SOCKS, SOCKS, SOCKS!

I have decided to spend this year working mainly on my sock techniques and using sock yarns that I have never used before. We all get stuck using the same yarns and patterns over and over again - I certainly have.
My family loves my homemade socks and every year they expect socks galore for Christmas! So I have plenty of feet to cover with my sock knitting. There are only so many sweaters and afghans that this family wants or needs - so sock it will be. I am very fortunate that all the women in my family wear a size 10 shoe and all the men wear a 12.5. I knit male or female socks and at Christmas go through my sock stash and decide who gets which socks! So here I go with my experiment and will let you know which books, sock yarn, and needles have made a successful or unsuccessful pair of socks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING DAUGHTER....

I remember bringing this darling little baby girl home from the hospital. An armful of joy and the sweetest baby ever! During one of our middle of the night feedings, I was listening to the radio and Stevie Wonder's song "Isn't She Lovely" came on. I cried like a baby because she was the most beautiful thing I could ever have imaginged. Now look at her - successful businesswoman, almost through her masters degree, happily married, home owner, and about to be the mother of her very own beautiful baby girl.
Dear Lyndsay,
Of all the dreams I dreamed for you - you have far exceeded them all. You are my pride and joy and I could not have a better friend and daughter. So many great things will come your way and this year, Ruby Grace, will fill your life with love and happiness.
Love Mom

MEET RUBY GRACE!

Darling Daughter had her ultrasound last week and we are having a grandaughter! Oh how joyful - I can hardly wait to meet her! She is due on June 16 and I am knitting and sewing as quick as possible so that I can spend all my time with her.

A DREAM COME TRUE!

I can't believe it!

It is just too good to be true!

The news is just too much for one person to handle!

I'M GOING TO BE A GRAMMY!!!!!!!!

SOOOOO MUCH SNOW!

We still have tons of snow here in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire - some of the snow banks in our front yard are over 10 feet high! All this snow has left me feeling that spring will never come and feeling like tomorrow is April Fools day instead of the first day of spring!


Girl's Best Friend Anklets from Knit Picks was a great sock to knit. I used Essential yarn from Knit Picks, a smooth rich yarn that was a nice tight guage on size 1 needles. Also a great pick for some plain old straight knitting without having to follow a fancy pattern all the way to the toe.
This picture does not do these gorgeous socks justice. The blue is a deep luxurious steel blue and the pattern is so pretty!








These socks are Fiber Trends Angel's Rest Socks. I used Tofutsies bamboo yarn on size 1 needles. A simple repeat pattern with a fair outcome.
I am not too sure about the bamboo yarn.. I have another skein from a different brand that I am working on right now. I hope they turn out better than these. This bamboo yarn is rough on the hands and not particularly soft to the toes. Oh well - live and learn!







The good old Thuja pattern from Knitty.com made from a KnitPicks yarn for darling son. I made him a great pair for Christmas and gave him directions on how to wash them by hand but somehow they ended up felted after being thrown in with his regular laundry! I finally get him to wear hand made socks and he felts them! Hope he likes these

Okay....... so in the knitting scheme of things I am unable to part with any decent piece of yarn - no matter how small. I was organizing my stash and kept coming across all of these little balls of sock yarn - guess darling grandbabies will have plenty of matching socks with Grandma!! HEE HEE!

These are size 6 months baby socks made from some leftover Lorna's Lace sock yarn. OOOOOH so soft and sweet!

For those of you who have e-mailed me about my lack of posts - I am sorry. My mom suffered a stroke at the end of Janruary and driving back and forth to her Neuro Rehab Center and taking care of her needs has left me without much time for anything except migraines and work. I really should be working on a work related project right now but my head just isn't in the game. No migraine today and it is snowing again - maybe I will stay in my jammies and knit all day!

LOTS OF WINTER KNITTING GOING ON!

I am so glad to finally be done with all of the Christmas knitting -- I can finally get back to knitting for the grandbaby trousseau and pick projects out of the blue to keep my lap warm on a cold winters night! We have had so much snow this last month, I think that we won't see the gardens until July!
In my typical yarn-aholic fashion, I have amassed great quantities of Encore Worsted yarn. I don't know how it happened but it did. So I have set out to find patterns for kids and babies using my stash. I found this great pattern called "Grandma's Raglan" at The Elegant Ewe in Concord, NH. It has sizes children's 1 thru adult size XXL. So I dug into my stash of Encore and pulled out some plum and white to knit up this adorable size 2 kids sweater with stars. Cute sweater, easy to follow directions, and a way to use up some of my Encore stash - What more could a gal want?
I visited a specialty yarn store last summer and found this gorgeous hand spun silk. I bought the last 2 skeins with no idea what would become of it but just had to have it!
Lucky for me, as I was going through my Christmas knit list (those people that I love very much and appreciate the fact that these items took me days to make) I thought that this would be perfect for a scarf for my good friend, Gloria. She loved it! It is just her style and she wears scarves every day.
I used a pattern from the Yarn Harlots blog from October of 2006. I had used this pattern once before and had fallen in love with it!

IT WAS A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!

It was a wonderful Christmas after all. December was an awful month with the death of my father and our son being hospitalized. It turned out that by Christmas our son was home and we were all ready to have a very merry day. All of the turmoil and grief was placed aside and we followed through on all of our usual family traditions with much joy.
Hubby fell in love with a sweater that I had knit for myself a year ago and just had to have one for himself. He even wanted the same exact yarn!- only he chose a different color. (This was the hardest knit I have ever done because I hated the colors and the whole thing was just knitting with size 6 needles!) He loved it and has been wearing it nonstop since he opened it on Christmas day.
A Kangaroo pouch sweater from The Purl Stitch book. A simple in the round knit with this great pocket for keeping hands warm. Made from a cotton blend yarn - Sirdar Aran. Too much straight knitting for me - I am back to cables and fair isle for a while to hold my interest!
This is the Kangaroo pocket sweater that I made for myself a year ago. I love it and wear it all the time!

Thuja socks from Knitty.com. My favorite pattern for men's socks! A simple knit with just a little design to them. These are for my Therapeutic Touch Therapist. Yes, the vertigonous migraines go on and on and on but I am willing to try anything to get rid of them or make them a little less troublesome. So far the Therapeutic Touch sessions have helped a lot. I don't know exactly how but the vertigo is much less for a week or so after the treatments. Michael, my Therapeutic Touch Therapist, deserves a pair of beautiful hand knit socks. He is trying to teach me about "grounding" in which you imagine that you are like a tree, with roots growing into the ground - therfor the beautiful tones of brown for these socks! I have a session this morning - here's hoping he likes them!

I knit 14 pair of socks last year! Everyone loved their handmade socks this year that were lovingly wrapped and placed under the tree. My mother was a little miffed that I had made her a hat instead of socks. She said that next year she wants socks too!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

My Christmas knitting is coming along quite nicely - I think that I may get it all done before Christmas at 2 am.

Here are my Hopscotch Socks - a pattern from Patterworks Yarn Shop in Meredith, NH. The store is very pricey but sometimes you can find patterns there that are unique. I really try to limit my budget in this shop although I can spend hours just looking at all of their lovely yarns and patterns.

These are definitely the hardest socks I have ever made - the stitch pattern and the size one needles made me want to pitch them off a bridge on many occasions. Made with Lorna's Lace yarn - they are soft and absolutely gorgeous! Oh, these are a Christmas present for me. I think that these need to be mounted and framed - never to be worn - only to be looked at to be ooohed and aaahed over!

A close up of the stitch pattern. Only a 2 row repeat but those 2 rows were painfully tiny and the old reading glasses came out whenever I was working on them!

A Christmas present for hubby! Darling husband made it very clear to me when I started knitting for him that he wanted to be able to see my progress on his knitted items. I wasn't supposed to knit something for him unless he could watch!

Not this year babe! A hat and mitten set - only knit when he was at work.

The hat is called a Canadian Winter Hat from Book 2: The Purl Stitch - Sally Melvilles book. He will look gorgeous in it!

Knit Picks Men's Convertible Fingerless Gloves in Shamrock Reilly ( Knit Picks Yarn). I was surprised at how easy these were to make and love the look and feel of the yarn. The pictures really don't do the yarn justice!

My sister refused to take my mother out shopping anymore until she gets a new winter hat. My mother loves her old winter hat but looks a little like Lemony Snickets when she goes out.

Cascade 220 yarn and Knitty.com's pattern Coronet. Size 6 needles. What a great knit. This pattern is easier than it looks and gives great results! I still need to wash and block it but wanted to let you see it.

PS - Our son is in the hospital and may not be home by Christmas. Any good thoughts and prayers for him would be greatly appreciated.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US! 29 YEARS

The Inn at Crystal Lake in Eaton, NH. This is where we are going for a delightful dinner this evening. The views and food are supposed to be spectacular! But before we go, I need to reminesce a little.
I was just 17 when I met the most wonderful man - of course, I overlooked him completely! I worked at a sandwich/coffee counter at a drug store after school and one of the salesmen used to come in every day for coffee and a sandwich. ( I did notice that he was a good tipper even if I didn't think twice about him being a potential date!).
I am a chatterbox and would talk to all of my customers endlessly! The regulars got used to their daily updates on the high and low points of my life. One afternoon, I had just got done explaining to the counter full of regulars that I was unattached ( my last boyfriend had been a troll in disguise!) and that my birthday was Saturday night and I didn't have a date! I was 17 and totally self-consumed with my own life! AWWWWW - 17! I jokingly asked the customers at the counter, "So , what are you guys going to get me for my birthday?". The salesman spoke up and said, "I am taking you out for dinner!". Oh my goodness, what had I just done? I had no way out, he knew I had no plans for my birthday and for the life of me I couldn't come up with one reason not to go out with him!
So we made plans for the date. I had him pick me up at work (I wasn't sure I wanted him to know where I lived), I barely made an effort to get dressed up, and I had to pick up my little sister from a high school dance (so I would have to be back early)! Not my usual for a Saturday night. I was sure this was a one time thing and I would not ever go out with him again.
When he picked me up, I was totally impressed. He was dressed to the nines, had gotten a hair cut, and had polished his Pontiac Firebird (OH GOD am I dating myself or what?). He was the best thing I had ever seen. Dinner, Dancing, and a Moonlight Kiss followed and I really kicked myself for having made plans to pick up my sister at the dance!
6 weeks later we were engaged and 6 months later we were married. 29 years of ups and downs. 29 years of falling in love with him over and over again. I like him so much better today and love him more than ever - I didn't think that it could be possible! I still get excited when he comes home and he is the most handsome man I have ever seen! His kindness and patience with the trials and tribulations of life have saved me from going off the deep end several thousand times and for the most part in the last 10 years, he has been there for me more than any other human being could ever hope for! Don't get me wrong - we have had some incredibly rocky times in our marriage but as I think about those times - they just make today a day of joy and celebration!
Oh and by the way - I just want to share the greatest things that Tom and I have ever done!

Our son, Tom

Our daughter, Lyndsay

Thanks to both of you for so many years of pride and joy! We are truly lucky that somehow you picked us as parents. We love you both and could not be prouder of what wonderful human beings that you have become.

I'VE BEEN A BAD, BAD BLOGGER

Between working full time and my camera battery being on the fritz, I have been a bad, bad blogger. Part of the excitement of finishing a project is posting it on my blog! But alas, I have fallen behind and although I take most of the blame - my wonderful Kodak camera battery is far more the culprit of my lack of blogging!
I have gone absolutely crazy with the book, Favorite Socks from Interweave! These are the Flame Socks in Cascade Fixation - I just love them


Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks are also added to the list of my favorite socks from this book. I used Reynolds Signature DK yarn (It is starting to get frosty here in the mountains of NH and I was looking for some comfy warmth for snowshoeing this winter). Size 3 needles. A wonderful twist to the pattern - a left sock and a right sock! The pattern changes on the second sock so the cross-ribs go to left instead of the right! It made for an interesting knit!



An old favorite from Knitty - Thuja socks on size 2 needles from Knitpicks Felicia yarn. A Christmas present for someone who needs a little color in her life. She is one of those people who wears tan and black all the time and I am always teasing her that she would be much happier if she would just wear brighter colors! Of course, I am a jeans gal with lots of bright sweaters and shirts - purple and pink are my favorite colors to wear and you should see how bright my nursing scrubs are! They can see me coming a mile away (HEEHEE)










I found a new yarn that I just had to try- Sirdar Snuggly Fair Isle DK yarn. A simple summer baby sweater with short sleeves and a hood - it is much cuter than the picture and a chubby little baby inside it would just make this perfect! Soooooo soft! It goes right to the grandbaby trousseau.
It made me realize that I would rather knit true fair isle - I could have more control over the color pattern but it was worth a shot.
I promise to be a better blogger and hopefully my new camera battery will last more than two minutes now! TATA for now!

WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE!

I love vintage knitting totes! I don't know what it is about them but they just make me happy!
Last week, I recieved an e-mail that was a delightful surprise!
Beth and Dustin are the children of the original manufacturers of the Knit Kaddy and their parents were excited that they had found my post about these vintage beauties! Really nice folks who offered up some interesting information about the Knit Kaddy.
So here is a little information about them that I didn't already know.

1. The Knit Kaddy's came in different shades of the colors that are shown above and different fabrics as well - I have seen a green one similar to the ones above but have never seen any other fabrics
2. JC Penney showed some interest in selling these in their stores but decided not to carry them after all. So they were only sold by mail order.
3. The last Knit Kaddys were made around 1973 or 1974 because the factory burned down - what a tragedy for this family.
Thanks to Beth, Dustin, and their family for the info and lovely e-mails and the info!

RUBY

This is Ruby's sweater. Three years ago, we found ourselves with an empty nest. Darling Daughter graduated from college and got married with Sweet Son graduating from high school and heading off to Boston for college. Our once small house became enormous and I knew that this was going to be a difficult transition for me. I have always loved being a mom and it came so fast. And noone ever tells you that it isn't just the kids leaving but all their friends go away to college as well - our once busy dining room table that was frequently filled to the brim with teenagers emptied out and hubby and I were left with heads swirling.
During this time, I began to dream about a little girl. She was about 3 years old and we would take walks together, read books, and bake cookies. It was comforting to dream about her and the day after she would visit me in my dreams the world didn't feel quite so lonely. I didn't know who she was or why I was dreaming about her but she was there a couple of times a week.
After an unusually lonely day without my kids, I dreamed of her once again. This time she was sitting on the dining room table in front of me - she took my face in her tiny hands and said, "Grammy, it's not time for me to come yet. Mommy and Daddy aren't ready". We hugged and she and I returned to our usual dream activities. I began to call her Ruby in my dreams and we continued a few times a week to have adventures together.
For Christmas that year, hubby bought me a present. Just before I opened it, he explained that I needed to have an open mind about this gift (usually not a good sign). I opened the package to find this beautiful little statue. I started to cry just like a baby - this is the face of the little girl in my dreams. Hubby had a huge smile on his face, knowing that he had nailed this Christmas present. I had told him about my dreams and he said that when he saw this perfect little fairy, he just knew he had to get it for me.
So for Ruby, I used size zero and one needles with Baby Ull yarn to make her this perfectly Ruby colored sweater. Dale of Norway Pattern Book NR 164. It will be tucked away with the rest of the grandbaby trousseau for my perfect little grandbaby when she comes. We will bake cookies and read books and take wonderful walks together when she is ready to come. She will be dressed in a beautiful ruby red sweater that Grammy made for her when she was just a dream.

VACATION -- OH HOW SWEET IT WAS.......

5 Glorious days on the coast of Maine!! What could be a better vacation? Hubby and I set off for some of our favorite places along the coast and had a wonderful time!
This is my favorite yarn store along the coast - Heavenly Socks Yarn in Belfast Maine. It is a small whole in the wall shop but it is just filled with the greatest yarns and the owner has this super energy that makes you want to stay forever! She knew most of the customers by name and there were people sitting and knitting everywhere. She also carries the most incredible yarns - just everything that you could possibly hope for in a yarn store!




Gorgeous yarns and plenty of knitted samples! I had never seen Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket but after this sample - it is definitely on my list of baby items to knit!





This is the sock corner! Glorious fist-fulls of the most gorgeous and unusual sock yarn you could hope for. Lots of patterns and knitted samples - I did help myself to quite a few of theses beauties!


The view from the porch of our little cabin on the sea in Belfast, Maine. The cabins are very rustic and have a little kitchenette to make coffee and breakfast in the morning. Oh, to sit on the porch and listen to the sound of the ocean with a great cup of coffee and my knitting is sheer NIRVANA!
The perfect sunsets too! A glass of wine, hubby, and my knitting make this one of my favorite places to wake up and go to sleep!




One of the famous lighthouses that you find on the coast of Maine. So many beautiful sights to see and the leaves were just starting to change - so beautiful golds and crimson leaves were everywhere.
We also did a lot of antiquing with our famous trip to the Chicken Barn. The Chicken Barn is simply that - a huge old chicken house that is filled to the rafters with old books and antiques - A place that you could spend a whole day exploring and find some great treasures.
Great seafood and lots of treats that are not on my usual low fat vegetable-laden diet but oh the lobster! So sweet you thought you were eating dessert! Hubby and I ate our way all the way up the coast and back down with local bakery goods, gallons of "chowda" and seafood!
And last but not least - a whale watch! One of my favorite things to do in the whole world! My kids always hated these boat trips because I was the crazy lady standing at the bow of the ship with my binoculars plastered to my face, yelling "Thar she blows" whenever a whale came into sight. The kids would always find the furthest spot on the boat from me and hide their faces in shame but I just couldn't have a better time. Here is a Finback whale that we saw this whale watch. It was okay but I love seeing the Humpback whales more - They like to play by the boats and usually put on quite a show for the passengers. They wave their tails at you and spend lots of time checking out the boat. Still to get the opportunity to see one of these splendid creatures is shear joy for me!

FAVORITE SOCKS FROM INTERWEAVE.....YAHOO!!

I am just in love with my new sock book! Favorite Socks - 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. What a great collection of socks - you just want to make them all. I also have gotten into a rut using the same sock yarn over and over again - of course, I could substitute but I need to get out of the everyday sock yarns that I use and try something new!
These are my Retro Rib Socks in Patons Kroy Sock Yarn. I had a hard time finding this yarn but ebay wins again for helping me find what my LYS does not carry.

I love the twisted stitches and what looks complicated is sooooo easy!

Next from this book is a textured pair of socks done in Cascade Fixation!

Fall is in the air and the flower gardens are starting to dwindle with blooms. This is the side yard to our home and every year I am amazed at how large the Hydrangea tree has gotten. The blooms are so white! They are so many blooms and they are so heavy that you wonder if the tree can hold them all up. Just a gorgeous end to summer!

TEENY TINY CABLES........

Teeny tiny itsy-bitsy cables on size 1 needles! Wow - what more can Dale of Norway ask of me? I seriously thought that the 8 3/4 inches of seed stitch were bad but these cables need a magnifying glass to be knit! My hands are aching after just 4" of cable work but this is a very special sweater for a very special little girl (when the sweater is finished, I will tell the whole story!). I am just finishing up the yoke of the sweater and will start the sleeves this afternoon - more seed stitch! This will definitely be a one of a kind sweater in the grandbaby trousseau!




Simple knitting to break up the teeny tiny boredom - size 9 needles with Sirdar Confetti yarn. This yarn usually sells for nine dollars a skein but I scored 6 skeins on Ebay for $3.99! I have always had a plan for a baby blanket out of this yarn but could never justify the cost - YAHOO!

Summer is coming to an end quickly here in the mountains of New Hampshire. The temperature was 48 degrees when I got up at 5:30 this morning. The flowers are all in full bloom by the side door to the house and it is just gorgeous! Impatients, Dusty Miller, and Coleus make for gorgeous pots every year.

This past weekend, hubby and I dug up the back yard to reseed the lawn and we built a patio for the grill. Hubby is the "GRILLMASTER OF THE UNIVERSE" and needed a less muddy place to work. His birthday is Friday and I am out to find the smoker of his dreams this morning. I think he watches a little too much Food Network during the summer and has visions of smoking whole bison! But if that is what he wants for his birthday - that is what he will get! When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he replied "I want to have a big BBQ!. He made me a list of meats that he wants - I think we should invite a small country to help us devour this meal! All joking aside, he is a really good cook when it comes to grilling! Oh YUM!

LOST IN A KNITTING BLACK HOLE....HELP!!

HELP!!!! I am lost in the KNITTING BLACK HOLE!! The more I knit - the less seems to get done! I knit and knit and knit but there seems to be no end in sight! I knit for an hour and get 1/4" ahead of where I was before! That is what I get for using teeny tiny needles and choosing complicated stitches.

The red is the beginning of a baby sweater with 8 3/4 inches of seed stitch on size one needles. I have completed 8" but it is like pulling teeth to get me to get the last 3/4 " done so that I can begin the cable work!

I am sure at some point the Knitting Goddesses will show me some progress but for now, I will continue to slug along in hopes that these beautiful knitted goodies will be done before I die! I keep thinking that maybe I should start a new project on larger needles just to get some sense of accomplishment but I am afraid all of these projects would go to the back of the basket! Oh well - wish me luck (and patience)

MONKEYS AND MUGGLES...........

Monkey socks from the Knitty.com archives were so much fun to knit. Sockotta cotton/wool blend on size 2 needles were perfect knitting this week with the temps in the 90's. Funky socks to go with my Birkenstocks and Jeans this fall! But......I just got the Interweave's Favorite Socks book and they are just calling my needles to get to work! If you get a chance to peruse this book, you too will fall in love! The prologue makes it sound as if they will be publishing other books in the future with favorite Interweave Knits patterns.

Yes, I am a Potterphile. I admit that I have anxiously awaited each and every book with baited breath and have shared these books with my 2 kids and hubby over the years. It is always a hoot to see who finishes first. Darling Daughter went to Borders at midnight on the release date to get her copy. As her husband is a muggle and does not share the Pottermania, he did not understand why little children were dressed up in pillowcases with pointy ears and long noses (house elfs)! Lyndsay finished in less than 24 hours. I bought my copy a few days later and hubby read every night after I went to sleep - of course he was way too cool to let me think that he was gobbling up every word and staying up until 2:30 am reading! I on the other hand read as much as I could every day but ended up on the couch yesterday after trying to lift a 300 pound patient - put my back into spasms that made some of the torture in The Deathly Hallows seem pleasant. So my hot pad, Harry Potter, and I laid on the couch all day. Kudos to J.K. Rowling for making the last book the best with great twists and turns and the answers to most of the character questions we had all been wondering about! As soon as Darling Son reads it (he is coming home from college today for a few weeks), I will put it away with all of the kids favorite books from childhood to read to my grandbabies someday!

Eye candy from the garden! Lilies are in bloom everywhere and I just had to share a few of them with you!

Some are miniature lilies and some have ruffled edges - they are just gorgeous and add some gorgeous colors to the garden!