I have a pvc swift!!!!.

Courtesy of this tutorial. http://weedeaterfarms.com/patterns/PVCSwift.pdf It is super awesome. My husband built it for me today. He is also helping me make some homemade sock blockers.

On the knitting front. I have finished my mid month dishcloth. It was a cool sampler. My first pair of toe ups are almost done. I have also started the Child's French Sock for my grandmother. They are knit with Paton's stretch yarn in Taffy color. They are coming along well.

Hopefully I can add pics soon. Especially b/c I just bought lots of yarn from Knit picks. Yea!!!!

Eileen

Computer melt down

Well my computer is out of commission for a while. So there will be no pics forthcoming until I get it fixed. However, there will still be blogging!

My Monkey's are done. I wore them today. They seem a little big which makes me a little sad. I wonder if I wash them if they will fit better. Or maybe I need to go to smaller needles. But they are not so big that I can't wear them so at least it's not a total loss. Also, it seems that after they sit a day or two they appear to be bigger than when they first came off the needles or maybe it's just my imagination.

These concerns worry me for my Christmas presents. However I am just going to keep knitting and hope that they fit normal feet better than my narrow feet and maybe a little smaller is not a bad thing since they will stretch some.

An anniversary, some mistakes, and a new beginning

Well Wednesday was the 15th anniversary of my Mom passing away, and I had put my husband in charge of keeping me busy. So first we slept in. Then went to a restaurant called Buddy's. We had an awesome fruit and cheese platter there. Then we went to Colossal Cave and were the only two on the tour. Overall it kept my busy and not too sad. So kudos to him.


When I got home that night I decided to work on my two socks on one circular. Big Mistake!!!!! I had made the heels (short row) the day before at work and they were fine but when I did the join to start the cuff I didn't like the hole in the corner and so I tried to go back but decided I wanted to do the heels over again now that I'd had a "practice run". Well I was feeling lazy and didn't want to TINK back so I slipped them off the needle and unraveled. Here are 3 reasons why that was a bad idea.

1. I didn't pay attention to where I was on each sock and couldn't get them even. I was tired and not in the right state of mind so I kept screwing up on the counting of rows.



2. I never unravel right and always end up with freaking knots in my yarn.***



3. I couldn't get the socks back on the needles in the right orientation. I put them on and took them off 5 times and just couldn't get it right. I'm such a dope.
   

So my new beginning is that I frogged all the way back, untied knots, and started over. So the pic I am presenting is just a few inches shy of where I am today. Hopefully I'll be at the place I was when I left work on Tuesday when I get to work on Saturday and I won't have to explain this to a bunch of non-knitters who won't understand why I couldn't just sew the holes closed at the end. (That is something I have done in the past but I'm pretty sure I can do it without holes if I pay more attention and apply the right tension.)

So now on to pics.

Everyone who has seen my socks in this beginner state thinks they look like the beginning of a bikini LOL!

Isn't my Monkey so pretty? I am on the 3rd repeat of the second sock right now. Should be done by next week if all goes according to plan.

Eileen

***Any suggestions on unraveling properly would be greatly appreciated. :)

Yea me!

Happy Blogoversary to me!!!!!!

Eileen

Two socks on one circular

Am I nuts? Apparently, but it is going smoothly after 3 tries at casting on. I am using worsted weight wool-ease on size 5 needles which according to Silver should make size 10.5 socks. That will work for my grandpa. I have been knitting for about 2 hours and have already gotten the toe increases done and am now working on the body. It is an interesting process, and I am nervous and cautious, but Silver has never led me wrong before. I am super excited to be starting on these socks. I also bought some more yarn to make another pair of socks once I am done with the Monkey socks.

Speaking of Monkey.....I am done with the first sock and can I say it fits like a glove ... er a sock... either way I LOVE it. As I said on the 5 min voice mail I left for you Jessie, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the yarn you got me for Christmas, and thanks for suggesting the Monkey pattern it was a superb choice. It is beautiful and I can't wait to get the second one done so I can wear them and show them off to everyone.

Pics to come hopefully if I can get them to look good.

Eileen

Monkey Modification

Well it looks like some changes had to be on my socks. My heel flap, while knitted as written, seemed humongous length wise and also width wise. So after the pics I took last night I frogged back to the start of the heel flap. I decided to knit only 20 rows and I decreased to 16 sts on needle 1 and 4. I kept that decrease after picking up the gusset (which went much smoother this time yea!) and the fit is perfect. I like the original size along the leg, I guess my feet are just extra narrow. I'll keep on trucking on these but I need to hurry up and get these done so I can start on the next pairs. I'll probably have 2 or 3 going at a time once I get more yarn and needles.

Eileen

PS GO GATORS NATIONAL CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gusset pickup issues

So, the last sock I made didn't have gusset pick up b/c I did a short row heel and toe. The gusset pick-up was fussy at first but after a couple tries it seemed to work out all right. Again my pics are not great but they are what they are. I think I need a better camera b/c this one has been dropped too many times and the pics just don't come out right. Also my asscat Corky just chewed right through my freaking sock yarn so now I have to do a join to continue the rest of the foot. See evidence below.

Here is the proof of my cat being a bad bad boy.

Eileen

Monkey see....monkey do?

So I took my friend Jessie's advice and decided to make the Monkey socks from Knitty 2006. They are going well so far. I took some pics of the awesome yarn she gave me for Christmas and then the progress of the socks. I also took a better pic of the dishcloth.

Now I am off to the grind at AA.
Eileen

First FO 2009

So here is the first finished object of 2009 the end of the month dishcloth for Dec 2008. It is from my dishcloth KAL.

Also here are the socks I knit for Len a couple months ago.

My flash sucks but it's almost Midnight so it's the best I could do at the last minute.

Eileen

Happy New Year...2008 in review

Well it is 2009 and I am ready to blog again. Here is what happened last year while I was gone.

• I passed probation at American Airlines


• I knit an Alphabet Blanket, 2 shawls, some socks, some scarfs, a neck cowl and several dishcloths.


• I started an aran blanket, worked more on my lace shawl, started and ended (without finishing) a horribly written pattern for thigh highs, and learned several new knitting techniques.
  

This year I plan on making socks for my entire fam for Christmas. If I calculated right that is 28 pairs give or take a few. Am I crazy? Apparently so, but I feel I am up to the challenge. I just need to get everyone's shoe size.

Here are pics of some of my projects. I'll post more as I get them.

More tomorrow.

Eileen