Found needles

Finished a Christmas project (treated with the charcoal effect to disguise the color.)



And found some needles!



I'm pretty sure they are a size 9, just the size I needed for my hoodie sleeves (did magic loop for the whole sleeves, which I did not enjoy). I kept wondering why I never had 9 dpns, but the answer is that I had, just hidden away in a UFO.

I dug the UFO out to see if I can finish it up. It's getting to be sweater weather, so maybe I can.

A bit of sewing

Today I did a bit of sewing.

My hoodie now has a button, so now I can officially consider it done.



I'm not really sure that it goes through the buttonhole, but since I never plan on buttoning it, that shouldn't be a problem.

Now it's time to put away the leftovers--extra yarn, pattern, needles, bag. Sometimes they hang around as long as the UFO does--does anyone else have that problem?


Here's my cabled purse with its new lining (shown inside out).



For some reason, I assumed it didn't need a lining so it was used for several weeks. It sagged, and my keys and phone antenna stuck through the sides. What was I thinking?

By the time I got around to sewing the lining, I also needed to wash the purse. I had talked myself into doing the proper thing and remove it from the handles, to be sewn on again when it was dry. At the last second, I changed my mind, and just washed it with the handles on.

For those of you who assume I had a disaster, I'm happy to report that it all went well. I held the handles while dunking the rest in water and washing it with shampoo. The extra water was squeezed out in a towel, and the purse was set on the drying rack in my dryer to dry. It was put on the lowest temperature, and was checked on often, but it all turned out okay. So there. Sometimes laziness has its rewards.

Now it needs velcro and a new ribbon. Hopefully less time goes by before that gets done (or it might need to be washed again.)

Corn maze

On Saturday we went to the local corn maze. The family plants the corn, cuts the maze, has the fall "maze" season, then harvests the crop.



There are clues along the way, so if you know details about growing corn, or Cal Ripkin Jr. (this year's theme), then you will be helped. We didn't, but still the girls beat the boys! Yeah! (Not that we were racing, which we decided ahead of time, but still...we won!)

Here's an arial view of the maze.



And here's what it looks like to us:



(Even standing on the bridge, it looks like a sea of corn. Down among the stalks it's more so.)

There were plenty of activities for younger children to do, including a cornbox, instead of a sandbox.



It was definitely a John Deere kind of place.



What's a petting zoo without some lambs?



Definitely a fun-filled afternoon (did I mention that the girls won?).

Hoodie!

In a continuation of yesterday....

Suggested use #1: Trunk of car. This is not the trunk of my car, since my trunk is icky. However, this is the backseat where I put my afghan before putting it in a nice clean bag before putting in the trunk of the car.



We were on the way to a soccer game, but it wasn't cold enough to use it. Maybe next week.

However, I did wear my completed hoodie. (Completed except for sewing on a button, which I forgot.)



You can see in the background little green shirted people--our team. You can also see the results of our drought. The grass, what there is of it, is brown and crunchy.



My hood: which I knit a loooooong i-cord for, then sewed a seam to encase it. (The edge was naturally curling in, so I didn't really need either, but I made myself do it anyway.)



And, Janice: To counter that beautiful pampras grass, here's a picture of a cute purple flower. (Maybe a morning glory? It was smaller than a morning glory, and it was the afternoon....I dunno.)



Check out the ladybug on the flower.

Next time, they'll be pictures of where this was taken.

The thing in the box

(A word of warning to anyone tired of my floor: My lovely dining room floor enthralls me so much that I'll be using it as a backdrop for some time to come. When I get tired of that, there will be a living room floor to enthrall me. Just saying....you might want to get used to it if you plan on hanging around.)

DD#2 was sliding around the floor when she all of a sudden remembered her felted clogs. She's been waiting for the floor to be laid to try out the sliding. (If you remember from this post, she wore out my pair sliding on the kitchen floor. At least this time, they'll be hers.)

Here's a pose of her sliding:



Here's her actually falling from it being too slippery:



DH and I got a surprise package in the mail today. In it was a new afghan, knit by Janice! It's so beautiful and snuggly and I'm thinking I already have a fight going on with DD#2--"it's so warm and snuggly, mom!"

Back off, girlie, it's mine! (I'll share with DH, though, since his name was on the package.)

In the accompanying note, Janice lists 6 suggested uses for, as she calls it,

"The thing in the box".

Here's a couple of pictures of the afghan using her suggestions:

#6. Spread on new floor for board games or pictures. (I kid you not--it actually says that!)




#5. Put over head and find a quiet spot alone.



My personal favorite.

The rest involve the car and sports games, so I'll include them as they come.

Thanks, Janice!

Floor!

This weekend was spent putting down my dining room floor. I did the heavy job of "supervisor" and "gofer" while my neighbor and son did all the work.



All the tools are also my neighbor's, except for the staple gun (previously only used for yard sales signs, but hey! it also works for stapling the red paper!) However, this picture shows my new tool--a floor nailer! I was going to rent one, but this is more cost efficient (already halfway there comparing the rental with the purchase price, with more rooms to go.)



If anyone needs to borrow a nailer, just let me know!



The room is done except for the finishing work. I can hardly bear to move the furnature back in. Maybe I'll hang some paintings on the wall and call it an art gallery.

The kids are finding it a great place to do homework. (I'm for anything that gets them to do their homework willingly!)



It's getting winter, and time to sew some pajama pants. The floor looks like a perfect place to lay out the material and cut it out, but alas! I might scratch my floor.



Stayed tuned for updates that might even include knitting. (My hoodie is blocking and my purse is inside out.)

Seven truths

I've been tagged by Valeria to do a meme. I'll give it a try, but under pressure I have a hard time coming up with anything. (Oh, the pressure....)

These are the rules:
1. Link to the one who has tagged you. (See above. Valeria so kindly writes her blog in two languages for all of us one-language-speaking people. I thought I'd check out the one that tagged her, and the one that tagged her, and apparently I'm the only one that only speaks one language. Sigh.... Another example of lazy Americans.)
2.Tell 7 truths about yourself-something funny\different.
3. Tag 7 people in the end of the blog. Leave a message in their blog and tell them they have been tagged.


Seven truths about myself:
1. I talk to myself all the time. The kids will occasionally talk back, but I'll tell them not to interrupt me.
2. I had a math/computer science major in college. I try to keep it quiet at work, though, since I can't do math in my head very fast. I was always much better with Calculus than figuring out percentages. (Not that I can do Calculus anymore, but at the time I was good at it.)
3. I knit a lot. (Now really, to the average person, this actually IS something different or funny. Not to you, of course, but to the rest of the world, it is.)
4. I'm tall--5' 9.5". I used to be the tallest one at work, including the guys. I was the person to call to get something off the top shelf. They finally hired a guy about 6'7"--boy was I happy!

(Okay, this is hard. Most of you know all the odd things about me already.... I'm really pretty ordinary.)

5. (You guys will love this one!) At work I'm becoming the one to check for correct spelling--can you believe it? As bad as I've been with spelling, I can still get some words correct. Last week I could spell "necessary" and "attendance". Who knew I still I had it in me?

6. I can take a nap almost anywhere at any time, even during the pounding of a nail gun this weekend. (Pictures will be coming....) I was sitting up, and didn't sleep for a long time, just a couple minutes of shut eye. I thought I was fooling everyone, but apparently I was caught.

7. Hmmm.... one more and then I'll be done.... Something about my personality maybe? I'm laid back, non-confrontational, and pretty quiet. However, I've had two jobs where my supervisor has made the comment "well, we'd better see what Ruth thinks before we continue" so apparently I make my opinions known.

Phew, done. I'll just tag whoever wants to be tagged--you're it!

Sleeves are done

A year ago this month I bought wood flooring for 3 rooms upstairs (that is, if you count the hall as a room, which I do). We're getting about ready to put it down, so we cleared out the dining room again. (It was cleared out a year ago, but slowly things have crept back in.)

The kids have decided that this is the perfect room to play golf pool.



It's been okay with me, as long as they stay away from the sliding glass door.

The dining room table in the living room has the surprising effect of us playing games in the evenings.

We dug out the Trionimoes.



(I won. Even while knitting the hoodie's sleeve.)

Then, we played Dominoes. (Not a chance of me beating DH. He'll sit there and figure out what each of us has in our hands. I counter by playing Dominoes just to confuse him. It rarely works.)



As the sleeves got closer to the wrist, they became faster to do. The second one only took 2 days once I saw how fast the first one went.

Finally, the sleeves are done.



Next time I'll remember to take a picture of me wearing it before the rest of the family are in bed. Hard to take a picture of two sleeves, with that whole "holding the camera with one hand" thing that needs to happen. The dog is around, but he's only really good at barking and keeping my lap warm. Taking pictures, not so much.

Socks in the mail

Two packages were mailed today.

This one had the smaller socks and is going to CIC.




This one had the bigger socks and is going to Mittens_for_Akkol.



At the moment I think I only have one active project on the needles, and two forgotten about UFO's. Hmmm...that doesn't seem like enough. Maybe I should cast on some socks for me!

Cascade socks

The socks have been finished, so I thought I'd post a picture.

These are three sets of socks. Each set is made from one skein of Cascade 220. The solid color, textured socks were knitted first, then the leftover yarn was dyed. The variegated socks are all Magic 28, while the larger ones are either 32 or 36 sts.



In the last pair, I even had enough for the toes!

This was a lot of fun, and kept me from getting bored.

Proof

Proof that I not only knit at soccer practice, but I also knit at field hockey practice:



Proof that I really am at field hockey practice, and not just sitting behind a net:



(Which is also proof that DD#2 is becoming quite an athlete.)

No time for a long post today....I must finish my CIC socks. The challenge ends today and I must get them in the mail.

What? The post offices are closed? Well, there's always tomorrow. My box would be incomplete without this last pair.

Knit on!

Squeak

I've been sitting at the computer knitting and reading blogs, so I figured I'd blog about what I'm knitting.



Guess what it is?

A mold for fondant for icing on a cake. Did you guess right?

I ran into a friend lately who was looking for such a thing. She makes great, fancy cakes and wanted to have the knitted impression for the cake.

After looking at some yarns, all were deemed too fuzzy. (The goal was to be edible without added fiber.) Tossed the idea of putting some plastic wrap between the swatch and the fondant--not sure if that would leave wrinkles.

On a visit to the local handyman super store, I found this "Dazzle" plastic twine. So far it's knitting up nicely, although it's accompanied by a squeaking sound with each stitch.

If you notice in the picture, my needles are two different colors. The blue one is my original needle from eons ago. They're the ones I said I still have. Figures I could only find one. I can only assume the other red needle is hanging around with the blue one on a WIP. While I stand by yesterday's statement that I rarely lose my needles, I do misplace them often. The difference is that the misplaced needles do turn up sooner or later.

Just thought I'd make that clear. :)

Hoodie sleeve

This was another soccer practice day, so today I took my hoodie.

The sleeves have been cast on, where I promptly found that I don't own any size 9's in either 16" circulars or dpns.

How can this be? I've been knitting ever since 4th grade, and while I accumulate needles slowly, and lose them rarely (I have my orginal set of 8's from way back then), that's still a whole lot of years of needle accumulation.

While I pondered that, I decided to try the magic loop method. I'm not a fan of that, because if I understand correctly, you use one big long circ, pulling the cord through the stitches about half way around, knit to that point, then pull the cord through halfway around again.

Is that it, or am I missing something?

That's the way I've tried it, though, and it just annoys me. Who wants to stop every half round and pull the cording through while possibly stretching the stitches?

In this case, though, I apparently don't own the right size, so though I'd go with magic loop until I buy some new needles.



I know that I'm supposed to use a longer circ, but this is what I had, and the cord is flexible, so it works okay.

Off I go to knit, while contemplating a trip to my LYS.

Goofy

Picture-taking boredom has set in. I seem to have two options:
1. Daytime. Take pictures on the deck.
2. Nighttime. Take pictures on a piece of foamboard.

Instead of the above options, let me instead present:

Me looking goofy (but with my head chopped off. I can be goofy as long as I have makeup on.)(Not that I really wear enough makeup to make a difference.)



This was my solution to getting my arms out of the way so you can see the finished bottom. On to the sleeves. And the hood. I figure I'm only about 2/5 done. Sigh.

Here's an even more surprising picture: One that's actually away from my house. Somewhere that I had to drive to. And remember my camera. And the right knitting.



Yep, soccer practice. (For DS#2, not me. Ya'll weren't confused about that, now were you?) This is the overdyed yarn leftover from the faux cable socks. Again, they're Magic 28 socks, with a bit of maroon for the toes.

Should I mention how goofy I felt taking these pictures? I waited until the kids were all busy in their groups and away from the goals, but there was still a bored parent or two hanging around.



Nobody questioned me, though, as I slunk back to my car.

Here's the start of Cascade 220 skein #3. The pattern is from knoxsocks website by Judy Sumner. It's the free Flying Colors pattern, using the 8 st repeat pattern on these socks that are 32 sts around.



It's fun, and the second sock has been started.

Faux Cable Socks for CIC

Children in Common (CIC) knitting group knits warm wool items for children in orphanages in Russia. Where it's 45-50 degrees indoors, a warm pair of socks can make a big difference.

This pattern is written for toddler socks. The gauge is given, but gauge and size doesn't matter very much for CIC. Any size will fit some child. Consider going up a needle size for larger socks.

Yarn: About 150 yds. worsted weight (Cascade 220 100% wool was used in the example)
Needles: Four size 4 dpns
Gauge: 12 sts = 2 inches in pattern stitch
Finished Size: Toe to heel = 7 inches.
Heel to cuff = 8 inches.

Abbreviations:
K = knit
P = purl
SSK = slip knitwise, slip knitwise, knit those 2 together
K2tog = knit 2 together
P2tog = purl 2 together
Sl = slip purlwise
RS = right side
WS = wrong side

Cuff:
Loosely cast on 36 sts, putting 12 sts on each of 3 dpns. Join in a round.
Work in K2, P2 ribbing for 7 rounds. Working needle 1, needle 2, needle 3.



Leg Pattern:
Round 1, Twist round: *K2tog and leave them on left needle. Insert the right needle between the two stitches just knit together and knit through the front of the first stitch again. Complete the knit stitch by slipping the two stitches off the left needle. P2. Repeat from * around. (If my twists twist in the opposite direction from yours, it's because I'm lefthanded. Just ignore that and continue on.)
Rounds 2-4: K2 P2 ribbing.

Repeat rounds 1-4 for 7 more times.

Heel Flap:
Sl 1, K15, turn. (This borrows 4 sts from needle 2).
*Sl 1, P1, repeat from * for a total of 16 sts, turn. (This will borrow one st from needle 3 and will center the stitch pattern for the foot.)

Working over these 16 sts, repeat heel rows 9 times:
Row 1 (RS): Sl 1, K15, turn.
Row 2 (WS): *Sl 1, P1, repeat from *, turn.


Turn heel:
Sl 1, K8, SSK, K1, turn.
Sl 1, p3, p2tog, p1, turn.
Sl 1, K until 1 stitch before gap, SSK, K1, turn.
Sl 1, P until 1 stitch before gap, p2tog, p1, turn.
Repeat these two rows until all heel stitches have been worked. There are now 10 heel stitches.

Gusset:
Needle 1 (right side): Knit across all stitches of heel. Pick up 12 stitches down the side of the heel.
Needle 2: Work the instep stitches, keeping in leg pattern.
Needle 3: Pick up 12 stitches up the side of the heel. Knit 5 stitches from needle 1. This is the new beginning of round in the middle back of the heel.

Should now have
Needle 1: 17 sts, Needle 2 (instep): 20 sts, Needle 3: 17 sts.

Gusset decreases:
Decrease round:
Needle 1:K to within 3 stitches of the end of needle, K2tog, K1.
Needle 2: Work leg pattern.
Needle 3: K1, SSK, K to end of needle.
Knit 1 round, keeping instep in leg pattern.
Repeat these 2 rounds until needles 1 and 3 have 9 stitches each, needle 2 still has 20 sts.

Foot:
Needles 1 and 3: Knit.
Needle 2: Work leg pattern.
Work for 36 rounds (counted from gusset pick up), or desired length.

Toe Decreases:
Round 1:
Needle 1: Knit.
Needle 2: K1, SSK, K to within 3 sts of the end of needle, K2tog, K1.
Needle 3: Knit.
(This round sets up for even decreasing so that at the end, needle 2 has doudle what needles 1 and 3 have.)

Round 2: Knit.
Round 3:
Needle 1: K to within 3 sts of the end of needle, K2tog, K1.
Needle 2: K1, SSK, K to within 3 sts of the end of needle, K2tog, K1.
Needle 3: K1, SSK, K to end of needle.

Repeat rounds 2 and 3 until 12 stitches left. (3-6-3).

Knit sts from needle 3 onto needle 1. Graft toe sts with Kitchener stitch.

Copyright 2007 by Ruth Garcia. Socks may be made for personal or charity use. No socks may be sold from this pattern.

Score!

Look what I scored today at work! Certain colors of Lion Brand Wool went on clearance at $1.00 each.



A customer (who took all the purple) and two of us employees bought out every skein (I bought 15).



I may not make much money, but I sure do score some good deals!

Weekend update

This is the second pair of CIC socks that I made. I promised a picture, and here it is:



I used a faux cable stitch, and hope to post the pattern soon. (It's the same stitch as my camera bag, which has been missing for the last month or two. Why must something always be lost? Why does every day off have to be laundry day? Why does the dog have to go out everytime I sit down at the computer? These are the questions I ponder....)

This is the leftover Cascade 220 yarn. This time I overdyed it with moss green and delphinium blue to make this pretty variegated yarn. I have almost exactly the same as last time, so this will become another pair of Magic 28 socks.



The deadline for the CIC socks is Sept. 30, so I'm hoping to do at least this pair. (I have another skein of Cascade 220 waiting in the wings, so we'll see how the week goes.)

I'm also trying to concentrate on my hoodie. Finally, one bottom side is complete. (The coloring this photo is pretty accurate).



Onward to the needles!

P.S. In case you're wondering.... I put 3 bandaids on my injured toe and wore my shoe to work. Better protection that way, and a smart idea. The toe is feeling much better than expected. My paranoid screaming of "stay away from my toe" has diminished also....

Just be glad

I'm sitting here typing, wearing my hooded tunic body part. I'm imagining it as 5 inches longer... will that be long enough? I think so.

It could actually be too long, but I'm not ripping out. I know I'll wear a really big sweater, but I'm not so sure about a too wide, too short sweater. I've been postponing this decision for a couple of days, but I'm finally ready to commit.

There's no picture, though, since it's so similar to the last one.

There's also no picture of my toe. Be very glad that I didn't take one, because for awhile today my toenail was perpendicular to my toe. The whole thing. (My apologies to anyone eating breakfast right now. That queasy feeling? That's what I've been feeling for most of the day.)

The funny thing about blogs is that you somehow feel you must blog about everything. When I come to think about it, what does a smashed toe have to do with a knitting blog? The only thing I could think of is what it didn't let me do today.

For once I was mostly caught up on laundry (who ever gets completely caught up, anyway?) so I was going to do knitterly stuff. Dyeing some yarn, setting the twist on my handspun (I finished spinning those first 4 oz., but now I need to do something with it), maybe knitting?

Instead, I lay on the couch whining, then DH drove me to the doctor's. I was going to tough it out, but I just couldn't. It was a wise decision, and I'm much happier (and less whiny). The toenail was cut off (I love numbing medicine) and a bandage was put on. I'm having trouble thinking about work tomorrow since I have to wear closed toe shoes.

This was Diane's comment today, that I read about an hour after the above accident:
The worst part of summer? The end and having to put on leather shoes to go back to school which gave you blisters for the first week(back in the day before you could wear sneakers).

Well, Diane, that was my downfall. I'm still thinking summer hadn't ended when I rammed my sandaled foot into the grocery cart wheel. Next time I might consider wearing shoes.... amd will be welcoming fall.

Answers and socks

I want to thank everyone for the comments they leave on my posts. They are read very carefully, answered very fully in my head, but the typing thing doesn't happen very well.

The comments show up in my inbox, showing that they're from a real person. I think "hey! I can answer her since she has a name!", proceed to do so only to get a mail returned from no-reply.blogger.com.

Fooled again, I think. When will I learn....

Anyway, here's a couple of answers:

Lila B. had a question about my Diamond Handwarmers pattern: maybe i'm missing something but in your directions, i never see any place that you're supposed to purl. how do you get that classic chevron stitch without ever purling.

The handwarmers are knitted in the round, so no purl rounds are necessary. The diamond pattern is made with a set of k2tog and yo's, with the next round being plain knit. Try it--it'll work!

Diane asked: Nice hoodie. Is the picture in this post a more correct color? Love the combination.

Well, Diane, I took a picture of my rust yarn in the middle of skeins of red and orange yarns to show the contrast. The reason you don't see the picture? It doesn't show the contrast very well. (Ah, picture taking, the bane of my existance.)(Maybe not my whole existance. Maybe my blogging existance.)

Let's go back to the previous pictures. The first picture is better. The rust is rusty, not orange. The Fisherman's wool is natural colored, and not with an orange tint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've neglected my hoodie in the last week so I could be knitting up some CIC socks. The plan was to knit one pair per week, but they're addicting so I'm actually done with pair 3 already. (Pictures of pair 2 tomorrow. Or soon.)

I wanted to see how far one skein of Cascade 220 would last. I made one pair of gold socks, then took the rest of the yarn and overdyed it with burgundy and juniper green Wilton icing colors.

I had wrapped the yarn 80 times around a chair, so I took 40 wraps and wound them each into a little ball



with a knot in the middle to designate the center.

The result? I got almost 2 pairs of socks out of one skein of Cascade 220.

(This is what happens to my camera when I don't guard it carefully. Little people take random pictures with it. Here's an example. Believe me, there's a picture on there that I can use for later blackmailing.)



The first was the 36 st Mossy Ridge Socks and the second was Magic 28 socks. Both were knitted using size 4 dpns. The Magic 28 socks just needed a bit of black for the toes. I figure that one skein willl make it all the way through 32 st and 28 sts socks, or maybe even a 36 and 28 if there's no pattern.



I think I might try this again.

Where I grew up

My brother recently sent me a couple of pictures that I thought I'd show ya'll.

This is the house where I grew up.



I loved the house, with plenty of room to roam both inside and out. It was built in the 1860's, had wide plank oak floors, 10 foot tall ceilings, and was freezing in our bedrooms in the winter.

The things we did back then.
- Swimming in the creek while wearing tennis shoes 'cause the mud was too icky for barefeet (and checking our legs later for leeches).
- Running up and down the old pig pen roofs--sometimes sliding on them.
- Walking out onto the barn roof while the men were working on it.
- Going barefoot all summer (except in the creek).
- Catching fireflies at dusk and putting them into a jar.
- Peeling off layers and layers and layers of old wallpaper, only to find that we had to redo the plaster anyway. (There was some absolutely hideous wallpaper.)
- Finding a cat and her kittens up on the rafters in the barn.

Here's a view from our house up the road to our neighbor's. We had to walk this road every day to catch the bus. For the most part, I would carry a couple of books (no backpacks for me), my purse, my flute, my lunch, and sometimes my gymbag. At the dark blob in the middle (pine trees), the road turns and you couldn't see the bus until you got to the next turn. I'd be running late, so would be running with all my stuff until the next turn.



People say that I live in the country now....and I say....not compared to where I grew up.