FOs!!!!

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I finished up my socks yesterday. There was only about two hours work left on them. I'm really happy with how they turned out! I managed to have a stitch pattern to them and had only one round that had to be tinked because I mangled the pattern! Generally I have to tink each sock several times. There is hope!

Details:
Pattern - Mine*
Yarn: Dye Mistake, Down Home Sock Yarn from Knitivity.
Needles: US2, 36 inch Addi
Started July 12 - Finished July 19

* CO 72
K3 P1 for 1.5 inches

R1: K2, YO, K2tog around
R2-4 K even; Repeat until sock measures 2.5 in from beginning

R5: K2, YO, K2tog around
R6: K even
R7: K7 K2tog around (64 sts)
R8: K even

Repeat rows 1-4 until sock measures 6 in from beginning

Begin heel flap:
P across half the sts
Sl1, K1 across purled sts
Repeat two rows for 32 rows

Shape heel, pick up sts along sides, begin gusset decreases down to 64 sts.

Knit foot extending the pattern down the instep. Standard toe.

And I finished up my first pair of mittens for the NAS Knit-a-Long. Bulky weight acrylic I recycled from a Goodwill sweater. Should be plenty warm!

Tripwire by Lee Child
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the third in the Jack Reacher series. Another good story.

Jack meets up with his old CO's daughter, now grown to a beautiful woman, who has held him in her heart since she was very young.

The two of them solve the mystery of a Vietnam War MIA and end the reign of terror created by the mysterious scarred one armed man (have we heard this before?).

If you like murder mysteries that aren't extremely graphic, you'd like this one.


View all my reviews.


Are all people with Asperger's Syndrome geniuses?

A New Blitz

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NAS has started a Blanket Blitz, too. Square by square! We are looking for nine inch squares made with acrylic yarn. Knitted or crocheted. Or if you're more in the mood to make your own blanket, please do. Quilts, polar fleece blankets, anything you'd like. There are prizes for these categories:

1. Completed afghans/blankets in any medium, random drawing
2. Squares -- random drawing
3. Viewer's Choice

I made quite a bit of progress on my Orchid Garden sock, too. The eye doctor saw me right on time and it as a short visit, so not much KIP, but it was a lazy day in the house so I did get to listen to my book(s) and knit. For some reason I was really sleepy and the knitting kept putting me to sleep, hence the crocheting.

I think the heat must be getting to everyone all over. I've read so many blog posts about nasty comments that were left by, generally, by that one nasty person, Anonymous. I sure wish someone would give Anonymous a big hug!

Reading in the Orchid Garden

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More progress on my mitten for the Mitten KAL. This is a flat one, and the thumb is knit flat, too.

I got quite a bit done on my Orchid Garden Socks. I had a lot of knitting time and went from about a half inch of ribbing to within a half inch of finishing the heel flap. I have an eye doctor appointment today so may get quite a bit more done before the dilate my eyes and I can't do anything!

I spent most of the day yesterday ripping three books on CD to MP3 format for my MP3 player. I'm tickled it worked. At least I think so. There are books on my MP3 player. Now we have to see if they will play correctly. When I download some books from my library, they don't have any bookmarks so if I accidentally hit fast forward or rewind, I have to start from the beginning of the book. Which is a pain if I'm almost done. These books, because they were ripped from CD do have book marks. Here's hoping all of it works.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling


Rating: 5 of 5 stars
My condolences to anyone who hasn't read this series. You've missed such a great epic story.



Voyager by Diana Gabaldon


Rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is another of my favorite series of books, Voyager being book three of six. I started reading this books in the late 90s and have re-read them several times. I'm especially fond of the unabridged audio books. Davina Porter is one of the best readers I've ever heard.

These stories are of time travel, natural medicine, Scotland, Highlanders, the Bonny Prince, and two wonderful lead characters, husband and wife, Jamie and Clare Fraser. A wonderful adventure that lasts forever.

Two more books planned for the series. Can't wait till the seventh comes out. Graphic novels in the making for the story, too. View all my reviews.


Charles has been dyeing sock blanks. Pics of his process. What are sock blanks? They are sheets of knitting sock yarn, knitted on a machine using two strands of white. Then one dyes the blanks and knit the socks right from the dyed blanks. Some of course insist on winding two skeins, washing and straightening, then two identical balls and knit the socks that way. Takes all the fun out of it! I really love the idea of it...just have so much sock yarn already!

Midnight in the Orchid Garden

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Sock #1 is finished, and Sock #2 has been CO with about a half inch of ribbing done.

And here's progress on my NAS Mitten KAL.

This sparked quite an active discussion on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to:
DEAR ABBY: Is it rude or inconsiderate for a person to knit, crochet or piece a quilt while attending a meeting or other gathering? -- CURIOUS IN THE SUNBELT

DEAR CURIOUS: Although I may get some argument about this, I do think it's rude. When someone is attending a meeting or a social gathering, it is considered good manners to give the speaker or other attendees your full attention. And while I expect to hear from readers who say they can "multi-task," to do so sends the wrong message.

What do you think? There's a poll up on the right...please participate and feel free to post comments about your answer.

MIdnight in the Orchid Garden

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I am past the gusset decreases and into the foot. I'm carrying the stitch pattern onto the instep. I'm really pleased with this sock. As always, Knitivity yarn is so very nice to work with.

I got the first step done on the NAS Mitten KAL. I'm not rushing through these and trying to get everything done all at once. I work on them a bit each day and then work on my socks.

Jean announced the prizes for the Mystery Mitten KAL and I chose the PolyGala (purple) Malabrigo. I've never even touched Malabrigo, so this will be an adventure!

And look what arrived in the mail yesterday! A knitter named Chrissy said she had some of this and that to get rid of. I said I'd be happy to take it as small amounts are good for color changes in mittens and little socks. This is what arrived yesterday! Ten skeins of some Debbie Bliss, plus many full or almost full skeins of wools and cottons. And a variety of "this 'n' that" (including silk and alpaca). It was fun to pull it all out and pet it! There is almost a full skein of either Manos or Noro. Fun, fun, fun!



I'm in big trouble. See the pic over on the sidebar for the 100+ Book Challenge? I found out they have a Yahoo group. I joined. They talk about books, books I haven't read yet that sound so good.... I'm in big trouble.

My feet hurt just looking at the new shoes Robin bought.

Gorgeous socks, but I don't have the attention span to do them!

Don't throw those Tshirts away! Make a rug! Don't be thrown by the fact it's crocheted. The same "yarn" technique could be adapted to knitting. I'll be those rugs would last forever. And could easily be dyed....

Wanna blow your mind?

Another FO

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I was the first one to post a picture of my finished mittens from the Mystery Mitten KAL. That qualifies me for one of the prizes! The mitten pattern is very quick to do!

Pattern: Mystery Mitten KAL
Yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool
Needles: US 5
Size: Fits my 7 year old GD

And I got quite a bit done on my Midnight in the Orchid Garden Socks. I CO with 72 sts to make a bit bigger so I could make them a bit longer than my usual socks. These are six inches from top to starting of heel flap. Notice the difference in the yarn patterning. You can pretty much see from just the patterning where I went from 72 sts to 64 sts. I doing a bit of a stitch pattern: R1: K2, YO, K2tog; R2-4: K even. Between the yarn patterning and the stitch pattern there is quite a bit of movemnt in the design.

Today starts the NAS Mitten KAL, so I'll be working on mittens today!

We had a nice thunderstorm yesterday in the early evening during dinner. Lights flickered, and we dug out a bunch of candles. Didn't need them, though. It did cool things down a bit.

FO - Tropical Socks

Yarn: Paton's Stretch Sock
Colorway: Unknown
Needles: Addi US3
Pattern: Standard Vanilla Socks: CO 64, Eye of Partridge variation: Heel: WS K3, Purl to last 3 sts; K3 RS K3, K1, S1 across, K3; WS K3, Purl to last 3 sts, K3; RS K3, Sl1 K1 across, K3
Started Jul 9; Finished July 12

I CO another pair of socks last night. I forgot I had this yarn. It's a one of a kind dye job that Ray at Knitivity did quite awhile back. It has deep purple, blue, green and hot pink. It's very intense. I think I'll call them Orchid Garden at Midnight....

I watched the film version of The Devil's Arithmetic written by Jane Yolen. Both are excellent. Very good story for young adults learning about the Holocaust. Violent enough for a good understanding of what happened, not too violent to cause nightmares. Take the time to read and/or watch the story.

Today will be mostly knitting mittens, I think. Another clue on the Mystery KAL, and I should CO the mittens for the NAS KAL seeing that Mariella will have both pair done before we even begin. So much for "knitting along"!