Mojo?

I finished the Sherbet Monkeys and can't wait to show them off. As the DH says, 'They are obnoxious.' Just what every girl needs for Jan in Wisconsin!

So what next?

Well the Eunny Enterlac Socks. Got out the Lorna's Laces, swatched IN THE ROUND folks for 3 inches. It came out fine, around 8 st per in and 11 rounds.

Cast on with the Middle Eastern Cast On. A new one for me, and very odd but managed to do it and it looked good. Kept going with the pattern and realized there was no WAY in hell these socks would fit me. They might fit my 7 year old..but to hell if I was going to spend this much time on socks for her! Ugh.

Frog.

Figure, Ok..move on. Dig around for a pattern, surf Ravelry to see what others have done with Lorna's Laces. Just did Monkey, don't want to do anything lacey...and finally settle on a pattern from the Interweave book 25 Favorite Socks, Go with the Flow.

Cast on, knit and hate it. Just not feeling it and think it's too tight as well. It's a cast on of 60 and I normally cast on 64 at least on 1's and Lorna's is finer than STR Lightweight.

Frog. Mutter.

Take a breath and dig through both stash and patterns. Settle on doing a hat out of Socks and Caps Two of the Vogue on the Go Series. Picked a skein of Blue Sky Cotton. Swatch. Gauge good.

Cast On.

Knit and curse when I realize the damn thing would be huge on ME and it's for my 3 year old.

Frog.

Throw needles. Ok I didn't, but I REALLY wanted to.

I can't justify buying any yarn right now. I'm going to Stitches in 2 weeks for goodness sake! That's where I need to spend my money. I will buy 2 skeins of the Koigu to do the Eunny socks which is what she used. Hopefully that will solve that problem.

Ya I could knit a hat for charity or something, but I believe my knitting Mojo has left the building. Good thing I don't have a camera, since I have NOTHING to take photos of (well the FO Monkeys) except a pile of various yarn and needles but no knitting.

Pathetic.

Blog on!

So no camera, but damn it I'll blog anyway! And share the last picts that I have from my camera. *sniff* I really liked it ..I can't believe I lost it. :PP Anyway, enjoy the pictures from the trip scattered through the post!

The start of the Texas Trek at 5 am

And thanks to KnitWit it looks like my picture problem might be resolved soon! Yay Knit bloggers, we are such a rockin community. :)

The infamous over the freeway McD's on the Will Rogers TurnPike in Oklahoma.

As mentioned I've finished the Solstice Slip and am on the foot of my second Sherbet Monkey. I'm not positive what I'm going to knit next. I wanted to make the enterlac socks by Eunny that are in the Spring 07 Knitty.



But I'm in doubt. She made them with Koigu KPM and I have some Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock earmarked for it. The gauges are different. The KPM gets 17 sts and 22 rnds in 2 in St St in the round on 1s (2.25). The Lorna's Laces gets 33 sts and 46 rnds in 4in St St in the rnd on 0s.

Translate to same measurement and you have
KPM is 8.5 st per inch, and 11 rnds on 1s
Lorna's is 8.25 per inch and 11.5 rnds on 0s

So I'll need to do some test swatches when I'm done with my last Monkey. Will let you know how it turns out. I'm not planning on doing knee highs, but they are made from the toe up, so it's easy to stop when you want.

The Arch!

I'm also working on my 'Homework' for my Stitches Midwest Classes. Simple 8 inch swatches and such for my Joy of Finishing class. My Russian Continental class doesn't have homework. Yay! That weekend is going to be so fun. I'm going with 5 other girlfriends. Wohoo! No kids, no SOs but mass amounts of yarn. It's heaven!

Play time, finally!

On other fronts I finished Deathly Hallows this past weekend. NO SPOILERS. I am not sure how I feel about it. I think in some ways I found it anticlimactic... I know I need to read it again to make sure I 'got' it all. It's so strange to read something like that. It's like you are on pins and needles the whole time, just wanting to get through it so you know what happens. Very odd.

Love the Sonic in Elk City, OK

Our Trip to Texas was really good. The girls and I made it down to Lubbock in two days. Two VERY exhausting days. I drove 550 miles on the 1st day and over 700 miles on the second. That was rough.

Back in the car....

The girls had fun with Grandma and going swimming and out to tea and things of that sort. I just enjoyed my mom's company, though it's always hard to be the 'only' parent when you are used to two. My mom raised my brother and me by herself from when I was 4. I can NOT imagine doing it. My hat goes off to single parents big time.

We are finally in Texas! And don't we look thrilled?

We stayed with her for a little over a week and headed home. We stopped on the second day (I was smart and took three days to get home) in St. Louis. I'd heard so much about their Zoo, I wasn't going to let that opportunity pass us by. We stayed an extra day and really enjoyed it. The place is beautiful and huge. Not a single day-er especially when it's 90+ degrees and humid as hell outside. Next time we go, I'm going in Fall or Spring. If you are in the area I highly recommend a stop. It's actually a free entry zoo. How cool is that?

An amazing rest stop near the Texas-Oklahoma border

I would have some good pictures of the zoo..but I'm 90% sure that's where my camera is. I believe I left it in the stroller we rented. I hope it's having a good time.....

And yes, everything really IS bigger in Texas.

Back..but sad..

What's one of the worst things for a knit blogger?

To have a freakin FO and no CAMERA.

Yes, my camera is either at the St. Louis Zoo without me, enjoying the Herpaterium ...or kickin it at the St. Louis Best Western.

Damn.

Luckily I did download pictures when I got to my mom's house, so I have a handful of pictures from the actual trip.

And of course this trip cost far more than planned..so I am not sure what I'm going to do for awhile. But trust me the Solstice Slip Stitch Socks are lovely and I'm almost done with my 1st Monkey in sherbet. OMG it was all I had hoped it would be. The colors are amazing..and unfortunately you are all just going to have to take my word on it...for now.

It will be so nice to sleep in my own bed without my 3 year old. Whew. 2 weeks of being kicked and hit all night long make for a sleepy mommy!

Can't wait to catch up on all the blogs and email. I was able to surf a few times while away but not able to send out email. :)

A trip, another sock and a tumor...

Well we are getting ready for the haul to Texas. All the laundry is pretty much done, the lists made and now panic is starting to set in. WTF was I thinking? Driving 1200 miles by myself with my 2 girls (age 7 and 3)????

Deep breath.

That's a long way. I haven't really decided on 2 days or 3. It's going to be one of those things that we figure out on the way.

The Solstice Slip continues. I've finished the 1st and turned the heel on the 2nd. I can FEEL the Monkeys in Sherbet coming. Wohoo. I swear that's the only reason I'm so driven with these socks. I like the pattern, but I'm dying to get into that Sherbet skein.


Finally on to the tumor. Yep, I've got one in my wrist. And there's really nothing to be done about it. How cool is that? The doctor said it is a hemangioma on my radial nerve. So it's a bump on the sheath of my nerve. 95% of them are benign. They would have to do carpal tunnel surgery to remove it but since it is on the nerve itself, there would be a loss of feeling. As of right now, I have no loss of feeling, so no surgery. I get to live with it. If it gets worse, then we'll look at the surgery.

Very odd that.

So think of me tomorrow around 5 am as I pack my minivan and careen down the Interstates of America!!!