Bayerische

Yeah, they are done and I really like them!
I present to you my bayerisches.


Specs
Pattern: Bayerische, This pattern isn't as bad as it looks. Once you get past a few rows it becomes much easier to follow. The pattern requires you to k1tb before each chart but it is not on the chart, so I had to write it on my chart to remind me to k1tb. I loved this pattern so much that I can see doing them again as a gift.

Yarn: Regia Silk. I did love knitting with this yarn but I also noticed that it has fuzzed up a little bit so I am concerned that over time it might turn into a fuzz ball. We’ll see.

Needle Size: US Size 1 (2.25mm). The pattern called for size 0 needles but I decided to use a size up. I’ve done size 0 needles on socks before and have found them to be to snug. If I had to choose I would rather my socks to be lose then tight. But I didn't need to worry, the size 1 needles worked out well for me.

Today was the last day of work for me. Summer vacation has officially started!

Bayerische

Since I am probably the slowest knitter in the world it is no surprise that Bayerische is not only still on the needles but is not even half way done. On the up side I am oh so close to being half way.

I only had two skeins of yarn for this project. I was debating about doing one more repeat but decided that I would try and get a pair of socks out of what I had. The pattern warns that these socks eat up yarn. This is how far I got with one ball.
Hmm, obviously that little amount of string was not going to finish this sock.

I started looking on the internet and made an order from The Loopy Ewe.

Wow, did it get here fast. I was very impressed. Then when I opened it, I started to feel like it was my birthday. The yarn was wrapped up, a little hand written note was in the package and some small strips of sample yarn, very nice.

Maybe I can have the Bayerishes done by the end of April, maybe.

In other news I’m going to Maryland for the sheep and wool festival! Wahooo! Can you tell I’m excited? Plane tickets have been purchased, camp site has been reserved and finally I asked for time off work. Now I'm going to go find my calendar so I can mark off how many more days till the festival.

I hope everybody is having a great day.

Time Out

I had decided to work on Chuck’s Cabled socks first because I thought they would knit up faster than the Bayerische. They have given me nothing but trouble, Arrrr.


I got this far on them and decided to run some yarn through them to see how they would fit. I could get them on my foot but it was really tight. So I frogged them and tried again with bigger needles. That didn’t work for me either. I didn’t like how the yarn looked with the bigger needles so I frogged them again. I then decided to add a stitch of the black color between the main cables. This added four stitches to the sock. But it also left a span of 4 stitches to carry the gray yarn on the back. I usually do not carry the yarn on the back any further then 3 stitches at the most. These stitches are purl stitches and there might be a way to hook/twist the back yarn with purl stitches but I don’t know this method. This started to frustrate me so I have put them to one side and started working on theBayerische socks. I have not given up on the Chuck’s Cabled socks but I think a break from them would be good for me right now. We will just call it a time out.

Dax has a performance this weekend. It’s some kind of Orchestra competition. I’ve never been to one so I’m not sure what to expect. I do know she has been practicing more than usual for it.




If you didn't notice she seems to have adopted my Ruffle jacket. We had some cooler weather this week and she decided the ruffle jacket was perfect to keep the chill away. She told me she got a lot of compliments at school on it.

Nice Weekend

We’ve had some wonderful weather this weekend. Soo, I dragged Rudy and Dax out to Rockledge Gardens Nursery yesterday. I really love going there and just walking around all the plants. But this time we also made some purchases. We got a blueberry bush and some flowers. They’re still in their pots right now. I keep moving them around the yard to try and decide where the best place is to put them. With all the trees we have put in the yard it’s beginning to become hard to find a good old sunny spot.

Rohan seems to really like Dax’s roses she picked out. I kept trying to make him aware that there are thorns on the bush but he kept sticking his nose in them any way.

He looks curious doesn’t he? I don’t know if you can see it in the picture but his whiskers are all perked up. He spent most of the weekend chasing lizards and squirrels. Maybe he thinks there’s lizards in the roses.

Other than playing with plants I spent a good bit of time sitting outside knitting. I want to thank you for the comments on which socks I should knit. I finally decided which sock to do.

I decided to knit Chuck’s Cabled socks,



And Bayerische.


How’s that for being decisive? Now let’s see if I can finish at least one of them before the deadline.

Have a great week.

Forever socks

Finally I finished these socks.
I made them for my mom. I have started to refer to these socks as the forever socks, because it felt like it took me forever to finish them.
Yarn: Tofutsies
Needles: Size 2
Pattern: Pomatomus.

For my next project I am thinking about knitting Eunny Jang’s Bayerische socks for the Febuaray sockdown on Ravelry’s Sock Knitter’s Anonymous group. It’s either that one of her Chuck’s Cabled socks. I like them both. I’m on the fence for either one. What do you think, which do you like better?


We also had a celebration this past week. Guess who turned 15?
Yep we celebrated Tyde’s 15 birthday. Time sure does fly. He now stands taller than me but not quite as tall as Rudy.

And, here is proof that you can still get a 15 yo to smile on Dumbo.
Ok, I think his aunt’s antics is what got the smile but we have photo proof that it can happen.

Finished Socks

A finished object.


Pattern: Latvian socks from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Tofutsies 50% Superwash Wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% Cotton, 2.5% Chitin
Needles: US 1 or 2.25mm

I finally finished these socks. I enjoyed knitting them. The pattern was easy enough but not one to do when trying to carry on a conversation. I also really enjoyed using the tofutsies yarn. I’m eager to see how it stands up over time.

Not much

Not much knitting going on. I picked up these again. The Latvian Socks from Nancy Bush’s Folk sock book.


It is taking me forever to finish these socks. The pattern and everything is easy enough to follow but I keep getting distracted and forget to k2tog or yo when I’m suppose to so I have to back track to fix my error.

To have something to knit that does not need me to pay attention to the pattern I started this shrug. The pattern is called evening shrug from fiber trends.


I’m kind of at a stand still on this one because I didn’t have size 8 circular needles. I had size 8 straight and casted on using them but now I need the circular needles. I have so many stitches on those needles that they are about to burst off of the needle and I have more increasing to do. I’ll have to wait till I get out to the store for more needles before going any further on this one so back to the socks.

I’m hoping to get the shrug done soon because I will need it at my now permanent job. The elementary school that I got a temporary job at as a media/library assistant offered it to me as a permanent job. Yeah! I noticed that whoever has control of the thermostat in the library keeps it freezing in there. The shrug will help take the chill out of my bones.

I almost forgot to mention that I got my invitation for Ravelry. I’ve been on it for a couple of weeks now. I haven’t been able to spend as much time on it as I’d like. Mostly I’ve been looking at everybody else’s projects but I haven’t been much of a contributor, yet. I go by kriskrafts.

For the relatives that like visiting the blog I leave you with a couple of pictures of the toads.

Here is Tyde at the pottery place painting his candle holder sorting hat. The lady in the picture with the big smile was a wealth of knowledge on painting pottery.


Here’s Dax with Sierra and Solly at the bookstore.


They have been staying in Orlando for the past month because Sierra was accepted at the Orlando ballet summer school, otherwise known as ballet bootcamp. It's been great to have them staying so close.

Good Mail Week

It’s a good thing it’s been a good mail week because the frustration with getting the last inspection on the house is beginning to work on me. To get the last inspection we need the power to be officially hooked up to the house by FPL. The inspector said they will be out anywhere between one to three days, yesterday was the third day. We were planning to call in today for the last inspection but we can not because no power. I’m hoping they show up today. We have until 4:30 to call for the inspection. If everything goes as plan we will have the CO tomorrow. If not it will be put off till another day. For those who do not know what I’m talking about, around three years ago we knocked down our old house to build a new one. In the meantime we stayed in a very small RV on the back of the lot. Three years is a long time for me. I guess I just need to be patient. What’s one day, one week, two weeks compared to three years?

On to knitting, Dax completed her first sock.


Wow, I was so impressed that I let her talk me into ordering a new knitting project for her. I figured she has all this time with nothing to do this summer so I went ahead and got her this:


It came in the mail a couple of days ago. I ordered it from kpixie. It's called lacy little top. I'm now waiting to see if Dax will actually complete the second sock.

I also got another package in the mail. It’s a book from Monika from Smoking Hot Needles blog. I am really looking forward to reading it. Thank you again Monika for sending it my way.


Well I’m off to clean up. I’d like it to look somewhat clean just in case we do get the final inspection.

Finished socks

Here is one of the projects I finally finished over spring break.
Rudy’s socks.

Yarn: Opal
Needles: US size 2

I was slightly disappointed that the yarn did not hold its pattern. There where no knots in the yarn or funky joins that I could see but it just decided to change its pattern on the second sock. It started right after the heel. Rudy didn’t seem to care so I left it that way.

Sock Obsession

My very first thing I ever knitted from start to finish was a pair of socks. I had done little swatches and even started a sweater once for my daughter but she out grew it before I ever got close to finishing it. As a mater of fact I just ripped that sweater about a month ago because I want to use the yarn for a different project.

Oh yeah, back to the socks. One day I was visiting my sister in the Washington D.C. area and she told me about these socks that knit up into its own pattern. We managed to get to a yarn shop in the area and what you know they had a few of these socks. I obviously bought one along with a basic sock pattern and went back to my sisters place and started knitting. She gave me some of her wonderful little bamboo needles to use. I kept casting on knitting a few rows and ripping it out because I wasn’t getting the pattern for the socks that I saw advertised. I kept thinking I must have the wrong gauge or something. My sister looked on the internet and found a yahoo e-mail group for the particular yarn. It was called Opal. When I got home I immediately joined the list. One of the many things I learned was not to worry about the pattern, just go with it. I was mostly a lurker on the list but learned a lot from it and enjoyed being a part of the list.

I got an e-mail this morning from Soxie the list administrator. She is retiring. I will not lie I am sad to see the list stop but I am glad that Soxie is getting to start a new part of her life. Congratulations on retirement!! Oh yeah, you should see the sock obbsession this has started.

Here is a picture of the fist socks, the first anything I ever knitted.



Well I better get off the computer and get some errands done. The Shuttle is suppose to launch today and it can cause major traffic, wether they scrub the launch or not so I'm off to the store, post office, etc.