Weekend in Vermont

The bride-to-be liked her apron; birthday girl liked her socks; and B had a fun time meeting Nanny's cats and bride-to-be's greyhound.

I had a good time, too. I could have done without the additional hour in the car yesterday (single car accident on NY Thruway caused a 10 mile back-up). Not a stitch was knit, but it's not all about the knitting (shocking, I know).

Thanks for all of your comments on the socks and things. I'm running a bit behind today, so maybe a fuller post tomorrow (and e-mails to the commenters if I can track down e-mails for everyone).

DIY hottie alert

John Bruce from WYWO, was in the lobby of my building today when I left to get lunch.

I wonder if he finds the wait for the elevator here interminable like the rest of us.

Note, hair is very different these days.

would it have been worse to hem it?

I finished the apron last night. Whew. Someone explain to me how the tension on my bobbin can get screwed up when nothing else has changed in 24 hours? At one point I swore so loudly, Hubby came up to make sure I wasn't bleeding. I think it's cute, just don't look too closely at the stitching. Next time, I either use wider binding tape, or, I make the reversible one.

I finished the knitting on the potholder and then bleached all the off-white white. I'll get that finished up tonight (weave ends and crochet the pieces together). I couldn't bring it to work on the bus because the pieces are still drying. Then I need to wrap the gifts, do the dishes and pack.

Normally, I look forward to long drives as being lots of knitting time. I probably won't knit much more than a few stitches all weekend (depends on how things go if I'll have down time). Wish me luck travelling with the B by myself for 6 hours in the car.

andrea yates not guilty by reason of insanity

It's unfortunate that Andrea Yates's Postpartum Psychosis wasn't taken seriously five years ago when it could have saved her children's lives. It's not just the baby blues, and it's not something to be taken lightly. I'm finally off the meds and don't know how Randy Yates could ever have thought having five kids was a good idea. How living in a bus with a wife with a serious condition and four small children was a good idea. How leaving his seriously ill wife alone with five small children all day everday was a good idea. I wasn't nearly that ill two years ago and Hubby is scared of having another child because it does come back and it can come back worse. And if my father had died as well? I'm glad he doesn't blame his ex-wife and I hope she recovers and finds a way to forgive herself. Nice to see that some part of the Texas legal system believes in justice.

swirly girly FO

Hydrangea socks are done. Here they are on the window sill this morning.

I also tried modeling them. Please disregard the fact that my house needs a vacuuming.

I started a log cabin potholder over the weekend and will finish that up today. That's a shower gift.

The yarn is some vintage Phildar I got on eBay last year. 100% cotton. I went down a needle size and I'm going to crochet the two pieces together to prevent burns.

I finally started the apron last night. That's a pain in the butt. I hope to finish it tonight. Packing and wrapping tomorrow.

what I wanted to say yesterday

when blogger ate my post was, Thank you Cygknit for the wonderful prize. I can't wait to try out a new sock yarn. In just my colors, too.

I also wanted to talk about my hydrangea socks. See, I was here yesterday. About 10 rows from the toe shaping. Except blogger's not letting me post photos today to show you. But, I'm nearly done the toe and will FO the socks tomorrow.

ready to inplace afterthought

This is where I was before lunch stitching.

I'm a little further along. Heel should be finished on the way home.

Hope you all have a good weekend with lots of stitches. I'm off to finish a report and then go play with my boys.

still chevron

I'm hoping to start the heel sometime tomorrow. Then I'll have pics (and I need to replace the batteries, too).

I haven't touched lotsa dotsa.

Struggling with allergies. How am I in the only neighborhood in NY without a Duane Reade every block?

a hemming we will go

No knitting was accomplished after I got off the bus last night (and not much knitting on the bus, but I'll get to that later). I spent my evening working on this.

I'm calling her lotsa dotsa. She's a skirt. The waist needs to be tweaked and the hem needs to well, be hemmed. She's not quite what I was expecting, much busier, but I think I like her.

I did work on the second sock yesterday. This thing has me confounded. I keep thinking that there are huge differences between the stripes and it was driving me crazy yesterday. There seems to be a slight variation in color segment length (second ball has longer segments of each color) and I kept puzzling over how that made for narrower stripes (see I was thinking longer segments over the same stitches = less pooling = narrower stripes). But, in all actuality, I've been agonizing about this and poring over the different balls of yarn for nothing. Do the stripes (or rather swirls) look all that different to you?

sock, sock, snack

Kind of like duck, duck, goose, but with sugar and fiber.

Starting from the top, finished sock. I didn't weave in ends. If it doesn't fit recipient, I'll rip and re-do. They're just a smidge too big for me, so I'm hoping girlwhosefeetareslightlylargerthanmine won't have problems.

Just below that is beginning of sock two. Because if you're going to have to re-knit one sock, why not re-knit them both.

On the bottom are M&Ms pirate pearls. Not as great as I was hoping. I love white chocolate, but the candy coating made it too much sugar.

I realize that I've not been talking about motherhood or anything else much lately. Let's just say that B's life is revolving around "pool, water, " baby pool at home, and town pools with daycare and the grands. But not quite as much as he wishes it would! He asks for "pool, water" every morning at camp. We're hoping to go to the beach this weekend. I sincerely doubt he'll go anywhere near that water!

sock one just needs to be closed up

I didn't do much over the weekend. I was so tired. Anyway, sock 1 is nearly done. I'll get the grafting done on the way home and start sock 2. I think I'll be able to finish in time. Oh, I had plenty of yarn.

Thanks for the compliments on Cece. Between you guys and the ladies in my knitting group, I'm getting a swelled head. It really does help to have a great pattern, though.

let's see, stash, chevrons, and an FO

Well, I got some yarn in the mail yesterday. It's Rowanspun DK from eBay. After AnnyPurls was talking about the deals on Rowan- spun, I had to take a peek. Of course, I already have some orange 4ply and decided that for $39.99 and free shipping I needed this one.

I got a bit further on the Hydrangea Chevron. Mostly this was done on the bus and watching Baby Bach with Billy. I didn't knit on it at all watching tv last night. I started a chickami instead.

I'm making the largest size with shaping and wide straps in my leftover TLC Cotton Plus. Leftover from what you might ask.

Leftover from this: CeCe in TLC CottonPlus Salsa. I made the largest size but had to scale her up a bit. I added two lace repeats to the front and back and 9 stitches to each sleeve. I knit two repeats before I started the increases; I didn't want her too cropped. I really liked this pattern. In the picture I'm thinking, how long do I have to stand like this before the timer goes off. Good thing no one else was here and my office has a door!

yep, I know, it's boring looking at the same sock everyday

I promise things will be more exciting around here tomorrow, but until I get the button on and pics of me wearing Cece, all you get is more of the chevron sock.

I did finish the heel last night. I'm not 100% pleased with the kitchener on the heel. If I have time, I'll probably rip and fix it.

I've decided I don't like the in-place afterthought heel. It's too fiddly and I don't like having to weave in the extra ends.

I do have some excitement. I'm concerned I might run out of yarn. Yeah, I know, what knitter hasn't gone through that. I'll just have to knit faster to see if there's enough.

Yo, Dorothy, How you doooin?

Seriously folks, NJ does not need tornados. Can you see Vinny Bagodonuts in Oz?

chevron ad nauseum

Couple of more days until I have pics of something other than the chevron socks.

I have made much progress. This afternoon, I'm going to do the heel. I think the in place afterthought heel (I love the contradiction) will look nicely swirly in this yarn. I don't think I mentioned it but this is KnitPicks Sock Garden in Hydrangea. A discontinued color and yarn. It's 100% merino and so smooshy after the regia I've been using.

Cece did have her bath last night (light cold water wash in the machine, she is cotton and acrylic); then I smoothed her out on my blocking board. Looking at her on the blocking board I was thinking she's going to be way too wide, but I placed another sweater on top and it's okay. I also figure the cotton content will cause her to elongate once on. If she's not mostly dry by the time I get home tonight (which seems pretty unlikely with the humidity and rain in the forecast), I'll put a fan on so I can sew on a button and wear her Friday.

Thanks for the comments ladies, and anonymous pal who may or not be a lady. I know I've not been e-mailing and commenting on your blogs. I hope to be caught up soon and able to spend more time.

more chevron sock

So, I knit some more on the chevron sock. I also seamed up Miss Cece. She'll be taking a bath and getting blocked tonight. I hope she dries by Friday morning.

third try's a charming little sock

This is the third iteration of this sock. First, I tried the baby cable from Sensational Socks. Nope, all stitch detail was being lost in the colorway. Next, I tried the ridged feather and fan. Not a big fan of garter stitch ridges in the small striping. So, I'm trying the chevron sock (all from the same book). I'm thinking I like it. Goal is to have it finished by 7/27, since I'll be seeing the recipient on 7/28.

In other news, Cece rapidly approaches FO status. I finished the knitting last night. Now all I need to do is seam the under arm, sew on the neckband and weave in ends. I'll do that tonight so I can block her and have her ready to debut on Friday> Our group's next stitch lunch is Friday so that's the perfect day to take her out.

Netter's adventure in glazing

Or how I learned to love a wood chisel.

When faced with this, what is an enterprising gal to do? Take the day off and learn how to replace a window!

(If you want to know, hubby was outside trying to get our freaked out dog to potty, all those thunderstorms and nights of fireworks, and I was upstairs with B, he was banging and, whoops, broken window, his hand is fine)

First I read in my home care encyclopedia what needed to be done, then we all went to Depot to buy it. Then I took a personal day for Wednesday.

After dropping B off, I donned my goggles (imagine me all cute in a ponytail and safety goggles, again blogger's only letting me upload 3 pics) and started chipping away at the old putty with a glazer's chisel. That didn't work. Back to Depot and some real chisels and an hour or so later I had an empty window frame (Blogger's being jerky about this pic heavy post and since I want to show you the finished product, no pic of the empty frame).

I then had to face the daunting task of cutting a piece of glass to size. But, I was prepared. We had bought everything I could have possibly needed, except the ability to draw straight line. I tried, twice. But, had to get a piece of glass cut to size at my local hardware store (LHS for you in the biz). Have to remember that the service is so much more individualized. Not that they aren't knowledgeable at our box store...

Yeah, I was a failure with the glass cutting. Some glazer I'm turning out to be. But, it seems my metier might be putty. I knew all those years of playdough would pay off.

After that I showered, had a nice lunch, and plopped myself down with my knitting to watch the France and Portugal game. (Was going to post a cute pic of that, too.)

New Magknits

Great new issue of MagKnits. Lots of interesting stuff and a few new classics! Go check it out.

what I'm actually doing this weekend

During nap today, I've eaten Ben & Jerry's turtle soup and surfed the blogs. Yep, I'm that productive. Have started the toe shaping on the anklet.