Planning ahead...birthday socks!

Mom's birthday is mid-November. Certain that she has been 'jipped' all of her life by the near holidays, I always try to make her day extra special. This can't always be accomplished because her day is nearly always the week of Thanksgiving when cooking and cleaning to prepare for the celebration takes over. Ironic that this is the time when I should be giving Thanks to the person who has sacrificed most in my life.

This year, I've prepared ahead. The part of her present that requires thought and planning is complete and she will love it!

******SPOILER ALERT...(Mom, in the small chance that you've found time to read my blog, look away or you will spoil your present)

See them on Ravelry

...of course, Bugg put one right on and announced that she NEEDS these socks.

Visit

A smile crosses my face as this post is composed.

Bugg went to college mid-August and this week we needed a visit. She was as happy to see me as I was to see her.

Worry wasn't the reason for the visit, desire to hug that little girl who's been such a central part of my life was.

We shopped a little, ate a little and I hung out in her dorm while she went for a test. It seems I was invisible to her roommate and

her roommate's friends. It reminds me of the time when she was younger and I drove the carpool - they forget, for a moment, that you are there. It was nice.

I still miss her, so much, but we have 2 visits coming up in October and she will be home at Thanksgiving - which is just one more thing that I will be thankful for.

Heart of a hat

The Mirasol line has totally captured my heart. No wonder that this hat - hearts and all - would fly off of my needles. Of course, it is for Bugg.

Size 9 needles gave me gauge, had I to do it over again, size 10 (which is what is called for) may have been my choice as the hat is a tad snug.

The pattern is the Isla hat out of Book One and is knit with Mirasol's Sulka.

I considered adding tassels or braids to the ear flaps, but decided it was good for now - we'll see how Bugg likes it.

There is a thicker sock on my needles right now and I'm pretty certain I can finish them this week. They will be mom's birthday gift and she is sure to love them.

WHAT???? another finished project?

Seriously, the socks make with the yarn from hell are finished. If it were a do-over, the Silk Garden Sock Yarn would have been a pass. Luckily, my skein did not have knots, but there were numerous thick slubby pieces which were just knit into the pattern as usual.

The end result is more pleasing than anticipated and I expect to be even happier once these stiff socks are washed. Turtlegirl assures me that they will soften up.

BIG HUGE apologies for putting Becky's heart in danger with my last post title. Although snow is eminent, we have at least another good month (I hope).

One more thing - Marco....whoever you are...I'm not looking for an Italian boy (or any boy for that matter). One good husband is all I can handle!


See it on Ravelry

The snow, it is a 'comin'

Just a quick post to chronicle my preparedness for the cold weather.

Diamond Headband from Never Knit Your Man a Sweater....

Size 6 and 7 needles (24" circs)

Knit in one evening, but it did take a couple of days to drive to JoAnn's and get a piece of fleece to line it. Did you know that JoAnn will sell fabric by the inch?

A Nikon Coolpix S550 came to live with us this week. I love my D40x, but the size makes it impractical at times. The tiny Coolpix is a lot easier to suspend in the air with one hand and snap a photo which is badly necessary since Bugg ran off and joined college.

Drudging through the rain

Rain, rain go away...there are certainly a lot of people harboring this same thought these days. It rained the majority of the weekend and the cold has set in for today - a certain predictor to our upcoming season change. Oh, how I dread the snow and cold weather which is just around the corner.

Scarf Style has been in my library for awhile and there is yarn here intended for 4 or 5 projects in that book. With the impending weather inevitable, it was time to do something to prepare.

Vintage Velvet has been intriguing and this knit up quickly in 10 days. True, other projects are on my needles so you could knit this up faster with dedication. This scarf is so soft - make one and you will be pleased.

After Velvet was off the needles, the nagging idea returned to frog half of a mohair sweater for another scarf.

Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Mohair was appealing as a sweater years ago. Thank goodness I snapped to my senses after knitting the back and quit production. Horror stories are out there about frogging mohair -- they are all true, but this task is not impossible and success prevailed. Hopefully, this will be more fun to knit the second time around.

Happily, the alpaca is finished. 655 yards of yummy alpaca made my day. As usual, it does not have a project, but that will change sometime soon. I can't keep my hands off of it.

A gift of Briar Rose BFL arrived last month and it is now being spun up. I'm pretty sure I haven't spun BFL before. The memory would have stuck with me. This fiber is incredible - soft and buttery. Chris' color job just adds to the beauty. How lucky am I?

An update on Bugg seems to be in order - she is doing well and is so happy at school. She is in the right place and has adjusted. We did receive a call for money last week (heh heh, it took a month!). I miss her a lot, but she has been calling and shares with us - I am thankful for that. She will be playing tennis at the end of the month and asked me to come down...the car is gassed up and my clothes are packed!

My spinning regimen

This button pretty much says it allSince seeing Mamma Mia (the movie)...ok, I've seen it twice so far...I've been hooked. Purchasing the soundtrack was a natural next move and it really is very good. I digress.

In my quest to become a better spinner, practice is at the top of the list. I try to spin at least 20 minutes a day and it is thoroughly enjoyable. Recently, I've added the Mamma Mia! soundtrack to my daily spinning. Spinning through the entire CD is a dream with most songs being upbeat and easy to work into my rhythm. This means spinning is getting more than 20 minutes, but practice makes perfect and there will be more handspun yarn to share proving it.

Do you have a spinning or knitting regimen?

Need more yarn

...so the 2-at-a-time socks are finished. The pattern is Berry Season (these are named Blue- Berry Season) and were knit from 2 skeins of Mirasol Hacho on size 4 needles.

It was such a relief to finish a pair of socks that another pair was cast-on. These are 'what the ?' socks. Knit from Noro Silk Garden Sock, the finished product looks nothing like the original skein...see?

Mitizi and I laughed a lot at the sock coming off the skein. It was being knit on the ferry and a couple of people commented that the sock looked nothing like the yarn and asked if it really did come from that skein. Hee hee -typical Noro.

With some successful knitting under my belt, we descended upon the WI Sheep and Wool Festival. There were many stash enhancement opportunities which need to be added to my Ravelry stash. Here are a couple of teasers:

Briar Rose Charity - with buttons! This is destined to become a jacket I've been thinking about for the last month.

some wonderful yarn for a gift Bugg will love - fiber escapes me...let's call this Softee Softee.

and a little something for Georgia - this silk and wool roving from Creatively Dyed. Absolutely yummy!

You are wondering if this is all, right? ummm, no. There are other things that just followed me home but it is safer to just add them to my Rav stash in case my honey is reading.

Books?

I've been going through my enormous collection of books and have a list of de-stash to post soon. Keep an eye out, I will put the list here and on Ravelry as well.

Just WIP's

Gosh! I am tired of knitting the same old thing!

There are 258 stitches on these needles and I broke down and ordered a longer cable from Knit Picks. My hands ache after working on this for too long and I'm hoping that longer cable will do the trick.

Usually, another project is on needles when I'm working on something this intricate and demanding.

Grape Cable Lace was finished (did I show you photos?) hmmm. Not quite sure and feeling too lazy to go check. This is my own design that went out in a scarf to my exchange pal, Becky, last year. The photos taken of the original did not do it justice and this yarn (Valley Farms Lenox) does show off the detail better.

...anyway, a new project was necessary and nothing jumped out at me. After a couple of days spinning my wheels, something evil possessed me to knit socks 2-at-a-time. This is a new technique to me which did not cause initial problems. Frustration has set in because my longer cable is in the Philosopher's wool cardigan and using a somewhat shorter cable with the socks causes a little disruption. The worse thing is that my hands hurt with this project, too.

The yarn is lovely! It is Mirasol Hacho and was sent to me by Ivy whom I 'met' on Ravelry. This book has a few patterns that call to me but I think I will knit them separately next time.

Yes, this post is scatterbrained - this is how my life feels right now. There was a finished project here to share, though.

Thanks so much for the kind comments on my last post (and the others). My niece tried to model the shrug again when we visited last weekend...she is so funny!