Mom's Felted Bowl

Oh, and lest I forget...I finally got a pic of the bowl I gave Mom. The socks were in the dirty clothes and we weren't going there!

Riding Lessons

Yesterday the Midget had his first pony ride (on Harley) at Mom and Dad's farm. I'm hoping that he will grow to love riding and that by the time this happens I will have lost enough weight to ride with him. As it is I would need a strong and sturdy draft horse to carry me and that ain't happening!

He was all crocodile tears during the main event but afterwards at the fence told his Nana (Mom) that Harley is "my pony"! We all had a good laugh at that one!






Here's a picture of my old friend, Dan. He is now 22 and as full of himself as ever. Last year he became gravely ill but managed to pull through with the amazing veterinary help of the staff at the New Bolton Equine Center...the same place where Derby winner Barbaro was taken. Hopefully they can save his life as well.

Photos of WIP

Well I still haven't managed to get pics of Mom's gifts...horse shows take up most of their weekends. Am supposed to go up tomorrow afternoon. Of course by the time I come home it will be time to go to work (night shift from 7:30 pm to 3:30 or later am).

I did, however, manage to take pics of the shawl/cape thing I just finished, a felted bag I made, and a number of works in progress.

First, the shawl. There is too much glare to tell that the center of the top button is yellow, pink, purple, orange, and aqua. trust me.



Here is a shirt I am making for one of my nieces and the felted bag:

And the rug for the downstairs bath:

And, finally, the socks that are currently on the needles:

Now, to just juggle these and get some things done (and on time...). JUST. Sigh.

Oh, and I ordered my lace yarn for the Horse Shawl I am to design. I selected two different yarns from Knit Picks. The colorways are similar. I will have to see them to choose. And, no luck on finding "horse" related patterns except for a couple variations on "horseshoe print". Oh well, I guess I will just have to start drawing and trying....

Still no pictures

Well, last Sunday (Happy Mother's Day, BTW) I did a silly thing. I had finished Mom's socks and Saturday night I knit up a quick wool bowl (varigated blue and green) and felted it. The bowl became a sort of "gift bag" for the socks. Mom loved them both. These are the first pair of socks I made for her and she couldn't stop raving about them. However, I forgot to take pictures of either item before giving them to her. So, it will be a few days until I can get up to the farm and correct my error.

I am currently conflicted (knit-wise). I need to finish the Phyll socks (I am mid-foot on the first one), and make two other pairs of socks by Father's Day (4 weeks away). I am also trying to work on and finish some of the larger projects in the UFO pile on the weekends and save the socks for the work week. AND, I joined the Amazing Lace Challenge.

I of course do not do something like that the easy way (pick a pattern). No, I've got to be artsy-fartsy and decide to design my own shawl. What was I thinking??? The only "lace" I've ever done is your basic YO, K2tog, repeat ad naseum....

I designed the sweaters I made for my boys for Christmas last year but they were all simple drop shoulder things. The design element was the stripes....can we say simple stuff. Of course, I had been knitting for less than a year so it was actually a pretty big deal for me.

I modified a "capelet" pattern into my own cape design recently. It is almost off the needles. It is the aformentioned YO, K2tog lace made out of a cashmere blend with a novelty yarn accent and a button I made myself out of Sculpy. While I like it, designing it was nothing like creating a shawl.....now where's the graph paper?? (Oh, and I have never worked from a chart let alone draft one....YIKES!!)

Mission Accomplished...sort of

Well, I finished the Mother's Day Socks yesterday (sorry, no photo yet...still have two silly little tails to weave in). They are identical down to the tippy, tippy toes. I started the toe decreases a row (yes, just a single row) earlier for toes number two. AND, I think I did one LESS set of decreases for same said toes. And so, the end result is that sock number two is about three rows shorter than sock number one. I use size one needles and knit pretty tightly (these being socks and all) so we're talking maybe an 1/8th of an inch. Not enough to feel different but the stupid color repeat makes it SO.o.o.o.o.o... obvious. (Sigh). Oh well, just more evidence that no one is perfect.

This morning I cast on the first of the Phyll Socks. When Aunt Phyllis was here I had her pick out some sock yarn for a pair for her and do the honors in picking out the color for the Father's Day Socks (for my Dad, her baby brother) that I will do next. She chose the black Regia Strata that is all fushia, and lavender and burgandy stripes. (I liked it so much I got two....the other one is mine-all-mine. What can I say, the woman has taste!). Of course, her choices were Regia or Regia. I love sock yarn but no way am I paying some of those prices!! I got the Regia on sale from WEBS.

Not such a good two days...

Well, when you get over confident in your knitting abilities and your amazing knitting speed the knitting goddess has a way of putting you back in your propper, humble place. For me it must have been the idea that I could in fact hold the ADD at bay and knit a PAIR of beautiful socks in just seven days when in fact, I have only been knitting socks at all since February. Of THIS year.

First, I forgot that my Aunt Phyllis was coming for a quick weekend visit. Second, I didn't realize that she would be with my Mom the entire time she was here (can't knit the Mother's Day Socks around the Mother!). And then to top it all off...(drumroll please)...yesterday I got a migraine which led to a seizure and sleeping it off all day. So, I am still a good 3 inches from done. (You know you are really sick when not only do you not knit at all for a day but your knitting isn't even on the same floor of the house as you!!)

So, maybe they'll be done by Thursday.....

This and that...

I am daring to defy my normal tendencies (ADD) to work on way too many projects at one time and just do the "Mother's Day Socks". So far, so good...swatching a lace pattern doesn't really count as working on a "project". Does it? Anyway, the first sock was finished in 3 1/2 days. I am now about 3 inches down the leg on the second sock. I am hoping to finish them by Tuesday. That would be exactly one week for a pair of socks. Since I have estimated that EACH sock has about 11,000 stitches that is not too shabby...22,000 stitches in 7 days or about 3,100 stitches a day. Okay, now my hands hurt just thinking about it.

The DH, (who after reading a post here says to me in THAT voice, "I guess DH stands for Damn Husband". To whom I explained that it is supposed to mean "Dear" but Damn will do just fine too.) the teenager, and the midget making a new flower bed and some of the Clematis from the other side of the house...

While we were outside, one of our neighbors was out for a walk with Trixie, an eleven year old Cockatoo. He was kind enough to stop and talk to us and let us all (even the Midget) pet her!!

On to the next pair of socks....

Just a quick post with a couple of pictures. I realized on Sunday that Mother's Day is only two weeks away and I had just started the second Jaywalker sock for myself. So, I knit like a fiend and finished those last night and cast on the first of a pair of plain (self-patterning Regia Jacquard) for Mom. It took me 3 tries to get a more elastic than my usual cable cast on start that I liked! I tried two different heel stitches on my socks...the ususal reinforced heel on the first and the "partridge eye" or " eye of the partridge" or something like that on the other...I think I'll just stick to the reinforced heel from now on. Anyway, here is the finished Jaywalkers (not yet washed and dried...they should tighten up a bit ) and the brand new sock.