Sweet Baboo’s finished socks

They didn’t turn out too bad — however, I have a cute Sweet Baboo story to tell you.

I finished the socks, wove the ends in and proudly presented them to him (I was so impressed with myself!!) and he proudly put them on. I sat on the other end of the sofa and looked at his feet — something didn’t seem right. I went over and looked at the bottom of the sock — the foot was too short by about 1 1/2 inches!! The heel doesn’t even begin to fit right. I told him that I would have to rip out the toes and extend the foot a bit longer and he says “no, that’s okay they fit fine, I really like them” and I said “no, they’re not fine they don’t fit correctly. Why didn’t you tell me that they didn’t fit right when I finished the first one” (which he tried on to make sure everything was okay). To which he replied, “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you that they needed to be longer”. Gee gosh, how can you get mad at that? But I’m still going to rip out both socks!!

Darling Daughter’s sock

I am SOOOOOO loving this self-striping yarn — it makes me look like I’m doing all kinds of fabulous stitches and yarn changes when all I’m doing is a stockinette stitch. I had knitted about 4 inches total for the foot and got ticked off with the laddering on the sole, so I frogged it back down and added a needle and it seems to have eliminated that problem. I’ve been knitting at work and the ladies that I work with can’t believe that I haven’t done myself an injury with all of the knitting needles I have going at one time. I can’t wait to finish this pair and go on to another one!! I’ve made way too many trips to the yarn shop and now have balls of yarn all over my sewing room, which will soon be called the knitting room. I’m going to have to have a sale of all of my fat quarters — I can sell my fabric to make more $$$ to buy more yarn. I will have to decide if it is more lucrative to sell them on ebay or just run an ad in the paper.

A list of happies

Today, these are some things that I grateful for……

1) My partner in crime, BJ (whom I was filling in for while she vacationed) came back to work a day early. WHEEEEE!!!!

2) Having a swimming pool. It’s been hotter than blue blazes in CT this week.

3) Prednisone. Two courses of it. Without it, I would probably have no skin left on my body due to the dratted poison ivy, the name of which is probably supposed to be capitalized, but I hate it so much that I won’t.

4) Catching Genius by Kristy Kiernan. It was a great book (2 nights!!) and I was way overdue for a good story.

5) Being able to knit socks. My newest passion, my hands work as fast as my mind whirls — for me, it’s a natural tranquilizer.

Mission accomplished!!!

Yup, finished them last night. They are wool and just having them on for the 3 or 4 minutes it took me to get a good shot, my feet were sweating! I am SOOOOOO going to enjoy these when winter comes around again!! I’ve already started a pair for Sweet Baboo in a pretty blue. Men always seem to take more interest in something that ultimately is for them and he is no different — peering over my shoulder to see how I’m doing, asking questions — he’s so cute!

I’m planning to cull my fabric stash this weekend — I’ve just got so much stuff in the closet and boxes that’s just sitting — hopefully, I will be able to list on ebay and make a few $$$ to support my new yarn habit. On the one hand, yarn can be mega expensive — but on the other, it ain’t your grandmother’s acrylic yarn that you buy at the five and dime!! The colorways are gorgeous and the hand is soft and fabulous — some yarns even have aloe embedded in the yarn!!! You’ve come a long way baby!!

One sock down, one to go

I’ve been spending my evenings teaching myself the fine art of knitting with 3 needles — well, four actually. I’ve also taught myself how to turn a heel, work a gusset and graft stitches — all words that were totally foreign to me just a couple of weeks ago. And here’s a pic of my first sock…….

…..which I took just before I grafted the toe seam. I was just so proud of it!! Notice how I shaved my legs and polished my toenails just for this occasion!!

The yarn shop that I am frequenting had the most interesting sock/in progress work/metal slider thingy. I tell you, I just don’t know what to call this thing, but according to the owner of the shop, she has a guy that makes them for her and her alone. There’s not another source for it in the whole U S of A, I’m told. So of course, here are some pics of the little beastie.

This is what it looks like assembled with your knitting inside. It’s really made mostly for sock work. You line your needles up into a side by side arrangement and then slide it into the tube. There is a short cover that goes over the end to hold it all in place.

(This is the beginning of my second sock!! So cool!!)

And this is what it looks like apart — see the big opening on the tube? That’s where you slide your needles and sock or whatever in progress into. It holds it all together nice and tight — you can just toss it (literally) into your purse or pocket or what have you. It stays together!!

If you would like to see more information about this fabulous accessory, Click Here. On the left side of the page, there is a box titled “What is all the buzz about?” and there is a link below that says “Find Out Here”. It gives a much better description (and also a brief history of the item) that I have in this blog.