Long time no blog

It has been a long time again. I have been knitting quite a few pairs of socks, learned entrelac and haven't lost a pound.

So lets start. I am trying my hand at designing my own pair of socks. I found a stitch pattern and have converted it to a sock. Zig Zag wrap. I started with a provisional cast on of 28 sts (56 in total), knit the foot and turned the heel. Right now I have set it down and worked on the lacy ribbed sweater from Creative Knitting. Also working my second entrelac scarf. Started Thira, but don' think that I will continue it.

On the weight loss front, not doing so well, but also haven't gained a lot back. Decided to start again at weight watchers. Also have started working out again. Bought wii game by ea sport workout. I also have been walking on my treadmill for 20 minutes a day. Hoping to have some decreases soon.

First Hand Dyed Yarn

Bruce, Michael and Jason.

Michael's 17Th birthday

Last night after the birthday party I decided to dye some Hand Maiden Casbah with frosting dye. I first put it in a glass jar with hot water and the dye and some white vinegar and let it sit for at least 5 hours. Then I took it out and rinsed it out for quite a while trying to remove the excess dye. And let me tell you that there was a lot of excess dye.

First drying time

Then I realized that I had not heat set it so I had to warm up a pot of water to about 130 degrees, place the yarn, hoping that I would not felt it, into the pot and let it steep for about 20 minutes. I then ran warm water over the pretty yarn still seeing a lot of dye pouring out of the pile of yarn. I carefully draped the yarn over a plastic hanger to let it dry over night. I am very happy with the results. These pics don't really show the different colors I got by mixing blue and purple together. It has areas of dark and light purple with other areas of pretty blue. I can't wait to show it off to the Fairbanks Fiberistas this week at knit night.

All dry now

and waiting for the perfect sock pattern

Another month and no weight loss

Well as this month comes to a close I find myself totally lacking focus on the diet front. Have gained again, but still under 200 so I will take that as a semi good thing. Haven't been drinking in 48 days so that in itself is a good thing too. Need to find my weight watchers mojo. I know that I can lose this weight and want to lose this weight, just have to.

On the knitting front all is well. Have finshed two pairs of socks, started pioneer sweater from knitty.com spring issue 09 and worked on my Rona lace shawl. Just started a new sock pattern Mokira out of Dream In Color Smooshy, colorway Ruby River. The last time I used DIC smooshy, it went from think to thin a lot. This skein doesn't seem to be that way, so I guess I will keep trying out this yarn.

I have purchased Verena Knitting Magazine online and so far have enjoyed looking at it. There are a few patterns that I would like to try. Also am receiving Interweave Knits and I really enjoy this magazine. There is always a few patterns every month that I want to do. Too many patterns, not enough time. I am also waiting for Cookie A's book Innovations in Socks. Amazon is sending it to me. Will give my review once it is here. Can't wait for it since I do like Cookie A's patterns. Have done baudelaire and one of the many revised monkeys.

Won sock yarn from Ravelry SKA for January's kal. Very cool yarn from String Theory Caper colorway fusion. It is a really soft feeling yarn. Can't wait to find the perfect sock patter for it. I really enjoy knitting with the SKA group on ravelry. I also do kal with the Fairbanks Fiberistas, Socks that Rawk, Stash Down in 2009 (not doing so well with that one since I keep buying instead of just knitting).

Speaking of buying: purchased more Socks that rock, got a skein from Yarn Pirate, yarns from Knit Picks (probably wont buy anymore knit picks yarn since it is really thin) Claudia Handpaints. Waiting to see if I got any Sundara but that is not expected until the end of May. If I did it is the tulip colorway since that is all that was left. Purchased two skeins since I figured I would never get any more.


Socks That Rock:
Top row: lw& mw knitters without borders, mw midsummer night, kawkaw, bleeding heart, gypsum, prove it all night and ruby slippers

Bottom row: lw muckity muck, lw lenore, mw walking on the wild tide, seal rock, pop rocks, dragon dance, fire bird and sam n'ella.











Yarn Stash

I have a lot of different types of sock yarns, worsted weight and cottons of all weights.

There and back

My DH and I went to Poipu Kauai for the first two weeks in February. It was so much fun. We got lots of sun. We were both so amazed on how warm the ocean was there. Saw whales off in the distance.

Did get some knitting done

view from hotel room

Beautiful waterfall

DH and I at Wamea Canyon.

Fast Knitting

Second pair of crazy monkey socks. Love them. They are so much fun. It is a modified version of Cookie A's Monkey sock done by Jennifer O'Sullivan. Did both of them in 10 days. Love being a sahm with an older teenager. Get to do more knitting every day. Now working on SKA mystery socks for January ( Jitterbug Mist)and vanilla sock (Encore sock) for DH. I think that I may be running out of Encore so will probably have to use a different yarn for the toes. Oh well. Also finished Mr Green jeans out of (jojoland rhythm), love how that turned out. Will post pics later. It fits, but could lose a little bit more weight for it to really fit well.

Speaking of weight, haven't been doing well in the category. I have been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds over the last couple of months. It is getting frustrating. Not working the program right, need to work it right, have to work it right, will work it right. This week has been better and I think that I have turned the corner and will start loosing again.

Wedding

the Bride Keesha and the Groom Bruce

The Boys Michael, The groom Bruce, Dad Robbie, and Best man Jason

The wedding has come and gone and it was wonderful. Both the Bride and Groom looked so happy and beautiful. The ceremony was good too. The groom's brothers cleaned up well also. They are in Honolulu now and enjoying the warm weather.

The Groom Bruce

The Best Man Jason

Mom Patti and Groomsman Michael

Long time

Wow it has been a long time since I last posted. I have been very busy with my knitting and eating. Knitting good, food bad. At least I have gotten the food under control. I don't want to blow a 50 pound loss. YIPPEE 50 pounds. Very happy.

As for knitting, finished monkey socks (jitterbug yarn), mystery socks (regia, cherry tree hill, and knit picks yarns), vanilla socks for dh (encore), and wicked for me(malabrigo). Started mr greenjeans (jojoland rhythm) and firestarter (jitterbug).

I liked the jitterbug, knitted nice and the color is great. The three yarns I used for the mystery sock were okay, but I don't think that I would be the regia again. Encore wasn't bad, dh really likes them and would make them for him again. Now the malabrigo was the best so far. I want more and more and more. The jojoland is very pretty. Love how the colors change. I think mr greenjeans will look great.




Me and Wicked.




The other great thing that happened is that I was able to knit on the Big Sock. This is a cool project that was started in England in 2006 and has traveled around the world with groups of knitter young and old knitting on it. It is trying to break the worlds record of the largest sock.