knit Mama knit!

May2008 009

Originally uploaded by RiverCitySTL / LoomyMama

Here is the first of my second set of socks!

We have a lot of interesting birds visit our little neck of the woods. Check out this duck out of the water.

This guy has a powerful beak, he is a Pileated Woodpecker. This is the woodpecker that inspired “Woody Woodpecker.” This guy is old, his eyes are cloudy and I don’t think he can see very well. We can be standing just inside the window and he doesn’t even notice unless we make a sound to tip him off. He has become my Hubby’s buddy.

I finished my first pair of socks!!! Yahooo!! Thanks again to my new best friend for life, Jeannie, for donating her leftover yarn so that i could finish them!

Holding, rocking your child. There are few moments in life as beautiful. Through the years, I’ve forgotten many moments. I am joyful that it is not hard at all to remember how holding my son’s felt.

I’ve always been a bit crafty. Here is a counted cross stitch I made for my oldest son in 1986.
I wish I could find this pattern, it is so cute, I’d love to make it again. I can remember stitching this while pregnant, then finishing it once Jesse was born.

I’m in a reflective kinda mood…my baby boy will graduate from college on Saturday, the day before Mother’s Day. I just can’t get over the fact that my little baby is a college graduate. Wow!

I’ve often said that being a mother is the most important job I will ever have, and I continue to believe that to be true. It has not only been the most important job, it has been the most enjoyable, one in which I NEVER want to retire!

Jesse may be an adult, but he will always be my little boy. I suspect I’ll be a bit mushy when I watch him walk and get his diploma. I suspect I’ll always be mushy when it comes to my boys.

Here are the crafty books I got at the St Louis book fair today! The books were $1- $3 each!!! SCORE! If you are in the area, its a must not miss event! I’ve never seen so many books in one place that were not in a public library!

I finished the baby sweater! I discovered (too late) that I did one repeat less than I should have of the lace pattern. I didn’t even notice until I was finishing the bind off. Once I’ve bound off, I’m onto the next project, there is no going back!

I started my second pair of socks. I’m still using the Sensational Knitted Socks book, this time using the Six Stitch Stansfield Pattern with two size 2 circs and OnLine Supersocke yarn. I’m really enjoying knitting with two circs, it seems to be moving quicker than with double points.

Notice the cute key chain in the picture? I won it in a contest on this blog! Kimberly is a home schooling Mom of 5, an Army wife and a talented weaver and spinner. Check out her blog! Thanks Kimberly!

The thing I love about knitting is learning new techniques. I often get ahead of myself and luckily, I am totally okay with ripping out and trying something else.

I discovered quickly that I was ahead of myself trying to knit two socks on two needles. Somehow, the direction of the needles ended up backwards and I couldn’t figure out how to correct it. Not wanting to tax my brain…I decided that it would be wise to knit a single sock on two circs first. So I ripped the two socks on two circs and started a single sock on two circs.

Getting used to how two circs work with one sock is fun! I think that once I am done with this pair, I’ll be ready for two socks on two circs!

Sadness is: Running out of yarn when you are just about to start the toe of your second sock.

Happiness is: A wonderful knitter on Ravelry is sending me her leftover Jitterbug sock yarn to finish my second sock!

Happiness is also: Starting two socks at a time!

Here is the first run of a Toddler Moc-a-Soc I am making for my nephew. I had read that the pattern runs large, so I made the smallest size for the first boot. I am awaiting measurements from my brother so that I can make the correct size. This is just an adorable pattern and fun to knit. I used Patons Canadiana yarn for the boot and Regia Cotton Tip & Top Color for the sock. Great pattern you can purchase directly in Ravelry here or from the designers etsy here.

Happiness is also: Finishing the baby sweater. I need to block it, and weave in the ends. Now I have two baby sweaters in this state….I don’t like weaving in ends and mattress stitching up my finished projects.  A bad habit to get into I think, but I always have the next project on my mind and don’t like being bothered with the finish work!  Eventually, I’ll need to REALLY finish these projects!

I discovered Redbox movies recently…so I’ve been renting a lot of movies. I know that Redbox has been out for awhile, but I’ve never actually gone up to the kiosk and investigated how it works. McDonald’s has a promotion going, if you purchase a large drink, there is a promo coupon for a free Redbox rental. So, I’ve been buying large iced teas, and hording free movie rentals! What a deal!

Don’t even bother to ask what I rented. Funny thing about me, I can watch a movie, throughly enjoy it, and not be able to remember the name, or the plot of the movie two days later. This has caused me to rewatch movies by accident on many occasions. I’ll be watching a video and be 1/2 way through and think to myself, “hmm, this sure is familiar” only to find out that I WENT to the movie theater and watched it when it came out. Sometimes I shake my head at myself!

While enjoying my free Redbox movies, I worked on my second sock. I did the heel flap, completed the heel turn and was on my way down the foot, when SNAP! I broke one of my size 1 bamboo needles. I giggle now at the pure sense of outrage and shock that overcame me! How could my needle just break like that? Don’t the knitting gods know this is my second sock that will complete my first ever pair of hand knit socks? Minutes after the shock and outrage I smiled at the fact that if this is my biggest problem of the day, life was pretty darn good!

Since one of my needles was broken, I took a closer look at how my sock was coming along. I had knit through several fairly intense movies that took concentration, Elizabeth - the Golden Age and Gone Baby Gone both excellent movie choices. I figured it would be wise of me to take a close look at my work. Sure enough, I had dropped a stitch and mixed up another way back at the heel turn. So, I frogged all the way back to the heel flap. Now I just need to get another set of needles. Which means I need to take a trip to a LYS to purchase them, since size 1’s aren’t just available at the nearby Michaels. Woe is me, I HAVE to go to the LYS. heh heh

Several posts ago, I talked about a baby sweater I was working on. The pattern is free and can be found here.

I learned how to do picot bind off, where you cable cast on 2, then bind off 4 and repeat. This basically doubles the stitches you have tobind off and produces this beautiful dainty edge.

I did a google search on how to do a picot bind off and found this great tutorial on Knitty. I didn’t realize there were tutorials on Knitty. Knitty is one awesome site for sure!

Next up is crochet picot along the center and collar…I didn’t find anything on crochet picot on google, so I’m not quite sure yet how to do that! My crochet skills are very basic. The pattern states ” Crochet picot along center and collar. * slip crochet stitch 4 st, chain 4*, So I guess the slip crochet stitch is what I need to figure out first…we’ll see how it turns out! Then I’ll do the Tracery pattern on the sleeves, bind off and this project will be complete!

In other knitting: I’m into the third and final ball on my entrelac scarf. Entrelac is fun to knit, really not as hard as you might think, once you get into the swing of it and this yarn is just perfect for it!

I finished Kate Jacobs new book “Comfort Food” this weekend. What a pleasurable read! I felt like I made a new group of friends in Gus, Aimee, Sabrina, Troy, Carmen, Hannah and the other characters in the book. There were many unexpected twists and turns that kept me wanting to read more.

I won’t give anything about the plot away, but thought I’d give you a glance at the book. The main character, Gus Simpson is a middle aged (50, just a few years older than I am!) single mother of two daughters in their 20’s and she has a cooking television show called “Cooking with Gusto.” I can relate to the being middle aged, and having 20 something children…but I do NOT cook, and trust me, this book is not for just those that love to cook! I loved reading every word of this book! I highly recommend it!

Kate Jacobs also wrote “The Friday Night Knitting Club” which is being made into a movie. I will not be surprised if “Comfort Food” is a movie shortly thereafter. Click on the link and you can read the first chapter of the book…the book will be released on May 6, 2008.

Thanks again to Kate’s publisher for sending me a pre-release copy of the book!

Yahoooooo! I’m the crazy woman dancing around my house right now, because I finished my first sock! OMG I totally love it….it fits like a glove, and the wool feels soooooooooooo wonderful! I never want to wear anything but hand knit socks again! All you sock knitters out there are laughing, cause you know another Knitter has drunk the koolaid!