Rabies On My Shoe: July 2007

Saturday Sky & Socks

Nice sky, but really muggy today. My hair is crazed and I think I need to trim my bangs again.. I can't see with them flopping around.

I finished one re-do of the toe up socks. (the one on the left is the re-do)

It fits much better and you can see by eliminating those 4 extra stitches every row, I got lots extra for the cuff.

BUT I'm still not thrilled with the heel. You can not even tell from these pics that there is a difference between the PGR heel on the left and the short row with wraps on the right. It does look a bit better in person, but I'm going to try the short rows another way for the next heel (no, that will not bother me)

I'm going to try the heel Noolie told me about too... a Sherman Short Row Heel. Looks neat!

Stay Cool...

Labels: Saturday Sky, socks

Toe-up socks finished

First I wanted to show my Knit Picks order that came Monday...

Needles, some sock yarn (yes, more black!), Cotlin to try, and books that were 40% off! DH choked when I showed him the bill and said "I thought you were done buying yarn?" hhahahaha, silly man!

Let's talk socks... I finished both socklets and used the heel from the Summer Interweave (the Priscilla Gibson-Roberts heel in Simple Socks:Plain and Fancy)

Look at these HOLES! Cripes! They were on both sides... I finally figured that if I knit the K3tog's as they were (twisted) it filled in a bit and not to sssp the P3tog-tbl's first, just do the P2tog-tbl and make it tight!

See here it looks better but still not great.

Socklets on feet

With Crocs

I like the socklets and think they look fun with the Crocs and I am pleased with my final toe BUT:

They are 64 stitches around and my full socks with the same yarn and needles were only 60 stitches. I didn't think those 4 extra stitches would make a big difference but yeah, they do. The socks just are not snug enough.

The heel looks like crap even though the holes are better. It just looks sloppy to me. I'm going to try the short row heel with wraps from the Wendy Knits book- also explained on her blog wendyknits.net. I'm sure this technique is other places too....

So, if you have a heel you like please let me know since I will be ripping the socklets back to the toe for a makeover....

Later 'Gater

Labels: knit picks, socks

What's Up?

Well, first up - Harry Potter was delivered to my house Saturday and ALL KNITTING HALTED until 7:30pm Sunday. 'nuff said.

Next- Here is my Booty Package from the Yarn Pirate club. (now that I'm not in danger of spoiling it for anyone) Sock yarn, a YP pin and some yummy handmade soap....Can everybody say Oohhhhhh? The colorway is called "Rum Runner"

Next up- 2 dishcloths. The first is Bamboozled from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL yahoo group

And the 2nd is "O Little Town". I test knit this over the weekend from Susan at Knitsalittle.com

Lastley- my toe up socks. Kristy and Charity and myself are forming our own support group.

Here is my progress so far: first sock done up to cuff following the directions from Interweave (which are very good and have a nice picture of the cast on)

2nd sock cast on from the opposite end and knit up to the foot. This time instead of M1's left and right I just did Kf&b. Much much better! less potty mouth, no lost stitches and neater looking all around.

I'm going to try the short row heel again and see if I can make it look better. If not, then I'll research different types of heels or go back and just go my heel flap.

I want to get both socklets out of the leftover yarn. The bit in the middle is what I have left... can I make it?

Labels: Cotton, Dishcloth, socks, toe up

Saturday Skys

Morning

Evening

Night

Have a great weekend!

Labels: Saturday Sky

Ahoy Mateys!

Avast, me hearties! The Yarn Pirate Booty box arrived today! Yippie! wait, do Pirates say Yippie?
How about aarruuggh?

I didn't want to spoil it for anyone who didn't receive their package yet... but If I get enough requests, I'll post a picture of the contents!

I'm off the scrub the poop deck (um, ewwee) and iron the Captain's shirts!

aarr!

Labels: Yarn Pirate

Spinning and Socks

I caught up with Amanda last week and she gave me some birthday fiber! I immediately pulled out the recently vacated Celtic Spindle and went to work on the crazy batt.....

She carded this from bunches of "leftovers" and added a bit of sparkle... volia a crazy batt!

And now there is crazy yarn! Too much fun. Did I mention she sells her stuff on Etsy? Go check it out!

I still have this lovley batt of soft, yummy lavender sparkley goodness. I'm just going to pet this for a while.

Kristy and I have decided we WILL conquer toe up socks and are using the Ann Budd article in Summer Interweave. Here is the table with all my reference material-

and the latest attempt-

Not too bad. I figured out the Eastern Cast on after only 3 times, but I'm not happy with the way my increases are looking- especially on the one side. How do you start your toe-uppers?

I have spent an INSANE amount of time on Ravelry the last couple of days... uploading pics to Flickr, moving them, putting in project information and checking out everyone else's stuff. Its such a great resource and its STILL BETA! I'm having fun documenting projects and getting even more ideas for future projects. I may just give up the blog and keep everything in Ravelry!

Stay Cool and Keep Knitting

Labels: socks, spinning

Saturday Sky

A beautiful blue sky this morning... its gonna get hot again!

BTW, if you are looking for me on Ravelry I am cbast25. I spent some time this week updating and getting pictures sorted. I even put up some pics of the yarn I spun!

I even had a chance to test a pattern for Vikki- crochet fishies! I found her via Noolie via Ravelry and commented how much I liked the fish. She emailed me back asking if I would like to test the pattern- Oh Boy!

Aren't they cute!? They are going to be fun in the tub for The Mayor and every kid in my family. Sugar & Cream cotton on an H hook.

Stay Cool!

Labels: Saturday Sky

CANNIBAL RESTAURANT

from JEN via email tonight....

A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant
operated by a fellow cannibal. Feeling somewhat hungry, he sat down and looked over the menu...
+ Broiled Missionary: $10.00
+ Fried Explorer: $15.00
+ Grilled Republican: $20.00
+ Baked Democrat: $100.00
The cannibal called the waiter over and asked, 'Why such a price difference
for the Democrat?' The cook replied, "Have you ever tried to clean one?
They're so full of shit, it takes all morning."

Labels: jokes

The Hottest Day of the Year...

The Mayor and I stopped by yesterday to give Scooter her birthday gift. It was the FREAKING HOTTEST DAY of the summer. Really. Hot + Humid= me melting.

So what did we give her? On the hottest freaking day of the summer? Oh just a pair of THRUMMED MITTENS.
Yes. Really.
The warmest mittens known to mankind I gifted to a person I like on the hottest day of the summer. Go figure.

"Ohhh they are so pretty!"

"How did you get the fleece in there?"

(she might not be happy with the photos, but tough. When she gets her own blog, she can post pics of me to get even. )

Really though, Scooter has freakishly cold hands especially in winter. I expect these to get lots of good use.

Specs: Cascade 220 1 skein, color 9404. Thrums: BFL from The Flying Ewe (love her! In fact I ordered one of my first spindles from her)

Needles: Denise 5's and 6's

Pattern: My Own - really, I cobbled it together from about 5 different sources but if you want good information on what IS a thrum and how to actually put them in mittens go here.

I caught up with Amanda this week and she gifted ME with 2 rockin' awesome batts- I have pics and will post soon. I spun one batt up already and wait till you see the neato yarn it became....

Stay cool!

*** note added 7/28 She just saw the post and is NOT HAPPY about the pictures. Really, she is a beautiful woman whose petite figure I envy every time I see her! She in no way resembles a young Roz Russell. It was all my bad photography!

OK? *******

Labels: mittens, Scooter

Dishrag Queen

Emily (the mastermind behind Dishrag Tag) wants to see how many dishrags are in the house! The one with the most gets crowned Dishrag Queen (or King). Now mind you I just gave a bunch to my mom, but here is my stack currently in use:

22 Dishcloths and 4 Tribbles .
(2 tribbles are ready for the wash and one cloth is still wet! but I tried to dig them all up... in fact I may have one or 2 more hiding) These are all the ones I use at home, there are many more that have been gifted!
** update, make that 23. the last one is hot off the needles, pic soon!***

Speaking of DishRag Tag, I'm training for my "leg" of the event. The pattern I'm thinking of using is the Knitted Round Lacy Cloth . I timed myself last night and it takes me 9 minutes and 50 seconds to do one wedge... there are 9 wedges, plus sewing up and weaving in , the occasional distraction, so I figure I can get one done in less than 2 hrs! That means I can have a 24 hr turn around from when I receive my box, providing the mail comes at its usual 12pm and is not recieved on Saturday. Not too shabby.... now to get the rest of my package ready and I'm good to go!

Its been GOD AWEFUL humid the last couple of days and worse at swim lessons. BUT I did manage to finish up the "Socks of Love" and will post pics as soon as The Mr. gets home at a reasonable time (meaning there is decent light to take pictures of black 1x1 ribbed socks).

OTN: a Bainbridge scarf for JEN and maybe some Monkey socks with the yarn Trish sent for my b-day. Oh and Kristy and I (plus maybe Charity) are doing our own little KAL for toe-up socks from the Summer Interweave- starting soon.

Stay Cool

Labels: dish rag tag