Pictures of the socks. Finally! I finished the second one, on 2-27-08, but was too busy, to get the pictures posted. They keep my feet warm, and are very pretty. I wore them to my knitting group last night!

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Sisu Fantasy #6547
Needles: Size 2 dpns (Chia Goo Bamboo)
Pattern: Silver’s Sock Tutorial

I already did another Finders/Keepers cloth. I think it’s as addicting as a ballband is! Although it will probably look better with 2 solids, than a solid and a variegated, since the variegated yarn would be hard to see, in the “hidden” row! This one is in blue and ecru, to match my kitchen.

Here is the 2008 March KAL, from Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It’s called, “The Empty Tomb.”

“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb…” ~ Luke 24:2

The stockinette stitch in the lower left-hand corner, is the stone being rolled away. The purl stitching, that resembles a tree, is the empty tomb and the rays are the radiance of the Lord rising from the dead! It’s very appropriate, since Easter is at the end of this month!

Man, it’s cold outside. The last time I was outside, I about froze, and the last time I checked the temperature, it was about 13 degrees F, outside! Brrrr. It’s supposed to be MARCH, not January! On the plus side, all the roads, that had deep, frozen ruts, have greatly improved, so driving around is fun again. One had to drive over those rutted roads, very slowly, or take the long way, driving on better roads.

Our neighbor is a sweetheart. He’s been coming over to help us chop the ice and packed-down snow, that was covering our driveway and at the moment, it’s 90% dry and clear. He’s also been big help at keeping the storm sewer free and clear of snow and ice, so our street doesn’t flood. We’ve had about 80 inches of snow this winter and the snowbanks were starting to take over the road. Then we had one warm day and 1-1/2 inches of rain, and the water had nowhere to go! That’s all better now, too. Tonight, we are supposed to get 3-inches of lake-effect snow, meaning only the east coast of WI is supposed to get snow, with winds from the East. The clouds pick up moisture off the lake and dump it on us, as snow!

Oh yes, and all of Wisconsin is in mourning right now, since Brett Favre decided to retire. So, it will be interesting to see what happens with the Green Bay Packers next season. I think it was time for him to hang up the cleats. He had a good run!

This morning, I asked a kindergartener, who was talking about football, if he wanted to be the next Brett Favre, and he nodded his head enthusiastically. I thought that was so sweet.

While I knew it wouldn’t take long to finish the toe and do the kitchener, at the end, last night I was just too tired and after lots of frogging, finally got it all good and just set it down for the night. Today, I finished the sock, over a 2-hour period, while watching Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen on the food network, until I had to find a computer to get kitchener stitch instructions.  Today, knitting went without a hitch!  It helps to be more alert and wide-awake!

Will add pictures, after supper!  I promise!

I must admit, it’s kind of fun, doing the heel, after the monotony of 2×2 ribbing for 5″.  There’s many different steps and each step doesn’t take THAT long and boom, you have a heel!  Now it’s onward to the toes, and wanting to finish is then my motivation at that point!

It’s only taken me 3-1/2 weeks to get to this point, from starting the sock, too!  Woohoo!

We were stuck in the house today, because of a winter storm warning.  There were so many differing guesstimates on how much snow we would get! LOL!  What snow?  We got mostly rain, just a dusting of snow!  It was 35 degrees most of the day, and raining and all that water had nowhere to go, with our huge snowbanks and all!  So, the city had to come by to clean snow away from the drain, so the 6″ of standing water could drain into the storm sewer!  What a mess.  Now everything that was slushy is freezing, since the temp is in the 20’s now!

I wonder if the icy roads and sidewalks will warrant a 2-hour delay in the morning?  Hmmm.  Probably not.

For dinner tonight, we had chicken, broccoli, and brown-rice casserole!  Yummy! (and yogurt and basil and oregano and Parmesan cheese!) . Plus we had a salad, too.

My second dishcloth is done was finished a few days ago! It’s called Diamonds on Lace. Yarn was Peaches n Creme Fiesta Ombre and was knit with size 7 needles.

I’m also on my way, with my second sock! After a few false starts, I got the “join” right and I got an inch done, at the knit-night tonight! I’m past the awkwardness of getting started, with the double-pointed needles and knitting has gotten easier. It was fun to show off my completed sock, to the knitting group, at Bahr Creek tonight!

My market bag, Elisa’s Nest Tote, is all finished with the knitting part. I need to get my crochet hook and the instructions ready, to start seaming up the sides. I haven’t had a chance to get that done yet.

Last week, I made a Baby Genius burp cloth, from the Mason-Dixon book, but I already gave it to my cousin, last Saturday, without taking a picture! Argh! I used Peaches and Creme Sea Mist which is blue, green and white. It was pretty. Now, I’m working on the Mason-Dixon bib! I’ll get a picture of that, before I send it off.

At the knit-night tonight, I was skimming through Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee Casts Off. I was laughing so hard I was crying! Emily and I will have to see if it’s at the library tomorrow!

We missed the last 2 knit-nights, due to bad weather, that only seemed to be occurring on Thursday nights! Two weeks ago, we had snow and last Thursday, the snow happened more during the day, but it had been warm and was supposed to be much colder in the evening, leading to all the wet spots freezing up. Well, that seemed a little too scary to be driving in, so Emily and I stayed home. We love going, so it was hard to just stay home, although, we did knit at home, but sure missed the social aspect of going to the yarn store! All those women are great company!

Amy, one of the usual women who come, is going to Mexico this weekend on a mission trip! Our group knit over 50 hats, for her to take with her, for the orphans! Emily and I knit 2 of those 50-some hats! We can’t wait to get started on new hats, for the next need that comes along.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 20’s. I almost don’t remember what that feels like. After the single digits and sub-zero temps of the past week, 20’s will feel like a heatwave. Then we get 30’s to possibly 40, over the weekend! Woohoo!

I finished my first sock tonight! Woohoo! Now, to cast on for the second one! It’s Sisu Fantasy yarn (6457) and it’s 80% wool and 20% nylon.

My first sock is finally getting there. I had already turned the heel, but need to pick up stitches to start working the gusset and there it sat for a month or two! Argh. Anyway, I picked it up tonight and my sock is on its way to getting a foot. My 15yo daughter, Emily, who has knit 2 pairs of socks for herself and one pair for a baby, plus lots of wee socks, helped me through the instructions, so that I didn’t have to keep stopping to see what was next!

I also fixed the center of the snowflake I just did. It had a funny row of purl stitches in the middle, because that’s what the pattern called for, even though the picture on the pattern page, doesn’t have purls in the middle. Anyway, I wanted it more like the picture, so I unseamed the seam and ripped the last two rows out and did: k1, k2tog, to last stitch, k1, and then purled the last row (ws). It looks so much better now.

I’m off to bed now. We got letters this past week, that our pastor is resigning in February, so I need to get to church tomorrow, to find out how others feel about this! I was kind of shocked by the news!

This birthday cake dishcloth was the September 2007 KAL. I used #7 needles and soft violet yarn. Emily used #6 needles and Hot Green yarn. It’s amazing how differently sized they are, isn’t it?

Woohoo! I finished the heel flap and turned the heel, on my first sock tonight! Tomorrow, I will start the gussets and get to the bottom part of the sock! I’m so excited that it looks more like a sock now! The first picture is the view from the top of the sock and the second picture is the view from the bottom. The heel part really does stick out, because it goes around my heel now, but it’s hard to see it in the picture.

I’m off to finish the Day #2 rows of the current KAL, and look up what the mid-August KAL was, because I don’t remember anymore! I don’t think I posted about it yet. I’m way behind!

I worked from 8-5pm. Then we ate supper. After that, Emily and I went to a local yarn store, for their knitting group. We came home about 9:30. Now, it’s midnight. Where does the time go? I feel like I just got up and it’s time to go to bed. This whole day just flew by!

On the other hand, I did have fun knitting and chatting with the women in the knitting group. This is the second time we’ve gone, so they don’t seem so strange anymore. Everyone oohed and aahed over the socks we are trying to make! After a few rounds on my socks, I was almost too tired to knit. I spent some time looking at a book of baby hats. They were sooo cute! I also ate a yummy blueberry muffin! LOL!

Tomorrow, I only work in the morning and then the weekend technically starts! Sweet!

Here is the start of the July 2007 dishcloth. It will be some kind of picture, but we don’t know what yet. I just wanted to post the initial picture, because you can’t tell anything yet. It’s Sugar N Cream tea rose yarn, although, I would think of tea rose as being a pinker color, than this orangey one! LOL!

I also got my first sock started today. It’s Sisu Fantasy self-striping yarn. I love how it looks. The only thing is, though, I didn’t have a 2.75mm crochet hook in the house and trying to pick up a tiny dropped stitch isn’t easy! DH and I had to make an emergency trip to Michael’s for a tiny crochet hook, so I could fix that! Hobby Lobby is certainly closer, but they are closed on Sundays. When I got home, the size C crochet hook did the trick and I fixed my booboo and went on to knit two more rounds, before quitting for the day!