June 2013 socks

June 2013 socks are finished, both of them.  6 rounds pink, 20 rounds white, 13 rounds black 6-20-13... Wash, line dried, wearing...might have to run through dryer 1x to tighten up, feel "loose". Knit on Knitpicks size 2.

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

Just re-discovered my old blog! How funny, thought it would have disappeared by now. No followers, just me rambling for me.  Took Frank to vet; urninated on floor last two mornings. Hope it's not too expensive!

Studio "opens" for summer classes today.Disney and P3 Combo. No clue what I'm teaching them; 8 classes can do a 4 step "dance".

Knitted on ears part of the Mickey Sock #2 last night.

Charity Hat # 1 for 2011

Turns and Leaps, etc

Turns and Leaps class is for anyone! It's a drop in class Thursdays 4-5. This week we had a 17 yr old, a 15 yr old and an 8 yr old. It was a great class!

Schedule is up on the website, take a look, let's hear some feed back. Love it, hate it, change it?

Beach Baby Mini Camp starts this week. It should be quite fun! Need to finish up my planning and to do's for this today. Got the snacks, just have to package. Got the crafts, just have to make sample, etc. Got the beach balls, all blown up! Got the pool! Got the song, need to tweak the choreography since all dancers enrolled are 3 yr olds.

Tue June 15 - Appt with Dr. Lawrence, started a blue Jiffy scarf in seed stitch.
Made a dish with has browns cooked in broth with broccoli, added cream, topped with Chicken simmered in broth with onion, carrots, etc. Added noodles to rest of broth.

Wed June 16 - Did not knit. Made brown rice with peas for lunch, stir-fried leftovers with an egg for dinner. Out with friends in the evening.

Thur. June 17 - Awesome turns and leaps class at studio. Dinner : sliced sausage, zuchinni, summer squash, carrot, all sautéed, ½ can cheap spag sauce, whole wheat fusilli . I put plate down, phone rang, Sid left. I ate it and it was great!. Watched SYTYCD, since I didn't get to see Wed performances I wasn't too invested in which dancer left, but did enjoy the 4 solo's and the group number!

Frid. June 18 - Lots of errands today! Made easy dinner of grilled burgers, froz corn and sliced strawberries with cool whip. Had planned to make cookies, but....

Sat. June 19 - Went to Prairie Lavender Festival. Not very festivally but really interesting . learned a lot, had a good time with friend Mary H. and Peggy H. Dinner was Pastrami on pumpernickle rolls, toasted in broiler with swiss cheese, fresh asparagus and strawberries on shortcake. Finished Seed Stitch Scarf in evening. Itching to start a new dishcloth, but must work on socks for fair, also need to re-start mom’s scarf. Need to look at my minimal FO pile to see what I can enter for fair and what I might need.

Festival Knitting 2010

I knit 2 baby hats and a ball band dishcloth at this festival.
One baby hat matches the sweater, one is just for the gift box.

Back to knitting

I'm able to knit a little better now, not so painful. I am working on the foot of the 2nd sock, and I'm excited to be able to wear them. Several older pairs could use the toes re-knit, out of white yarn, but I'll find "something".

Slowly getting back my abilities

I am slowly getting my my abilities as my rehab produces benefits every day.

I am working a little each day (very little compared to my previous compulsive knitting) on my sock. I am working on the gussett. I love the bright and cheerful colors of this particular sock yarn, they remind me of jungle parrots.

Sunny but restless

So, yesterday's black mood has passed with the storms and today is much sunnier outside and in my self. I'm pushing the pain pills to 4.5 hours instead of 4 and so far, it's okay. I slept well in the recliner last night, see the wisdom of it, because when my thumb slips out of the loop, my elbow slips back, in the recliner it can't go far, but in a bed could go far enough to cause damage. I can do this. I knit 1 round on my sock, as much as I could let myself. can't push it, simply can't. i recognize that my drive to do could be detrimental this time.

Blocking the pink and yellow baby hat. It is the sweetest thing! After the fair I'll sell it, either at the studio or on etsy.

So far this year, I've been a dancer who can't dance and a knitter who can't knit. The lady is trying to tell me something!

rainy day

it's a really glooomy rainy day today. L is out of town with a friend, S is wroking on emergency preparedness project and I'm home alone. I'm out of sorts today. I know that it's a combo of the drugs and the lack of use of my arm and fear for the future, but knowing all that doesn't make it different. I slept fairly well in the recliner last night, better than 1st night, so adapting to life in the living room. Staying on pain med schedule every 4 hours is helping, odd that hospital wasn't careful about that. I did knit 1 round on my sock this am, 1 needle regular and two continental, both had diffuculties, think that as healing progresses I will still lean to regular as C is hard to establish any kind of tension. Photos are Spaz the puppy and Scamper with my shrug.

The Shrug is Finished!

Finished the Lion Brand KAL for the Textured Circle Shrug today. I like it except for the bubble in the back, which is probably my fault for not doing the pattern correctly. I made a mistake and did equal rows of the stockinette and reverse (5 each) instead of 8 and 5, didn't discover it until sleeves were finished which meant 3/4 of the way finished so I left it.

I used Vanna's Choice in Green. Because it's an acrylic, don't think I can block the bubble out of the back. Oh well.

Sweater and Hat

This is a photo of the blue and white sweater I designed. It has small accents of yellow.
The pink hat is a little funny looking, I blocked it over a jar and it's tube-like! I think I'll re block it with a balloon!

I've had such technology issues, computer went down 2x, lost programs, re-installed programs, etc, etc. that it's been 5 full months since I've posted to this blog! Crazy.

No time, no time.

Today, I find myself with time to blog, simply because I have hurt my knee and cannot substitute teach. It's subbing that keeps me from blogging, but it pays the bills and I like it.

My computer is down, so I can't post pictures, not that I think many people look at them, especially when I blog soo infrequently!

I have made a lot of charity hats in the interval, many baby sweater sets.
WIP: socks in Opal Rainforest...an ugly color combo IMHO.
A lace scarf called "Christmas Wreath" for some odd reason, in a really lovely yarn. I don't remember name of it and am unwilling to crutch to the living room to look it up right now!

1st day

1st day of substitute teaching for the year. 4th grade. Kinda crazy, bored them to tears in the am with the reading lesson....guess there was supposed to be fun stuff too, but I didn't understand it in the plans...oh well...

Finally got the right front of my sweater re-knit (record number of rip backs for me!) and am working on the decreases and the lapel increases and it should just be "rollin" now.

Got a pork roast in the oven this evening for tomorrows dinner as I'll get home late and at least that will be ready. My crazy schedule begins again in earnest. Job 1 Studio, Job 2 Subsitute teacher, Job 3 - Family. good thing Job 4 - Nutcracker isn't happening this year!

Fair Results

Fair results: All color work marked down because judge said I carried yarn floats more than 3 stitches. I was taught 5 to 7 as the catch down shows a little.
Halloween vest - blue (floats!) “Good job, cute, don’t carry floats more than 3 stitchs)
Sideways cuff socks - blue - “good job!”
Striped child socks - blue (fraternal - judge wondered if miss matched pair!)
Faroese doll shawl - blue
Variaged baby sweater - blue - judge says “nice work, good job knitting”
Variegated baby booties - blue
Open finger hot pink mitts - blue
Brown and pink Felted purse - blue - judge notes no money in purse (ha! She does have a sense of humor!)
Mary Had A Little Lamb Set - red “Don’t Carry floats more than 3 stitches”
Beret - red “Don’t carry floats more than 3 stitches”
Lace dishcloth - red -“edge a little tight” (I agree with this comment)
Lime green hat with flower - red
Felted clutch purse - red “Cute“ (I actually thought this was a better piece than the brown and pink purse)
Firetruck sweater - white “Don’t carry floats more than 3 stitches”
Handspun scarf - no ribbon - “lots of competition”
Sewn tribal hip scarf - red - forgot to take out basting stitches on trim - I felt dumb when I read that! I
Total 8blues, 6 reds, 1 white,

This is the Bastille Day Beret I made for mom. The band features the French Flag, while the top of the hat contains the colors of the flag and small fleur de lis symbols.

The Vive La France beret is finished and will be sent to mom, she can either give it to Berthe or the alliance to raffle off for scholarship $. It did not turn out quite as I had planned as I wanted to put Eiffel towers on the top but I grew frustrated with bad graphs and abandoned the idea. Graph patterns adapted from 45 Fine and Fancy Hats to Knit by Anna Jillborg. (think I spelled that right).

Working on a neutral colored cropped cardigan for myself. Reminding myself once again that I am not fond of cotton yarn.

The menus from www.e-mealz.com are working out pretty well. I've actually been cooking about 4 days a week, but school will start soon and we'll see if I can keep it up. My plan is to spend part of Sundays cooking several meals at once, which will be fun to do and nutricious. The e-mealz tend to be high on sodium, but I'm learning to do some adapting.

Wed June 2

I had a great time visiting Mom this past weekend, even with the incredible windstorm! I gave her the beret and she loved it! Promises to wear it to the Bastille day party. We'll see if that happens...

Working on blue contest socks, part way through 2nd diamond of 2nd sock.
Working on Berry cherry sock 1
Contemplating a number of other projects.

Got sub info in mail today...pay went up $10.00 a day...yay! That much more to slam on a credit card and inch my wayout of debt. Think of how much yarn I can buy when I'm debt free.... or at least cc free, 'cause that studio buildings gonna take a loooong time.!

Me day

Yesterday, I took a "me" day. I concentrated on doing what I wanted to do. I did listen to a little music for a student, but mostly did not work. (You know how hard that is for me!)

I dyed my Knitpicks Bare fingering yarn with Berry Blue and Black Cherry Kool-aid. This was the 1st time I have dyed yarn and it was really fun. I enjoyed the process and anxiously awaited the drying process (sped it up by hanging outside on our 89 degree day!). In the evening I got out my swift and ball winder and wound it up and cast on (60 stitches, size 2 needles) I did the ribbin 1.5 inchs 2x2 and started the stockinette. This will be a plain sock, just for the knitting enjoyment of it and to see how the yarn colors play out. What fun that was! When I finish these, I may let myself order another skein as I have lots of Kool-aid left (green, berry blue, black cherry and raspberry.)

In the afternoon, I cut out and sewed a hipscarf from parrot fabric for a friend, learning better how to use my two-year old "new" machine (bought it 2 years ago, haven't been able to or had time to use it since). I can now strait stitch with the best of them. Pulled yarn out of stash to make yarn fringe for it. Been thinking this am that it might need a few tassels...lots of those colors left in the stash.

Read a little in my book "2nd Chance' by James Patterson.
Made grilled chicken, fresh greenbeans, wheat roll and strawberries for dinner (yes, it's true, I cooked 2 days in a row...tonight will make 3...heartstopping, isn't it?)

Today, I must do a little more work but not much...
Finished contest sock this morning, ready to cast on the left foot. Must work on Vive La France if I'm to get it finished in time. Berry Cherry sock will have to wait, actually it will be a great Omaha sock, as there will be nothing to concentrate on and can just talk to mom.

dyeing to knit

As usual, I'm wayyyy behind on trendiness! I've just made my 1st attempt at dyeing yarn with kool-aid and it was fun! I'm waiting for it to cool down (or is that kool down?) so I can hang it outside to drip dry. I used berry blue and black cherry kool aide and knitpicks "bare" fingering yarn. I can see how addictive it could be to dye your own yarn....knitpicks sock blanks might be fun too, and maybe easier to get an even color satuation, as I think the back side of my skein will be a little lighter than front, but should work out when it knits up (I think!) but this was fun.

I'll resist the urge to log on and buy more skeins of yarn until I've knit this up! Must have a little control of the stash. Just found a new baby sweater pattern on knitty that might help me use up some of the red heart that just doesn't go away. ...and I'm going to say right here and now that I'm really tired of the festival yarn, I just want to knit with yarn that's not in pieces!