midgeling: life in a shoe.

These are my Licorice Stick socks! I am knitting them in Araucania Ranco sock yarn that I bought on sale from The Naked Sheep. I love this sock yarn! The colors are so pretty, and the yarn feels nice, too.

And we have Nathan's Christmas 2008 socks that I have been knitting since the end of June. Yeah, I am a wee bit behind. It's the Escalator Sock pattern from Penguin Purls.

I guess I'll get back into this knitting and blogging thing again. Life seems to be easing its stranglehold on me these days. I hope it continues to improve, because I am finally starting to feel human again. Heck, I am finally starting to feel again. And that right there is progress.

Posted by midgeling at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love the Issaquah Brewhouse. The Murg took me out for a beer. Well, two, actually. The second was an especially butt-kicking beer. Yum.

Posted by midgeling at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's photo is of my "I Mog Di" sock from the first Wollmeise sock club shipment. I had put it down for a bit because I was having problems concentrating, and I really hated the "knit and rip" process I was following. It's going great now and I am having a lot of fun with few stupid knitter mistakes.

Posted by midgeling at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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)

Let's start with knitting. I started my I Mog Di socks from my Wollmeise club shipment. They are coming along nicely, when I get the chance to actually work on them. You have to pay attention to the pattern, but it goes faster than I thought it would.

Oooh! I got a great pair of Via Spiga pumps for super cheap on Saturday. The retail was $225.00. I got them for $23.99. I love them!!

And in other shopping news, I spent a birthday check on some earrings made by my Plurk- buddy Opal. Aren't they lovely? Go buy stuff from her! She's got great jewelry and stitch markers and handspun.

And lastly, I got a bird feeder for my birthday from Anne and Doug. I had been wanting one for some time. I put it on the hook on the deck that I can see from my desk while I work. The jays are hard to get photos of, because they spook much easier than the sparrows and finches.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great week. Mine isn't too bad, though I have been working way too much.

Posted by midgeling at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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)

PURPLE!!!

Here we have the toe up Monkey Sock:

And here we have a blackberry pie! We picked berries in the church parking lot after service. Some people thought we were nuts, other people thought we were brilliant. I just wanted pie.

I did the crust, Chace was in charge of the filling. I think my mom's crust is better, but Mr Midgeling says I just need more practice.

I think purple is a great color.

Today's color was brought to you by midgeling.

Posted by midgeling at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Remember that purple STR that Weebug traded me for stash yarn? You know, cause I wouldn't stop fondling it? Well, I finally started a new pair of socks with it. I am going to do Monkey Socks, toe up. With a gusset. Because I can.

What better way to end the month of August?

Posted by midgeling at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally started on Mr Midgeling's birthday socks for this year. Why finally? Because his birthday was on June 24th. Every Christmas and birthday I ask him what he wants. He always says "nothing". A couple of years ago he started saying "Hand knit socks." Finally - a real answer.

I am using Lisa Souza's fingering weight sock yarn in Mars Quake. The pattern is based on some sock pattern I saw on the internet some time ago. I am doing it over 88 stitches for his big, fat feet, toe up, using Wendy Johnson's method used in the Toe-up Slipstitch Heel socks. Mr Midge has such fat feet and ankles that there is no way short row heels would ever work for him.

So I am going to head to bed with my sock, iPod, inhalers, cough drops and Chloraseptic spray. Good night!

Posted by midgeling at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to post this. I am sick of the clickety-click of rescheduling exams for work.

Almost done with my Mom's socks. They were supposed to be mine, with my Zen String sock club yarn, but I made them too tight. I know, they look like chicken leg socks, but they fit her fine. Hopefully I will get them finished tonight so I can start on Mr Midgeling's birthday socks.

Posted by midgeling at 11:55 AM | 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)

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)

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)

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)

Yes, the colors are truly that blinding in person.

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

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)

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)

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'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)

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)

ED: I have been trying to write and post this stupid thing since Monday, and it is now Thursday. If it's not me being sick, it's friggin DRAMA everywhere. I'd like to personally tell everyone shooting out their negative vibes to go screw themselves. I don't need anything else negative this week.

Okay, so I have been sick. SICK. It's really a drug withdrawal (NO, not like methadone or anything like that). The mail order pharmacy screwed up my prescription, tried to fill the old one instead of filling the new one, which led to contacting the doc, who was wondering what-the-hell-is wrong-with-you-can't-you-read-the-paper-she-mailed-in-why-did-you-click-the-wrong-thingy-on-the-computer? So due to the pharmacy getting confused by a new piece of paper vs an old prescription still in their computer, I ran out of my medication. Okay, so why do I need these meds? To prevent my body from freaking out like it did these last 4 days. It all started Friday. Nausea, gastrointestinal ugliness, insomnia, fatigue, dizziness, numbness and prickly feeling hands and fingers, difficulty regulating body temperature - oh and the never ending migraine from HELL. Oh yeah - and I had allergy problems to contend with also.

And since physical crappiness wasn't enough, I must have drama elsewhere. Work is pretty much the same brand of stupid it always is. Nope. It is my friends that are wiggin me out. Weebug has her typical struggles - which aren't an issue for me (past my feeling of wishing I could do more to help her out when things get rough). But she is my nice little chunk of relative sanity these days in the friend department. Thank God for her. Really.

(Okay, that was written Monday and Tuesday. Today is THURS-friggin-DAY. Here's the part where I skip to the photos and then do a mental/emotional vomit post later on.)

Okay, so Saturday was a tournament sponsored by Untalan's Taekwondo in Graham, WA. Here's Harely doing her thing. She lost 10 to 12, but she did so good. The girl was pretty terrified of her. My favorite moment was when Harley kicked her in the gut/chest area, the girl went airborn, arced and landed flat on her butt with a gigantic THUD. It looked like a cartoon scene. The girl was okay, but it was one of those moments where you felt like you were in a real live Roger Rabbit movie.

And here is the mess that is my bag. I have a sock in some self striping Mama Llama and a Cascade Fixation baby sweater based on the Bamboo Baby Sweater in the One Skein Wonders Book. They are tangled and I was prevented by Mr Migraine from detangling the mess to get a proper photo.

I need to regroup for a bit. My grasp on my sanity and nice-nice is very tenuous at the moment. I may go into full-blown bitch mode in a bit. Have I said that I hate drama? Um, yeah. Well I hate it. And my life is full of what feels like high school crap at the moment. If you want to avoid this kind of thing, don't have any friends and don't, don't DON'T let any of your children do competitive sports on a damn elite team.

Posted by midgeling at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

ETA: Dang, I have a spot on my lens. I can't believe I didn't see that and Photoshop it out. *sigh*

I made it a little farther on my Conwy sock. It is looking nice overall, I think. It fits snugly, but not too tight. The pattern isn't all that visible, but you can still see the ridges pretty clearly, and I like that. I think if I ever do this pattern again, I will use a less busy colored yarn to show off that traveling vine stitch a bit more. But really, I am pleased with it so far. Here's a detail shot:

Funny that when I started this sock, I had completely forgotten that I wanted to do a pair of Rozas next. I guess this just means that the Conwys just really wanted to be knit. And even though they aren't turning out "perfect" I am really happy with them. And I am weird about the yarn and pattern being 'perfect' for each other. I have a sock that I have knit in 2 different patterns already and I am probably going to rip them out again. I think that yarn will end up making a pair of Jaywalkers if it isnt too ratty looking by the time it is reknit yet again.

I guess the Conwy pattern was just really calling out to me quite loudly.

Posted by midgeling at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

4 out of the 6 people in my family made a trip to the doctor today. Kass needed a followup for her sinus infection/bronchitis episode. Harley needed to be seen for her allergies and the infected spots on her face and ears. Nathan needed to be seen for his sinus infection and probable case of strep. And I needed blood work fto go with my annual exam (oh, goodie) that I had on Wednesday.

So... Kass is okay and probably doesnt have asthma just yet. Harley had a case of eczema and/or bug bite on her face that turned into a staph/strep/viral infection. She also had a sinus infection (again for the second time this year). Nathan was just all around crappy and I happily donated blood to the nice, needle-wielding phlebotomist in the office.

So 6 prescriptions and $96 later, Harley and Nathan are drugged out and feeling slightly better. And we still have 3 prescriptions yet to be filled out by mail-order. Sheesh. Harley's allergies are as bad as mine. Thank God our insurance is good.

I started another sock while I was at the dojang watching Chace's class and got to work on it more today at the doc's office:

KPPPM, size 000 (1.5 mm) needles, 80 sts around in 2x2 ribbing. Too damn big. To be honest, I ended up with 80 stitches because I was happily watching the taekwondo class while increasing away on the toe. And when I realized I had 80 stitches, I thought to myself "Oh, that won't be too many sitiches, after all, I am working on 000 needles!!! That's just crazy to begin with!" Rip, rip, rip......

Aaaah, much better fit. I am still on 000 needles, getting about 9 sts to the inch and 72 stitches here is working muuuch better. And 72 is like the most common number used in sock patterns. So I decided to do the Conwyn Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. You can't really see the pattern too well yet. Hopefully as I get more into it, it will look a bit more distinct. I thought it would show okay, because the yarn I am using is similar to the yarn used in the book. But I'm not so sure now. Eh, I don't care if it is obscured. It's a fun pattern. That's what counts.

Oh, and the yarn? I got it in trade with Weebug for the leftover yarn from my Mad Cow socks. I had 65g of black and 75g left of the zebra stripe. She is using it to add to her Opal of the same colors make her new nephew a baby sweater. It looks good so far!

Posted by midgeling at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)