Pictures and a Huge Thank You.

Ok,

We've all heard about the 'Knitting Blogging Community', and yes those are air quotes. It's one of those things you think, Ya..it's nice. Knitters give to the Doctors without Borders for the Yarn Harlot. They give to the Heifer Project at Christmas for Wendy. They help out their own in need, like Annie Modesit.

But really, what would anyone do for me? And why would they want to? (Goodness that sounds selfish and it's NOT what I sit around and think about..plot about or something.) But you get the point.

So I go on vacation and am an idiot and loose my camera, my blogging camera. Am I broken hearted about the photos lost of the girls at the St. Louis Zoo? Sadden, but no, not heart broken. What comes to mind?

HOW AM I GOING TO BLOG MY KNITTING?!

It's all about priorities, you know.

Home I come and post to the blog, without pictures. And what happens?

KnitWit offers me a camera. Can you imagine? Here she is roughly 17 days away from moving and leaving for college, and what does she do? Offers to send me her old camera for a few balls of yarn. She's busy, ya'll. She's stressed. And she thought of me.

Damn, we knitters really are amazing folks. Seriously.

So in honor of KnitWit, here are mass amounts of photos of FOs. (The camera by the way, is amazing. I honestly think it's better than the one I had..)

In order of completion, we have the Solstice Slip socks from the Rockin Sock Club.



They fit really well. This was my first time using the Lightweight, and I might not every buy anything else now..



The pattern was fun and the garter stitch toes and heels were interesting to watch take shape. This is a toe up sock, by the way.


Then on the Texas trip, I was determined to make this


into some amazing socks. And guess what? I did! :)

This is Cookie A.'s Monkey pattern. It is the second time I've done it and I know not the last. Very fun pattern, but not too hard you can't memorize it and start to 'read' it as you go.


I did a slip stitch heel flap and adore the way it rainbowed. Very very very bright yummy amazing socks.


Just look at those colors. I'm seriously in love with this colorway, Sherbet from Socks That Rock.

Finally I had my little tirade through my house trying to locate DPNs. This is the result.




I do things by the seat of my pants, which is how I came up with it. I've seen enough of these online and in stores, so figured 'Eh. I can do that'. The fabric was left over from my youngest's nursery. I might have to make a straight one and a something for the circs.

I still need to figure out how I'm going to close it. I'm leaning towards a ribbon about 1 1/2 inches wide, tack it to the back and then use it to tie it closed.

Whew. Ok. There they are. The FOs. Only thing I didn't post is my progress on the Perfect Sweater. It's just SS arms, so not too exciting. Kinda looks like all the others I've posted.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your knitting! I know I will.

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.

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!!!