Monkey Frogged!

I was happily knitting away but what to my dismay? An extra stitch on one of the needles. How did that happen? I don't know, but I do know that I was unable to fix it. I had completed one complete pattern repeat plus a bit more at this point. I decided to frog the whole thing. Do I hear gasps out there? Don't worry, I honestly believe it was the yarn telling me that, the sock was going to be too small for my pal. I am going to go up a needle size and start all over. I am also going to rewind the skein so I don't have all the kinks in it. Sorry no pics to go along with the post. I should have taken a photo before frogging. I actually have my camera with me at work (long story). The frogging took place at my desk.

I have a question??? Can anyone Help?

I have a question. I have the yarn, I have the pattern, now I have the needles that I am going to attempt to start with. Here is the question...when you first start knitting your socks, what do you do for your swatch? The pattern I am planning on doing is Knitty's Monkey Socks. 32 sts/48 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch and Lace Pattern = gauge instructions from the pattern. HELP! I want to start knitting but I want to make sure that I am doing this right.

Yarn Check! Pattern Check! Pal Check!

Well it looks like i'm ready to start knitting. I picked the Monkey pattern from Cookie A that appears in Knitty Winter 2006. The yarn in from Lorna's Laces in the River colorway. My pal likes blues so I thought this would be a gorgeous colorway all knitted up. I find my yarn first and then decide on the pattern. The pattern was actually chosen upon my pal's sock size. I have only knit one pair of socks so this will be an adventure in knitting. I am unsure how to change the pattern to make it fit. It wasn't too hard to find a pattern that would fit her. Her sock size is definitely bigger than mine. Take a look at these gorgeous pictures of the yarn that I got for the Monkey socks.

I can't wait to see how these will turn out. Stay tuned!

Recipe Friday - Chili

This is a very simple chili recipe 43 oz Campbell's Tomato soup 28 oz Contadina Crushed Tomatoes In Tomato Puree 6 1/2 oz canned mushrooms 16 oz Bush's Light Red Kidney Beans 1 pound 95% lean/5% fat raw ground beef Chili Powder Brown hamburger in a frying pan. Add cooked hamburger add all other ingredients to a crockpot. Cook for a couple of hours on low heat. I don't measure the chili powder, use as much as you like. Makes 12 1 cup servings. 2 points per serving. Without the meat it's one point per serving. Enjoy!

100th Post

Ok, couldn't resist just had to remark. IT'S MY 100TH POST.

To My Sockapalooza Pal!

I know your out there stalking my blog. So I thought that I might give you a clue or two. I'm not quite sure of your knitting abilities but heres some hints as to some of my likes for socks.. Jaywalkers, Monkey and a lot of the socks from the Favorite Socks book. Or you can be bold and design something from this or this. Need yarn help? Stay tuned that's coming next. Just thought I would be helpful. By the way it was too much fun putting this together for you.

Forgot To Mention

I forgot to mention when I ordered the yarn for my Sockapalooza pal, I ordered an extra skein for me. Do you think Darling Daughter may comment that I am adding to my yarn stash again? I also forgot to mention that I got another order in from the Loopy Ewe. I'll take pictures tonight and post them. I am absolutely in love with the colors that I received.

You're Not Going To Believe This

I was showing one of my co-workers my progress on my ISE4 scarf and commenting about how I am almost done. Guess what I saw? I had forgotten to cross a cable about 3 cables back. Guess what that means? I get to play frogger. I need to rip back to just past the cables and start all over. At least I was consist and forgot to cross two cables in the same row. So after spying that, I examined the rest of the scarf to make sure that there were no more uncrossed cables and there aren't. I breathed a sigh of relief on that one. I figure I have about 2 or 3 more hours of knitting time before the scarf if finished. I am starting to gather the goodies that I am including in my box to my pal. So now, when do I start playing frogger, during lunch or wait until I get home? I'll let you know what I did, hopefully at a later date. I got my pal's information yesterday for Sockapalooza 4. I promptly ordered the yarn and I can't decide between one of two patterns. I am just trying to figure which one would go best with the yarn that I ordered.

Darling Daughter...

Is still commenting on my yarn stash. Yesterday, she asked me if I had any more yarn coming and then proceeded to tell me that I have enough and that I should not get any more. I had to laugh at that one. Hmmm...I am thinking about getting more yarn just to get her goat! I did get some lace weight Malabrigo this weekend in a Forest colorway. I don't think I mentioned that yarn purchase to her. I also bought some addi lace needles and the book A Gathering of Lace. I was quite impressed with this book, and found several projects that I am going to get on the needles eventually. I've been doing some thinking, how many projects do I bring with me on my trip to DC? I am going to bring the hat that I promised my Mom that I am going to make her. How many skeins of sock yarn do I bring for Socks? I signed up to do Sockaplooza 4, so those are definitely coming with me. I am planning on taking some pictures of the sock in progress as we travel across country. So that makes two. It is just so hard to know how many to bring with. I am hoping to have a lot of quality knitting time on the bus. Who knows how much time I will actually have to knit while we are there. I'll have to talk more about the knitting class that I took on Saturday morning.

Recipe Friday - Tuna Apple Salad

This is an awesome recipe and very filling. You would not think that it is very tasty but it is. If you try this, let me know how you like it. The recipe comes from Eating for Life by Bill Phillips. I put it in etools at www.weightwatchers.com . So if you're following weight watchers the points value is included. It is a very easy recipe to make. You can also refrigerate the tuna mixture to have at another time. I have brought this into work keeping the tomatoes, lettuce and tuna mixture separated. Enjoy! Apple Tuna Salad Serves 2 Points Value 4 1 tsp Grey Poupon Mustard 2 Tbps Kraft Fat Free Mayonaise Dressing 4 cups lettuce 1 medium apple 1/2 medium onion 2 medium tomatoes 1 Tbsp relish 6 oz. Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore in water Instructions: 1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine tuna, onion, relish, mustard , mayonnaise, and apple. Mix well 2. Divide lettuce and tomato wedges between two separate plates. Top with half of the tuna mixture serve and enjoy!