Houston, we have heel

Thanks to the local library and my kids' love of reading, I was able to finish the heel today.

But, this begs the question: is the back of my foot truly triangular? Hrmmm.

Relaxing

The sock... not me.

The rebel stitch has been recaptured and the sock is (mostly) behaving. The stitches between the needles are stretching out, but I hope that it will go to a better shape after washing. Here it is, relaxing in our bushes. The going is slow, but maybe I'll have a turned heel by the weekend. Today and tomorrow, my mind will be in Ancient Greece. I know they wove, but I'm not sure I can work knitting into the lesson plan. :)

The pattern is Gull Wings from Socks, Socks, Socks.

Nice People

Leaving your half-knit sock in a hospital waiting room: bad.

Having it show up in a stranger's hand who has tracked you down to the hospital restaurant: further proof of nice people.

I'll post a picture of where I am once I pick up the rebel stitch that is running down the side.

Antidote for a Dreary Day

Let the rain come. I'm working with my own personal bit of sunshine today.

This is the bottom bit of a set of curtains I'm working on for the boys. This is the first set of "real" curtains I've made. By real, I mean lined, backed, with little hooks for the curtains to be drawn and weights at the bottom. What was I thinking? At any rate, the blue fabric matches the border on a fantastic set of dino quilts my sister made for them. Suffice it to say, their bedroom is not dull.

3 Mississippi

Two days out from the yarn store visit, and this is what we have. Yes, I chose the most unflattering angle possible for my lumpy bumpy ribbing. I'm not sure whether it's knitting on dpns for the first time in years, the itty bitty needles, or the yarn itself. I think we'll just say it's ME, and hope it gets better on the next sock.

The yarn is Katia Mississippi 3, in the lovely color '408'. In person, it is a perfect denim color. I walked in to the shop to buy some Cascade Fixation and wooden dpns, and walked out with Mississippi 3 and metal needles. But, it happened in a nice sort of way; not in the "what just happened here" whirlwind sort of way.

I started a lovely tiger-eye lace toe-up sock right when I got home (after swatching for gauge, of course.) After working through the hard part of the toe, I realized that the lace probably wouldn't stay up due to the lack of elastic or lycra in the yarn. So, I frogged and started a simpler lace pattern. I'll save the other for springier yarn.

As I was taking the above photo this morning, fretting about the lumpy stitches and how little I've accomplished on it in two days, Super Boy peeked over the back of our overstuffed chair to see what I was doing. "WOW, Mama, you knit ALL THAT?! Cool!" Trust a little one to see anything with wonder-filled eyes.

Of course, his next question was, "Will you teach ME to knit?" Heh. I should have known; he forgets nothing.

Mama, can boys knit?

The question above was delivered by Super Boy, who just turned six a few weeks ago. "Of COURSE they can," I assured him. Inwardly, I cringed at what I knew was coming, as I don't think he has the fine motor skills to get the needles and the yarn moving yet. Quick, a distration! I flipped over to another browser tab, where I luckily had a new blog up (Blithering Knitiot).

"See these? They were knit by a man."

"Is he my age?"

"Uhm, no. He's a grown-up."

I flipped over to the Cabin Cove site. "See this yarn?" (Super Boy oohed and aahed - he has fine color sense.) "It was dyed by a man, too." Super Boy's eyes sparkled and danced. I am positive he was mentally constructing hats and socks for Mama to knit.

The Question was successfully diverted. That is, until later that day when we made it to the yarn shop. Someone, in their infitine wisdom, had placed a "How to Knit" kit right at six-year-old-boy eye level. *sigh* I told him that perhaps I'd teach him sometime soon. I'm just afraid that he'll find it "too hard" and then won't touch it again. That's what happened to me when I was just about his age; I took up crochet and scorned knitting for years after. Ah, well, we'll see how it goes. He seems to have forgotten it, for now.

Eggs and Legs

Do colored eggs count as finished objects? The boys, Grandma, and I colored eggs on Saturday. But, since that doesn't count as a needle craft, I am still at one (1) finished object for the year. It's April. That's a bit depressing.

What I DID do so far this year: my very first pair of hand-knit socks. I made myself a pair of socks from this pattern and Moda Dea Sassy Stripes yarn. I used the two circular needles approach to knit the socks, which I'll probably not do again. Now that I know dpns are available in materials other than aluminum (yes, I was living in a cave) I'll try them again. I knit loosely, and the aluminum ones tend to fall out on me. Actually, they tend to shoot out across the room like little spears, threatening to impale anything in their path. Hence, the pain of the circular needles. I tried it; it worked; it's not for me.

The result of this adventure? One pair of very warm, cushy socks. Thank goodness my clogs are about a half size too big! These socks will be good for winter, but not much else. They're certainly not perfect, but they're serviceable.





For my next sock venture, I'm going to get some cotton yarn that's a bit thinner than the Sassy Stripes. I haven't found any Cascade Fixation at the local stores yet, but there's a yarn shop in a nearby suburb that I'm dying to try. I'd love to knit something from the gorgeous wool yarn out there, but I'm allergic to everything animal. If you're in the same boat and want to knit socks, check out Grumperina's list of non-wooly sock yarns.

I'm still working on a few back projects; I'll tell you about them soon.

Welcome

Here's the obligatory it's-all-about-me post.

What do you need to know? I'm thirty-something, I'm a secular homeschooling mom of twins, and I'm interested in all sorts of crafts. Lately, I've been doing more knitting than anything else.

The important thing to confess right now is that I'm a fantastic project starter. Finding the pattern, buying the supplies, starting right away with that "project high"... and then wishing I could start something else.

I'm hoping that by publishing my progress out here in the ether, I'll have a little more incentive to actually finish something.

Hey, it's worth a try, right?