Attn Sockapalooozers

I need your help! I have all the tools I need for starting my sock. Look closely that's some lanett super wash 100% merino wool. It's sow soft if I didn't despise the color so much I'd be tempted to keep it. Good think I'm not a fan of that color.. I hope it's close to the color my sock pal likes. I was checking out her blog and emailed her and she said she liked this color. Of course being the normal type of worrier I am ...I worry. Anyways I've also got my email with all my Sock Pal's info in it. And also my fave Addi DPNs that I picked up in Germany... They're sooo beat up I'd like to get another pair but I won't b/c they're 2 times as much here in the states. Anyways different topic back to my sock pal... I've also got the pattern Fiber Trends Leaf Lace. sooo pretty, (and I'm not a huge lace fan. At least not the spider webby looking stuff) this pattern isn't like that so I like it. Ask me though after I start knitting then I'll let you know if I like it. So the pattern is written to be knit from the cuff down... My problem...I tried Kitchner stitch again today and it turned out horrible and so I pulled it out and finished the baby sweater differently. But again that's a different story. So what do you think should I do them cuff down? Or my preferred way Toe up? My only problem with knitting toe up I'm not sure of the cast off. It's always a little tight. I even try a bigger needle to bind off. Any suggestions? Links would be awesome. Also I find that they're tight over the heel.... Any suggestions on that? Should I do a few less wrap and turns? Should I pick up a few extra stitches before the heel? EEEK sooo many problems. Here let me distract myself and you with another pix....

So I said I had a run in with kitchner stitch today. And it didn't turn out well for the kitchner stitch. See I finished my baby sweater... Look isn't it pretty? It's from the book last min knitted gifts. It knit up pretty well. Here's a close up of the beads I used for buttons. Just plain green. sooo cute. It's blocking now. So anyways back to the dreaded kitchner stitch. I had to do the under arms and that didn't go well. I did it and then looked at it and was like this is horrible I can't give this away. So I ripped it out turned the sweater inside out and did a 3 needle bind off and it looks much better. I wonder if that would work for socks? HMM ponder ponder. So again I wonder if my friend will like this baby sweater I knit for her new baby. (due in spring) Hey do you think it looks boyish? It's for a boy that's why I picked green. The pastel blue is kinda over played sooo I went with green it's more of a lime green than baby green b/c I don't like baby green b/c that's too close to teal and that's just disgusting... Anyways enough of my rambling... I'll let you go.

babies and sweaters

check out this cool hat. i came across it while reading my daily reads on my christian knitters webring, at this blog (isn't her daughter the cutest?).. i love that hat. it's awesome. i'm so going to make it for the booty.. using pink and green i think.. not so many colors that they have but just the top being green and the pink as the petals... neat huh?
anyways here's my progress on the baby sweater. it's really futher than that b/c i've done the yoke and i'm working on the placket part now... i'm loving this pattern. it just goes to show those books i own have really good patterns in them i just have to make them! LOL next stop... i think i may make the hourglass sweater pattern from the same book. i have this great grey yarn that will look sooo pretty in that pattern. but first i've got to get my sock pal socks started and kicking before i start another project. or so i keep telling myself. i'm still trying to figure out if i should knit the socks toe up or cuff down. the pattern is cuff down the but i like toe up. so what do you think?
this weekend was awesome, My friends Kelly and Pam came to visit along with family's minus pam's hubby. here's a pix of everyone in the hot tub at the hotel.. that was good fun! here's the booty and her buddy. they're 2 weeks apart and we've already promised them to each other. hey a girl and her friend can wish can't we. what more could we want to get along with the inlaws...LOL last time we were together this is them..... aww how they grow. and look at the girls... how big did they get? just look at how grown up our babies are.
well all and all it was a great weekend. and all the pix we took we forgot to take a pix of us 3 UGH next time i guess.

Unloved?

No longer! look at what i have received! it's soooo pretty i'm drooling to make some socks! this sock yarn is no longer unloved! Wanda sent it to me! it's awesome! i love it one skein is opal it's just beautiful and super soft! the regia is sooo pretty i can't wait to knit it and see how it turns out! look here's another pix

thank you sooo much Wanda i love your unloved sock yarn.
it's soo beautiful!
i'm just glowing here! this was one of the most fun swaps i've done in a long time!

Hat Box

I signed up for winter wool a while ago. And I just got my package today! I'm SOOO excited! Kiki was my swapper. she did an awesome job!
thank you so much Kiki... Her son is sick so she said there is more coming. Thank you so much ..You're awesome!!! I hope your son gets better soon,.
here's the loot! isn't t pretty? There's some great little extras there too. Some flower thingys. I think for making pom poms. And then a change purse and some roving for needle felting. which I don't know how to do.....But there's always time to learn right? Insert evil grin!
so big thanks to you Kiki. And well wishes and prayers are being sent to your son! Now what am I supposed to make with all this lovely yarn?? any thoughts?

so I finished my BIL'shat. It's crochet'd in the round.. He wanted a spiral type hat. There's the hat on my head.. It looks a little weird his head is bigger than mine so it hangs a little low on my head. I hope he likes it... I'm not sure if I do.. Here's another shot I like the angle...
what do you think?

the progress on the baby sweater is coming alond I'm on the arms now.. Well one of them. I didn't like the way the increases were K1f&b so I made one instead I like the way it looks better. so I'm re knitting the arm that I frogged back... I didn't take pix of it. but maybe tomorrow. or maybe not you see my friends Kelly and Pam are coming to visit this weekend so I'm not so sure I'll be around at all I may be though. (they're bringing their fam's btw) fun for the whole family! I cannot wait! I'm going to be working late tomorrow so I don't have to go in on Monday. That way I can say good bye properly! I'm so excited. I haven't said anything before b/c I was nervous about jinxing it. And I sooooo want to see my girls again! I will def take pix and share them..
speaking of good news. We are making a bid on a house.. Yes we found one.. Hopefully this one will work out! We're praying about it and I believe that if it's the right house it will work out for us. It's everything we've been praying for and even more. So if you think about it add it to your prayers! Thank you! I will share pix of the house after we know more! I'm trying not to get my hopes up incase it' s not the one... We have looked at many many many many houses and we told each other we're not settling. So with that mindset we started looking. Now we think we've found it... So that's why I'm trying not to get too excited. Well I'll TTYL

Amazed?

It never ceases to amaze me how fast I can actually knit. Well not super fast as some, but fast enough. That is when i actually get off he computer and knit. lol I was kinda getting sick of knitting socks.... GASP!!! I know I just said that. I have to knit my sockpal socks but first I thought I would take a break so I started the Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. If you click the link you'll find there is a link to a page where there are corrections for the patterns in the book. For this pattern there's actually a PDF file here's the link to that. But it's also on that last link on the right side. Anyways so I'm about 4 1/2 inches up. I'm loving this pattern so far! I'm already planning a sweater for the booty when I'm done. I'm using that cotton I got on the trip to my LYS it's for a friend who's having a baby. Speaking of baby mine is teething again. I think at least. She's been chewing her fingers for days and she just went and grabbed her washcloth and is chewing on it.. Survey says... TEETHING.. whoo hoo I win. So anyways I have decided to to use Fiber Trend's leaf lace socks for my sock pal if you've never been there before look around. great stuff there. in a greenish color, that's an obvious choice. I hope that she likes the color. I am debating now whether to knit them toe up. My preferred way or top down... Not sure yet. Anyways that's my update for now.... I'll be back.

Get off the puter.....

So for my Sew? I knit sew a long I posted an entry. I went thru my closet and DUG out my patterns and fabric. Now I'm just trying to find the time to cut then sew the skirt.... You can read about it here.
I've been on the puter a lot lately so not much knitting has been going on. I hope to fix that soon! Like by getting off here and going and knitting. I will show you what I've been working on... First it's a basket?? No silly, it's a hat I'm crocheting for my BIL it's almost done I hope he likes it. we're going to a chief's game tomorrow night and I told my DH to ask if my BIL and SIL want to come. I got the tickets free!! from my work. It's fun to get things for free. My DH is super duper excited. I'm planning on taking my socks to work on.. Hey lets look inside their bag. it's a pair of socks I started back over thanksgiving. They're for MOI. So of course I don't work on them like I should. Let's look a little closer at the pattern. I'm trying a lace pattern. I'm not a HUGE lace fan but I do like this how it's turning out. Who know s maybe it will change my attitude towards lace. And here's a close up of the colors how they're turning out ok it's not the best pig but it's night and there's no daylight to take a quality pix.. So it'll have to do! It's a hand painted yarn (painted by myself) 100% merino. What do you think?
and the last project I'm working on is some baby booties. I'm actually writing up the pattern for them and since my friend is having a boy I thought I'd make her some for her gift. I've gotta have them done by march b/c that's when her shower is. I also have to START the sweater I bought yarn for.... HMMM we'll see. LOL
so that's what I've been doing lately.
here's a pix of the booty. She looks totally different today. So I took a pix. It could be the cute overalls we got at old navy but I think she's growing UP too fast... SNIFF! My baby!
a lot of people are in the knitting Olympics I'll be watching that's for sure. Good luck everyone!

lookie lookie

so on saturday we went to altoona and to my LYS i did go! look at what i brough home. all but the book that is. i got that at walden books in the mall. some of that is for myself. others are gifts to be given and made. the lime green cotton yarn is made right here in PA... gotta support PA yarn goodness. i love my LYS they ladies that work there are super nice! tomorrow is a knitting night but i don't have a baby sitter so i don't think i'll be able to go. i'm totally bummed. we don't know anyone yet so it's really hard to find a babysitter. we like to know about our sitters before we leave the girls with them.
well anyways i've gotta closer thought on the Sockpal socks... the sock yarn in the back is for her. i'm not sure of the pattern yet though. I think that the leaf lace sock pattern i bought she would like. so i may do that. even though the pattern is for a gift. i sitll really like the diamond sock pattern. well i have to figure what she would like huh? b/c they're not for me are they?

so look what my lil bro sent me all the way from korea...
2 sets of spoons and chopsticks. they are soooooo beautiful. and in pretty boxes i feel like i have some real treasures that i need to store in the valut or something. LOL not that we have a vault. now i just need to make some food suitable for chopsticks...
and also this beautiful painting! how awesome is that? now i need to find a place to hang it safe from little hands. off to hang things. have a wonderful knitty day!

Sock thoughts

So I got my Sockapaloooza pal info the other day. NO I'm not going to tell you if it's you or not.... But you can still bug me about it if you like purples, greens and blues and browns and socks. I think I have the sock yarn already but tomorrow we're going to altoona and I'm stopping at the yarn store. so I may change my mind if I find anything pretty. I'm also trying to decide between patterns. I'm thinking of this sock pattern it's pretty. You know I say I don't like lace patterns but that's a like I do like a few. Or maybe one from my Knitting on the road book. There's one in there called New England with some really pretty diamonds on them. I think though that I would put the diamonds around the whole sock not just the front. Or I really like the Whitby pattern in the book too... Though I'd probably do more cables, I like cables. There's also a few from Fiber Trends that are pretty. Of course I like to knit my socks from the toe up. So I was thinking of going to the library and borrowing a book with different stitches in it and making up my own pattern. If you're looking for sock patterns this site has a TON of them linked from all over the web.
speaking of knitting have you seen these awesome knitted fortune cookies. I love them. I have to make them this weekend... Also on cool knitted food there's the sushi from magknits. It's all very fun I think!
well I'm watching Dark Water as I type and I'm getting pretty freaked out. She just went upstairs...Oh ok... Not scared... All that gross water EEWW and what was with the hair in the cup?? Gross.
anyways must go and thoroughly scare the crap out of myself! Have a great night!

Free Pattern

Attn to my unloved sock yarn swap partner. I'm not telling you who you are.but this is the yarn you are getting... I got it in Germany and I don't think I'll ever knit it up. It's really cool self striping. Enjoy... I'm also getting some little things together to send with the sock yarn. I'm not sure if we're supposed to do that or not but I can't just send the yarn. Anyways now remember my Thumb thingy? well here's a pix. It's weird angle but it looks nice. I made it with some left over sock yarn from a pair of socks I made. with koolaid dyed yarn.
so with out further stalling here's the pattern. It's super simple and never been tested.
if you make it have fun but please don't sell it, thanks! you'll need to know short row shaping and a provisional cast on. If you don't know how to do that here's some links for you. Knotty has a great article on all different toe techs you can use when making socks. In there is a great one about short rows.. Go there read it. Enjoy it. Here's the link I also have a few links for you for short rows with out holes here's one from nothing but knit and another one from the blue blog here ankle sock pattern is so pretty I want to make it. Anyways that should help you with this pattern and any toe up socks you'd like to make.
Thumb Thingy it should help your kid stop sucking their thumb. Well it's helping mine
you'll need some left over sock yarn. 4 DPNS I used 2.5 cm about 9 stitches per inch
using a provisional cast on (see the link above)
Knit 9 stitches
purl back across
knit to last stitch wrap and turn
purl to last stitch wrap and turn
continue like this till all but one stitch is wrapped, then un wrap. Creating the "toe"
unzip your provisional cast on and you're ready to knit in the round. Divide the stitches not so evenly around 3 needles. If you need to pick up stitches remember to K2tog so you have 18 stitches.
knit until it's about 2 inches from the top. Or how ever long your kid's thumb is.
on the last round
K 3 on the 4 stitch start to cast off. Until you only have 4 stitches left
knit back and forth until it's about 4 inches or it will fit around your kid's hand. Really the ball of the hand. Then using a 3rd needle pick up 4 stitches from the other side of the thumb thingy and using 3 needles bind off the 4 live stitches with the 4 picked up stitches. We want it to go over the thumb and around the hand to stay on. See the pix. I found that connecting the band to the thumb thingy it stays on better than the button I used for the first one. But if you want a button feel free to make a button hole and then use a button.

anyways I hope you enjoyed that!
like I said before it's not hard. Almost too easy.
it's working though for my girl I've made her 2 so that we can keep them clean. I plan on making at least one more. Then it's different colors for different outfits.
anyways I still haven't pulled out my stuff for my sew along but I will soon.
anyways happy knitting!