More Soxx for Mom

Mom got more of the Soxx Appeal by Knit One, Crochet Too yarn. That means the first pair were a hit, happy on her feet.

This pair is out of the Blue and Lime colorway with blue heels and toes. I am more than halfway done with this first sock and hope to have the pair done by next week.

I am using the socks on two circs basic pattern from Cat Bordhi's book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.

There are more color choices in a box to pick from for the next pair. These are perfect to use for car projects while I try to finish my WIP pile at home because they are plain stockinette which allows me to read on my nook while working on them.

Pedro's Great Camping Adventure

And we went along as well. Mom and I took the trailer out to the campground in the AM and found a lovely spot near the amenities so Dad did not have to walk too far. Then we finished the grocery/supply shopping and went home to get the "boys". We headed out to set up camp around 3 p.m.

Pedro loved his first foray into the tall grasses and the gravel which he rolled in liberally. When things got too intense for him he hopped back in his stroller and laid there to watch the activity.

We had a great camp dinner and sat out to watch the sun set and the stars come it. It was a lovely late summer evening.

In the early, very dark morning we were serenaded by the coyotes, very close to the camp, which got Pedro all excited. It was fun.

On Saturday we took Dad and Pedro beer tasting at the new micro-brewery in Woodland Park called Bierwerks. They make great beer, have a nice outside seating area and serve wonderful
picnic fare on platters.

And at the end of the weekend we packed up the gear and headed home. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and Pedro proved himself to be a wonderful camper.

When we got home he went to eat and then to sleep. He was one tired pussycat.

I hope everyone had a great weekend~!

WIPs Under Consideration

After much thought, I realized that I have too many projects in the WIPs (Work-in-progress) status and I need to do something about this now. So I took inventory of the two boxes that contain these projects and put them in a priority order for completion.

This has put my purple sweater on the back burner for now. My current car project is safe because it is still the most portable of the projects I have. So I will now be knitting on a WIP early AM and when I get home PM. I will track my dates to see how long it takes me to finish them now that they are back on the radar.

At this point they include:

Beaded Scarf

Irish Hiking Scarf

Gloves

Spiraluscious Handwarmers

Antiknitist wrist cuffs

Sea Lettuce Scarf

Felted Clogs x 2 pair


That should keep me busy for a few days. I will really like it to be done with the things I started over the last year or so. Then I can move on to new projects. I hope everyone has a plan to finish things~!

The Monday Muddle

Thought I should share this picture of a plant that is tequila on the stem. That looks like a lot of margaritas when it grows up. Found at the Cliff Dwellings.

This weekend was a little of this and a little of that.

1. On the knitting scene, I finished my second mini warmer for the office. Now I have a pair to wear with the temps get cooler. And I finished the lace bookmark I was working on. That was a really fast knit. I highly recommend that pattern for a quick gift for your favorite reader. And I started another sock project for mom - sshh! don't tell her.

2. Took my folks "shopping" on Friday. When mom called to see if I would take them I thought she meant grocery shopping. When I got there I discovered that she meant to a rock, gem and jewelry show because she had Christmas shopping to do. Thus I have no pictures of this event that was held in Woodland Park this weekend. It was interesting and we saw lots of rocks, some I had never even heard of. All in all very interesting.

3. Spent the rest of the weekend cleaning, decluttering and taking knitting breaks in between. That is noted in another post.

I hope everyone's weekend was fun, productive or plain lazy - your choice~!

And the Decluttering Continues

I have finally gotten to the biggest part of my decluttering project - the living room, knitting bookcase and the outside storage closet.

My progress for the weekend turned out to be cleaning and rearranging the living room (while Pedro watched and ran off occasionally to avoid the vacuum cleaner) and sorting all my knitting supplies. I managed to get it all sorted and arranged as well as destashing about two bags of yarn to be donated to my favorite church in Green Mountain Falls. They have a great group of charity knitters that do everything from hats and mittens to sweaters for the kids.

The knitting bookcase will be a day or more all its own. I am considering going through all the magazines I have, scanning the patterns I plan to knit and donating all the magazines to the PPLD (Pikes Peak Library District) Friends of the Library shop to resell. I hate throwing those things away and believe that recyling to the largest possible audience is a good idea for all. With that said, it means that this part of the project will take the longest time.

The outside storage closet is slated for September when it is time to change out my summer wardrobe for the winter one. Then I can downsize all the things I have not worn in the last year or so, plus anything else I find in there that has not been seen in the last four years. Once that is done I probably can move some of the knitting supplies that are currently in buckets, stacked in the corners out of the living area. That will give me lots more uncluttered floor space in my apartment.

One of the best things I sorted and gathered into one area is the WIPs, all the projects that I have started for class demonstrations and never finished. Now they are in a box of their own and I see them everyday which reminds me I have half done things I need to finish.

All in all a very productive weekend. I hope everyone else had one~!

Knitted Gift for a Friend

By the time she gets around to catch up on my blog, she will have received her card and gift, so I feel pretty safe posting it now with pics.

I found a fun little lace bookmark project, Vine Lace Bookmark found on Ravelry.com, that helped me practice my chart reading. I knit it on size 3US needles with some unknown stash leftover fingering weight. It is blocked and drying as we speak and will be ready to gift this week.

Winning Photo - Baby Hummers

Someone got very lucky with this pic. I imagine that the little guys can only be about an inch long. That is hard to imagine. This is the weekly winner at CSFreshInk.

A New "Knit It At Home" Project

The Sparkling Scarlet Sweater - Creative Knitting January 2010. I will be knitting this one in Plymouth Encore worsted in rich purple.

The first thing I have to do is start on the gauge swatch which I will do on a sleeve. I like to start there because then if it works the first time I don't have to rip it out and start again. That is unusual but sometimes it happens. :-)

I was reading through the pattern copy that I made from the magazine and realized that I had copied all the pages I need, so I will be making a concerted effort this weekend to find the magazine that I know is stored safely in the house. Currently so safely that I cannot find it, of course.

This will be my home project so it will sit by my chair and be worked on each evening with audiobooks or movies as entertainment. Because it is a lace pattern project I will probably only be able to listen to whatever entertainment I choose. I am excited to start something that is a little more challenging. The goal is to have it done before Christmas this year.

I find it more productive for me to have a home project and a car project. It gives me the variety that I need and is easier to take a smaller, more portable project with me in the car while leaving the larger project at home.

I will keep you posted on the progress of this one. And any recommendations on where to find the button/closures will be helpful~!

Tinker, Tinker, Knit and Tinker

This week I have a new project on my car needles and a BBQ grill to build for camping.

Pedro is happy to help with any and all projects that include cardboard to chew on and boxes to climb in and plastic bags to chase around on the floor.

So I assembled the top lid while watching Mystery, Alaska - great movie and hockey too, and then got the first mini warmer done.

All in all, not a bad way to start the week.

I hope everyone is happily pursuing fun projects~!

The Monday Muddle

After a full weekend of family and fun, it is difficult to put it all into a cohesive report of what I have been up to. So I have decided to start the Monday Muddle where I will list the things I did in some semblance of order.

1. Yes, there was knitting. This was a week I did not have any classes scheduled because I knew we would be doing a lot of Dad's birthday. I worked on the second sock of the Hermione pattern and will have it finished this evening if I am really lucky. Then I will have to decide what is next on the car knitting list.

2. Choose a new house knitting project: that was on my mind all weekend and I have decided to start on the Sparkling Sweater that I got the yarn as a Christmas gift this past year.

3. The new NOOK. Dad got a Nook for his birthday from his daughter back east. Fortunately, she had tipped off mom and I ahead of time so we could get him some accessories to go with it.

4. BBQ in the backyard with more family and some neighbors stopped by to sing Happy Birthday to him. We had steak and lobster tails and all the trimmings. It was yummy.

5. Packed the camping trailer so that we are really ready to go before Labor Day weekend.

6. Got Pedro more used to travelling in his new chariot, the pet stroller. We went for a walk in the driveway, which in spots really requires 4WD. I think it will be better to stick to the smoother parts of the dirt next time.

7. Added music to my Zen after moving mom's collection from her laptop to her main computer which has better speakers. Now she can have music in the living area that she can listen to as she cooks dinner if she wants.

8. And got home in time to do my laundry and get ready for the work week.

All in all, a great weekend with lots of fun and some productivity as well. I hope everyone had a great August weekend~!

A New Ride

Today I assembled and test drove Pedro's new ride. He was very helpful and climbed right in the middle of the project as soon as it came out of the box.

This was purchased for him so he can ride in style when we go camping. I have had him out for a couple of mornings by now, just riding around the neighborhood so he can get used to the motion. He seems to be enjoying it.

This weekend we are going to camp in the yard for the day because the weather does not look like it will cooperate to make it nice for dad. His 90th birthday is this weekend so we will spend as much time outside and do a family bbq for him.


Note: This is a Fresh Air model from BestPet on Ebay. It is a carrier that clips into the wheels.

OTR - Family Visit to Cripple Creek

My Germany brother aka The Evil Elf was in town for a brief visit so we took him to the Heritage Center in Cripple Creek. It is the newest museum in the county and is beautiful.

It has interactive displays of the history of the area, a wildlife display complete with dinosaurs, and a model train display that is fabulous.

We took the scenic loop to get there, by way of Hwy. 67 from Divide, through Victor and then home by way of Teller County 1.


We saw a herd, lots of animals worth, of elk at one of the ranches off of Hwy 24 between Florissant and Divide. Then we saw a group of bighorn sheep, about a dozen of them, along Hwy 67. There was all sizes from the ram just starting his horn curl to a baby one. It was really neat to see all the critters and not just the stuffed ones at the museum.

Hermione Socks

Since I finished my mom's pair of socks, I have decided to put a pair on the needles for me. I really like the looks of the Hermione Socks pattern so I decided to try it.

I am using a skein of Sockotta that I had in my stash in a now discontinued colorway so I don't know the name, however I am calling it tropical and it has lime green, orange and purple in it. It is lots of fun.

I am using the two circular method to knit these top down. The needles I am using are not making me happy so I have ordered some Knitpicks because they are smoother and more flexible. I will keep working on them and change out the needles when the others arrive. I am knitting these on size 1US (2.25 mm)

I created a couple cards for this pattern, in the picture above. One has the texture pattern on it and the other is for the heel flap. I find these are easier to read and use when I am knitting. I usually have these cards laminated and add them to the pattern sleeve so they are ready to go when I knit another pair.

I decided that I only needed 14 repeats of the waterfall texture pattern for the leg with an inch and a half of k1, p1 ribbing. That is plenty tall a sock top for me. The pattern calls for 18 repeats of the pattern.

I really like the texture stitch, it adds a little interest to the look of the sock and is not that difficult to memorize. The heel is a garter stitch modified eye of partridge and looks really good when finished. I may add that to my choices for heels on other socks. The pattern is free and can be found on Ravelry.

I hope everyone is having a great end to their summer~!

Simplest Knit Yet

My brother has a birthday coming up (the one in Missouri) and I got him a book that I think he will really enjoy. But instead of just sending the book, I decided that he needed something hand-knit as well. Voila, a bookmark. I knit it on size 2 US dpns and some of the leftover Watermelon Vesper yarn that I did the socks out of while we road-tripped together. No pics because I will give the birthday book surprise away, but I can say, I cast on 4 stitches and did I-cord until the book mark was long enough to hang out of either end of the hard cover book.

I hope everyone finds some super simple projects to accomplish for that instant gratification we all need sometimes~!

What I Knit to During July

July has come and gone, more quickly than I realized, and I have done lots of knitting. I went on a vampire binge during the month and was entertained by the following: In the car I listened to the audiobook version of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It was brilliantly produced with a variety of voices, almost like being at a play or a radio show. It is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Also in the car, I read The Passage by Justin Cronin, this summer's hot read and came highly recommended by Stephen King, the master of all things horror, on my Nook. I really enjoyed this book and can hardly wait for the next piece of the trilogy set to publish in 2012.

For the evening TV events I watched the one and only season of Moonlight, about a vampire PI with a moral high ground in regards to his eating habits. It was lots of fun, sorry it was cancelled after a very short run. I also got to see True Blood Season 2. That is such a fun show, sometimes I wish I had cable so I could see it on HBO. Will wait patiently for season 3 to be released to DVD. It takes them a long time to do that from HBO, I think I waited a full year to get my hands on Season 2.

In the non-vampire theme, I started watching The Gilmore Girls and really like this show. Thank goodness, there are several seasons out on DVD so I will have lots of watching for a while.

I like to keep a wide-variety of entertainment options available to accompany my knitting. It keeps me busy and engaged. I hope everyone found fun things to do and see during their July~!