Salvation Army store is almost ready to make a permanent spot for my car at the donation door!!!

On the new house front, we now have a PO box, and a phone number. I have the kids' school supply lists... HOLY CRAP!!! I've been spoiled with only having to pay a fee for the kids for the last 10 years or so!!! Derek will be bringing home the transfer papers this weekend. We're moving on the 26th or 27th, and even though the phone is getting hooked up on the 27th, I'm not sure when I'll be setting up the Interweb. I'm hoping it won't be too long. It will only be dial-up, so I can see me doing a LOT of stuff offline, and then hopping on just long enough to get everything updated. I still need to take "The Purl in the Oyster" website down since the ISP change will mean that I will lose that web space.

All the packing in the front room this week has led me to the following conclusion: I HAVE TOO MUCH FREAKING ACRYLIC YARN!!!! I have absolutely no clue what I'm going to do with all of that stuff. I can only off-load so much to Rebecca. I know I'll be crocheting up quite a few lapghans and such. I'll definitely need an afghan to keep in my car. It may be only 20 minutes or so to either Virden or Brandon, but this still *is* Manitoba, and we still *do* have wicked winters. Better safe than sorry, right?

Another ball of sock yarn gone!!!

Yup, I finished the Mega Boots Stretch socks for Derek this weekend. That makes SIXTEEN pairs of socks, and another 400 m added to my total distance knitted this year! I started a pair in Durasport in green for him, and finished off the first sock in the second pair of Tuffy socks, this time in blue jean for him. I'm just trucking along here!

FOURTEEN!!!

Yup, I just updated my sidebar to realize that the 14th pair of socks to come off my needles this year was Derek's work socks that I finished up on Sunday before he left for Virden. That makes over 4 km knit this year in socks!!! I just turned the heel on the first sock of his next pair, so those will be finished soon too.

A-socking we will go!

While in Calgary, I didn't seem to get as much knitted up as I had expected. I suspect it was because I spent quite a bit of time out of my hotel room for sanity purposes, as well as the fact that I worked for about 9 hours a day and didn't take any days off. I did get some stuff done though, and I'll put up pics soon of them. I also got a few things started, and I need to update my ticker as well as my sidebars.

On my weekend home I finished up my STR socks, and started on a generic pair out of Mega Boots stretch for Derek. When I returned to Calgary, I cast on another pair of Hockey Socks for him as well. The FO adds another 300 m to my distance travelled. I still need to add up what all I bought in Calgary, as well as my pre-flight purchases at Rams to add them to my total available distance.

Currently I have 3 pairs of socks on heavy rotation. I have to cast on the second sock of Derek's Hockey Socks, have just started the second sock of the Mega Boots, and have cast on a pair out of Tofutsies for myself. Once completed, these will add 392, 400, and 425 m to my total respectively.

Forgotten FO report...

I forgot to report my first FO of June. I didn't quite make it to finish it in May, but June 1st is okay too! I got my "Pretty Work Socks" done. That adds another 234 m to my marathon total. I've kept careful notes on how I made them, so once I get home I can type it all up and get them listed on my website.


I haven't finished anything else yet. I am actually quite disappointed with my poor knitting progress out here. I have, however, been working with my STR. I had gotten the leg of my first sock done in a pretty lace pattern when I discovered that the leg was *way* too big. I frogged it all back, and decided to go ahead with a generic sock. I'm now on the gusset decreases of the first sock in that pair.


My lacy design in Regia 4 fadig hasn't been touched in over a week. I broke one of the dpns, and havent' gotten around to fixing it all up to be knit on 3 working needles. I am still on the gusset decreases of my FA socks. Somewhere I screwed up the decreases and have a different number of stitches on my two foot needles. Once I figure out where I screwed up, I'll get working on those again. I also have to get Lissa's bumble bee socks done... *sigh* so many socks, so little time!!!!

Fifteen days...

... from start to finish for the benefactors. I'd say that blasts the 4 weeks for Derek's tigers out of the water!!! *teehee*

And the knit goes on...

Sometime today the benefactor socks will be done. I'm just about to start the toe decreases on benefactor #2. This will add 380 m to my marathon total.

I cast on a new pair of WW socks in a simple design for me. I'm expecting the pair to take 3 balls of the Mission Falls 1824 {100% superwash wool in Aster} yarn I have, so that will be 234 m more when done. I hope to get this pattern written up and offered for sale once I complete them.

There's 3 pair on the backburner for the moment... I'll see how inspired I am to work on them. I'd like to keep up my pace of 4 pairs a month since it's been very encouraging to me to see so many pairs of socks completed.

Challenge met...

Well I'm sitting here wearing my DK generic socks, and just finished sewing in the toe end of benefactor sock #1. I'm not sewing up the cuff end yet as I will be using it to help me match up tomorrow morning's cast on for benefactor #2. Once that's cast on, I'll be fixing my design sock and working on that... I haven't decided if I'm going to have a second generic sock going here at the computer, or just make do with the one...

I'm now just under 2.8 km knit for the marathon, which is absolutely amazing for me. And in other news, I *might* be able to treat myself to a trip to Ram's in 2 weeks... wish me luck!

Out with the old, and in with the new...

Well at some point in time tonight I will be grafting Derek's Tiger #2... That will mean an additional 420 m added to my marathon total. *YAY!!!* I checked my blog archive and I cast them on March 29th... that makes it 4 weeks tomorrow. Not too bad for a pair of socks that were mostly knit at work on breaks {conveniently *trying* to forget the 4½ hours of knitting time in the ER!}. I'm guesstimating them at about 12 hours each sock.

Right after those are grafted and ends woven in, I'll be casting on my cotton sock surprise yarn from my benefactor. I'll be using my generic stockinette pattern again or else a mild ribbed pattern to account for the lack of memory in the cotton. I want then to go FAST, so I'm *really* leaning towards plain stockinette! That will be another 380 m to my total. I'm hoping to be able to beat the 4 weeks that it took for Derek's... we shall soon see!

Tiger, tiger...

... or as Derek calls them, his "Halloween socks"...

Sock #1 was finished this morning and #2 cast on. I've just finished the ribbing cuff, and am starting on the stockinette leg. I'm wondering how fast this sock will go now that I'm not smoking at work anymore. When done, I'll have another 420 m to add to the total!!!

DONE!!! DONE!!! DONE!!!

I *just* finished off the ends on Lissa's socks! She's the proud owner of her first pair of hand-knits. The yarn is a "Rainbow Brite" inspired bright myriad of colour, and the little princess is thrilled to have them on her feet. I haven't measured the leftovers in the ball of yarn yet -- I'm going to get Derek to weigh it at work tomorrow -- but I'm guessing about half the ball, and that's what I'm adding to the total, 93 metres.

Now that I have those out of the way, I can cast on my "Lacy Scallops" guilt-free. I also worked on Derek's tiger socks today a bit, and I've got over 4 inches of stockinette for the leg... I have a feeling that I will need to do the heel turn tomorrow before work!

April Fools!!!

Well I was the butt of several April Fool's jokes, and none of them were intentional... or at least not caused by another person!

Firstly it rained nearly all night Saturday/ Sunday... but what did I see as I went out to my car after work??? SNOW!!! I was *not* amused at Mother Nature's joke... especially as it got progressively worse as the morning continued.

I wasn't able to get pictures of that, or any of my recent FOs due to the next of the cruel jokes played on me... the batteries for my camera don't work! Derek wasn't even able to get any pictures {except on his cell phone} of Lightning McQueen Saturday night from "The World of Wheels" exhibit that he had to work. I'm not sure if it's the batteries, or the charger... but I have no batteries in the meantime.

On the bright side, I grafted the toe of Old Shale #2, so that adds another 210 m to the total. I started a sock for Lissa, that was finished today, and I cast on the second sock for that. I'll be writing up the pattern I came up with for it, and offering it as a freebie. Derek's tiger sock #1 is around the 4 inch mark, just from at work knitting. In even better news, Lyz says that I/ we get to cast on "Lacy Scallops" tomorrow!!!

Two pair in two days!!!

And that makes the third FO pair this week {three pairs in four days for those of you who are counting}!!! I grafted the toe and wove in the ends on Derek's Columbine #2. That adds 400 metres to my total.

Once the kids find my camera batteries I'll be able to take pics of all these recent socks. I cast on the tigery jacquard for Derek and started the ribbing. I'll be making a generic pair of socks out of this to make best use of the patterning of the yarn. Once done, this pair will add 420 metres!!!

Now I can concentrate on my Old Shale for a few days. With luck I'll get these done in the next couple of days, and that will make this a FIVE pair month!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Third FO this month...

Well the heel is turned and gusset picked up on the Old Shale sock #2, so I went and worked on Rebecca's sock. I now have my 3rd FO pair of socks this month!!! That makes another 150 metres on my tally, and another free set of dpns!!!

The agony and the ecstasy.

Well yesterday didn't provide me with any completed socks, but it was a success nonetheless. I found a bunch of stuff in my cryo lab. The biggest triumph was locating the missing sock yarn bin. *YAY* I can now properly tally up my stash for the marathon! I also found a bunch of nearly-FOs, and a bunch of dishcloths that need their ends woven in.

I'm on the heel turn of the Old Shale, and I'll be finishing off Rebecca's sock as soon as I've got the gusset picked up on those.

One down; two {or is it three?} to go...

Little Shells are DONE DONE DONE!!! Toes grafted, ends woven in, yadda yadda. I can't get over how close to being perfectly identical they are. I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out. 420 metres have been added to the ticker.

Derek's Columbine socks are up next for completion. Depending on what time I go to bed today, I'm in excellent shape for finishing them tomorrow. Then there's the toe on Rebecca's second sock.

I called Lyz to find out if we were doing the picot hem or not on the Lacy Scallops, and she told me that I'm not allowed to cast mine on until she's ready to cast on hers. So that means that I'll need to delay those about a week until she's finished her Little Shells and another SIP or two. That means I'll need a different at-the-computer sock, and what better to fit the bill than my poor ignored Old Shale socks. I'll have to put the needles back in it, as one of the kids decided to "help" mom with it. I'm on the leg ribbing *somewhere*, so if I can get it into heavy knitting rotation, I'll be able to get it done soon.