Summer of Socks

I forgot one more gift that arrived on my birthday (do you see how spoiled I am?). My cousin decided to feed my Icelandic candy habit:



The yellow bag is this chocolate licorice concoction that I love. I have one left. There's a bit left of the chocolate bar too. The Opal is next in line to go.

Yum!

Since it is the Summer of Socks you may recall I decided to finish the RPMs. Well I did. In fact I got right up to sewing up the toe. I decided to compare it to the first one just to be safe and it was a good inch to an inch and half shorter. I got so pissed I ripped it back to the heel, since I'd screwed up there but decided to let it go at the time, put it on scrap yarn and tossed it in a corner. Maybe it will learn it's lesson and behave next time.

I decided to jump back on the horse. I took Shameka's suggestion and cast on for Nutkin. It has an interesting cuff. You knit for 5 rounds, purl a round, then knit for 6 more rounds. You turn it on the purl round and knit the live stitches with the cast on edge, see:

It makes a nice cuff, let's see how much I like it when I'm wearing them. The yarn is my Buffy the Vampire Slayer sock yarn from White Oak. Maribel got it for me last year for my birthday.

I'm loving the way it's turning out:


My plans for the weekend involve house cleaning, dyeing, and spinning. Of course I may just lay around like a vegetable. We'll see.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Wow is it Wednesday already?

The week is getting away from me. Which is unusual to say the least. I spent Monday doing my self evaluation for work, doing evaluations for the two managers who work under me and playing hooky with my husband while we waited to get the car fixed.

Fixed you say? What happened you ask? Well my husband occasionally parks our car on the street. Typically this is because he is going somewhere early in the morning and is afraid someone will have blocked our garage, which happens all the time by the way. Seems that someone noticed the thingie for the GPS on the windshield. It was empty but they figured it must be in the car somewhere. They smashed the window and rifled through everything only to discover it wasn't there. It was actually in the house. I do take some joy in knowing that must have ticked them off a bit, all that nefarious work for nothing. In the end they didn't take anything at all. Anyway we needed a new window so I took the day off to be supportive. We dropped the car off and headed to the movies to see the Incredible Hulk. Which was fun by the way.

There's been some knitting. Some projects finished actually but I'll save that for Friday. Yesterday in honor of the Summer of Socks I decided to pick up the dreaded RPMs to take to knitting group. I've been working on them since last night and I just discovered I am only half an inch away from the toe decreases:


...a-freakin-mazing! I never thought I'd see the day. Maybe they'll get done tonight, maybe, just maybe.

I have been spinning too:



...and a close up:


I've spun every day but yesterday since Friday night I believe. I spend a bit more then 10 minutes but it's been easy to find the time when I'm only aiming for 10 minutes. I hope I can keep it up.

Monday Morning you looked so fine...

I finished something!!! Aren't you impressed? Yes, yes I know it's only one sock but still at this point something is something don't you agree? RPM sure does look fine:

I'm very happy with it. I'm even happier about my mad kitchener skilz. Never in all my years of sock making have I kitchenered a toe without the instructions right in front of me. Yet here I was today, at my desk waiting for my computer to stop acting erratically, grafting the toe on my sock solo. That's right no net, nada, nothing. Just my mad skilz. I've told you before it's the little things that make me happy.

I also ordered yarn for Jeanie. I'm hoping to make it for Tisha's birthday cruise in April. I was going to go for Brooks Farms Acero but I saw someone had used Knit Picks Essential on Ravelry and it looked lovely. It happened to be on clearance at the moment so I went ahead and ordered.You just can't beat $18 over $51. I chose Riverbed Multi. I love brown/blue combos.

While I wait for my yarn to arrive I'm going to cast on for Ice Queen. Maribel's mom has a birthday coming up. I'm going to do it without beads. At some point I'll make one for myself with beads. I'll cast on for the second RPM too but I actually want to make Ice Queen so I need to ride that wave.

Happy Monday!

Partying on the Island...

On Saturday Maribel and I braved the cold and residual snow to head out to Long Island to celebrate the impending addition to Cara's family. Maribel found a friend the moment we came in:
Lucy is quite the charmer, thankfully she was a little big for Maribel's bag. So Ann gets to keep her...this time.

We rode on the LIRR with the sadly blogless Bronx expat Regina. Bel gave her an impromptu magic loop lesson on the train. Before the other guests arrived they got their knit on:
Amazingly Cara was actually surprised. As big an undertaking as it was Ann managed to keep it all under wraps. She was even able to get Cara's family there. We all waited outside for the full effect as she drove up:
The big knit hit of the party was Ann's blanket (I stole this shot from Ann, the one I took sucked):
For those wondering it's Curlicue in Knit One Crochet Too's Ty-Dy.

As always Ann was the hostess with the mostess. She did finally get to sit and rest after a few hours of doing her hostess duties:
There are some more photos here on my Flickr account if you are so inclined.

It's always a good time when I visit the LI gang. Once Kathleen arrived I was too busy to really take anymore pictures. I had to make sure the BFF was given enough attention. She's been feeling a bit jealous lately, lol.

I did actually do some knitting myself. Look it's a turned heel:
(obviously that's the monday morning cell phone shot)

Happy Monday!

There's a million things I probably could have blogged about over the last few weeks but I am at a loss to remember them all. I know I spend a great day hanging with Kathleen and her family. No knitting was done but many embarrassing pictures were taken of me playing Rock Band. I've been catching up on the Knitting Blog's Ring in the evening instead of knitting. My brain is completely fried this rush. I can't even read a book. I've been working on the same one since Christmas break.

I did get my Sox Stix replacement, yay Lantern Moon! They even sent 2 since it must have been obvious I was a klutz:



On those rare occasions when knitting has occurred it has been on my RPMs. I managed to find my Knit Picks needles. You can see how little I've done:



I did bring the camera this morning to take better pictures and to show you Avery's hat but the batteries were dead. Par for the course on a Monday morning right?

Chante pointed out to me that Avery was captured on video, as was she. Check out this video podcast and you'll see Avery doing his own Rhinebeck video. If you really pay attention to the background you'll see Maribel and even me but only my back.

Happy Monday!

Sundays are for spinning...

...seriously. Chante was kind enough to come over to give me some spinning lessons since my poor wheel has been sorely neglected since Christmas. Tisha and Maribel joined the fun as well.

There was knitting:
...and a whole lot of detangling:
I swear all I wanted to do was wind the Spirit Trail sock yarn I bought for Tisha at Rhinebeck so we could get her started on her first socks but we all spent more time untangling the damn thing than spinning!

There was spinning though:

Oddly enough I have no pictures of myself or Maribel at the wheel but they do exist, they're just on Maribel's camera. I'm not sure when she'll get them to me or up on her blog since she leaves for New Orleans in a few days.

Added later: Actually she blogged so go look, I'll wait...

Chante is an excellent teacher although I'm afraid we spent way more time talking, laughing and eating all the food Rinaldo was making on the grill. I do have a better idea of what I'm doing although the minute she left I tried to get going again and failed miserably but I'm hoping if I keep doing it for a little while each day I actually spin something of substance.

Rinaldo worked in the yard and grilled. Avery and Tisha's son Aaren played Wii and even Ian had a playdate with Chante's son. It was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday. I hope we can do it again soon.

Last night I stayed up to finish the RPMs:


The foot on the second sock looks a little smaller but they measure right. I suspect it's because the first one was already tried on so it stretched a bit. While I was applauding myself for finally getting to the toe I noticed a small problem:


DUDE I DROPPED A STITCH!!! Like a million miles back, before the heel! I need to get the fixed before I gift them obviously. Can you believe it's just been sitting there quietly all this time? I was so pissed. I'll fix them up tonight.

On my way home today I get to stop at the Post Office, there's some Socks that Rock there waiting for me. It's so nice to feel the blog buddy love.

Happy (?) Monday...

Look at what I have, pictures of the first RPM sock:


She is lovely, is she not? I have had such a horrible case of second sock syndrome on the other one. I have cast on about 7 times. Each of the six previous attempts ended up in my screwing something up somewhere. This morning on the train I seem to have rediscovered my mojo, I'm sure the Motley Crue blaring in my ears helped a great deal. Nothing like a little Too Fast for Love to get your head on straight!

It's been a rough week and it's only Wednesday. Although if we're being honest only Monday was tough. In a nutshell, Rinaldo left for a conference in Denver, Ian was home sick, my mother in law had 3 appointments that morning so got to my house fairly late. I decided to try to get to work anyway but not before attempting to visit the bus depot where Ian's lunchbox that my mother in law left on the bus last week was supposed to be residing. Took a bus and a train to get there,in the rain, no lunchbox. Go back to the train, no trains running due to flooding. Leave the train head down the stairs. Get close to the bottom, slip and fall down the remaining steps, bust my ass. Call Tisha, hysterical ,tell her I'm done, I'm going home.

I'm bruised and battered. I can't sit back against my chair and I have to sleep on my stomach. Otherwise I'm fine. We're doing ok with Rinaldo gone, I've got a bit of a system going and it's working so far. I'm off tomorrow to do some sharing in Ian's class for their project on families. Then Friday Rinaldo's back. Ian's been a bit weepy when I drop him off at school but he's been a trouper for the most part. Oh yeah and I have the PTA knitting class tomorrow night and have yet to finish my square. Of course I had lost it for a few days so that didn't help, but I found it last night and it's about half way done.

I had Rinaldo take a picture of me on Sunday in the Calio-Thing for Kathleen but I wasn't crazy about it. Much like those of us who shave our legs for the blog readers I felt you needed me to have on some eyeliner and mascara so I made Tisha take a few shots this morning:



...and the side:


The lighting in our office sucks and I probably should have taken off my glasses but they're new and I like showing them off ;)

I love the damn thing and it occured to me this morning that it makes a lovely teacher gift for the end of the year. I guess I should get the blog for the Love Thy Teacher knitalong going again. The end of the years will be here before we know it.

Happy Wednesday all...

The knitting class went ok. Only three parents showed up and I knew them all. In fact two of them actually already know how to knit. They just want to improve their skills. I like to worry about stuff needlessly, it makes me feel more alive;) I got them started on squares for Warm Up America. I figure it's always better to have a goal in mind and while I usually like to start people on washcloths I suspect the PTA appreciated making it a charitable event. I felt bad for the woman who came to teach crochet, no one was there for it. The scrapbooking table looked a bit busy though.

I've been working on the RPM sock but not as much as I would have liked. I'm only on the final repeat today. It will be done this weekend I'm sure but the recipient's birthday is Friday so I need to get my ass in gear if I plan on giving a completed pair.

I meant to have home renovation shots for you today but I never did get around to taking them. Maybe on Monday. I only really post them for Ann anyway, I know how home improvement excites her.

Next week the boys are off. So far the only plans we have for them are Go Diego Go Live for Ian and a trip to Philly to see the boy king for Avery (ok, ok really for me too). Rinaldo and I actually work all week so it looks like they'll mostly be stuck at home. Poor Grandma...

Have a great weekend!

Wednesdays are a bit sucky for me it would seem. While the work situation is looking up I'm feeling a bit abandoned by a few friends. Nothing serious, just a bit disappointed is all. Of course the linky love I got yesterday from Cara is enough to wash away any blues I may get. Now I see what Ann was talking about, the hits just keep coming when Cara simply utters your name. Thanks!

Yesterday was Ian's IEP meeting. I walked in and told them I had no interest in their assessments or opinions let's just cut to the recommendations. If I disagree with any of them then they could backtrack and explain why they decided that. The thing about these meetings for me is what an inaccurate picture they have of my son, which then makes me defensive and I'm not pretty when I'm pissed. On the other hand I have come to realize that the mere fact that Ian can do so many things but refuses to do them in school is an issue in and of itself. Leaving him back in Kindergarten and putting him in a small special ed setting with a teacher I know and like is a good way to address that problem. It is also the way they want to address what they view as his low functioning. Interestingly I did let his speech teacher do her eval of him. As expected it sounded bad but she went on to say how far he has come, how he does play, talk and interact normally with the other kids when she pulls him out in a small group even though she hears he doesn't do that in class. So she sees the disconnect as well. Ian adores his speech teacher and she has done excellent work with him. Next year he will continue one on one with her but she also pushes in for the whole class so I think he'll get a great deal out of that. The special ed teacher whom we have known in passing for years came over to Rinaldo and told him how excited she was to have Ian with her next year and what a fantastic year she was sure he would have. That's all I want, someone who looks at him and sees all his potential, not all his deficits. She also said, which Rinaldo and I found very interesting, that he would have a few of his classmates with him so he would feel at home. So, more kids are being left back from his class and put into special ed. I think that's very telling about the class he is in.

I had joined Fiber Flix a few months back. It's a knit along/movie along. We all vote on which movies to watch in a given month and then discuss them. The moderator also tries to tie a knitting project in to the movies to keep it fun. I had some time on my hands this weekend when Avery participated in a Chess Tournament in Brooklyn:
...he won 2 out of 4 games by the way...

So I was able to catch this month's selection, Logan's Run on my Ipod and work on this month's project, RPM socks:
Here's where I am as of this morning:
I am really enjoying the pattern which is different for me when it comes to socks. Anything other than a plain vanilla sock has usually caused me drama but these are very intuitive. I never have to refer to the pattern anymore. I did have to rip them out after the first pattern repeat as they were coming out too small but I think it's just because the Lorna's Laces may be a bit thinner than the Socks that Rock it was designed for. Of course it could just be me since I tend to knit a bit tightly.

Dear lord I actually agreed to teaching a knitting class tonight at Ian's school and the people who said they would help ended up with other commitments. I don't really know why I agreed. I don't particularly like people and I am extremely anti-social. It should be interesting.

I'll let you know how it goes.