Mistress Stash Enhancer

on the needles...

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this isn't like me! I have 3 projects going at the same time (don't forget the mini van sock! Which has progressed to the heel gusset. yay me!) wildflower socks which are very Project Spectrum this month

which I'm not sure if I'm going to frog or not... I casted on the smaller size (56 sts) its a little hard to get over my heel, but once its on it fits very well. To frog, or not to frog?

also on the needles is knit and tonics something red. I've had the pattern forever and  the yarn for even longer. It's absolutely beautiful. Here is a close up, this picture is pretty close to the actual color. As ya'll know, red is *very* hard to capture!

I'm using Louet Sales Gems Merlin Camelot in color 60-2895-1. I'm calling it Red Rose. Much more romantic, no? Its 70% Merino and 30% linen. I bought this yarn 2 years, maybe 3 years, ago at Webs on sale. This is so sad, that I have to admit it. I just got the name of the yarn... Merlin Merino/Linen Mer Lin. Holy Crap I am slow!

...off the needles

Little socks for Allysa

(see my beautiful marigold that Bryce gave to me for Mother's Day? I love it!)

 I had enough yarn left over from my secret knitting, Kailey's socks, Corra's socks, another pair of socks for Allysa and my socks to knit a pair of socks for Allysa!

Stats:

Pattern- Waffle Rib II from Sensational knitted socks

Yarn- Socks that Rock medium weight in boysenberry and rhodenite

Needles- Inox US 2 dpns

Started- April ?, 2007

Finished- May 7,  2007

Notes- I cased on 44 sts. Leg measures 3", foot measures 6 1/2" She wears a child's size 10. When Allysa put on her new socks she proclaimed "now I can walk!"

I'm hoping to go to the Waynesburgh Co. Sheep and Wool this weekend, I will be schlepping Allysa and Kailey with me. (unless I can find a sitter for Allysa) Let me know if your going too!

... knit something that you where in completely in love with? Real love. True love, because true love has things that bother you (like not putting the toilet seat down!) but you can live with because you *really* *really* love them/it.

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 I'm in love with these socks. The process sucked me in and I feel deeply in love with the diamonds and how they quickly appeared. While I was knitting the second sock I kept trying it on, and take a few moments to enjoy the pattern, the fit, the color. I was in love. (aww!)

But like I said earlier, even true love has its flaws. It wasn't until I finished the first sock, wove in all my ends I realized I made a mistake and I'd be dammed if I was going to rip all the way back to it. damnit. Can you find the mistake? I decided, or justified, my mistake. Telling myself that everything has its flaws. And these socks, even with the mistake are still beautiful.

I know before I said I don't like the feel of a stockinette heel. With the pattern being incredibly awe inspiring, I followed the pattern. I still hate the stockinette  heel. And hopefully won't fall for its sweet talk again.

Stats:

Pattern- Gentleman's sock with lozenge pattern from Knitting Vintage socks by Nancy Bush

Yarn- Socks that Rock medium weight in boysenberry

Needles- Knit Picks US1 dpns (which are really a US 1.5 but I've ranted about this before)

            and Susan Bates US 1's dpns

Started- April 14, 2007

Finished- May 6, 2007

Notes- I CO 60 sts. And worked 3 repeats of the cuff ribbing instead of 4. As this pattern was written for a man's leg, and I was modifying it to fit my (much) shorter leg. I worked 4 lozenge pattern repeats using the KP 1's and then worked 1.5 pattern repeat in the SB 1's. Which made the socks a little snugger around the ankle. I switched back to the KP 1's for the heel and foot. I decreased the toe to 24 stitched and then grafted. I love STR almost solids. These socks have my love. Even with there imperfections ; )

Bear wasn't all to amused with my socks photography shoot, see?

PS Kailey is doing better on her meds. She still has some reflux and has been spitting up and coughing more. The Dr took her off one of her meds today. So far it seems to have made her worse. So far, she hasn't had any apnea episodes! yay! The monitors main cable did go bad last Saturday. So the company sent someone to replace it that day. Why is it always a weekend that something happens? *L* Thank you everyone for your well wishes. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them.

PPS This post is just about the socks and just the socks. But Mike, I would be ever so happy if you would put the toilet seat down. You are out numbered in this house. 4 girls to you 2 boys!

What a week er, two weeks its been! So much has happened. Among the sleep overs, birthday parties, various chores and Mike being home on break, Kailey has been one little fussy baby. After talking to her Dr. I finally decided to have her tested for acid reflux. She has been very drooly, fussy, has the hiccups a lot, and seems to swallow frequently too. The Dr. called for a 18 hour ph study, and an ultrasound. Damn. It was a long 18 hours in the hospital while she was having her test. Both Bryce and Allysa had reflux, but they threw up. A.lot. Bryce had excessive periodic breathing too. Baby Love, has periodic breathing too. Quite a bit for her age too... our Dr. being on the safe side prescribed an apnea monitor for her to wear when she is sleeping. It has two electrodes attached to a belt that she wears around her chest. It monitors her heart rate and her breathing. Hopefully she won't have any episodes... Our Dr. also put her on Zantac and Reglan (no idea if I spelled that right). Which should stop the reflux, and hopefully heal any damage that may have been done to her esophagus.

Baby love has some new hand knits to show off, After picking up some cotton at the LYS two weeks ago I casted on for little hat

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Stats:

Pattern- Ruffled tulip hat by fiber trends

Yarn- 1.5 balls Paton's cotton worsted white, approx. 2 yards Patton's martinique in pink.

Needles- size 7 Clover dpns

Started- April 22, 2007

Finished- April 25, 2007

Notes- I used white for the whole hat, Instead of using the pink for the heart pattern. I used purl sts instead. And pink for the tie. Next time, I will in large the heart pattern and knit the heart patten with all purl sts. Its a little big on her right now, but she will grow into it. She is already 12lbs 5oz!

Baby love looks so sweet in Daddy's arms. (Daddy didn't know I was taking pictures, hehe!)

Baby love has a few MDK bibs to show off too,

Silly Mommy put the button hole on the wrong side of one! The buttons came from a tin of buttons I found in the basement of our home. I don't know how long they have been down there, it was a great find!

Now that Baby love is napping I'm going to go take a shower, I really should clean (ick), or knit (oh knit!), or maybe nap... mmm... nap....

We had a 3 day weekend this weekend, after the kids having 3 days off last week thanks to the snow storm (which by the way, why wasn't it called a Nor'ester?) it was like we had a vacation from school. I'm looking forward to tomorrow which will hopefully bring back some bit of normalcy to our house. I say some, because Bryce has a cold and he's being dragged to the Dr tomorrow. Kailey has her 1 month appointment and I'm hoping to have him checked out too. He's supposed to have his adenoids removed this coming Monday. The kids where able to spend some time outside in the snow this weekend. They enjoyed themselves immensely and its a good thing Mema keeps us stocked with mittens!

Here's B's crazy socks after a day of wear, He loves how the socks don't match! When I asked B how much he liked his new socks he replied with

"This much!!!" ahhh, this is why I love to knit him socks. Do you know what is so crazy about these socks? I have a walnut sized ball of lapis left over. Crazzzy! The needles didn't even get a chance to cool before I wound up a hank of brand spanken new sock yarn! More on that tomorrow, Here's a pic of Kailey holding my needles 

gotta start 'em while they're young!

PS Does anyone know where you can purchase downloadable Knitting Pure and Simple patterns? I'm dying to have the top down V-shaped Cardigan and don't want to wait a week for it to be mailed to me.

Between my naps and such, there has been a bit of knitting and finishing too! These poor little booties have been waiting very patiently for buttons, they fit Kailey's feet fairly well with a pair of socks. They are so cute, ya almost want to knit a pair for every little girl ya know

ok, I do want to knit them for every little girl I know. But everyone I know who's pregnant is having a boy!

Stats:

Pattern: Mary Jane booties from Knitting for Babies walmart brochure found in check out line.

Yarn: Joann's sensations Bellezza Collection Tesoro 100% wool, color 954 Leftover from Comforting Jenn square

Needles: US 3

Time: ummm... knitting time maybe 2 hours per bootie, but they've been waiting for buttons for 3 weeks!

Notes: I started the first bootie Jan 17 and finished it that night, I started the second bootie the morning of Jan 18 and finished it sometime during my hospital stay. Then the little booties sat around waiting for lil buttons which I found upstairs in my button drawer.

Sometime in November  I bought a hank of Inca Cotton from Stitch your Art out to knit the baby borelo from One Skein. Then the knitting blah's hit, and I finally casted on sometime last week.

Stats:

Pattern: Baby Borelo from One Skein

Yarn: Inca Cotton 100% Organic Cotton Ecru

Needles: US 8 knit pick options

Time: 1 week maybe?

Notes: I forgot to change to a size 9 needle when knitting the ribbing, oops! I think it turned out well. I'm hoping if I put the leftover yarn together with the needles and the finished sweater it will magically reproduce and I will have a baby gift for Mike's cousin who had her baby boy last week. Hey one can dream right? ; )

one more, cause she is so darned cute

Sometime during the first two weeks I knit these

2 of Abigail's 4 corners dishcloths, Abigail you where right they are the perfect knit when one can't concentrate to well.. and yet I still managed to screw up my second cloth (the green one) one side is smaller than the rest. No idea what happened!! The red one is also a good inch bigger around than the green one. I guess I was more "relaxed" when I knit that one! Abigail just came up with a cool new scrubby pattern called tribbles. Finally, something to do will all that leftover cotton!

The kids had a snow day today we baked cookies and chilled out in our jammies all day. They have another one tomorrow. Weatherman says we're getting snow

damn, I think for once the weatherman might be right! They say we'll be getting 6-10 inches of snow tonight, and 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow. I don't think they'll be going to school on Thursday either!

Updated family pic!

Bryce, Corra holding Kailey and Allysa. Just lookin' at em makes me want to smile even though right now they have remodeled Bryce's pterodactyl hot wheels track and are shooting cars from the playroom into the hallway, some cars are making it across the hallway into the living room. *sigh* they grow up too fast

There has been some knitting here these past two weeks, I finally finished my toe up socks from my sock class sometime this past week. What day did I finish them? No idea, really... maybe Monday-ish? But don't they look nice?

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My first sock class was in November where we learned how to start the toe, I didn't originally pick this yarn for my first toe up socks. We lost power here the morning of the class, I was planning on winding up my yarn that morning. That yarn didn't want to cooperate, its *really* hard to untangle a wonky skein in a dim room. So, in an attempt to save what sanity I had left,  I had to use a ball that was already wound.

I don't particularly like the cast on that we used on the toe, looks like a funky caterpillar doesn't it? Must learn magic 8 cast on, I must, I must, I must!

By the time we had our next class in December, I had my homework finished (knit both feet of both socks) and was ready to turn both heels. I have to say I do like how this short row heel fits my heel. While I would like to learn a different cast off for the leg,

To cast off, I followed Cynthia's directions k1,yo all the way around then cast off. She said it would flare a bit, and boy does it! (She had another cast off, but I was feeling a wee bit lazy and didn't "feel" like figuring out the directions) I must learn a different cast off! I know people won't see the top of my socks, but it still bother's me.

After I slowly finished the first sock and the other one just languished in the bag. Remember this pick?

Notice how I'm wearing one hand knit sock? I have this thing with my knitting, if I put a project down and start another one. The project that I put down, well it has a *very* slim chance of ever getting finished. Some how these guys won,

Stats:

Pattern: Cynthia from Stitch your Art Out really clear toe-up sock instruction booklet. I increased up to 52 stitches for my foot.

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock medium weight in Lapis

Needles: 5 US1 knit picks dpns, 2 US1 knit picks circs

Time: HA! good question, 3 months?

Notes: I switched to 2 circs after I finished the second heel, so I could knit while holding Kailey. I have a new found love for the medium weight STR, it kept my toes nice and toasty yesterday during the cold weather! Even though Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow this morning and predicted an early spring, I have little faith in that fat, weasly rodent. The next week Mr Weatherman says our high will be in the 10's and its going to be coooold! Good thing I finished these socks, but then again Phil does have a decent accuracy rate of being correct 59% of the time.... hmmm... I wonder if they did their math right....

Finish off this post, I want to learn the magic 8 cast on, and a different cast off... right I'll get right on that... riiiight ; )

(updated family photo to coming soon!)