Now that Mother’s Day is over, and I think I’m done crying for a while, I wanted to write down some things I remember her telling me before I forget them alltogether. In no particular order…

A good wife lets her husband think he’s the boss.

20 seconds on high; it’s great that way. (microwave instructions for almost anything)

You really do have a beautiful voice. (but she never made me sing a solo)

He IS a tenor. (when she met my boyfriend who became my hubby)

Kathy, Kristi, and Kyle; the only KKK I believe in (that’s my and my sibling’s names)

Let go and let God.

The recipe already is doubled.

They didn’t come here to see my house; they came here to see us.

It’s your birthday, you can order anything you want.

Knitting calms me down.

I can tell by looking at you if you’re lying to me.

Don’t be late.

I can’t wait to be a grandma. (never happened, she died in 94, my first was born in 9

Someday I’ll get a new kitchen floor. (never happened, it’s still falling apart)

I love you.

Dang it. I’ve done several rows in the bigger size needles, and it looks horrible. The stitches are way too loose, so I’ve decided I must frog again, and figure out increases a different way. I have got to stay with the size 1’s. I had already increased the P2’s to P4’s, over a couple of rows, so what I may do is to keep that increase, and if it’s still too small, add in one more purl and possibly increase a knit stitch in each pattern repeat around.

Did I even mention about the Horcrux socks? The first one is at the heel now. I had to frog the heel once because I wanted to make it a little big for David, and it was fitting him just right. I added on a few more stockinette rows, then started the heel, and he just now tried it on, and I think it’ll be alright. Assuming he doesn’t grow too much this summer.

The blue jeans socks are almost done, at least the first one. I was working on it at Patrick’s soccer practice tonight, and it’s to the point where I need to measure what I have left to do the binding off with.

I’ve also been trolling the pattern section on Ravelry, ever since hubby announced he was getting me 10 balls of cashmerefor Mother’s Day. It’s only 45 yards a ball, which leaves me to a nice scarf or a sleeveless top. Right now I’m leaning towards the top, and I have a couple picked out. I’ll see when I get the yarn, and spend some quality time with it and let it tell me what it wants to be.

I am so loving that Lorna’s Laces too. It’s merino and silk, and I’m looking at the huge ball I have left; I’m about to do the heel, and there’s so much there! I think I’ll definately have to do something, maybe a few cables or something. Or then again, I could just keep them nice and plain, and then have some lovely leftovers to give to someone…

Blue Jeans socks, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Well, this sucks. I haven’t been blogging, barely been knitting; I have been in a bit of a funk/slump ever since thost Nutkin problems. I think I’m on the road to recovery though. Here’s what’s happened…

The baby birds all hatched yesterday or the day before. We’ve been scouring the ground beneath for pieces of eggshell, but we haven’t found anything. I don’t know if the pieces are just too tiny, or if they’re blending in with the almost same color flowers that are blooming beneath the tree, or if the wind took them. It is rather cool though. The babies, I mean. The first day, they looked, well, pretty gross. They were a little hard to see, as I’m looking through a screen and many small branches. They were pink and almost wormy looking and I couldn’t see really any feathers. Now that I think about it, they looked almost fetus-like, as though they had maybe been born a little too soon. But, now that it’s been a day or 2, I can see little fuzzies on them. Hubby called them puffins or something. The boys now have to check on them several times a day, and I love how they’re being so careful not to scare the mommy bird away. Russell says that she’s their blanket.

Update on the Nutkins - After careful deliberation, and much asked questions on Ravelry, I frogged back to where I started the pattern on the leg. I carefully re-inserted my size 1’s into the loops, then commenced knitting with the size 2’s. That first row, I also increased in one of the P2’s to make it a P3. I did one row regular, then did another P increase to make it P4 in between the pattern stitches. After a couple more knit regular rows, I slipped it on my foot, and so fat it fits over my heel. I plan on going up one full pattern repeat and then trying it on again to make sure I can still get it on. Right now, all I can do is cross my fingers and knit. But not at the same time.

The alpaca shawl is, I think, knock on wood and all that, the only think I haven’t blown up. I’m almost afraid to work on it for fear I will. I did start the other side, the other week, after checking with the ladies at my knitnight to verify that the little boob-like things on the side of the border will be able to be blocked out. I still don’t know if I’m going to try to enter it in the fair or not. I guess I’ll see how it looks blocked out.

Went to the sale at my LYS on Saturday, and it was very nice. The owner had several boxes outside that were all $3 yarn, and all thre rest inside was 30% off!!! I got 2 hanks of Lorna’s Laces Swirl DK, which has already told me it wants to be a plain stockinette sock. I keep starting plain easy socks, then somehow they turn into a patterned one. I need a plain one that I don’t have to look at. But, the thing is, I’m still on the foot, and there’s so much yarn there, I almost want to do something on the leg that maybe would use up some yarn that maybe I couldn’t do with other yarns because I don’t have enough. So, I’m thinking maybe a little cabling or something. I guess I’ll see when I get there.

Also, following me home was a huge hank, 437 yards if I remember right, of Cascade hand-painted sock yarn. It may be called Heritage. Thing is, it’s the colors. A long time ago, when I realized that there were other yarn out there than regular worsted weight Red Heart, not that there’s anything wrong with that, in my book, it’s just that that’s all I thought there was, I found Lion Brand Homespun. It was so cool and bumpy and didn’t look like yarn really. It took several years, I’m ashamed to say, to realize WHY they called it Homespun, because it looks like it’s barely been spun. It’s a real buger to crochet with because you can’t really see your stitches to be able to stitch into them on the next row. Knitting with it, is easy and goes pretty fast. A few summers ago, I made my oldest son a hoodie sweater out of it. The only problem was seaming it. I get anal on the seaming, and want to make sure that I’m actually seaming row 8 to row 8 and all that. I had to pin the thing all over and seam carefully so it would end up right. But, the sweater turned out great and he loves it. Now, where was I? Oh yes, back to the beginning of the Homespun…they used to have these gently variated colors and one of them was called Mission. My sister fell in love with this, as did I. It was jewel colors and black, think emerald green, sapphire blue, and pigeon bood red ruby. That’s what this sock yarn is. It’s Mission colors, in a sock yarn. And, best part is…there’s enough there for 2 pairs of socks. Wonder Twin powers - Activate!

One more thing from the sale, a ball of this off-white silky stuff that will be the waist line thing on that Stargazer that I’ve decided to knit the other way now.

Oh yes, and lastly, that picture way up there…those are my Blue Jeans socks. Yarn is Blue Jeans Gossamer, knit double stranded with size 2’s. Here’s the pattern I made up. It’s a multiple of 5 stitches, so it’s pretty easy to transfer to anything else…

Row 1 - *K3, K2tog, YO, rep from * across

Row 2 - K across

Row 3 - *K1, SSK, YO, K2, rep from * across

Row 4 - K across.

There, pretty easy, huh? My sock is 60 stitches around, 30 in front and 30 in back, so I have 6 repeats on the top. I’m finishing up the heel, and once I do that, I think I’ll switch to plain ribbing for the rest of it.

Oh yes, I also started another sock, this one for oldest son David. It’s using the rest of the yarn I did his fingerless mitts with, and he wanted another pair of Horcrux socks. The pattern calls for worsted weight or fingering weight yarn, and this is sock yarn, so what I’m going to do is just put more knit stitches in between the lightening bolt parts. I’m just doing the heel on that one too. I actually did one heel last night at soccer practice, but then had David try it on, and it barely fit. I want these to be just a bit big on him, since summer’s coming up, and I want him to be able to wear them in the fall. So, I ripped out the heel and did a few more rows of the foot. Now, I have to wait for him to get out of school to try it on again and make sure it’s a little too big.

Whew, I’m exhausted now. Knit or laundry? Hmmmmm.

Sweet Pea socks, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Well, actually, a little farther than that. I’ve turned the heel already, and started the pattern up the backside as well. This is really turning out to be a beautiful sock.

I couldn’t work on these at the soccer games today, as the games were too exciting, and this pattern requires too much attention. Good thing I took that blue yarn that I made David’s fingerless mitts out of. I had meant to start on his socks last night, but was having a Nutkin night (more on that later), and ended up starting his socks today at the games. They were all very good, and I don’t remember anyone’s score, but fun was had by all, and that’s what really matters in the end.

Once again, I win the Mother of the Year award, for not noticing that the sun was actually out today, and not even thinking about sunscreen, and not noticing until bathtime tonight that the kid’s faces are all sunburnt, and they have that nice red V on their chest, as outlined from their soccer shirts. David’s arms got it a bit too. Good think I know right where the aloe vera is.

Now, on to Nutkin. I thought I was done with the first sock. I had done 3 repeats for the leg, then last night at knitting night, I looked at it again, and decided that it needed to be about 1 repeat longer. So, during out time at Panera, I added that repeat and started on the ribbing. I got through 11 row of 2 x 2, and decided that it looked just right. So, at that point it was time to head home, and I did. Got home and bound off and cut the yarn. Then I tried on the sock. I couldn’t get the dang thing up over my heel. I could not figure it out. I had tried it on before, when I was starting the heel, to make sure I was starting at the right place. I tried it on again when I thought the heel was halfway there, to make sure it was just a little big on me, as these are for my sister. I even tried it on again, after I had completed the short row heel, and done a few rows of stockinette on the back, to see if I was starting the heel side pattern stitches up high enough that they wouldn’t be hidden by the back of the shoe. What I didn’t do, however, was to try on the sock after starting the pattern stitches all the way around the leg. Apparently, the pattern tends to shrink up the fabric a bit. So, now I’m scrambling, trying to think of ways to fix it. Someone suggested going up a needle size, someone else suggested adding some additional stitches into the P2’s that separate the pattern stitches. I think I’ll do both. For now, though, I think I’ll just cry. They look so nice, why don’t they fit?

Nest outside bedroom window, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

This has been a busy week! I’m exhausted. But, see those 3 eggs? I found those yesterday morning. So that’s what they mean by robin’s egg blue, huh? Momma bird came back though, and she’s been quite diligent. That nest is right below the window on my side of the bedroom, so I had to clear one of the baskets of yarn out of that corner, so the kids could see.

On the knitting front, let’s see. I started some new socks, because the ones I had going just weren’t doing it for me. I don’t know if it’s the season or what. I have some nice minty green Palette that last week I started a Sweet Pea on. Pattern’s on Knitty.com, and last night I turned the heel on it. It looks fantastic. So good, that actually I’m thinking that maybe that pattern could be the answer to my alpaca sock problems.

I also got the bug to play with that laceweight yarn I got with the idea of knitting it double stranded to make socks. It’s called Gossamer, from Knitpicks, and I separated it out and divided it in half and re-wound it into balls, double stranded, and started a sock. The entire hank was said to have 440 yards, I think, and I know I can get a decent pair of anklets out of only a smidge over 200 yards, so I figured it should work out. But after I would the balls up, they looked a bit small. So, I thought, I should maybe add some K2tog, YO in there to make the yarn go just a bit further. I fiddled around a bit, and ended up writing up my very own pattern. Now, I’m sure that others have probably come up with the very same pattern, but I didn’t look at their stuff. I’m pretty proud of it. It’s a 5 stitch repeat, with alternating YO’s and K2tog’s on one row, and YO’s and SSK’s on another row. I’ll post the pattern later on with a picture.

Side note…Russell came upstairs to check on the birds, and I can hear him in there talking to the Momma. Cute.

Painting Easter egg cookies 2008, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Remember Easter? When I had that bronchitis? This was our Easter Egg cookie decorating party. I have this FANTASTIC homemade cookie recipe that my mom used to make every Christmas, her and us 3 kids, and flour all over the floor. But, it sure was fun. I’ve since expanded that system to include other holidays that I feel like going through the trouble for. These are the mix up the shortening and sugar and other stuff and stir in 6 cups of flour then knead some of it on a floured board then use floured cookie cutters and all that stuff. It gets messy. Before I got sick, I had told the kids that I didn’t feel like coloring eggs this year, and lets paint cookies instead. I was too sick though, to even think about mixing in all that stuff, and thought all was lost. Then, my sister, who most of the time has a clearer head than I do, mentioned that I should just stop fretting and go to the store and buy a couple of those tubes of cookie dough and just this one time, cheat. I have to admit, I took her advice. It was really all I could do to slice them up and help the kids form them into little egg shapes. Then, we mixed up the paint, which is the easiest thing, you take a yolk or 2 (save the whites and use them in breakfast tomorrow), add a couple tsp of water, and then divide it all up into several small bowls, and add food coloring in various colors. You’d be surprised how far that yolk and water will go. I gave the kids a paintbrush and a bowl of water, and let them go to town. The painting is done BEFORE baking, keep in mind. The egg paint makes a nice shiny glaze like thing on the cookies. So, that was quite a while ago, what’s happening now?

I’m having issues with my alpaca sock yarn. Remember I had started the Nagini pattern? It was not looking right. I don’t know what the problem is. I sure hope it’s just me. Or the combination of the pattern and the yarn not matching up right. But, either way, I’ve already frogged it for now, I was just wondering if I did the right thing. I bought some very special alpaca sock yarn, the Alpaca Sox to be exact, and it’s in a lovely blue/green colorway, and I already did one sock on it, and after I did it, I realized I didn’t really like the way it fit, so I never did the second sock, and still had a lot of yarn left. I finally decided to do the Nagini, which I had been dying to do, and after reading the pattern, I realized that it addressed the fit issues I had had with the previous attempt to use this yarn. But, when I got up to the cabling part, it didn’t really look cabled. I thought, maybe it’s just the first few rows, maybe it takes several to get into it. So, I plodded on, hopefully. It was not to be. After 4 or 5 repeats of the cable part, it still looked flat, and the cables did not stand out from the rest of the stitches like the pictures show on the pattern. So, now, in hindsight, did I do the right thing?

I don’t know. Maybe I just need some chocolate…

Flower Faire 4-17-08, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Well, actually since that picture the other day, I’ve started on the border part. There was a bit of a freak-out when I thought my YO’s weren’t lining up on this one row, but when I got to the second repeat, and they didn’t line up on the same row again, I knew it’d be ok.

Here’s a Patrick-ism from last night…We’re driving home from this volunteer appreciation thing at church, and we were hitting every red light. So, Steve gets a little frustrated and as we stop an another one, says “Dang it! We are hitting EVERY stoplight!”

Patricks says, “Yeah, even that red one.”

Bless his heart.

PS…I have started the heel on the first Nutkin.  They are so cute, I can hardly keep them a secret from my sister!

Patrick and hat 4-17-08, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Doesn’t this say it all? Patrick’s all like “yeah, I’m the man, giggle” and Russell, well, he’s trying to smile. Bless his heart.

This is a variation on the Grandpa 60 hat, made from scraps my sister sent me as cushioning for something else she was sending me. She always does that, it’s so cute. It’s like there’s always more in there that what you think. She sends down whatever it is, birthday presents, or Christmas, then stuffs the box the rest of the way with scraps and balls of leftovers.

She had given me a decent sized ball of the red and black Wool-ease chunky, and a slightly smaller ball of the cream, and then a couple yards of the red and black again. So, I thought, I can start with that, then change to cream when I run out, then end it off with the couple yards of red and black. That’s just what I did.

Size 10 1/2 needles, because I couldn’t find my 13’s, and I don’t remember how many I cast on, probably around 60 or so. 2 by 2 ribbing, then when I saw I was almost out of the red and black, I changed to the cream, and when I was almost out of the cream, like I still had enough for 2 or 3 rows, I did a small decrease, in each set of purls, so then it was K2, P1 until I did run out of the cream. I counted the number of stitches I was left with and divided it by 4, so I could have a little + sign on the top. For ease of calculation, let’s just say at that point there were 40 stitches. Divided by 4 is 10. So, each branch of the + sign will have 10 stitches. Since in order to make the +, I have to actually double up the fabric, I now have to that that # and divide it in half to know how many stitches are on each side, which would be 5. So, leaving the stitches on the needles, I sort of did a 3 needle bind off of 5 stitches, except instead of binding off, I actually did a sc into the 2 matching loops from the front and back needles. When I had done the 5 stitches, which used up 10 stitches off the needles, I fiddled around with the needles, so I could do another side. So, from the top, the sc part actually looks like this… )(. And, it’s not quite tall enough to be able to fold up the brim, like on the other hats, but it’s still pretty dang cute, and it’s going into the box for church.

Now, off to play with alpaca!

Blossom yarn 4-17-08, originally uploaded by YarnDork.

Thought it was about time I put up a picture of Blossom’s yarn. Isn’t it beautiful? As much fin as I’m having with the alpaca shawl, I think I may just enter this one in the fair instead. Locally grown sheep, locally spun yarn, locally knitted shawl. Yeah. I just with the Kansas State Fair actually had a shawl category. They have like 10 different categories for afghans, then a baby one, and a wearables one, and a “knitting other than specified” one. That’s the killer. Last year was when I learned to knit socks, and I made, if I do say so myself, a simply stupendous pair of Broadripples (pattern from knitty.com), and they took first place in my county fair, which HAS a separate class for socks, and second place at the state. I was slightly upset until Steve showed me a picture of what took first. I don’t know how to link directly to it, but if you want to go hunting on my blog, it’s back in September or October of 2007. It was this gorgeous suede thing, sort of Indian inspired. Next to my socks, well, let’s just say, I was thrilled my socks took 2nd.

Right now though, I really want to focus on the alpaca. Oh, and the new Nagini socks I’m starting with, what else, the alpaca sock yarn. I made one sock out of it already, but it didn’t fit right. I did my normal short row heel, but it was way too stretched out right there. So, I think I need to add a small gusset, or increase the # of stitches I do for the heel. I found the Nagini pattern I had printed off a while ago (thank you again to Gigi up in heaven for creating these patterns and Socktopia.), and thought that would look great in the colors of my yarn. And I looked at the directions, and it looks like there’s a little gusset there before the short row heel. So, we’ll see if this works out better.

Why, yes, I am on an alpaca kick, but I can stop whenever I want. Besides, it’s cheaper than cigarettes, and it doesn’t stink.

Guess what I spent the evening doing?

No, really, guess.

I got about 1/2 hour by myself while Russell was at soccer practice.  I dropped David and Patrick there too, because they didn’t want to go to the store with me and/or would rather help Daddy coach.  I ran quick over to Walmart, because we were out of bread and milk.  Had I known what the evening’s festivities were going to entail, I also would have purchased carpet cleaner foam stuff.

David started complaining his eyes hurt.  Maybe because he tried to read in rooms with no lights on as the sun is going down?  Maybe because he keeps staying up to late for his 10 year old body to be able to keep up?  So, what usually happens, happened.  Except that he didn’t have the puke bucket.  Even when that’s happened before, he makes it to the toilet, or worst case, the garbage can.  Those can all be washed fairly easily.

Didn’t make it this time.  He got the door, the back of the door, the vent, the wall, the side of the dresser, and a GINORMOUS place on the carpet, which you can’t miss if you have to leave or enter the room.  Did I mention I made chili-mac for dinner?  Oh, yes, you can smell it now, can’t you.  Luckily, last time my dad was here, he left one of his hankies.  He’s one of those old-fashioned guys who always has a hanky, no kleenex for him.  I rolled/folded it up diagonally, and did a bandit thing just over my nose, as I had to get in there with a spoon first to scoop up the chunks while Steve threw on some pants and drove over to the store to get the carpet cleaner.

Good thing I had just washed all the rags today, huh?