As Promised...

Here are pictures of my babies' first day of school. ZimDee is now 6 and is in First Grade. His teacher is fantastic, and we are so happy that he will be in her class for Second Grade as well. He has really blossomed this year from a sleepy kindergartner to an enthusiastic first grader.

Girlie is now 11 and is in 5th Grade. We're very pleased with her teacher as well, and appreciate the fact that she is focusing on preparing her students for middle school next year. Be still, my heart.
I figured it out in my brain (I know! I'm so smart!) and realized that this will be the last year that Girlie will be in the same school as either of her brothers. The boys will go to school together, but not so my angel girl. It makes me a little sad, but she's ready to spread her wings.

Not to be left out, here is Sproutie with his Drammies on his first day of preschool:
He is becoming quite a little man. With him in preschool for two half days a week, I am finally able to volunteer in my older two's elementary classrooms, and I'm really enjoying it.

It took a few weeks for little Sproutie to build up enough stamina to stay awake on the ride home from school. Here he is after his first day:
(Notice he's still got his little backpack on).

Fall also brings with it Girlie's birthday. This year I tried to make a quadruple layer lemon cake with lemon frosting. It turned out more like something you might see in a Dr. Seuss book:
But it still tasted fabulous. Girlie didn't mind one bit.

And lest you think that I've forgotten that this is a knitting blog, here are some pictures of Knit Purl's first sock club project:These are called Andamento Socks and they are knit with Koigu yarn, in a specially dyed colorway called The Pearl. My love for Koigu yarn is well-known, so I was very pleased with this selection. The colors in these pictures do not do the yarn justice.
And notice the pretty decorative cuff. I knit these socks up in two and a half days, fueled by the emptiness of my house with all three children in school. It was just the project I needed to get me through those first quiet days.
Now things are not so quiet anymore. Here is why:
I just had to show you the new haircuts that these two hooligans got over Thanksgiving holiday. Aren't they getting big? Please, babies, don't be in such a hurry...

No, Your Eyes Are Not Deceiving You

I am finally updating my blog!

To ease into this slowly, I will start with where I left off. That would be the pink socks and the green sweater, both of which are now completed.

Here are the pink socks, knit with Lorna's Laces Flamingo Stripe on size 0 needles:This was the first pair of socks I knit using the two at a time toe up method. I've since cast on for two additional pairs (which are in time-out at the moment) and finished another pair that you will probably be seeing in publication before too long. I'm finding this technique to be much more useful than I expected it to be.

We also left off with the start of a green sweater, knit with Louet MerLin. Here it is on the finishing table:
And here it is in its completed form:
The pattern is Camellia by Kate Gilbert. The sweater now resides in the window of one of my favorite local yarn stores, Twisted.
I've enjoyed keeping up with all of you through your blogs. If you have missed me as much as I've missed writing, then it looks like the thing for me to do is to write more often.

During my unscheduled hiatus, I got my children safely settled into their new school year. Girlie is now in 5th grade, ZimDee in first grade, and little Sprout is now going to preschool two half days a week. This allows me to volunteer in the elementary school classrooms, which at first I found completely exhausting, but now I really look forward to it every week. I really like all of their teachers, and this is going to be another great year. Pictures of Sproutie's first day of preschool will follow in another post.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the magical Christmas season.

Knitting Progress and Dish Rag Tag Sign Up

I've been making great progress on my Flamingo Stripe socks that I'm knitting in my two at a time toe up sock class. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to miss the last class, so I read ahead in the book and was able to turn the heels by myself so that I'll be set up to learn the crochet bind off that will be covered when I'm not there.
I expected knitting two socks at a time to be fiddly, and it hasn't disappointed in that aspect, but just like motherhood, it is turning out to be funner than I anticipated. I don't know if every pair of socks I knit in the future will be done two at a time, but I will be using this technique more than I thought I would.

I'm doing a bit of test knitting too (you can go ahead and laugh).
This little green object will grow up to be a sweater someday.
I've been asked to knit the sweater with Louet MerLin, which is 60% linen and 40% merino wool. It's very slippery. The pattern called for size 4 needles, but I had to go down to size 1 to get gauge. Am I destined to knit with tiny skinny needles from now on? I hope not. Isn't it purdy so far?

Finally, sign ups for Dish Rag Tag start today. There are only 300 spots available this year, so if you want to have some fun, go now!
If you sign up, let me know what team you get assigned to so that I can root for you. See you there!

Fair Ribbonage and Some Hopscotch

So are you wondering how our entries did at the county fair? Because I'm here to tell you.

My red and white gull wing socks got 3rd place. Still a ribbon, no? They fared better than the face cloth, which is my first submission ever to not win a ribbon. I figured out the problem: I entered the cloth in the knitting: other than specified category, not realizing that that term is so broad that it encompasses, well, everything else. So the little face cloth, while cute and pretty, had to compete against a lot of unusual and gorgeous items. So I'm ok with that.

The jams fared better. Girlie won 2nd place for her raspberry jam, and I won 1st place. Here is Girlie standing by the jams, with the arrow pointing to her red ribbon. My blue ribbon is on the shelf below hers.
I'm so proud of you, Girlie!

Sunday morning ZimDee discovered some sidewalk chalk and made his way out to the driveway. When I followed him out there, this is what I saw:
I had no idea he knew about hopscotch. I asked how he learned about it, and he said his kindergarten teacher showed him at school. You will notice that each number is drawn in a different color. The boy's a genius, I tell you.

So me and my boys spent the morning playing hopscotch.
I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. As I rise before the sun comes up (and those of you who know me well know how unusual that is) I am flooded with memories.
I remember how beautiful my sisters were that day (and you still are, ladies!) Inside, we'll always be three little giggly girls, playing with Barbie dolls and chasing cars.

I remember my brother David walked me down the aisle to give me away.

I remember that fidgety little flower girl-- the niece whose own wedding I just attended last month (and who asked MY daughter to be the flower girl at her wedding). How does time go by so fast?

And looking over these photographs that become grainier every year, I remember the man I married. So strong, so sure.

Today, I remember. Oh, yes, I remember...

Works in Progress

I had gotten so used to not being able to share the knitting process with all of the secret projects I did that now I almost forgot that I could. Come along, friends, and see what I'm working on now:

First is the Creatures of the Reef Shawl.

This is my second Loopy Ewe knitalong. The first Loopy knitalong I participated in involved a project I couldn't talk about. Where was the fun in that? That project was knit with Dream in Color Classy yarn. This knitalong is all about Dream in Color Baby, which is almost lace weight. The color is Beach Fog. I had bought the Creatures of the Reef pattern almost a year ago, but was too intimidated to try to knit such a large project that involved hundreds of stitches with tiny yarn. When the knitalong came along, I finally felt up to the challenge.

Some of it is surprisingly easier than I expected, and other parts are, well, challenging. It's exciting to see the pattern emerge from the knitting. Below is a close-up of scalloped sea shells that involved purling 13 stitches together through the back loop. It sounds a lot harder than it was.
I'm getting a real sense of accomplishment with this project, and gaining confidence in my knitting. This shawl is definitely only for at-home knitting, when I can pay full attention. But I'm having a great time with it.

Next, I'm in the middle of a 4-week series of a sock class with Judy Becker, she of the magic cast on fame. We're learning how to do two socks at a time toe up (say that ten times fast) in class. I had tried this method before on 2 circular needles and found it too fiddly to enjoy. I thought I'd give it one more try, having the chance to learn it from the master. Imagine my absolute happiness when Judy said you can do this method with the magic loop, which is my favorite way to knit socks. The heavens opened up and angels sang and rejoiced. Endless possibilities for my knitting became known.

Here are the socks that I cast on for in class. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Flamingo Stripe, sweetly gifted to Girlie by Patti from my knitting guild. This is my stopping point until the next class on Saturday. Yes, I've finished my homework early like a good student.
In fact, I'm such an over-achiever that I cast on for a second pair while teaching my mom how to do the magic cast on. This time I used Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop in the It Takes Two colorway.
I am in love. The colors, the texture of the hand spun yarn, oy vey. I think I may have found my new favorite sock yarn of all time. Granted, I haven't knit with Wollmeise yet, but until I do, my heart belongs to Sock Hop. (And yes, these socks are also knit to homework dimensions. I wasn't teacher's pet all through school for nothing.)

So now you know what is occupying my time these days. And happily so.

For all of you that remember the fun I had with Dish Rag Tag last summer (my team won 2nd place--way to go, Ladies!) I wanted to let you know that Emily will begin sign-ups next week for Dish Rag Tag 2 on Friday, August 1st. I highly recommend it. The number of participants is limited, so mark your calendars. Who knows? Maybe we could end up on the same team this year. If not, I will root for you wherever we land.

Zombie socks

I participated in Sock Madness II this year, and once again I made it only to level two before being eliminated. Who am I kidding? I don't knit for speed, but for the relaxing nature of knitting. Still, it's good to know that I'm consistent, having made the same showing as the year before. And I love a good challenge.

The result is the Zombie socks.
I used a mystery colorway of Blue Moon Socks That Rock that I obtained from their barn sale in Scappoose last November. The scattered bits of red and charred black just screamed "zombie" to me.

I have to admit to not being terribly thrilled with the socks. And I take full responsibility for that. I have seen and felt socks knit with Socks that Rock that look gorgeous and feel heavenly. The fabric has a wonderful drape and density. I think I should have knit these socks on a smaller needle size (or two). Has anyone else out there noticed that the longer they knit, the more they start needing to use smaller needles, or is it just me? I overheard a conversation in a knitting store where two ladies were discussing this phenomenon, and one said to the other, "I hope I don't end up having to knit on ought-4's". Yeah, no kidding.

Another reason I didn't particularly like the socks is the same reason why other people love them. If we all thought exactly the same way we wouldn't have much to talk about, would we? And I'm cool with that.

It's the runs in them, or what I refer to as holes. They were really fun to knit, but for me not so much to look at or wear. To me they look like I poked my fingers through them when trying to put the socks on.
There are sock patterns out there that incorporate lace in them, with the yarn overs creating a delicate design. I look forward to knitting and wearing some of those. My favorite sock patterns, though, have more texture than, well, holes.

So I put these socks in the limbo knitting basket. You know the one: it holds projects that you're not quite sure what to do with, or misbehaving yarn that you wound thinking it would be perfect for this pattern, but was not. I couldn't decide if I wanted to frog the socks and make something for myself that I would really like, because if I didn't like these, who would?

Enter my mom. She was here for a visit and happened upon the socks and gasped. I'm like, "I know, aren't they awful?" and she very reverently proclaimed them to be the most beautiful socks she had ever seen. Flippantly I asked, "Do you want them?" Another gasp. A speechless nod yes.

So the story has a happy ending after all.
My mommy loves her socks. And they couldn't be going to a nicer home.