I promised pictures!

So I'm delivering.
First up, A pair of Tofutsies Socks. I love this yarn. The socks end up so lightweight, perfect for year round wear. These aren't colors that normally grab me, but they reminded me of a sunset. And I can be a little daring on my feet! Colors in my shoes don't necessarily need to look great next to my face, so I use my sock yarn to branch out, color wise.
One sock done. I'm not sure exactly what I did for the heel. I know how to duplicate it for the other heel, but it's not a heel that I've done before. I think I unvented something here, a box heel maybe? It's quite narrow and fits really well on my foot. It just looks and fits differently than any other heel that I've done and I really thought I was doing it exactly like I normally do...
Close up of the colors, isn't it pretty? I'm not a pink girl. And I'm not big on yellow. And the only orange I like is in the peach to deep russet shades. But the way it's blended in these socks, it just screams summer time. And since it's JUNE and we just now started getting above 70 degrees on a somewhat normal basis, I need a little bit of summer time.
My first squash blossom of the year! I don't actually remember what kind of squash this one is. I have Anna Swartz, Australian butter and Guatemalan blue out there.
And the roses are fully testifying to the fact that even though spring was dreadfully short, summer is finally trying to come. They are in full bloom. Our house is surrounded by color right now. And I'm a busy little gardener trying to keep up with keeping them trimmed back so that they don't get nasty looking.
I'm making a big bread salad for dinner tonight. And an Italian bean salad with flat bread for lunches this week. So if the salad turns out, you may be seeing some pics & recipes up later today.

In the job front, no news back about the interview. It went ok. Very nice woman who interviewed me, odd interview though. No longer than 5 minutes. After talking over they pay & position with the husbeast, we've decided that if it is offered, I'm going to refuse. It's closer to home, and a little bit better position, but it's less money. And Something about this job just doesn't feel right. I have two applications out, in particular, that I'm very excited about and I want to find out about those. I've got a job for now, it's not the best, but it pays well and I'm learning new things every day. I'm not going to settle this time around. I want a job that can turn into a career. And this position just wasn't it. So I'll keep looking. I know the right job is out there, and I'm hoping those 2 positions call me back, SOON!

I'm ok...

I'm still here. Doing better. My job is just very emotionally taxing and at the end of the day all I want to do is whine and complain and I don't want this blog to be about that. I am knitting. I have most of a new sock done. Hopefully pictures tomorrow or this weekend. But we've had pretty gray weather up till this afternoon, so couldn't take pictures.

In other news, I have an interview tomorrow (thursday) for a job that I don't even remember applying for. But it's with a very nice company, so much closer to home, and it's more in the general realm of what I'm looking to do with my life. So I've taken the morning off and I get to go interview. Now I just have to figure out what to wear... And do something with my hair that so badly needs to be cut that it's slightly sad.

Ok. I promise. Next post - Pictures!

No pictures today...

Today it's just me, talking, trying to figure out how it all is supposed to fit together.

Sometimes, things happen and we can't figure out why. And you think you've just about worked through them, just about made it ok in your head. And then, out of no where, you're slammed right back into the situation and you feel like crawling up in a little ball and crying because it hurts nearly as much as it did the first day... week... or month. It's been over two years. And yet today it hurts as much as it did those first few weeks. All because yesterday someone poked the scab and it was all I could do to make it through the rest of the day.

I graduated in a class of 8 students. We'd all been together for 2 years, doing everything together. We had our little 2 and 3's within the group who were closer than others, but we all looked out for each other. We all went on class trips together, had classes together, most of us went to the same college for the first year. And then we all started drifting apart. Our parents would keep us up to date on the ones who were far away. And we always said, this will be the year that we get everyone back together. 3 of us are married now. We have 2 college graduates, and 1 or 2 graduate this year. And 2 years ago one of us committed suicide. It was March 31, we got the call April 1st. We all thought it was some demented April fools day joke and we spent the day calling each other, trying to figure out if it was true. Within the week, all but 2 of us were back together in our little church beside the school. Trying to figure out how we'd let him get so lost. And we talked and remembered and laughed and cried. And then we moved on. We kept living our lives because that's what you do. And sometimes a song would come on the radio and I'd be floored, immediately crying and hurting again. But it's faded with time. I thought I was ok. I really did.

Yesterday I had a customer call in who's son had tried to commit suicide a month ago. And the pain in her voice... It was like being told again that he is gone. And all I want to do today is curl up in bed and cry and remember him. But I can't. I have to pull it together and go to work. Because it's been over 2 years and I should be ok by now. A part of me still wants to believe that it's a really elaborate joke. But I know it's not. And that really completely sucks. I don't understand. I don't know if I ever will.

But I hope our love gets through to him, in some way. Because we all miss him... So much. And today it's just a little harder than most to put him away.

It's spring

And I'm sick. I spent all day friday coughing. About half of yesterday coughing. I've only coughed a couple of times today, but that's because I don't think my abs have enough strength left to make me cough. As long as I sit still and don't talk to laugh or move, I don't cough. Unfortunatly, my job is talking all day long (hence, I took Friday off). And the house kind of looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a month (even though I did it last weekend). And there's very little food in the house. And the bathtub appears to be a science experiment on different kinds of soap scum (we ran out of daily shower cleaner 3 weeks ago and I can't seem to remember to refill it). But the cleaners make me cough on a good day... I may have to make the husband clean that today. I said I would definitely take care of it this weekend, but I'm pretty sure I physically can't.

The pretty pictures are so that this post isn't all whine. I hate not feeling well. I normally only get sick once or twice a year and this is the second time in 6 weeks that I've felt like a train wreck. I know my immune system will get used to the recycled air eventually, but for the time being, I'm picking up everything that goes through the building. And it kinda sucks. It's gorgeous outside and I wanted to enjoy it, to get the irrigation laid in my garden, air out the house, clean, cook, bake. Instead, I'm staring at my computer screen, wishing I could breathe without feeling like I need to cough. But it is spring. Completely and totally spring. Everything is in bloom and it's beautiful. It's finally warming up. I need to switch out the closet next weekend or the weekend after. It's just plain wonderful out (if you ignore the wind).

So I'm going to stop complaining, pull myself together enough to get to Andy's Market, and leave you with the pretty pictures. I have been knitting a bit again. I'll report back on that when I feel a little more alive and a little less like a walking cough.

I am SOOO Nervous...

I start doing my job, for real, today. The last 4 weeks have been training. Lots and lots of classroom training. And I go live today. And I'm so nervous. There is so much to remember, so many steps we need to do, so many things we need to say. I know the stuff in my head. It's just that we haven't had any practical application of it, just simulations, and today we go live, with real customers. I'm freaking out just a little. I am absolutely THRILLED to not be getting up at 3:30 am anymore, though. Getting up when it's light out is a fabulous change. I'm not excited about loosing all that afternoon free time that I had, but I think the sleeping till it's light out makes up for it.

No real news on the knitting front. I'm just really burned out. And I've lost the driving need to keep my hands busy. Once I settle into a routine at work, I will probably do more again. But right now, I've gotten about 5 inches of Clapotis and about 10 rows on a dishcloth in the last 4 weeks. I've cleaned my house. I've cooked a lot. I've learned a whole new job completely unlike anything that I've ever done before. I've spun up about 2 oz of fiber. I've met a lot of new people and found a few new friends. But the knitting just isn't happening. I'm still on Ravelry and Knitty too many hours each day. I love looking, planning, imagining. But when I sit down and pick up the needles, I just don't feel the calm settle over me anymore. I knit so much at my last job, several hours a day. I lived and breathed fiber and yarn and knitting and crocheting. And most days I really enjoyed it. But without that driving need to keep on top of things in the fiber art world, I've stepped back to more of an observing role. I want to feel driven to pick up my needles or hook and create something. I miss the calm, brainless, relaxing rhythm of it. But it's just not coming right now. We all need a break sometimes, right?

Anyway, I'm just a couple weeks out from my Blogiversary, so I'm thinking of doing a contest. I'll update you on it when it's closer. It's the end of May, the 28th. So be looking for a give-away that week!

Signs of Spring

Lilacs are budding

Roses are leafing out...

And I just brushed a pile of hair out of the dog that is as large as a soccer ball. And that was with her normal brush, not the Furminator. I try to do the normal to get all the loose hair then go over her again with the Furminator to get the rest of it. Usually, I get a baseball size off of her with each. I'm almost scared to go over her with the other brush now! She is really and truly in the midst of blowing her coat. We've had her just over a year. She was at the end of her spring shed when we got her. Immediately had to buy a Furminator to deal with the hair. Normal brushing kept her up till her fall shed. Then it was Furminator time again. Winter was easy, brushing once every week or two. Now we're back to twice daily brushings. Ugh...

Sorry for the so long without posting. I'm halfway through training for the new job then I get a much more pleasant schedule. I'm currently at 5am - 1:30pm. Which means I'm awake by 3:45am. And in bed by 7pm. I'm constantly exhausted. But only one more week then I'll be at 9am - 5:30pm. There's not a lot of knitting going on. I'm pretty burned out. I'm working on a springy Clapotis that I'm about half done with. I started another pair of Jaywalkers but lost my momentum. I have 2 or 3 panels on my skirt done, out of 8. The afghan has 2 more strips to go. The Endpaper Mitts have .5 to go. And I just don't have enough creative juice left to do them. So I've got a reversible dishcloth in my purse for mindless work and I'm just waiting for enough energy to continue with the other pieces. Hopefully once I'm off this dreadful schedule I'll be able to start again.

PATTERN! Sassenach Stockings

Sassenach Stockings
By Jessica Palmer

Sassenach Stockings

Materials:

• 150 - 200 grams Fingering Weight Yarn
• US 1 / 47” Circular needle or size needed to obtain gauge
• Finishing Needle
• ¼ inch elastic, 3 feet or so will be more than enough
• 1/8 or ¼ inch ribbon for the faux garter

Gauge: 36 sts over 4 inches in Stockinette Stitch; row gauge doesn’t matter much for this pattern.

Notes: These stockings are worked two at a time; toe up, with the magic loop technique. Directions will be given for one stocking, duplicate each set of directions for the second stocking. You may either work from both ends of one ball or from 2 separate balls, just remember to switch yarns each time you switch stockings!

Directions:

1. Cast on 12 stitches for each stocking, using a different strand of yarn for each stocking. Backwards loop cast on recommended.

2. Knit 11. Drop the slip knot off your needle without knitting it. (11 sts for each stocking)

3. Pick up and knit 11 stitches from the underside of your cast on. These should be situated opposite of the first 11 stitches on your needle to form the underside of the toe. You should now be set up in the traditional magic loop stations, two sets of 11 on the front half waiting to be knit and two sets of eleven on the back half. (22 sts for each stocking)

4. Begin toe increases:

Round 1: *K1, M1, knit to one stitch before end of each stocking half, M1, K1* Repeat for each half of each stocking

Round 2: Knit all stitches

5. Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are enough stitches to fit snuggly around your foot (7.5 inch foot: 60; 8 inch foot: 64; 8.5 inch foot: 68; 9 inch foot: 72 stitches). Since the number has to be a multiple of 4 to work in the pattern, and you need an odd number on each needle, one needle will have one extra set of increases. These extra 2 stitches will be added to the bottom of your foot, so the set up of stitches on your needles should be: (Size: top & bottom) 7.5: 29 & 31; 8: 31 & 33; 8.5: 33 & 35; 9: 35 & 37

6. When desired number of stitches has been reached, knit evenly until toe measures approximately 2 inches, or just to base of toes.

7. Begin instep pattern:

1. K6 (7, 8, 9), p1, k15, p1, k6 (7, 8, 9).

2. k5 (6, 7, 8), p1, k1, p1, k13, p1, k1, p1, k5 (6, 7, 8).

8. At the same time begin working padding on the foot:

1. *slip 1, k1* across bottom of foot

2. knit all stitches

3. *k1, slip 1* across bottom of foot

4. knit all stitches

9. Work in pattern for instep and bottom of foot until foot pad is long enough to cover the ball of your foot, approx 2 inches.

10. Continue instep pattern, and knit all stitches on the second needle until sock measures 1.5 – 2 inches shorter than desired length of foot.

11. Work your favorite toe-up heel. I like the short row heel, but many people like toe-up heel flaps. You will need to start the heel flap heel at 4 inches before desired foot length. For some easy tutorials on short row heels, check out these links:

http://misocrafty.squarespace.com/journal/2006/9/21/short-row-heel-tutorial.html

http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/?p=585

http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/554 (this is a great one if you’ve never done short row heels before)

12. Keeping shin section in original pattern, work ½ inch plain over calf stitches, then begin working chart as follows:

NOTE - there is a plain row in between charted rows that is not reflected in the line numbers on the chart!

1. K6 (7, 8, 9), p1, k1, p1, work chart, p1, k1, p1, k6 (7, 8, 9)

2. K5 (6, 7, 8), p1, k1, p1, knit the knits and purl the purls, p1, k1, p1, k5 (6, 7, 8)

14. Continue to work even until are 2 – 2.5 inches below the largest part of your calf.

15. Now you’ll have to do a little math – not much, but a little. I’ll break it down as much as I can for you.

1. Measure the circumference of your calf at it’s largest point (in inches): C=___

2. C*0.9=­­­____= i (inches for calf)

3. i * 9(gauge)=­­­____=S (total stitches needed for calf)

4. Once you have S, round to the nearest multiple of 4 and begin calf increases.

16. Work increases as follows:

Needle 1: k1, m1, work in pattern until 1 stitch remains, m1, k1

Needle 2: k1, m1, work in pattern until 1 stitch remains, m1, k1

Work 1 round even.

17. Continue increasing until you have S stitches total. Then work even, in pattern, for each round until you are ½ inch from the desired length.

18. Knit ½ inch without any patterning. Next round: *k2tog, yo* Knit another ½ inch.

19. Do not cast off! Sew the live stitches down, one at a time, folding at the k2tog, yo row, to form a picot hem.

20. Weave in your ends. Cut the elastic long enough to fit snugly, without stretching too much, around your leg, just below the knee. Thread through your elastic and ribbons through the picot hem, leaving the ribbon ends hanging out one of the YO holes so that you can tie in a bow. Make sure to sew the ends of the elastic together before letting it escape into the hem! I just used a quick overhand stitch to secure the ends, overlapping them about ½ an inch and stitching the overlapping ends together.

Copyright to FoodieKnitter. You can only use this pattern for personal or non-profit projects.

3 Years ago today...

I married my best friend.

You make me smile and laugh.

And I can not imagine life without you.I love you.

On homebuying and Mortgages

There are so many options out there when you start to think about buying a house. We are in the beginning planning stages of purchasing our first home. And as we are in our mid-twenties and not independently wealthy, we will need a Mortgage in order to purchase said home. With the market the way it is right now, I'm not sure we'd be approved. We're working on paying down debt, improving our credit score, and saving a little bit of money. Luckily, there are lots of options out there for financing your first home, especially once you have a great credit score. Many sites are available to help with understanding the differences between mortgage types and options. It's so nice to have all that information at our finger tips!

*sponsored post*

Ok, An update and KNITTING content!

First off, Knitting stuff. Life update will be at the end so that those of you who don't want to know, or don't care, don't have to read it.

Biggest fun project just for me this week? Endpaper Mitts! I've never done a full project in fair isle before. I've swatched it, played around with it, but never jumped in and done it. Now I'm wondering why I waited so long. This pattern is beautifully written, and the charts become fairly instinctive. I'm about half way up the thumb increase chart. And I'm loving loving loving the rhythm of two handed color work. This project is so relaxing and rewarding to work on. The cream is an alpaca silk blend. The blue multi color is Trekking Pro-Natura, their bamboo/wool blend. They are working together really nicely and I love the subtle striping I'm getting with the Trekking. I'm not sure you can see it in the photo, but it's really pretty.


Next up, Lillie's sweater. This doesn't fit very well, but it serves it's purpose. We have a no-pull harness for her that's not designed very well. But we're broke, so no new harness until we can afford it. We have a halti that we love for walks around a lot of other people, but for more relaxed walks, we tend to just let her run on her extendable leash or off leash if there's no one else around. Well, we'd been loosing track of her off leash. She's able to blend right in to the shadows underneath the trees and we have to call her and try to coax her back when we can't see her. Hence, the neon green sweater. Also, this stops the rubbing of the harness. So it serves two purposes, when she's off leash, we can keep track of her. When she's on leash, she's not getting rubbed raw by the poorly designed harness.




Lastly... My news. I've been struggling with this for nearly a year. But finally decided to just bite the bullet and get it done.

I put in my two week notice at work on Friday and I start my new job on the 24th of March. I'm not going to go into all my reasonings, but the biggest reason is that I never intended to stay this long.

I didn't want to work retail again when I took this position. I took it to pay the bills until I found something else, something not retail.

And then I fell in love with the shop, with my customers. And I couldn't walk away when it was time. But it's been time to let it go for over a year. So I made it a priority this winter to find something else. And I did.

I went through a whorl wind of an application process last week. It was less than 30 hours between turning in the application and being offered the job. And I gave notice on Friday.

I'm still struggling with leaving my customers. With leaving the shop. I feel guilty for walking away from it.

But I made a decision to do what was best for my family. We want to buy a house. We want to have children. I desperately want to finish my degree. But we can't move forward until we pay off our debts and have a stable, predictable income. And so that's what I chose. I am getting excited about the change. I'm so ready to be out of retail that it's not even funny. And at the end of the day, I'm ready to move forward. I'm so excited about our future. So excited to see what kind of doors this is going to open up for us. I'm not revealing where I'm going. There will only be a few people who know. But it's not retail! It's not my dream job. But it's a good stepping stone.

I've been blog absent for about 2 weeks. And I have a lot to share with you all. But I can't yet. I think I can do a big update this weekend. But I have a lot of changes going on right now. A lot of stuff up in the air. And I'm not sure yet when it all will settle. But it should be by next week. I'm fairly stressed, a little confused, a little excited, and a lot exhausted of it all. Very ready for everything to settle down into a somewhat normal schedule.

Christopher's Angels

My January project has been one of my more challenging projects. Not because it was difficult, not because the techniques were advanced, only because I was dealing with the little tiny pieces intended for preemies. Christopher's Angels has been one of my main focuses this last month. I've done so much knitting for myself over the years. I do give things away to family, but I'd never gotten into the charity knitting scene. It was something I wanted to do, but couldn't figure out how to choose between all the great causes out there. Then one of the ladies on a the KnittyBoard goes through an event that no woman should ever have to endure. When the board members came together to knit preemie clothes to donate in memory of her son, I knew what I needed to work on. I started January first and whenever I had a chance, I crocheted or knit up a little piece to add to the package. The items need to reach the UK by the first of March, so I finished up my last hat today and I'll be sticking it in the mail tomorrow. I'll continue making these pieces, now that I've been exposed to the experience. If they don't send anymore to her hospital, I'll be sending them up to the NICU in Spokane, or possibly talking to one of our local hospitals to see if they have a need. They don't have the ability to deal with the itty-bitty one's here, so I'm not sure how many of these items they go through. So, Christopher William, you will be remembered. Because your mommy loved you so much and because we think your mommy is just amazing. We only wish we'd had a chance to get to know you. I hope these items will help heal the pain of the families that they are destined for.

FO: Koolhaas Hat

Not the quickest knit, but fun! All those cables!
Total time - about 4 days of knitting.
Yarn - Rialto Aran by Debbie Bliss
Needles - US 6 for ribbing, US 8 for main
No real mods, did the women's size. Great pattern, a little unclear about how to change the marker around on row 8, but once I figured it out, it went just fine.

Ribbing, Ribbing, Ribbing

Everywhere I look is ribbing! It's actually fairly fun though. Finished the 1 X 1 in the round, have about an inch to do before finishing the 4 X 2 for the back. Will probably have the main body done by the end of Monday and be able to start the arms. I think I'm going to try to pick up stitches around the arm hole and knit down. I've done this once before with drop sleeves and it worked really nicely.
This is The Fog Sweater by Tiennie. It has so many sizes, and being all rib, it will fit a great variety of people. The smallest size may even fit me. If not, it would be really easy to size down one more size. After making this one, I really want one for myself. It's so squishy! This is the Ebony color way in Cascade Eco-Wool. Second or third time I've worked with this yarn, and I always love it. It still smells of sheep! It does really dry out my hands to work with though. I can't wait to see this one done!

Knitter's Black Hole (or the sweater that never ends)

I've hit a knitter's black hole on DH's sweater. I'm at 15.5 inches of body, I need 16. I've been at 15.5 the last upteen time's I've measured. I swear it feels like I've done 50 rounds since then. But I'm still at 15.5. I'm always amazed at my ability to forget this portion of sweater knitting. It happens on every sweater body that I've done. Sleeves usually don't drop into the black hole, there's lots of increases or decreases to keep things moving along. But bodies? Especially big square bodies for a certain boy? Those stretch onto never never land. And the main stitch pattern? It's 1 X 1 rib. I must love this guy a lot. I love how it's turning out. The pattern is so squishy and soft, I keep threatening that I'm going to keep it for myself. It's a really well written pattern so far, easy to follow and adapt for different gauges. But it's hit the black hole and I'm not sure it will ever come out. 15.5 is haunting my daydreams. But I better get back to it. Unfortunatly, it won't knit itself in my absense. I'm just so ready to get to the break for the sleeves and start the 4 X 2 rib on the chest. It'll be a great break from this!

Stocking update - pattern almost done, chart is inserted, adobe downloaded to convert to PDF. Now all I need is to insert pictures and reword a couple unclear sections. Look for it within the next 2 weeks. I'm planning to offer it as a free PDF download here.