June roundup

In June, I didn't blog a whole lot, but I did finish several items.

1. I made the Everlasting Bagstopper, the second bag knitted with Sugar'n Cream and the second bag gifted.

2. A pair of socks in blue Marathon Maui and

3. a pair of sock in pink Marathon Maui , both headed to Akkol, Kazakhstan, that I have managed to mail with at least a week to spare.

4-5. Two more pairs of charity socks, one using the rust Blarney Killowen 4 ply, and one pair using brown Fisherman's wool paired with sock yarn. I'll decide where these are going when I figure out where these sizes are most needed (after I measure them, of course.)

Socks?

The last post was the last day that I attempted to reach last week's goals. #1 and 2 were done, #4 and 5 weren't touched, and #3 (getting caught up on laundry) will never happen.

Instead, I made a pair of socks.

I know. I said that I was tired of socks.

What I meant was, I was tired of knitting sockweight socks.

These are different.

They're thick socks, knitted out of 1 strand worsted and 1 strand sock yarn using 36 sts.

Sooooooooooo much different.



Pattern: Plain vanilla, 36 sts 36 rows.
Yarn: 1 strand Fisherman's wool in brown (I love this new shade!) and 1 strand Opal handpainted brown and yellow variegated. I ran out of this, so then I used the Opal tiger stripe yarn for the foot. They seem to go together good enough.
Needles: size 5s for the cuff and size 6s for the rest. (Only because I started them on 5s and it seemed too tight, so I switched to 6s and didn't want to redo a cuff.)

And, when I got done, I cast on for another pair.



Pattern: Coffeebean (it's in my Try a Trio pattern that you can find on the sidebar).
Yarn: Blarney Killowen 4 ply (My dad bought this for me at an auction. It's lovely to have family members on the lookout for good yarn deals!) Using 2 strands throughout.
Needles: size 5 dpns, since they were sitting around from the last pair. (Not that that's anything special. I have about 5 sets of various needles sitting on the coffeetable at any one time.)

P.S. I'm not sure when we've ever had grass this green! There are some advantages to having so much rain!

Hot off the needles

Since blogging last night, I have managed to finish the Maui pink socks.



And wash them. And dry them.



Yarn: Marathon Maui sock yarn in pink
Pattern: plain vanilla, 64 sts on sz 1 dpns
They're 9" long and will be going to Akkol, Kazakhstan. The yahoo group Mittens_for_Akkol knits a complete set (sweater, hat, mittens, scarf, and 2 pairs of socks) for each graduate and these will be going to Aigula. I just signed up for the socks as to not over-commit myself.

The blue ones were done, but they've now had a bath, also.



Yarn: Marathon Maui socks yarn in blue
Pattern: plain vanilla, 64 sts on sz 1 dpns
They're 9.5" long and will be going to Maxim D. in Akkol.

The mailing date will be sometime in July--look how early I am with these! (Early for me, anyway. Most of the group is done with their items.)

Also, the Everlasting Bagstopper bag was finished this morning.

No, dont' show my face!

Alright, I won't.



It's supposed to stretch out a lot as things are put in. Time will tell.



Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper
Yarn: Sugar'n Cream Summer Prints, 2.5 skeins.
Needles: size 5 for garter st and size 10.5 for mesh.



Not only did I finish two of my goals for the week, but I managed to do a load of laundry!

This week's goals

I'm making knitting goals for the week in hopes of getting a thing or two finished before I start beating my head against the wall. (Can we say "boredom"?)

1. Finish the mesh bag, and
2. Finish the pink socks, both are really close to being done.
3. Start working on my Cobblestone pullover again. If only I would cast on for the sleeves, I know that it would move along quickly.
4. Catch up on the laundry. (Who am I kidding?)
5. Knit a pair of booties for a new baby. Hmm. This list is getting longer and longer.

Okay, that's it. I know when to quit.

Now the only question is.... what do I work on first?

P.S. We didn't get one speck of rain today!

Tote done!

Now that RB has opened her present (Happy Birthday, RB!) , I can show you what I made.

This cute purse/tote.



Pattern: Elisa's Nest Tote (Yup, it was like it was named after DD#1)

Yarn: 3 skeins Sugar 'n Cream cotton -- natural ombre.

In the pattern's picture, it's shown as being all stretched out, but it doesn't look that way in my finished product. It's supposed to stretch as things are put into it.




RB, let me know how it works for you!

Same old, same old

Another day. (It's Tuesday and the last full day of school-- only 3 half days left! The kids cleaned out their lockers today and took their final exams last week. Can someone tell me why DS#2 has a project due tomorrow? Sigh. Only 3 half days left. I can make it.)

Another ball game. (This time a softball game for DD#2.)

Another sock. (The same Marathon Maui sock yarn, but this time in PINK!)




Another rainstorm. (1 inning played and then RUN for the car.)


Same old, same old.

While felting a rug

I'm blogging right now while waiting for a rug to felt. It wasn't knitted by me, but since a friend has a front loader she asked me to do the felting.

Let me tell you, I'm a little bit nervous.

It's a double stranded tube that will be cut apart to make a flat rug, but is now just a tube. It's a lot of knitting and I'm afraid it won't turn out.

All the added pressure of it being someone else's work..... Plus, felting is a bit scary at the best of times. If it turns out wrong, there is no fixing of it.

Time to check.... Not done yet...

On to the weather report. I'm happy to report that we had no rain today. And no ball game. And, so far, no knitting. However, I did have a short nap (which always makes me happy).

Checking again.... Almost there...

This is the biggest felted project that I've ever done. When I pull it out of the water it's surprisingly heavy with all the wool and the water. Why it's surprising, I don't know. If it's the biggest project that I've done, all soaked with water, it makes sense that it's heavy. Sigh. Sometimes my brain doesn't think very far ahead.

Time to check...

Done! Now, I'm spinning it dry.

I'll post a photo when it's drying, but for now I have to lay it out. And cook supper. :)

--------------
Here's the rug. Isn't it pretty? It's in a tube that my friend will then cut apart and finish the edges.



The ends seemed a bit ruffled, but she seemed good with it.

Hmmm..... I wonder if I should make one?

Not Groundhog's Day anymore

I've snapped out of the movie "Groundhog Day". Today, instead of the ball game getting canceled due to a late afternoon thunderstorm, we got to sit there in the rain while the kids played for almost 2 hours.

In. the. rain.

I didn't knit since I was too busy holding an umbrella.

At the end of the game, I gave my son the opposite advice than normal. "See that puddle over there? Walk through it please. Okay, now stomp your feet... Look, another puddle."

We had a slight discussion over what he should do about his muddy pants. His brother suggested that he should just take them off which lead to a discussion on what pair of underwear he had on.
Since some of that mud was a direct result from diving back to first on a pick off where he ended up safe, we decided not to embarrass him and wrapped a blanket around him for the trip home. (Where is that blanket, anyway? Is it in the house? Should I wash it or wait until the last game is over?)

Since there was no knitting done, I have nothing to show.

However, you might like to see a picture of our guest. She'll be living with us for the summer while her mommy (aka DD#1) is working in Ocean City for the summer.

This is a dog that thinks she's a cat.



Who likes to sleep on top of the sofa.



Lucy's adjusting pretty well to her summer family. The next thing on the list: a summer haircut.

Groundhog Day

You know that movie, "Groundhog Day", with Bill Murray? The one where he relives his day over and over and over again? Well, that's been my life, or at least my evenings, lately.

Every day I've zooming home from work, doing some misc. things, cramming down supper, and rushing off to DS#2's baseball game. His team is trying to makeup some games that were canceled due to rain.

All those games were canceled well ahead of time as we got rain the whole day.

Twice in the last week, though, we've arrived at the field only to have it canceled in the beginning as we raced for our cars. (Yesterday we didn't even get started.)

At each game, I've been knitting socks. First, the yellow and brown ones and now the blue Maui ones. Let me just say, I'm getting bored of socks.

However, these blue ones were started last Weds. night, just one week ago, and I'm already on the heel of the second sock. That's moving along pretty fast.



In an effort to alleviate the boredom, this Everlasting Bagstopper bag was started for DD#1.



It's maybe half done. (Almost half the yarn is finished, so I hope it's half done.)

Tonight? There's no baseball. Maybe I'll start a new project. But no socks.