I HIDE YARN

WIP's

There has been some knitting...


I liked this sock pattern so much, I am knitting it again.





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Medical update.  Dh is doing better.  I took my first shot of Avonex (for MS) on Monday night.  (To new readers, I am not new to MS - just new to this drug.)  This drug has many listed side effects like flu-like symptoms, fever & chills as well as others.  I was blessed to have very minimal side effects.  I had a headache, that went away with Tylenol, and a rapid heart beat that only lasted about 20 minutes.  The next day was a lower energy day, but I have those any way.  The nurse practitioner  who came up from Louisville was an awesome trainer.  I'm an old hand at giving myself shots, but I had not done an intramuscular one before.  Piece of cake.

clickable

One Tipsy Sock Down...

One tipsy sock to go.  I don't think I will have a problem with SSS (second sock syndrome) with this one.  This pattern is a blast to knit, and the sportweight yarn makes it a fast knit for even a slow knitter like me.

Now if I could just get a accurate picture of the colors in this yarn.  It defies any flash photography or fixes in photo software.  Hopefully someone can get a good outdoor shot of the pair when they are finished.  What appears to be a light, bright blue, is actually a darker teal green.  The second picture is a macro shot, but it still doesn't show the true colors














The pattern is Sleepy Eyes Tipsy Sock  (free PDF), and the yarn is Vesper sportweight from Knitterly Things in Tropical.

The Fleegle Heel

(Anyone looking for Dogs on Thursday post - it will be up later today.)

Some sock knitters, like me, are always on the look out for a better/easier heel.  I try them all.  There are times one heel is better suited for a pattern or a yarn than another.  Some people don't like the way a short-row heel fits, others love it.  I'm not particularly adept at a short-row heel, wrapping and picking up wraps seems very fiddly to me.  I like to be able to knit socks without taxing my brain too much, so when I knit a short row heel - I usually knit a garter stitch heel, because the wraps don't show and don't have to be picked up.

Occasionally I knit a peasant heel.  It's not my favorite fit-wise either, and then there is the added pleasure - ahem - of getting to kitchener both the heel and the toe.  Did I mention fiddly slows me down? 

For the greatest percentage of my socks I am a dedicated flapper.  I like the heel stitch, and the partridge heel.  I don't particularly love picking up the stitches around the flap.  I can do it - I just don't enjoy it.  There is the band heel that although easier to execute, does not fit every foot.

Enter the Fleegle Heel.  I seriously LOVE this heel.  I want to marry this heel.  If you follow that link, it takes you to Fleegle's generic sock pattern that can be worked toe up or cuff down.  What's not to love about a flexible pattern like that?  Then she managed to tweak the heel just a bit to make it even more perfect, which you will find at this link.  (Her generic pattern has also had the link of no sock holes for you - her improved heel - right when you get to the heel section of the pattern..)

Sock knitters, what is one of the pitfalls of knitting socks?  The dreaded hole that appears when you join the heel to the instep.  It has been the bane of knitters since the dawn of time.   There are different ways of addressing this problem such as...

• Carefully picking up stitches with a twist between the instep and heel
• Picking up extra stitches
• Duplicate stitching over the hole
• Doing a cinch of the hole from the inside of the sock, then darning the tails

I have done all of these at one time or another, some with great success and others with limited success.  Knitters like me, who knit a fair amount of socks, use about every technique at one time or another - longing for the perfect heel and the holeless sock.  Hello Fleegle heel!

I have pictures, but as y'all already know, I am not a great photographer, and I am stuck inside with whatever lighting can be conjured up by the flip or a switch and a flash.  Add hand tremors to the mix and well, you get what you get, you know?

Here is the heel (stuffed for photography purposes) at first glance:

I made a few modifications in the heel to suit my knitting style - knitters can do that!  When I did the M1 increases as the pattern instructed, I was getting holes.  Normally this does not happen to me, but it may have been the tight stitch count with sportweight yarn.  I changed the increases to KF&B, and I loved it.  This does give the little raised purl bump, but it is not unattractive on the sock.

I like the way it looks.  The picture of the other side does not show the purl bumps as plainly, because there was some pooling of color and they blended in more.  If using a solid yarn, they would be less noticeable - if that matters to you.

The other change I made in the pattern was the decreases.  As written, it calls for a K2Tog on the knit side, and a P2Tog-tbl on the purl side.  By the time I execute a purl decrease through the back of two loops, I could have knitted an entire row.  It really slows me down.  Fleegle's pattern as written is perfect, as evidenced in the pictures.  It presents a beautiful heel.  Obviously my skills are not as well honed as hers, and I was more comfortable with an SSK on the knit side, and a P2tog on the purl.

The following shows the heel turn, and I promise it is not as wonky and distorted as my pictures shows.  Somehow between the stuffing in the sock, and my thumb pulling the fabric taut, it looks all uneven.  It's not.  Plus the one thing I have discovered over my time of knitting many socks - any uneven stitches really do come out in the wash.  (Or in the case of gift socks that you are not washing and wearing personally, they work out in the soak and block.)

Then there is the really good stuff (which I didn't get a good photo of - even with macro), but there are NO HOLES where the heel joins the instep!  Woot!

The clincher?  I had 3 different people try the sock on, and the all pronounced it the most comfortable heel they had ever worn.  They also each claimed the pair of socks to come as their own.  Oops.  This result was also because the pattern I am knitting, Sleepy Eyes Tipsy Sock is a real winner - especially with variegated yarn.  This is a free pattern - link to the pdf file here.  It's a good thing I have a skein or two in my sock yarn stash, huh.  Skein or two. Cackles.

Wendy featured a sock on her blog recently with a similar heel, and someone asked if it was the Fleegle heel.  Wendy said it was similar, and the one she preferred especially on sport or dk weight socks where heel stitch adds bulk.

Get over to Fleegle's blog and check out her sock pattern and her heel tutorial (with pictures), then look around while you are there.  She knits lace lovely enough to make a knitter cry.

New Sock and Contest Extension

I have been able to sort out some of my computer woes, but I still have a computer tech. coming to the house in the morning.  Hopefully all will be well when he leaves, and he will not be taking my computer with him.

Because of the uncertainty.  I am going to extend the Caption Contest until Wednesday (oops) Tuesday - November 13th until 6:00 p.m. CDT.  Please continue to add your captions by comment or email.  There have been some great ones, and it will not be easy to make a choice.

I have a new sock on the needles.  I am having to suspend some knitting for myself so I can get some Christmas knitting done.  This sock will be a Christmas gift...

Pardon the bad picture.  This was taken inside at night, with a flash.  The yarn is very bright, but much prettier than it is showing here.  This seems to be a great pattern for variegated yarn.

The pattern is Sleepy Eyes Tipsy Sock Pattern by Gina House.  It is a free pattern you can find here (pdf file.)  The yarn is Vesper Sport Yarn from Julia of Knitterly Things. 

Yummy yarn, sport weight, great pattern = fast and fun sock knitting.  Let's hope the computer stuff goes this well.

Blocking Buddy

I had an observer as I began blocking the baby sweater I have been working on in secret.

Winston watched me obsessively pinning, smoothing, re-pinning...




Yes, he found it riveting, too!



Stay tuned, we might actually have a finished project this week.  I know!  Pigs could fly any day now, so y'all be careful.

Does It Take A Real Idiot?

To knit too much idiot cord (i-cord?) 

Ahem.

The evidence...



I was shooting for another to match the one on bottom.  What could make a knitter knit too much idiot cord, you ask?

I have a really good excuse.  I was reading Fleegle's blog.  I was totally mesmerized.  If you haven't checked out her blog before...go NOW.  She is an amazing lace knitter, sock knitter with an abundance of tips that you can use immediately.

So, I was "Fleegled"  - heh.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

There Has Been Knitting...

Through the recent blog silence, when I am not putting eleventy-hundred projects in my Ravelry queue - I have been knitting.  (Yes, a person who knits at the speed of paint drying really needs 4 pages of future knitting projects queued up - heh.  Even though I most likely have enough yarn for all that, unless I am going to live to be 300...well you do the math.)

Here is a sneak peek at part of what I have been working on...



Winston:  I can't believe she is making me model a hat.  She bribed me with a tiny piece of Little Debby white cake.  What can I say - I'm a freak for Little Debby.

Hint 4 Was Released This Week...

...and I have just finished Hint 1...

I guess it is a fair estimate to say I am slightly behind.  Ahem.  Any chance I can catch up?

This represents a whole lot of knitting and ripping and knitting and tinking.  Nobody said lace was easy.  Well okay, some people say it's easy.  I don't say it's easy.

At this point, I will settle for being able to finish this.  I might even have a chance if I can pry some dogs off my chest.  Yesterday there was even a time when I was holding all THREE.  No there is no picture, because I haven't figured out how to handle the camera with my feet yet.

Carry on.

Picot Progress with a Picture

All those days without Internet access...I should have more to show in the knitting department.  I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a knitting sloth.  When I could have been knitting I was...

• Checking and rechecking my internet connection
• Calling my internet provider
• Reading
• Watching mostly horrible t.v.  (I'm not sure which is worse these days, day-time T.V. or very late night T.V.)
• Checking and rechecking my internet connection
• Calling my internet provider
• Knitting a little on the sock
• Knitting and ripping and knitting and ripping Secret of the Stole
• Checking and rechecking my internet connection
• Calling my internet provider

In the case of the sock - I do have a progress picture...

The yarn is a new one by Fortissima Colori called Fortissima Mexico Country - Serengeti - color #14.  I think it has a decidedly masculine feel.  Just my luck, I kill myself learning the picot edge and I manage to put it on a manly sock.  My husband saw the colors and instantly fell in love, saying he would like to have a hat in those colors.  I briefly considered ways to make a manly kind of topknot out of the picot edge for a hat - heh.  'Cause we all know I am NOT ripping out that picot edge.

I do like how it has a subtle striping going on with some not unpleasant pooling splotches here and there.  I confess I had to beat the sock into submission a bit for the photo shoot.  Yes, the picot edge has a tendency to flair a bit...but then so do my decidedly thick legs...so maybe it will all work out.

There will be no pictures of the Secret of the Stole progress.  I rip about as much as I knit, but I am making some progress and I don't want to jinx it.

Winston has a new short do.  He has been suffering from allergies, poor baby.  Sneezing and itchy ears.  A quick trip to the vet, and he had to get a shot and some meds to calm his itchy ears.  The Poodles (Remy and Sachi) go to the doggie spa tomorrow.  Group photo tomorrow maybe.

Winston was not in the mood to pose for pictures today.  There are squirrels in the yard, and he is nothing if not on constant squirrel alert.  The squirrels have actually figured out the dogs cannot get out, and have the audacity to come right up on the patio and tease them!  So we had to have a little help getting pictures of the dapper dog.  Unfortunately he was sort of thrust right into the camera lens, which makes him look like the only Yorkie alive weighing in at about 50 lbs, instead of his usual six lbs.


Who might that be lurking behind the "massive" dog?

(Notice Winston is checking the window for squirrels.)  Why it's kiddo - straight from her one night engagement as the "Dying Prom Queen."  Her sister is the manager of a group home for disabled, and developmentally challenged adults.  M put on quite the "Fright House" at her group home, inviting other group homes to attend.  Each room had some kind of "horror" - nothing too scary to frighten the clients.   All staff, though in costume, were easily recognizable to add to the client comfort level.

In their room, kiddo was dressed as a prom queen, lying on a bed - being chewed on by her zombie sister.  There was a mummy jumping out of the closet, and a pup tent that shook and roared when touched.  The clients were all oohing and awing over how pretty kiddo was...until she would open her eyes and start screaming at them to help her.  If anyone looked alarmed, kiddo instantly assured them she was just pretending.  One young man from another group home, where M was the manager when he was just a young boy, has visited our home many times.

Young client:  (always calls M by her full first and last name) Is that your little sister?
M:  Yes
Young client:  Is that fake blood?
M: Yes
M:  (name of client) Are you have a good time?
Young client:  Does a train go to through the tunnel?  (This is his way of saying yes.)

Another older client, who has also been to our home many times, saw nothing else in the room but kiddo.  "Oh!  There's that pretty girl!"  What he always says when he sees kiddo.  He also thinks she is M's daughter - heh.

I'm not normally a fan of Halloween, etc.  However M worked for three days preparing this extravaganza for the clients' enjoyment.  Something they would not be able to enjoy in other places because some are physically challenged, and others would have seizures in the presence of strobe lights.  Although the aim was to entertain them with a Halloween-type haunted house, M was careful to make sure nothing was too scary or upsetting.  She goes above and beyond the call of duty to make as many fun things happen for them as possible.  Yes I'm a wee bit proud of her.

Nothing makes me happier than the fact that one came into my life at age 14, the other at age 48 hours.  Even though they are separated by 22 years, they are very close.  They hang out together all the time.

Oh - hee - the clients might not have been frightened, but one certain teenager who is never afraid of scary movies (really Mom, I'm not!) asked to sleep with her sister last night. 

A Heartfelt Thank You & an Updated WIP

First let me say how touched and blessed I am by the outpouring of love toward me in my post about my situation.  I have read each and every comment, each and every private email several times.  You lift me up.  You give me hope.  You also give great suggestions and advice.

I promise each of you will get a private email from me.  I am making a list of every suggestion, even those I had previously thought of and discarded.  I want to look at everything anew without preconceived ideas.

I also appreciate the righteous anger on my behalf.  I do feel that it is only right that I tell you, although my DH may be lacking in the husband/caretaker department, he is a wonderful father, was a good step-father and is probably the best friend any person could have.  Why that doesn't translate over to husband, I'm not totally sure.  I am wife #3.  The others lasted about 4 years each.  I have been here 22 1/2 years.

I will write more at a later date, but I will say I am reaching out to more people, agencies and my state and federal representatives and senators.  I am making sure it is not a secret any longer.

So thank you, each and every one.  There are no words to express how grateful I am for your abundance of love, concern and caring.  I knew I had some wonderful readers, and I should have known you would rally with advice, suggestions and what feels like an endless, warm hug.
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The knitting of the Kauni Forest Path Shawl is completed!

Here is a cursory unwashed, unblocked shot.  I already love it, and can't wait to see it blocked properly.  I will probably need some assistance with that as I am not very mobile - so be patient.  All proper linkage will return with the finished post.

I could never have made it to the very end without my chart reading assistant...Winston.