First Toe Up Socks

Hiya all! I’ve been a little slack in getting this post up. Blame it on gaming… Guild Wars 2 came out this week and I’ve been playing that. <winks> I love games.

Anyway…

These are my first successful Toe Up Socks. Now that said… I think I like the wide toe. First time doing that kind of toe. I’ll see how it is in practice, but I think I might like it. Not crazy about this particular heel style. It’s almost like a fake heel. It’s just not the type of heel I prefer, but again, we’ll see. This is only my third pair of successful (meaning wearable <grins>) socks, so its not like I have a ton of experience in different styles. The first two socks I ended up giving away for presents. lol. This pair is mine. <grins>

I love the yarn I used. Its very easy to work with and VERY stretchy./ It’s acrylic and nylon and its self patterning. I got it actually in the baby section so its very soft. It feels really soft and luscious on the feet. All the wool knitters are feeling faint right now because I said the “A” word, (acrylic), but I really liked this particular yarn, so pfft. <winks> Fear not, I also have a number of balls of Tofuttsies and other more respectable sock yarns. lol.

I don’t have sock blockers, but I’m making two with some really thick cardboard  tomorrow.

Oh and if you try this method take the time to learn that invisible, stretchy bind-off. I figured I could do a regular bind-off and just do it loosely, but it really didn’t work. I may try to take out that last row and fix it or just chalk it up to experience. They are a bit tight to get over my heel, but not impossible. Trust me… learn that bind-off. LOL

I think I like the toe up method. Definitely comes with a learning curve, though. I’ve done dpns, double circulars and now this. I think I’m probably going to use dps and this method. The only reason I didn’t like dpns was because I didn’t like getting one sock at a time done.   But a friend came up with a solution to that, which is probably embarrassingly obvious to most of you by now, so we won’t belabor the fact that it never occurred to me. <grins> I also have only been knitting maybe 3 years and not experienced enough to translate patterns and since some of the ones I want to try are on dpns, I’ll use that method, too.

The next socks are a Scandinavian pattern from this book, Knitting Scandinavian Slippers and Socks. I can’t wait to try these. Most of these are with a worsted weight and with a ww wool, these will be beyond toasty this winter. I’m going to try my first pair without a pattern since learning the pattern will be challenge enough. Time to pretty it up later. I really love the way these socks look, I have to say. So wish me luck!

Hodgepodge Catch-Up!

Phew… well, the A-Z Challenge is over and I have to say I’m glad. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work and yes, pressure at times. Next time someone shoot me before I pick something I have to do photos for every day and type out knitting directions for. lol.

I haven’t done any “what’s going on here” posts while I was doing that, so hold on to your bloomers cause here it is. ;0

First.. I took some pictures of my gardens as they stood before the freezing temps set in again. I wasn’t sure what would be left, but luckily everything survived. Here are the piccies anyway. And yes, I know, the yard needs mowing BADLY. Every time the sweetie is off its raining or we’re out all day on errands so it hasn’t gotten done. Try to look past that part, ok? <grins>

This house had nothing when we bought it. Not a single plant, bush….nothing. So while I do not have the greenest thumb, and much of this has been trial and error, I’m still pretty proud of it. I did make a note to myself about trimming my rhodos at the end of the summer so they are more bushy and less “stalky”. Oh well, live and learn. I didn’t know they didn’t do that naturally.

I call this my side garden. That was all grass when we moved in. I pulled every single blade of grass out of that by hand. Grass wth 200 year old roots. Yep, that was fun. I couldn’t even pick up a cup of tea with one hand for days. BTW…click on the pictures for a bigger view.

I have a ton of plants in there. Funny part is..some of them I planted 3-4 years ago and only just came up last summer. Made for some interesting looks when the plants I planted in their place also came up. lol. This garden is mostly for color and for birds, bees, and hummingbirds. Those windows are my room so I wake up in the morning to the birds in my window feeder that my sweetie made me right beside my face. I love it. There is a lot of bee balm, pinks, dianthus, autumn joy (2), evening primrose (one of my favs), a giant yucca I never knew would grow, lamb’s ear, a big butterfly bush (which apparantly should also have been trimmed), a wild fairy rose right in the center which by the end of the summer will be almost to the second floor, 2 miniature roses, (i adore roses), various creeping sedums, and one I c an picture but can’t recall the name of but it smells wonderful, a few lily of the valley, daisies (no idea where they came from but boy are they spreading), and a hollyhock that was also a surprise. lol. Thats the stuff I can remember off hand. There are a few other things that usually just surprise me. I had wild strawberry and lamium, but I think they got lost in all the rest. I’ll have to redo those. The stuff on the wall are creeping phlox. I love those little suckers. hehe.

Next are some views of whats blooming in the front. You have to understand that until last summer, that entire front hill was all grass. It was horrible to mow. So I had someone come with a backhoe and we pulled up all the grass ( I was NOT doing that by hand again) and filled it in with a bit more dirt, then topped it with weed paper and pine chips. It needs another layer of chips but I have those already so  just need to get it done. The rocks we placed so that I had a pretty rock garden. We even made rock steps up the side and one big rock to sit on. The other rocks we stacked on top of each other and to me its like a little fairy city. I’m going to do more with that and I’m tossing around the idea of painting some of them bright colors. The bush at the top left corner is a hydrangea bush I got from a lady who was having a yardsale and her hubby was throwing away tons of it. I asked her for some and he got it for me. Its slow to spread but it blooms pretty and each year it is a bit bigger. Again I think a trim would help it along, though. The other tree in the center top is my sour cherry tree. It had hundreds of cherries on it last year but the birds got them before I did. This year it will be tented. muhaha! The winter took down some of the stacked rocks, but I’ll fix that, too. It’s hard to see with the long grass, but in the center on the top on this side I have a Weigula Bush that I put in last year. It lived! Hoping this summer it takes off and gets some good growth. I love those bushes. The other on the corner is another hydrangea bush from the same lady. They are white hydrangeas btw. So pretty. In my barrels,…again hard to see… are stella d’oro lilies and that yellow plant I have no idea what it is. I put it in there and its a perennial but I dont recall what it is and the tag I left in there is gone. But they are blooming like gangbusters and look so pretty. In a couple weeks I’ll have pansies in there, too.

Now don’t laugh, but this birdbath is brand spanking new and was a real splurge for me. It matches last years splurge of the two huge ceramic containers you see in the background. I just love it and when you can actually see it, will look so pretty up against the blue house with the soon to be new blue shutters. (Yes, I picked, thanks to all of your helps, and I bought the paint. Now we just need dryer warmer weather. lol)

Next is my new phone. Ok, yes, you can chuckle a little here, but this is my first smart phone. Now the problem is that the phone and I are having a battle of wills atm and, I can’t let the phone hear this, but it’s winning. Yes, my phone appears to be smarter than me, but I’m coming up on the outside and plan to run its little techno-butt over. MUHAHA! On the bright side, I did manage to find some spiffy knitting apps and I have Angry Birds and Uno on it. I even got my own special ringtone now. Yes, I have officially entered the 20th century. Yes, I know its the 21st century, but I just got this far, give me a break!

I got some new books. Oh, they are new to me. I love that you can buy used books through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Saves you money for sure. These were all used, but they were pristine and only one of them even looked like it had been opened. You all lived with me through the hat I made for my sister, who is going to send me a picture of her in it as soon as she gets one, but I thought that top book might have been helpful during that. lol.

Lastly, since you guys are always cleaning and re-organizing and making me feel like a slug <winks> I started in on my stuff in my craft room. The table still needs to be finished up, but it took me 3.5 hours just to get it looking like this. Sweetie is bringing home all kinds of cabinets from work because they are replacing the old ones and they have huge drawers and have made organizing stuff soooo much easier. It’s hard to tell but this is actually a huge table. It was hard to get a good wide shot though because I couldn’t back up any further till I start cleaning that side of the room. A lot of the stuff in that room is for a yard sale we’re having, weather permitting, this weekend. Once all that stuff is out it should be a lot easier to clean in there. Those are the new cabinets. It’s hard to tell here, but the drawers are really wide and really deep. I can even fit all my tools in them. He has two more of those sitting in the kitchen and another one that has one row less drawers, but the drawers are even wider. He will probably be able to get a few more of them. Oh boy! :: dance ::  And no, I know what you are thinking, I do not know where I’ll put them all yet, but we’ll find a place. <grins>

So feel caught up now? Dangerous for me to let all that wait, isn’t it?  I did warn you. <winks> Off to get my two trays of Shipwreck out of the oven. It was a dishes and cooking day. I’ll put up the recipe later. It’s yummy and sticks to your ribs.

bye for now!

Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future – Quick and Chunky Sock Pattern

First this site is awesome. It’s called Downsizer.net. You need to register to get to the forums, but it’s free and fast. I can’t wait to try these socks. Fast, easy and bulky…my kind of sock!

Downsizer: for a sustainable & ethical future – Quick and Chunky Sock Pattern.