Don't Ask a Dachshund

I've been working on my Roza's Socks - making good progress, thanks to time spent in waiting rooms yesterday -

I've cast on 66 stitches thinking that I would need it for my big feet, but these seem like they will be very stretchy! Alcariel asked, and yes it is the yarn she spun for the Lime & Violet Magic Yarn Ball swap. I'm really loving it! So anyway, with the added stitches I need to think through the heel flap a little bit (even though I'm following the modifications of someone on ravelry), so I started the second leg to put off the thinking. I'm glad these are moving along, I've got the hang of the pattern, but knitting on teeny needles is starting to bother my hands.

I thought, why not start another project? Sure. Something big, on big needles (anything compared to toothpicks seemed like a good idea). I poked through my queue and found a cute scarf that seemed like it would work. I go get a ball of yarn to wind. And somehow, I screwed up in putting it on the swift -


I had three ends coming off the swift! And all kinds of loops. Whoops.

Jackson was no help:


Until stuff fell on the floor, and he thought his mouth could help:



I got a handle on it eventually (30 minutes later!!!) and ended up with 2 cakes. Jackson went back to sleep - can you see him?

Close up:


And then he thought he had earned the right to bark at the little girl across the street who was riding her bike - so he got the muzzle. I got dirty dachshund looks.


After all that, I don't think I'm going to start the scarf. It's too hot.
Actually, weatherbug says it's 78 but feels like 82 - it feels like more than that!

Shrug.

What a blah day. I got a bit of knitting done - and caught up on netflix movies - ones that have been sitting here and Dan didn't want to watch them. I watched Babel first. Wow. Visually impressive and overall heart-wrenching complex story. I really liked it. I had started "Shrug This" from the One Skein Wonders book. I actually had the exact yarn in my stash, how often does that happen? This was a very quick knit - and I'm pleased with the results...


It's cute from the back:


But I will never wear this. What can I do with it? Swap it? Donate it to a charity? Think it would fit a 4-year old girl? (I might be able to pass it on, but I feel a little weird about that one, like I'm giving this kid a grown-up castoff)


Oh well. Call this one a process is more important than the finished project?

The second movie of the day was The Queen - another excellent movie. I've been working on my Pick Up Sticks Sushi Wallet Kit - I've had it for over a year, started it and hadn't brought an extra needle with me in the car ride when I started it, so it was hibernating. Seems to moving along quickly.

There were local sales this week in town. I caved at the baby store and bought some clothes for the lil'butterball.

I now understand the difficulty of not knowing the baby's gender when one wants to go shopping!! Oh well. It did keep my spending in check :) A little bug hat / top set and a second top and a plain long sleeve onesie that I'll embroider or do something fun too (hopefully...I did pick up some iron on transfers at Michael's a while back...)

I've started another pair of socks too - Roza's Socks using the yarn from the Lime and Violet Magic Yarn Ball Swap - this yarn is so subtle in it's color changes - I love it, and I am loving the fact that these pinky-purple-grey are not my usual color choices too! However, I'm knitting it on the tiniest needles! Seems to be taking a while.

Socks! (it's still summer right?)

Yay! I finished the "Go with the flow" socks :) I used Reynolds Sea Wool yarn, 2 skeins, and really enjoyed this pattern. It was pretty easy to memorize / see as it happened (although if I knit it at night I tended to get sleepy while working on it), and overall fairly quick. They would have been done sooner if I hadn't stopped everything to work on hats for Gram. I'm so proud of the heel flap / gusset - I'm getting better!


As far as the hats go, Gram really liked the Chicknits bucket hat - it looked cute on her. The "Floppy Brim" hat really wasn't floppy or with much of a brim, even on her head without hair. It was given back to me with "You could add to the brim right?" Sure Gram. Anything for her, I'll try it.

I finished a baby hat, from Leigh Radford's One Skein book. This hat was really quick and easy and I love how it came out. I'm hoping that it will actually fit my baby's head - only time will tell I guess. Till then Opus is getting quick a wardrobe.


What to knit next? I could be working on the baby blanket, the Hope&Donald scarf, or any of the other projects that are hibernating in one of my bags upstairs. OR I could try to pick something from the 4 pages I've got on ravelry. Hrm.

Not on queue

I did finish one of my "Go with the Flow" socks, but haven't taken a photo yet - lately my feet have been too hot!! And I didn't immediately cast on for the second sock, so my summer of socks is starting to lag a bit. But it is for a good cause. My mom's mom is currently going through radiation / chemo treatments for breast cancer and has lost her hair. I wanted to make her a hat - mom said that Gram preferred hats with a brim, as opposed to a beanie style. If there ever was a time I wish I could crochet, this would be it! We're going to see my grandparents on Sunday (hopefully) at a family function, so I made it my mission this week to knit up some choices for Gram.

First, I tried the Chicknits Bucket Hat. I don't for sure what size Gram's head is so I am hoping the fit is okay - it's snug on me, but I've got super thick hair...


Then I tried the Floppy Brim Chemo Cap


I'm not crazy-happy about either of them. I think Gram will be pleased with the thought behind the hat even if she doesn't like either of the actual hats. These hats were also touch because I wanted them to be soft...

Yesterday on ravelry, I found the Witterings hat which looks perfect! But I don't think that I could possible knit that in time for Sunday. And as yarn options go - I think I would be using either Caron Simply Soft (in a grey and white, which I'm not 100% okay with - wouldn't it be drab?) or Classic Elite Flash (in Clementine - an orange / yellow mix...don't know that gram would dig those colors). So I decided to stick with the two I've got and then started working on a baby hat - those go quick! I'll be finished tonight!

And how in the world did I suddenly get to a queue that is 4 pages?!?!?! That's 94 projects! And that's just things I've come across online / on ravelry / not all the books!! Wow.

Jackson has been enjoying summer with me around. He's quite content to lounge on the couch:

or keeps watch at the window for bunnies and birds and chipmunks that taunt him:

Round the House

I finished off the Baby Tart / Berry Tart hat before we left for PA. I made the smallest size and am glad that I did because those bobbles were driving me nuts once I figured them out. It's not a tall tart, but it's cute. Hopefully when it's on my sweetie pie it will fit and be way cuter than either of these models:
My dcuk, Elvis:


Opus:


We made an IKEA run last night. I got a desk - love it! I haven't really had my own desk since grad school. Now there are no excuses for my clutter on the kitchen table - it should all be contained in the desk!


I also picked up this really neat bag - canvas, with a front pocket - $4!


Today, knitting on some stuff for swaps I think....

Vacation-land (photo-heavy)

In the end, I decided to bring along the current pair of socks and the "Hope&Donald" scarf and knit very little on each. Oh well. It was still a fun trip! We left on Sunday morning and started to make our way to the Berry Patch BNB. We stopped in Easton, PA for fireworks and the Crayola Factory - what a cute place! (For much of the information that the factory provides, you can also read about it on wikipedia - check out the video down under trivia!) I tried to take pictures with my current sock in progress everywhere and then promptly forgot to take pictures with the Loopy Ewe postcard - I'll have to play tourist here at home...

Me & the sock & Craolya Crayon


Crayola State Colors - Connecticut's is Nutmeg!


"Retired" Colors - too bad, I miss lemon yellow!


I want this poster - "Exercise muscles gym class can't" - AWESOME!


We arrived later on Sunday at the Berry Patch - it was so cute! And quiet! And restful! We had our own little cottage, so it was more like being at home and not really at a hotel. There were many animals just walking around and the food was so good! Bunny is a sweetie and the Strawberry Jam and Honey Mustard sauce is sooooo good!

On Monday we were off to Hershey.

We took the Chocolate World Tour

Here's the sock & the cows who sing about the milk making all the difference!


The Sock & Hershey Kisses


Me, the sock and Mr.Reeses


At ZooAmerica we saw some familar animals and animals from other parts of North America.

My favorite was the prairie dogs


And who knew, porcupines can be found in trees?!


We both were pampered at The Spa @ Hotel Hershey - ooh, la, la - this was very fancy dancy!

On the way home we stopped at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk hoping to catch a cool IMAX. We passed on seeing "Greece" and just went for the aquarium instead. It's a neat aquarium as it focuses on the animals / aquatic life found in/around Long Island Sound

"Friendly" Seals


Seahorses


Me & Sock & Open Mouthed Fish


Jellyfish


Turtle


It was a real quick trip but felt enough like a real vacation. And Dan took the rest of this week off too so we've been getting stuff done around the house and just kicking back. It's all good.

Post-Vacation

We're back. It was a really quick trip and tomorrow I'll get around to uploading photos and talking about knitting. In the meantime, Scattergories! (Stolen from La of JenLa

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Have fun!

Your Name: Rebecca
1. Famous Singer/Band: Reba McEntire
2. 4 letter word: Rose
3. Street Name: Rodeo Drive
4. Color: Raspberry
5. Gifts/Presents: Reading materials
6. Vehicle: RAV-4
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Road Maps
8. Boy Name: Robert
9. Girl Name: Rachel
10. Movie Title: Rebel without a Cause
11. Drink: Rum & Coke
12. Occupation: Respiratory therapist
13. Celebrity: Rachel Ray
14. Magazine: Redbook
15. U.S. City: Reno, NV
16. Pro Sports Teams: (Colorado) Rockies
(Where's 17?)
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Running late
19. Something You Throw Away: Rotten fruit (toss it into the compost)
20. Things You Shout: Riiiiiiiiight.
21. Cartoon Character: Rat


Okay. Your turn!

Vacation plans

Yesterday marked Dan's first day of vacation, so good on that. we've been taking it real easy - getting ready for our little trip out to Hershey, PA tomorrow. Jackson is already at the breeder's for his vacation as well. I've got to start thinking about packing - it's maybe a 5 hour road trip... we're only staying for 3 days so I'm not worried about clothes - it's the knitting! Do I bring the socks? hats? hope-and-donald scarf? Something completely different? Do I bring 1 project? What if I get bored? Do I bring more projects? Still need to think it over.

Thursday was supposed to be "hat day" - I was going to work on a pixie hat using bulky yarn from my stash, a second baby hat and a chemo hat for my gram. Well, I didn't wind the yarn for gram's hat because I'm not sure about the color. I didn't start the second baby hat because I didn't print out all the pages of the pattern. And I didn't read the pattern / yarn label carefully on the pixie hat and ran short on the yardage (pattern called for 80 yards. my skein had 35 yards. groan). So it was kind of a bust, but I pushed onward and dug out the berrypatch pattern (I printed out in 2004!). I have gotten through the crust brim, and am about ready to start on the filling, but the pattern is somewhat confusing to me. I started to sift through it and then got distracted by putting the knitting all over the dog. He is such a good sport.

"King Jackson"


"Good Sport Sorta-Sunflower"


"Dachshund knitting"

I'm a knitting celebrity!

There's a real post coming, but can I just say how cool it is to be mentioned on LimeNViolet?! Especially when you have a knitting friend here and I just finished telling her that I sent Violet a birthday card... and then Miss V herself mentions it! And Alcariel was in the podcast too and also gave me a shoutout as she was my kick-ass magic yarn ball swap pal.

We immediately spooked the dog shouting to Dan to come in here to listen as well.

That really just made my day! :)

New Yarns!

Last week (thursday) I ordered from theloopyewe and yesterday (monday) my order was here! Amazing service :) I got two skeins of yarns I have not yet tried out- Seacoast and Duet Sock Yarn - gorgeous!



Today I met Dan for lunch at Panera - yummy! He found a heart shaped chip in his bag - pretty cool -

then I went to check out a new LYS, Madison Wool - at first glance inside it's a small shop. Very small. More like what I remember Yarns Down Under looked like before they expanded. Michelle (the owner) is very nice and chatty and quite welcoming! She showed me all kinds of neat stuff - she carries things that you can't get at saybrook yarn, so that's cool - for variety. She says that it looks like Wednesdays will be knitting "group" but I'm welcome anytime to come in and knit :) Awesome! She has an assortment of ggh - not the too frizzy / funky yarn - but stuff you'd want to knit with! There was also Cascade, Sheep Shop (gorgeous!), Lobster Pot, and a few more I decided to sample:

I got 4 skeins of a great grey-green organic merino / organic cotton blend from o-wool - thinking about a baby sweater / hat set....


The pictures do not do them justice! Each of these are from Blackberry-ridge - there was a simple seed stitch scarf in the shop that was just beautiful! I'm thinking that or one of the multidirectional scarves or argosy or whatever else I can find on ravelry would be awesome!
Great shop - I look forward to potential wednesdays and more shopping!

Tomorrow I'm going up to the hospital to wait with my mom while my dad has his series of procedures done. I think I'll take the "Hope & Donald" scarf with me - they are his parents, so it's a way for them to be there too... And maybe one more project just to break it up, I have no idea how long of a day it will be.

Now it's quiet

It's been a busy weekend here. After the fun adventures of waiting in traffic on Friday and going to the ultrasound appointment (by the way - we didn't find out the sex of the baby. We're having a baby!) we went out to a great restaurant - Cafe Goodfellas - so delicious! Scarface was playing while we were there - i want to watch Goodfellas now! On saturday we got the garden started (marigolds, carrots, garden beans, sunflowers, zinnia, poppies) and then had company over.

Today we finished the garden (already started tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and planted seeds for cucumbers, cosmos, marigolds, corn, nasturtium) and I'm pooped. Kinda feel like working on the sock, but I don't know how much more I can push my fingers :)

In my blog-reading, I've come across a great site: 5 Minutes for Mom - they've got some great prizes coming up to win... It may be a little early for some of the items, but an ice cream maker? Dude! I'm already in love with my sno-cone machine.

Sock Progress

I started my Go with the Flow Socks - so far they seem to be moving along well, I think I'm only going to do 15 repeats on the leg, not the 20 in the pattern. I am really enjoying working with the Reynolds Soft Sea Wool too.


As far as my other work-in-project (aka I'm so crafty I make people! great stuff!) we sat in 2 hours of traffic today on the way to the ultrasound appointment - for nothing! I didn't see any emergency road work being done. Sheesh. Anyway this is cool:


Doesn't this little foot need a sock? or booties? :)