A sock knitter is born

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter....or just a nice Sunday if you don't celebrate Easter! My Mom and Dad came up for dinner and everything turned out very good. I was so happy to have them here, I really needed Mom's help on starting a sock. I have been having the hardest time trying to start one with the stitches on 3 needles. This is the way my Mother knits her socks, and that is the way she showed me. Well, after a couple nights of udder frustration, I decided that maybe it would be easier for me with the stitches on 4 needles.

Enter my Mother, queen of socks, LYS worker, the ultimate knitter. I asked her for help. She helped me start them on the 4 needles. It was funny to watch, for her, the 4 needles was very awkward. I on the other hand think it's great! The light has gone off, things make sense, I am now a SOCK KNITTER!

Close up of the Trekking yarn Yarn and sock started

I am also making progress on the Irish Hiking Scarf. It's made out Cascade 220. The yarn is nice and soft in the hank and when it's wound into a ball....but I am not terribly pleased with the way it feels when it is knitted in this pattern. I don't want to pull it out because I am pretty proud of my first cableing project.

I was reading on another blog, My Escape From the Boys, about the first sweater that a new knitter makes. It got me thinking that I really want to make a sweater. Never mind that it's close to summer. And that Summer's here are HOT HOT HOT. If I start now, I know that I will have one done for next fall. Something pink is calling me.....I just need to find a pattern......

Still sick :-(

Infections are no fun. I am still battling the one that I have, and it's been going on 3 weeks now. last weekend I was in the hospital dealing with it. Why is Motherhood so hard sometimes?

The reason I am so sick.....but he is a cute reason!

I have gotten a few things started during the couple days that I felt like a real person. I have cast on for the cowl, and have made it to round three. This I have to concentrate on so I can only work on it while the kids are asleep.

I also started my Irish Hiking Scarf. This will be a present for my Brother. Maybe for his birthday, I have until December so I am sure I'll get it finished. I'm pretty proud of it so far. I thought cables would be hard but I am really enjoying making them.

I bought some Encore to make an afghan. I love the feel of the yarn and I love that I can throw it in the washer and dryer. Once I got home with all my yarn I realized that EVERYTHING is in the brown family. I need to make a quick project with some color, so I made these. Wonderfully mindless knitting, and they work really well to wash dishes!

Tomorrow is Easter and I am cooking the big dinner this year. I am not sure how much knitting I will get done tonight since my goal is to bake the cakes and pies. And of course tomorrow I'll probably be in the kitchen all day, either cooking or cleaning up!

Have been very sick :-(

As much as I would like to say that I have done some knitting, I can not. I had planned a knit fest with my Mom last weekend BUT I came down with mastitis on Saturday.

For those of you that don't know what mastitis is, you are lucky. It's an infection of the breast, thanks to breastfeeding. It involves pain, feeling like you are going to die, and lots of acting like a baby! But seriously, I am on the mend. Fever is gone, DH is back at work (after playing nurse for 4 days), and I am ready to knit! I promise pictures tomorrow.

I think I will cast on for my cowl tonight and see how that goes!

Stash Building

A couple of days ago my wonderful husband brought his yearly bonus home. It was a bit more than we thought it would be so that meant I could buy a little yarn and such! I was so excited. I bought a couple things from Elann.com

Both of the above patterns. I just love the sweater, and I think that the cowl will be perfect for the winter here. I also bought yarn, in mocha cram, for the cowl.

I couldn't resist buying some of this sock yarn. It's Sock it to Me, cotton and elastic, sport weight. I am having such trouble with making socks on DPN's using fingering weight, I thought that maybe this would be easier. I am not sure if it's the yarn, or the DPN's , that are driving me CRAZY!

My DH came home last night from an out of town meeting with wonderful gifts for me. Today is our 5 year anniversary.

He also got me 3 knitting magazines, Knit It, IK, and Knitters. I had these but it's the thought that counts :-)

I am coming along on my felted bag, and I found a cute pattern in SnB for a cell phone cozy. I think I may try and knock that out tonight.

On a non-knitting note. Would someone inform my newborn son, James, that night is for SLEEPING and the daytime is for being AWAKE? He has this confused and it is leaving his mother very tired! :-)

Frustrated

I am not having a good knitting day. I have started a sock for my Father in Law 3 times so far. The first time, my stitches were twisted, and the last 2 times, I was knitting backwards. I didn't even figure that out until I was done with the ribbing and started to do stockenett. So I put the sock down.

I thought oh, I'll start my Kiri. You cast on using the provisional method. Something that I have not done before. After reading a couple book and looking at the diagrams, I tried it. Can't get that right EITHER! So I have put that down and decided to get on the computer. Maybe I am not supposed to knit today?

I bet I could pick my bag and knit on that......it's just knit....no other stitches.....just knit. Think I could do that right?

I Love Packages

Today was a good day! I have gotten a lot done on my felted bag I love the way the Lambs Pride knits up. I may have to find a few more projects to do with this yarn.

I also got 2 packages in the mail today. One was my Cascade 220 color #9437. I plan to do Kiri with this. I hope it will turn out. The Kid Silk Haze just isn't something I thought I could work with yet. Plus I am SURE I will be ripping it out a few times, and I have been told that KSH doesn't frog well. Please excuse my 2 year old's chubby finger in the picture :-)

Last week I emailed Toni at The Fold about the Socks That Rock yarn that she carries. I wasn't sure of the guage or the weight. She emailed me right back and said that she would be happy to send me a snippet. I sent her my address and waited for the snippet. To me that would be a small hunk of yarn. Today I get a whole skein of Sedona. A WHOLE SKEIN. How cool is that? Now I know I will be ordering from her. She is truly a wonderful lady!

Also on the needles is a vine lace pattern Barbie blanket. My DD, Katie wanted a red blanket for her barbie. I wanted to try a new pattern so I am doing the vine lace pattern. I found it on the bottom of a Capelet in the spring 05 IK. So far so good. I am using Rowan DK....in a very bright red. I am not a big fan of this yarn so far. It's too itchy for me.

Well, I've done it. Pictures like I promised. How did I do?