Tracey's Journal

New Podcast

2007-10-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

Vicki Howell (host of Knitty Gritty) is starting her own podcast. It's called Craft. Rock. Listen and will begin on November 1st. Spread the word. :)

Finished 1st Sock Club Socks

2007-10-10T14:32:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I've been on 2 trips and came home and got REALLY busy at work. I work at Kohl's and we opened a new store the next town over. My old boss transferred to the new store and I volunteered to help train her new cash office associates. I've had some really LONG days i.e. 10+ hours, but I think they've all got the hang of it now. :)

On a knitting front I joined a local sock club at The Neighborhood Knit Store in Hendersonville, TN. The first pattern we got was Lola Walking Rib Socks from Schaefer Yarns. We of course used Schaefer Lola yarn to knit the socks. I had never knit socks with yarn that was this thick. I was a little afraid that the finished socks wouldn't fit in my shoes, but there is no problem. :)

I started the socks on 9/26/07 and finished up today 10/10/07. I used my new Harmony needles from KnitPicks. I also followed the Crazy Toe & Heel method for my socks and just used the walking rib as the stitch pattern. I knit them 2 at once, toe up, magic loop.

I really like the color changes in the yarn. I think I'll be knitting some more socks with Schaefer Lola, especially since they knit up so fast. :)

I'm Back!

2007-09-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful vacation in New York. We visited with family, did some site seeing and RELAXED! We went to Canada to see Niagara Falls, I'm international now. :) That is the first time I've ever left the country. I have a video clip of the falls.

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/urwPjVGsACI">value="transparent">type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425"
height="350">

I hope you enjoy. I'm off to put my feet up, I went back to work today and my feet aren't happy. I'll post pictures of the BSJ tomorrow. :)

Leaving for Vacation

2007-08-29T15:02:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to drop a line here and let you know that I'm going on vacation in about an hour. :) We are going to Syracuse, NY to visit family, the finger lakes area in NY to visit wineries, and we're going to stop at Niagara Falls on the way home.

I did finish knitting the baby sweater all that is left is sewing the shoulder seams, weaving in the ends, and sewing on the buttons. I won't be able to finish that today, but I'll have time to finish it before I give it to the expectant Mom. I'll take pictures then and I'll post when I get home. :)

I won't have computer access while I'm gone, so no posts till I get back. :)

P.S. Congratulations to Kathy S. who was the winner of the random drawing for the EFG wonderloom. :)

EFG Wonderloom for Sale--SOLD

2007-08-25T19:15:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of the EFG Wonderloom for sale. SOLD The loom is a Decor Accents original. It is no longer in production. It has never been used, and we don't smoke or have pets. The original sale price was $68 plus shipping, and I'm selling it for $68, and I'll pay shipping.

This loom will get approximately 8 stitches to the inch, (your mileage may vary) using sock/fingering weight yarn and the knit stitch. Perfect for making socks for your entire family as you can adjust the loom to any number of pegs you desire. The ruler in the picture is a 7" ruler.

As you can see the pegs are the original metal cotter pins which are nearly indestructible under normal use.

I'm collecting names of interested people and will draw a winner using a random number generator on Monday evening (giving those who can only access their e-mail at work a chance). If you are interested in this loom and haven't dropped me a line, please e-mail me directly at: t carsto at g mail dot com. (Don't forget to remove the spaces and replace the at with @ and the dot with a .).

Baby Surprise Jacket

2007-08-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. It's been so hot here that not much has been happening. This is either the 3rd or 4th week of 100+ temperatures. I'm so looking forward to our trip to Syracuse NY. We will be leaving a week from today. :)

I have been knitting despite the heat. I have 2 pregnant people in my life right now and I decided I wanted to knit Baby Surprise Jackets (by Elizabeth Zimmermann) for them. I went to the LYS and purchased the required yarn on Friday the 17th, and finished the first jacket on Tuesday the 21st. I also purchased more yarn on Tuesday and cast on the 2nd jacket. :) Both of the babies are due within the next 4 weeks. I'd also like to knit them booties, and maybe a hat for the northern baby. :)

If you've never heard of a BSJ, I have pictures to show you. :) Elizabeth Z. is a genius. Her clever shaping makes it possible to knit a sweater in one piece with only 2 shoulder seams to sew when you are finished knitting. This is what it looks like before you fold it.

The finished picture above shows the clever shaping. You can even see how it gets a little wider after the waist to allow for the diaper. :)

This picture shows the BSJ half folded. I have to admit while I was knitting it I had no idea what was what. I've had to fold it several times to see how she did it. I've started my 2nd jacket in solid blue and I have some yellow for stripes. I've only knit about 12 row on it, so there isn't much to show. :)

Joe and I had a wonderful time on our anniversary. We didn't do much at all, but we enjoyed sleeping in, and the extra time with each other. :) My Mom (thanks again Mom & Dad) dropped off a BIG basket from Heavenly Ham that we ate on for a while. :) It was nice to have something great to eat without heating up the house. :)

Joe got me several sets of dpns and 2 knitting DVDs. The DVDs were the "Baby Surprise Jacket" by Meg Swanson, and "A Knitting Glossary" with Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swanson. Everything came from Knitpicks. :)

Thank goodness for the DVD because for some reason I was having trouble reading and understanding the written pattern. This is very unusual for me as I usually have no trouble teaching myself from books alone. But knitting has been different from the start for me. I've needed to watch clips on-line, or ask a friend or watch a DVD. Maybe it's just because I'm getting older? I don't know. :)

My friend Ann's birthday was yesterday and we have plans to spend Saturday together to celebrate. We don't know exactly what we are doing, but lunch and knitting are definitely on the list. :) It really doesn't matter what we do as we always have a fun time together no matter what. :)

I haven't been knitting all day (I love my Wednesdays off from work), I also made a cherry pie. I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner, but I know what's on the menu for dessert. :)

Picture Update

2007-08-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I said yesterday I'd give you pictures, and boy do I have pictures for you. :) Let's see, first up is the Koigu shawl. As I said yesterday I'm on row 30, and I think it turning out great. Here is it slightly stretched out on a pillow so you can see the design better. Now that I've re-charted it I'm finding it much easier to knit. :)

I also started a new project yesterday. I'm knitting a sock with dpns for the first time. I have to say that I'm enjoying the process. It seems like I've really mastered something. Of course DH Joe said when he saw the bamboo needles that I could have gotten a dozen of them for $1.00 at the store, they're called skewers he said. Of course I wouldn't have expected anything else from him. :) As I said yesterday I'm knitting them with Paca-Peds yarn. It's a blend of 20% Superfine Alpaca, 65% Superwash wool and 15% Nylon. It sure feels nice and is knititng up nicely. Has anyone else used this yarn? How does it wear? I really like the color, it's called "Singin' the Blues" #601 if you are interested. I love the way it knits up. I'm planning on knitting these is stockenette stitch. I figure it will be an easy take along project, especially for break time at work. :)

I also tried a new cast on method. I took pics to show you how Judy's Magic Cast On differs from the Queen Kahuna's Aloha Cast On.

This is the Aloha Cast On. See the ridge of purl bumps? It's an easy cast on, but I wanted to see if I could find one that didn't leave that tell-tale ridge.

I did find one, it's Judy's Magic Cast On, and it is easy also, but as you can see, it is a seamless cast on, and you don't have to use a piece of waste yarn, or go back and tighten anything up, it's just as you see it here. :)

I prefer Judy's Magic Cast On, and I plan on using that from now on.

On a health front, I've gotten all my test results and there will be no need for surgery. I do have new meds to take, and will be seeing a nutritionist in a few weeks. We'll just have to see how that goes. In the meantime, I'm planning on enjoying my weekend, and I'm looking forward to next week as Joe and I have a short work week as we've taken a long weekend to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. We aren't planning anything special except to stay cool and enjoy some time off together. :)

Happy Saturday

2007-08-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

Today was a wonderful day spent with friends, knitter and non-knitter alike. :) We met, we talked, we knit, we talked, and then we talked some more. We are now all caught up with each other's lives. Our non-knitter friend, (Tammy) needed to go home and cook hubbie a last home-cooked meal before he left for a 4 day trip as an airline pilot for SouthWest. That left Ann and I to go to lunch by ourselves and head over to the LYS as they were having a big sale. After a good long lunch with, of course, more talk we headed to the sale.

We both ended up with a skein each of Noro silk garden, and then Ann also purchased some baby Alpaca which has been calling her name and been fondled every time we go to the LYS. I got some bamboo size US1 dpns, and some new sock yarn. It's called Paca Peds and as you can see by the picture I've already balled the yarn up and it is ready to be knit. I'm going to try it on the new dpns. I'm going to use Judy's Magic Cast-On and do them toe up using the Crazy Heel and Toe technique for the heel.

Of course none of the yarn we purchased was on sale. :)

I have done some knitting on the Koigu shawl, sorry no pics today. I've changed to my 2nd skein of yarn after blending it in and I had about 18" remaining of the 1st skein of yarn. :) I've developed a rhythm now and I'm enjoying the process. I'm just about to start row 30, which means I've reduced the number of stitches per row from 401 to a mere 375. :) It will be a long project, but that's okay as I'm currently in menopause, I don't really need a shawl with all my own power surges keeping me warm. :)

I hope everyone stays cool in all this heat. It's about 104 here not counting the heat index. I'm going to go put my feet up in my chair, sip some iced sweet tea and practice knitting on dpns while hubbie watches Omen. :)

Trying to Beat the Heat

2007-08-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

It's been HOT here! All week our temperatures are 100+. I've been trying to stay indoors as much as possible and not run any errands either. It's been rough as I've had to go to work for the past 5 days.

In my spare time I've been knitting on my Koigu shawl. I had to rewrite the pattern as I needed the center section graphed out and she didn't provide it. It's going pretty good now, I'm working my first color change sequence. :) I don't know if I'll have enough of the first color of yarn (small ball on the left) to do all the color change sequences or not, I'll just play it by ear. :)

Here is a close up of the shawl so far. It's hard to tell without blocking, but I think it's coming along okay.

I am going to make an exception of no errand running to go out and see my 4 year old nephew S.T. at his karate lesson. It's sure to be an enjoyable experience. I'll be watching him with my SIL and my 1 year old niece S.K.

On a health front (don't bother reading any more if you don't want). :) My blood work last week showed an elevation in my insulin levels (3 time normal). My blood sugar levels on the other hand are okay. My doctor thinks there may be a benign (non-cancerous) tumor on my pancreas that is excreting the extra insulin. It would explain why I have hypoglycemia, can't lose weight, am tired all the time and various other problems. My doctor's office is supposed to get me an appointment with an endocrinologist within 4 weeks and order a CT scan to see if I indeed have a tumor. Actually, I'm kind of hoping for one. It would explain SOOOOOO many health problems that I've had since puberty. I'm not looking forward to abdominal surgery mind you, but being off work for 6 weeks would be nice.

Well, I'm off to do a little picking up before heading out to karate. Current temp. is 103 with a heat index of 106. Thank God for air conditioning.

Updated Koigu Shawl

2007-07-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

Well, the Koigu shawl is at a stand still. This is the first shawl I've knit with a chart, and obviously I'm not reading the chart correctly. I've knit 5 rows so far, (see picture at right), but need to rip it back. The only rows that came out right were the knit and purl rows at the beginning. Once I started on the chart nothing came out right. The chart says there is a 9 stitch repeat, but there is a 10th row on the chart. Now, if you divide 401 stitches by 9, you get 44.56. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know how to knit a .56 stitch. The only thing that makes sense to me is to knit the 10 row repeat for 200 stitches, repeat the 1st stitch on the center stitch, then knit the 10 row repeat for the remaining 200 stitches.

I think I'm just going to rip it all out and start all over again. I cringe when I say that as it takes 30 minutes to knit a row, but I figure it will take even longer than that to tink it, and the odds on my splitting yarn and making a mess are much higher if I tink.

Things may be a little quiet around here for a while. I got put on some new meds, and they are making me very tired. I've also had a bad blood test and I'm waiting to get an appointment to have an ultrasound done and see if I have a tumor on my pancreas. If I do, that would explain why I've steadily gained weight since puberty. If not, they are going to have to do something else, probably more meds, to get my blood work corrected. That also should allow me to start losing weight. So, hopefully it's a win-win situation. :)

Well, I'm off to rip and restart my Koigu shawl. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Started Koigu Shawl

2007-07-23T16:01:00.000-05:00

I have decided that lace knit with lace weight yarn is not for me. At least now right now. I don't enjoy the process, and since this is supposed to be fun, I've put the lace shawl I have started to the side and cast on my Koigu Shawl. Since it is worked with sock weight yarn, it is much more enjoyable to work with. :) Did I mention that I had to cast on 401 stitches? Yes, 401!!! Here is a picture of my progress. I used split rings as stitch markers and marked every 2o stitches with a silver ring, and used a gold ring after 100 stitches. The center stitch is surrounded with beaded stitch markers as they are going to stay there for a while. I have to say it wasn't too bad casting on that many stitches. Needless to say though, I didn't use the long tail cast on. :)

I had a fun time at work today cleaning up a mess that was created over the weekend. Not! I work at Kohl's in the cash office, and we received a change order on Friday. It didn't get entered into the computer as incoming cash, but it was counted during the closing safe count, causing the safe to be over. The girl that worked both Saturday and Sunday knew what the reason was for the huge overage, but did nothing to correct it! We are trying to not work her in the cash office anymore for obvious reasons.

Tomorrow I'm off and have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, but plan on sleeping in a little, taking my car in for an oil change, doing some laundry, and doing some knitting.

Wednesday is our summer crafty ladies get together. We are going to be meeting at Tammy's house this week, and then I have a dental appointment to get 3 or 4 (I forget) fillings redone as they are falling apart. At least I'll have some fun in the morning hanging out with friends and knitting and then a nice lunch before going to the dentist. To be fair, this dentist is wonderful. He is more afraid of hurting you than anything else.

Well, thunder is rumbling outside, so I'm going to get this uploaded and shut down the computer. :)

Finished Harry Potter

2007-07-22T10:08:00.000-05:00

I started and finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday. I'm not going to post anything here that will be a spoiler, so if you haven't read it yet, don't worry. :)

I will say that it was an excellent book and one I'll be re-reading. I laughed and cried while reading it. I'll miss looking forward to the next book. It really is a wonderful experience to talk to other people who are eagerly awaiting the book, then discussing with them after it has arrived. :)

I'll get back to knitting posts this week. :)

Getting Ready for Harry Potter

2007-07-20T13:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry, not much to post. I've been doing laundry, running errands, straightening up the house getting ready for my delivery tomorrow of the last Harry Potter book. I plan to spend the entire day reading.

I have knit a little on my sampler piece. I'm planning on finishing that before I start the Koigu shawl. Of course, the sooner I run out of my first skein of Koigu the sooner I'll "need" to go shopping for more. I really need to be good though. DH and I are going on vacation next month to NY state to visit some family. We are going to stop by Niagara Falls on the way, and spend one afternoon touring the finger lakes wineries. So, I really should be saving my money and knitting from my stash. That way I'll have money to stop at some yarn stores along the way.

To all who are reading Harry Potter tomorrow enjoy. I'll resume posting when I finish the book. :)

Latest Project

2007-07-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

Ann and I went shopping yesterday before going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Of course it had to be either quilt store shopping or yarn store shopping. Yesterday was yarn shopping. I bought a pattern for a Koigu shawl, and a starter skein. The entire shawl takes 12 skeins, but since it's supposed to be done with 12 different colors, you don't have to worry about dye lot numbers. I'm planning on purchasing a skein or two every time we go shopping and knitting it a little at a time. It starts with casting on over 400 stitches, so I'll have to do that when it's nice and quiet at the house, then I can start knitting. Of course I have a pair of socks on needles already along with 3 other shawls. I guess I just have startitis. :) It's just hard to finish such warm things though when the temps are so high.

After yarn shopping we headed to Opry Mills and the IMAX theater. We had lost track of the time, and only had 35 minutes to get in, buy a ticket to the show, walk down to Johnny Rockets, order and eat. We ate fast, but service was a little slow as they were very busy, and we missed the beginning of the movie. Of course we've read the book, so we know what we missed. This IMAX had the 3-d version, and I have to say it is so much better than the old 3-d with the red and green lenses. I actually ducked several times during the 3-d part. :) I'm looking forward to the last book coming out Saturday. I plan to read all day long. :)

Ann and I are also knitting the sampler from "The Sweater Workshop" by Jacqueline Fee. I got the book for Christmas, but just started the sampler last week. I'm learning so much already and I'm looking forward to knitting sweaters in the round that fit me with any stitch pattern I want. I don't have to be limited to sweater patterns that are commercially made. The first sweater I'm planning on making is for my 4 year old nephew S. I don't know if he will wear it or not, but I'm knitting it in the orange you see on my sampler as it's his favorite color. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll actually like it. :)

Today Ann, Mom and Tammy and I went to the quilt store. DH, Joe has a cousin who is pregnant with her first child and we are going to visit her next month. I have a quilt top that only needed borders to be finished, so today I picked up the fabric for the borders and backing and I'll get it quilted before we go. I'll post pictures when we get back in case she reads my blog. :)

Sock project worksheet

2007-07-14T14:39:00.001-05:00

Several people have requested the sock project worksheet that I had posted on the Crazy Heels and Toes yahoo list. I asked my DH to make the worksheet for me so that I could carry all the info for my current socks with me and then be able to file it once I was finished and have all my notes for each pair of socks complete and together.

Unfortunately I didn't realize that there were people on the list who didn't own Mary Ann's wonderful book. Therefore my worksheet (which had copyright information on it) was out on the internet to anybody. So Mary Ann took the worksheet out of the files section so she wouldn't lose book sales.

Since the worksheet had copyright information on it I am not at liberty to pass it out to anyone. I'm sorry if you own the book and want the worksheet, I don't have the right to pass it on to you as Mary Ann owns the copyright, not me. I hope you understand.

Famous Sock Pictures and More

2007-07-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd post pictures of my hand knit socks. Of course I have my famous loom knit socks that appeared on the Knitty Gritty episode with Isela Phelps (Purling Sprite). The gray sock (3rd from left) was Isela's design, and also appeared in her Loom Knitting Primer book. The remaining 3 socks are my original design. Since there aren't any patterns out for loom knit socks I made up my own. :) All 4 socks were knit on an EFG sock loom from Decor Accents.

I also have some needle knit socks that I've made.

I prefer to needle knit socks using the Magic Loop technique and knitting 2 socks toe up using Queen Kahuna's Crazy Toe & Heel book. I really like knitting socks as they are very portable, colorful, and who can't use another pair of socks. :)

I've recently started my first lace project with lace weight yarn. I've signed up for the Mystery Stole 3 project, but she doesn't recommend that pattern for beginning lace knitters. So I'm knitting Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl by Lily Chin. I haven't decided if I like lace knitting or not, I'll keep you posted. :)

I've also started the sampler from the Sweater Workshop book. My friend Ann and I want to knit sweaters in the round (no seaming) that fit. She ordered her book and will be getting started when she receives it. The sampler is knitting up very quickly with worsted weight yarn as opposed to my lace shawl or my current pair of socks on the needle. :) I really want to make some cardigan sweaters, and maybe a wallaby for me. My first sweater will be for my 4 year old nephew S. His favorite color is orange, so I got some UT orange yarn. I figure it will go quickly as it will be small, and if I make a mistake, he won't care. :)

My friend Ann and I are going to see the new Harry Potter movie in Nashville at the IMAX at Opry Mills. I can't wait. Then I have the last book pre-ordered from Amazon, so it will be delivered about 10am Saturday morning. I'm so glad that I have the weekend off. :) Once I finish it DH will want to read it. I hope he reads it quickly as I'm sure I'll want to talk about it. :)

That should catch everybody up for now. :)

My socks are famous!

2007-07-09T17:47:00.000-05:00

Did you see the Knitty Gritty episode today on loom knitting with Isela Phelps? If you did, then you saw my socks. :) All 4 pair of socks that were shown were loom knit by me. :) I'm so excited! My socks are famous. :)

I've needle knit several pair and I'm going to get some pictures made and posted to prove it.

House Cleaning

2007-06-19T15:48:00.000-05:00

Well, today is spent cleaning the house in preparation of friends coming over tomorrow. We have a group that gets together every week during the summer. Unfortunately during the school year we can only manage once a month. We call ourselves the Crafty Ladies. We meet at each other's house, and for the summer we are going to meet here. During the school year we don't meet here, but at the other girl's houses.

My Mom is part of this group. She is currently hand quilting a project. My friend Ann will probably be working on the socks she is knitting for her nephew. I taught her how to knit 2 socks toe up using the Magic Loop. That is now my preferred method for socks. There is no Second Sock Syndrome (SSS) that way. I use Queen Kahuna's Crazy Heel & Toe Method. She teaches you how to knit 2 socks at once with any weight yarn and any size needle and to fit any size foot. I'll never knit socks any other way. There are no stitches to pick up, no wrapped stitches and it is so easy. You can make a short row heel, or a heel flap. I highly recommend her book if you are a sock knitter. :)

The floor should be dry now, so it's off to the bathrooms for me. :)

Lazy Day

2007-06-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

I've been poking around the house getting little accomplished, but enjoying the day. :) I don't go back to work till the first of July, so I'm enjoying some much needed down time. I haven't even knit today, but I'm sure I will once DH comes home and we eat dinner. We'll kick back in the living room and watch TV, and I'll knit. I'm currently working on a scarf for a good friend who doesn't knit. It's about half way done. I also have a shawl on the needles, but it's only about 1/4 of the way finished, and lastly I have a pair of socks I'm working on. I knit them 2 at a time, toe up and I'm currently working on the cuffs. I'm sure I'll finish them after the scarf. It's just not sock weather right now, so there isn't much incentive to hurry. :)

On a quilting front, my SIL gave me some fabric and asked me to make a quick quilt for an old friend of hers. I've purchased the backing and binding, but still need to get the batting and I'll get it sandwiched and do some simple quilting and it will be done.

In September I'm going to Shipshewana, IN to meet some of an on-line quilt group I belong to. I'm going to take my friend Ann with me. She also quilts and knits, and we always have a great time whenever we're together. :) Besides, she'll need a little get away as she is a school counselor and will be happy to have the rush of school beginning over with. :)

BTW, I've added links on the sidebar for the videos that DH and I did on loom knitting. I figured it'd be easier on people to find it that way. :)

Sorry for the long silence

2007-06-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

It's been a long year at my house. I was having trouble at work right before Christmas and ending up taking a sideways move to a job with less pressure. I like the new position (it's actually the position I started in 5 years ago).

Then I had trouble getting my depression medications regulated. After several months of trial and error that is now under control.

Then I needed sinus surgery, but while awaiting surgery, there were some problems with my pre-surgery blood work. After making an appointment with a hemotologist my MIL had a massive heart attack. My appointment was canceled, and we spend 8 days driving 30 miles one way to the hospital where my MIL was in ICU. She needed surgery to correct her heart, but she wasn't stable enough to undergo surgery. They had to keep her sedated to help relieve the stress her body was under. She was hooked to a ventilator to help her breathe, and had over a dozen different medications going into her. After the 7th day of no improvement we had to make the hard decision to removed support. They kept her under sedation, but removed everything else, and she took her last breathe within 15 minutes. She went very peacefully.

As some of you may remember we lost my FIL in September and my MIL never fully recovered from his loss. As you can imagine the holidays have been extremely difficult.

After the funeral I called and rescheduled the appointment with the hemotologist and everything was fine. :) God is good. He put the obstacle in my path so I wouldn't be recovering from surgery when my family needed me. I've since had my sinus surgery and everything went well. My recovery was going well until I developed a nose bleed. DH took me to the ER (because of course it was after office hours). The ER doctor couldn't get it stop because it was DEEP in the nose. After 5 very AWFUL hours my ENT doctor who did the surgery came in and put a clotting devise in my nose. That was THE MOST PAINFUL thing I've ever endured, and I've had 7 surgeries. I'll spare you the grossness of it.

After that, I was on SEVERE restrictions. DH put more restrictions on me than the doctor did. I guess after just losing his Mom he was scared to death. I am fully recovered now and have been given the go ahead to go back to work. :)

I'm going to try and do better about posting. I've been busy knitting though. My needles have been going. I've knit 4 or 5 pairs of socks now, untold numbers of dish cloths, and I'm currently working on another pair of socks, a shawl and a scarf. I have yarn and a pattern for a sweater I want to make in the near future. I'll try and get some pictures made and posted. :)

My Adventures with Needles Continues

2006-11-27T22:15:00.000-06:00

I've continued knitting dishclothes, but I've advanced to patterns. The first dishcloth was a basketweave pattern.

Here's a close up:

Then I proceeded on to a cabled dishcloth, obviously still in progress.

Here is a close up of it:

And then I started on a sock.

I had tried knitting before with double pointed needles, but I found I didn't enjoy it at all. So, I tried the Magic Loop method. I don't have the book yet (it's on my Christmas wish list), but I did do some reading on-line and found enough to get started. This is my sock so far.
I'm looking forward to learning a new way to knit the heel, as all my previous socks have been loomed and were done with a short row heel.

There is quite a difference between the size 10 needles for the dishcloths and the size 1 needle for the socks. I'm enjoying both though. Of course I need to be knitting more dishcloths as they are for presents and I currently only have about 6 done instead of knitting on my socks, but the socks are calling me. :)

What I'm Thankful For

2006-11-23T11:48:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate that today. :) I've been thinking about all that I am thankful for, and I wanted to share that list.

First and foremost I am thankful to be alive.
Second I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ.

The rest of the list is in no particular order:

My loving, supportive husband (who just yesterday went with me to get a knitting needle I had to have from a shop that is 60 miles round trip from our home. Yesterday BTW is the most heavily traveled day. We drove into Nashville to find this knitting store. Did I forget to tell you I've never even been there, so didn't know exactly where it was? Just to find out they didn't have the needle that I wanted, or any needle in that particular size. Did I forget to mention I didn't call first to check?) He just laughed when I came out of the shop with no needles, but of course a skein of yarn. After all how I could I go to a new knitting shop without buying yarn. And of course I'm now signed up for their mailing list. :)

Sorry I kind of got off track there. Here is the rest of the list:

My family who now all live here in town.
My friends who love me and whom I love.
The skills God graced me with.
My house.
My car.
All of my material possessions.
My job.
My DH's job.
My health. While it may not be the best, I am alive, and mostly pain free.
My computer to keep me connected to friends.
The internet from which I've been able to get information and learn so many new things.
The money to heat/cool my house to a comfortable temperature.
The money to purchase new tires for my car this month.
The money to spoil my nephew and niece. :) After all, what are aunts for? :)
Having my nephew and niece here so I can see them and share in their life.
My brother's wife who is so generous with her spirit and sharing of her life and time so we can have a wonderful relationship with her and her children.

There are probably many, many more things I could list, but I have to get busy with the things I'm taking to my Mom and Dad's for our Thanksgiving dinner.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you are someone who enjoys going out at the crack of dawn to shop the sales Friday morning, please be considerate of those employees who got up at least an hour earlier than you to go in to work. They are working as fast as they can to get you checked out. Also, if they store runs out of something, please don't yell at the employee, they have no control over how many items come in. Just take it in stride and thank them for checking. :) Can you tell I work retail? I'll be getting up at 2am to be in to work at 4am so we can open up at 5am. So don't forget what the holidays are really about. :)

Purls of Hope

2006-11-13T14:04:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine Denise is helping Katrina victims. If there is anything you can do to help her out, please visit her site. Thanks.

Knitting with Needles

2006-11-13T10:57:00.000-06:00

I've finally mastered knitting with needles. I've had a block on doing this for so long. I learned to crochet when I was 8, and as a result knitting seemed so hard. There was no little hook on the end of the needle to help hold the yarn as you made each stitch. I ended up splitting the yarn, fighting with the yarn, and generally not having a good time. Since this was supposed to be enjoyable I put it aside and decided I couldn't do it.

Well, all my attempts at making a gauntlet without a pattern on my loom has lead me to try needle knitting again. I was at a friend's house Saturday and she helped me with some problems I was having and suddenly knitting was fun. I borrowed some needles from her and cast on Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth yesterday and finished it yesterday and cast on a second one. Guess what everybody is going to get as Christmas presents this year. :)

I'm still going to loom knit, especially socks since double pointed needles and sock yarn seems like torture to me, and I really do like the sock loom. I have the pegs numbered for easy pattern following, and the yarn doesn't slip off the pegs like they can slip off the double pointed needles. :)

Well, after all this typing I'll share the picture of my first needle knit project. :)

Loom knitting update ie the saga of the gauntlets

2006-11-13T10:40:00.000-06:00

I've been quiet on the blog for so long because I've been trying to create a flip top mitten. I figured if I could get a gauntlet to fit, then I could attach a flip top mitten to it and I'd be a happy camper. So I went searching for a pattern for a loom knit gauntlet. I found several, but they either didn't have a thumb (which I wanted), or they were knit with bulky weight yarn, which I didn't want to use. I wanted to use some of my pretty sock weight yarn.

So, I decided to adjust a pattern I found by Jessica McConnell. I don't remember where I found it, or I'd give you a link to it. Her pattern was for mittens knit flat then seamed together once you were done. Well, I didn't want to make the entire mitten, so I made some adjustments to make it a gauntlet. I also decided that I didn't need to do a gauge swatch. I thought my stitches per inch were the same as what the pattern called for. (Bet you can guess what happened). Yep, WAY TOO small! In fact, it fit my 3 year old nephew pretty well. In my defense since it was being knit flat I didn't know how bad it was till it was WAY too late!

So, for the second gauntlet I determined my gauge from the first gauntlet and tried again. This time was okay, just a little too big. I could probably wear it, but I wasn't happy with it, so I made more adjustments to the pattern and tried again.

The third gauntlet was much better. It actually fits! I still did a bit more tweaking of the pattern for it's mate, but just a little, probably not enough that anyone but me will notice. The mate is still on the loom and when it is finished I'm going to attempt to put the flip-top mitten on. :)

Here are all 3 gauntlets in order of creation:

Here is the 3rd gauntlet. Notice how it is a little baggy above the wrist? I moved my increase stitches on my 4th gauntlet and I hope that takes care of the baggy part. :)