Socks and Socks and Stupidity

Thanks guys, for all of your kind words about my stupidity of not checking yardage. I am at fault, I must admit it. But if anybody wants to step up and take the blame I am all for placing it somewhere else...and believe it or not, Shelley and Tom Jones, (my mom loves you, by the way, can I get some free tickets to a Vegas show?), I do in fact know some people that might benefit from my sock, but I was really hoping to finish for my sockapaloooza pal, da#$%n it! On a happy note, I have at least two people who have unselfishly offered to brave the cold in Germany and search unendingly for my sock yarn. Ok, they offered to look if they were out...but hey, it's better than nothin'.

While I am patiently waiting, I have been working on my Luskentyre, (look proof), and I started my Pomotomus sock for the Pomotomus Along. Cool, huh? It is such a fun and fast pattern and I LOVE the way it is turning out. Keepin' this one for my selfish little feet.

Happy Ending???

I think not. This is my first finished sock from my next pair. Great, right?
Wrong. I realized it is 60 grams from a 100 gram ball! I am screwed! I just put word out on a couple of Yahoo groups that I am looking for another ball.

It came from Germany...a couple of years ago. I am screwed! My last hope is someone out there in Germany can find some scraps or my family in Germany can find a ball somewhere. It is Rodel Sport and Strumpfwolle color 17440......ya know, just in case....

I think I will take this opportunity to work on Rhinegold and Luskentyre.

Weekend pics

Here is a pre-concert shot Friday night. hehehe I always love these sneaky shots. Notice how no one looks nervous at all. It was a pretty straight forward concert for the woodwinds. Just a lot of endurance. The soloist, Stirling Trent did a FANTASTIC job on the Sibelius. Bravo!

Here are some [pics of the Sunday party. It was a blast despite the deluge outside. It made for a cozy time, but fun was had by all.

And a pic of my newly turned heel for my sock pal. I really am enjoying this pattern.

I will be starting the Pomatomus along any day now. Thanks for letting me join Candace!! It looks like a really fun pattern. Now, just to choose the right color....which will be from my stash of course. And not started until I finish these socks because I have also joined Wipeout! . My WIP are multiplying and I must get a handle on them. What better way than to puclicly humiliate myself by admitting to them?

The caterpillar transforms.....

into a butterfly. This is obviously before blocking which will take place later today or tomorrow. I am pretty happy with the way the color changes are matching up, but it was certainly no accident. It took a lot of spit splicing. :0) I ended up making the sleeve cap a litttle longer for comfort. I HATE tight sleeves....and what with my steely biceps...ok..flabby. But I'm workin' on it, ok? Summer is coming. The pretuberances that look like sleeves are actually the fronts that have been grafted at the shoulders already. It will make for a very spacious blocking area needed. (Was that a sentence?)

This is the progress on my Sockapalooza sock. I love the colors Love, love, love. As you can see, it is the Six Sockalong pattern like the Olympic pair sans beads.

Contrary to popular belief...

spring break is not for rest. I thought at least it would be restful, possibly. I was wrong.I may not be teaching, but there is certainly plenty to be done. All those little things that are tossed aside during busy times...well I won't go into it. No need in making you anxious, too. :0)

The good news is that I have been able to do tons of planting. Flowers and lots of herbs around the backyard. The weather has been just great to get it all done this week. It will be our first summer in this place and I really wanted a lovely herb garden to use for cooking. We have limited space, but I think the borders will work pretty well. So far I have rosemary, chives, basil, oregano, sage, mint and of course peppers and some tomatoes. Keep your fingers crossed for them and my "black thumb of death" for all things green.

I finished my square for Jef and will be mailing it today or tomorrow. I chose a pattern called close-woven basket lattice out of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker to depict the close-woven comeraderie of knitters that it takes to make a project like this work. I hope he enjoys his treasure and comforts him as it was meant to do.

On another note, I am just going to have to add an entry into the sidebar of things seen "only in Texas". On the way home from a concert last Friday, my driving partner Sharon and I spyed these great sights. Look very closely at the truck and tell me what you see.....

Now back to our regualrly scheduled knitting.....my Sockapalooza sock has made a transformation from a Jaywalker to a lacy pattern after frogging several times. The gauge wasn't coming out right and after further investigation, she has several pair anyway. So, I decided on a tried and true pattern which is turning out great in this colorway I showed in an earlier post. I have also done a little work on a long forgotten friend, Butterfly in Noro Knits from the Noro Silk Garden in the red colorway.

All I have left is a sleeve and some seams. Why did I put that away? Well, after finishing and not heeding others' warnings, the sleeves came out about a foot too long and I frogged them. I rekintted one, started the other and lost interest. Now I am on a mission. I must finish this week. Also, Luskentyre is on the couch waiting patiently for me to continue her.

Comforting Jef

Everything else is coming to a screeching halt until a small but very meaningful project is finished. I came across Jessalu Knits last night and she has an entry about Christine . Christine's brother Jef is battling a recurring brain tumor. Christine has put out a call for knitters to send her blue knitted squares to make a larger afghan for Jef. If I may reiterate what Jessalu has written, I hope that these squares will not only comfort Jef in this scary time, but also comfort Christine with the knowledge that so many knitters out there really do care about Jef, Christine and her family, even if we do not know them personally. Our thoughts are with you guys.

I love my secret pal!!!

Look what I just got in the mail.Goodness from Down Under, compliments of my very bestest secret pal.
Isn't it fantastic? I can't decide what I like best. Could it be the sheepie? Or the stitch marker's??? Or possibly the Vegemite? Teeeheee. Thank you so very much. I am so glad that I was chosen for your pal, but I don't believe in coincidences, do I? Do you know she lives in the same city in Australia that I used to live in? How's that for amazing? It is if you consider that I live on the other side of the planet and only lived there for a year. Wow! She's terrific. And pssst, don't tell her, but I am sending some goodies back her way, too. :0)

I finally finished the Ugly Socks for V. He loves them, even though they are monsters. I hope they shrink a little. I didn't check my gauge quite close enough and they are pretty big.

Here we have the new cast on for my sockapalooza pal. I almost screwed up and started a sock in all of the colors she hates. I am not sure we would have believed any lame excuses I could have come up with. I am a bad liar. I think will be a good colorway. I bought this in Germany a few years ago and have been saving it ever since for something special. I love how vivid the colors are. Jaywalkers are in order.

Have you seen what Marina got today? It's the yarn for Luskentyre. I am finally getting someone to kick my butt into gear to get back on my Luskentyre.

Look what I got!!

.

I have received all of these in the last few weeks. They are even better in person. The first three are from Brooklyn Handspun in City Sunset, Flickering Flame, and Purple Rain. The other two are from Sunshine Yarns in Violets and Love. OOOOhh, aren't they wonderful? I highly recommend them both for excellent service and inspiring colorways. Just in time for all of the sock groups I have joined. My sockapalooza pal will receive one of these. Hmmm....which one? And I haven't forgotten my Red Hot Sizzlin'Socks, either. Updates soon to come.
Here we have the latest pair of long overdue UFO socks for my husband and what could turn out to be the World's Ugliest Pair of Socks. They have been on the needles for MONTHS! I think it is because there is no pattern to keep me interested. Or the fact that I have to rest my eyes with a cold compress after 15 minutes of knitting with this green! But, they are almost done. Perhaps by tonight. I am trying really hard to get a few UFOs finished so I can concentrate on my bigger projects (Rhinegold, Luskentyre...I hear you calling) and also my stealth project. I see some of you have already looked in my Flickr account and may have an idea....any brave guesses? You don't count, Michele. :0)
And last, but certainly not least, this is why I almost wrecked my car on the way to a performance last night. I ask you, who wouldn't drive across three lanes of traffic to get to this?