March 6, 2007

Tippey Toes

My sock is progressing! The above pic was in mid afternoon and this is when I put it to bed last night. The white yarn one each side is the waste yarn for the peasant or afterthought heel.

There is a vague patterning emerging from the yarn, but the ribbing on the front disguises it pretty well. The patterning isn't real apparent and I'd probably not notice it if I wasn't looking for it.

F came over yesterday to help out with my "Honey Do" list. We were supposed to get a dryer through Freecycle, but as our transport for Saturday fell through, whoever picked up the bunk beds from our kind benefactor decided to take our dryer, too. So, there is no dryer and consequently, we didn't need to replace the belt. However, F showed me how to take the new to us Oreck vacuum apart and clean it and replace the belt. Then we knitted! Oh, and we got my three sock books rebound!

These are all paperbacks that were bound the "normal" way. I read in one of the knitting groups the suggestion to get Sensational Knitted Socks spiral bound. Well, I thought, "Why not all of them?" So I did! Cost less than $15 for all three, so it's worth that small investment to have a book that can be folded back on itself and says open!

And here's your "cute" fix of the day. Allie fell asleep in Oma's chair!

February 27, 2007

Got some sock work done

I got some work done on my sock. It was just hard to concentrate yesterday...on anything. Fortunately it was my daughter's day off so all I had to remember to do was breath--which can sometimes be hard when one has so much stuffing in the head.

We moved into this townhouse in September. They installed new carpeting before we moved in. I don't know if you've ever been that lucky, but new carpeting sheds worse than any fifteen dogs! Our vacuum cleaner is a glorified DustBuster and the filter had to be cleaned every square yard or so of vacuuming. Needless to say, it was time consuming and not very productive. My daughter does home health care. Her weekend client's mom just bought a new vacuum. She sold the Oreck XL Classic to my daughter for $40. And boy, does it vacuum! The carpet looks so nice! The plan is to take it upstairs today and work on that carpeting! Isn't it amazing the things that will "make your day"?

I asked on one of the knitting boards if someone would weight a child's sock so I'd get an idea of how much yarn I'd need to make socks for one of my grand daughters out of the left over Tofutsies. (I really didn't want to go toe up no that slippery stuff!) As it turns out, I can make another pair of adult short socks! Knitters are knice people!

January 29, 2007

Well, I started on the Gunner's Cap, did my gauge swatch, figured out how many sts to CO, and it was too big for me. That's it above. All was not lost, though. I did knit a hem on it (rather than sewing it in later as the pattern suggested). So I learned a new skill before utilizing the old one of frogging!

Then I CO on this hat! It's just a regular hat done in black and white stripes. Nothing spectacular, but, hey, it's still pirate!

So, I did a bit more reading yesterday. I realized that Nora Roberts' Angels Fall movie is on Lifetime tonight. So I dove into the book and got a good 100 out of 450 pages read. I'll save the movie and watch it after I finish the book. In my experience, most books are far better than most movies made from the books. My favorites are those that are both good. Like the Harry Potter ones. Although soooooooooooo very much of the book is not in the movies, the movies do tell a complete story. Practical Magic was another one that was good. Much was left out of the movie, but both were very good stories.

I cleaned up the house this morning. Not fun with a sore back (chronic) and a hurting knee. But, it's vacuumed, swept and cleared off. Looks much, much better. My knee, well, it still hurts if I twist it or sit still too long. Takes a minute to walk the stiffness out of the tendons. Tendons do take a long time to heal, so I imagine this knee and I will be much more conscious of each other than usual for awhile.

The vacuuming is such a hassle. We have a little vacuum...made for clean ups rather than cleaning. And the carpet was new when we moved in. So it sheds, and sheds, and sheds. Makes my chow

look like a shedding amateur! But, I worked at it and worked at it and for the next few hours, the rug looks good!