blooming feet socks DONE

After much ripping, some cursing and about three sets of toes, I finally finished my Blooming Feet pal's socks!

These were are a simple twisted rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. My pal had warned me that she had big feet (size 10) so I was nervous about knitting something lacy or complicated for fear that I wouldn't get done in time. The ribbing was easy enough (a two row repeat), and I jazzed it up by using some of my own handspun. The orange handspun is BFL from Dicentra Designs. I picked up the purple/orange handspun from LPK for contrast and because the completely orange sock incarnation of these was just too ORANGE.

It's really difficult to knit a pair of socks for someone when you can't get them to try the socks on as you go. I had my pal's basic foot measurements and I'm confident the socks match them, but you never really know if they're going to fit till the recipient puts them on!

I had to rip the toe of the first sock out three times, and the toe of the second sock twice due to some silly mistakes on my part. Plus I wanted the socks to be perfect because they were for someone else. If they had been for me, I would have had no problem with the mistakes I'd made....but no way was I going to send them off with 'oopsies' in them!

Now that the socks are done, I can look for some fun little surprises to throw into my pal's package before I mail them off. And I can't wait till I get my own pair of Blooming Feet socks from *my* pal!

birth day

-Saturday night dinner with the Dearest, followed by a massage at the local chi-chi day spa (heavenly)

-not having to do the dishes AT ALL- for one whole day

-uninterrupted craft time so I could cut and arrange this:

-wearing my new Noro Silk Garden Light socks while knitting with good friends at LPK:

-smooches and tickles from Monkey Boy (who is finally feeling much better).

-"birthday gift flowers" picked by Little Man himself:

All in all, a nice way to spend a birthday!

day 40 of 365

::waiting::

Our babysitter came to watch the small men today & I was able to spend a couple of hours with the Dearest. He had to run a quick consulting call in Laguna so I took my knitting, ready to hang out in the car & wait.

It turned out that there was a lovely little path into the canyon right next to where we parked, so I went exploring. A few minutes later I found a small weatherbeaten bench to sit on. It was a little chilly, but I was able to start a sock and enjoy the silence of the canyon for a while.

a crafter's still life

When I took photography in college (back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, gas was under $2/gal., and cameras actually used FILM), we often had assignments where we had to shoot still life images.

Back then my still lifes were usually of fruit, or kitschy little displays of plates & cups from my dad's kitchen. What I liked about still life images is that they often told a story- it was interesting to see what objects other students would pick, and see how the same objects could be perceived in completely different ways.

Here's my recent 'crafter's still life':

day 33 of 365

fabric: Flea Market Fancy fat quarters (been sitting on these for nearly six months and still haven't been inspired...but I'm beginning to feel like sewing again so maybe they'll turn into something very soon)

black vintage button: from my mother in law's button collection, which was recently gifted to me

yarn: my own handspun; 100% Blue Face Leicester, two ply

minibook: memories from Little Man's first trip to the punkin patch (he was 18mos in that photo). the book is 4inx4in, and bound with ribbon

wooden tray: from a Melissa & Doug wooden farmhouse set that I got for Little Man when he was a wee one

I look at this image and it tells a story- one of a sometimes harried momma to two wonderous boys. A momma who aspires to crafty goodness and sometimes actually makes it!

the great yarn crawl of 2007 (LaLa Land episode)

A few weeks ago, Chelle mentioned that she wanted to do a Mom's Day Out (where we mommas do something fun that doesn't involve the littles). Her plan was to get a bunch of us knitting/fibery types together and break through the Orange Curtain to visit some yarn shops in LA. She really wanted to visit the Black Sheep Knittery (and get away from the small ones for the day).

It turned out that the other ladies who wanted to attend couldn't make it for various reasons. So just Chelle and I jumped into the car for the trip to La La Land. She had directions to three different stores in the heart of LA, all within a few miles of each other. Our plan was to hit each store, have lunch at some point during the all the yarn-y goodness and then head on home. So here's my capsule review of the day:

Black Sheep Knittery: Located in the shadow of the Capitol Records building with some metered parking out front. Unfortunately we had a difficult time finding parking and ended up with a metered spot about a block away. The neighborhood is a mix of residential and small storefronts, so not much else was open.

The BSK is long and narrow, with a big table in the middle for classes or knitting meets. Yarn is in cubbies on two walls, with some placed in baskets or hung in the display windows. They also have a loft in the very back of the store...I didn't notice it till we had been inside for a while. We were greeted by a nice young lady as soon as we entered (tho she didn't introduce herself or ask if we needed any help). Yarn is organized by brand and somewhat by type. The two walls of cubbies held lots of wool and wool mixes: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Rowan Yarns, GGH, Blue Sky, Noro etc. They had a pretty nice selection of Koigu KPPPM and Lorna's Laces. Some yarns I hadn't seen before: Rio De Las Plata, a new Noro with sparklies (don't know the name), a twisted tape/rope Noro in a DKish weight, Blue Sky Organic Cottons.

Upstairs in the loft, there was a small couch and a big blue fluffy rug as well as most of the needles, knitting accessories and a small wall of cotton yarns. Patterns and pattern books were spread throughout the store. They have a 50% off clearance table next to the cash register with patterns, needles, older magazines and assorted small bags of yarn. There was a pretty large stack of sweater kits next to the stairs. I ended up buying Louisa Harding's Winter Muse Classics pattern book (like I need more pattern books, but I couldn't resist!).

Overall, the prices were fair, the store was pretty easy to navigate and they had a good selection of workhorse yarns, as well as some more expensive stuff like angora and cashmere. The shopgirl was very helpful as we were paying and even cheerily broke a $10 for some meter change (anyone who lives/works in the city knows how unusual that is).

Next we headed over to Suss Designs:
The store is located in a tonier section of LA, on Beverly Boulevard. There was a lot more retail here, so more foot traffic. Metered parking is available on the street in front of the shop, but we had to park around the corner in a residential street (free parking for 2hrs, no parking after 6pm without a permit).

A big, airy space with exposed brick walls and lots of yarn cubbies. Suss carries her own yarn line which includes merino wool, alpaca, cotton, and several blends. All of them were priced very competitively (for example: approx 200yds of nice alpaca in natural colors for $9.00). Books and patterns were placed in a central area & organized so it was easy to look through them. There are comfy chairs & couches in the main display area, a back room with a big table (for classes, I'm sure), and what looked like a coffee or wine bar in the back of the store.

Yarn was organized by type/brand and easy to browse through. Lots of sample swatches were tucked into the cubbies with the corresponding yarns. Needles and notions were all on one wall toward the back of the store. I saw: some Blue Sky Alpaca, Debbie Bliss, Lamb's Pride bulky & worsted, a big basket of Artyarns Supermerino, etc.. Yarns I hadn't seen before: Suss' entire line, the Artyarns, some GGH yarns. I'm not sure that I spotted any Noro, but it might have been there.

About a third of the store is dedicated to Suss' own line of knitted goods and fashion. Some of the sweaters were interesting, but I didn't really browse through the racks since that wasn't why I was there.

The only employee in the store was a very friendly and knowledgeable shopguy. Chelle was looking for yarn to match some handspun she had been gifted with, and the shopguy was helpful without being annoying. I was also impressed by his ability to help three people at once without getting flustered. Kudos to the shopguy for being so on the ball.

Finally we headed over to Knit Cafe, which is in another tony part of LA, very near the Beverly Center. Metered street parking is available (we parked about 1/2 a block away).

The store itself was quite small, but very charming. The shopgirl had a sweet (French?) accent & was helpful without being too pushy. There were some comfy chairs located in the center of the stores (they seemed to have a small sit n knit going when we got there), as well as a table in the front. There was a coffee bar in the rear of the store & another larger table in a back room.

Yarn in the cubbies included Colinette, Rowan, GGH, etc.. Needles & accessories were in a central spot on one wall. Pattern books and mags mostly clustered in near a shelf. I saw quite a few purse handles and buttons.

They had a lot of crocheted and knitted items out- I loved the tiny little crocheted cowboy boots and knitted cupcakes. Some of the yarn was displayed in old 50's style wooden cabinets. There was a small but decent selection of sock yarns (Regia Cotton Surf, Regia Crazy Color, etc.). I found a small stash of Colinette sock yarn and one of them said "Buy me", so I did. Prices overall were reasonable/competitive.

And that wrapped up our yarn crawl for the day. Since we were right near the Beverly Center, we headed over there to get some lunch and rest our wallets.

The only other eventful thing we saw today:

day 28 of 365

That's right: this is the only photo I took all day and it's of Bobby Trendy's 'shoppe' in LA. And let me tell you, I felt like quite the tourist holding my camera out of the sunroof for some drive-by photography. (I know I'm one sick puppy, but as soon as I saw the sign, I couldn't resist!)

So, that was our Mom's Day Out/Yarn Crawl. Thanks to Chelle for the great idea and we'll definitely have to do something like this again!

new hair and housekeeping

I went for a long overdue cut & color today. The ends of my hair were soooo fried from previous colorings and all the extremely low humidity we have had lately. So off when the dried, fried ends and in went some layers. I also got some very slight, wispy bangs.

I like it, but we'll see how it wears since I don't have time to blow my hair out daily.

#26 of 365

Now, onto the housekeeping:

Comments: I try really hard to reply to people's comments, but since I migrated to the new Blogger, I'm no longer receiving commenters' email addys. This means that unless the commenter has a *public* Blogger profile with a valid email addy, I can't reply. This is one of the reasons I wanted to install Haloscan for comments. Unfortunately, Haloscan does not play well with the new Blogger so we're back to missing email addys.

So in the meantime, if you would like a reply to one of your comments, please try to leave a valid email address.

And here are some answers to comments that I couldn't reply to via email:


hunny asked about tips for taking 'better photos', and what camera I use. I have two cameras- a small point & shoot (Canon a540) that I keep in my bag, and my work camera (Canon Digital Rebel) which is a DSLR. The P&S is what I use for snapshots, while most of my FO report photos are done with the DReb.

I personally do not believe that an expensive camera = better photos. There are things you can do with a DSLR & good lenses that you can't do with a point & shoot....but bigger megapixels and more $$ do not guarantee good photos. Most of good photography is understanding the light and how to make the best out of the light you have.

There are tons of books out there that will help: Understanding Exposure is a great, easy to read book. There is also The Digital Photography Book or The Betterphoto Guide to Better Digital Photography. All of these would be a good start.

And then there are the myriad photo sites on the web: Betterphoto, ILP, DpReview are just three of them. Flickr is home to some of the best photographers around...and there are plenty of forums to learn in.

Other than that, my biggest tip is start taking photos. Seriously! Take your camera out of "Auto" mode and put it in AV or TV. Turn off the flash (99% of my photos are taken with only natural light). Find a well lit window (no direct sunlight) and start taking photos of something that doesn't move. Have fun! Play with your camera settings and see what happens. A lot of learning to be a good photographer is about just taking pictures. Like so much else in life, a little practice will really help.


Ween wanted to know the yarn requirements for a size 4 Pirate Sweater from Zoe Mellor's book. The pattern calls for :
-4 (50g/94yd) balls of Rowan Handknit DK in main color (navy blue)
-2 balls each of A (red) and B (ecru) Rowan Handknit DK
-You also need a pair of US5 and US6 needles.

I don't much care for cotton, so I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash (220yds per 100g): 2 balls of the navy and one ball each of the other colors. The 220 is a worsted weight yarn so I'm also using bigger needles (US6 and US7).


LizK wanted to know what I think of the Swish Superwash I used for the small men's Drive Thru sweaters. So here is my Swish Superwash Review:

IMO Swish is pretty good stuff- it's softer than the Cascade 220 superwash I'm using right now. The price is about the same if you consider that the 220 comes in 100g balls and the Swish is in 50g balls. The only reason I went with the 220 for LittleMan's new pirate sweater is because the Swish doesn't have a white/offwhite color.

Both of the boys' sweaters have held up exceptionally well. I've washed LM's sweater at least six or seven times now and it still looks really good with minimal pilling. There has been a bit of felting around the cuffs and neck edges, but nothing too bad.

I also noticed that the yarn shrank a bit when I washed it the first time. SaunShine has an extensive review on her blog that talks about the actual amounts of shrinkage she experienced with Swish. The shrinking on my sweaters wasn't quite as severe**, and even with the shrinkage I'm not too concerned about the long-term wear of the yarn. It has held up quite nicely against all the abuse (and food) two little boys can dish out.

I would't hesitate to use Swish again for another project. I just wish Knitpicks would come out with better colors!

So, that's all the housekeeping for now....I'm off to enjoy some hot cocoa and my new hair.


**I think some of the differences in our experiences can be attributed to different washing machines, different water hardness & washing methods, etc.. We have a front load washing machine that requires very little water & detergent. It is also very gentle on clothing, which is probably why my sweaters didn't shrink as much as SaunShine's, and why they haven't pilled at all.

the start of something new & love thursday

Another sweater for LittleMan:

A pirate sweater to match LM's Pirate Hat (click photo to see more info)

...and love thursday (better late than never)... loving:

-the GIANT bubbler I found at le Target:

day 24 of 365

Monkey Boy can finally make his own bubbles without making a mess all over me or himself. Plus this thing is so huge that it holds a whole bottle of bubbles- less time spent re-filling. It's about the size of a 1 gallon paint can!

-when the small men hold hands and walk together (I need a pic of this)

-the anticipation of *finally* getting my hair cut tomorrow

-good, runny, stinky cheese + crackers

-homemade minestrone soup

-handcrafted soaps (you gotta try the beer & honey or the java orange mint)

-hearing LittleMan ask for "hot chocolate & marshmallows, please" before bed

And what are you loving this week?

FO report- Veste Everest

FO Report: "Veste Everest"
Started 03/06, finished 01/16/07
Pattern: "Veste Everest" (size 40in) by Veronik Avery in Fall 2005 IK
Yarn: My own handspun; Brown Alpaca and silk plied with Chocolate Cherries roving handdyed by Lori Lawson (alpaca, silk & merino). Approx 850yds of light worsted weight yarn.
Needles: Addi Turbos for the body, Knitpicks Options for the neck and arm bindings
Pattern Talk: Like most Interweave patterns, this one was well written and easy to follow. The cable was a simple series of repeats. I had no problems following the pattern, or making modifications to it.

My Mods: I lengthened the body by about 2 inches by doing extra repeats of the cable pattern on the front. The pattern calls for cabling on the back, but I figured that would be waste of time & effort (plus I'd have to spin more yarn) because no one looks at the back of a piece. So instead I did a simple 6x2 ribbing across the back. I fudged the math a little to make the back the same size as the front, but it all worked out. Since I changed the back, it took me *forever* to finish- I had to do more math to make the neck and shoulders fit the front correctly. I'm so math-adverse that I put the work aside for months instead of just jumping in and finishing it. If I'd done that, the vest would have been completed within a couple of months of starting it, instead of taking nearly a year to finish.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the way the vest fits. The cables look great in my handspun, too.

With all the silk and alpaca, this vest is super warm. I don't know if I'll be wearing it with any long sleeved shirts any time soon! I do like the finished product a lot, though, and it's really cool to have produced a complete garment from my handspun.

FO report- Visiting the Drive Thru again

FO Report: "Drive Thru, aka Quicko Cheapo" sweater from Wendy at Knit and Tonic
Started 01/02/07, finished 01/15/07
Pattern: "Drive-Thru" sweater by Wendy at Knit & Tonic, Size 2yrs
Yarn: Swish superwash in Sand Dune, Jade, Aloe and Dublin
Needles: Clover dpns for the sleeves and collar, Knitpicks Options circ for the body

I've knit this sweater once already, so most of the info regarding modifications and pattern talk can be found here.

The only real difference between this sweater and the one I made for Little Man is the collar: I didn't rib this collar at all. Instead, I did the short rows on the back and then finished it off in stockinette so it rolls a bit:

Also, I had some difficulty with mattress-stitching the armholes shut. For some reason, there was a lot of puckering around the armholes this time. I didn't run into that with Little Man's sweater. When I was trying to fix the first armhole, I accidentally unknit part of the sweater (woops!). My 'repair' is kinda ugly, but it's on the backside of the sweater so I'm not going to stress about it too much. If it really bugs me while Monkey Boy is wearing it, I might end up tearing out the ugly grafting I did and reknit the area. But I have a feeling that MB will outgrow this sweater before I get too worked up about the patch.

ETA: More photos of Monkey Boy actually wearing the sweater. I couldn't pick just one cuz he's just too cute LOL

fits perfectly!

other views:

FO report- Pirates Hat!

Little Man is really into pirates. He has a bunch of Playmobil pirates and a pirate ship that he plays with on a daily basis. The dialogue he makes up for the pirates is always fun to listen to- one pirate is usually a bad guy and another pirate is the good guy. They swordfight, swing from the ropes of the ship and eventually make friends so they can dig for the treasure together.

With LM's interest in pirates, I knew I had to make this hat as soon as I saw the pattern:

FO Report:
Pattern: "We Call Them Pirates" by Helloyarn, one size
started 12/15/06, finished 01/08/07
Yarn: Knitpicks' Telemark in black (master color) and cream (contrast color), one ball of each
Needles: Knitpicks' Options, size 3 circ. Balene size 3 DPNs
My Take: This was my first ever colorwork piece. It was actually pretty easy once I got the hang of knitting with the master color in my right hand & the contrast color in my left. I normally knit English, btw. It was difficult in the beginning to know how much yarn to leave for the floats on the back of the work. Plus my tension when knitting Continental is pretty wonky. So there are some pucker-y parts....but I think it looks alright anyway.

The pattern itself is well written. It calls for a provisional cast on at the brim, then you knit in 1x1 rib for a bit, then start the colorwork. Decreases (k2tog and ssk) are done in pattern at the top. After the hat is completed, you pick up the live sts on the provisional cast on and knit a lining on smaller size needles, which is finally tacked to the inside of the hat.
My only complaint is that the colorwork chart is SUPER confusing since it is in black and white: the master color is shown as white squares and the contrast color is shown as black squares. Unfortunately the MC I used is black, & the CC was white....so it was totally opposite of the chart (when I saw white squares, I needed to use black yarn). There was a lot of cussing before I finally decided to scan in the chart, reverse the colors and reprint it so white was white and black was black. MUCH better.

My Mods: Different yarn. Decided that the provisional cast on /lining was a lot of extra work & not really needed in So.Cal. (never gets that cold here anyways). Instead I did a cable cast on, knit in 1x1 rib for an inch or so and then started the colorwork.

I was running out of black/master color by the time I got to the top and so I had to skip the in-pattern decreases. Adding a few rows of plain white/contrast color enabled me to finish the hat with about one foot of black yarn to spare!

Originally I thought I'd have to felt the hat a bit to make it fit Little Man's head, but he has such a huge noggin that it fits just fine as is. It's quite stretchy and even fits Monkey Boy (tho it has a bit of a conehead effect):

All in all, a fun and pretty quick knit. This pattern is a great introduction to two color knitting, and it's easy enough for any intermediate knitter to follow. If you don't know how to knit with one color in each hand, this would be the perfect pattern to learn on.

FO Report

FO Report: Monkey Boy's Christmas Eve Sweater
started Dec. 12, 2006, finished Dec. 22, 2006
Pattern: from Mrs. Bea's Rainy Day, size 2yrs
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (5.5 balls)
Needles: Addi Turbos (US7), Crystal Palace Bamboo (US8), Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs (US8), cable needle
Pattern talk: This is an easy pattern that produces a lovely sweater. The pattern calls for cabling on the front, back and sleeves. Each main cable is bracketed by a purled diamond repeat:

The pattern is really well written and they provide a chart that's color coded for each size (red is size 2, blue is size 4, etc.). I used stitch markers to make sure I didn't get off on my count, but the repeat is very easy to remember and at the end I wasn't looking at the chart nor the pattern.

The front, back and sleeves are all knit separately. The shoulder seams are joined with a three-needle bindoff on the public side, creating a decorative ridge a the shoulder. Sleeves are set in and seamed, then the sides are seamed. Finally, the neck is picked up and knitted.

My Changes: I decided not to cable the back of the sweater (who looks at the back?). I also didn't rib the neckline. I just followed the pattern on the front and let it curl. Though if I had to do it again, I would probably rib the neck so it doesn't curl over.

I'm super happy with how the sweater turned out. It was a quick, fun knit and I like the way the Cashmerino cabled so nicely. One ball of yarn had a knot in the middle (urgh), which is crazy annoying, especially since Cashmerino isn't cheap! I ended up having to join yarn in the middle of the row and you can see that if you look closely at the photos above. Check out the left shoulder-ish area, near the sleeve seam. I washed the sweater again after these photos and the yarn relaxed a bit so it's not nearly so visible now. Other than that, I'm really pleased with the FO!

truth in advertising

Wendy over at Knit & Tonic has a cool pattern for kids called the "Drive-Thru" sweater. The pattern says it's a quick & easy knit- something that's great for kids because they grow so fast. I really liked the intarsia-ish yoke because it's not too girly but still provides some fun color. So I bought the pattern and the yarn and after about a week of knitting, produced this:

(the serious pose)

FO Report:
Started 12/08/06, finished 12/19/06
Pattern: "Drive-Thru" sweater by Wendy at Knit & Tonic, Size 6yrs
Yarn: Swish superwash in Copper, Baby Blue, Capri and Deep Ocean
Needles: Clover dpns for the sleeves and collar, Knitpicks Options circ for the body

My mods: I pretty much followed the pattern as written. It's knit from the waist up, then you knit each sleeve and add them onto the body (leaving a hole at the 'armpit' area that is later mattress stitched together). The colorwork is super easy and the most fun part of the whole sweater. Luckily I know how to knit both Continental and English at the same time, allowing me to knit with one color in each hand so the colorwork went very quickly. But even if you don't know how to knit with two colors, there's only a few rows of color knitting involved so it's not that difficult.
Had a couple of issues with my short rows on the back- I'm never good at short row-ing on the purlside of a garment. There were some pretty ugly holes that I was convinced I'd have to duplicate stitch over, but somehow they disappeared when the whole thing was washed. Yay!

The only difficulty I really had was binding off loosely enough for the sweater to fit over Little Man's enormous noggin. My first try at binding off (done with a needle two sizes bigger than the one called for) was way too tight. So I tried again with an even bigger needles and leaving lots of yarn with each cast off stitch. That seemed to work and it fit snuggly over LM's head. I went ahead and washed the sweater last night. Then, when I tried to get it on LM this morning for the photos, it wouldn't come anywhere close to fitting. Evidently it had shrunk a bit in the wash. While he was away at school, I picked out the cast off edge (and noted that Swish, even tho it's superwash, still felted a bit at the CO...it was quite a chore to pick out) and cast off a third time with the lace castoff. This gave me a very stretchy bind off and it fit with no problems over my small man's huge blockhead (he takes after me in the big-headedness dept.). Wendy's pattern does say that one should bind off "very loosely"....and she means it!

All in all, a great pattern and I'm already working on a second sweater for Monkey Boy in different colors. The Swish yarn is great- I love that it's superwash. It's quite soft and it hasn't pilled or fuzzed after two washes (I partially machine dried the sweater then laid it out to dry completely). Little Man says he really likes wearing it, too. It's "soft, not itchy":

This is going to be his Christmas Eve sweater....I'm still working on Monkey Boy's (stuck on sleeve island LOL). If I get MB's done in time, I'll post the photos of the small men wearing them together.

Yarn ahoy!

Ahoy! Intrepid Yarn Aboard2 explorers Lewis and Clark showed up at my doorstep yesterday, bearing many goodies from the wonderful Margene at Zeneedle. There were so many goodies that I can't believe the box actually shut! So here is the haul-

beautifully packaged with a little card


a cute little fabric pocket stuffed with a noepad, fun post-its,
yummy mints and a Yarn Aboard-themed file from Carolina Homespun
(Margene, how did you know that I'm always looking for a nail file?)


cuticle cream (my cuticles definitely needed this!) and bath salts


sweetly decorated candies (I had to hide from the small men) and a fun
sheepy ornament (already hanging on the tree)


beautiful fabrics for the stash


Christmas-y lollies for the small men
(they were eaten within moments of this photo being taken)

and the grande finale:

a skein of Socks that Rock in Dutch Canyon- luscious colors and the yarn is so soft!
Can't wait to get knitting on this!

Margene, thanks again for all the wonderful goodies!!! And thanks to Amanda for making this swap possible!

Now, my turn to pack Lewis & Clark up and send them on their way....who will they visit next?

all i ever knit is socks...

...and it makes me happy:

the sock siblings, hanging out together on the couch


lil' tiger strype socks for Monkey Boy


'indian corn' socks....named by Little Man's swim teacher. I was knitting while he was swimming and she said she thought I was holding an ear of indian corn.

The tiger strype socks were made out of Opal Tiger sock yarn from their Rainforest line. I had made Little Man a pair of socks out of this yarn earlier this year. There was plenty left to make some socks for Monkey Boy as well. When I finished the first sock and slipped it on MB's foot to make sure it fit, he didn't want to take it off. Then he got quite upset when he realized that there was only one sock. He immediately grabbed the ball of yarn and a knitting needle out of my basket and commanded me, "Mommy, do!" And I did.

The indian corn socks are also made from leftover yarn. It's mystery yarn, tho- the ball band is long gone and I have no idea where I bought it. I had *just enough* left to complete both socks. It's a good thing I used a contrast color for the toes because I had literally two feet of yarn left over when I was done.

FO Report:
Indian Corn Socks-started 11/02/06, finished 11/14/06, for Little Man
yarn- unknown, looks like Koigu but ??
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in a 4x2 rib. Slipstitch heel.
notes- fits perfectly and is super comfy (according to the wearer).

FO Report:
Tiger Strype Socks, started 11/18/06, finished 11/24/06, for Monkey Boy
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 46sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in 4x2 ribbing. Slipstitch heel.
notes- I didn't do the 3 needle bind off for the toes of these socks. I just decreased down to 8sts and pulled the yarn through to drawstring the toe shut. This will probably be fine since MB will outgrow the socks before they wear out.

FO Report

Well I finally did finish my final pair of Socktoberfest socks.....

FO Report:
Started 10/15/06, finished 11/02/06
Tiger Stripe Socks for Little Man
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in stockinette. Slipstitch heel.
notes- these socks should have taken me no time at all, but I misjudged how much LM has grown. I ended up having to rip out the first try at these socks and starting over. The original sock only had 42sts....it wouldn't even fit over LM's ankle. Bumping the stitch count to 52sts worked much better. In the future, the kids' socks will be made with some type of ribbing. I think they fit more nicely and stay up better if the socks are ribbed.

Little Man is supremely happy with his "tiger stripey" socks. He insisted on wearing them out yesterday even though it was 90F at noon!

And *what* is with the weather in So.Cal.? Yesterday was insanely hot- we even had to run the A/C all day. It's NOVEMBER, people! I'm supposed to be wearing sweaters, not tank tops!

Wot!? Another FO for Socktoberfest!

And here y'all prolly thought I'd up and died or something. Nope, it wasn't anything serious keeping me from blogging this past week. Just a lot of little things like school for Lil Man, lots of work for the Dearest, etc.. I've also been getting back into digiscrapping. I usually blog while Monkey Boy is napping and LM is off at preschool, but this week I pounded out a page a day of scrapping while MB napped. It would be so nice to be totally caught up with all my scrapbooking and at this rate it might just happen. Here's another page I did recently:



And I DO have some knitting to show for my absence-


FO Report:
Socktoberfest socks #2
Waving Lace Socks, Spring 2004 IK
Yarn: Austermann Step, Color 10
I followed the pattern exactly (what a change!). Though I think I did the toe decreases my usual way instead of how the pattern goes. It's easy to remember the repeats and after a few rounds I didn't need to look at the magazine anymore.
The finished socks fit perfectly, tho I thought they were too tight at first. The lace stretches nicely and they don't fall down so now they're just right.

I'm also getting started on what will be my 3rd pair of Socktoberfest socks...if I finish them in time!

two FOs and a new techno-toy

We live in a newer subdivision in the OC, so our house sits on a very small lot. It's actually on the corner of a cul-de-sac, which gives us a 'bigger' lot than most houses in our tract. Bigger, however, is relative- the average lot is approx 3500sq ft.. Ours is just over 4000sq ft.....not exactly huge. Here's the front of our house- you can see how close we are to our neighbors behind us:

This means our backyard is not only rather small, it's oddly shaped. This photos were taken when first moved in and were in the process of landscaping.

We used to have all the boys' play stuff on the right side of our yard (where the big yellow flowers bush is), but they weren't playing much out there because it was too hard for me to watch them from inside the house. There was also the issue of the prickly bark we had put down for playground mulch. It was so full of splinters that the kids couldn't walk on it at all without getting poked.

Recently I was at the local big-box building supply and spotted some rubber mulch that looked perfect for the playground area. So the Dearest and I loaded the Funbus with about 20 bags of the stuff and spent all day Saturday moving the kids' jungle climber and sandbox, capping sprinklers and spreading rubber mulch.

We're very pleased with the finished product and so are the boys. They spent over two hours this morning playing in their sandbox and jungle climber.

While the kids were playing happily, I finished grafting the toe on my latest sock FO:

FO Report:
Simple K2, P2 Ribbed Socks
Pattern: My own- just CO 68sts, knit in K2,P2 ribbing till they're long enough, turn and heal and keep going till they fit. Then decrease the toe. I did something a little different with these and tried the "princess foot" where you purl all the footbed stitches (see the 2nd photo above). This makes smooth stockinette side face the foot. It's marginally more comfy than a regular sock, but I don't think it was worth the extra effort of purling in the round with DPNs.
Yarn: Henry's Attic Kona Fingering (superwash) that I dyed myself.

Oh, and check out the new toy the Dearest got for me. Isn't it cool? I'm dying to get the car adaptor so I can finally listen to my music and audiobooks in the Funbus.