Girl Power

Well, I had a great big dose of being a girl yesterday. After school, I picked up M and took her to Town Square. We went and early voted - Go Hillary! Then went to the library.

Next stop: Sweet and Sassy. My daughter loves going here and if left to her own devices, would have her hair cut here all the time, and get her nails done, and have her birthday party, etc. . .

My folks had sent a check for her birthday present and M had been bugging me about getting an ear piercing appointment (her best friend S got her ears pierced for Christmas). So I thought this would be a great use for the birthday money.

BOY WAS IT EVER!!!

M picked out her ear rings and they did them two at a time. I was really proud of her - no tears, no screaming. She did better than I did when I got mine pierced at age 10.

She also needed her bangs trimmed, so the ladies cut them and put her hair up into a style that showed off her new ear rings. M called it her make-over. :)

So, here's M with her make over.

Here's a close up of her ear (she wanted to see what it looked like)

Great Wolf Lodge

Well, M turned six last Saturday! We spend Friday night over at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. It was a blast. We got back on Saturday and I ended up falling asleep at 8 pm.

More details later.

CSM Sock

I'm still having difficulty with determining how to size socks. J is a solid size 13. So when I made this sock - a Men's 10 - it turned out BIGGER!!

Ugh!

Here's a photo. I really like the color.

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, Verdant Heather

20 rows - hang hem

Leg: 40 rows

Foot: 68 rows

Here's the deal, each heel and toe is 4" (2" for each)

Size Men 10 foot length is 10.81" - 4" = 6.81"

I have a gage of 10 rows per inch, so

6.81" * 10 rows/inch = 68 rows

But this is a good 1" too large for my Men's 13 husband.

I need to wash the sock. Perhaps that will "fix" this problem.

I think I'm going to try to work on a couple of mock ribbed socks.

WIP - Trinomial Cube

You can't see it very well with the lighting of this photo, but the black blocks are separated by a purled row. I sewed the two red borders together to get a scope of the size of the cube. It's going to be on the small side, but I've purchased a nice neutral color to make the blanket/wall hanging a little larger. I am liking how it is turning out. The colors are working out well, too.

WIP - Bombshell #2 - Missing 6th skein

Well, I bound off on the bottom of the Bombshell. Only thing left is to do the seed borders for the sleeves and the neck.

Of course, I've run out of yarn on the fifth ball and I have a sixth one - I just don't know where I put it.

FRUSTRATING!!

Mainly because I feel that I can finish this sweater up in a matter of an afternoon - I just don't have the yarn to do it with!!!

I've tried it on and it definitely needs the neck band - the structure of the sweater just needs it as it's too stretchy right now.

I love the color and the fit. I'm glad I took the time to make the bust darts.

Here's a photo of the sweater to date.

Little Big Foot

My other nephew, Big Foot's twin, wears a size 13 - which is interesting because a number of men in my life have size 13 feet.

So, here's a sock I made for him last night:

Yarn: Knit Picks Pallet

Color: Bark

Hem: Plain hung hem - 20 cranks

Leg: 30 rows

Foot: 78 rows

Gage: 8 sts/9 rows per inch

Toe to Heel measurement: 12 inches

Walked out on Weight Watchers

I really do consider myself a fairly tolerant person but I hate to admit that I walked out on my Saturday Weight Watcher meeting. We had a substitute leader and she was just way too evangelical for my taste.

First strike was when she was talking about how "God wouldn't want you to be thinking negatively about your body". I let that one go.

Strike Two was when she was describing your morning routine, "when you do your devotion".

My friend and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes when we heard this (my friend is a believer).

Strike Three was when she referred to our bodies as our "worldly bodies". I just felt that it was not appropriate for my Weight Watchers meeting and looked over at my friend, who was really ticked off at this point. I whispered over to her that I just wasn't going to get anything out of this meeting. She said she wanted to go, too. So we went out to the front and complained.

The response: Oh, well you guys are just Casi fans (Casi is the name of our usual leader). While I love Casi, this was just not the case. We've had substitutes before and had no problems with them. This particular leader just crossed a line in my opinion.

And really, I am not intolerant. I go to UU church each Sunday and have believing friends and family.

The thing is, this substitute probably doesn't even know that evangelical speak has just taken over her vocabulary. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt.

To add insult to injury, my Curves had Praise Music blaring when I walked in and we had to politely ask the trainer to change the CD.

Just not my cup of tea.

I'm Dead

I received my death hat in yesterday's mail. I must admit that I quite like the hat. Well done, assassin of mine. The little snot also sent a condolence card!

And no, I'm not stoned, I'm sick.

Sock for Big Foot

I have a nephew with a size 17 foot. Yes. That isn't a typo. Size 17. My sister says it's very difficult to find socks for him. She just buys size 13's and let's him stretch them out.



Mom bought a whole bunch of sock yarn for me to make socks with. I haven't made a sock with my 72 needle cylinder, so I decided to try to make one for Big Foot.

Yarn: Knit Picks Pallet
Color: Ash
Hem: Plain hung hem - 21 cranks
Leg: 35 rows
Foot: 99 rows
Gage: 8 sts/9 rows per inch
Toe to Heel measurement: 13 inches

Valentine's Dress

Last Saturday was the school family Valentine's Day dance and M had been begging me for the past few weeks to wear a dress to the dance. Because I love her, I ran over to the local thrift store and bought a dress. After trying it on to show her that morning, she immediately went into a funk - She had nothing to wear to the dance.

So, being the oh-so-indulgent mother, I ran back over to the thrift store to see if I could find Miss M a dress. I scored BIG TIME. It is a red dress with a jacket. The jacket is trimmed with faux fur. She LOVES it. I think she wore it every day since I bought it. Here's a photo of my snaggle toothed valentine:

Snaggle Toothed Grin

Well M finally lost her first top front tooth. Her grin is just adorable.

The tooth has been loose for months. It'd get loose, then tighten up, loosen up again, then tighten up. She's been pretty frustrated.

I got back from working out on Saturday and was practically tackled by her when I walked in.

"Momma, momma, momma! Guess what! I lost my TOOTH!!!!" she said excitedly. "The tooth fairy will have to visit tonight," she continues like she's imparting a great truth to me.

FWIW, she already knows the tooth fairy is us but she likes to pretend.

We went to church on Sunday and she had to share with the congregation during "Joys, Sorrows, and Concerns"

"My joy is that I lost my tooth yesterday and got a dollar from the tooth fairy this morning!"

Of course this prompted many folks after the service to ask her what she's going to do with her dollar.

She looks at them with a little exasperation, "Well, it went into my bank," like there was any other way she could use her dollar. . .

Makes a Momma's heart sing!

I've been informed that she's saving for a Barbie doll (which she already has several of and doesn't play with).

Heart's not singing as loudly, now. . .

:)

Charity Baby Hats

One of the things that is nice about my CSM is how fast I can make baby hats. I'm using remnant sock yarn to make these and will donate them to my knitting guild. The hats will go to JPS hospital.

The Assumption

This is a very clever video.

Just killed a woman (FO: Binary Hat)

I joined HAT ATTACK! which is a knitting game - of sorts.

The idea is you are assigned a target and will knit a specific hat for that person. You need to try to get it finished as fast as possible because someone is knitting the same hat for you (your assassin). If you receive a finished hat, then you are considered killed and need to send your unfinished hat to your assassin to finish knitting. It's all circular and eventually one person is left and wins the competition.

I finished my hat last night and it is going in the mail today. The front:

The back:

I have to admit that I hate sending this off as I love the colors and cabling of this hat. I took the time to knit in the Fibonacci series, too. This is a truly Geeky (capital G) hat. Notice the cabling on the hat? It's counting numbers in binary - look at the front and go left to right and you'll see it.

My assassin has finished her hat and has posted it. It's green, which is nice because my winter jacket is green, too. She lives in Illinois, so I am expecting it in tomorrows mail.

So, Livviebrooke, you may want to avoid the mail box for the next few days as I have my weapon built and it's on its way.

Yes, knitters are a strange lot. We definitely have our own little subculture going.

Instant Knit Gratification

I just love my CSM.

LOVE. IT.

I hauled it out to my local Stitch n Bitch last night to show it off and was able to knock out a pair of socks! I'm wearing them on my feet as I type this!

Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock
Color: Southland (1813 )
Hem: Double 15 row Picot (crank 15 times, yarn over ever other needle, crank another 15 times, hang bottom hem)
Leg: 52 rows
Foot: 59 rows
Gage: 7.5 sts/9 rows per inch
Toe to Heel measurement: 10.5 inches

No holes in the heel!

Observation:

These are the first socks made out of Comfort Sock I've made for me. They aren't as toasty warm as wool socks are, but they are super soft. They're made of nylon and acrylic. For $7.00 a ball, though, the price is really good.

All animals are equal,

but some animals are more equal than others.

M put up some house rules.

To translate:

1. Be Respectful
2. Girls Rule, Boys Drool
3. Don't Cry
4. I Rule the House

Life from the point of view of a soon to be six year old.

More CSM Socks

I made these for my Weight Watcher's leader - she'd been having a difficult week.

Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock

Color: Hari Hari (1811 )

Hem: Double 15 row Picot (crank 15 times, yarn over ever other needle, crank another 15 times, hang bottom hem)

Leg: 52 rows

Foot: 52 rows

Gage: 7.5 sts/9 rows per inch

Toe to Heel measurement: 9 inches

What I did over the weekend

Socks!

These are all for my mom - she bought the sock yarn from Knit Picks. The top two yarns is Elements and the stripy ones are Felici.

I learned something about sock sizing. You need to make the sock to the size of the foot. It will be a little large on the foot, but all you have to do is wash the sock - they will shrink a little and become perfect fitting socks.

Good to know.

Mom also gave me her "Sock it too me" sock sizing guide. I love it!

We also made a deal, if she buys the yarn, I'll make the socks. She will also buy a little extra for me to use. Sweet!

Now all I need to do is to play with my ribber and get selvages under control. Then I can make nice ribbed socks. Right now the socks are good if you have big ankles!