Like an Old Friend

So, I'm almost done redoing that Monkey sock. It looks a lot better on 0 needles, so I'm glad I did it. I'll probably be able to finish it this weekend.

Heading out tomorrow with Malacat to the Birth Arts Doula workshop this weekend. Kind of like a first step. Maybe even more than the first step I thought I was taking before when I signed up for the AAMI Intro to Midwifery course, which I'm a teeny fraction of the way through, but it is due to be finished and turned in in two weeks. I doubt I'm going to make it. I'm not sure I'm concerned about that right now. I guess I'll see how much of it I can get done and if it looks close, I'll pay for the one month extension on it and finish it up. If not, I'll just go ahead and send for my Orientation materials for the regular Advanced Midwifery course and get busy on that instead.

I went ahead and signed up for the Shop Hop tour with the local Knitting Guild. I hemmed and hawed about it for a good while, but I think it will be nice to get out with a group of people I have never met before and just have a fun day. Why not?

To further spur me on to meeting new people on purpose, the last two weeks I have mysteriously been back in touch with two people I haven't talked to in quite a long time. One of whom I was formerly quite close to. The signs point to something a little more in tune with the universe than just random serendipity, so I'm keeping my eyes open on this one.

Cookies

I bought a whole crate of Girl Scout Cookies. Trying to be disciplined and make them last more than a week this time. But if I don't eat them, someone else will and I won't get any!!

THEN...

I turned around and bought a whole CRATE of Cookie knitting patterns. Will I ever stop eating cookies long enough to make Cookie socks? The world may never know...

I purchased: Twisted Flowers, Rhiannon, Mona, Millicent, and the German Stocking patterns. They're all on her web site. I was disciplined and controlled. I'm pretty sure there are two patterns I did not buy.

Monkey Socks Progress

I 've been working on the Monkey Socks for a bit now. Using Wildfoote sock yarn, in the Purple. Just discovered that the avon bubble bath bottle works pretty good as a blocker in a pinch. I really like the pattern. It's hard to see until you kind of stretch it out a little bit. This is my first shot at a sock with a pattern in it, at least one that came from a graph. I'm rather pleased about it. :)

Not going as quickly as the others so far because:



A. Smaller needles
B. Actual sock yarn
C. I've been working more hours and have had less knitting time (sob)



Well, yesterday, we took a day trip on the train to Seattle. Which meant about 7 hours of knitting time for me on the train. Anyway, so far on the socks. I have finished the repeats and I'm about to do the heel on the first sock (hopefully tonight!) Took me the whole train trip to get that far.

I did spare the family and we went to the Seattle Aquarium, rather than just dragging them on a yarn shop tour. *grin*



I am trying to be disciplined and not buy any more yarn for a while! Okay, until Saturday, but you know, it's the big Spring Fiber Sale! How can I miss it? It will be MONTHS before there is another one. I might run out! (har)


I can always knit when they're sleeping. No one need ever know...


I want to finish up these socks so I can move on to the next fascination, the B4-Bag. My first boughten pattern. I hoard everything free I can find, but this is SOOOO CUTE and looks to be something I could actually DO. It will be my first shot at bobbles... and felting... and including beads in the work... but I SOOO must do it. I have some yarn in my stash that I bought on Ebay a few years ago, from a vendor called Dyeing for Fiber... apparently no longer around (much to my chagrine). The yarn is so beautiful. And I still have some dyed roving in my stash to spin as well. I almost hate to use it, knowing I can't get anymore. *pout* Ah well, on to the next artist.

In other news, there is much fantasizing going on around here about doing some drastic changes to our house, adding on a few rooms, and liberating another to become a mecca of creativity and peace... aka, the craft room. Which means my office will have more space as well, ANNDD... the kids will have their own rooms, which means further, we will have OUR own room. woot! And if we get too discouraged with the crazy making about doing that here, we'll give up, and sell this house and buy one that fits us already. But we have to change our train of thought here somehow, just to get motivated to make some progress one way or another.

First Knit Socks!

I finally decided to knit socks. I've been knitting for a while, and recently finished knitting a couch blanket. But I've always wanted to try socks. Once or twice, I've started a cuff. But never got anywhere.

So, I got determined. Went on line, and found several Basic Instructions on how to knit socks. I signed up for several sock-knitting Yahoo groups (because when I want to know something about anything, I look for a yahoo group) and found a link in the First Time Socknitters KAL I group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstTimeSocknittersKAL/

And now I can say I KNIT SOCKS! It took me three days to do the first one,
and I knit the second one in its entirety yesterday.


Since it was mostly a practice run, I just used cheap ($4 a skein) yarn from Joanns and I used #5 needles so I could see what I was doing. But here they are!