Pause, regroup, continue.

I was sooo thrilled yesterday about Lissa's sweater that it was devastating when I had to stop cold after finishing up the sewing. Alas, I could only find 3 of my 6.5 mm dpns, and since I would need at least 4, I couldn't do the other sleeve cuff. Then I wanted to sew the buttons on so that I could decide if I wanted the fur trim on the button band, and only 2 kitten buttons were to be found! I *know* that I bought at *least* three different sets of at least 4 buttons for this sweater, but they are all obviously in a safe place. The sweater is now on the side of Derek's computer desk until I can buy another set of dpns and some buttons on Saturday morning at work.

After that disaster, I created another one by hunting for Lissa's shawl. I *knew* that I had been working on it in Calgary, so it wouldn't have been *too* badly buried, and should be in a box that I could at least identify as me having packed it. I tore through our bedroom, as the shawl was last in our bedroom in Winnipeg... no luck. Next stop of course is the craft room. After a bit of digging around, I had a brain wave... yes, that's scary I know, but I digress! I had a box that was still taped up that was labelled "shawls"... whoodathunkit??? Yup, the shawl, the pattern, *and* the other ball of yarn for it were all in a bag in the box. YAY!!! I'm knitting away on that now and have my fingers crossed that I'll have this done soon... that will mean *another* search and destroy mission when I go hunting for the yarn and pattern for the Snowdrop shawl I'm making next on these needles!!!

HOLY CRAP!!! IT FITS!!!

Yes... I realize I'm using all caps... I'm YELLING!!! I can't yell it loud enough!!! It's gonna fit!!! Well actually, it's more of a "Thank God I made it a size 4 instead of 2" kind of moment, but I'll take what I can get. What in the world is she talking about are you wondering??? I'm talking about Lissa's long-forgotten Dot Stitch Cardigan. The original posts about it are on the May 2006 archives. I haven't done more than look inside the bag since coming back from Thompson in June 2006, so it's wonderful that Lissa will still be able to get some use out of this cute sweater.

I hauled it out of my room this afternoon after I got the gusset stitches picked up on the Boss Socks. Inside the bag were the parts of the sweater, the pattern, and a partial skien of Fun Fur. After trying it on Lissa, I looked over the pattern and what I had to see whether or not this was doable... and it is!!! I'm currently sewing the second sleeve in, and will work on ends before hunting down what I need. I'm probably going to undo the cast off on the other sleeve cuff as it's kind of snug. I will do that at the same time as I knit the cuff on this sleeve. The fun fur fabric really stretches, so I want to cast them off with a larger needle. I also need to decide if I am going to do the trim along the side of the front edge or not as well. After that it's simply a matter of finding the buttons and sewing them on.

One weekend knitting goal met!!!

I set myself quite a few goals to get done on my weekend, and the first of the knitting goals has been met... the heel turn has been done on the Boss Work Socks, and gusset stitches picked up. Now I need to go find the two Lissa UFOs and assess what needs to be done there. GO ME!!!

What's a woman to do???

I'm having trouble trying to decide what to do, and what to work on. Don't we all seem to have that problem from time to time? I have a couple of projects that have been hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles and I still can't seem to get moving on them.

Two of my most troubling ones {at this moment in time} are for Lissa. The first is a really cute cardigan with a "fur" collar that I started well over a year ago. I knit up 95% of it really quick, and the finishing of it has been stagnating ever since. I don't think I've even touched it since I was in Thompson... if you look back to my May or June archives in 2006, I'm pretty sure I have pics of it there since I was indecisive about which buttons to use for it. I think it would take me about 2-3 days devoted to it to finish it, but I would have to evaluate it first.

The second is a shawl that I *had* wanted to finish for Lissa over a little more than a week. It was to be for her to wear to the kid's Christmas party for Derek's work. {If you are on my MSN list, you can see what she *did* wear as my avatar} At that time, the goal seemed quite attainable, but as life tends to do, it got in the way. The reason story I'm sticking to is that right after starting it, I was sent to do the Portage la Prairie store set-up, and the 3 hours of driving time every day cut into my home-knitting time too much. Since putting it down right after the party, I've only picked it up a few times to work maybe a repeat or three of the pattern. If I'm not in one of the cat's paw rows, it's a mindless knit, and I really should get working on it. What gets me, is that I've promised myself that I won't buy another 4.5 mm Addi to start a shawl for me... I *have* to finish this, since putting the shawl on waste yarn to rescue the needle will doom this shawl to UFO status permanently.

Do any of you get like this? Do any of you have any suggestions for me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Random Wednesday

It may be Wednesday for you, but it's Friday for me!!! I'm *really* hating the stupid days off I've been given. I guess I'm just frustrated because I was *so* close to getting *real* weekends off back in Winnipeg, and I was counting on getting day shift out here. Anyhoo... off with the rant, and on to the randomness!!!

I'm knitting again in bits and pieces. I can't handle very long at a stretch, but some knitting is better than no knitting. Crocheting is still off-limits for the time being. I've been playing on Ravelry, and adding groups and working on my notebook. I'm gonna be taking some pictures on my weekend of my WIPs and getting them up here and on Rav. Sheri's socks are still on hold until I find out her shoe size. Henry's second sock has been started, and I should be turning the heel during my weekend. I'm about 60 rounds down the foot of Tofutsies #1, but with the tiny guage, I can see my usual 60-65 round foot easily becoming 80 or more. *sigh* I've resisted the temptation to start another pair of socks, and have been knitting away on my afghan.

The yarn shop is still a WIP... having two mortgages is a *HUGE* drain on the finances, and I need that money to put in my initial yarn orders. Cross your fingers for me that the house sells soon!!!

The other thing I've been working on is *finally* getting around to working on my podcast. I have gotten majorly side-tracked on that project, and it's beyond time to get it going. I'm looking for topics, and have a few essay ideas to work on.

And now for something completely different!!!

Yes... something completely different... a post where I don't spend 99% of it bitching about my crappy interweb!!!

First the bad news... I've developed a repetitive motion injury from using my boxcutter at work. That means I'm not supposed to allowed to knit. That only caused a temporary stop to my work, and I'm back knitting again, albeit carefully choosing projects, and limiting my time on them.

I finished another dishcloth at the flea market. I managed to sell a little bit, but not enough to pay for my first B&L order like I had originally hoped. No fear though, I am damned and determined to get that order in!!!

I've gotten the first work sock done for Derek's boss, and finally got through all the gusset decreases on my Tofu socks. I started a pair of plain stockinette for Sheri {boss' wife} out of some stash sock yarn; Dazzle Super Socks in a blue/teal/green jacquard colourway. I've just finished the gusset decreases on the first one of those.

I've gotten a few more colour repeats done on the ripple afghan for the living room. It measures about 14-16" now. Once my wrist can handle more knitting, I'll be able to get back to my goal of 2-4 repeats a week on it. The kitchen floor mat out of my cotton yarn leftovers is currently stalled. I use pencil hold for crocheting, and that's just *not* doable right now.

And now, the best for last... I'M ON RAVELRY!!!! Yes, I *am* yelling! There Lyz... you can SHUT UP NOW!!! I'm on there... I'm *still* not spinning though! *sticks tongue out at best friend*

This dial-up crap is just that... CRAP!!!

I'm still connecting at 28.8, and getting even more disgusted with it! It takes me over half an hour to download the 60-Second Science podcast!!! I'm back working at Wal-mart, but still hoping for other options... particularly once our house back in Winnipeg sells.

One of the things I'm working on is selling yarn through my web site. I had to take it all down when we moved since we changed ISPs. Once *my* computer is up and running, I want to completely re-vamp it. Part of that will be offering yarn for sale. I've been contacting several Canadian yarn companies, and have gotten, or will be getting wholesale information from them. I'm not going to jinx it, but hopefully I will have my first items up in time for Christmas. I'm starting with Canadian products that I already use and love, so that I can whole-heartedly recommend them. I'm also working on some designs that utilize these wools... perhaps available in kit form.

Since my shifts were all screwy this week, I've gotten very little done knitting/ crocheting-wise. I *did* take a first-aid course yesterday, and I scored 100% on my exam! I'm now first-aid certified!!! I've gotten a bit further in my F&F afghan, and a bit further on my crocheted floor mat, and a bit further on both pairs of socks currently OTN... didn't make a single dishcloth this week though.

Hopefully I will be able to post again before my weekend, and that I'll have some good news to post... keep your fingers crossed for me!

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?

Work boot approved!!!

Well Derek's feet didn't fare too well during his first week back in steel toed boots. This silly guy was afraid to ruin the new socks I had made him by wearing them in his boots. After I told him that *that* is why I made them for him, he decided to try them out last week. He'd gotten several blisters his first week, despite double-socking. He proclaimed that when he wore his new socks, he couldn't feel the blisters at all. Only problem is that *this* weekend when he came home... he tossed them not only in the washer without the protection of the laundry bag, but he threw them in the DRYER as well. I couldn't look... I'll see them next weekend... I hope. I'm afraid -- *very* afraid. The only bright side of this possible disaster is that I somehow made the legs of that pair two different lengths... about half an inch of difference, so when I make the replacements {if necessary}, I can rectify that.

His second pair of work socks is nearly off of the needles. As of this writing, I only have about 20 more rows to the toe decreases of the second sock. That means he will have a fresh pair waiting for him when he comes home on Friday. As an added bonus, Derek has said that we can go to Rams on Saturday to stock up on my supply of Tuffy. It's not like I won't have something to knit in the meantime. I've started a pair for him in Durasport using a pattern given to me by a designer friend of mine. I've also got 2 more hanks of Tuffy in charcoal to get another pair of work socks started as soon as these ones are done.

On the home front, we move in 2 weeks!!! I have 7 more shifts left at my store, or 52.5 hours. Yes, I'm counting the hours already!!! I have plenty of work socks to knit, and plenty of packing to do during that time. I'll be on my two weeks vacation when we move, so that will require even more sock knitting, and even more unpacking! I can't wait... yes... really!

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.

Our new house... well in a month anyway!

I'm not going to bother apologizing for being such a bad blogger lately... but I *will* apologize for this image-heavy post. I'm very proud of our {nearly ours} new house, and I'm posting this for those of you that are interested in seeing it. If you're not interested, you might as well stop the page loading now 'cause it's gonna take a while!!! *ROFL*

Griswold, Manitoba

We are moving to the village of Griswold. It's located approximately half-way between Brandon and Virden on Hwy. #1. You can see the other half of our property here. Scroll down the page to the general store, and that's on the right side of the house. According to the website, there's about 30 people living there. With the two that are moving out, and the seven of us moving in, that's a population explosion of 17%!!!

Outside

This is the view of our house as taken from the road looking down the driveway. The store section of the property is just to the right of where this photo was taken.

This is the front of the property line, and shows about half of the frontage we have. Where the hedges end, is where our property ends.

This is the front of the house. The bay window on the right is the dining room and the living room is on the left. Somewhere in here I need to find room for Mom's peonies... they *are* coming with us.

This is the left {north} side of the house. The living room is in the front and one of the larger bedrooms is in the back. This is likely where we will have our garden until we tear down the other building. The septic tank is in the back, so can't garden there!!!

Inside - Main Floor: Kitchen, Dining Room & Living Room

This is the first thing we saw when we got in the house to view, and it sold both of us immediately! An oak kitchen is what Derek has dreamed about for years, and in about a month, that dream will come true for both of us!

This is what made me fall over... a wall of built-in glass cabinets. Mom's crystal, china, and silver is going to look stunning in that!

This is the kitchen and dining area as seen from the living room. Even though the oak is fairly dark, I still think that the stainless steel appliances that Derek and I want will look very nice in there.

This is the living room. I'm so happy to be having a 'picture' window again. I can't remember the last time I had a nice big living room window like that... probably when I was still living with Mom 18 years ago! We'll need to get something for in front of it so that Aladdin can sit there and look out the window. These sills are *way* too narrow for his fat butt! The half wall is actually a built-in bookcase, and is currently set up as a reading corner... I think renaming it a knitting corner is a good idea, don't you?

Another view of the living room. It shows off the size of it a lot better. I'd guess that it's around the same size or a bit bigger than what we have now, but seems huge in comparision as it's physically separated from the dining room. Derek doesn't want any computers in there, but we may do that at if we can't get a computer set up in the kitchen under the glass cupboards... I'm hoping to get a portable dishwasher to fill that space anyway! *teehee*

Inside - Main Floor: Bedrooms, Craft Room, & Bathroom

This is the bedroom on the northeast corner of the house, and the one that I'm leaning towards for our room. The house currently doesn't have A/C, and the north side will be more protected from the sun, and therefore the heat in the summer.

This is the southeast bedroom, and the one I'm leaning towards for Alex & Melissa to share. It will easily fit two twin beds, and we need them upstairs. I don't trust them downstairs at night! *LOL*

Even though this is the third bedroom on the main floor, it's too small to be a decent bedroom. I'm not even sure if a twin bed would fit in there, just a futon. Derek has allowed me to claim this as my craft room. The cabinets should be staying, so between that and the closet, I should have a lot of storage room. One of the computers will also be set up in here. Hopefully I won't need to completely take over the rest of the house with it... just some of it!

This is the main bathroom. It's not out-dated, so Derek and I won't need or want to do any renovations in there right away. The downstairs has a half bath with a shower drain already installed. Getting a shower stall and fixtures installed down there for the girls to use will be fairly high on our priority list.

Basement

When you get to the bottom of the stairs, this is what you see... a totally 70's rec room! It's absolutely huge, and Derek desperately wants to get a pool table for it! Until I relent, it's going to be the main living area for the kids.

This is the wet bar. I see it as being the kids' kitchen. You can fit a full-sized refrigerator behind there, so I think that would be a good idea. They can take care of their own dishes and such right there in the sink!

I only included this picture because we've been joking about having an indoor pool. Behind the blue wall is actually the cistern for our water. Our top priority for the house is changing the furnace over from oil to wood/electric, and getting this water storage outside. Derek is thinking about making this area his workout room once we do that. I'll be glad just to have the humidity level in the house drop!

This is the one of the bedrooms in the basement. It's fairly small, but a twin bed and such will easily fit in there.

This is the last bedroom in the house. It's a mirror image of the other one in the basement. We will need to set up bunkbeds in one of these rooms eventually so that they can be shared.

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.

She's baaaaaaaack!!!

Well I'm finally back home from Calgary! This time for good {temporarily maybe!}. It's been a very long 6 weeks, and I have quite a few pictures and some yarn to show for it! We're busy preparing the house for the move, and I need to get things set up to move many of the Purl in the Oyster sales pages as we will be changing internet providers.

A lot has happened in the last month and a half, and I hope to be able to bring you all up to date. I guess the first thing I should explain about is our move. While I was in Calgary, Derek was offered {and accepted} a promotion with his company. He will soon be the new assistant manager in Virden. This requires us to move 3 hours west of Winnipeg, selling our house, and buying a new one. This is where most of my time, energy, and money will be going for the next while. I also need to find out about getting a transfer to the Brandon Wal-Mart, as well as hopefully being able to get placed at the Airdrie, AB renovation which runs until October.

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!!!!

Till we meet again Wendy...

I am in a large ballroom of a fancy hotel. There are preparations going on around me for an immense party. Is it a wedding reception or just a huge gala? I am unsure, but I know that whatever it is, it's *very* important, and for someone important. Everyone is rushing around making sure that everything is perfect. Every single detail is being studied and re-checked to make sure that nothing is forgotten, not a thing overlooked. I am confused, but doing everything I can to make sure that I am doing my part and helping with the fancy decorations. I am rushing around just like everyone else and working hard to get everything done in time. There is a feeling of urgency, but not to the point that you are being pushed into rushing too much, and making a tragic mistake. Everything must be "just so", and you take just the needed amount of time to do it, and get it done right. Next thing I know, the phone is ringing... I awaken from my deep slumber to answer the phone. On the other end is the saddened, distant voice of my husband, trying to explain to me in my semi-conscious state that our precious Wendy has passed on. I am upset by the news even though it wasn't completely unexpected. I am confused and bewildered by my strange dream and how I was woken up. I don't often dream, and even more rarely do I remember them, but this dream moved my soul in a way that I can't describe.

That night at work I was a zombie. My eyes were open but my mind was a million miles away. It was the same reaction I had when my Mom passed away. I was in mourning, but I didn't know what else to do but go to work. I suppose this is how I deal with grief... pushing it away and only dealing with tiny little bits at a time. How else can you explain someone serving coffee at a coffeeshop not even 12 hours after her mom died??? I found meticulous tasks to do to keep myself busy. Many of my co-workers hate doing things like that, so it is easy to find tons of the tiny, time-consuming products to put out.

I am alone with my thoughts and I am drawn to meaning behind this strange dream that I remember. All of a sudden it all hits me... I was dreaming of the preparations in heaven for Wendy. She was loved by all that knew her, and will be greatly missed by all those that she left behind. Who else, but someone so beloved would be worthy of this kind of reception? She isn't gone... not at all. She is simply somewhere else right now, awaiting the rest of us to join her in paradise, with a spirit that is no longer ravaged by that evil cancer. She is reaping the rewards of her earthly life now as those of us left behind mourn our loss and wait for the day that we will all be reunited.

It's not "goodbye"Auntie Wendy... it's "till we meet again".

Success at last!!!

Well today the sock and I got to take our first train trip ever!!! I hopped on the train at the Southland station, and went 2 stops north to Chinook. I was with 3 of my co-workers and we had a lunch/dinner at Ricky's, which was absolutely *fab*.

After our dinner it was time for the main purpose of the train trip, and that was YARN of course!!! A hop, skip, and a jump away was this wonderful shop called "Gina Brown's". I was smart this time and phoned first to make sure that they *were* actually open, and would still be open by the time Catherine and I walked over there! As we walked through the parking lot to the shop, I stopped to take a picture of the sock and its first Calgary yarn store... unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera cord with me, so all pictures of all of the Calgary and Banff adventures will need to wait until I get back home.

I have to say that I was in awe the moment I stepped into the shop. It was a beautiful, airy place with yarn as far as the eye can see. So many of the various yarns had sample projects knitted up so that you could really see what you were looking at. I was encouraged to touch and feel at leisure, and even though they were closing in about 30 minutes or so, I wasn't rushed at all. The owner showed me where the sock yarn was when I asked, and I was immediately in love. I was very impressed with the selections and brands available in many different price ranges. Even the prices were reasonable. I *am* used to paying a little less for the yarns I already had in my stash, but I have found that prices here in Calgary *are* a little higher... like a dollar or two more per $10-20, so it wasn't anywhere near enough to discourage my purchases. I am a cheap Winnipeg bargain shopper by nature, but I *know* my prices when it comes to certain yarns. I * also know* that if I'm here till the end of the month, I *will* return there, and I won't leave the shop empty handed!!!

There was Fleece Artist/ Handmaiden prodcuts all over and nearly each and every one of them was begging to follow me home. I completely resisted the temptation by reminding myself very loudly that I have the Sweaterkits projects that I *need* to complete. Gina Brown's *does* offer mail order, so I *can* order them later if I like... especially since Ram's doesn't have a lot of the stuff I saw today, and I *did* get to see and feel it up. There was a lot more in various brands, but it was mainly the FA that would not leave me alone!!!

Now... for what *did* manage to follow me home!!! I was extremely restrained, keeping in mind that I *am* supposed to be on a yarn diet!!! I mostly got stuff that I can't back home. I am now the proud owner of my first balls of Trekking XXL and Mega Boots Stretch! I also bought two hanks of a local wool... Mule Spinner Yarns/ Custom Woolen Mills, which is from just north of here. It's a beautiful 100% wool worsted, and I'm thinking a nice small felted bag {or two... with one flying off to Cambridge!} is in order. I also picked up a 6" set of bamboos... They didn't have any 2.5 mm left, so I bought a 2.25 mm set, which if nothing else will be *very* handy when knitting the kids some socks. I also got myself a new crochet hook so that damned Bates hook can be used for the only thing its good for IMO... picking up dropped stitches!!!

I just have to say that if you live in the Calgary area, or are going to be visiting it, do your best to make the time to come visit the shop. It's a mom and daughter duo that run/ own it, and they are both very friendly as well as knowledgeable about the products they carry. They have a blog too, but the paper I have the address written on is upstairs in the room. I'll link it back when I can get my pics on here.

I'm wondering...

... about so many different things right now that it's hard to think straight!

Firstly, I've only had one day off since I got here, and that was an enjoyable but very exhausting day at Banff! I cannot be held responsible for any typos or any rambling that I may or may not be responsible for!

That being said, I found a few operational brain cells and decided to use google maps to find out where all the bottle return depots are here in Calgary, and decide which is the easiest and/or closest to here. Well I'm very happy to announce that I've found one that's just over a kilometre away {less than a mile}, and *very* easy to find as well. I still need to call them to get their hours, but at least I now know that it's only about a 15 minute walk each way to go get rid of the growing heap of water and other bottles in my hotel room! That's not an adventure for today, however, as I have no choice but to trek over to the laundromat today... I *have* to or else my co-workers will definitely protest!!!

The kindness of strangers...

Or, "The Yarn Crawl that Wasn't"...

Yesterday was a very strange collection of events. I was in the mood for Chinese food, and wanted to go to that "walking distance" LYS I had looked up. Catherine {my roommate and recipient of the super-secret project} and I trekked off in search of this LYS and then pick up the food on our way back. Silly me, I didn't write down EXACT directions on how to get there... and obviously the day that I was perusing the phone book map of the city, I wasn't paying as close of attention as I should. Fast forward about an HOUR, and you find two ladies drowning in Lake Erie {there was like 15 different Lake Erie streets and such!}.

Then we tried to walk back to the main street that we knew. For those of you that know Calgary, we're staying at the Delta Calgary south which is bordered by Macleod, Bonaventure and {I think it's} Southland. Anyway, Macleod and Bonaventure are parallel here, and we went down Bonaventure. Well somewhere along the way, one or the other moved.... REALLY FAR!!! I *think* we were walking south, and somehow the 1 block west to go from Bonaventure to Macleod turned into a mile or more. Finally, on some strange street, we asked a lady for directions on how to get to Avenida Place, which is the mall where the LYS is. She tried to explain where it was from where we were, but it was quite difficult. For all of Calgary's street planning, this particular neighbourhood is full of winding and curved roads. When I showed her my sheet with the listing of the LYS, she then offered to DRIVE the two of us there. I couldn't believe my luck! This particular lady was very grandmotherly, and the two of us were {well me at least!} in no shape to continue walking into oblivion. I'm guessing that the fact that we were looking for a yarn shop took care of any concerns she may have had about two strange ladies coming up to her and asking for directions! As she drives towards the mall, we discovered just *how* much further from Macleod we were than we though {that street REALLY moved far!!!}, and how far we were from our hotel! I'd say that we were at LEAST a mile *past* the mall, which was well over a mile from our hotel {I'd estimated about half that!}. She pulls into the mall and takes us to the shop.... WHICH WAS CLOSED!!! gone, kaput, no longer of this earth. I was beyond devastated. I *had* checked the phone book to double check my listing, which is how I found out that Avenida Place was a mall, and not just a street address. Unfortunately, due to major hotel issues {will blog that later}, we have *no* local phone service available in our room... I can only call other rooms in the hotel, so I neglected to phone this particular place and confirm their hours and such.

Anyhoo, this kind soul {I never got her name :( } then offers to drive us back to the hotel. I pause slightly and say, "Well, actually, we were going to stop for lunch... if it's no trouble, could you drop us off at Willow Park so that we can go to the restaurant?" Willow Park is a small strip mall that was about half-way between where we now were and our hotel. She agrees to take us there, and when we arrive, she refuses to take any money that I had offered her for gas. At around $1.20/L right now, gas ain't cheap!!! I thanked her profusely and into the restaurant we went, extremely grateful for her absolute kindness. If this is the worst thing that happens to me during my stay here in Calgary, it will be a great trip indeed!!!

Our adventures *still* weren't over though! We placed our orders, and had them to go, as all I could think about by this point was getting back to the hotel and resting! Good thing I didn't go to the exercise room beforehand!! It ended up that the hotel was a *lot* further from the restaurant than I had remembered from the walk the other way. I can't get over just *how* out of shape I am!!! We *finally* get back to the hotel to discover that this particular Chinese restaurant has customer service out the ying-yang!!! I had ordered separate dishes, which were packed very well... cardboard separating the layers so that nothing got damaged, HUGE portions, and even after the 15 minute or so walk back to the hotel, was *still* too hot to eat!

Sooooo... in the light of all this, I don't care what I have to do to phone first, I'll figure out *something* before attempting any more yarn crawls, and I'm forever indebted to the kindness of some generous grandmother in South Calgary!

The Eagle has landed!!!

Well... not necessarily, but I *have* found interweb here in Calgary. Stupid me, I didn't find out about it until yesterday though. Oh well. That now means that I can now annoy you all with stupid tidbits about working in a city that seems to have no one working in it!!! Every freakin' place you go, there's a "help wanted" sign *somewhere*. You can't get away from it... except at the little Vietnamese laundry where I went to wash my clothes on the weekend... that place is run by a family and didn't need anyone else!

BTW: A little birdie told me that there's a yarn shop a not-too-long walk away that's by a Chinese food place to try out, and another one a very short C-train ride away... I get to take a train!!! YAY!!!

See ya in a few!!!

Weeks that is! I'm off to the airport in a couple of hours. I'm heading to Calgary for a few weeks {months?} to help out at a store there. I'm *supposed* to be getting a trip home every 3 weeks, so if you post a comment while I'm gone, it might take a while for it to show up! I'll miss you all, and hope to come back with lots of pictures. If the O/T pans out like I'm hoping, I should even have some yarn pr0n too!

*waves*

Cheesecake for dummies

AKA my idiot-proof pineapple cheescake recipe.
Can you remember ½ cup of sugar? Can you operate a hand blender? Then you are capable of making your own pineapple cheesecake! BTW: I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard of others using other canned fruit with yummy results.

Recipe:

1. Take one brick of cream cheese and place into a largish bowl to warm to room temperature.
2. Take one can of crushed pineapple {or fruit of your choice} and drain well.
3. Make one graham wafer crust following the recipe on the box of graham crumbs.
4. Make one envelope of Dream Whip according to the recipe on the packet {a tub of Cool Whip also works well}.
5. Take the ½ cup of sugar and cream it into the cream cheese.
6. Add pineapple and Dream Whip to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.
7. Spread mixture over crust.

Now comes the hardest part of all: Put in fridge for 8 hours/ overnight to set... don't touch it!!! {Trust me... after you've tasted the mixture, it *is* the hardest part of all!

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.

Decisions, decisions...

Well today's dilemma is what to put on our desks. I spent most of yesterday moving mine and Derek's desks here in the dining room, and now comes the daunting task of deciding what's going back on them. I deliberately put nothing but the peripherals back after the move, and left them like that overnight. It's *very* refreshing to see the desktops for a change. Unfortunately, it's making it hard to put stuff back... oh well.

Tomorrow I will post the pic of benefactor #2. I cast it on last night while I was working on my computer. It's horridly slow, and I was doing all kinds of things to it to try and speed it up. I did manage to get a really good start on the sock at least.

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!

Challenge...

Well it's the last day of the month, and I've challenged myself to get both socks I'm currently working on done today. I'm more than half-way through the foot of both my benefactor sock #1, and my DK #2. I *know* that I can get them both done on my weekend, but I think it would be really nice to finish them today... wish me luck.

I'll post tomorrow for a belated birthday wish for Jackie... we'll be having her birthday cake tonight after dinner.

Flying

Well my benefactor sock is flying off of my needles! I was at about the 4 inch mark when I got home from work Thursday morning... pretty amazing for a sock that I had just cast on Tuesday morning as my travelling/ work sock!

The wonders will never cease with this project. I got about an inch and a half knitted at home yesterday because another blob of yarn decided to eject itself from the ball. I was within 10 rows of the heel when I left for work Thursday night. The powers that be decided that I was to be on babysitting duty at the loss prevention office and I got well over 3 hours total of knitting time in at work. The benefactor sock #1 now has a heel flap, the heel turned, and about 1½ inches of gusset decreases done. I would have had the sock done if the police would have taken all night to show up like myself and the loss prevention officer were expecting.

I have visions of casting on benefactor #2 on my weekend... I'm really gonna blast away how long it took me to do the tiger socks with these ones... I just don't want another hospital stretch with these ones like I did with the tigers!!!

No pics, but a bit of knitting...

Well a goodly chunk of yesterday was spent fixing my design-in-progress. I had frogged back one needle about 10 rows. Once I got all that knitted up, I realized that I had followed the wrong chart for that needle. *cries* On the sortof plus side, the opposite side of the sock also had an error at the start of the chart, so I need to get up the courage to frog back *that* needle and correct the errors. Since I was so discouraged, I ended up not taking any sock pics even though I was outside enjoying our nice weather. I did a little bit of knitting at the dentist's office, but as usual, the epinephrine in the freezing affected me to the point where I could barely hold my needles.

Status reports: My benefactor sock is trucking along. I'll be starting the heel of that tonight at work. My generic DK sock is now on the heel flap. My Lacy Scallops are still on hold while I wait for my dpn finger callous to heal up.

I'm working on cleaning up the area around my desk so that I can get some pattern writing work done. The programs I use for writing and publishing my patterns are all on my computer, not on Derek's, which I normally use. I want to get my various generic patterns up as freebies. I have one paid sock pattern that's ready for sale as soon as I write and publish it. I also have three other socks in progress. I'll be looking for pattern testers soon. Since I have a ton of designs in mind, I'm looking into writing up a web page to solicit test knitters and crocheters so that I can get my web site seriouslyupdated... stay tuned for this.

HOLY CRAP!!! 10 already?!?!

I nearly fell over this morning when I went to update my sidebars and realized that Derek's tiger socks were my TENTH... you read it correctly, yes TEN!!! pair of socks finished THIS YEAR!!!! I'm *still* stunned. Now that you've all fallen over from the shock, and you're still on the floor I can tell you this... it's been over TWO MONTHS since I've bought yarn {not including the single small ball of dishcloth cotton for St. Patty's}. It was mid-February the last time I was at Ram's, and let me tell you, the withdrawal is hitting really hard.

I haven't taken pics yet, but I will before I go to the dentist work tomorrow. I kept myself otherwise busy today. My benefactor yarn was cast on, and this particular ball of yarn decided to disembowel itself a *lot* more than usual. That required the entire morning and a good chunk of the afternoon spent knitting it up so that it can be my "work" sock. I am now the proud owner of three inches of *very* cushy cotton blend sock! Thanks again benefactor!! *hugs* You'll see it tomorrow, 'kay? BTW, this stuff feels soooo wonderful it's making my yarn diet nearly impossible!

After I knitted up the cotton yarn barf, I frogged and reknitted the ribbing on the Regia, since I had screwed it up the first time... damned 1x1 ribbing! I'm at 1½ inches right now, and that uses up all of the frogged yarn *and* leftover yarn barf out of that ball. I'm gonna go a full 2 inches of ribbing on this one since I'm using only a 1x1 rib. It's going to become my newest design, but I won't be showcasing it here until I decide if I'm going to submit it for publication, or sell it myself. Since it's a patterned sock, it will be my pooter sock for whenever my finger hole isn't healed enough to work on Lacy Scallops with those deadly Inox dpns!

Thanks to Sarkasmo, I found a neat looking dishcloth pattern that I want to try. I haven't done any entrelac {I think, unless what I'm doing with my afghan/shawl is actually entrelac!} so this should be interesting! 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!

Another day, another sock!

Well I've decided to continue on profiling some of my recent sock FOs even though most of the pictures aren't up to par, and I haven't taken "in use" pics yet either. Today I'm going to show you Derek's Columbine socks. I knit them using wine Regia Silk, and the pattern is from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.


This is the completed pair of socks. I didn't need to adjust the pattern to fit other than foot length, and used 2.5 mm dpns. I also changed the heel to an eye of partridge heel as I feel this is a better wearing heel than the typical slip stitch heel flap. I had already tried the 2 circs method on my "Pippi" socks, and decided that it wasn't for me, which is why I used the dpns. The silk is absolutely dreamy to knit with, and I can't wait for my next opportunity to use this yarn.


Here is a close-up of the leg pattern. You can see that it gives a bit of interest to the leg without being overly lacy or "girly".

Let's freak out the muggles again!!!

Thanks to Anastacia Knits for pointing me in the direction of this one. It's a survey done by CNN.com, and let's put knitting at number one... or at least get it into the top 10!!!

Little Shells Revealed

Please forgive the REALLY crappy resolution on these shots. I'm still trying to find the right settings that won't make Blogger crap out on me for pictures.


Here they are at long last! It was a surprisingly quick knit for me. Although you can't tell in this photo, the only difference between the socks is about 2 rounds of colour at the toe.


This pic shows how evenly matched the yarns were... even at the heel turn. I'm so tickled about this!


Here's a side view of the pair. This one actually shows the slight differences in the toe. I can't be more pleased with how matched these two were.

For those that are interested, the pattern is Little Shells, and the yarn is Fortissima Socka Colori. I don't have the label in front of me for the colour number though. Even though I don't have a shot of it, the shell pattern actually does show up with the self-patterning yarn, albeit subtly... you'll have to take my word for it!

Happy 5th Alex!!!

Well I've had Blogger issues today, so it's nearly *not* his b-day anymore! But here is my birthday tribute to my youngest son:



It was 5 years ago today that Derek made a stupid, idiotic resident doctor feel like he was about a pixel high by a mere dirty look. To make a *really* long story not so long, April 2002 was hell on earth for me... 18 days of false labour! Some April Fool's joke kid!!! That also entailed at *least* half a dozen dry runs to the hospital due to said false labour. As an aside, due to abdominal pain that I had around 20 weeks, we knew that I was 2 centimetres dilated from that point on... a fact that was reaffirmed at every dry run save the last one on April 16th. On that morning, aforementioned dumbass doctor proclaimed that I was only 1 cm, and it would be a week at least till I delivered. Less than 16 hours later I was wrenching Derek off of the bed by his ankles {it was around 2:30 am, and I didn't have time for niceties} screaming, "I don't think he's kidding anymore!!!" I delivered him around 4:30, which was about 18 HOURS after we were told it would be a week. Derek saw the dumbass doctor on his way out of the hospital about 7 am, and you could tell that Derek {insert Queen Victoria voice here} "was *not* amused". Add to all that, that I was about 30 seconds away from an emergency C-section, which would have meant that Derek wouldn't have seen his son's birth, and that adds up to a *very* eventful birth day!

I don't think Alex has slowed down for a minute since. He has kept us on our toes in more ways than one in his 5 years, and we wouldn't trade it for anything... yes... even all the visits from the police!!! please don't ask!! ;) With all that energy he has, and exasperation his parents have, there's never a dull moment. This kid is destined for great things, hopefully sans styrofoam in his ears. For every time you want to strangle him, and trust me there are many, there are even more times where you want to hug and squeeze him until he cries, "Uncle!" He's full of love, energy and extreme generosity, and has a curiosity that I challenge anyone to surpass.

I love you to death Alex, and if I can teach you anything that you won't go and try to learn on your own anyway, it's this: You can't buy slurpees with Canadian Tire money... no matter how cute you try to smile.

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!!!

Lissa, the princess...

Now for your viewing pleasure, I have some pics of Lissa:

Here's the princess all ready for the kid's Christmas party back in December... gotta *LOVE* those red ruby slippers!!!

Believe it or not, these two actually *do* love each other and this hug isn't *just* for the camera!

Lissa the princess is showing off Lissa the socks. I can't believe it took me this long to get some made for her, especially since she loves them so much!

Quickie??

Well here is the pictorial of what I've been doing with the mitred squares.

This is the first square. I've semi-blocked it with my dpns since the stockinette curls so much.

Here are two squares from what will eventually be the edge of my project. I am blaming part of the curling on the crochet cast-on.

Here I've picked up the stitches for the first square in the second tier of squares. I've increased on the first {purl} row to get myself back up to the 41 stitches I need.

Here's the first three squares complete. Lots of ends everywhere to deal with, but that's minor {so far} if this whole thing works out!

This is how it's working out so far... it's definitely a work/ design *in* progress. Many thanks to "CW" {you know who you are!} for pointing out the obvious to me and solving my dilemma. I'll give you proper credit again later once your web site is functional.

How long does it take...

to get something removed out of your 4 year old's ear at the ER?

<-- This is how long!!! Since I usually count rows, it's worked out that I knit over half of the foot while waiting, and if this would have been a sock for me, I would have been hunting up a suture tray for scissors and a needle!!!

For those of you wondering what was in Alex's ear, it was a styrofoam "bean" from a bean bag chair... we had originally thought that it was the end of a Q-tip. The fact that it was a round piece of styrofoam explains why our attempts to remove it at home failed. They had to use suction to get it out, and Alex thought it was hilarious that they had to use a vacuum cleaner on his ear!!! While the night was long, boring, and seriously butt-killing, at least we've managed to get him to one week shy of his 5th birthday before his first ER trip!

Damn, damn, damn...

Now I need SERIOUS feedback here... the stockinette square is giving me hives yet again. This time it's do or die time.... If I decide to go with join-as-you-go {is there *really* any other option here?}, I'll need to switch this all to garter stitch. If I keep the stockinette, I'll need to *SEW* -- each -- and -- every -- square -- together... INDIVIDUALLY!!!! HELP!!!!

Time to start the afghan!

Well here I am, starting my sock yarn afghan. I've been doing some research online for about a week and taking ideas from here there and everywhere to come up with my own version. The original idea came from Steph's blog where she asked her readers to drown a lady in sock yarn {Shelly Kang}, and seeing Andrea's version of the afghan in person at one of our knitting meetings. I also found some great information at Knitting at Knoon that will be really helpful.

Last week I did up my first swatches, and wasn't totally pleased with my results. I want a stockinette version, and as many of you know, stockinette isn't even when it comes to stitches and rows like garter is. Garter stitch is approximately two rows to one stitch, which lends itself wonderfully to making squares. Stockinette on the other hand, is roughly a 5:7 ratio, and obviously decreasing to make a square will be more complex. I've decided to decrease on every other WS row as well as every RS row. The resultant "square" isn't PERFECTLY square, but it's much more manageable. I've also decided to go with a provisional cast-on for the foundation row of "squares" since I will be doing *something* with it later. I have a feeling that a large part of the lettuce-type edge I'm getting is due to that. I will check on that once I have my first few squares done.

All that being said, here's the pattern I've written for the foundation row of squares. I'm using various wool and wool blend fingering weight leftovers as well as 3.25 mm needles. Since I normally knit socks on 2.25 or 2.5 mm needles, this will give the fabric a little more "drape", as well as some forgiveness for differences in yarns and such. I am also using a 3.75 mm crochet hook and some acrylic fingering weight yarn for my provisional cast-on. Get two of these made, and join me next time for joining them!!! I also should have pictures of this in the next installment.

Stockinette Sock Yarn Afghan - foundation row square
Using provisional cast-on method of your choice {I prefer the crochet chain cast-on}, cast on 41 sts.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Sl1, k17, ssk, k1, k2tog, k18
Row 4: Sl1, p16, p2tog, p1, ssp, p17
Row 5: Sl1, k15, ssk, k1, k2tog, k16
Row 6: Sl1, purl across

Rows 3-6 establish pattern. Continue in this manner until 3 stitches remain, which should be after a RS row.
Last row: Sl1, ssp, psso (1 stitch)

Do not fasten off, but leave a longish {6-12 inch} tail, and do not pull it through the last loop. This "stitch" will be used in subsequent squares.

What dumb holiday is your birthday on?

More Fun Quizzes at QuizPox.com

I found this cute tidbit at noricum's blog. She's another Winnipegger that I've met through the local knitting groups. I actually re-stumbled on her blog through Shelly Kang's blog while looking for instructions on that mitred square sock yarn afghan! I'm gonna join her knit-a-long too, since I've got quite a few scraps here already, and I think it would be cool to have an afghan out of sock yarn... yes... you all knew I was crazy, and now this is the undisputed proof!

Lissa, the sock...

Here is the Lissa sock. It's a generic top-down sock with a short row heel for a large toddler. Stay tuned for the pattern!

I have a benefactor!!!

One of my net-friends, who wishes to remain anonymous, had a package delivered to my house today. Imagine my surprise to open the box, and then open the brown bag {sealed with a question mark sticker} to discover this:

Now how cool is this??? It's Ram's newest Super Soxx Surprise, now in a cotton blend. This picture really doesn't do it justice, and once I figure out how to get better quality pictures uploaded without using Blogger's Picassa, I'll change it. Suffice it to say that this yarn is a GORGEOUS blend of blue and grey with charcoal flecks through it. If you look at the webpage for it, it's the third sock from the bottom in the picture of series 1. It's just as soft as the original wool Super Soxx, and I can't wait to find out if it knits up just as well.

I was told that it was because I'd been so good lately with finishing so many of my sock projects, and hadn't been able to afford any trips to Ram's at all in nearly 2 months... with no relief in sight for my unplanned yarn diet. I had been coveting this yarn dearly since I discovered its existence about a week or so ago. I would like to publicly thank my benefactor for this most generous gift. It was the bright spot in an otherwise extremely bleak outlook for me right now.

In other news, I got some pictures loaded on to the pooter and edited for posting. I don't want to sully this post by adding other pictures, so stay tuned for the next few days as I feature various FOs.

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.

Snippets...

Little Shells sock made it to the end of the heel turn on Saturday before I went to bed. I picked up the gusset stitches and started going to town on the foot. I got to just over 40 rows before I decided that I *had* to get to sleep. I'm expecting to finish those today. That will add 420 metres to my marathon total.

After that I want to put the toe on Rebecca's sock, as I *still* haven't gotten around to finishing that up. That will add 150 metres.

Derek's socks are just shy of 40 rows on the foot, so nearly half done. I am hoping to finish those on my weekend as well. That's another 400 m to add to my tally.

I will be starting my Lacy Scallops as soon as the Little Shells are done, and I will be starting a generic stockinette sock for Derek out of the tigery-jacquard once his Columbine socks are done.

More later, as I'm busy blog-stalking Stephanie... I *so* need to find out what all happened on Thursday and beyond!!!

Scattered thoughts...

All kinds of things running through my mind and my needles today. I'm on repeat #14 of 16 for Little Shells #2. 1 or 2 more gusset decreases to do on Columbine #2. I've started a new super-secret project... this one needs to be done by the end of April. It's a fairly involved project, and I can only work on it when I'm alone... wish me luck.

In non-knitterly news, I got my income tax assessment in the mail today. This means my 2006 tax return has now been processed. They gave me an extra deduction of some sort, which means an extra federal non-refundable tax credit in my favour... not a great amount by any means, but as those of you in the know about my tax situation know all too well, that anything in my favour is DEFINITELY for the good.

I happy and bummed out at the same time for everyone that got to "Represent" with Steph et al yesterday... I can't even afford a trip to Ram's to cheer myself up with.

Damnit Lyz! I hope you're happy now!!!

Well your sock knitting curse has now officially hit me! In more than the time that it took me to get EIGHT repeats done yesterday, I've managed to only have a net increase of 3 repeats today. First I had to frog back one needle 5 rows to fix a missing yo... then I discovered another missing yo and fixed that as well... but that yo ended up being the size that you could easily poke a pencil through, and of course that wasn't noticeable until I had knit all five rows back up the one needle. So I decided to go ahead and frog it all back to prior to the pattern repeat that was causing me all the trouble. Now, each and every pattern row since, {luckily not every freakin' NEEDLE since} I have had at least one screw up of some sort that has required tinking back at least a few stitches, if not a whole needle.

LYZ!!! I'M BEGGING YOU!!! If you have any soul left at all {after you-know-who has sucked every last bit of life out of you}, can you PLEASE take your bad knitting ju-ju back??? I'm afraid of this carrying on into my FA socks, and I really want to enjoy knitting with that, not curse every damned stitch!

For those of you that aren't Lyz, and therefore have no freakin' clue what I'm hollering at her for, here's my RDCV progress report: Derek's Columbine #2 is over half-way through the gusset decreases. I'm hoping to have the gusset done or nearly tonight at work. Little Shells #2 is just past pattern repeat #11 of 16. I couldn't take pictures of my SDIPs because all of the AA batteries in this house are deader than my car in -40°C weather. That means that I couldn't do any frogging to recover yarn and dpns. As a side note, I can't find one of them anyway, but if I do save one of the pairs, that's the one that it would be. Batteries are now charging, so I can take the pics {but no promises of uploading!!!} tomorrow.

In other news, that "new" Eco-Fil stuff you may have spotted at your local WM is now on clearance at most if not all Canadian stores. At $4 a ball before, it was a good deal. Now it's between $2-$2.75 here in town which is an absolute steal. And as is typical with a lot of the newly released yarns at work, you don't find a pattern to use with the stuff until AFTER it's gone on clearance!!! I *did* find a cute little top pattern that calls for 2 balls, and Jackie has given the okay on a top made out of the blue tweed I bought for my shopping bag. Even if she hates it, it's gonna be less than $6 for a top! I'll make it bigger anyway, so she can wear a t-shirt underneath if it's itchy on the skin. I'll let you all know how it works out.

Just to upset Lyz!!!

Well I'm getting ready to go to bed here, and I've got 8 repeats out of 16 for the leg done on Little Shells #2. The wool for the Lacy Scallops has been wound into a ball, and the pattern printed... all ready for starting as soon as Little Shells are done... sometime this work week I expect. Derek's Columbine socks are all ready for their back and forth action as my work socks, and since it's all gusset, and then plain stockinette, I'm not expecting these to take very long either.

Tomorrow my plan is to photograph my two designs in progress, and decide if I'm going to finish the socks on the needles, or frog back the yarn. That might free up my 2.5 mm bamboos for the Lacy Scallops. I also need to rush home tomorrow morning as I want to try and catch the Today Show. It starts at 7, and the earliest I can get home is 7:30ish... "It's a purl, man" and others will be outside the NBC studios tomorrow morning for the start of Stephanie's "Represent" plan!

I ain't got no stinkin' SSS!!!

Nope, second sock syndrome does *not* reside in the Rodgers' household!!! It just *seems* like it does since I usually have so many pairs of socks on the go. Right now it has worked out that I have several pairs completed or very near completion. I'm expecting to have 4 FO pairs this month, and that will help my L&V Sock Marathon goal greatly.

Like I said earlier, Jackie's socks {which were started early last summer} are finally complete. I haven't written up the final draft of the pattern yet, but all things in good time! Little Shells #1 was finished knitting on Saturday, and I grafted the toe when I got home from work on Sunday morning. Then I finished the ribbing and did the first few rows of Derek's Columbine #2 before going to bed. On Monday, I finished the leg of his sock and started on the heel. Tuesday morning I finished the heel and picked up the gusset stitches. It's now ready and waiting to be my new "work-on-at-work" sock. After that I cast on Little Shells #2, and started the ribbing. I finished the ribbing at my SnB, and after comparing it to #1, they are very much looking identical. Rebecca's socks will be finished Wednesday morning, since I didn't feel like adding in the new ball of yarn at SnB. I was a few rows into the toe when I ran out of yarn, so it will be a fast finisher.

Lyz and I have decided on our next mini-KAL project, Lacy Scallops from SockBug's blog. I will be using my Fleece Artist sock yarn that I bought myself as my promotion present. I'm really enjoying doing this with her, since it's driving me to get the pair done quickly. Strangely enough, this apparent speed has carried over into my other projects as well. Derek has also chosen the yarn for his next pair of socks. I was half-hoping that he wouldn't find anything in my stash that he wanted, as I love working with the Regia Silk for him, and the Silk Shine is on sale at Ram's right now. He chose some Confetti that I bought last summer at Leona's in a tiger-like jacquard. Since the yarn is self-patterning, it only requires the most basic of sock patterns. I will be able to use the entire project as my "work-on-at-work" sock. As an added bonus, I'll finally get to try it out... I *did* buy it to actually knit with, ya know!!!

Note: I apologize for the lack of links in this post... I *had* linked all the pertinent information, but my browser crashed entirely before I had a chance to save it... I decided not to take a chance in the rewrite! If you want/ need the links, leave me a comment, and I will edit the post to put them in.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well I have a nice, new, green-containing dishcloth to celebrate St. Patty's with! As an added bonus, I just finished my first Little Shells sock, and will be grafting the toe before I go to bed. I *would* start the second sock as well, but it's already getting a bit late, and I'm really tired. I'll post more tomorrow about it and my shopping bag design-in-progress also.

I only do what the yarn voices tell me

Well today I had two balls of yarn talking to me... they wanted to come home with me and become new dishcloths for my kitchen. The first one I noticed was a cheery yellow mix, and it said "SPRING!!". The second one was more subtle. It was a white, beige, and mint mix, and once I noticed it, it screamed "St. Patrick's Day dishcloth" to me. Well since St. Patty's Day is in 2 days, I decided to listen to that one. Besides, after +1°C temps on Monday, it was -14°C on my way home this morning... that doesn't bode well for spring at all.

I tried to find a pattern that the yarn wanted to be, and couldn't find one online. Then I decided to design my own. That didn't pan out either. I'm gonna go frog what I've done so far and make a good ol' Granny's Favourite... *sigh* At least I'll have something clean to wash my dishes with tomorrow morning!

Time Warp!

Somehow I've managed to warp the space-time continuum! I started the heel stitches on my Little Shells before I went to bed last night. I had switched the pattern to 70 stitches, to add 2 more pattern repeats, and did the heel on 34 stitches. This morning I got the heel flap and turn done, and got the gusset stitches picked up and all the decreases done by 1:30 p.m... I went down to 64 stitches for the foot. I've got 30 rows done of the foot, and since my feet are usually 65 rows before the toe decreases, I can see even this stockinette black hole being very easy to knit my way out of.

Now I'm working on the never-ending ribbing of Derek's second Columbine sock. I managed to slog through over half of the 24 rounds needed to match sock #1, and am ready to start the pattern... FINALLY! I know from sock #1 that the leg goes amazingly fast, and that means that it will be ready to be my "work sock" by the time I finish the foot on Rebecca's sock.

No! No black hole for you!!!

Well, I'm really liking the Little Shells sock that Lyz and I chose for our mini-KAL. I'm using Fortissima Socka in a rainbow-like jaqcuard. I just started these a few days ago and I'm now trying to decide when to make my heel. Most of my socks have a leg in the 5½ to 7 inch range, and this one is now at the 6 inch mark. I often get into the black hole of knitting with my socks, where I knit and knit and knit, and don't get anywhere. Not this time. I think I'll take these to 7 inches before I go to bed and turn the heel tomorrow.

I finally finished Jackie's socks last night. I guess I'll have to get the pattern finalized for that, and pictures taken of the design... those socks had deadly black holes that I never thought that I would knit my way out of.

Now that Jackie's socks are done, Rebecca's socks have been bumped up to "work sock" status. Hopefully these will be done shortly as well, as I have just finished the gusset decreases for the second sock.

But is it blogworthy???

Well I've been getting a few complaints from some of my friends that I haven't been blogging as of late. I guess I've been doing a lot of introspection lately, and really wondering about my life, and what I am doing with it. The one thing that keeps coming up, to me, is "But is it blogworthy?" That's a big part of putting your life up on the web for everyone to see... just how interesting *is* my life, and does anyone other than me really give a damn anyway???

I have a podcast!!!

Well... sorta... kinda... I've just recorded the promotional clip, and gotten it uploaded to a free server. I'm still trying to work out all the bugs of uploading and RSS feeds and the like, but hopefully my first *real* episode will be up soon. I'm very new at this, and doing it on the cheap for the time being, so please be kind in your comments. I have started a new blog just for the podcast, and you can find it here.

YAY!!! Success at last!!!

Well I am a happy sock knitter again! I found the missing in a safe place ball of Regia Silk Shine to complete Derek's GI Dennis socks. I quickly got the toe finished and all the ends woven in. That makes two completed pairs of socks so far this year.

I restarted Derek's Columbine socks, and am still working on the ribbing of those. I am nearly done Watermelon #2 {I managed my first short-row heel ever!}; I'm down the foot of Rebecca's camo sock; found the pattern I wrote so that I can finish Jackie's sock; and am working on a new super-secret {for the time being} design. The Old Shale sock is currently on the back-burner while I finish up what's nearly done, but I can see several completed pairs *very* soon.

Working on the super-secret design has got my creative juices going again, so I think a few more designs will be coming soon as well... as always, stay tuned to this channel for future updates.

Houston... we have a problem...

I can buy sock yarn faster than I can knit it up!!! At least today's excuse is that *some* of it isn't for me!!! I went to Leona's, which I haven't been to since summer, and again I wasn't disappointed. She has a fairly good selection of sock yarn, and 90% of it is at very budget-wise prices. The $4/ball Confetti is a great example... I can't wait to see what our "bumblebee" socks are going to turn out like. I also brought home some Jawoll that was lonely on the shelf by itself. Total additions to *my* stash: 1410 metres; for a total of 22 012 metres.

Can I get a HOLY CRAP?!?!?

Well I finished my sock yarn inventory to the best of my ability... I am missing a bin of yarn *somewhere* in the house containing at least 6-10 pairs worth of sock yarn. Well the tally {so far} is 20 602 metres, which works out to roughly 12.8 MILES of sock yarn. Can I get a HOLY CRAP?!?! I still need to figure out exactly where I am in my marathon, as well as how much of that yarn I want to use up... I'm figuring that about 3 pairs of completed socks a month is a reasonable goal.

Sock progress so far this week is dismal... I had to frog Derek's Columbine sock as I got to the heel... it turns out that his legs aren't as wide as I first thought. I have done the frogging and reballed the yarn, but I've been too busy with other things today to recast them on. I finished my "not-on-two-circs" socks today, and cast on the watermelon yarn that Lyz gave me for Christmas. I am using the ankle socks pattern from the site for them. I've gotten a bit more done on Rebecca's sock, and finished the cuff on my second Old Shale sock. I'm now at "mindless" parts of it, so I will be able to use that sock as my back-and-forth sock for a while.

I've done quite a bit of surfing for patterns and such for my next projects. I dug out the ribbon yarn to finally make my Trio Bag, and I just need to locate needles for it. I also found patterns to make myself a top out of some of my sock yarn. In other news, I just got a call from Rams, and my sweater kit that I ordered is in!!! YAY!!!

What am I gonna do with all this spare time?

Well my worst fears were realized, I was called back to my home store a night early. It was very uspetting to me on two fronts... the first being that I didn't get to officially say goodbye to everyone like I had planned... the second being how rude my manager was about the whole situation. But what can you do, right?

Now that I'm back at my home store, I *do* get to sleep later, and I have more time at home. Even though full hours *are* available right now, I *desperately* want my three days off this week. Maybe I will feel differently next week, but I am currently looking very forward to at least a few weeks of three day weekends. Wednesday night is inventory at my store, and I WON'T BE THERE!!! I'll be at my casual knitting meeting, and having a blast as I haven't been to that one since I took my week of vacation at the beginning of September.

I haven't gotten any further in my yarn inventory, but I will be remedying that this week. I've gotten the gusset decreases done on my socks, and I'm into the third "lace" repeat of Derek's Columbine sock. I don't seem to be getting as much knitting done now that I have more time, but since I've been catching up on my sleep, I'm not going to complain too loudly.

I went through my camera, and I haven't removed pics off of it since HALLOWEEN!!! I'm gonna take some pics of the wild novelty yarn I picked up on my way out of Portage and then get the whole lot on to my computer. I haven't been so big on novelty yarn in a long while, but this is for some doll blankets for Alex and Lissa's cabbage patch dolls. When you see this garish pile of yarn, you will understand why I *had* to have it for them!

Yarn, yarn everywhere; and not a sock to wear!

Sorry... that was a *very* bad play on words -- water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink! I've been knitting socks like crazy, but still haven't completed a pair in months! I started my sock yarn inventory for the Sock Marathon, and I have over 7 km in just my Ram's Super Soxx Surprise yarn! HOLY CRAP!!! That's a heck of a lot of yarn, and I haven't even scraped the surface yet! It wouldn't surprise me to find out that I have in the range of 10 miles or so of it, but I think better in kilometres. I figger I get 2.5 pairs of socks out of a kilometre, so I would guesstimate that by the end of March {using my typical sock knitting habits} I would have about 6-8 pairs done. That makes between 2.4 and 3.2 km and if I really concentrate on nothing but socks, I'm guessing I could nearly double that.

I have two more nights in Portage, and then I'm back at my store Saturday night. Cross your fingers for me that I can get out of working Wednesday night, as that is inventory. I'm supposed to have it off due to the 28 hour work weeks, but I was told last night by a marginally reliable source that the schedules have been all changed. I will need to find my backbone and stand up to them to keep my original one, as I *really* need the extra rest.

I'm in the process of turning the heel on my Portage/Pippi sock #2, and I'm hoping to have the pair finished by the time I finish my weekend if not sooner. I had to start Derek's Columbine socks a little sooner than planned as I finished the ball of Regia that I had been using, and can't find the extra ball that I had purchased to finish the toe of his first one! I'm into the second repeat of the "lace", and I think that this project will be a quick finisher.

Where the hell has she been?

Yes... yes... yes... I *know* that I've been seriously MIA from blogdom, as well as online activity in general. Here's the RDCV {Reader's Digest Condensed Version} of the last 4 months:
1. I got a Nintendo DS and a copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World. WARNING!!! This game is addictive to the point of being nearly a terminal illness! I've gotten several of my friends, as well as my entire family addicted to playing it as well! My main involvement online in October and November was on one of the online communities devoted to AC:WW.
2. I've been commuting over 3 hours a day for the last two months as I do a store set-up in Portage la Prairie. It's been a great experience as I've been involved in the store since 4 days after possession, and will be there to the end of this week. Soft opening was last Thursday, and official grand opening is this Thursday. I'll probably post some pictures of it once it's all said and done.

That basically covers what I had been doing. My knitting has suffered greatly, and it wasn't until New Year's that I got back into knitting with a passion again. I will bring you up-to-date with my WIPs and FOs as I continue to update here. There are two main developments in my current activities. One is that I've joined Lime & Violet's 2007 Sock Marathon. I haven't done my inventory yet, but I've gone through in the range of 500 yards of sock yarn since the beginning of the year. The other development is that I am working on creating my own podcast. Stay tuned to this space for future announcements about it.

I have only this week left of insane hours {60+/week}, and then I'll be dropping down to 28/week for a few months, as is typical in retail.