Hodge Podge

Wow, it's been 10 days since my last post. Sit back-relax and let's get caught up! I've decided to cut back a bit on my activities with Weight Watchers. I work as a leader, receptionist and location coordinator for two different locations. My full-time job was starting to interfere with one of my meetings and in the future I could see it getting only worse. I called my boss and told here that I needed to give up my Wednesday night meeting and also the location coordinator position for that location. I'm not sure if the members know or not. I'm still working on the Monkey socks for the Monkey Swap 3 exchange. I just finished the first pair this morning. It took me about 11 days to get one pair knitted. I really didn't do a whole lot of knitting over the weekends. I have all the extra goodies to go with the socks so now it's just a matter of finishing them. Lately, I've been using my Weight Watchers scale to measure the knitted sock and the leftover yarn to see if I have enough to do the second sock. This morning when I weighed them, they both were so close. This is going to be interesting. I just hope that my gauge doesn't change. In Hogwarts Sock Swap news, i'm waiting for Victoria to give me her address so that I may send her package off to her. The socks have been done for weeks now. I finally also decided what else I am going to include in her package. I'm not saying a word because I know she reads the blog and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Stay tuned for pics later though. I am anxious to finish the Monkey socks so that I can start on my ISE5 scarf. I don't know if I mentioned or not but I decided to do the Montego Bay Scarf from the Interweave Knits Summer 2007 magazine. I have picked Handmaiden's Sea Silk in the Sangria colorway. Last Saturday, knitting daughter, her friend, DH and myself trekked up to Milwaukee to visit Ruhama's. Well DH came along for the ride. Knitting Daughter and her friend went into the shop with me. I was very much lighter in the pocketbook. My main reason for going there was to score some yarn for the Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap. I had finally decided on the pattern, which I am going to knit the Clapotis. I looked at all the projects on Ravelry to determine what yarn I wanted to use. I had narrowed it down to two- Colinette Jitterbug, or Koigu KPPM. Once we were in Ruhama's I had a hard time deciding which colorway to use. The girls decided for me. They chose something in Koigu KPPM. I'll post pictures a bit later. I purchased 4 skeins but am debating about making a return trip for the 5th skein. I figure that both scarves should be a quick knit and I should be able to make the beginning of December deadline for sending them off. By the way, both pals are overseas and in the same country no less! While we were at Ruhama's knitting daughter found some yarn that she liked and asked if I would get it for her. She decided that she wants to make a scarf. The only stitch she knows is the knit stitch. I casted on 25 stitches for her. She is finished with one skein and is working on the second one. I'll have to get a picture of the scarf and maybe her knitting it! She is doing much better this time than the last attempt. I've only had to fix it one time, and so far there are no holes!

On to the Monkeys!

I should have posted this a few days ago. Over the weekend, I finished Victoria's socks. They are washed and blocked. But most important of all they are dry! I just need to gather a few more items and also get her muggle address so the owl can deliver the parcel. I absolutely love these socks and everyone else that has seen them. Once Victoria has received her parcel stay tuned for the pics of her socks. I casted on a yesterday for the Monkey Swap 3. I just finished the cuff during lunch and am now on the leg. I am knitting these in Colinette Jitterbug in the Florentino colorway. Click the link to see the color. I also have been in constant contact with my pals for the ISE5 and Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap. Both pals seem wonderful. For my ISE5 pal, I've decided to knit the Montego Bay Scarf in Handmaiden's Sea Silk, Sangria colorway. And for my Christmas Around the World Pal, I'm going to do the Clapotis or another Montego Bay scarf in Sea Silk as well but I haven't decided on the colorway.

Did Someone Place A Charm On My Sock?

I swear someone must have placed a charm on Victoria's sock. I had to frog it once because I had messed up big time. Then I messed up again but I swore I wasn't going to frog it again. I was more than 4 inches into the leg. Then it happened again. I had to rip back again, but this time it was 6 rows instead of 2. I am still trying to figure out how in the world I got the pattern to work out with 2 stitches missing. If someone could explain that one to me I would be forever grateful. Victoria, you're second sock is misbehaving but I am hoping that that it will behave now. Just this morning, I finally turned the heel. Now to shape the gusset and onward to the foot and toe. Sign-ups are now complete for the International Scarf Exchange 5. Dorothy says that there is enough people signed up from around the world that we should all have an international pal. That should be pretty cool. I am anxious to get my pal's information so I can purchase the yarn and put it in queue to be knitted up after the Monkey Socks. The hostess for the Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap is going through and doing the matches also so I should have that information also. That one is going to be a little bit tougher to decide what to knit. There are really no guidelines that say you must knit a scarf or a sock. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what I come up with. Either that or I will post a question on the blog and ask what everyone is thinking about knitting up for their pal. My Sock It To Me Pal has been patiently waiting for her socks. They have been completed, washed and blocked and are now ready to be put in the post. I got the box but want to add one more goodie to the box which I am thinking about doing tomorrow and will hopefully get it in the post tomorrow. Saturday, I had my first foray into dyeing. I took a class to do some Kool-Aid dyeing at Fiddlehead Yarns in town. I had a great time and Nan is such a wonderful teacher. I am going back to Fiddleheads tonight because Nan is going to be there and has offered to help me fix my Sven Sveater. The collar is a bit wonky and doesn't look right. I tried this morning to find my container of yarn that contains the leftover from the project but DH decided to bury it in the back of a closet amongst millions of boxes (ok, not millions) so that I would have to go through everything just to get to my yarn stash. I am hoping what we frog will be enough to fix the sweater without having to get any more yarn. I figure I might have time though to go on an excavation to get at those boxes by the time I finish the sweater. Tonight, I DD's first high school dance. She is so excited. Her best friend is coming over to the house to get ready for the dance. I'm excited for her also. She doesn't it know it yet, but I'm going to be taking pictures of this momentus occasion. I still haven't started on the socks for my monkey pal. I want to finish Victoria's socks first. I find that I do better when I work on only one project at a time. At least then I can remember where I left off.

Another Frog Story

Ok, I admit it, I was about due. I casted on for Victoria's socks. Cruised along through the cuff and got about an inch into the leg and OH OH, not one section but two different sections, I didn't have enough stitches left on the needle to complete the pattern repeat. So I tinked back and re-did it. Still not enough stitches. Ok, somehow I got the first one to work out but the second one major probem. I ended up trying to ladder down but that didn't work. Now mind you, I'm working with Increases and Decreases. Well I really don't know how to fix those. So next mind you, I figured that I would rip out to the cuff. Once I got to the cuff, I thought I'm not going to mess with getting this back onto the needles. So I did what any normal person in the not so right frame of mind would do, I rip it all out. Yep, I took a trip to the frog pond today.

Houston We Have A Problem

I decided that I was going to use my Weight Watchers scale to measure if I would have enough yarn to knit up a second sock with no problems. First up was my Sock It To Me Sock Swap Sock.

I didn't take a picture but tonight was return of the blob. I decided to rewind the leftover Cherry Tree Hill and encountered the blob. The yarn had a totally different idea. I weighed the finished sock and found out that I would have had just enough yarn to complete the second sock. Only the Cherry Tree Hill had a totally different idea. As you can tell there is not one but two balls of yarn. That is what is leftover after the visit of the blob. The yarn now is not enough to make a second sock. Don't worry, I ordered a second skein from The Loopy Ewe last night. That also is the first completed sock. Next up was the yarn and sock for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. I am happy to report that I am going to have more than enough yarn to complete that sock. Also, the yarn decided to behave as I rewound it into a new ball. Tomorrow, I cast on for the second sock. Tonight's football game was a bit of a disappointment. The girls did a few cheers and then were told that since it wasn't a game but a scrimmage that they couldn't cheer. At least we got to see them in action for a little while.

What do You Think?

Is she trying to tell me that she wants some knitted socks? I never know what I am going to find on my camera if I leave it out. I did get a message from DD this morning to check my camera. And this is what I found. Hey Victoria, you might have some competition for your socks. She absolutely fell in love with them. She later told me that she did this at 12:30am. There is never a dull moment with DD around.

Hello Wednesday!

I finished one of Victoria's socks this morning and it is simply gorgeous. DD even loves it especially the color. So that's one half of my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 assignment done. The pattern that I picked for her sock is a very easy knit. I memorized the pattern and so that is why I think it went so quickly. I did do some modifications on the heel, gusset and toe. I will explain it all once Victoria gets her socks. Victoria you are going to fall in love with these socks. I am not sure if I am going to want to part with them. I am going to take a break from knitting the second sock to start on my SITM socks which are due a month before the Hogwarts Sock Swap. I wound the yarn up for that sock last night. I ended up having a little bit of fun with the yarn while I was winding it up. Yep, you guessed it. It was starting to get all tangled up. I did triumph and tame the yarn it is all nicely wound up and ready to go. I plan on casting on for that sock during my lunch break. I sent out an email to my Monkey Swap pal over the weekend but haven't heard from her yet. I do hope that I hear from her soon. I am going to send her another email in a day or two but I figured that I would give her time to respond. Have you checked out the new colorways for Socks That Rock? I absolutely love Sugarplums and Gingerbread Dude. There's also a different colorway that I love called Amber. I found some socks knitted up in this color on Tienne's blog. I seem to be moving slowly through the Ravelry queue now. Either that or it just seems so slow since I'm so close to getting my invitation. There are 318 ahead of me as of this morning when I checked. I feel like a kid again waiting for Christmas morning to arrive, wondering what surprises await for me once I get there. Last night Sheri at The Loopy Ewe posted another Sneak Up. I was able to check it out but none of it interested me. Usually, I end up looking for one of the indie dyers that I haven't gotten a skein of yarn from to try (eventually). None of the colors appealed to me. I should be getting my order today for my Monkey Sock Swap pal. I am so excited to see what the Navajo Silver looks like. I had ordered some Fiesta Boomerange before and it was very squishy. Fiesta's colorways appeal to me because I like the Southwest colors. Have you checked out this new blog Lime N Violet's Daily Chum. It is so cool and a lot of useful information. They feature different infomation daily.

Blah, blah ,blah, blah......

I'm still moving through the Ravelry queue. There are 386 people ahead of me. I can't wait to get my invite. For those of you that are on Ravelry, how much of your time has been sucked up? What's your names on there? I'll need some friends to possibly look up. I just found out today that Ravelry has it's own blog, where they talk about their progress. Yarn Pirate announced her new colorways on her blog today. There is only one color that I absolutely like and that 's Malamute. I'm working on the foot of Victoria's sock. I'm hoping to get the first sock finished tonight. Check out Victoria's progress on my sock. She's calling it secret sock number 1. I laughed when I read the post. Now to think of a clever way to disguise her sock. Tonight, I 've got plans to finish Victoria's first sock and then wind up the yarn that I got for my SITM sock. I also am going to stop at Fiddleheads on my way home and pick up some more needles (Brittany's).

Deadlines

I thought that I would have a posting where I put all my knitting deadlines down. I have a tendency to forget what is due when. October 5th Sock It To Me Sock Swap October 31st Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 November 1st Monkey Swap 3 December 22nd Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap

A Bit of an Update

I am very surprised at how fast I have been moving through the Ravelry queue. I am 495 away from getting my invite. My thoughts are I should have it by the middle of the week. I can't wait to see what everyone is raving about. I've made good progress over the weekend on Victoria's socks. I am very pleased with how they are turning out. Sorry no pictures but I don't want Victoria to see her socks until she opens her package. I am working on the heel flap for her sock. I've changed the type of heel that I am doing on the sock. Hopefully it will work out. I have never changed part of a pattern before so this will be a new experience. By the way, I can mention Victoria's name because the Hogwarts swap is not an anoymous swap. I know that Victoria is knitting for me and I for her. The secrecy part comes in play that she doesn't know what else I am including in her package, what her stitch marker looks like, nor the socks that I am knitting. I placed an order for my pal's socks from the Monkey Swap 3 exchange. I found the perfect color and a yarn from my favorite shop The Loopy Ewe that she wants to try for the yarn that I need to include in her package. The yarn that I picked for her socks is Fiesta Boomerang in the Navjo Silver colorway. Since I have to knit a pair of Monkeys for this swap the socks are going to be called Navajo Monkey going forward. I also got the Monkey gifties to go in her package also. It was fun trying to find monkey themed stuff. So now all I need is the yarn and pattern and I am ready to start knitting and have everything else to go with the package. I think that I may have all ready mentioned the yarn stash that I received on Friday from The Loopy Ewe well at least part of it. I received the sock yarn for my Sock It To Me Swap. I like the color but it's not one color that I would knit for myself. I am going to cast on for that sock right after I finish the first sock for my Hogwarts Sock Swap. Also in the mail this week came my Booty Club from the Yarn Pirate. The color this month is called Calmity. It is a white, lime green and purple. Also in the box were a couple pieces of candy and a sticker. The yarn is a BFL so it seems to be a bit thicker. Yesterday, we made a trip to Barnes and Noble. I came home with quite a haul of books. They were all knitting related. I found Getting Started Knitting With Socks by Ann Budd. I liked this book because it gave some ideas for knitting patterns for socks but it also talked about the construction of the sock in more detail. I figure maybe it can let me expand on my sock knitting a bit. Next up is Knit Together by Debbie Macomber. I love Debbie Macomber any books by her need I say any more. Next is Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik, I read the synopis of the book and it sounds like it would be a very good read and of course the back drop is knitting. I bought a three book series from Maggie Sefton: Knit One, Kill Two; Needled to Death; Deadly Yarn. I wanted to read a mystery and what a better one to involve knitting.

OTN

I still have pretty much the same things on my needles. Except The Uptown Boot Socks went to the Frog Pond. I ordered some more yarn from The Loopy Ewe which should be arriving any day. I casted on for my Hogwart Sock Swap 2 but I'm not saying what's the pattern it's going to be a surprise. I'm trying to think of ways to cleverly disguise the sock so my pal Victoria will not know what I am knitting. I will say that I am liking what I am seeing so far. I love the yarn and am anxious to start seeing more of the pattern emerge as I continue on with the sock. I have completed the cuff and have only knitted a few rows of the leg. Mom's hat is pretty much at a stand still. As for the Lady Eleanor, well let's say she hasn't visited the frog pond yet. So my question to all of you is...WHAT's on your needles?

Hogwarts Business

Victoria here's your yarn for your sock.

Frogged Yet Again!

The Uptown Boot Socks are going to the Frog Pond again tonight. Don't get me wrong I love the color but the pattern is just not working with the color that I had chosen. I was going to use Claudia's Hanpainted in the Peppermint Mocha colorway but it's just not working. I even took a photo of the sock just to see if the pattern would show up in the photo. Nope it didn't show a thing. So it's back to the drawing board. I am going to try to locate some yarn in a semi-solid color. I should have been almost finised with the second sock by now. Since I can't work on The Uptown Book Socks, I figured that I would start on Victoria's socks from The Hogwarts Sock Swap Two. I received the gorgeous Slytherin yarn and just have to get it wound up into it's neat little pancake balls. I've all ready picked out the pattern. I am going to try to keep that a secret since Victoria is probaby reading this blog. (Hi Victoria!). I'm eagerly waiting to find out who my pals are for the Monkey Swap 3 and the Christmas Around the World Swaps. The Monkey Swap is open until August 31st but I'm not quite sure about the Christmas Swap. I think that I am done signing up for swaps for now. Although there is going to be an ISE5 swap that I have been throwing around the idea of participating in. I know I need to start getting photos on my blog. That's coming. I need to post the photos of the wonderful socks my pal Lori sent me from the Sockapalooza sock swap they are simply gorgeous. More about that in another post.

Hogwarts Business

I ordered the yarn for Victoria's socks. I'm just waiting for it to arrive so I can start knitting her socks. I have also decided on the pattern. Hopefully I remembered where I saw the pattern. I think that I have managed to save it on my computer. Hogwarts fun starts on the 1st and I can't wait. I finished book 7 and I am ready to go!

OTN Friday (Without the Pictures)

I decided that I am going to attempt (notice the word attempt) posting about what is on my needles every Friday. Even though I have WIPs listed on the sidebar I can at least talk about them. First up, the Uptown Boot Socks that I am working on for my Sock It To Me Pal. I am on the foot of the first sock but I am beginning to worry if I will have enough yarn to finish the second sock. I am knitting these in Scout's Swag colorway of Secret. The pattern is very easy but it is interesting to see how one cable is more pronounced than the other. The pattern is looking more like a swirl that is going around the leg. I think that it looks pretty cool. Second, is the Easy Hat from Fiber Trends. I haven't touched this hat since we got back from our racing weekend. I did show it to Mom and she says that she likes the color and she did try it on. It does fit. I am knitting that in Louet Gems in the Hibiscus colorway. I am to the point on the hat where I am going to start decreasing. That is pretty much what I have on my needles. I have others but I am probably just going to send them to the Frog Pond. After my knitting has been sitting idle for way too long, I lose my place and so I may just as well send them to the Frog Pond and return the wool to the stash. Upon looking at my WIP list the only thing destined for the Frog Pond is the Lady Eleanor Stole. The Moebius Cowl just needs to have the ends buried. I am going to attempt to finish the Knitting Pure & Simple Henley Tshirt for Women. I am just too far a long on that to frog it. I should also say that I am going to see if I can manage to figure out where I'm at and will I be able to continue on. On a different note: I joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 this week. I was pretty excited about it. The pal that I am knitting for is in Louisiana and we are to use our Hogwarts names only and not our muggle name. I would like to introduce you to Lavender Kedavra (that's me). Lavender is a first year in the Ravenclaw House. As a first year, we are supposed to knit a pair of socks in our pal's house colors. Victoria's house is the Slytherin house. We are to send our pal stitch markers in their colors and also some needles (not necessarily in house colors.) I've all ready ordered the yarn and stitch markers. Since Victoria has all ready possibly visited my blog and will be making more visits (Hi Victoria) I will have to find ways to post pictures in a most interesting manner.

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

I am so excited to be a part of the swap. I'm considered a first year, since is the first time that I am participating. 1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into? Ravenclaw 2. Shoe size? US size 7 3. Foot Length? 9 1/2 inches 4. Foot Circumference? 8 1/2 inches 5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length. a. Crystal Palace size 2 length 2.75mm b. I only have one favorite brand that I knit with. c Sorry no other choices. Definitely am in love with the Crystal Palace DPNs. 6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? Yes If so, which brand? Knit Picks came out with some new dpns that I wouldn't mind trying Size? 2 Length? 6 inch 7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Prefer the colors from the film, love the silver and blue combination. Do you have a strong preference? Definitely more attracted to the film color combinations. 8. Allergies? Do you have any? No allergies Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals? NO Are you an international participant (outside US)? No Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal? Yes