Secret Pal 12: Question of the Week

What is your favorite supper for a hot summer evening?
I still like a hot meal, even when the weather is hot. However, I don’t like to heat up the house so we often grill on those nights. I usually marinated the meat for the next night, starting after dinner. Instead of cooking the prepared meat in the house, I just take it outside! When it is hot, we pair the cooked meat with a salad and don’t really need anything else, except for maybe some ice cream. :) I sometimes make my own which is so much better (and healthier) than anything store bought.

Knitting Progress

I've been working away on my knitting. There has been a little progress on the Auburn Camp Shirt. Then, I finished the first of the beaded socks and started the next one. The second sock looks almost exactly like the picture that I took of the first one, at this point. I did cast on for another sweater, the Bamboo Pullover, using the pattern Stripes Go Round by Lana Hames. I'm not doing the stripes, though. The yarn for this one was originally knit into my Green Tea Raglan, which felt to weighty. For that sweater I used 2 strands together. On this one, I'm only using one strand and knitting at a loose gauge. It feels lovely.

Finished Socks

Pattern: Celebrations from Anni Design received from Sockamania for May 2008
Needles: US size 1 (2.25 mm) dpns
Yarn: Maple Hill Hand Dyed 100% Merino Superwash

Both the pattern and yarn were a joy to use. The socks fit well without any alterations to the pattern.

Secret Pal 12: Question of the Week

What are your favorite places to knit and what supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?
My two favorite places are at home on the couch while watching TV or listening to music, and Village Yarn & Tea, my LYS. When knitting at VY&T, I like to have a friend or two for good conversation and a pot of tea. When knitting at home, I often put on a movie and usually have a glass of water on the end table. Most of the time, this is all I need to create a cozy place for knitting.

Are the dental hygeine gods against me?

A funny thing happened this weekend: My dh works for my Dad’s dental office. About a year ago, they went to a dental convention, here in Seattle. At those things, they are frequently give samples of various products in hopes that they will buy these things for their office. Among the products that can be sampled are toothbrushes. Dh has a great time collecting these things and sometimes brings them home to try out before they buy them for the office. My toothbrush was ready to be replaced and when I pulled out my stash my hand landed on some of those from the convention. With the first two, I couldn’t even finish brushing my teeth before the head started to break apart in my mouth! With the third one, I finished, rinsed the brush and took a long look at it. There were fine cracks starting to appear in the head! I continued looking at it every few minutes and in about 15 minutes, this third brush had broken apart as well! I had a similar situation the next morning when I pulled out a fourth brush, but this time I did get through one full brushing of my teeth. Some of these brushes are ones that they have been buying. When I saw my Dad on Sunday afternoon, I told him about this. He said that I have been the only one he knows of to have this kind of problem. My response? “I must have very corrosive saliva!” I now need to go to the store and buy a toothbrush...
ETA a response to the comments: These toothbrushes were stored under the bathroom sink, in their original, plastic packaging. I remembered, after posting this, that I put them there because one of them did this when I tried using it when it was brand new. I did get one full use out of it and then it broke overnight. I had forgotten about that until now.

1st Sock Done

Wow! This pair is knitting up very quickly. I was thinking of making them for an exchange partner. I went online, last night, to look up how long here feet are and found that she doesn’t really like green or yellow. Fortunately, her feet are almost the same size as mine, and I love these socks. Yay, another pair for me! I finished the first sock last night and cast on for the second one this morning on the way to work. I’m hoping to have these finished by Saturday afternoon so that I can buy yarn for my pal’s socks and cast on for them. I still have plenty of time to finish them, but don’t want to feel rushed, either.

New Sock in Progress

Since finishing my Celtic Cable Heel Socks, I started another pair. This one is Celebrations Socks from Anni Design. (This pattern was May 2008's Sockamania pattern.) It is knitting up very well. In this picture the cables seem to twist, but that is just because I am working with the stitches on 3 dpns and it doesn't like to be flattened! In reality the cables look like they're going to be perfectly vertical. the yarn is from Maple Hill Hand Dyed, and is a beautiful super wash wool. This will be the first pair of socks that will count toward Summer of Socks.

CelticCableSocksFO

I finished this month's Sockamania pattern, Celtic Cable Heel Socks. What a fun, quick pattern. This is the first pattern, ever, that I plan to make again! DH liked them so well, that I may use the same pattern, but a fatter yarn and bigger needles to make him a pair. These socks were knit on 2.25 mm (US 1) needles with Maizy from Crystal Palace. Started on 7/13 at 12PM and finished on 7/15 at 10PM! I'm wearing them today. They're so comfortable I just might make me another pair, too!

Secret Pal 12: Question of the Week

What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

For me, it depends on the type of vacation. If I were flying, I would make sure to take a small project like socks. However, we usually take camping vacations. We often rent a cabin at a KOA. In these cases, I can take whatever project I want. We spend up to 3 hours in the car each direction. Sometimes, I take a new project that I expect to get well into or maybe finished. Other times, I pack an old project that I'm hoping to finish. Nearly every time I take more than one project, just in case I get bored! Because I like to take several, I nearly always have someone asking if I really need all that knitting. On one camping trip, where we were travelling with friends, I was asked just such a question. When I finished 3 of the 4 projects and made much headway on the 4th, she recanted! {laughing}

Secret Pal Package

When I arrived home, last night, there was a box waiting for me from Yarny Goodness. I have nearly purchased from the site, so I knew that I had created an account with them, but could not remember ordering anything. When I opened the box and found a note saying that this was from my Secret Pal, I was pleasantly surprised. The yarn is beautiful, dyed in many of my favorite colors and the little extras are really neat, too. Thanks, SP!

1st Cable Heel Sock Done

I finished the first of the Celtic Cable Heel Socks from the Sockamania group! This pattern is a pretty plain footed toe-up sock, with an intricate cable on the back of the heel. The socks are anklets and look wonderful! I used Maizy from Crystal Palace and size 1 (2.25 mm) needles. I will be casting on for the next one on the way home from work, tonight. Hopefully, I'll have more than just the toe done by tomorrow! :)

Several FOs

I finished up another old project, this weekend, but before that, I started 2 more. These 2 were one skein projects from the LYS Tour 2008. The first is the Beads and Butterflies Bag from Let it Rain Yarn, knit in Frog Tree Alpaca Sport. I used some black seed beads that I happened to have already. It came out well, and I have it completely finished, even lined!

The second project is a Fishy Soap Bag from Hilltop Yarns, knit in Elann’s Lustrado that I had left over from the shawl that I knit for them. This project was started at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and finished by 4:00. What a quick project! I love it and may be making more in the future. After all that knitting on Friday and Saturday, I still continued to work on my Serpentine Socks, finishing on Sunday morning.

I stayed home from church as I had a headache. The church recently installed new carpet and the lingering, chemical smells have a forceful ability to give me migraine even when I don’t already have a headache. I played it cautiously and decided it would be best to miss out this Sunday. It has been several weeks still and the smells don’t seem to be lessening. I find this quite annoying, but there is nothing I can do about it.

After finishing my 3rd project in 3 days, I decided to cast on for another pair of socks. I still had 3 others on the needles, but was excited to replace the UFO that I had scratched off the list! I started this month’s Sockamania pattern, Celtic Cable Heel Socks, and have the first sock nearly done! I am working the shorter version of the pattern in Maizy from Crystal Palace. The yarn is very soft and lovely. Occasionally, I have a little trouble with some splitting of the yarn, but haven’t had too much trouble. It even looks like I’m going to get the whole pair out of 1 skein. Amazing! However, I originally purchased 2 skeins, planning on making taller socks, so I’m not sure what I’ll do with the remaining skein. Maybe another pair of short socks to give at Christmas?

Civil War Shawl

I started the edging on my Civil War Shawl! I have 2 repeats done. The border pattern that the designer chose couldn’t be better. It’s very lovely and before any blocking is about 6 inches widthwise. I did make a mistake in the first repeat. Though I tried, I could not figure out what I had done and plan to just leave it, rather than pull it all out. I haven’t taken a picture because I find it difficult to get a good one without pulling the needle out of all those stitches, which of course would be disastrous! :) I figure that each pattern repeat is a little over a half percent of the overall project. Only 49% to go!

Secret Pal 12: Question of the Week

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?

I’m not sure that I have a favorite. Given the choice, I usually go somewhere new, rather than to go the same place again.

2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

I’ve heard many pleasing things about visiting San Francisco and would enjoy a chance to see the city. However, I would like to have my husband go, too, and he hates flying. So, I doubt I’ll ever go. I would also like to see more of Europe as my sister and I enjoyed ourselves so much in the week that I spent there with her. Well, I guess that’s two places?! Thinking of all this makes me want to hop online and buy tickets somewhere! :)

Status Update

This last weekend, being a long one, I took plenty of time for knitting. I finished the first sock on two pair (nearly finishing the second on one pair!) and worked a little on my Civil War Shawl. On the shawl, I finished the main body of the shawl and am ready to begin working on the edging. This marks the halfway point on the shawl. I may finish up a few projects that are closer to being done, and then start working on the shawl again. I’d like to finish a pair of socks or two, and my February Lady Sweater. All of these are nearly done. If I stay in with the current CWS KAL, I have about 2 weeks to wait until the group catches up with me. That should be plenty of time to finish the sweater and one pair of the socks. At least, if I work on the pair that is nearly done! :)

Prayer & Sock Swap

I received a package from Angie, yesterday. I've recently been on a join-everything mentality and have had such fun with this swap. It has given me a chance to have 2 great prayer partners. One that is praying for me, and another that I am praying for who has also told me that she is praying for me in return. I'm still working on my partner's package as it isn't due for a while, yet. Angie really went all out! The socks are one of my favorite colors and she found some snack items that I can eat without causing me health problems! The fruit "leather" that she found has no sweeteners in it! Yes, that's right, no sugar or sugar substitutes! I thought that was impossible. She also included some lotion which has a little book of scripture-based prayers, too. I love almonds and green tea, too, so those were a perfect fit. Thanks, Angie! :)

Secret Pal 12: Question of the Week

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
I can’t think of a yarn that would “complete” my stash. Since I don’t think of my stash as a collection, but rather as a queue of projects waiting to be started, it is constantly changing. I am not one to buy yarn and then either be afraid to use it nor to buy a yarn then like it so much that I don’t start a project out of it. Usually, I buy and cast on within days! I guess that accounts for why I have so many projects going at the same time.

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?
Sock yarn. I always like to keep a couple skeins ready to go at a moments notice. Socks can be completed in a week or two, and the yarn also doubles as good mitten and glove yarn. I mostly use non-striping yarns and especially like dark colored kettle dyed sock yarns. I also like to have the yarn for the next sweater that I would like to make. Right now, I have several sweaters worth, which is unlike me!

Mittiens Finished

These only took a couple of days. They are NHM #9 from Selbuvotter, by Terri Shea. When I first started them, I wasn't sure how well I would like them. In the beginning, the multi-colored yarn seemed to hide the black patterning a little. However, now that they're finished, I love them. The pattern shows up well.
Even after using 1 skein of Knit Picks Palette for 2 pairs, I still have a little left over! I am very surprised at how little yardage was required for the contrasting color. I still have a little of the multi left over ,too. I've knit a pair of socks, and now a pair of mittens with it. There must have been more yarn than I realized in that hank!
Now, I plan to return to my February Lady Sweater. I only have 1 sleeve left to go. This was started this morning. Hopefully, I'll have it finished by the end of the week. As I look forward to finishing another project, I am trying to decide what to work on...I may try to stay with the current KAL group on my Civil War Shawl. That one is half done. Then, there's Summer of Socks, for which I have yet to start any socks. There's also Sockamania. I haven't finished any of Anni's patterns in quite a few months. However, with all the other socks I already have on the needles, I will feel guilty if I don't finish at least one of those pairs first! I suppose only time will tell. :}
Last night I received my book order from the 40% off sale at Knit Picks. I bought Knit So Fine and New Pathways for Sock Knitters. As I've been knitting from the public library's copy of New Pathways and my own copy of Selbuvotter, I've become increasingly annoyed at how the books will not stay open to the correct page. So, I took my copies of New Pathways and Selbuvotter to Kinko's last night and had them spiral bind the books. It cost around $9 each, and now the book will lay flat! This greatly helped me to finish my mitten last night, as I did not have to keep looking for the correct page. I'm contemplating having the same thing done with a couple other books that I think I will need to keep open for reference while knitting from them.