I Give You... Notre Dame du Grace

It's complete. I'm actually wearing it - left on from the impromtu photo shoot. Just finished it, 2 minutes before the photo shoot, during the last minutes of "Pride and Prejudice" (the BBC version) on PBS. Gotta love Jane Austen. So, yeah, it's done. Kinda weird. There is this kind of void that comes over you when you finish a really big project, or one that you've worked on for a long time. Almost like you can't believe that you're actually done, because it's been so many hours of work and thinking of it and not working on it, and feeling like you should be.

But I'm glad it's done. In just under two months. Should've been one month, but silly me I'm afraid of the finishing. Amazingly, it went really well this time. I didn't have to rip it out once. Scary. Maybe, just maybe, next time the sweater bits won't languish unsewn for a month. Hmmm.

And just to prove a point, here's me wearing my new Austermann socks the other day (which, coincidentally, were not lucky for the basketball team).

And here's my sock on my foot, in my new tennis shoe (Valentine's present from my wonderful niece and nephew in Jersy - thank you so much).

So, as you can see, the socks do in fact fit into shoes. And are worn out, in shoes. Just to prove that I do in fact wear the multitude of socks that I knit.

Done at Last

Yay - the ribbed socks are done. And on time too. I finished them last night on the bus ride to the girl's basketball tourney game. Sadly, the game did not go well, even though I wore my school spirit socks. We'll see if these can bring better luck to the boys tonight. Here's a pic where the colors are just about right. The 2-at-a-time thing went fine. I'm not going to stop using my DPN's or 2 circ's anytime soon though. But, I think, for socks like these, that are boring and pretty uninspiring, it works really well. Not to mention, easier to get them to come out the same length. So for all my plain stockinette socks (like I ever do those) and easy ribbed socks, this may be the method of choice. And I really like some of the patterns in the book, I think I'll just choose to use yarn that comes in two hanks rather than one ball, it got a bit fiddly now and then.


On to new stuff. I knew that I'd get the ribbed socks done with relative quickness, and so packed the next sock. And lo and behold, we had to sit through a whole game before ours started, so...

Say hello to the "Merino Lace Sock" from Favorite Socks in the oh so pretty "Lava Lipstick" Smooshy yarn. I couldn't help myself. There was so much talk of Smooshy this week at SnB, and people showing off the gorgeous colors that they had bought at KotS, I needed a fix. And as I cannot buy any yarn until the end of March, this was the only way. All my SnB buddies applaud me for my Lenten sacrifice, and asked if maybe I should've made an exception for sock yarn.

But I digress. The Smooshy. Is. So. Beautiful. And I'm not normally a red kinda girl. But everyone needs a little red in their life now and then.

As for the neverending saga of the ND sweater - the collar is attached!. Most of the ends are sewn in. I just have to lay it out so I can attach the sleeves and then sew them on. I say that like it's so easy, when in reality, I'm really horrible at this bit. It usually takes me 4 or 5 tries before I give up and just accept that the sleeves are going to look horrible. So I'm hoping that this time goes a little smoother.It's this fear of the finishing that is the reason this sweater has been languishing for a month in my knitting box. My goal is to finish it this weekend (no, really) so that I can wear it to SnB on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me.


And to end with some cute photos. Miss Maddie has taken to a new lounge spot. I witnessed the discovery of this new ideal spot late the other night.
Can you guess where it is? It's on top of the TV stand in the family room. Why there you ask? Why is it so new? Normally, you know when the family room isn't being painted, it's pushed back into the corner and there isn't an 8 foot ladder next to it for easy access, and it's covered with picture frames and therefore has no lounge room. She didn't adjust well at first to the re-arranged family room, now I wonder what she'll do now that it's close to being done.

2 Boys, 1 Hat, and No Socks

Yeah - no new finished sock this week. I know, I know, it's supposed to be "a sock a week" but this week I'm trying something new. Again. The February Sucks sock didn't work out. Somehow, when I did my guage swatch (yep, I learned my lesson and swatched for a sock, in the way the author of the pattern suggests no less) I had 9 sts/in, and then when I was working on the sock, just past the toe in fact, I was thinking it was looking a little large, and it was. Gauge on the sock: 10 sts/in. How the heck does that happen? And honestly, the sock should've been smaller than it was supposed to be and not bigger with that gauge. So I don't know where I went wrong with the measuring and math bits. Oh well. Here's a pic of me wearing my Waving Lace socks, since I never got around to showing you the finished product.

So, I decided that I wanted a sock that I didn't have to think about too much. And so I cast on for a boring ribbed sock. What's so new and different? I'm knitting both socks in the pair at the same time, on the same needle. Fancy schmancy, I tell ya. I'm using Austermann Step (it's got aloe and jojoba oil to moisturize while you wear) in the color Ocean Blue. I know, I know, the stripes don't match, but I have to use both ends of the ball and wasn't about to waste yarn so that they would line up. I like em this way anyway. So, here's a photo - I'm farther along now, past the gussets, but it's too dark for a good pic, maybe tomorrow.

Now, in the way that math works in my head, two halves make a whole, so that means that technically I have a sock, just not a finished one. Enough knitting to have a whole sock, but two halves instead. These will be done by the end of this week - I'm shooting for Friday, so that I can wear them to the playoff basketball game that night. We'll see.

I also did not finish the Notre Dame sweater last weekend like I was supposed to. But I knew I wouldn't, didn't you? I did get some work done on it, it's now almost a vest. But I got stymied on the attaching of the collar - some of the stitches are live and some aren't and it doesn't say anything about them at all, so I'm confused. Never fear - the Clinic cancelled me for tomorrow morning, so I'm off to KotS for some much needed help. Must avoid all temptation - I gave up buying yarn for Lent. And Kate is now stocking Smooshy... :(

But, in other knitting news - I did get something finished. I needed something other than socks mid-week to work on. So I found a pattern on Ravelry and grabbed my skein of Noro, and voila! Two days for a hat. It's so cute, I love it. Wish it was a little longer, but I was running out of yarn. Next time, I'll make a scarf to match and have more than just one ball handy so I won't have to worry.

Yesterday, my nephews came for a visit. So cute! Mason is getting so big, and this is the first time in a while that I've been around while he's been awake. He can't smile without sticking out his tongue, it's so cute.And Elliott had a good old time with the Thomas set. You know, walking on it, taking it apart, watching Aunt Annie put it back together so he could destroy it again, good times.

Poor Neglected Blog

Okay- so I wrote a post yesterday and was trying to put in pics, when the computer decided to flip out. So I didn't come back on and finish and post. So, today you get a post that is today and yesterday combined. All the writing in black is from today, and all the blue-green is from Friday. Hope this goes better.

Yeah, I've been neglecting the blog. Can't be helped though. I've been sidelined with influenza. That's right - not the flu that everyone gets and complains about, but the flu that caused a pandemic once upon a time. And let me tell you - you don't want it. I have in the past (and including this year) opted to not get the vaccine. Why? Because when I got it in college - it made me feel crappy for a week. But that crappy is nothing compared to the crappy of this week, so next year I will be getting my flu shot.

I've been told that there are people in suspense, wondering if I managed to get a sock done for last week. Technically - the second Monet sock counts for last week because I didn't finish it until Monday. But I also finished the first Waving Lace sock during the Super Bowl (yay the cheaters lost!), so that means I finsihed two socks last week. Surprising too. There was a bit of drama with the WL sock.

After last post, I kept knitting and knitting, and turned the heel and stared the gussets, and thought, "Hmm, let's see what it looks like on.." Yeah, no. Definitely too small. So I pondered for a while. And thought of continuing and just gifting them to someone with smaller feelt. But I love the color and the pattern, so I opted to frog and redo with size 2's after careful swatching. Lesson of the week: swatch for everything, including socks.

So the first one was done Sunday, I started the cuff of the second one that night. Managed to get most of the leg done during Kaylee's nap and late basketball practice on Monday. And then didn't knit again until last night. That's how horrible the influenza is folks - it's capable of putting me out of knitting commission for 2 days. But, I managed to focus enough last night to turn the heel and work the gussets. Here's the progress:

The doctor isn't allowing me to return to work until Monday - due to the fact that I work with HS kids and she doent' want to start an epidemic. She didn't really want to hear that I probably got sick from one of the kids in the first place. So - my plans for the weekend - finish the ND sweater. I'm not really supposed to leave the house, so what else do I have to do? The second sock of course will get done as well, and beyond that we'll see.

Remember to practice good hand hygiene - it's your first line of defense. That's my PSA for the month.

Last night I finished the second Waving lace sock. That brings my sock total for the year to 8. Woohoo. And then I decided to start he next one. Because, like I've already said, I may have a problem. It's the Master Sidestream pattern from "New Pathways" in yarn from Spritely Goods called "Arizona Ironwood". Granted it may look like this is meant to be a Valentine's sock - it's not. I love this colorway it's so pretty. But I hate Valentine's Day. I won't bore you with the rant. So these are my February sucks socks. It's not much yet, and the colors aren't coming through very well - but it's Feb in NE OH the light sucks.