Uli's Creative Corner

All done but I have no new pictures......... just in the nick of time did I manage to finish the cross stitch for the year end picnic at the water park tonight.  After dinner we went off to Michael's to see what we could find in pre-made, ready to go frames.  And we found just what I was looking for.  A small, black metal frame, deep enough to hold the matt, the cross stitch stretched on the board and the frame backing.  I added a red mat.  It looks quite nice.  Evan got some pictures in daylight for me this morning but I didn't have a chance to upload them to show the finished product.  I'm really pleased. 

So, as a result, only a bit of knitting.  I worked a bit on a multi-directional scarf.  It's an awesome pattern.  I'm using some fluffly Bernat yarn (can't remember the name of it) and it will be going to a young elementary school girl who may otherwise not be able to afford a warm, fuzzy scarf this winter.  I'm planning to make at least two more scarves.  I will be passing them along to some ladies at Erika's daycare.  The senior's group at that church is knitting scarves for girls and boys at some local elementary schools who might not otherwise be able to have nice and warm scarves.

I got the Fall Phildar Pitchoun magazine in the mail from Knit'N'Tyme.  It's all in French but it's so worth it.  I think it's an awesome pattern book for sizes age 2 - 10.  I would love to make at least 80% of the patterns in the book.  Unfortunately, each uses a lot of yarn - lots of models are yarn combinations - one strand of this and one strand of that and that adds up.  I have a hard time justifying $80-100 for a child's knit.  So I will have to find some of the models that I still love and may not be quite so expensive to knit.  What's cool is that there are some awesome little boys' knits in there as well.  If you're not afraid of French instructions (and I'll be struggling a bit but the schematics are pretty clear) and have kids in that age range you want to knit for, this is a pretty cool book.

Just more sock knitting at lunch breaks yesterday.  Tonight will be a short night, too with the picnic we're going to.  And when we come home, I'll have to do some laundry - the one chore that lost out this weekend.

Woweeeeeeeeeee, what a weekend.  I am so exhausted today.  I'll spare you the blow-by-blow details but suffice it to say that we were on the go, go, go.  My aunt and uncle from Germany came to visit yesterday for dinner so a big part of my weekend was devoted to cleaning and cooking.

But last night, after everyone left and Erika had gone to bed I was able to resume knitting on a project (other than socks) because this got finished at some point yesterday:

The text is a bit hard to read but it says: God Bless all those that I love, God Bless all those that love me, God bless all those that love those that I love, and all those that love those that love me!

Tonight I have to try and find some way of framing it.  I want to just find a mat and a simple frame to put it in as I don't plan on having it professionally framed.  It's a gift for Erika's "little side" at daycare as a thank you for the last 2 years of taking care of her.  Erika moved on last week but tomorrow night is a year-end party for the little ones and we're attending and I would like to present it then.  So off to Michaels we go tonight.

My aunt and uncle's visit yesterday was very nice.  The weather Gods shined on us so that we could do our roast BBQ rotisserie style.  It worked out really well.  I served Italian Scalloped Potatoes and Dijon Carrots and Zuchini in Mustard Cream sauce.  The dessert was a Deep Dish Peach Custard Pie.  I was so worried it didn't turn out because just after I had put it in the oven to bake, Evan said: "Is there something in the microwave?".  I said: "I have no idea, go check".  He opened the microwave and pulled out a bowl of half melted butter and I realized that I had forgot to put the butter into the custard sauce mix.  I was so frustrated.  But in the end, the pie looked great so I figured we'd see what it tasted like anyways.  I certainly didn't have the time or the ingredients to start it over.  Well, it was good.  I think, even next time, I would just ignore the butter.  Less fat that way.

My aunt brought me some more knitted lace.  She does such a beautiful job.  I didn't get a picture but I will try.  She also made some doll clothes for Erika.  The weather was so bad the last week that they didn't do a whole lot and she had forgot to bring a colour for the blankets she was working on so my Mom gave her some leftover yarn and she made the most beautiful little doll pants and raglan sweater.  They most certainly are worth a picture and I will try and do that tonight.

August really was the month for socks.  All my FOs were socks and there aren't enough days left in the month for me to finish anything that's not sock related.  Here is a picture of my latest finished socks.  Opal, Brasil - Colour 5001.  I love the bright colours and I loved knitting these socks.

I also have a progress shot of a pair of socks that I'm making as part of the German "Mustersocken Knitalong" (patterned socks KAL).  I'm using Cascade Fixation.  I think they're turning out really cute.

As I said.... socks, socks, socks. 

Today at lunch, I will pick up the little partners to the little socks I did for my nieces.  Maybe I'll get those finished this week.

At home, my big knitting project to finish is the neckdown jacket.  I almost finished sleeve #1 last night.  Maybe this week..... next week, I'll focus on the car sweater.  I feel like I've had a real knitting break so now I want to focus on getting some of this stuff out of the way so I can get into my new fall knitting ventures.

Speaking of fall knitting, I did spend a bit of time swatching for the Top Down Swing Coat from Cabin Fever.  I have to knit a few more rows on the swatch to be sure of the exact gauge but I think I'm getting gauge and I love the fabric the yarn is generating.  More about that when I'm getting closer to start.

Have an awesome day.  It's Monday!!!

It's Friday and I'm thankful for it.  It has been kind of an odd, stressful week.  Erika's move to the big side was stressful on me even though she is doing just awesome.  On her first day she gets hurt on the playground and that got me worrying for the rest of the day.  With the move to the big side, she has brought other issues home with her.  All of a sudden she is changing her sleeping arrangements - it's a good thing because she is finally starting to go to sleep in her own bed but it's also weird just because we're breaking out into new routines altogether.  I had a big presentation at work to do and I was nervous about it but it went really well so that was good.  I hardly knitted a think - not good.  I got some of the cross stitch done but not enough - not great.  But it's Friday and even though the weekend won't be relaxing, I can just hustle through the day today and then start preparing for the weekend - at least I won't have to go to work.

WW sucked the big one last night.  I was up 2.6 lbs.  Arrrgh.  I'm not sure why.  Well, I do know that I haven't been exercising enough.  That's a big one I need to be consistent about but I just haven't taken enough time to do that for myself.  Time to kick it up a notch.

I almost finished my Brasil sock yesterday during lunch.  I just have the toe to do now and I didn't bring that to work with me because then I would have had to worry about bringing a needle and scissors to finish them all off.  I'll finish it tonight. 

Tonight I'll work on the cross stitch.  I'm so eager to get back to my knitting projects that I'm just going to push through the cross stitch now.

Oh, and my treat at the LYS?  It had to be something small - I got another kit of Fleece Artist Soft Socks in a great shade of electric blue.  I just needed that little pick-me-up - although I really wanted some of the other new fall yarns.

Have a great weekend.  I'll have pictures and more next week.

I don't know why I get so frustrated some days.......... my brain thinks I can get all these things done and my body just can't go fast enough to do it all.  I got really frustrated because I didn't find the time to work on my cross stitch and when I did, at one point I lost the pattern - how to you lose a cross stitch chart?  Well, little hands grab it while you're not paying attention and shove it underneath the china cabinet - not the first place I go look for a missing chart.  And shortly after that my needle and thread went missing.  Could not find them.  And I was too tired to be bothered to go upstairs to find a new needle.  So I huffed and puffed for a while and then I had to put Erika to bed.  Last night I actually laid down in our bed with her to read stories and we were both asleep before I could even react.  So I got up again at about 10:15 and decided that I need to just start staying up later if I want to get anything done.  I ended up staying up until 11 pm and then I couldn't fall asleep.... The staying up later thing doesn't work for me though.  I'm just not a night owl and I'm paying dearly for it this morning.  I'm tired.

So I really haven't knit hardly anything this week at all and I mentioned before that I get really grumpy when I don't get a chance to make that time for myself.  That sounds so childish but I do really need a bit of that down time.  Usually, I get some down time just between the time when I come home and when Evan and Erika come home but I haven't had that this week either.

WW tonight and all the work I did last week will be reversed again with tonight's WI.  I thought I did well this week but I took a sneak peak at the scale today and it's not looking in my favour at all.

Grump, grump, grump...... I'm going to buy myself something tonight at my LYS.  Even if it's just some sock yarn.  Just a little treat.  I need a little treat.  And yarn is better for me than chocolate. [:)]

We have a busy weekend coming up but I hope I can find some time to get my neckdown jacket closer the completion.  The weather for wearing it would be just about perfect right now.

I'll stop feeling sorry for myself now and I'm going to start tackling all this stuff that's starting to come in.  Work is getting busy again......

Well, if you were looking for me earlier today............ i wasn't here.  It's a lte entry for me today.  I had a big presentation to give this morning so that's how I started my day.  Well, it wasn't that big - only about 1/2 hour but when your boss and a whole bunch of other big shots come and listen.... It went well though.  I had done it all on Power Point and it went across really well.  I always think I'm really boring when I do presentations but I managed to find a few good lines to get everyone chuckling.  Lightened up a very boring topic.  It's over and I'm glad.  So at the end, I closed my Power Point presentation before turning off the projector and so the whole entire room (full of at least 50 people) got a glimpse of the picture on my desktop - Thomas the Train, Erika and Evan.  I was a bit embarrassed but everyone thought it was kind of cute.  That was sort of the "warm-me-up" to school starting on September 7.  It will be busy.  Either I'll be knitting lots just to keep sane or I'll be knitting nothing because I'll be working hours that are too long and I'll be too tired.  We'll see.  I figure socks will be a good choice.

Erika started her day on the big side this morning and she did well.  She gave us a bit of a pouty lip when we left (Evan and I both went today) but in the end, her teacher quickly phoned over to the little side (where I was heading to drop something off) to let me know that we hardly turned our back and she was jumping up and down talking about blowing bubbles and her swimming lessons.  We do have a little actress!!!  It's all good.  I'm starting to feel good about it.  No more tears.....

Last week, or the week before, I was talking about the scarves that were being knitted for less priviledge kids at some local schools and I cast on a warm fluffy scarf for a little girl last night.  I didn't get very far with it because I had ZERO time last night but I made a start.  I also didn't get far with my cross stitching.  Maybe tonight will be a better night.

I didn't think I had anything knitting related to talk about but I do..... I got the Ram Wools catalogue in the mail last night.  I always love looking at that catalogue.  I've only ordered from them a couple of times but have been pleased with the service and products I've received.

So here's my list of things that I think are noteworthy:

Page 2-3:  Those coats are awesome.  I like them both.  They both integrate some Noro Silk Garden and other yarns.  If I could choose between the both I might be more drawn to the more intricate coat on page number 2 but if I was to buy the yarn for one of them I'd probably buy the one on page 3.  It's a bit simpler and the sizing works better for me.  For the coat on page #2 at a 51" chest measurement, I have to drop a few more inches off my hips before it would even fit snuggly around the hips.

Page 6-7: I love the Baby Alpaca sweater and hat and scarf on page 6.  The one with the greenish bottom and a stripe and then finishes off in blue.  I have some of that Baby Alpaca at home.  I don't think I can afford to buy more of it but I do really like that sweater.

Page 8-9: Okay, so I don't want to step on your toes if you really love the funky coat on the right hand side - but it's not me.... and for a mere $694.10 CDN for the largest size which isn't even my size yet..... I don't think I'll be running to the check out basket quite right away.

Page 22-23: The poncho on this page has some potential.

Page 28-29: I do love the Fleece Artist poncho on page 28 just in the same colour as shown.

Page 30-31: They are now selling some Charlotte combos.

Page 48: On the backcover is this inconspicuous pink cowl neck sweater that I didn't notice at my first run through the magazine but on second thought.... it would be quite nice with navy dress pants for the office.  I think I like it.

Will I do any of them............... I don't know.  I'd really like to do one of those coats.  The Alpaca sweater is great but it's maybe a bit too expensive.  I'd really like to order the Fleece Artist poncho.  There are some other things in there I like but the sizing isn't right for me and then there are other things that make me wonder if anyone will knit those designs....

Have a great one.  Back to regular programming tomorrow.

So my little darling spends her first two hours on the "BIG SIDE" yesterday and at 1 pm I get a phone call from her infant care teacher that starts out with "don't panic". So deep down, I panic and with guarded voice I answer "what's up, Shelly?". Shelly knows me very well by now and that's why she prefaced her call with "don't panic". Well, Erika had her first playground incident on the big side. She got bumped by someone on a swing and got knocked into the monkey bars. So she has a nice scrape on her chin and she knocked her front teeth into her bottom lip for a nice bit of swelling and some tooth imprints on her lip. All I wanted to do is run over there and gather up my little girl and hold her tight. But of course I knew that wasn't necessary. They phoned us out of courtesy to make sure that we weren't in for a big surprise when we picked her up. This way I could prepare Evan who was picking her up that she might look a little rough around the edges. He then goes to pick her up and apparently she was jumping up and down and announcing very proudly that she got a big owie over on the big side. Go figure..... And when whe came home, it didn't nearly look as bad as my imagination managed to conjure it up all afternoon. It's all good. She probably learned to be more careful running around swinging swings and she was quite happy to go back today. Today she's there for 4 hours. Tomorrow for 6 hours and on Thursday she'll be there all day.

My baby is growing up and I felt the need to make baby shoes. See:

Aren't they cute. I used Super Socks, brightly variegated yarn. I'm really, really pleased with how they turned out. They are for a baby due to be born in November and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed making something this tiny again. I think I might need to make up a matching little hat. I certainly have enough yarn.

I want to make something else for this baby but I can't decide. I keep going back and forth between a blanket and a cardigan or sweater. I can't make up my mind at all.

I guess I have a bit more time to decide but I'd better get started soon.

My other WIP is a pair of Opal socks made with Brasil 5001. Here is the completed first sock. I am using my standard 2.5 mm DPNs and 64 stitches.

I love this colour combo. It's bright enough to cheer me up when the rains of winter are here to stay. Bright socks should do the trick and those definitely fit the bill.

I just joined a German sock knitalong, kind of patterned after the Six Sox KAL. Sorry, I don't have the button or the link handy right this moment and I'm in a bit of a rush. Starting October we'll get to do six patterened socks over a year, one every two months - with patterns in German of course. I'll be sock knitalonging until the cows come home...... It's all in good fun though and I will make good use of all my lovely sock yarns.

It was cross stitch all night last night. I'm down to having a teddy bear to stitch. He's probably the single biggest design on the whole picture. I hope I can get a good portion of him done tonight. Then I have a bit of outlining and some text to stitch in backstitch. I'd like to be finished stitching by Friday.

After the cross stitch is done, I'll get back to some more regular knitting. The neckdown jacket is making fairly good progress and that will be the first project I will focus on when the cross stitch is done. Less than 1 1/2 sleeves to go.

It's kind of wet and dreary here today but I hope you have a good day wherever you are.

Good morning........... yawn, oh, I'm so tired!!!!

I took some pictures to show today but the computer got all goofy last night and Evan turned it off so I didn't feel like turning it on again to download my two little silly WIP pictures. Actually, one WIP and one FO.

Well, I'm glad to hear that many can relate to my stash. Every time I walk into the room I think..... geez, that sure is a lot of yarn. Evan was asking me what everything is for and I think he was surprised to hear that I had an answer for almost everything.

It was a fun visit with my aunt and uncle on Saturday afternoon. Like kindred spirits, my aunt and I sat on the couch with our knitting. I walked in the door at my Mom and Dad's and right away I noticed a sporty little cardigan with an interesting cable pattern in warm fall colours with some fuzzy novelty yarn tastefully mixed in. It was great. It obviously was my aunt's. Then she wore this pretty little shell with a lace pattern. How pretty. She dresses well for someone around 70. She had also knitted this pretty cotton sweater for my Mom with a mixture of lace patterns in a mint green. It looks lovely. So we sat and knitted while Evan, Dad and my uncle horsed around with Erika and my Mom, who never sits still, buzzed around us like a busy bumble bee. Even when my Mom isn't busy, she buzzes around. But my Mom did promise Erika that she would knit doll clothes for her dolls and bears this winter. Phew....... I hope she means it......... I'm not keen on knitting the little doll sweaters etc.

I spent a big chunk of yesterday afternoon working ont he cross stitch. I still love the process of cross stitching but I find my neck gets sore and the progress is so slow. I still have quite a ways to go to finish even though it looks like I'm almost finished. Erika has her first visit on the big side today and she is very excited. By Thursday, she'll be fully integrated and I won't have this present done by Thursday. Hmmmm......... I'll finish it soon.

Yes, Erika was very excited all weekend about going to the big side. I don't like to admit, but it's necessary for the story, that for most of the past year, Erika would only go to sleep if one of us would go to bed with her in our bed, read to her and fall asleep with her and then we could transport her into her bed. She would not go to sleep in her own bed on her own. So on Saturday night, she really surprised me because all three of us were in our bed and all of a sudden she popped up, fully awake, and asked to go to the bathroom. So we got up and went. And then she got really upset and explained to me how she needed to sleep in her own bed in her own room and whether I could stay with her. So I explained to her that I couldn't sleep in her bed because it was too small for Mommy but how I could lay down on the floor next to her bed. So that's what we did. It took her about 10 minutes to fall asleep and then I went back to my own bed. Yesterday, we did the same thing. Actually, she wanted to go to her own bed from the start but then she hurt herself and got really upset and that destroyed that idea. It all has to do with that notion of going to the big side and being a big girl. She's over there right now.......... I hope she is enjoying herself. She'll be with her buddies who have already moved over and that's what she was most excited about. Mommy is having a hard time......... Erika is excited.

They grow up too fast.............. and now I really want to start knitting her Sheep Sweater (scroll down to #0365). I got the yarn out of the closet yesterday and added it to my yarn cubes and for the past few days, I've really been wanting to get that on the needles but I really want to finish a few other things first, including her car sweater. I almost finished the front of that when I was at Mom and Dad's on the weekend.

Have a good Monday.

This week really has been a knitting bust week and I haven't stitched much either.  I just got too busy all of a sudden and the evenings seemed to just disappear.  But I can't complain too much because we did have a nice week and I did finish my Making Waves socks, I knitted one baby shoe for a gift and the second one is started and I started another Opal sock and already have turned the heel on the first sock.  So while it feels I had no time to park my butt on the couch somewhere in there I did find time to do all that.  I guess the feeling comes from not having had any time to work on any of my WIPs I want to finish so badly.  I did pick up the sleeve for my top down cardie last night but the yarn didn't slide smoothly through my hot hands and I didn't enjoy having 3/4 of the cardigan resting in my lap - even though it is a heavy cotton yarn and not wool.  And then Erika ripped the needle out of a square in progress on my Magical Mitered vest so that I had to unravel that square to the beginning.  I was at a row on the square that was too hard to pick up from so I just ripped back.  It wasn't that far so it wasn't a big loss.  I lost count of how many times she pulled my DPNs out of my 10 stitches on the needle making the sole of the second baby shoe.

But what I did do is re-organize all my yarn into my yarn store like yarn cubes.  Oh my God.......... when you see it all displayed like that, there is just no more hiding.  And I just realized that I forgot to pull two projects worth of yarn out of yet another hiding place.  Would you like to see?  Don't look too closely......

Top left cubby: just some stuff for miscellaneous scarves, some novelty stuff (as you can see that's not very high on my priority list)

Top right cubby: some Koigu and some Fleece Artist.  I wish the Koigu stash were larger

1st row, left cubby: Red baby alpaca and some handpainted wool

1st row, middle cubby: Lots of stuff for Erika projects.  This thing is layers deep. 

1st, right cubby: Some Phildar Rivage, some Phil'Onde in pink and blue and the rest of the ribbon I'm using to make my magical mitered vest.

2nd row, left cubby: Naturally wool in tomato colour for the top down sweater from Cabin Fever.

2nd row, middle cubby:  All kinds of cotton, some Phil'Eponge - all stuff for Erika

2nd row, right cubby: the remainder of balls for my top down cardigan and some Sirdar Denimn Aran for a nice cabled cardigan

3rd row, left cubby: all the yarn for my "fun project of the year" (okay I'm being sarcastic) for my MIL cardigan.

3rd row, middle cubby:  Cotton from Elann for the Dancing Vines sweater and another little cabled number from an old Knitter's Magazine.

3rd row, right cubby:  Some Sirdar Cossack for the top down Swing Coat from Cabin Fever.

Bottom row: let's not even talk about it - some acrylic Bernat and some Handicrafter cotton on the big ball.

What's missing is the Sandnes Sisu to make the Sheep Sweater for Erika (I actually started feeling this morning like I would really like to start that soon) and the yarn for the Cables & Lace cardigan.  Other than that, it's all there.  As you can see, most of the stuff has a purpose in this collection.  I think I need to free up 2 or 3 cubbies before adding new stuff.  And my sock stash is somewhere altogether different....

I was down 1 lb at WW yesterday.  I am very pleased.  I'm inching closer to 10 lbs being gone.  Maybe I can make it for next week?  I'll try, that's for sure.

TGIF............. I'm glad it's Friday.  I have to prepare a big presentation for next week today.  Tomorrow will be a fun day.  Swimming lessons and then a trip to Oma and Opa to visit them and spend some time with my aunt and uncle.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Enjoy your weekend.  Unfortunately our weather forecast is shifting to rain.  I wouldn't mind some rain if it wasn't for the fact that my aunt and uncle just arrived and my Mom and Dad are planning lots of fun stuff for them.  Rain would put a damper on all their plans.

Yup, that's the kind of a day.  I have no real topic today.

Evan built all my cubes last night.  Wow.......... I'll have to take a picture when I get a chance.  I used to have this little set of 4 cube compartments in one corner of my room.  That was one package of cube pieces.  We bought two more packages and somehow he managed to build cubes so now they stand as tall as I am and stretch across half of one of my walls in my sewing room.  I have all this room now for all this stash.  It's crazy.  Tonight I can sort my yarn tower on the floor back into the cubes and  I can add all my other yarn towers that are tucked away in all kinds of corners.  Now there is no more secrecy to how much yarn I really have.  It will all go into this wall unit.

Speaking of not adding to my stash yesterday, I am tempted by these two cute children's Phildar outfits from the Fall 04 Pitchoun book (more French, here I come ).  I don't have the book yet but I was browsing around at Knit'n'Tyme yesterday and noticed these two - the first one is the little boy's cardigan (2nd from the top in the left hand column) using Phildar Brumes yarn but I'm thinking of going with the light pink for a boday and the purple for the sleeves for a little girly cardigan.  And the second one is this cute little number (little girl sweater, top row, right hand side) using another new Phildar yarn called Pom Pom.  I know nothing about either yarns but I think those two look so cute.  I saw some of the new fall Phildar yarns at my LYS yesterday but not those.  There were some cute ones in the mix.  So I know that I'll order the book but I'm just thinking about adding the yarn for one of these projects to the order.  But maybe I should just order the book first and look it over, look at the quantity of yarn needed, the sizing etc.  That's probably a better plan of attack.......... wouldn't you think?

Didn't get much done last night.  I did a cute little baby shoe.  One is finished except for the little tie that goes around the leg and the other one won't be far behind.

WI tonight.  I think I'm about the same.  Good enough for this week.  There's always one week in the month when I struggle, struggle and struggle some more.......... so staying even is just fine because that's better than what usually happens.

My aunt and uncle from Germany are in flight.  I just checked out their flight on FlyteComm.  You put the airline and flight number in and it gives you real time flight information.  I love checking on stuff like that.  Deep down somewhere I am hoping that my aunt thought about my knitting addiction and brought me some yarn goodies - but that's just too much to expect.  I'm sure she will bring some knitted things though, probably for Erika and I wouldn't be surprised if my Mom or I or both were the recipients again of some more of her absolutely gorgeous lace knitting.  But we'll see............. that sounds so greedy.  It's not meant that way at all.  I don't expect a thing but I do know them to be very generous.  Even though I've never been really close to them, they were the only relatives that came to my wedding from Germany and I'm just plain excited to see some family.  All my family is in Germany except for my Mom and Dad and I haven't been back for a visit in 18 years now and so I haven't seen any of my family, except for this aunt and uncle, in that long and so it's exciting.

Time to get moving.

.......... you sit at the computer for just a few quiet minutes.  Your toddler is around but you're not really aware of what he/she's doing.  It's quite quiet.  you don't worry about it and pass it off as a good thing.  She must be playing quietly in her room.  Then you get a tug on the side of your leg a few minutes later and a very excited voice goes, Mommy come see!!!  This is what you get:

Yes, messy stash................ Erika happily took every single ball of yarn that was in my 4 wire cubes and built a yarn tower on the floor.  She was so proud of herself, too.  It's still there this morning because now that all the yarn has been taken out of the wire cubes, Evan can build me the rest of my cubes to store the rest of my stash without having to deal with the existing cubes already filled up with yarn.  At first I thought that on the floor like this it looked like a whole lot more but now that I look at the picture, it's not that overwhelming.

Making Waves are finished.  Here is the completed shot:

I enjoyed making these socks a lot.  The worked up quickly for me.  I usually don't mind cables at all but I wasn't going to bother with cables on a pair of socks.  Then I saw some of the other works in progress along the six sox knitalong ring jumping up and I liked what I saw so I started knitting. 

These socks are leading me to try something new with a pair of socks I immediately cast on after I finished this pair last night.  My calves are fairly big but then my ankles are much slimmer.  I always find that the cuff of my socks maybe doesn't stretch as much as I would like given the length of the leg that I knit.  I sometimes can't pull them up all the way.  One reason might be that I cast on too tightly but what I found with these socks is that the 72 stitch ribbing at the top of the sock fits my calf perfectly and then the pulling in of the cable pattern makes the rest of the leg fit well.  So with this new pair of socks, I cast on 72 stitches for the cuff.  Right after the cuff or in the last row of the cuff, I will decrease down to my normal 64 stitches for the stocking stitch leg.  I'm curious to see if that will work.  I'll work a bit of the leg and try it on.  If it doesn't work - no harm done.

I cast on using some Opal Brasil in some bright funky colours.  That's one ball of Opal that the retailer had one lonely ball of behind the counter.  She had been sent only one ball of it by the distributor.  And I grabbed it and asked her if she would sell it to me.  She gave me a funny look but she did sell it to me.  I was like a mad woman going after the last ball of yarn there ever was.  And because I like that particular colour (Brazil collection color #5001) so much I just got myself another ball on e-bay of just that colour plus one other one out of that series.

As I said.......... it's all socks around here right now.  My other projects are languishing and waiting for me to come back to them.

I'm going to start a bit of a production line here with my knitting projects.  I want them all out of my way, making room for the fall projects in my line-up.  So, I'm going to focus on each single project and push to finish each starting with the Neckdown Jacket.  I can be done with this in 3 or 4 days.  Then Erika's car sweater.  The front is almost finished, the back is done.  Sleeves can't take that long and then the dreaded embroidery of the cars.  That will be a bit time consuming.  Then the Magical Mitered Vest.  I'm almost 50% done and if I devote some focus to it, I could probably have that knitted in about a week or two.  That'll probably already take me into the middle of September.  The Phil'Onde shirt will follow and the Cables and Lace cardigan will be put on hold until next spring.  I have no mind to continue working on that right now.  So maybe by the end of September, I'll be able to start with my fall line-up.  That feels like a long way off but I want to start with a fairly clean slate and maybe even stay to one or two projects only.  Maybe one for me, one for Erika and one pair of socks on the go.  Will I ever do it?  Who knows but it's a nice idea.

Speaking of fall projects, I have so many that I have a hard time deciding what to start with first.  And since I'm thoroughly looking forward to making any of them, I think it would be good to remind myself once again that I need not buy any new yarn for any new projects.  I just don't need anything else right now.  I have bills to pay.  I can still buy sock yarn.  I just don't need to accumulate for any big projects.  I can still buy patterns.  I won't put a timeline on this for myself but I will really try to watch it in the next few weeks and months.  I know I'd never get away without buying anything that's why small things like a skein of Opal or a skein of Fleece Artist and stuff like that is okay.

Speaking of not buying any more yarn.... I am taking myself to the LYS for a little visit at lunch.  I need to get out for a little while.

I can't wait!!!!