Just a quick post to show the most recent completed pair of socks. I started these over a year ago as a project that I could take to the beach (hence the name for those Parrot Heads out there), knit in the car, etc. They are finished, comfy, and, regardless of when I cast on, they were actually a quick knit. Stay tuned for the latest Arwen‘s Child order post. It is going to be a doosey.
How many UnFinished Objects (projects) do you currently have going? A long time ago, I decided that there was no rule of the universe that said all projects that are started must be finished. In fact, I really like the process of starting on a new project. The planning and collection of the fabrics, yarn, or whatever other materials needed is what really floats my boat. Having the option to pick up various projects in various stages of completion is really nice. Therefore, I admit that I have many, many more projects started than I could ever complete. I’m good with that.
Sometimes, though, the projects get completed in spite of themselves and tonight another one of my UFOs became an FO. May I present my version of the Rivendell socks from the book “The Eclectic Sole” by Janel Laidman. I used lace weight yarn from Knitpicks, doubled. They fit and are quite comfy.
Yes, I have actually started my Christmas 2011 knitting and crafting. I am hoping to give more hand made gifts this year than ever before. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal photos of those projects because, as I found out last week, my family reads my blog from time to time. However, here are photos of the socks that I started on the way to the festival last week. These are most likely for me and you can find more details on my Ravelry page.
Both pair are now at the turn heel stage. So, I should have two new pair of socks to show in a couple of weeks. Also, I was selected to test knit these socks. Aren’t they a gas? Of course, I had to order yarn to make them…gotta love stash enhancement!
On the health front, I went to the oral surgeon to see about the third tooth extraction and he does not want to do the procedure until I have blood work done to make sure my platelet count is high enough. This liver thing is a PITA! I have had two teeth extracted in the last two weeks and have had no complications. Because this guy is a surgeon and not a dentist, he wants to “make sure” (read: legally cover his rear) when it comes to my “procedure” (read: pulling a tooth). I can understand completely, but HATE having blood drawn… Anyway, after the tooth is removed, I will finally have a partial, something that has been a long time coming.
Quote of the Day: “We are the people our parents warned us about.” ~ Jimmy Buffet
This week was a devastating one for the state of Alabama and the southern United States in general. Currently, the death toll is at 248 in Alabama and 345 across the south, with hundreds still missing from the viscous tornadoes that ripped across the south on Wednesday. Tuscaloosa, AL seemed to be hit the hardest. Scott ventured up to Dadeville, AL with some people from our church to assist in the relief effort on Saturday. There is so much devastation everywhere that it is difficult to do anything, because anything you do to help just seems so small in comparison to the overwhelming power of the storm’s wrath and the aftermath. To see some wonderful photos that Scott was able to capture on Saturday, please see this post.
In crafting news, Sock Madness 5 is officially over for me. I made it to round 4 and the pattern for that round is one I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the time and energy on. It was a lovely sock, but the pattern contained too many “omissions” for my taste. So, I moved on and finished one of the Spider Socks this week. It was not a hard pattern, but a challenging one. In contrast to the SM5 pattern for round 4, the Spider Sock pattern is very well written. I am going to knit a few mindless things before picking up the second sock. Here are the unglamorous photos:
That is about all for this week. Happy Knitting Everyone!
Quote of the Week:
“I bought a cheap watch from a crazy man
Floating down canal
It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now
Now you may be thinking that I was had
But this watch is never wrong
And If I have trouble the warranty said
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On”
Jimmy Buffett, Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
We found out this week that our new grand-baby is going to be a boy. Currently, the parents plan to name him Luke Alan. Good thing I started my baby sock adventure with a blue pair. Here are the pairs I have made so far.
One other thing I made this week was a ring to hold my cable needle (toothpick). Since I have been doing a lot of cables on socks lately, I have been trying to figure out a way to have my cable needle handy, without setting it down on a table or sticking it into the yarn ball or sock. Here is what I have settled on thus far:
Finally, Easter is always the most difficult time of year for me since mom passed away (4/9/08). It is a time for renewal and reflection, but for me it always comes with mixed thoughts of new life and life that has passed. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter. Give someone you love a hug today, it may be the last one you give them.
Quote of the week: “Mr. Cromwell, there really is no difference between us, except that I shall die today and you tomorrow.” Sir Thomas Moore ~ The Tudors, His Majesty’s Pleasure
Well, after all of last week’s good news I was really hoping that I would not get hit by a truck or struck by lightening this week to even things out. We did have a strong storm blow through but, thankfully, no real damage to speak of. This week has been calm and quiet. Spring has sprung and everything is growing and blooming. I am waiting for the release of the pattern for round 4 of Sock Madness and there was some concern on the group about releasing the pattern and competing over the Easter holidays. So, the moderators are releasing an optional round pattern that does not count for the competition. After Easter they will release the pattern for round 4 and things will heat up again.
In the meantime, while waiting, I have started on my baby sock adventure. This is the first trial sock:
I wanted to get a feel for how many cast on stitches it would take and what size the finished sock would be. This pattern is Garter Stripes Baby Socks and is very simple to do. The only thing I would change in the pattern is the heel, which was somewhat of a pain, and the toe, which I changed already. I think the pattern is really cute. After doing this one I have a much better idea of the specs and will probably be making up some of my own designs for Baby Fillmer in the future.
Quote of the week: Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. Benjamin Franklin ~ Poor Richard
Ever have one of those days when everything went right and it made you a little afraid to step out in the street for fear of being hit by a truck? Well, the last half of week 14 of 2011 was like that for us. Let’s see if I can break it down.
We received the liver biopsy pathology results from the doctor on Tuesday, April 5th. There is no cancer. From here on out I will have to have periodic MRIs to monitor the disease, but that is the best news we could have hoped for.
Next, we finally received the paperwork on our sponsored child in Uganda. Her name is Joanita and she is 8 years old. We are so happy to finally know that she is the one we are helping to clothe and educate. Now we are able to begin corresponding with her and we are hoping that Scott will be able to meet her in October when he goes to Buloba. The organization we are working with for this sponsorship is African Renewal Ministries (ARM). If you are so inclined, have a look at what you can do with $35 per month.
Also in the mail on the same day was my diploma from Liberty University. It was a long two+ year endeavor, but I am glad I did it. I now have a Master of Arts in Religion (MAR) to add to my list of completed objectives.
On Thursday, Sock Madness Round 3 began with the release of the pattern at 7 pm. So the rest of my week was spent furiously knitting whenever I was sitting still. I stayed up until 1 AM last night to finish the pair. My hands are killing me and, so, I will be laying off the knitting at least for a couple of days.
Finally, while knitting on the socks and talking on iChat with my son and his family, my son let it slip that he will be coming to visit us in June. We were expecting to visit with our daughter-in-law and grandson on that trip, as our son was not planning on coming. Their family is going to Disney and he was trying to avoid that adventure. We are thrilled to pieces that he will now be joining them.
So, there you have it. An overall GREAT week.
Quote of the Week: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” Dr Seuss
Last week I mentioned the Sock Madness 5 knitting competition that I qualified for. I neglected to show the completed socks from round one. In week ten I showed the progress of these socks. The pattern is Supporter’s Socks and the pattern is very simple, but the result is very nice. 
We received the pattern for round 2 of Sock Madness on Tuesday afternoon (22nd) and I finished 15th out of 45 in my team. A pair of socks knitted in 5 days, not bad. Only 37 move on to round 3 and I made it that far. Yay! The sock pattern for round 2 is called Nornir and below are mine, complete with my new clear clogs to show them off! Whoo Hoo! The pattern has a boat load of slipped stitches and I doubt I will ever make them again, but the final result was nice, albeit a little snug. The clogs came from Knitter’s Dream.
Now I am back to waiting for the pattern for round 3…only 25 will move on through that round. Wish me luck!
This week was filled with learning all the new ways to use the iPad 2, renewing my use of some older networking tools, cooking pastries and candy, showing Flat Stanley around town, and getting psyched up about the start of the actual Sock Madness 5 competition.
The iPad 2 is SO much more useful to me than the generation one was. With the camera feature, I am able to journal everyday about anything and everything, then include photos with my entries in the journal. The video feature is amazing, and the ability to use Facetime is super fantastic. I can pretty much do anything computer related on this device I can think of, except text messaging and phone calling, which are actually cellular activities anyway. If I could do those two things on my iPad 2, I would totally ditch my phone!
This week was slow at work (everyone is on Spring Break), so I was able to attempt the Facebook thing again. It is a little more understandable, but still confusing. I think the problem I have is that I am not “friends” with a lot of the people on there. I have no desire to connect with blasts from the past, or keep up with people who cross my path from time to time. Getting past the “friend” label and what it means to me compared to what it means on Facebook is probably my biggest hangup about using it. But, in an effort to keep up with my son and his family, I am giving it a go.
Our grandson. William, sent his friend Flat Stanley to us for an adventure. Scott and I took him into town for the tour of the Auburn sites and then he took a ride on the John Deere back at the farm.
The kitchen adventure began this week with the creation of St. Patrick’s Day candies for the people Scott works with at the church. I used some new candy molds I bought recently with green, yellow, and chocolate melting wafers for the candy. This is the easiest candy to make, takes the least amount of time, and produces an impressive result because of the candy molds. The tall ones in the box have pretzels as their “lollipop” sticks and the round ones are chocolate covered mint flavored Oreos.
The cooking continued with the frying of rosettes, something that I have always wanted to do, but just never made time for. I grew up eating these light, airy pastries and have had a rosette iron in the drawer for years. I just never made them before.
The third “candy” item I made this week was chocolate caramels. These are so delicious, but I think I could have let them boil a tiny bit longer, as they are softer than I would have liked. Oh well, this is why I am making these things in the first place, practice.
Finally, March Madness started this week and it has been fantastic! So many close games and with the job I now have I am able to watch all the games! Not only can I watch them from my television, but I can also catch every game on my iPad 2. Yes, I am a geek. Friday I went with Scott to Best Buy and while we were walking around the store, I fired up my MiFi and the iPad 2, and watched the live feed of the game on NCAA.com. Oh yes, I did! It was really funny.
Back at home, while waiting for Sock Madness 5 to start, I started on a surprise gift for the new baby.
The official name of the team that I was placed on for Sock Madness is “Sock Madness and the Sock of Secrets.” It is a take on Harry Potter, of course, and I like it so much better than the other three team names. Now, the ultimate madness is that I am just waiting (and constantly checking my email) for the round 2 pattern to be released! AAAAHHHH….
This week was packed. We went to Birmingham on Wednesday so I could have a MRI. Never had one before, quite an experience. I can’t imagine being claustrophobic and having to endure one of those. Good thing I don’t scare easily. Official results are not in yet, but doc said it looks cancer free.
Round one of Sock Madness V (2011) began March 4th this year. I am amazed that I am going to be able to finish a complete pair of socks in under a week. Here is my progress thus far.
We have two weeks to finish the pair. Those who finish the pair in time will be put into one of four teams, who will then compete in brackets making additional pairs from patterns we have not even seen yet. The patterns are all different techniques and the time to make the pairs gets shorter. There is no way I will win this competition, but it is fun to try. The consolation is that I end up with several new pairs of socks! Yay!
On the tatting front, I finished this lovely piece just minutes before the Sock Madness pattern was released. Whew.
Just like the motif from last week, I love the design, but do not like the colors. The pattern is “Small Cross” from Tatting with Visual Patterns (Mary Konior) and the thread is Lizbeth (size 20, color 147). On the spool, this thread is deceiving. This one looked red and black on the spool, but tatted up red and burgandy. I think ordering directly from Handy Hands is a good way to go, since I can see the tatted example of the thread colors on their website. This spool I bought at Hobby Lobby. I am going to make this one again in black, perhaps with silver around the outside edge.
Finally, there is the subject of my hair. I was unaware of how sensitive your hair is to changes, like illness and surgery. My hair has been falling out in handfuls for a month or two now and it was getting so thin and stringy that I had to take action. Here is the result.
Some people have told me that I am so “brave” to have my long hair just cut completely off. But I really see it as doing what I have to do. It is either going to fall out or be cut off and since I would like to think that I am still in some control, it had to be cut.
Those are the highlights of my week. What was yours like?
Quote of the week: “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” J.R.R. Tolkien
