midgeling: life in a shoe.

Today's daily photo is brought to you by my messy desk, and Nathan's finally finished Birthday socks! They are done in Lisa Souza's sock yarn in Mars Quake.

Well, I am glad I finally finished these! I have been working on them since July, and his birthday I was knitting these for was June 24th. Not to mention I still haven't started knitting his Christmas 2008 socks. I am a little behind, huh?

I wanted to take a photo of them on his feet, but he is sound asleep. It is 10:30 and he is tired. I'll let him sleep.

Posted by midgeling at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I almost forgot to post this photo to Ravelry for the Grace Lace Beret that I made for my mom for Christmas. So here it is. It only took me 1 day and was very easy. I loved the way it came out (except for the 2 little mistakes I didn't notice until I cast off).

I used Bernat Muskoa yarn in teal. I used 3.5 and 4.5 mm needles. I think I might make one for myself next.

Posted by midgeling at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally finished it! My One Row Scarf is a finished object at last. I just knit until I ran out of yarn, and it ended up being 7 feet long. For some reason it never occurred to me to stop before I was out of yarn and make a pair of mitts or something. It doesn't matter. I actually kind of like it long. I an wrap it around my neck a couple of times and still have the ends long enough. For some reason I have a weird (almost) fear of too-short scarves. I would much rather have them too long than too short.

I just love the zigzag that the colors do. Love it!

Posted by midgeling at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SNOW!!!

School was canceled yesterday in anticipation of a snowstorm. We didn't get one. This morning we woke to a metric buttload of snow that fell all day. Nani barked at the sky off and on while she was out, telling the clouds to knock it off. She didn't understand snow. She didn't like to poop in it, because she preferred to poop on my bedroom floor instead, even though she had just been outside for a potty break.

I had been lusting after the pattern for the Ariosa Cowl by Pam Allen. I kept staring at it, thinking I couldn't possibly pay a whole $5 for that pattern. It was just brioche stitch knitted flat, then add a cable twist and continue in the round. I could figure it out, right? Well, I finally quit thinking about it and just knit it this afternoon.

It wasn't as difficult to figure out as I thought it would be. I think mine came out a wee bit larger around than I would have liked, and wished I could have made a wee bit longer than it ended up. But at least I will remember that for next time. Just cast on less than 56 sts on my next try.

See? It's not so bad. The yarn was on sale and the pattern didn't cost me anything but the time it took me to work it out in my head. Oh, and many thanks to the Brioche Stitch website.

And school is cancelled again tomorrow...

Posted by midgeling at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I like my Monkey Socks. I finally finished them. I finished them on Saturday. That was the same day we found out that Lexa's heart murmur wasn't a problem and didn't need further medical attention. That was a huge relief.

Things here at Shoe Central are still chaotic, as usual. Lexa now has a fever and aches. HK is still being lazy and won't keep up on her chores (which she has very few of). Nani is not quite housebroken. Work has me worn out and burnt out still. I am hanging in. At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But really, it's the same old stuff.

Well, it's bed time for me. I am going to try to get back to my regularly scheduled, not so hectic life. I hope everyone has a good week!

Posted by midgeling at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

And here they are. The latest finished pair of socks. I just finished them last night! I used the sock pattern from my skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool and knit the pair from my Mama Llama sportweight self-striping yarn. So that's another 272 yards of sock yarn down.

I knit the foot and garter cuff on 2 mm needles and the ankle on size 3.25 mm needles. I tried the whole darn thing on 2 mm, but couldnt get the thing up over my foot. Weebug kindly loaned me her 3.25 mm circs since I was working on them at her house while we partied last Saturday for her birthday.

Posted by midgeling at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay, so for the Lime-N-Violet Sock Marathon, I have calculated what I have knit so far.

Sock #1 330 meters/360 yards
Sock #2 411 meters/450 yards
Sock #3 425 meters/465 yards
Sock #4 350 meters/380 yards
Sock #5 320 meters/350 yards
Sock #6 350 meters/328 yards

So that is a total of 2186 meters (2.186 km) or 2391 yards. that is 1.4 miles!! WOOT!!! That is a lot more than I thought I knit.

Posted by midgeling at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woohoo! another pair done! 300 more meters (328 yards) down.
Steinbach Wolle Strapaz Norweger Ringel80/20 Wool/Polymid. THis was yarn I receieved from my secret pal on the Lime-N-Violet Secret Pal Exchange.

Posted by midgeling at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(I didn't want you all to see the dirty spots on my wall that the flash highlights so well.)

They Conwy-ish socks are finished! They are "ish" because it is against my nature to follow a pattern to the letter. I used the stitch pattern in the Conwy socks by Nancy Bush. But I did them toe-up, with a garter stitch short row heel and a picot bind off.

I had about 6 grams leftover from the two balls of KPPPM. So that makes another 350 yards down for the sock marathon. Woot!

Posted by midgeling at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally finished them. These are my Socks That Rock Monsoon Inside Out Socks. How's that for a name? They are a bit hard to get up over the ankles, but I like them. I knit the feet on size 00 DPNs, and the cuff on size 1 16" circulars. (Please try to ignore the puky greeness of the basement carpet in the background. Although, it all kind of matches. Hmmm.)

One thing I am really irritated beyond belief about is that NOBODY makes circular needles in 1.75 mm. And why the hell not? I hate knitting on 7" long steel needles just because I don't knit as tight as everyone else. I am thinking I just may end up using my 000s for socks from now on. It would make a nice, thick fabric, but that is a lot of stitches to put into a sock. Eh, I guess I will just have to experiment.

Anyway, here is a detail of the socks, left side the "right" way out, and the left side is the alternate "inside out" way. Once you get to the cuff, these socks really fly. I did 3 pattern repeats on the cuff and I ended up with 25 grams of yarn left over. I think I prefer the left sock. They seem to hug my feet better when I have this side out.

I haven't been doing a lot of blog updating lately because life has sort of been going to hell for me. Not too bad, but I just haven't had enough time for the fun stuff for me. Kids have been sick, I have had migraines and work sucks (as usual). I need to make more time for me. I have been thinking a lot about quitting my job again. I think it was a complete mistake to go back there. I should have known that the crap would start up again. I don't need the money that bad. It isn't worth the headache.

I need to get to bed now. I am a sleepy girl

Posted by midgeling at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

OMG, I finished them. I missed making it to the second round by less than an hour, I believe. Manda beat me out. Oh, well. I was close.

Posted by midgeling at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I started these at the Seatac airport on my way to in Denver on January 19th. They are Jaywalkers done in Lisa Souza's Lime & Violet colorway. I finished the first one, tried it on and realized I had overcompensated for my small feet a bit too much. They were too tight, but fit my mom just perfectly. So I finished them in a length just smaller than my feet since she wears a 5.5 and I wear a 6.5. She loves them. *sigh* I really wanted these socks.

I didn't get a good picture of them before I mailed them off to Mom, so you get what you get here. I was being tortured by streptococcus. I still feel like doodoo, even though the last of my antibiotics was last Friday. I have a call in to my doc to see if she needs to see me again or not.

So with FO #2 done, I am just over a half a mile of sock yarn knit. I started on a scarf with some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, but that will have to be posted tomorrow. I also have to post pics of Lexa's 4th birthday celebration we had today.

Posted by midgeling at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here they are! I finished them yesterday. The Broadripple-Inspired socks. I had to make them smaller than the real Broadripple Socks. They are 64 sts around instead of 72 and I did them toe-up, using a modified version of this cast on.

What's next? I believe I am about to start casting on a pair of Pembrokshire Pathways in Lisa Souza's Lime & Violet colorway. Two of my favorite podcasts in one pair of socks. It's just perfect, dontcha think?

EDIT: Nope. It's not gonna work. The stripey goodness that is the L&V yarn has too much contrast for that pattern. The YOs and twistys don't show well. I think I will just do a pair of Jaywalkers instead.

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

My Fortune Cookie told me: On Wednesday, you will be unable to make an omlette without breaking any legs. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Here is a (more) decent photo of Nathan's socks I knit him for Christmas. It is just a boring 2x2 rib sock, but they are wooly and warm.

And here is my LAST FO OF 2006:

I started these yesterday while I was sick and in bed. I just finished them! I had a lone ball of Regia Ringel hanging out in my ktichen on top of my rice dispenser (hey, I am asian - we have these things). I have no idea how it got there or what it was doing. I also have no idea why I let it live there for so many months. These ankle socks were made with about 20 grams each, since I had to toss out about 10 grams that moths snacked on. The colored blob in the upper right corner is the last few yards of yarn I had left over.

You know what else you can glean from this photo? MY MOTHER HATES ME. You see those packing peanuts in the background? My mother sent me amost 32 gallons of these things in the boxes that UPS brought me. Scattered in amongst these styrofoam bits were the Christmas gifts for me, Nathan and the 4 children that routinely destroy my home. I hate foam peanuts. If my mommy cared at all for my sanity, she would never have done that to me.

I have swept those damn things up for days, now. I managed to get them into a 32 gallon bag. Double bagged. Those damn kids ripped into the bag and they are all over the damn living room again. I much prefer those peanut things made of rice. I flushed those down the toilet after the kids had gotten through licking and sticking them together to make swords, crowns, etc.

I did a bad thing today. I lost it. Yelled at the kids when I saw those f*cking peanuts all over the floor. I told them I couldn't wait until they all went back to school and left me home in peace so I could clean up after their sorry asses. I made my son cry and I feel bad. True to form, none of my girls gave a shit.

I can't wait till they have kids. I am SO sending all their birthday and Christmas gifts with packing peanuts. I don't care if they only live down the street. It will be money well spent.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Posted by midgeling at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I finished it the other night. It is a variation of the Pinwheel Dishcloth, which is taken from the Magical Mitered Vest. I added a few rounds of garter stitch to bump the size up to 8" from a rather small 6".

Oh, and I finished a pair of socks for Nathan rather quickly in time for Christmas. Since I had a bit of a time constraint, I just made them in a 2x2 rib (72 sts), knit the cuff for about 8", turned the heel (from memory and both socks matched, lol!) and knit for about another 8" from the heel flap edge before decreasing the toe. I used Regia Ringel. I can't remember the color number and the remaining label is somewhere in my car. He saw me knitting them a couple of weeks ago and asked if they were for him. I said "No, they are mine. I don't have the right color for you yet." So he tuned them out completely and still managed to be somewhat surprised when he got them Christmas day.

When he gets home, I will try to get a proper photo of them. They look much better on him. I would model them, but I wear a women's size 6.5 and these socks were knit for his size 11.5 EEEE feet.

Posted by midgeling at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I had askein of Cascade 220 superwash in a deep purple color that I originally planned to make a baby kimono with out of the Mason-Dixon knitting book, but I changed my mind. I decided to make a baby hat instead. I remember a sock pattern from a while back - I think it may have been from the E.J. Slayton sock book.

So for the hat, I cast on 72 stitches and did a K2P2 rib for 3 rounds. The 4th round I did a twisted stitch on the knit stitches and repeated these 4 rounds until the hat was about 8" long before beginning the decreases. Lexa likes the hat, and I hope she is okay when I take it to package it up and send it off to baby Jackson in Colorado.

I received my Socks that Rock today. I got one skein in Rocktober and one in Henpecked. Both are in the lightweight yarn. I love the colors more in person
than I did just checking them out on the website. I was thinking of making some Jaywalkers with the yarn, but I'm not totally sure yet.

I hope everyone had a good Turkey Day. Ours was good. I made a turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, orange and ginger glazed yams, gravy and rice. Instead of pumpkin pie, I made a German Chocolate Cake. I have no idea why I chose that, but it was good. Tomorrow we go to Anne'sfor the larger family gathering.

Posted by midgeling at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is the Checkered Stripes dishclothfrom Creative Knitting Magazine. I made one a while back in brighter colors. These are light pastels.This looks nice, but I think that I liked the brighter cloth a little more. Brighter colors seemed to bring out the pattern better.

Darn it. One of the kids messed up the keyboard on my tablet PC, So am sitting here in bed hand writing this whole entry using the text /handwriting recognizing thingy. It is actually Working quite well. I am sort of surprised that I can use my regular old handwriting and this thing picks it all up and converts it to text so accurately. The only thing that it seems to be having trouble with is getting the spaces between the words all the time and capitalizing some words unnecessarily. But I love technology. This is too cool.

Anyway, back to dishcloths. I am a bit behind on the latest Monthly Dishcloth Knit - Along. I accidently saw what this month's design was (I don't like to peek ahead) but think I will still knit it anyway.

Well, it is late and I am really Tired, so it is time for me to listen to some music as I fall asleep tonight. Goodnight and I hope all you Americans at home and abroad have a Happy Thanksgiving. To everyone else, happy Thursday!!

Posted by midgeling at 01:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am sick. I think it is a sinus infection. I slept for a good part of today. I have been fighting it all week, but I think it is winning.

I finished a couple more. I haven't started October's yet, but I plan on it. As usual, they aren't blocked. But here they are.

KAL - September - Oak Leaf

KAL - Mid Month September - Leaf Patterned Lace

Posted by midgeling at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to Gene and Rhea's baby shower yesterday. I knit their gift since I am currently hooked on the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. I was cutting it close.

How close?
Nathan, how many more miles?
Okay, how many exits till we get off the freeway?
Okay, now how many exits?
Wait, can you drive reeeeal slow?

I snipped the yarn ends on the burp cloth as we pulled up to the house. I just made it. I didn't take photos of the items with my real camera. I only had my camera phone to use. Big difference in photo quality between a Samsung e715 and a Canon 20D. And the photos were taken in the car driving down I-5 in Tacoma.

So here is a photo of the bib on top of the burp cloth:

And here is the burp cloth:

And here is the kimono. I lengthened it by an inch, because I thought the original was a little too short for my tastes. It was fun, except I found that I didn't care for hand sewing 8 ribbons to it. I am not too good at that kind of thing.

And here is the photo of the Sweetheart Hat (pattern fromm Kid's Caps IV by Ann Norling). It looks better actually on the baby's head since it stretches out a bit and you can actually see the hearts knit into the sides.

And the colors in the photos are horrible too. The bib is a deep rose, the burp cloth is deep purple and the hat is fuschia. The burp cloth and bib were made from Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton and the kimono used Peaches and Creme. The hat was knit from Cascade 220 Superwash. I am planning on knitting booties to go with the hat and just giving them to Gene and Rhea later on. It is nice knowing they are having a girl, so I could use the fuschia and rose.

The shower was fun. There was some seriously tasty Filipino food. Tons of it! And they even sent us home with a plate like any Filipino family would do. If you don't have any Filipino firends, I highly recommend you go find yourself one, lol!

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

Here are Kassie and Lexa in their Princess Hats that I knit for them. (Try not to look at the mess in the background.)The pattern came from New Knits on the Block. They are stuffed with paper in the photo since they weren't standing up well, so I was considering lining them with Timtex.

I finished them last week when my MIL was here, but never managed to take a picture. So she took the picture and I just cropped and posted it here. So MIL gets this photo credit cause I am a bit lazy.

I am at work today waiting for my ride to show up. Cow orker Joy took me to New Kowloon for dim sum. We had to talk cause she has been having quite the drama in her life. It was fun and nice to get to hang out with her again. Afterward, she made me go to Gossip for taro bubble tea. *burp* Boy, am I stuffed. Ugh...

Posted by midgeling at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's the dishcloth I finished tonight. It was another fun one, and I only goofed a couple of times in carrying the colors up the side of the dishcloth. I didn't sweat it since it is only a dishcloth. It doesn't need to be totally perfect. I don't know exactly what the stitch pattern is called. Here's a detail shot of the pattern:

Man, I am rocking the dishcloths these days. They are quick and pretty darn addicting. Most of the other areas of my life have been yielding little in the way of giving me a sense of accomplishment. At least these are quick, pretty and useful. I wish more people had those qualities. Maybe that has something to with why I am a bit introverted and shy around new people, lol.

Posted by midgeling at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's the Swish With a Twist dishcloth that I finished. It isn't blocked at all because I got lazy tonight. I had to iron Nathan's damn shirts. I like ironing about as much... no I think I actually prefer scrubbing the toilet over ironing shirts. Nathan got to play World of Warcraft while I ironed. I have no Ipod because HK's stupid friend stole it and then moved to Utah. I hate ironing even more now.

Anyway, here's the dishcloth. It was a lot of fun. The Checkered Stripes dishcloth was really super duper easy to memorize. This was a bit more difficult, but once I got through the second pattern repeat, I didn't really have to look at the pattern anymore.

Note to the husband reading over my sholder as I type this: I want a replacement ipod so I can happily dance around the house singing loudly and off key as I do these stupid household chores. My birthday is next month.

K - I have some knitting to do and a vampire novel to read. Goodnight.

Posted by midgeling at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's the Mid-July 2006 Dishcloth from the KAL. I used more green cotton from the cone I bought last Christmas. My MIL just left this morning on a plane back to Albuquerque, NM, so I sent her home with this dishcloth, the Checkered Stripes dishcloth (shown below) from the current issue of Creative Knitting and the August Lighthouse dishcloth from the KAL.

I also finished the Swish With a Twist dishcloth yesterday. I just have to weave in the ends and take a picture. I'll try to post that later today. Oh, and they say this pattern will only be posted for a limited time, so if you want it, go to their website soon!

Dude. I am seriously boooooring. I am falling asleep just reading what I am writing. I am not at all my usual chipper, perky self. Okay, so I am rarely ever chipper and perky, but still... If you read my previous couple of posts in a monotone, near-comatose manner, you get an idea of how scintillating my personality has been these last few days. I am allergy-ridden and tired as hell. I am bloated too. Life is a chunk of fun. WOOT!

Posted by midgeling at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay, here is a sweater I found today. I started it a long time ago for someone, and I can't even remember who. I kind of think it was for Lexa, and she is now 3. All I have to do is ONE SIDE of the buttonband. The side with the holes. I remember knitting it several times and ripping it out because it wasn't perfect. Well, it wasn't perfect enough. I was even considering ripping out the side that is still there today, because I didn't like how it looked. I tried picking up many different numbers of stitches, and nothing looked right. I think I just need to finish the one stupid side, put buttons on the damn thing and give it to my new niece Liz. This is ridiculous.

Okay, and here is the stupid FO I was talking about before. I have been knitting these socks for over a year. They are the pair that I carried around in various purses, bags, backpacks, etc. They were lost for about 8 months. Somewhere along the line, I lost the needles I was using to knit them with (thanks to the little girls). I thought I used the same size when I started the second sock. I really did. I just wanted to finish the damn things because I was sick of seeing the yarn floating around and the socks unfinished for like 2 years. They are simple socks - 2x2 ribbing, with every 6th round purled. I didn't use a pattern - these are just sort of made up as I go along and the "pattern" stays in my head.

Okay, so I finally finish the second sock and try on both of the tupid things. As I knit, I made sure I used the same number of repeats in the cuff and the foot. I knew that here and there I purled the 7th round instead of the 6th, but no big deal. I didn't care much because you really couldn't tell. What you can tell is that one sock is longer and looser than the other because I used a size 2.0 mm on the first sock and a 2.5 mm needle on the second. I laughed like a maniac when I saw that. I just knew that with the way my knitting has been going lately, this "experienced" knitter can't even make a pair of socks. Whatever. They are handknit wool socks and they will end up keeping someone's feet warm.

Posted by midgeling at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)