Taa Daah!

Guess What! They are done! My own sockies! My first adult sized pair. This makes a grand total of 3! I am really psyched! They fit, although the knitting is not perfecto, I don't really mind. If I were to give them away I would be a little embarrassed. But they are for me and I'm not perfect nor do I care if they are not either. They are mine mine mine. I never do things for myself, so there! I imagine I'll just improve with the next pair, we'll see! I am gonna use the Lisa Souza yarn next and hope they are perfect. I may try the Monkey sock again, even follow the pattern like it is written this time. Wow, these took a while.

On Call is an excuse to be lazy

Well, here it is Sunday again. I use my "on call" weekends, I think, as an excuse to actually rest and take time off from mundane activities, such as CLEANING, COOKING, EXERCISING. Obviously I have not been called in for any emergency surgeries so far.
I am well into my 3rd DVD of the Lord of the Ring Series. I have basically sat on my butt and either read knitting sites or blogs , watched TV and KNIT! I am ready to cast off my own version of the Monkey socks. The quality sucks, but I feel I can give myself a high-five for just finishing them and attempting a pattern, adding to my very small repertoire of socks completed. It has been a fun journey and I am just at the beginning of my knitting adventure for this century.

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning. We made our way to Lansing yesterday, midafternoon. Started our shopping at Threadbare http://www.threadbearfiberarts.com/ and was not disappointed! What a wonderful store. Huge selection and people all over in comfy chairs knitting and chatting. The owners and employees were really helpful. I actually didn't buy any yarn, but did buy 2 cool books that were on sale for only $5.00 each!
I also felted Russ's booties. Aren't they great? One washing and they are perfect and the same! Remarkable! I am currently sickly too. Doesn't stop me from blogging or surfing, thank goodness, can't be too bad, Snotty nose, sore throat and a gross cough with back and chest soreness. I don't get sick often.
Oh and my girl, Kirstin, who can go shopping all day and never eat or pee, decided that if she can get Lobster for dinner we could eat out! LOL. Of course I had to take her up on that and we ate Mitchell's Fish Market at the Eastwood Town Center. It's fun for me to see her eat something besides "Lean Cuisine" Veggie meals. Only $71 for the two of us, ---gasp. But it was worth it. We even split a creme brulee for dessert. She didn't come home empty handed either, 2 tops from Guess and a pair of cropped cuffed denim shorts, t shirt and white capri's from American Eagle. I got some deals at Banana Republic, 2 tanks and a cute cardi, heathery brown. Fun was had by all. I love that my 16 year old had fun on a girls day out!

Booties for Granpa Russ

I gifted the little felt booties to my manager for her granddaughter, Bella, she loved them! As I proudly showed them off to my coworkers, our head CRNA couldn't help but comment on how cute they were. He is the type of guy who never says cute. He wanted to know why I didn't knit him a pair! "I have a granddaughter too!" So of course, I knit another pair. So far this pair turned out perfectly. Same size same number of stitches. They are in the washer right now, we'll see how they felt up.

I used the darker variagated colorway from Plymouth Yarn's Galway Paint. I also started a pair of ballerina slippers out of the same color for my little Ashlynn.

I finally caught the crud that has been going around and have been dealing with the sore throat and stuffy head, snotty nose and sneezing. YUCK! May take a trip to Lansing today and check out http://www.threadbearfiberarts.com/ this yarn store. I get their emails and they sound FABULOUS! They were so nice and sent me easy directions to their store. Of Course, main shopping is for Kirstin, who has been a doll and needs a new outfit.

March Madness

Happy St. Paddy's day weekend! I have been on call and actually worked most of yesterday! 3 Surgeries on a Saturday. Helps to pay the yarn bill. I was so excited I got my Lisa Souza Yarn last week. It is my first handspun, handdyed yarn. I opened the ziplock bag it was packaged in and about passed out! It stinks! Kind of a mix between wet dog (sheep)? and manure. Is this normal? I placed a gain/bounty dryer sheet in the plastic bag and closed it up for a while. Still stinks. Especially the lime and violet. I guess that is part of the charm of a natural fiber? Or is it?

Check out the little felted booties. So cute. I didn't realize until after I finished them that I screwed up on the top of one of them and did stockingette for a row or two. I hoped it wouldn't be noticable after I felted them, but they actually seem to be 2 different sizes. OH well. Maybe they will be just my practice pair.
I tried the monkey sock on the leg part of my magic loop toe up socks. I keep screwing that up too, but they are for me and I don't really care. The foot fits great. I'll just keep plugging on them. The group shot is a blend of 2 photos of my brother, sisters and I. We had just left our Uncle's funeral and went out to lunch together. We were actually sitting across the table from each other. Missing is our baby brother who lives in Texas. He was on a cruise with his family at the time.

Kirstin and the little bootie

Well, it's Saturday. It's snowing again. This is my youngest daughter Kirstin and her half-brother, Ryan. The other picture is the first finished bootie from my felting pattern. My knitting buddy, Wendy, came over last nite and we had a little party. She started a scarf for St. Paddy's day out of some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill yarn in a green color way, mohair boucle type and I knit this cute little bootie. See previous post for idea of what a finished pair look like. Anyway, she's knitting away with this gorgeous yarn and noticed her hands and brand new clover wood needles (bamboo?) were turning green. So anyone have any suggestions? What to do? She can wash her hands but how do you treat the yarn after knitting so you can actually wear the scarf without getting all green?

Big Winter Storm and Warm Fuzzies

Don't these little booties look cozy to knit on a day like today! This is Mid-Michigan today in the middle of a snow storm that is now turning into an ice storm! Schools let out at 10:30 am and probably will be closed tomorrow. Breaks my 16 year old's heart!

Just bought this yarn and pattern from Apple Tree Lane in Clare yesterday. Good timing, I think. I'm hooked on socks right now, but these are close enough and will knit up fast on size 10 needles and I GET TO TRY FELTING. I am uploading and saving my knitting patterns to my ipod, thanks to the instructions on Pixie Purls blog. Fun!