Labradorable

The Cinderella Sock

The flags are a recycled photo.  It rained here today and DH had to go to work, so not much in the way of traditional Fourth of July things happened.  This is one of Loco's least favorite holidays, as the sound of people setting off fireworks really bothers him and it's been happening off and on all day and night.  So, we didn't go to see the fireworks and we didn't have a cookout (ours is scheduled for tomorrow, weather willing), but we did partake in something stereotypically American.

Loco had an apple pie from the dog bakery.  I'm not sure why apple pie is so strongly identified with America, as many other countries have apples and surely must have apple pie.  But people always say, "as American as Mom's apple pie."  And then there was that ad jingle from the 1970's, "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet." 

I had my own pie, and I will say this is probably endemic to New England.  It came from a farm stand where they make it only three weeks a year, with their own fresh strawberries.  This is Strawberry Cream Pie.  It's sort of like Boston Cream Pie, which is why I will go out on a limb and say it's local.  I don't really like Boston Cream Pie, or Boston Cream Pie Cake or the Dunkin Donuts Boston Creme Pie Donut.  However, I have eaten my share of all three, because wherever you go around here, there's always someone who loves them.  The Strawberry Cream Pie was good, but one slice was enough to last me until next year.

If you've made it this far in the post, you deserve to see the finished Celtic Braid Sock.  It's a tiny bit big on DD, but, then again, it wasn't really intended for her.  I'm underwhelmed by the sock and, interestingly, she is, too.  She's been dying for me to knit her socks for quite some time now, and she was overjoyed when I told her that I thought this sock would fit her.  Just as Cinderella's wicked stepsisters were eager to try on the glass slipper, DD was very enthusiastic about trying on this sock. . . until she had it on her foot.  She doesn't like it and there were no other eligible young ladies in the house to try this sock on their feet.  I think that this sock is going to remain single.  I just need to find something to do with the rest of the Patonyle yarn that I knit this with, as I do love the yarn and want to use it.  I'm hoping to find a pattern for it by the time I finish my next pair of socks.

My TDF KAL projects are going to be two pairs of socks.  The first one has already been determined, and pattern and yarn are waiting for the afternoon of 5th July for me to start knitting.  I know that technically I could start knitting in the morning, when the race actually starts (live coverage in New England is 8:30 to 11:30 am), but I will be on the road picking up the new dog at that time.  So, Happy 4th of July, and tune in tomorrow for some new and hereto unrevealed things, dog and knitting wise.

I Finished One Sock and I Need a New Project

I have survived the first of the Celtic Braid Socks.  The joy I felt at binding off the top of the sock (and feeling that I had finished one sock at long last) was tempered by the realization that I had the afterthought heel left to knit. 

The photo at right shows the needles all queued up and ready to go for the afterthought heel, waiting for me to rip out the waste yarn.  I'm not terribly enamored of this style of heel for two reasons.  First, I don't like the way it looks.  Second, I don't like the fact that it gives me two more ends of yarn to weave in as part of the finishing process.  One of the joys of sock knitting (for me, at least) is that minimal finishing is involved.  I don't mind kitchenering toes and weaving in the last end of yarn, but more than that makes socks too fiddly for me.  The other possible reason why I might not like the afterthought heel is that it doesn't look too comfortable.  However, I can't speak from experience as these socks are not for me. 

I'm thinking of taking a break from this pattern, but I'm afraid that if I do I will never go back and knit the second sock.  I have a good excuse for taking a break in the Tour de France KAL, which starts in two days. I am a green jersey knitter in the TDF KAL, which means that I should be knitting something of average difficulty for me, but I should be knitting it quickly so that I am done before the end of the KAL, which is three weeks long.  Based on the time it took me to knit the first of the Celtic Braid Socks (11 days), I should finish the second sock and start/finish a second pair of them.  That would work, except for the part when I fly into a homicidal rage and injure someone with my needles. 

This ennui about my TDF KAL project is getting worse as the 5th July start date grows ever closer.  I suppose if I had an organized stash, it might be easier for me to choose something.  I know, if I documented my stash on Ravelry, that would help, too, and lots of people could peek into my stash and come up with ideas and things that I probably would not have figured.  Instead, here I sit at the computer on the evening of 3rd July, thinking that I should buy new yarn for a new project. . . nevermind the fact that it could not possible be here in time for the 5th July start because tomorrow is a federal holiday and there's no mail delivery.  And, well, at this point, most yarn shops are closed, too.

I'm wondering if I could get away with knitting two pairs of socks for the TDF KAL.  I know there are people who can easily knock out a pair a week, but I am not one of those people.  Plus, I am not inclined to pick a plain stockinette or ribbed sock pattern.  I'm thinking two pairs of lace, cable, or twisted stitch (or a combo of those) socks during the three week KAL.  I could also knit DD's Harry Potter sweater.  What do you think?  Is the sock idea a cop out?  Any suggestions for two sock patterns that would keep me on my toes knittingwise for three weeks?  I *do* have sock patterns I like queued on Ravelry.

And, now, because it is Thursday (and I know this for a fact), here's this week's Dogs on Thursday.  See how patiently Loco is waiting for his blueberry pupcake?  I made them last night.  The plan was to make them earlier in the week, but there was a run on blueberries at the grocery store.  I did finally find them at a different store, but that store didn't have guava jelly or empanada wrappers, so I went to yet a third grocery store today.  And the only empanada wrappers they had were "con color" and I don't like food with unnecessary colorings, but I sucked it up and bought them because I just could not bear to visit four grocery stores in as many days.

But, getting back to the pupcakes, Loco likes them a lot.  You know who else likes them?  Me!  They are somewhat bland but they are so good.  I usually share the pupcakes, half for Loco, half for me.  He has accepted this arrangement, probably because he's not aware that this is food meant for him.  He most likely thinks that I am being extraordinarily generous with my food.

Yuck!  I know some people are thinking that.  But these pupcakes really are good.  No one else in the house will try them, but that just leaves more for Loco and me.  The ingredients are: flour, milk, oatmeal, blueberries, baking powder, canola oil, honey, eggs, and sour cream.  It's the same stuff we eat on a fairly regular basis.  If I can get myself organized, I will get a copy of the recipe to Paula later this week so that she can put it up on Dogs on Thursday next week.  I did not make the recipe up, but it's similar to many other dog muffin or pupcake recipes.  I often get several recipes together and mix and match ingredients to synthesize them into one mongrelized recipe.

I might make more of these pupcakes.  I had no idea when I was making them that I'd like them so much.  I did freeze some for the future, too.  However, it will also be nice to have some fresh pupcakes ready because on Saturday we'll be welcoming a new canine addition to our family.  I am going to be getting up early in the morning so that I can be on the road to get this new dog back home in time for DH to see him before he goes to work. 

We did go to visit the dog earlier this week, and the 250 mile round trip to see him and return home turned into a six hour ordeal, thanks to interstate highway paving, two accidents, and a thunderstorm.  And I will confess that I was also partly to blame for the delay, as I decided to stay very hydrated due to the hot weather, so we had to make bathroom breaks.  Loco was with us and he appreciated the chance to get out and stretch his legs at each potty stop, too. 

The time in the car was productive knittingwise.  I finished the body of the Celtic Braid Sock but couldn't bind off because I didn't have the I-cord bind off instructions with me.  I could see DH looking at me out of the corner of his eye as I muttered and cursed and pawed through my knitting bag to see if I had just misplaced the instructions.  We were still an hour (which stretched out into two hours) from home when I hit the dead end on the sock, so I know he was a bit worried about my demeanor for the rest of the ride home.  When I started to repeat to him that we absolutely needed to stop at the next place that sold dark chocolate, and they'd better have clean bathrooms and unsweetened iced tea, dammit, I knew he was thinking that perhaps he'd drop me off and leave me there.  But then I triumphantly reached into my knitting bag, held something up, and said, "But I brought another knitting project with me just in case I hit a dead end with the sock!  I'm okay on the chocolate now, but I do need some iced tea, and a bathroom."  The fact that I actually worked on my extra knitting just this once will forever justify my packing extra skeins of sock yarn in my suitcase even when I am only going away for the weekend. 

Creeping Towards Sanity

I know my grasp of reality is tenuous at best on a fairly regular basis, but lately I think the connection has been more faulty than usual.  I blame the rain.  We're having another rainy day.  I've lost track of them now, though I am very much aware that today is Saturday and it's time for Saturday Sky.  See how grey it is at midday?

I did eventually realize (perhaps after being reminded by somebody) that my last post was posted on a Tuesday but was written as if it were posted on Wednesday.  I had no sooner adjusted to the correct day of the week when I had a phone conversation on Wednesday afternoon with someone who closed the call with, "See you tomorrow!"  I had plans to see her on Friday, so she really threw me and I had a moment of complete and total confusion before I finally, timidly, said, "Isn't today Wednesday?", fully expecting that I was date challenged once more.  Fortunately, she was the one who was confused, so I am in good company and feeling a bit more connected with reality.

You'd think I'd be spending more time knitting because of the rain, and it's been somewhat true.  I've sort of lost enthusiasm for the Celtic Braid Socks.  I'm also now feeling the pain as I see lots of Summer of Socks 2008 participants having finished one or more socks in the one week since summer began. 

Here's where the sock stands today, about halfway done.  I am not knitting on gauge for this sock.  My gauge is off.  That said, I'm not 100% sure of the correct gauge for the sock, as the pattern merely states 28 stitches to 4 inches. . . horizontally, vertically, or both is not specified.  The author of this pattern must be a very, very loose knitter, because she used size 0 needles to get a sock to fit a US 10 1/2 women's shoe size.  I am usually a midrange knitter who usually gets gauge on the recommended needle size, and I have a size 8 1/2 foot, so I am knitting with size 0 needles.  I have been knitting away and the sock does fit on my foot, but when I got to the heel placement for the afterthought heel, the sock was at least an inch too short.  The afterthought heel instructions in the pattern didn't make a lot of sense, and it was after 10:00 at night (and beer had been consumed), so I put the sock into timeout and worked on another UFO for the rest of the night.

Today I got some very, very helpful afterthought heel advice from Karen, so I figured out how I'm going to make the heel work.  I also decided to try the sock on DD.  It's a pretty good fit, just a little too long for her, so this sock is now for her.  It does fit on my foot, and I could have knit more length in the foot before I started the heel, but I was also concerned about how the sock was going to work with my high arches and didn't want to go crazy tweaking the pattern.  I thought about frogging the sock and trying again with size 2 needles, but it looked so good on DD and she was so thrilled about me knitting socks for her that I decided to keep on keeping on and gift it to her.  I feel a little bit crazy about knitting such labor intensive socks for an almost seven year old, but this way I can salvage what I've already knit and look at it as a learning experience. 

I've also been cooking during our rainy weather, but not too much -- let's not get the impression that I like cooking or am good at it.  I ran out during a break in the rain the other day and cut some rhubarb and made sUsAn's Rhubarb Crunch.  It is *so* good.  I highly recommend it.  My kids won't eat it and DH only likes rhubarb a little bit, so there's plenty for me.

I decided not to bake Loco a cake.  We went to the dog bakery to get him a birthday cake, but the owner wasn't there and she's the only one who can decorate cakes.   So, we got him a pupcake for his birthday, as well as an apple pie, cheese cake, and quite a few other delicious treats.  We came home and sang Happy Birthday to Loco.  I think he found it incredibly frustrating to have us all standing around him, crowding him, serenading him off-key with a song he didn't understand.  Dogs, labs especially, aren't really enamored of anything that delays eating, especially anything as pointless (to them) as singing.  Loco stood and looked at us all as though he couldn't believe we were wasting so much time when what he really wanted was to immediately commence the eating of a treat.  I'm glad we didn't put a candle on it as we had planned, because he made several attempts to liberate the pupcake.  This is the only photo I got of him with it -- it was impossible to get it anywhere near him without him attempting to snatch the pupcake out of my hand. 

Once he got the pupcake, he took it into the family room, because it's better to eat something messy on the carpeting versus on a surface that the cleaners (that would be DH and me) can more easily tidy up.  Like most other kids his age, Loco ate the frosting first and then ate the cake.

The second photo shows Loco actually taking the pupcake from me.  Never fear, my fingers were not harmed and there will be no disruption to my knitting.  There should be plenty of knitting going on this evening, but I don't think I will make the knit one sock in one week goal.  I started the Celtic Braid Sock last Saturday evening, but evening is rapidly approaching and I have 70+ rows to knit.  I'm going to get moving on it, but don't expect miracles.

Before I close, I wanted to mention a swap that I've signed up for, my first swap in a long time.  You have to be a Dogs on Thursday person.  DoT will be celebrating its one year anniversary next month.  I can't believe it's only been one year.  I've met so many wonderful bloggers through DoT.  As for the swap, I couldn't resist after seeing the photo of Elise with her ears flapping in the wind -- so cute!
 

Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall

It's been crazy rainy here of late, complete with thunder and lightning.  Yesterday, the kids put on their bathing suits and ran around in the rain (between bouts of thunder and lightning, of course). 

My outdoor knitting corner has been vacant for the past few days as a result of the rain.  I don't actually mind the rain so much now that I am not working.  If I don't have to deal with Boston commuting traffic and the havoc rain wreaks, and if I don't have to get all dressed up and go out in the rain, I am actually quite fine with it.  DD and I spent some time last week weeding and planting more flowers outside, so the rain will be lovely for them.  However, some of us would like the sun back so we can spend more time outside.

Like most labrador retrievers, Loco doesn't really mind going out in the rain and getting wet.  What he doesn't really like is that he cannot go out and lie on the porch.  If the weather was nicer, this is what he'd be doing:

Unfortunately, for most of the past two and a half days, he's been cooped up inside with the rest of us.  He's been good company while I knit, but I can't say he's enjoying himself too much.  I think that today, the boredom has gotten the better of him.  We had a nice morning, but the afternoon has been gloomy and rainy, and he's been reduced to this:

The poor thing!  He had his birthday this week, too, and we didn't do anything fun due to the rain.  I was planning on taking him to the dog bakery to pick out some treats, but I'm really not keen on wet dog in the car unless absolutely necessary.

I did talk to DH about getting another dog and he is actually amenable to it.  It's been about two and a half months since Beast died.  It's still difficult to think about him, but I think we've all been missing having a second dog around the house.  And, being the resourceful individual that I am, I found a couple of suitable candidates for adoption.  We're not looking at getting a puppy or a young dog, but someone who would be Loco's peer, agewise.  This has a bit of symmetry to it, as Loco should be getting a new dog right after his birthday, and we originally went from a one dog household to a two dog household just after Beast's birthday, way back in 1996.  (Oh, that explains my e-mail address for those of you who are in the know!)  Other than the two periods of one dog house that we've had after one of the dogs died, we've been a two dog house ever since. 

Now that I've said all that about dogs, I'll likely have nothing canine related to report tomorrow for Dogs on Thursday.  But, many people won't read this post until Thursday, so I will be okay.  Here's a Wednesday Sky shot.  You can see the raindrops coming down.  Yes, they were that big.  Some places in New England were expecting large size hail, but we haven't seen that yet.

I've been in the house a lot, working on my new socks.  I must confess, when I first started this sock, I was a bit discouraged about it.  The pattern is available for free on the internet, and it's written by a Finnish blogger.  I think it's a lovely finished product, but there are typos in the pattern as well as places where it wasn't completely translated from Finnish to English, so some of the knitting has been slow going.  Still, it's free, so I can be patient about the issues I'm having with the pattern.  I was a bit worried that instead of Summer of Socks 2008, I was going to end up with Summer of Sock 2008 because I was only going to be able to manage the knitting of one sock during these months.  Fortunately, the rain has kept me inside a lot and that, along with the satellite tv blackouts we keep having due to the cloudiness of the sky (usually a negative, but I'm thinking of it in a positive way for this purpose), has given me quite a bit of time where I can sit with the pattern and the sock and really concentrate on my knitting.

So, here's what I have so far.  I'm on row 70something out of 170something rows, so I'm making progress.  This is my first sock with an afterthought heel, so I will be learning something new with this sock, which is always a plus.  This is also the first sock I've ever knit on size 0 (2.0 mm) needles.  I think that it's also the first toe up sock I've knit using waste yarn to knit a little tube on which to knit the sock, but I can't remember for sure.  In any case, there are some firsts with this sock, so it's keeping me interested.  I still think I might cast on for a simpler sock to have for knitting when I can't concentrate or don't have room to spread out the pattern.  (Can anyone say Stitch N Pitch is coming up in another week and a half?)

Now, for the details on this sock.  The pattern is Celtic Braid, by Tuulia Salmela, and can be found here.  The yarn is Patonyle from Patons Australia, in color 1003, which I have dubbed Cream.  According to Ravelry, Patonyle is discontinued, but I think they will be making more of it.  This is my first time knitting with it and, although the huge skeins remind me of Opal yarn, this is much softer than Opal.  I think it's perfect for this project.  It's showing the stitches very nicely and it's easy on my fingers for all the cabling.  Plus, for those of you who recall my two sad Socks That Rock stories where I ran out of yarn on the toe of the second sock, there is *plenty* of yarn in this 1006 skein to knit two socks, 409 yards to be exact.  I wouldn't be surprised if there is actually more yardage to the skein than it states on the label, though, as even after I've knit this much sock, the skein doesn't look any smaller.

I'm going to finish this post now, as the thunder and lightning are making me a bit nervous that we are going to lose electricity.  I don't know if I can knit this by candlelight, but I'm not beyond giving it a try!

First Day of Summer 2008

There's 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it.

So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it.

Okay, I'm a little beyond going back to school in the fall, but I've got the same enthusiasm for Summer 2008 that's in this song, which is Today's Going to Be a Great Day by Bowling for Soup, aka the Phineas and Ferb opening song.

Summer of Socks started today and I was not one of those knitters who got up early just to cast on some socks.  I did get up and print out the sock pattern I'm going to use first and I will be casting on later today.  But, first, some unfinished sock business.  The Dahlia socks are done.  They have been done for a while actually, but I needed to wait for a nice day to photograph them.

And here they are, out in the sun today.  Plus, I shaved my legs just for you, dear readers. I know how much some of you appreciate that!

The wonky sock is on the left in the photo, but it is pretty hard to tell that the pattern on its leg is off a tad.  I wish you could see how beautiful the pattern is (when not wonky), but for some reason it just doesn't show that well in photos, even in broad daylight.

For those of you who haven't been following along with my trials with these socks, they are the Dahlia socks from the 2007 Sundara Petals Collection.  The pattern is Dahlia and the yarn is Dahlia.  Both were limited edition, available to sock club members only, so if you like them, you are either going to have to persuade Sundara to reissue them or find a Petals Collection member who is willing to sell or trade.  There's a Sundara group on Ravelry where you might meet with some luck. 

I really love Sundara sock yarn, though I'm not as obsessed as some other people out there.  If I get enough socks knit in Summer of Socks 2008, you'll be seeing more Sundara yarn, for sure.

I think that the pattern shows up a bit better in this photo, and I cleverly hid the wonky leg part by crossing my feet.  Unfortunately, it's really, really hot today, so the socks went on for the photos and came right off again.  I will have to pack them away for the fall.

When I went looking through my sock yarn stash today to plan out my Summer of Socks 2008 knitting, I was really surprised by how many skeins of yarn I have that are in the red/pink/burgundy range.  The last two pairs of socks that I've knit have been in that range, plus I finished the Titania's Revenge socks, which also fell into that color range.  I'm mystified by this, as I am really not into red.  I look washed out in red and own almost no clothing that is red, but I am apparently much more open minded about my feet.  That said, I'm not knitting red socks for a while.  Summer of Socks 2008 is going to start out with some neutral colored socks, and I might throw in some green/blue socks, too.  Notice how I'm being very optimistic about knitting many pairs of socks this summer.

I have also perused my sock needle inventory and found that I am going to need more sock needles.  I've been looking online for needles, but haven't found anything too exciting.  I like knitting socks on dpns, and I like sets of needles with five needles.  I do love Brittanys, though I tend to break the smaller sizes too easily.  Does anyone have any recommendations on dpns that they love for sock knitting?  What about needles you've been really unhappy with for sock knitting? I'd love to hear your opinions!

I've got my Saturday Sky photo up today, too.  I'm feeling so organized today -- I am starting Summer of Socks, I've got the sky photo up, and I have the new code for the Knitting Blogs ring up on my sidebar.  For those of you who don't know, the Knitting Blogs ring is coming off of Ring Surf due to lots of issues.  If you haven't received an e-mail giving you info on how to switch over to the new ring (It's really easy, I did it today before consuming any caffeine.  It took mere minutes and went right the first time.), then you should e-mail the ring moms Nancy and Risa at knittingring@gmail.com.  I've got a to-do list as long as my arm (and I have abnormally long arms), but at least I've gotten something done today.

I went to see the Sex and the City movie this week and I was so happy to be back in the company of the ladies.  Yeah, they did kind of wrap some stuff up a little too neatly, moviestyle, but, all in all, it was 2.5+ hours of my life that were well spent.  We went to a matinee and grabbed an early lunch first.  When we told the waitress that we needed to be out of the restaurant in time for the movie, she told us that the night that the movie premiered, the whole restaurant was full of women drinking cosmopolitans.  I've yet to drink a cosmo, but I know I will some day...maybe in January 2009.  In the meantime, here's a SATC blogthing:

You Are Most Like Samantha!

For you, dating is the ultimate sport You're into guys with power, looks, or a lot of money. You rather have a great two weeks than a great forever. But even you fall victim to love from time to time. :-) Romantic prediction: You'll find love in the next few months... But you'll be the last one to realize it.

Which Sex and the City Vixen Are You?

 

Are you surprised?  I was.  Somehow, I just don't see Samantha getting all excited about Summer of Socks 2008, but stranger things have happened.

 

Hope today kicks of a great summer for those of you in the northern hemisphere, and winter for you knitters in the southern!

Happy Day!

If you live in California, you can get married today, no matter what sex you and your future spouse are.  I was really excited when I found out about the legalization of gay marriage in California because I figured that lots of people would legally tie the knot on the first day they could (and they are doing just that), because it's also my birthday.  So now 17th June is a special, happy day for lots of people.  If you live in Massachusetts, specifically Suffolk County, it's also Bunker Hill Day, so you might not have school or work.  In any case, the day commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, and I think we can all get behind that, too.

I haven't been absent from blogland recently due to birthday festivities.  Last week I spent over 20 hours volunteering at my daughter's dance recital.  Taking photos during the recital and rehearsals was prohibited, so I don't have any shots of her actually dancing.  I do have the studio photos they took of the dancers a month ago in their costumes, but I think that these photos, taken just before I escorted the class backstage for their performance in the final recital of the season, are much more fun and show some of their personalities.

DD is second from the right in all of the photos.  She has been totally burnt out about dance class for the past two months and didn't want to take classes next year, which was fine with me.  However, after the final recital, she decided that she would like to take ballet, just ballet next year.  (She took ballet, jazz, and tap this year in one combo class.)  Since that time, she's decided she'd like to do ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop next year.  I don't know whether she wants to actually dance or whether she liked the costumes the other dance classes had at the recital.  Either way, it's been a lot of fun with the dance stuff lately, and there's been precious little time for knitting.

I do have knitting to present, though, and it's knitting that has been finished for quite a while.  The photos were taken indoors because, once again, it started to rain when I finally had the time to go out and take photos.  Even though the flash was on, I think that the color is a very accurate representation.  This is Socks That Rock Lightweight in Jasper.

Loco isn't too excited about these socks and I have to say I'm with him on that one.  Part of the problem is that they took too damn long to knit.  I ran out of yarn.  This is a Cookie A pattern from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  It's called Titania's Revenge and came with STR Lightweight in a colorway of the same name.  I gave the yarn to Nancy, and knit the pattern in a semisolid color because I thought it would show off the lace and mock cable patterns better.  And I think it does, it just didn't work so well when I ran out of yarn with only one toe to go and couldn't find any more Jasper STR in any weight anywhere. 

So, last summer, these socks went into UFO status, awaiting a decision on how to resolve the yarn availability issue.  Lo and behold, this spring I was checking out the BMFA site and found that they had a new batch of Jasper dyed and for sale.  I hopped on that train right away.  You can see that the sock on the left (in the photo on the left) has a slightly different colored toe.  The deepest, darkest shade is an exact match for the Jasper the rest of the socks were knit in, but this new skein has some much lighter areas.  It's not incredibly noticeable, as you can see from the photo above, plus I don't wear socks with sandals, so the only people who see the slightly different colored toe will be people who see me in my socks, which is very few people indeed. 

I will knit the rest of the Jasper yarn into another pair of socks.  I still love the color.  I do not think I will knit this pattern again.  I think it was fun to knit and it makes for a really interesting and different looking sock, but the fit isn't incredibly comfortable for me.

As far as what's on the needles now, it's that same old silk shrug that I've been knitting.  I'm in the homestretch.  I do have more knitting time now that the recital is over, and I'm motivated to finish it by 21st June so that I can commence Summer of Socks knitting with a clean conscience.  I'm thinking I might ditch TypePad with a clean conscience, too.  For some reason, since the change to the new system, my updates rarely get picked up by Bloglines and my blog no longer displays correctly despite the fact that I haven't changed the format at all.  But that's all for another day.  Today I'm bound and determined to have a good one, and so far it has been a lovely day.  You have a good one, too.

The Trouble with Tbls*

Let's start with Saturday Sky and build up to the knitting today.  It was almost 30 degrees warmer today than it was yesterday -- it was in the 90's.  No rain fell.  Here's the sky at 7:00 Saturday evening:

It truly felt like a summer day today.  I took DD shopping to buy, among other things, cleaning supplies.  The cashier at the store said, "I certainly hope you're not planning on cleaning today.  It's too nice out to do that."  Well, I had every intention of cleaning at some point today, but it didn't end up happening.  I knit instead, and we went to the pool.  The water was only 70 degrees, which was COLD, but it was so hot sitting outside, even in the shade that I finally braved the water and found it refreshing.  The kids, of course, were in the pool until they turned blue.  We'll be swimming again tomorrow, too.  Here are a couple of today's swim photos, the first swim of the year for the kids.

I don't think DS will be wearing that cardi I just finished for him any time in the near future.  I know he desperately needs a haircut.  It will be addressed next week. 

I was sitting on the side of the pool, watching the kids, when I noticed what I thought was a little pile of crushed ice on the pool deck next to me.  My mind immediately went to frozen margaritas and I began scanning the pool area to see if I could discern who my new best friends at the pool were going to be, provided they were interested in sharing.  Alas, it was not to be.  The pile was not crushed ice.  It had a silicone like texture.  It was the innards of the Pull Up that DS was wearing.  He's getting too big to wear swim diapers and he should be potty trained, so he wore a Pull Up into the pool today.  Big mistake.  I immediately yanked him out and commenced cleanup operations.  He was devastated about the whole thing.  I share this story not to humiliate my son, but to tell you that Pull Ups explode when wet.

I told DS that he would not be able to swim this summer if he wasn't potty trained, and he happily spent the rest of the afternoon out of the pool.  He also told me that he was not going to go swimming tomorrow.  Stubborn little boy!  I am at my wit's end with potty training this one.

His sister was a joy today.  She swam, made new friends, and saw old friends.  She is the water baby in this family.  She's also a wise guy, splashing me while I was trying to ease myself into the cold water.  The new anti-sun regime worked well today, too.  Between the rash guards, hats, sitting in the shade when out of the water, and the copious amounts of sunscreen, neither child (especially fair skinned DD) got too much sun.  I also managed to stay pale, while I enjoyed sock knitting in the shade.

And, now, the trouble with tbls.  As you know, I've been knitting my Dahlia socks for a little over a week now.  This pattern is chock full of knitting through the backs of the loops.  I know some knitters just hate that and will avoid any pattern once they see the dreaded tbl in it.  I don't mind.  However, this pattern is not on my good list right now.  Part of this is my fault, and part of it is the pattern.  Let's look at Exhibit One.

The completed sock is on the left.  It is a bit larger than the one on the right because I have tried it on and stretched it out.  You will notice that pattern on the one on the left is a bit wonky.  That's because there is an error in the pattern.  I did read on Ravelry that there is an error in the pattern.  I found an error in the pattern and fixed it.  Then I knit on, using the written directions in the pattern, as revised.  It turns out there are TWO errors in the pattern.  Hence, the leg on the first sock is wonky.  Now, other knitters have done the right thing and respected Sundara's intellectual property and have not posted the exact issue or correction to the pattern.  However, Sundara never issued a correction to the Petals Collection members who received the pattern, either.

You will notice, though, that the foot of the first sock (on right) matches the leg of the second sock.  (I am knitting the second sock with the correct pattern.)  This is due to my own knitting peculiarities.  I knit the top of the first sock from the error-laden written pattern.  I knit the foot of the first sock from the error-free charted pattern.  Why did I do it that way?  Well, because the written pattern came first in the directions and the charted pattern was right above the directions for the heel flap, that's why.  I don't have a preference for written versus charted patterns, so I used them both.  And, no, I didn't notice a difference in the patterns.  I just thought that the foot went swimmingly because I was finally used to the pattern.  So, that's the trouble I've had with tbls.  Nothing to do with the actual knitting tbl, but with the convergence of many things -- erroneous pattern, no correction to pattern issued, I missed one error when fixing the other, I never noticed the difference between the written and charted patterns, etc -- that resulted in a wonky sock.  I am leaving it that way.  It will serve as a reminder to me to be more vigilant.  Besides, who exactly is going to notice the difference between the legs of my socks?

*Yes, the Star Trek reference is intentional.  And, yes, I do know that Joseph Pevney, who directed The Trouble with Tribbles died last week.

Feeling Sociable

I'm turning into a joiner lately.  First, it was the Summer of Socks.  I like knitting socks and I'll knit them anyway this summer, so why not?  Then I was persuaded to try the Tour de France KAL.  It doesn't start until July and I don't know what project I'll be knitting, but I am going for the green sprinter's jersey and have been assigned to the Credit Agricole team.  Finally, I had to do this meme that's been going around the blogs lately, if only to add some lovely photos to my blog. 

 

Here's the scoop on this Flicker Meme:

Rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

 

Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Photo credits:
1. black-eyed susan, 2. Pierogi (1/2), 3. The Ghost of Samuel Phillips Hall, 4. Blue Moon, 5. Mike Ness of Social Distortion, 6. Anyone for Guinness?, 7. Beautiful Bartolome, 8. chocolate truffles, 9. Bettie Backstabber, 10. What a Story Teller!, 11. German Filmstar Brigitte Helm TV Shot, 12. Good puppy

And the knitting, oh, the knitting!  I actually did knit a sock last week and have started on its mate.  This is the Dahlia pattern and Dahlia sock yarn from the Sundara Petals Collection from last year.  Both the yarn and pattern were exclusive to the club, so no, you can't get them anywhere now unless you find a club member who is willing to part with them.

It's another indoor shot, with flash, due to the almost nonstop rain we've been having lately.  One of these days when the sun is out I ought to get out and photograph a bunch of stuff for this blog, but the sun is so rare lately that I spend nice days out and about and forget completely about the photos.  Still, I think that this color is pretty accurate.  There seems to have been quite a wide variation in the individual skeins of Dahlia yarn that club members received, so you might have seen it elsewhere looking very different.  Some people got much lighter skeins than I did.  I prefer the darker color that I received.  There will be more on this sock and pattern in a future post.  I'm almost done with the leg on the second sock and I definitely want to show that sock to you when I hit that milestone.  In the meantime, enjoy the weekend!

Fiber and Yoga

TypePad's been eating this post in its previous incarnations, but, without further ado, here's what was intended to be the Saturday Sky photo, now being posted (hopefully) on Sunday.  I took the photo on Tuesday when we were at Hampton.  It's Boar's Head.

I did have the camera with me on Saturday, but didn't take any photos outdoors.  We took the kids to the Boott Mills, per DD's request.  She loves it there.  DS had never been before, and most of the exhibits were a bit beyond him, but there was one thing that got him very excited.  He got a little shy when I wanted to take a photo of him with it, but slipped into the frame with his sister at the last minute.

When DS first laid eyes on the swift in this photo, he went running over to it, yelling, "Mummy, you have one of these at home!"  I give him a lot of credit for recognizing that... maybe he'll end up knitting, too.  The kids are wearing the aprons that children get to wear at the museum, and there are activities for them to do there at various locations.  We felt seeds in raw cotton, carried a full cotton picker's bag, played with roving, carded cotton, wove, and threaded a play loom.  You can see DD's time card sticking out of one of the pockets in her apron.  DD again asked for a loom, and when a knitting/fiber catalog serendipitously arrived in the mail that afternoon, she found full size looms in it that she perused with great interest.  The fiber bug has bitten her.

We bit into some delicious Mexican food at our favorite place, the Mambo Grill.  I could eat there every day of the week, but DH draws the line at once per week, and we've been going less frequently than that now that the kids have discovered the children's menus at big chain restaurants.  Out of the blue, in the middle of lunch, DS did the following:

He's a yogini!  You can't see it, but his legs are crossed.  And he's got his hands in the guyan mudra.  I have no idea where he learned to do this, because I've never done yoga in front of him.  I usually wait to practice yoga at night when he's in bed, because his presence is not conducive to yoga practice.  The things this child does to surprise me!  Perhaps he will join me doing yoga with the new Wii Fit that arrived the other day.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm out of Netflix DVD's and new books, so I guess I'm going to have to exercise a bit.  I could knit.  I could post about knitting, too, as this is mostly a knitting blog, but today is a nonknitting post.  I'd be interested in whether anyone else out there has the Wii Fit and what they think of it.  I will post about it once I give it a go.

Finally, in more nonknitting content, I went to the library the other day to peruse the Jane Austen books.  That meme I did last week vexed me because I couldn't remember which of her books I had actually read versus those which I'd seen on film, so I didn't give myself credit for having read any of her books.  And that shall remain that way because my town library doesn't have any Jane Austen books on the shelves.  The horror!

I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude and I'm looking for some new book recommendations for the summer.  Any suggestions?

Childhood

Childhood is done!  Unlike the last sweater I knit for DS, this one was received with open arms.  He loves it and wants to wear it every day.  He was more than happy to pose for a photo for me in it, but refused to do so outside.  I made the largest size for him and it does fit, though if I were doing it all over again, I'd add an inch or two to the body.  I did have enough yarn left over to do that.

I think that the two colors of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton look lovely together.  (I used Jade and Indigo.)  They also look quite nice with DS's blue eyes.  Take a closer look at the beautiful buttons:

Aren't those buttons just gorgeous?  They are handpainted wood buttons gifted to my by the lovely Emma, way back during Secret Pal 2.  I earmarked them for this project and, finally, I got them on this cardi.  DS is just delighted with the buttons, too, and will point them out to anyone within earshot.

All in all, I have to say that this wasn't a bad knit and I would do it again if I had a small person to knit this for.  DS is off the height charts for a four year old and the largest size just fits him.  I'd love to knit something similar in a larger size for him in the future.  I think that some of the Rowan and Debbie Bliss children's books have some hooded sweaters in them, so that might be a possibility.  One more photo of Childhood:

Perhaps one of these days I will get this little boy to pose for me outside. . .

I bought the Indigo yarn for this sweater at Webs, via mail order.  Last weekend, I went to Webs, though I did not take one photo of the entire visit.  Last time I was at Webs, they were on Kellogg Avenue in Amherst, not at the current gigantic place in Northampton, where they've been since 1992.  There's a big sale going on now, but I was with a nonknitter (who actually enjoyed wandering around the store, though reminded me that I promised we could go to Northampton Brewery as soon as we left Webs), so I had a list and I stuck to it instead of wandering about petting yarn willy nilly.  I must proudly confess that I did not buy myself anything at Webs.  That should merit me some sort of reward -- when was the last time I set foot in a LYS and did not buy anything?  I would have bought yarn, but they didn't have the color DD wanted for a sweater I'm going to knit for her.  And the only yarn that I petted was some lovely Jade Sapphire cashmere.  I made my nonknitting friend pet it, too, but I was the only one who seemed to be excited about it.  I would have bought some, too, but all I could think of to knit with it was socks, and that seemed so decadent.  I know, that seems to be my thing.  I love decadence!  Looks like I might be due for another road trip to Webs or some internet shopping. . .