midgeling: life in a shoe.

I finally made it to Web*sters here in Ashland. I bought some vacation fiber Heathery gray-blue and some heathery brighter blue), and two skeins of KPPPM in the perfect banana colorway so that I can make some Nanners Socks. I wanted to shop more, but Mr Midgeling made me hold back. So I didn't buy the hand cards I wanted. He promised he would make me some as soon as we finish moving completely out of the old house and into the new.

Later tonight we will be dining at Chateaulin with Grandma A. I am really looking forward to the French onion soup. Aunt Kelly says it is super delicious!

Tomorrow we leave for Vancouver, WA to spend the holiday weekend with my parents, sister and brothers. It will be fun! I really don't want to go back home and have my vacation be over. I am having way too much fun.

Posted by midgeling at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two sleeves down. 10 rows into left front. Wedding is on the 28th. Don't know if I will make it, lol. At least I will have a lot of car knitting time on the way to CA. Too bad Baby won't be there to assist with yarn wrangling.

Posted by midgeling at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I meant to post this back on May 22. Obviously, I didin't get to it. Life has been insane with trying to finish up the move, get kids registered at the proper schools for next year and people getting sick.

I am going to be going to a cousin's wedding on June 28th, and I need something decent to wear. So I am knitting the Sapphire Wrap by Melissa Wehrle.

So I happened to do my shopping while the 2008 LYS Tour was going on. While at Renaissance Yarns I spent more than $25, so I got the lovely free tote bag you see in the photo. I am doing the pattern in the same color, but not the same yarn. The pattern yarn used is cashmere, which just isn't in my budget. I am using Louet MerLin (merino/linen), which isn't cheap either, but it isn't as much as cashmere.

I have one sleeve plus most of the second sleeve completed so far. I sure hope I will get it done in time. I am also hoping that the computer gets brought over to the new house soon. Until then, I still have to come over here to the old house to work and use the computer. Blech.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I hope to catch up with you all soon.

Posted by midgeling at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Note: Poor photo taken on my phone since I still haven't replaced my card reader and I can't for the life of me find the stuff to hook my camera directly into my PC.

So since Weebug mentioned my sock yarn scrap blanket thingy, I figured I'd better post a photo of it.

I started it a couple of years ago and have been slowly adding to it as I knit socks and have a bit leftover. There's a couple of socks not represented here - those were made for Mr Midgeling and his monstrous feet, so I had no yarn leftovers to use. One pair I made him had toes from the yarn in that orange square there since I ran out of his yarn. It is more or less chronological, but not completely, since I have been known to lose my scraps and find them again in odd places months later.

It's not really a true knit-along, since I am famous for not being a put-together person. But you can have the recipe I used here:

Mitered Square Scrap Sock Yarn Blankie (MSSSYB - pronounced "Misseeb"?)

Square size: roughly 4" when I am not on painkillers for my back, lol.
Needle size: 2.0 mm or size to get gauge. If you want. I mean, it's a scrap blanket. It only has to look the way you want it. Gauge really isn't critical here.

First square:
Cast on 60 sts.
First row: Slip first stitch PW, Knit 27 sts, SSK, K2tog, Knit 28 sts.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, knit across.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, Knit 26 sts, SSK, K2tog, Knit 27 sts.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, knit across.
Continue on like this until you have 2 sts, then K2tog.and bind off.

Second Square:
Cast on 30 sts, pick up and knit 30 sts along the Right (Public) Side of the first square.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, knit across.
First row: Slip first stitch PW, Knit 27 sts, SSK, K2tog, Knit 28 sts.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, knit across.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, Knit 26 sts, SSK, K2tog, Knit 27 sts.
Next Row: Slip first stitch PW, knit across.
Continue on like this until you have 2 sts, then K2tog and bind off.

Keep adding squares in this manner until your blankie is Big Enough. If you are like me and oddly particular, you may wish to pay attention to what direction your miters are facing as you join the squares. If not, just go for it and let them end up facing whatever random direction you like.

Posted by midgeling at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Okay, so I wasn't fast enough to make the second round in Sock Madness 2008. I knit and finished my first sock late Friday night. I was so tired that I forgot where I put it, so a photo will have to come later.

I was so knit out by then that I decided to finish up some spinning and free up my favorite spindle.

It's from a Spritely Goods merino/firestar handblended batt in the Larkspur colorway. It's about 135 yards of roughly sport weight yarn. It will likely end up as a lace scarf of some sort. I tried to get it all in one hank, but my spindle refused to take any more than the 135 yards. The yarn kept breaking under the weight of the full spindle. So I Andean plied the remainder of the 2 chunks of singles into a couple of mini skeins. I'll probably end up weaving those into some coasters or something.

Lace week was sort of stressful. There were good parts and bad. Friday evening I felt like a totally crappy, horrible mother. I couldn't Make it to Marti's house Friday because Chace had his orchestra concert at 7:00. Guess what we found out? It was on Thursday. We missed it. He started to cry really quietly in the car. Then I started to cry and apologize all over the place. It was a big concert with 4 schools combined into one giant orchestra. I used to play violin, so I remember how big of a deal these things are. And HK didn't go to her boyfriend's karate competition because of the concert. And Mr Midgeling came home from work early, too.

Yeah, I suck.

Um, but on the bright side, the house we wanted is 95% ours. We sent in the paperwork accepting the seller's counter offer. Now we just wait on the inspection and by the end of the month, we will be the proud owners of a new (to us) 5 bedroom home down the street from the #1 rated high school in the state. According to Newsweek (I think it's them) it is ranked #37 in the country.

So it's not all bad. Losing at Sock Madness and orchestra. Getting the house we wanted. It's been a bit bumpy, but I'd say things are looking up.

Posted by midgeling at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been under it, around it and even in the gift shop. But on Wednesday, I finally went to the top of the Space Needle. Mr Midgeling emailed me and told me to pick him up from work so we could go hang out for the evening.

Our visit was at sunset, and during some freaky snowy weather. Seattle can't seem to decide if it is Spring or Winter. The last four days or so have been spent at the mercy of a seriously bipolar Mother Nature. In the morning I would go out to the car and drive kids to school while admiring the sun peeking out from behind the clouds and showing off patches of blue sky. The drive to the doc a few hours later had me bundling up against sleet and blowing snow. Weird.

But I got to experience snow at about 500 feet above Seattle:

And Mr Midgeling even took photos of me:

And I took photos of him:

That's not the most flattering photo of me, but hey. I don't seem to take many flattering photos these days, lol. And guess what? I even got to knit up there while we had coffee and watched the snow collect in the outer windowsills.

It was a nice surprise.

Posted by midgeling at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I made Round One of Sock Madness. I was #26 out of 40 in my division. I didn't get done as fast as I had hoped since we had company over the weekend and I ended up getting sick. And when you are sick, you sleep a lot more than you knit.

The stomach flu really sucked, btw. I lost 2 lbs more as a result, lol. I am feeling much better today. It's been rough trying to catch up with work, but I am still plugging along.

I am brain dead and boring at the moment, so I think I am going to end my lunch break and finish up my work.

Posted by midgeling at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Quick post. Stomach issues. Feel icky. Tired of camping in bathroom. Might call in sick tomorrow. Well, probably will. Parents visited this weekend. They are moving to Vancouver, WA next month. We are thrilled. Sock Madness 2. Tennessee Twisted Knitters. 14 people done so far. Sick Knitting sucks. Back hurts. Need ice pack. Goodnight.

Posted by midgeling at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's yet another WIP. It is That Little Scarf by Anne Hanson. Normally, I hate buying scarf patterns. Aren't scarves just insanely long gauge swatches? Why should I pay $5 for that? But I hadn't seen the stitch pattern before and it intrigued me. I found myself looking at it for days. So I bought it. And I am glad I did.

It's not an easy pattern where all the wrong side rows are purled across. And I am normally a devoted chart knitter. I usually skip right over written out directions. But for some reason, these charts had me confuzzled at first. You read them from the left on right side rows, and from the right on wrong side rows. After 2 pattern repeats of me comparing what I was knitting to the chart, the light finally came on and I got it. Duh.

The yarn is Zen String Bambewe in Moonshadow. Bambewe is Bamboo/merino/nylon. It's really soft and sort of shiny in the light. The color is a really pretty grayish blue. In darker lighting, it looks mostly gray, but in the light you can see more of the blue hues. And the coolest thing happened:

The whole scarf is knitting up with one half shading lighter than the other. It's a Happy Little Accident that I am really liking. Hopefully it will stay like that through the rest of the scarf. It's not so spectacular unblocked, but it will look. better when I am done.

*sigh* Tonight I have to drive HK the 11 miles to church for Youth Group. I am glad she likes it so much and I am WAY glad we found such a great church after our old one imploded upon itself last year. Once we move in (hopefully) a few months, The Husband will likely complain to me about the distance even more. He will just have to find a way to cope.

Posted by midgeling at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, almost. It's the Big Basin sock from the Six Sox Knitalong. The yarn is Dream In Color Smooshy in the Wisterious colorway. It makes my foot look like a hydrangea. Is started it Saturday afternoon while I was watching the kids swim.

It's coming along nicely so far, but I have no idea if it will end up fitting me. (Gauge? who needs to check gauge?) If it is too small, Mom gets it. If it is too big, my sister Laura gets it. (BTW, Laura and Michael are swiftly falling in love and all that mooshy stuff, so all is proceeding well with my Valentine's story.) If it fits, then I get to keep it until either HK or Laura decide to steal them and force their fat feet into them anyway. It's happened before.

Wish me luck.

Posted by midgeling at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Kassie: "Hey Mom! Doesn't this look like a giant ball of cat vomit?"

And just in case you were wondering, Lexa isn't holding a giant ball of cat vomit. She is holding an 8 oz ball of Natural Black roving that I got from Beaverslide for $15.00. Fifteen dollars. It is soft and smells nice and is very pettable. Kassie is holding my 4 skeins of Mallard colored 90% Wool, 10% Kid Mohair yarn that I bought for Wicked. It is about 960 yards and I really need like 1000 yards to knit Wicked. But I figured that I would knit what I could and then decide between 3/4 sleeves or the pocket. Or if I am off by that much, I just may end up with a 3/4 sleeve sweater with no pocket, lol. Hopefully, since I have unnaturally short arms, I will have enough for the long sleeve sweater with a pocket.

Why Beaverslide? I have never heard anything but good feedback on Beaverslide yarn. I have been wanting to order from them for a year or so now, and I finally got the good excuse to order some. I got a raise, so this was the perfect reason to celebrate! I also ordered a full set of color cards. They are gorgeous. The yarn is soft, without feeling like it has had all the character and personality processed out of it. And the colors are real and natural, and not like something mass produced by Willy Wonka. I am happy.

Posted by midgeling at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I finished my January Girl socks from the Zen String Sock Club. It was knit with Zen String Harmony DK (merino/tencel). The pattern was very nicely written and it turned out lovely. Angelina dyes up some truly wonderful yarn. I can't speak highly enough about her.

Detail of lace pattern.

It took my a lot longer to finish than I would have liked, but with my back so messed up, my left hand is still partially numb, and I still have problems with pain in my left arm. So I could only knit about 15 minutes at a time for most of the sock, and the last few days I was able to knit for over a half hour at a time with no real probems. I have been seeing a chiropractor and my regular doctor for a month now. This week I went from 3 visits to two visits per week to the chiro. I'd say the pain is about 70% better, but unfortunately the numbness hasn't gone yet. I am still spending a lot of quality time with my ice packs these days, lol.

I haven't been online as much as I like lately. I am behing on reading my favorite blogs since I don't really like to be sitting in my desk chair any more than I really have to. But since things are getting better, I think I will probably be getting back to normal. Oh, yeah. My doc is making me get an EMG to see exactly how much nerve blockage I have got going on. One of the things that drives me nuts is that my typing sucks even worse now. With my left hand numb, it types slower than the right. So I am constantly misspelling things, with all the letters typed by my right hand in the beginning of the word and the left handed letters showing up toward the end. My brain sends the signals like normal, but my left hand executes things much more slowly, and with the numbness, it isn't always apparent that my left hand is lagging behind. It drives me nuts. But things are getting better!

Posted by midgeling at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The 3rd Mohican Hat in the color Iris. More Christmas Knitting. I finally passed the first set of decreases. After this point, it goes pretty quickly.

Posted by midgeling at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My favorite socks. KPPPM. I wear them several days each week, lovingly hand washing and hanging them to dry. Well, sometimes when they are still damp, I use the hair dryer to speed things up. The stupid hard, disintegrating wood floors in this house are really hard on socks. I need to learn to darn socks now. I have extra scrap yarn.

I got my new phone. I love it. But it had a slight software malfunction and nuked my entire address book. From the flash card. I had no backup since The Beast is still dead, and there is no ETA on it's resurrection. I miss my poor computer. He was good to me.

My week has sort of sucked again. . My back is messed up, so I sleep like crap. It's a freakish pinched nerve thingy. It hurts from my neck, down between my shoulder blades and into my left arm. I had to drop Nathan off at work this morning after I dropped HK off because we both slept through both his alarms. I was a half hour late picking HK up from school on Monday cause I kept getting stopped by people about stuff at work, then got stuck behind some clueless people that took forever in the parking garage.

Oh, Kass and Chace were turned away from the bus on Monday because Chace isn't allowed to take his cello on the bus anymore. The Transportation dept said they have "airline-like restrictions" for their buses. Um, so why aren't they turning away all the kids bringing juice boxes in their lunches? They are carrying on more than 2 oz of liquid. Anyway, since I had the car, both kids stayed home from school and played on the trampoline and played Wii. Lucky them. So Chace won't be bringing his cello on Mondays, so they better either let him use a school instrument or else not get on his case when he shows up empty-handed. I hate this school district. I can't wait till we move.

I am a bit cranky, but I am convinced that things will get better. I stopped the inhalers a couple of weeks ago and I think my immune system is improving. I am still congested, but not outright sick anymore. Yippee!

Posted by midgeling at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My phone did not arrive. It is currently on a delivery truck somewhere. So at least it should be here soon.

Enter the Black Dog: The new year isn't going quite as well as I had hoped so far. Like yesterday, for example. I arrived back home after dropping HK off at school to find that I had to turn off 9 lights that people failed to turn off before leaving. NINE. From the upstairs attic room (my bedroom) to the basement. Then came work. And it wouldn't stop. I am still dealing with asthma and congestion issues, but in an effort to save my crappy immune system, I have gone off my asthma inhalers. I mean, I have had some virus or another since the end of September. I get a 2-3 day break in there on occasion, but I am SICK of being sick! Oh, and I am still not done with all my Christmas knitting.

And today I slept through my alarm for 2 hours. I let HK stay home from school because I had to drive Mr Midgeling to work. His motorcycle had a flat tire and he was going to be late for a meeting with Bob-the-New-Boss-of-First-Impressions. I am not impressed by that man (Bob, not the mister. But actually, I haven't been to impressed with the mister lately either, lol!). He is a dolt. So the middle 2 kids have late start school at 10:30 on Fridays. But they were 10 minutes late anyway.

I am having insomnia issues. I frequently get to greet 3 am in a completely conscious state. I have been feeling restless and irritable. My concentration and motivation is shot. If I had my choice, I would stay up all night knitting and listening to my iPod and sleep all day. I am having a hard time resisting the urge to buy stuff. I seriously want to renew a couple of sock clubs, but I can't. I have to save that money for the new house that will hopefully be entering our lives in the next 6 months or so.

My former boss still manages to be like wet sand in my underwear, even though I don't report to him anymore. Well, I suppose he is like wet sand because I don't report to him anymore. I don't even want to work anymore because my place of employment is dysfunctional (as is everywhere) and preally pretty hostile. I report to a new woman now, so hopfully that will go well. I have known her for years, though I didn't work with her much, but I have never had issues or anything negative go on with her.

My friend Chris asked me today what I have been doing to try to cope with these feelings and problems I have had lately. Here's an excerpt from our conversation:

Chris says (11:39 AM):so what have you tried to do differently to break the funk?
midgeling says (11:40 AM):
um, leaving my purse in the car so I cant shop online, lol
midgeling says (11:40 AM):
And I upped my meds by a half a pill
midgeling says (11:41 AM):
trying to be positive. think positive and plan things out. more structure makes for less opportunity to start spinning out of control. it's hard sometimes. sometimes I just want to sleep and quit trying to be level-headed
midgeling says (11:41 AM):but i know I cant

So there. I know it will get better. It just takes time and effort. But it is still a struggle some days. But on the more positive side:

More Christmas knitting. I'm on the second sock. It's plain rib, but I need to get stuff done fast. I will make it up to teh recipient by making another fancier pair when I get a moment.

Posted by midgeling at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am in love with Brown Sheep's new variegated colors. They are tonal and subtle. I don't know why, but I really like tone on tone colorways these days. The red is called "Cranberry Swirl" and the green is "Forest Shadows". I am wortking on a Mohican Hat in the Cranberry Swirl right now - that's the bit of ribbing you see there. I must knit myself a sweater in one of those colors very soon.

One more of the Critter Scarves is finished. We have a chocolate covered Lexa as a model. I am done with the knitting for my BIL's family now. I am hoping that my first newly started project of 2008 will be something that I knit for myself.

Oh, and here's a simple square done on my 6x6 Weavette. It's done with Kureyon. I wouldn't recommend it for Weavettes unless you don't object to fussing with it a lot - the single ply breaks too easily. I found that if you keep most of the working yarn doubled as much as possible, that helps. But then you are adjusting the yarn after pretty much every row.

I spent much of the day helping Chace clean his room. It was so bad that it was spilling into the hallway. I even got rid of old books that he has outgrown. I have about 4 bags ready for Goodwilll. Chace discovered that he probably has a couple thousand dollars worth of Legos all over his room. I discovered that I will never buy the kids feather pillows or Moon Sand ever again.

I'm still not ready for Christmas. Not by a longshot. Oh yeah. And one of the darling kitties pooped on a blanket in the basement. Neither of those buggers is owning up to it.

Posted by midgeling at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

These are my beloved kitties. Baby is the big boy at the top. Stella aka Fatty aka Fat Cat is the pretty little thing below Baby. She has the most adorable fat rear end that gives her the cutest waddle when she walks. We have a lot in common, except that her waddle is much cuter than mine. I really missed the most adorable shot of Baby licking the top of Stella's head, and her laying there with her eyes closed enjoying every minute of it. They refused to cooperate and repeat the scene for me.

And here is Harley creatively modeling another Christmas gift hat. Um, I don't really have much else to say about it. Harley pretty much leaves me at a loss for words.

Okay, I finished the hat several days ago, but I am only just posting it now. Why? Because Kassie brought home another virus. There were aches and congestion and fevers to go around. She gave it to her baby sister, who gave it to me. We all pretty much spent the weekend sleeping and taking over-the-counter drugs.

But a few minutes ago, I was listening to Knitters Uncensored on my iPod while knitting another Critter Scarf and watching Quilters TV on TiVo (yes, all 3 at the same time) and I realized that I was actually awake and had photos, so I may as well post them.

So there you have it. Another (not so) exciting day in my life. Oh, well there was the Starbucks Date earlier tonight. But that's another story to be told tomorrow.

Posted by midgeling at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The lovely Kassie modeling the latest scarf FO while at Taekwondo.

I finished another Christmas gift! This is a variation on the Critter Scarf for one of my nieces. So far I have finished Christmas knitting for 2 nephews, 2 nieces (1 niece and 1 nephew to go), one BIL, FIL, MIL and sister. I swear, my hands and fingers are going to fall off soon.

And yes, I am still sick. I had to take a nap today just so I could make it through the rest of the running around I had to do today. I don't know how much longer it's going to linger, but I am out of Sudafed. I need to go to the store for more, but I am just too pooped. But on the bright side, I am a bit less congested than I was a few days ago.

Posted by midgeling at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here are the hats i finished!

Lexa is modeling this one. I am not exactly sure who is going to get this one. It's a 2x2 rib hat made from Noro Kureyon over 100 sts. It's really stretchy and fits not only Mr Midgeling, but little Lexa here as well.

And here we have Chace trying on his cousin's Mohican hat. I made this hat in Knitpicks Swish. I am saving the Morehouse Merino that the kit came with for an adult, since it is not superwash. I am substituting Swish for all the Morehouse Merino for my nieces and nephews since there are 6 kids in that family and I am sure that at some point something would end up getting thrown in the washer and felted.

I thought for sure this hat would take forever since I had to knit all those little spikes, but it was surprisingly quick! Now I just have a ton more presents to knit and get shipped off. And I haven't even sent out Christmas cards yet, lol. Oh, well. I suppose I will get to them sometime...

Posted by midgeling at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So this is how WA ushered in the month of December. I celebrated by getting that stupid cold again. The snow was unfortunately short-lived, but we got plenty of rain the following few days. One high school was even closed because of some flooding.

I finished another pair of Lobster mitts. I had to rip out one of the mitts and reknit part of it. The pattern is correct, but some of the numbers are split among 2 lines, so I didn't see that numbers for the larger size were continued on the line below. *sigh* my fault for not reading carefully enough.

I have a couple of finished hats to post as well. Hopefully I will get to those tomorrow - the camera battery is busy charging tonight, so I can't get them all done now. Darn it, I am tired and in serious need of a shower. My weeks have been so busy with all the kid stuff! Hopefully things will get better soon.

Posted by midgeling at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I made some Lobster Mitts! The large size used most of the skein supplied in the kit, but with enough leftovers (and then some) to make a crocheted string to attach the two mitts. They were really fast - I finished the pair in a day.

These are probably going to be for Lexa. The wool is hand wash only, and my SIL will doubtfully be willing to hand wash wool garments for 6 kids. So I bought some superwash from Knitpicks and will be knitting their Christmas gifts out of nothing but superwas wool, lol. Crazy me has decided to try to knit (almost) all the Christmas gifts this year.

I've had these finished since the weekend, but haven't managed to get a photo taken of them. My sinus infection is coming back. I am feeling poopy again. *sigh* My body can't seem to just mellow out and heal itself sufficiently. I need to drink more green tea. It may just be all in my head, but I swear it helps.

Posted by midgeling at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, the colors are truly that blinding in person.

Posted by midgeling at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's is a hat I knit for a friend's baby for her first birthday. It's the Ann Norling Sweetheart Hat. You can't really see the pattern too well, but there are stockinette hearts on a purl background. It's a roll brim with a garter stitch top. I finished it in one night. I didn't want to just buy a gift, so I made sure I had something hand made tucked in the gift bags as well.

Layla's birthday party was today, and her parents went all out. They rented out a room at their local community center. Layla was adorable. She got to wear a tutu and eat all the cake she could stuff in her cute little face, lol. They had a ton of food and even hired a magician/facepainter to keep the kidlets happy. It was really a great party.

But Captain Fluffybutt was once again displeased that he was forced to model more knitwear. I think he would have been more cooperative had the hat not been bright pink with hearts. He'll get used to it. Maybe I should get one of my daughter's bears to model the girly stuff.

Posted by midgeling at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Captain Fluffybutt is a little irritated at me for forcing him to model. He is the perfect size, and I told him that he looked rather dashing in the hat.

He was fine with the hat, it was the booties that he objected to being photographed in.

See, he has this image to uphold. Stewie from Family Guy is his hero, and he kept telling me that Steweie would never be caught wearing rainbow baby booties.

But unlike Stewie, Captain Fluffybutt has a soft, cuddly, sweet side. He's only Emo Pirate Bear on the outside.

The booties and hat are for my latest nephew, John Joseph. He's baby #6, just arrived late last month. I don't know if my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are crazy, or just like having kids. Sister-in-law is a Good Catholic Girl, but all my other Catholic friends keep telling me that birth control is no longer forbidden. I don't think that memo ever got from the Vatican to the state of New Mexico, lol!

Posted by midgeling at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Harley's Birthday Socks are finally done. They were done toe up in a a garter rib pattern (1 rnd K2P2, 2 rnds K) with 2x2 ribbed cuffs and shart row garter stitch heels and toes. I just love the fact that some patterns are so ingrained that to me, they consist of one sentence and not pages of text or charts.

Here's a close up:

For Harley's 14th birthday, she chose one of the family favorite restaurants, Shanghai Garden. We always order Hand Shaved Noodles with chicken, Strawberry Beef (kid's favorite) and Pepper Salted Squid (my favorite).

Afterward, we crossed the street to spend some time at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Uwajimaya Village. I love that bookstore. Since Uwajimaya is celebrating their anniversary, they are having a 10% off sale. So I had to get a book. HAD TO. This book refused to let me go. I suppose to describe it, you would say it is Barbara G. Walker meets Cookie A. I can't wait to start playing with some stitch patterns.

So from us, Harley got a cute top that she wanted, a pair of socks, and a concert ticket to see Chiodos at the Showbox this weekend with a friend. I can't believe I am now the mother of a 14 year old. It scares me. I am getting old. I don't feel too much more than 14 myself.

Posted by midgeling at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's my first Zigzag sock from the Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock Book. I got the book for my birthday from, my sister. The yarn I am using is Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Tweed 6-ply / 6 fädig in a light gray color. I shortened the leg by one pattern repeat since I didn't have as much yarn as the pattern called for. I had about 3 yards leftover from my ball! I can't believe I made it.

The book is great - just beware of the heel turning for this pattern! After the second try, I realized that their directions for the heel turning were all screwed up, so I eyeballed it and got what worked for me. A newbie sock knitter would be really frustrated, so I hope this doesn't mess anyone up.

Hopefully, I'll start the second sock tomorrow.

Posted by midgeling at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a poorly taken photo to display today. Today was... not good. It started last night with transmission fluid accidently getting drained from my car and a mad search for the ATV-IV to replace it. Then today was windy, rainy, cold and icky. Normally, I like that kind of weather. But when doing car maintenance, it sucks.

Then add a 13 year old who is pissed at not being able to go to church tonight.

Good times...

Posted by midgeling at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finished them. He wore them to work yesterday! He even showed them off to his friends - one of which has a Knitting Wife. Of course Mr. midgeling had to rub it in Jason's face that they were hand knit just for him. Since he knows that Jason's Knitting Wife hasn't yet tried to knit socks. I suspect she has that perfectionist thing where she is afraid to produce things that aren't perfect on the first shot. But she is a wonderful knitter. Really - I have seen her FOs. Hopefully I will bring her to the Dark Side of socks - or maybe someone else will.

Since Mr. midgeling was so busy playing Warfcrack, I decided to use some girly props in this photo. So you see my new red purse that I got for my birthday, and the fleece blanket that Grandma gave me when we visited her this past July in CA.

I used all 462 yards of the Lime & Violet sock yarn, plus a wee bit of a second coordinating Lime & Violet color to finish up the toes. Mr. midgeling has big, F A T feet.

So I suppose I will consider these the first pair in my Socktoberfest celebration. Woot!

Posted by midgeling at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so yesterday was good. Sorta. Started out rocky - new church, narrow minded people that don't think that if you wear black that you can already have an established relationship with God. You know, you must be "lost" or something. Eh, we have a few churches to try out. And just maybe my family can teach these conservative peoples that you can be different AND Christian.

After that, we went to Weebug's house. We hung out for the day while went all supergeek on them and tuned up their PC and recovered music files from the iPod that was orphaned by their previous PC. It was fun in a sick and twisted kind of way. I got some sock knitting done. Quite a bit, actually. See?

Those are Nathan's Never Ending Socks. Those are supposed to sorta replace his blue Birthday Socks that were too small. And by "sorta" I mean, he still wears the other ones even though they are too small, but I wanted him to have a pair that fit since they were a birthday present. So here I have knit these socks with Lime N Violet sock yarn in the Basement Dweller colorway. 462 yards will not be enugh to comfortably fit his size 11.5 EEEE feet. So it's a good thing I bought Cutters Are People Too, because that's what color the toes of his monstrous socks are going to be. They coordinate quite nicely.

It feels like I have been knitting them forever. But really, it's just been since the beginning of July. But I may finish them this week! Woot!

Oh, and so in return for my hours of sitting at her computer ignoring everyone while she fed my kids, Weebug graciously gave me a big hunk of pretty fibery love. It's Lisa Souza fiber in the Lime and Violet colorway, of course! Do I have awesome friends or what?

Posted by midgeling at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And here's the lovely Lexa showing off her best friend Buddy and my birthday present from Weebug. It is Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn Clark. (Evelyn is such a nice lady. I remember years ago she sat near me in Margaret Stove's lace knitting class that we took at the Bellevue Fire station.)

I love the book, and of course I want to abandon all that I am knitting and start a new lace shawl for myself.

Oooh, and I got a $100 bill from one of my grandmas. Weebug thinks I need to buy a new Bosworth spindle. She may be on to something!

Posted by midgeling at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are my mom's birthday socks. They are beyond salvaging. So I knit the two stupid socks, then proceeded to wash the second one in the same manner as the first in order to get them the same damn color. Um, that didn't work. The color in the second sock washed out WAY more than the first. So I figured I would get my Wilton dyes out to overdye them a sort of purply color to even it out.

Okay, so picture socks soaking in some seriously hot water. Next picture me running the tub to get the water nice and piping hot. But it comes out of the faucet out nice and cold at first, right? And there is a washcloth in the bottom of the tub blocking the drain, so the cold is just sitting there. Then picture clumsy me slipping in a small puddle of water and dropping the piping hot first sock into the nice, cold tub water.

You could actually see the damn thing shrivel up. On first glance, the sock only looks slightly smaller than the second sock. But try to put it on and you will find an inelastic tube. In a markedly different color.

I hate these socks.

Posted by midgeling at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finished my Southwestern Socks. I plan on giving them to my mom for her birthday - which was on the 15th. I hope they aren't too purple for her tastes. The yarn is Joslyn's Fiber Farm sock of the month club from years ago. It was either from 2003 or 2004. The freaky thing is that after washing, the color totally changed. I suspected as much since my fingers would turn pink every time I knit with the yarn. So after I did a good vinegar soak in hot water, I dried it and then knit the second sock for a little comparison.

Would you believe they are the same pattern and same yarn? Here's a detail photo:

Overall, I like how they turned out. I think I even like the more muted color sock better than the brighter sock.

Posted by midgeling at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's Harley modeling Brenda Zuk's Seaman's Cap. I made the medium size from some Brown Sheep yarn I had laying around. It was staring at me accusingly, as if I was wasting it's wooly goodness by letting it just lie on the floor next to my bedroom television. So I made it into a hat with a bit leftover for the ribbing of another hat.

Neglected yarn can be so moody sometimes. Sheesh.

Posted by midgeling at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yup. I have been spinning a bit again. This is 1 oz total (off and on the spindle) of a rose colored wool. I have one more ounce of this same fiber, plus 2 ounces of a darker rose colored wool that I bought in Ashland, OR at Web*sters. It's vacation fiber. I am liking it.

Then we have the socks. I will be ripping them out shortly. Too tight. Pretty, though. They are Wendyknits Southwestern Socks. I'll try again in a different yarn.

Sometime in the future I will post photos of our Saturday with the family at the Ballard Locks. That was fun. Unexpectedly fun in strange ways. The whole day was really nice. I got to spend time with my aunt and cousin that I don't see nearly enough.

Posted by midgeling at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was a good Mail Day!!! My Zen String Sock Club shipment for July Came today. (Angelina was a little behind because of family illness last month.) It is Harmony Fingering (50/50 Merino/Tencel) in the Dragonfly colorway. It is just beautiful! The color does relaly look shimmery like a dragonfly.

And I realized that I never posted June's club shipment in my chaos of getting ready to leave for vacation. That was Lotus Toes (Superwash BFL) in the Lily colorway. *sigh* It's all so pretty...

And my Interweave Knits came also. Time for me to get myself some iced tea and start looking through my new magazine!

Posted by midgeling at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finished it. Please ignore the fat girl wearing the Chickami, just look at the garment, thankyouverymuch. It was easy, quick, and turned out nice. I used some Intermezzo cotton yarn that I bought from Elann many years ago. I think it cost me all of about $9 for the yarn.

On my body, lower necked items tend to be more flattering since I have ginormous boobies, but I knit it as written anyway. I might try to knit another and alter the neckline. But then again, maybe I should just lose 30 lbs and get a boob job. Hmmmm.....

Posted by midgeling at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I started something for myself. It's the Chickami from Chicknits. I am using some Intermezzo cotton yarn i bought years ago from Elann.It's going pretty fast, but would have been faster if I had been paying attention and noticed that I was only doing the body shaping on one side and not both sides of the stinking cami. At least I only had to rip out a couple of inches.

Oh, and just like the Harlot said, you really need to treasure your non-knitting friends who understand what your knitting is to you. My friend Magy is one of those treasures. She is wonderful with my girls and really does understand me more than I thought she did. Friday, I was dropping my little girls off at her Playschool for a few hours. I ended up staying and talking with her because life was sort of sucking and she is an awesome listener.

So Magy made me a quad-shot Americano. About an hour later, she says "Girl! Where is your knitting? Now I see why you knit all the time. You can't sit still without it. Go out to the car and grab it - you're making me nuts!" LOL! So I ran out and grabbed a sock to work on while we finished talking. Not once has she ever made fun of me for having yarn in my purse. Yeah. Those kinds of friends are priceless.

Posted by midgeling at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm doing more socks. Yes, socks. I have been sock obsessed for several years now. I have heard many people say "*sigh* [eyeroll] I can't wait for this stupid sock fad to be over with."

Sock fad? Um, honey - how long have you been knitting? I have been knitting 11 or 12 years and have been knitting socks almost that entire time. It's not a fad. It's been going strong for more years than you or I have been knitting. Centuries longer. Get over yourself. People like to knit socks. It's not a fad. Polyester sparkly glow in the dark fake fur yarn is a fad.

Posted by midgeling at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Let's try to ignore the fact that the sock is sitting on my foot all wonky, mmmkay? Let's just appreciate that for the first time in a long while, I actually managed to shave my stupid legs before snapping a sock photo.

I started it! The second shipment from the Rockin Sock Club arrived many weeks ago and the yarn has been staring at me quite accusingly. So rather than risk an angry skein trying to strangle me in my sleep (they do that, you know) I decided to get the socks started. Once again, I am underestimating the size of my feet. I usually make my socks a tad on the large side, but the last couple of times they ended up a wee bit small. Small socks usually go to my mom.

So I also started editing my stuff at Ravelry. Holy Crap. There is no way in hell I can enter my whole yarn stash in there. Even just my whole sock yarn stash would take FOREVER. I have at least 4 plastic bins of just sock yarn. I have over 20 skeins of Opal. And pictures? Dude, I would fill up all the drive space on my server with all that after burning through all the space that Flickr would allow me. Yes - I am a shameful sock yarn addict. And I have been that way for about 7 years now. But hey - as time goes by, my taste in yarn gets better, lol!

Okay, I gotta git to bed. The Man gets antsy if I wander around the house too long after bedtime. He is a big baby who can't sleep without his security blanket. And yes, I would be said blankie. *sigh*

Posted by midgeling at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)