The Sock Hits the Frog Pond

Well, I tried the sock on again and it was SO tight that I knew I'd never wear it. I asked my sister to try it on, and it was even too tight for her small foot, so - into the frog pond we go. It wasn't an easy decision, but it is the best thing to do. I think I just knit too tight for zeros. I do like the way it looks, but I'm not really sure I'm ready to cast on 80 or 90 stitches for a sock, it's just too many for me.

I think I'll change yarn and go up a needle size and knit a plain stockinette stitch sock. I like the yarn I was using, I just need a break from it.

Here are a few gratuitous frog shots.

As much as I didn't want to frog this sock and all my hard work go down the drain, I always like the look of curly newly frogged yarn.

I was wondering something. Does anyone know of a general rule when it comes to turning a heel. Like a formula for the beginning. All the patterns I looked at seemed to knit a little more than half the stitches and then knit 2 together turn Slip a stitch then knit back a smaller number like 5 or 7 - but I couldn't figure out what sort of percentages they were working with to get it right. I guess I can probably calculate the percentages or whatever, but I was just curious if there was already a basic formula out there? Does anyone know? Any other nerdy math people out there that think about this stuff?

This is what I did on the frogged sock
Number of stitches on heel flap = 35

Half of 35 = 17.5

Knit 21 knit 2 together, knit 1, turn Slip 1 knit 9, knit 2 together, knit 1, turn slip 1 .... etc

Either I should have knit 7 instead of 9 or tried knitting 19 instead of 21.

I'm not sure which would have been better. I couldn't find a pattern that had 70 stitches in the sock. (I may not have looked super hard) I don't know if I'll stick with 70 on my next sock or not, but I would like to have a formula or rule that I could plug in the number of stitches and get the right numbers for turning the heel. Does anyone already have such a formula that they use?

Painting to Ponder

Click here to create your own painting.

Call the Knit-Medics!

What I am about to tell you is going to come as a bit of a shock. I can hardly believe it myself and I can scarcely believe that I am about to admit it for the whole world to see. But you guys know most of my other deep dark secrets, too, so why not, right? So, I got the heel flap finished and when I was about to turn the heel.... BLANK - I had completely forgotten how to turn the heel. I mean I knew it had something to do with slipping stitches or something, but I had totally lost how to begin. I looked up a couple of sock patterns in some of my magazine and tried desperately to apply the basic rules, number ratios to the number of stitches I had. I was ONE stitch off when I got down to the last few stitches, so I had one stitch left before the gap on one side and none left on the other DRAT - but guess what, I left it as is because I don't think these socks are going to fit me anyway! double drat - But I'm not frogging this sock, it's been too long in the making so far and I'm not going back. I think I just knit TOO darn tight to use this small of a needle. It may be the zero, but I'm not sure. I DO know that after doing the heel flap, I looked at my needle and it was actually BENT because I'd been gripping it SO hard.

Anyway, here is the sock about 4 rounds into the gusset stitches. These colors are actually about right in spite of the greyness of the light in which it was photographed.

And here is the sock looking mournfully outside at the rain. (to show the true greyness)

It was actually a very pretty and hot day for most of today. The storm only rolled in about 6PM or so. We went to the park around noon, and when it got too hot for us we went to our local PetSmart and got dog food. Then to Jack in the Box for lunch and got kid's meals and root beer floats. (I had a salad and a Dr. Pepper float) Then to Half Priced Books looking unsuccessfully again for a book I've been looking for. Then to Academy Sports and Outdoors for very decently priced school uniform stuff! So I have most of my back to school clothes shopping DONE! THAT feels like a great accomplishment. I'm glad I didn't have to fight the crowds of other mothers clamoring for clothes at the last minute (the way I usually do) ***sigh of relief*** I think I'll go back and get a few more shirts and pants for DS8yr for some reason I got more girl stuff than boys even though DD6yr had the same dress code last year and still has some things she can wear. Not sure what I was thinking, but I'm glad to know where the uniforms are because I've been looking everywhere and haven't found them anywhere until today! I must credit my hubby for telling me they were advertising.

....and now I'm tired, it's been a long, but very good day =) hope yours is great too. I think I'll go knit some.

Socks that make ya go hmmmm...

Why is it that after going to the grocery store and getting a 5 person family's amount of food, that when you get home PAST lunchtime you still look in the refrigerator and say, "HMF, there's nothing in here I want for lunch!" ??? Why? And then, after dismissing each option you have, grab a cup of yogurt, that very thing you told the kids was NOT lunch, but a snack, and proceed to eat it for your pseudo lunch. I guess going shopping hungry has other bad side effects I wasn't aware of. Although I must say, I did pretty good at keeping the cost down (for me) even though I really loaded up the grocery cart and had 3 kids with me. (who mostly did pretty good at behaving, maybe I'm doing okay with this parenting thing?) hope so

What did I do yesterday? Well, mostly I just worked on the heel flap of the Strawberry Swirl Sock. I really don't enjoy the heel flap part, it's so fiddly and slippy. It looks cool though at least and I can stare at it for unusual amounts of time and hypnotize myself with the lines that go up and down and side to side and marvel at the weirdness of the way the colors play back and forth. (I'm sure my husband wonders what in the world I'm doing when I do that, I think it must appear unusual, and with my late lapses of... whatever.... he may have his hand on the phone. Either that or he didn't notice at all, which would probably be more likely) heh

Sorry these pics aren't SO sharp, it was that heel flap! It had me all mesmerized again, darn thing. You know, I think I used to knit these things MUCH faster - oh well, I'm not in a contest, or knitting them for someone else, or in a KAL or anything. Just knitting and watching the funny oldish movies they put on TV on a sleepy Sunday. I wish Sunday night had been sleepy - grrrr - I'll be glad when my sleep issue is resolved. I hate the sleep aid I'm taking b/c I can't wake up from it, and going without it for more than a day or two just doesn't work. What a pain.

Oh, did I mention the rain stopped? It did and with the stopping of the rain the heat attacked. Still not as hot as it is usually this time of year, which is something to be thankful for, but it's still too hot for the kids to play outside =( me too, I want to play outside, too! lol

Well I think I've rambled a sufficient amount for one post, I think I'm hungry for more non lunch! =)

Scarf Set aSide....Strawberry Swirl Sock

Why? Well, from what it looks like, the yarn I'm using for my scarf may very well have been discontinued. I KNOW, it's tragic. So, I've stopped knitting it until I can secure at least one more skein of the yarn, because it's starting to run low and I've only got about a third at best the length that I want. I'll be calling a not so LYS where I procured said yarn, on Monday, to check the unlikely odds of them having one or two more skeins. (I bought it over a year ago, I think) I've already checked the website of the yarn maker and it doesn't seem to exist any more. My searches for Cotton Candy by Feza on the internet came up empty. So, I may very well be stuck with the idea of ripping back and making a much thinner version of the same scarf. So in the meantime, I'm not knitting it until I know more.

What am I knitting instead? A sock.
It has a cast on of 70 stitches and I'm doing a K3 P2 ribbing for the leg of the sock. No separate cuff, just ribbing and I think I'll maintain the ribbing down the foot. I don't know yet. I'm not doing my normal 2 by Magic Loop Method because I just didn't feel like making two balls out of this huge thing.

The yarn is from Hill Country Yarns in Strawberry Swirl and I have to say, that the more I knit with it the more I like it. I wasn't so sure I was in love with the color at first, but I really like how the different colors mesh and play without pooling. All in all, a nice knit so far.

The color is a little off, the lighter part leans more towards a very light orangy yellow, but it's almost off white. I couldn't get the colors to photo true and still be in focus, so these shots will have to do.

I'm still feeling better, a little better every day. Focus on the positive, think less about the negative, keep drinking coffee. I think I can, I think I can keep knitting a sock =)

Take care, everyone!

I Love Coffee

I do, I really really do. It's SO good and makes me feel SO much better. Like today. Raining AGAIN, mostly cloudy all day and I can't wake up. So...I nap and I can't wake up from the nap. Finally, I drag myself up, shake myself out (like a dusty old rug) and say to the kids, "Get in the car, I need coffee." "But Mamma, why can't you just make coffee, it will wake you up, too." says DS8yr.old. I think a moment, looking at my coffee maker and grinder, then say "That's true, but it's just not the same, I want Starbucks!" (and how dare my computer not recognize Starbucks as a word?!) I don't even make them put on their shoes, just jump in the car, everyone gets buckled in car seats and boosters and we go.

Apparently, I am not the only person in this cloud infested part of town that at 3 o'clock needs a pick me up at Starbucks, but it's worth the wait. I feel like a person again! I actually feel like typing and talking and doing stuff. I couldn't even KNIT earlier because I was just SO tired. I wish I had Starbucks in my kitchen sometimes, but at least it's super close. It's only about half a mile from my house, which means.... I could technically WALK there, if the thought of walking that far with 3 kids didn't make my eye start twitching. Of course we could always go in and sit and they could eat cookies, but that would cost.... more than I'm willing to pay for cookies. The coffee is worth it though. This time I actually got a discount because it wasn't made by the time I got to the window, so instead of paying for a grande, I paid for a tall and got the grande! Yaay for mistakes! Yaay for coffee, yaay for Starbucks! Yaay for feeling like a person! This is literally the best I've felt in about 6 weeks. Maybe the nap helped a little too? I don't know, but I do know this, coffee rocks.

In knitting news, I am going to have to HOPE that someone has another ball of the yarn I'm using, because.... well, it's going to be a very SHORT scarf otherwise. I didn't plan it so well. That's okay, (and how does my computer not recognize 'okay' as a word? stupid thing) I don't mind taking a drive down to the town where I purchased it, hopefully they are still in business. Maybe I should call around first, that'd probably be wise. If I can't find it, I'm going to have to frog back to the beginning and go with a much smaller round. But it looks SO good at it's current size, I don't want to change it... hmmm..... wonder if I can find it on the Internet! Good idea ME! Yaay for the Internet!

Okay, enough chatter for now, sorry no pictures this time, just imagine my scarf at twice the length of the picture below. =) Nice, eh?

Texture Treat

Well, I'm not breaking any records for speed, but I am making good progress on my scarf. I really enjoy the effect of the thick and thin texture. It makes it interesting without having to do any sort of stitch pattern. Not that I have anything against stitch patterns, I'm just in the mood for plain old knitting and no thinking. It's perfect for movie knitting or TV knitting or just staring off into space knitting. Staring off into space is what I do best. hahaha

I just hope I have enough yardage for a fairly long scarf, I didn't really do any planning when I started this thing, I just cast on and starting knitting. We'll just have to wait and see about that.

I like how it curls a bit at the bottom. Instead of being just straight across it's bumpy and wavy.



I had mentioned I'd like to wear it to my Convention, well, as you see it's only a few inches long and the Convention was over as of yesterday. I don't mind using it next year, though. lol It's okay, I figured it was a bit of a tall order for that soon. I was completely exhausted every day after the program, so I only did very little knitting in the evenings.

It's still a nice start on an interesting project. I really love knitting with cotton, especially the natural stuff because it has the little specs from the cotton plant, it's cool.

Well it's back to knitting for me now! I'll keep y'all updated!