So it's next week?

One of these days I'm going to wake up and find 50 stitch markers in my bed!

Instead of working on the 2nd baby sock yesterday at the Thursday knitting circle, I cast on for the anklet. I'm using my Kollage square circular needles. It feels weird to not be using DPNs for socks. 

I usually don't have to mark the sides for the gussets but because this circular needle is so small (I think a 16"), I got to use them. Unfortunately for me, I forget that they're there and they keep dropping off somewhere on my lap which falls to my bed and then disappears into the same vortex that line socks disappear into. I've lost 2 so far. I'm doing my best to be a lot more careful.

But they do look beautiful, don't they?

I know I like math but come on!

I found this ball of left over yarn in my stash that I think would be really nice to make a two-tone anklet out of. I pulled out a ziplock bag and re-wrote the pattern for the Anklet A Day on a cue card to fit into the bag. Since I've been doing the sock club socks, I'd like to use a smaller needle like a 1.5 or 1 US. That means I need to resize the pattern and there are no written alternatives.

The cuff part makes sense. The leg is no problem. The heel flap needed to be recalculated but it's completely doable. The problem is the turn heel. I am having a hard time calculating it. I think I may need to create some kind of spreadsheet to help me out later on or else try to do a different type of heel entirely.

I am only sort of looking forward to trying out different heels.  I know the heel flap.  I just recently tried out the short heel on the baby socks (which are still not done) and I'm not certain I'm really comfortable doing them yet.  I've done the afterthought heel and that actually sounds plausible.  The final option that I know of is the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi.  I've had the ebook for almost a year and I have not tried it out at all.  I guess the anklets would be a perfect opportunity to try it out.  The only question is how well it would work if the heel is being made out of a different colour yarn. I guess I should look more into it and decide. It may just make my math problem disappate.

I just came up with a fun and nifty idea (I sound like Ned Flanders don't I). This goes along with the whole ideas of socks that don't match.  I only have a 19 g of yarn for the main colour of the anklets. I've weighed the anklets that I have previously made and it weighs 38 g. So obviously, I don't have enough. However, I do have quite a few balls that are similar and I have about the same amount of yarn for them.  I therefore CAN make mismatched anklets with the same colour cuff, heel and toe. This way, I don't even have to make sure they match when they come out of the drawer.  Talk about saving time getting dressed!

I doubt by next week, I won't have anything to show for it in regards to the anklets other than my somewhat prepared Anklet ziplock project bag with circular needles in them (yes, I have to keep my DPNs free for the sock club shipment which should arrive on the 10th!)

It was much fun

As I said yesterday, I had to pack a small knitting project while I went in my trip. I did but I didn't touch it. I was having too much fun in Niagara with my bestfriend.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites. It is a beautiful hotel. We didn't reach until almost 10pm and quickly went up to our suite on the 11th floor. I was shocked with how big the suite was. When we walked in, there was a sitting room with 2 couches and a TV. We passed through a hallway, which contained the door to the bathroom with a jacuzzi, and came across 2 queen sized beds plus another TV and a side view of the falls. We could see the Skylon Tower right outside the window.

After awhile of walking around the suite with our mouths agape, we went down to The Keg (vouchers are a good thing). I got a Caesar salad, mashed potatoes and a steak. Did you know there's a "more cooked" steak than well done? The steak was really good as was the mashed potatoes but what I was really looking forward to was the Caesar salad. I had had it previously from The Keg and fell in love with it. Believe me when I say that my plate only required a hot water rinse by the time I was done with it.

We went back up to the room and fell on our ridiculously comfy beds and watched the commercials about movies, trying to decide if we would watch them. The only one we agreed on was "Oz: the Great and Powerful". It was supposed to be $4.99 but it kept going up to $14.99 when we wanted to order it. So no movie. I will see that movie someday.

This morning was a breakfast buffet that reminded me why I don't go out for breakfast. I don't eat pork, I'm allergic to eggs and I don't really like pancakes. So my breakfast consisted of hash browns, ketchup and fruit. My bestfriend enjoyed the omelette station.

We checked out and went to Dave & Busters to use up a $25 voucher. Played some games, won some erasers, slinkies and poppers. 

And then the more serious stuff happened. We drove to Hamilton so I could apply at some of the job agencies in the area. One of them actually is associated with a French Immersion program which I would like to take advantage of.

Made it home tonight and I plan to get a good night's sleep.

Plans go awry

I have wanted shortbread cookies since last week so I bought butter, which was the only missing ingredient or so I thought. I took out the butter to soften it this morning and then went hunting for the rest of the ingredients. I had the flour, I found sugar, the salt and the butter. I brought up the mini mixer from my mother's kitchen, along with the rolling pin and was ready to work, until I couldn't find wax paper. That's something that finishes in our house very quickly so I went online to find an alternative; aluminum foil. Perfect! Just saw it yesterday. I continued to search both kitchens trying to find it. I even called my mother...there is none but she's getting some from work today. I'm not going to be here tonight. So now I have to lug everything back to where it was and not have any cookies :*( I guess I'll have to do it later this week.

I did finish one sock for the first pair of baby socks an I'm working on the cuff of the second. I know it won't take too long to finish so hopefully I'll have it done tonight or tomorrow during the day. I think I'll travel with an additional little ball of yarn, just in case I can start another one.

Come-a-long Update

Now the Pirouettes are truly done! And I LOVE them!  They still need to be washed but I'm going to wait until I have a few more pairs of socks to throw them in.

I casted on for the second sock of the Tulips. I'm a little bit under halfway on the leg but I expect by the end of today, I will be much further along.

I'm only 3/4 of the way through 1 sock for my friend's baby. The shower is next Sunday, and I had wanted to make 2 pairs. I need to get on that.

I can finally resume working on my Hermione's whatever-whatever. I found a yarn shop in Hamilton that I love that sells Knitter's Pride DPN, which are almost the same as Harmony DPNs and I could rightly afford. No rush in this mittens. The completed hand is already hot enough as it is, much less both.

The Sproulette Dress yarn, needles and pattern has been placed in the freezer sized ziplock bag...and it's due for 2 weeks from now. Just found out that's when the baby shower is. I think right after I finish the Tulip socks and the baby socks (real quickly), I'll have to get started on the baby dress which I have never attempted to do before.

Projects Completed for 2013:

Newton Socks | Ernie Socks | Pirouette Socks

WIPs:

Tulip Socks | Dark Isle Socks | Stitch Surfer | Hermione's Whatever-whatevers | Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan | Blankie | Bex | Baby Socks

I have a what now?

I have another blog that I didn't even remember that I had. I had set it up for simming but I haven't done anything with it.  Maybe I'll use it at some later date.

Anywho, I managed to finish the leg in my Tulip socks. Yay for progress! I'll do the heel flap tomorrow and hopefully the turn heel. These socks will definitely be done by the end of this week.

Tomorrow I'm going on a mid week overnight trip (like I don't spend enough time away from my house). I think I'll take the baby socks with me and that will be my trip project. Hopefully I can finish off the first pair at the very least.

This bear travels

Today was a full day some of my friends and I volunteered for the Tim Hortons' Run/Walk for the Camps in Bronte today. Of course for such occasions now, we brought out Cooper the bear from Canada's Wonderland.

We buckled him in to go on the trip over.

He cheered on the runners as they came up to the finish line.

He basked in the sunshine in one f the prize chairs.

He even helped gather extra donations by selling tshirts.

After all of that, family BBQ in Brampton. Suffice it to say, I am tired. Good night!

I went out to the movies

And I didn't see the new Star Trek movie or Iron Man 3. My bestfriend decided on Fast and Furious 6. 

The last time I saw any of movie of this franchise, it was under duress and the only reason I went was because my brother and his friend wanted to borrow my mother's van and I was required to go.

And as before, it was fun to watch but I'm happy I didn't pay. The only character I was sad about was about Han in the end. Ludacris and Tyrese were a great comedic duo...and I'm done.

We tried to take Sheldon the bear with us but the ticket cost was too high, so he stayed in the car. He's got his fur to keep him warm :)

Shout Out! Handknit Yarn Studio

Odd day for a Shout Out but since I have only done this a couple of times before, it's alright!

I reached to Hamilton early today and made my way to a new yarn shop that I discovered on Ravelry less than a week ago; Handknit Yarn Studios at 4 Cannon St. E in Hamilton.

I am so happy to have found this store. It works perfectly as an LYS for when I move to Hamilton. 

I am loving their shelving and I'm thinking this would be great in a hobby or living room. And if it were to be full of yarn too, that would be great! Retirement planning at work.

HKYS seems to specialize (or is working on) in Canadian yarns and dyers, which I love and will collect when I can. I have also found that they sell Knitter's Pride needles, which are said to be the same as the KnitPicks Harmony Wood needles (before KP sent their needles to be manufactured elsewhere). I got a size 3US so I can now work on the Hermione whatever-whatevers.

Thank you Kate for making my first visit wonderful. I will definitely visit again :)

I have an FO!

I can finally say that my Pirouette Socks are finally finished and I am pleased with them.  

I heaved a huge sigh of relief when they were finished not because I was tired of making them but because I have way too many projects that need to be done.  I'm still not finished the baby socks.  I am 3/4 of the way through the first sock and I want to have at least 2 pairs by the time the shower rolls around (that gives me a couple of weeks).  I have my Tulip Socks that I want to have finished before I get the next set of patterns from the sock club (that gives me a couple of weeks).  

Those are the only 2 deadlines I have other than wanting to do the Sproulette Dress for the other baby and I haven't even caked the yarn.  Heck, it took me this long to finally get the Peacock Fury off of my swift.  I just did it this morning and only because I had the Thursday Knitting Circle tonight and I wouldn't have anything to use if I didn't do it. Talk about procrastination.

Last night, after I kitchenered the toe of Pirouette Socks, I was introduced to an online comic about knitters called Worsted for Wear. I didn't go to bed until almost 2 am because I was laughing too hard and I still didn't even finish until this morning.

So true, LOL!

A new kind of want

I'm sitting in a mall trying to look covert while these three (wait, now there's five) Asian ladies are knitting. If only they spoke English. I'd be asking what kind of yarn are you using? What are you knitting? Why are you using this Noro looking crocheted lap blanket as a chair warmer? Why do you knit with straights? Where did you find your knitting bags?

Is it weird to say that I'd like to do this when I retire? A room full of stash and friends to knit with. Sounds like a plan :)

Instead of finishing a sock

There is so little left to do to finish the Pirouette Socks but yet, instead of finishing up the toe on the right sock, I casted on for a pair of baby socks. I've got 2 friends who are due in the summer. While I've found a dress for the baby girl who's due in August (the Sproulette Dress), it is harder to find something that I like for a baby boy, especially when you don't have the money to buy the appropriate yarn. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to make some baby socks. I've got quite a bit of sock yarn left overs which is more than enough for a few pairs of socks for a newborn.

I've made it pretty far for the first sock and it should be finished tomorrow. I have another 1/2-1" left to go before I start the toe.

I had to do a short row heel, which I have never done before. At the very least, it's a good way to experiment for what to use for anklets. See the full circle and how everything goes back to the anklets?

I promise that I will finish the right foot for the Pirouette Socks by Thursday, so I can show them off to T and get started on the Tulip socks. I need to have those done as soon as possible. The next shipment of yarn from the Cookie Sock Club should be here soon and I want my needles free by the time the patterns arrive.

Note to self: go and check out the next shipment days for the sock club and start to salivate in anticipation.

Come-a-long Update

It is finished! The Pirouette socks are done and just needing a wash :)

Or that's what I wanted to say. I was hoping to finish them this weekend but there wasn't enough time. I have started the toe though so definitely by this time next week, they will truly be finished. I didn't work on anything else other than the Blankie this week (103 squares).

The Tulip socks are about to be put on the needles.

I don't think I'm going to have time to tackle another 50% sock before the next shipment for the sock club arrives and it always has priority for the sock knitting.

Baby Shower season is coming up and I have the Sproulette Dress that I want to knit for my friend's baby girl due in August. It's kind of late to make something for another friend who's having a baby in July. I don't have anything for a boy. Guess I will be searching for a project that can be completed with 1 skein of sock yarn. Any suggestions will be welcome.

Projects Completed for 2013:

Newton Socks | Ernie Socks

WIPs:

Pirouette Socks | Tulip Socks | Dark Isle Socks | Stitch Surfer | Hermione's Whatever-whatevers | Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan | Blankie | Bex

It's Victoria Day

It was a lovely day of no knitting. I really just didn't plan to do any this weekend.

Today was a day of tuning my bestfriend's car into a free charge taxi service all around The Greater Hamilton Area, fetching various family members to her house to have a BBQ for her father's birthday. It was fun and it was nice to see  people who have become part of my family.

Tomorrow, it's back to knitting; which means finishing my Pirouette socks and casting in for the Tulips.

Meet Cooper

Cooper joined the "family" today. He was our roller coaster buddy who was never allowed to ride the roller coasters. What must we do to stop the bear discrimination? LOL!

We (my cousin and my bestfriend and I didn't get to go on asana coasters as we had wished but after waiting over an hour for The Fly and 45 minutes for The Leviathan, it became too much. We'll attempt more at a later date.

Ready to crash

It has been a LONG day. I have just gotten to my bed for the night. I went to church, I got to see brethren from a sister  church in Montreal, we (as in my BFF and I) finished organizing a trip to Canada's Wonderland, we (and an additional couple of people) went out for dinner, then headed to drop off the tickets to Canada's Wonderland, met a dog named Bently, went through a Hip Hop art book by Leon Robinson (amazing local-ish* artist) and THEN came home.

So yes, I'm tired. Good night.

*local-ish: not exactly local to where I live but not that far away.

Missing things

I have been having one of those days (well it has been a few days) that I am missing something terribly and as of yet, there's nothing I can do.

I had to make up a spreadsheet to keep score of a quiz challenge at my church. Of course I couldn't make it simple. I had to have it start looking up information. Since I hadn't really done it in awhile, I had to go to the spreadsheets I had created for my Sims 2 game.

I started looking over the information in the file which left me wanting to play them again. I wanted to see Felton graduate university. I wanted to see how many kids Mr. Fuchs would spawn. I wanted to see how the recently opened farming section would grow. Unfortunately for me, the DVD rom drive on the computer doesn't work and it hasn't worked for months.

When I finally do get a fully functional computer, I'm pretty sure I'll start from scratch all over again, another Prosperity Challenge along with the beginning of the Complex. I'll have fun building the neighbourhoods and creating a new spreadsheet tracker. Maybe I should start rolling for the Prosperity Hood from now :)

On another note, I got to spend the evening with some of my cousins for one of my cousins sweet 16.  They throw good impromptu birthday.  Found out two of the cousins are fanfiction writers.  I can't wait to read what they wrote :)

I'm off to bed now.  It's almost 11 and despite the fact that I said that would put up a picture of the progress of my Pirouette socks but I didn't take them.  I just started the toes and maybe tomorrow, if I find the time, I'll finish it off and the Pirouette socks will be done!

I even packed a back up project of my Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan that I'm pretty certain I will not be getting to it at all for the weekend.  Oh well!  I'll catch up on it when I start catching up on tv shows online.

Blankie Update

Total Count: 94.5 + 8.5 = 103

This Blankie is progressing nicely. I'm over 100 squares! Yippee! I counted the starter squares and I'm at 25. I don't know if I'll make it go to an even 30 or not. That would mean that I need at least another 5 starter squares to go.

I finished 1 ball of Knitpicks Stroll in black. So that's about 1 ball per 100 squares. I have 1 remaining ball of black. I got a cart with another 9 balls sitting in it (plus a few more things to make it to $50) just waiting to be purchased. Hopefully I can get it before I finish another 100 squares.

Correction: I measured it against my queen size bed. It's wider than my bed so it's only up to go 

Lessons Learned

- listen when they say to pick up stitches with a smaller needle or at the very least do a provisional cast on with a larger needle. It is difficult or at the very least to pick up stitches when the next stitch is getting repeated smaller because after 5 minutes you finally managed to pick up the previous stitch. Must locate a 2US in my needle stash - not fun, mind you.

- the colour work square doesn't look too bad. I just have to be neater in their construction.

- I really need to start weaving in my ends.

Picture:

Picking up stitches from provisional cast on. At the very least I got the provisional cast on down pat!

This is the full pic of the Blankie as it stands. It's not all attached yet but it will be by next week.

Note to self: monitor the left overs I have and make sure they don't all go towards the anklets plans.

How to build a sock stash

It has been cold in my house for the past couple of days.  In order to keep warm, I've been wearing my Lissajous that don't stay up.  This has prompted me to want to make another pair of knee high socks (not anytime soon, mind you) and I found a couple of basic sock calculators for both regular length and knee high socks. Got to love all of these extra inspiration for building a sock stash.

Link to the sock tutorials:

Knee Highs | Regular Length Socks

Perhaps I can attempt a more basic type of knee highs closer towards the end of the year, beginning of next year. I can't even plan early for the kind of yarn I'd use since I have no idea what my stash is going to look like. I'm expecting quite empty.

I also need to start experimenting to make a good fitting anklet sock. Those kind of socks had always been my go to type before I learned how to knit socks. I do realize however that if I want to build my sock stash, I'm going to have to start making proper anklets for myself, especially to fit properly around my ankles.

Once I do that, I can also try to adapt some existing sock patterns that I like into anklets. I did manage to do one foot of the Blackrose socks as an anklet a couple years ago but since I only did one foot, it's kind of useless.

My mind is also spinning with ideas for basic, try as you go lace patterned anklets. I guess I'll save the larger portions of left over socks for anklet production, both matching and mismatching.

Of course, in order to do all of this, I have to increase my sock yarn stash.  Perhaps I'll just dwindle down what I have for this year and next year will be the year of increasing the sock yarn stash.  Since I've been wearing my Lissajous for the past 2 days, I've been wanting to get more Wollmeise sock yarn. One skein alone should get me 3 pairs of anklets at the minimum and they come in a vast variety of colours.  If I'm going to build a sock stash, they might as well be colourful.  I'm definitely going to try out a variety of different yarns for this endevour.  The yarns I know for sure that I will be using other than Wollmeise are:

• Springtree Road Muscadine (like that would be such a big surprise with the amount of time I talk about the yarn),
• Indigodragonfly MCN Sock
• Gritty Knits (never underestimate the power of selling mini skeins. I have never purchased an entire skein of Gritty Knits yarn but I have gotten the mini skeins and I love it!)
• Tanis Fibre Arts Blue (I have the yarn and I have petted it many many times but I have never actually knit with it)

There are many other yarns that I'd be open to try as well.  I'll try them from a destash first before I buy one outright.

I saw more flowers again that I took a picture of. I think they're pretty.

Left over

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a lot of leftover yarn from the Pirouette Socks. I tried to do a 50/50 division from the skein. The first cake is just about to finish and I'm only a few rows before starting the heel flap. I think I'll try to see if I have enough to do a pair of anklets out the remainder, or at least one foot of one.

Alright, this sock seems to be a bit different now. I had to go an extra two rows before I could start the heel flap. I hope it won't be so noticeable.

I should be finished with the heel flap quite soon and hopefully before in go to bed tonight, the turn heel will be finished soon. Then the real fun begins and the pair will be finished very soon.

Come-a-long Blog Update

This week has been a multi project week. I managed to finish 1 foot of each sock for the April/May in the sock club.

I'm almost half way through knitting the second sock of the Pirouette Socks. It seems so much easier the second time around. I think the next time I knit these socks, I'm going to go with Cookie's alternative of using yarn over instead of the various make ones. Let's see if I remember this when I'm ready to do these again.

The Tulips (right sock from the first picture) will be worked on when the Pirouettes are done. Seems like by this time next week, I will have started on it.

I still have multiple socks that I have to do the 2nd sock for: Stitch Surfer, Dark Isle, Bex. Lots of work to keep me busy.

Projects Completed for 2013:

Newton Socks | Ernie Socks

WIPs:

Pirouette Socks | Tulip Socks | Dark Isle Socks | Stitch Surfer | Hermione's Whatever-whatevers | Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan | Blankie | Bex

Skip a day?

Is it okay just to skip over today since I can cover the knitting I've done in tomorrow's Come-a-long entry? I did spend the entire evening listening to 2 (no, it was 3) podcasts, watching 3 episodes of Avatar and knitting the Pirouette Socks. I didn't even realize how late it was tonight. I'll show a picture of the progress tomorrow.

Note to self: finish caking the other half of of the Peacock Fury which has been sitting on the swift since I caked the first half. That was about 3 weeks ago. Talk about being lazy.

Colourful Inspiration

I am not much of a flowers person but as I walked past someone's garden today, I had to stop and take a picture. They were so bright and vibrant. If I ever get to dye anything based on these flowers, I'm calling it Lydia's Garden.

Today I met an adorable cat named Mouselyn. Immediately upon seeing a friend, she sprawled out on her back and stuck out her tongue waiting to be stroked.

Building a sock stash

I've been eaten up by jealousy. I love perusing the Sock Knitters group on Ravelry in a thread entitled "How many pairs of socks have you made?". I thought I was doing pretty well, that is until I saw someone's post which stated they had knit 350 pairs of socks since 2008. They also posted a picture of their sock drawer. Excuse me as I melt with envy. I have only knitted 9 pairs and have 6 pairs for myself. Of course by the end of the year I'll have more.

Looking at the sock stashes make me want to knit more socks and it's what made me look through my sock yarn stash on Ravelry.

Oh the patterns I want to knit! I think my sock queue on Ravelry is larger many times over than the stash I own. One day I'll catch up to the queue.

Digging through the sock stash

I keep looking through my sock yarn stash and I keep feeling like I'm running out. I went through my stash on Ravelry and realized that I have a lot more than I thought I had. I had a couple of cakes of yarn thinking that they had no nylon in it (which for me means not for socks). Much to my joy, I found out some other sock yarns that I had gotten from other Ravelry members are suitable for socks! I'm going to try to make sure that I use some of them before the year is out.

Blankie Update

First strategically placed Blankie Uodate. I added on the Peacock Fury BFL yarn I used for the Tulip Socks. I wasn't able to add any of the Tea Rose Muscadine from the Pirouettes. That's what you get for starting the 2nd sock so quickly and having enough to do more than the cuff.

I attempted the colourwork and it turned out okay. It's not as neat as I had hoped but it's still usable. I do think I will attempt to refine it and do some more perhaps with different designs.

I also did a couple starter squares with a provisional cast on. I hope it won't look too different when the black triangle gets added on since the other squares were started with the long tail cast on.

I've only done 2.5 squares today which gives me a grand total of 94.5 squares. Here's to hoping I have 100 but this time next week.

I so do not count this as my entry a day

Apparently, I love starting new things and this one that I want to start (or more like redo and keep up) is doing the Come-a-long Blog.  I had done a few updates last year, but kind of fell through on it.  It's pretty much started me on this whole idea of an Entry a Day.  I would like to reinstate it, even though it's almost done for the year but it is starting again in July (hopefully) for the 2013-2014 year,

So Wednesday will be the Blankie Update and Sunday can be my Come-a-long Update.  Then if I have any Shout-Outs!, they can be done on Thursdays.

Wow! Mind has been cleared and hopefully there will be follow through as well :)

I didn't even make it one day

So Tuesday was supposed to be a Shapely Boyfriend day, after I finished the Tulip sock. It took quite some time before I managed to even get around to the Tulips. It wasn't until I was halfway through the Tuesday Knitting Circle. But guess what? I have 2 completed socks and they look lovely!

(A/N: I am loving the fact that I can now place pictures in the middle of an update via my phone!)

I admired my socks and showed them off and then picked up the cuff for the right Pirouette sock and started knitting. The Shapely Boyfriend didn't even make it out of my backpack. Who knows when it will be worked on.

Tomorrow is still going to be a Blankie day. I got some yarn from the Tulip socks to be added :)

I almost managed it!

Today was a "Let's hurry up and finish sock #1 of the Tulips" day. Despite the fact that I indeed did a lot of work on said sock, I am still not done the toe. Tomorrow I shall complete it and then work on the Shapely Boyfriend.

I'm working out a project schedule for the week. Yesterday was the Pirouettes. Today was the Tulips. Tomorrow is finishing off the toe for the Tulips and then the Shapely Boyfriend cardigan. Wednesday so far is scheduled for a Blankie day. Thursday is a sock club day which means either the Tulips or Pirouettes. Fridays and Saturdays are hard to schedule due to the travelling but it will probably be the other sock club sock. I still have to schedule a time to work on the other WIPs like the Bex, Dark Isle and the Stitch Surfer. Once I finish one of the sock club socks, I'll pick one of them.

DPN argh!

I woke up this morning, wanting to work on my Tulip socks. I opened up the little carrying case. I found 4 of my 5 DPNs I size 1.5 US. I am not used to working on 3 needles but I just may have to. New DPNs have to be my priority.

- Nevermind, I found the missing DPN

Excuse me as I have a love affair with my sock

I finally reached the point where I can try on my Pirouette socks without worrying about the needles coming out. Let me just say that I love this sock. I'm contemplating if I should stop where I am and finish the foot of the Tulip socks or if I should just go right onto the right sock and finish the Pirouettes.

I am pretty certain that I want to make these again! Once the panel is finished, the twist really does happen.

Final sock observation for the day, I'm keeping both of the socks for this month. So that will be 3 pairs of socks for me by the end of May plus 2 more pairs that I'm also in the middle of making - for me!

Lighter Bag

The bag is lighter today. I only have the Tulip Socks and Pirouette Socks, which are both coming along nicely. And I guess since the Pirouettes are simple again (meaning I am no longer immensely confused), I already want to make them again. I don't even have an earmarked yarn for it either.

I belatedly realized I started on the wrong row for the foot portion of the Pirouettes. I didn't even notice it until last night.. Meh! Still looks good.

That's it for tonight. Good night!

A bag full of projects

On day 2 of living without a bus pass, you start realizing that you have to take your rides where you can find them.  This is the reason I'm sitting at my local library 3.5 hrs before Knitting Circle starts.

I hope I packed my bag well.  I've got a variety of knitting projects in my bag which currently contains Blankie, the Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan, the Tulip Socks, the Pirouette Socks and the Stitch Surfer Socks.  Knitting as entertainment is covered.

And on top of the knitting projects I have a new book to read called "Flood" by Stephen Baxter.  Too bad I have not mastered the art of reading and knitting at the same time.  I really want to get to the second book, "Ark", since that is what grabbed my attention.  However you can't do a book series without reading the books in proper order or else the whole story just doesn't work out the way the author intended. For example, reading "Garden of Shadows" by V.C. Andrews before reading "Flowers in the Attic".  Did that when I was younger and realized it completely ruined the somewhat innocence of "Flowers in the Attic" is just wrong.

Hopefully soon, the latest episode of Arrow will finish downloading on my phone so I can watch it again. OMG! It was such a good episode and there are still 2 more episodes left for the season. I will be spending the summer hiatus from new episodes by catching up on Vampire Diaries (which I have not watched since I started going to the Thursday Knitting Circle), Elementary (which Global TV has left me feeling totally confused as to which Thursdays the show airs) and re-watching Arrow from the beginning of the season.

So off now I go to start knitting something, probably Blankie or Shapely Boyfriend since it doesn't require much concentration so I can watch Arrow at the same time...when it finishes downloading.

- TTFN (quoted from Tigger)

Observations

It's amazing how quickly (and barely noticing) yarn can go in a project. Today was a Blankie day. I actually looked inside the ziplock bag and saw that I really don't have much black yarn left. Luckily I still have 1 50g ball left but at the rate I've been working on this Blankie, I don't know how much longer I can work with what I have. At the very least, I still have enough yarn for about 80 squares...that should keep me good for a few months.

Recently, I have been looking over the Shelly Kang's Blog, The Heathen Housewife, just reading more about her Blankie.  There is so much work that goes into putting this thing together.  I really liked her idea of Blankie Friday.  Me, I make no guarentees about Friday topics however, I do like the idea of having a designated day for the Blankie.  It actually gets to show progress by more than a couple squares at a time.  I may just do them on Wednesday (starting next week at the earliest) and maybe not every week...especially since I'm just happy to be able to update the blog with something everyday.

Come to think of it, maybe I could have certain projects dedicated to different days...not for knitting specifically but just update on their progress.  I'll still keep a general update going for the projects and the rest of my life, which surprisingly isn't all about knitting...although reading this blog would really make you think so.

As of now, I'm still thinking of exactly who the Shout Out should be for tomorrow.  I think I got an idea but I'm still hemming and hawing over it...and wondering if I should just save it for another week.  I guess I'll decide by tomorrow but if you don't see it tomorrow, you'll know it will just come along later on.

On a more personal note, I have a job interview tomorrow.  Hopefully this goes well so there's some income for me and I'll be able to pay for my transportation again; April's done so the bus pass has expired, I don't got money for another one and I only have 3 bus tokens left in my possession which will be finished by the end of the week.  I'll also not have to listen to my brother singing "There's no food in the house!  There is nothing to eat!" I'm afraid there will be verses soon.