A Drama Queen and a Diva

The holiday was too short. Middle of the week holidays make for a shorter work week but I always dread the day after. After "womanning" the grills for hours, the family began to arrive. It was a wonderful day full of food, fun and laughter.


Youngest niece and Drama Queen - Gina

Oldest Niece and Diva - Kayla
Big brother finally got his Xmas present. The Baby Cable socks are finished!!!


Specs:
Pattern: Baby Cables from Sensational Knitted Socks
Needles: 1 US Inox dpns for body of sock, 0 US Inox dpns for ribbing.
Yarn: Regia 4fadig in Black
Size: Men's size 13
Finished: 07/03/2006
Modifications: Knitted toe-up.


Specs:
Pattern: My generic toe-up sock.
Needles: 1 US Inox dpns for body of sock, 0 US Inox dpns for ribbing.
Yarn: Online Supersocke 100 Fun Color No. 765
Size: Women's 9 1/2
Finished: 06/30/2006

These are some of the "happiest" socks I have made. I love the colors. The yarn felt rough while knitting and even after soaking in woolwash they aren't as soft as other sock yarns I've used.

Sunday I cast on a pair of Regia Cotton Color socks using the "2 socks on 2 circs" method. I didn't find it that appealing the first 2 times I tried it. Things are moving along much faster this time around and it's great for the two 50 gm balls that I'm using. I still need to cast on 1 single sock from a 100 gm ball of Regia Plus Cotton Jacquard Color and the sock re-stocking will be complete.

I've Got Rhythm

After months of trepidation and frustration my knitting rhythm has returned. I had resolved to accept that I was doomed to spend the rest of my knitting life frogging and re-knitting rows. This week the Knitting Goddess smiled on me and brought it all back.

The projects are moving along smoothly. I'll finish both pairs of socks this weekend and probably Rachel. Since I seriously have no hope of securing any blocking room in the near or distant future, project planning is becoming a hassle. Details are little too compulsive to list, but even in the midst of what sometimes appears to be mass confusion there's always a plan. I thought about knitting just socks, but I'm going to be wise and make some Xmas presents.

I really want to perish the thought of knitting wool and/or mohair etc. with the aforementioned exception of socks, at this time of year, but sometimes you have to go to the base level and be practical. The addition/renovation isn't due to be finished until November and that's a large chunk of very, very valuable knitting time. Suggestions anyone?

Invisible

Every now and then we have to be reminded that we're moving just a little too fast. Asthma does it like a brick wall. I'm very lucky in that I'm an acute asthmatic and rarely have an attack other than those triggered by allergens. When the 5 ton elephant walks across your chest you don't slow down you stop.
Even though progress was stalled for a few days, I've been picking up a little more steam as of yesterday. Clockwise from right:



1)Rachel in white Berroco Linet right front almost done, 1 sleeve to go.
2)Baby Cables are finally getting there. Less than 25% to go. I'm totally in awe of knitter's who like to use very dark colors!
3)Online Supersockes Fun. I knitted the first sock on the way to and in Vegas and hated the gauge. Knitted the second sock on 1 size smaller needles and frogged the first. Now the first is the last.
4)Fiber Trends River Stole. On hold since last Tuesday.

The best knitting bag I've ever owned made especially for the over-achieving project toter. Twenty bucks including monogramming. Lot's of nice deep pockets and storage sections. I've put aside the Lantern Moon seagrass box except for special occasions. Sometimes I'm a little too rough for the cutesy stuff.



It's funny the things your neighbors notice. One of my next door neighbors new I was feeling better when she saw me back at my "job". I'm glad I could take them before the storm came through today.

Construction/Destruction

This week has seen a flurry of deliveries culminating with the arrival of the bricks at 7:15 this morning. Just a I was getting my final snooze, ding-ding-ding. I heard the rumble of the 18-wheeler and knew it couldn't be for anyone but us, but since my view outside is now blocked by this;


I took a hurried glance out the window and snuggled back down only to hear the doorbell ring. I'm wondering why would anyone make a delivery that time of morning? The load of bricks came from North Carolina, so in the scheme of things I was lucky. I wonder what time he get's up?!


With the exception of the flower beds, our backyard and part of the front yard are totally destroyed. Heavy rains + mole damage + 3 super-duty forklifts = ruts and holes.

This afternoon I had a two patient and helpful assistants. Mr. 1000 was my photo assistant and his brother "Big D" was my packing assistant. Even though my batteries died as soon as I snapped the first photo, he returned to hold the gladiola which is taller than him.


Snoop, Snoop aka Mr. 1000

(I took these with the flash on. The color was so washed out. They're more red-orange than orange-red.)

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

Co-champions. Tony Thomas Family Karate Tigers were named co-champions on Friday. The only fitting end to what was an exciting season.

We are getting a very thorough soaking from TS Alberto. The temps have been in the 90's for days and it has been impossible to keep up with the plant watering. The slow steady rain has been a welcome relief today after the thunder boomers and flash flooding we had in town yesterday.(I guess too much relief. They just announced on the news that we are under a flood watch!)

The floors are down in the addition and the wall separating the house and the addition is coming down this week. I've already lost my blocking space due to the shuffling around of furniture. My knitting mojo is beginning to take a beating. The "Big Red Box" will arrive this week and I'm hoping that will give me incentive to complete the sleeve and right front of Rachel.

I'm not quite on the 28-day schedule for the River shawl. I've never been on a 28-day schedule without some assistance. Must have been my inner PMS making the schedule that day. Now that I've settled down with the pattern, the knitting is progressing smoothly. This is turning out to be an excellent pattern choice for the Flames Helen's Lace.

Things that make you go h-m-m-m. When I was younger my mom had a hard time getting us out of the rain. Today as I was making a super effort not to get wet even though I was parked on the carport, I busted my ass. Really just my right knee and my hand. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am not Dixie Crystal.

Game Over

The championship game was canceled. Probably due to the shenanigans that went on last Wednesday. The park has the trophy ceremony tomorrow, so we'll find out then if they are co-champions. Thats seems to be the only logically alternative. I know that's the programmer in me thinking because there wasn't anything logical about what happened last week.

The Garter Rib socks are done, done, done. I keep track of my knitting and knitting-related stuff in Knitable. I've entered each project that was in progress in my PDA since I purchased the software in October. Needless to say, somehow I missed one. I didn't enter the socks so I don't have a clue when I started them. I think it was sometime in February.

I enjoyed knitting the Mountain Colors Bearfoot. It's soft and cushy. This is my first time knitting it so I'll have to wait and see how they hold up. They're for mom and she's a lot harder on socks than me. I have one more skein in the stash just for me.



Specs:
Pattern: Garter Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Needles: 1 US Inox dpns for body of sock, 0 US Inox dpns for ribbing.
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wild Raspberry
Size: Women's 10 1/2
Finished: 06/08/2006

Mods: Knitted the socks toe-up instead of top-down.

We used to have one huge blue hydrangea. I used to think that the soil determined the color, but discovered several years back that there are multicolor varieties when I started working for my present employer. All of our campuses are arboretums with some of the most fascinating variety of plants, both native and non-native, that I've ever seen in Columbia.


A true multi-color hydrangea.

To Be Continued

Batter up. Mr. 1000 was 2 for 3 in the championship game yesterday. The game was tied at the end of regulation play and went into an extra inning. From then on madness ensued were still tied at the end of the third inning. The umpire signaled stop and play will resume on Friday.


Mr. 1000 at bat
I was amazed at the behavior of the head coach of the other team. It's really a shame that kids are exposed to such poor shows of sportsmanship at such an early age. His teams have always won the championship games and he has finally run into some serious competition.

Tuesday I learned that while I don't usually have a problem multi-tasking, I cannot multi-task and knit lace. I attempted to watch a Hallmark movie starring Sidney Poitier, surf the net and knit on the River Stole. In 1 1/2 hours I had to repeatedly frog all our part of the first 4 repeat rows (Helen's Lace can stand up to some serious frogging). That left me 6 rows short of my goal of 1 repeat per day but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.


Fiber Trends River Stole
Even though it's been in the 90's, the front lilies are finally blooming. They are clustering very slowly. I don't have the names for these. Mom bought them at an SCDMH lily sale and we've lost the tags.

Without further ado ...


Rose with magenta center


Peach with a soft pink blush


Peach with a purplish,burgundy center