Socks, a hat and an almost mitten

Posted on March 13, 2016 by cpeezers

I am on a mission this year. I want to finish some projects. I don’t even want to count how many unfinished projects I have going (some back to 2010). So I am not going to. Instead, I am going to start finishing some of them.

Yesterday I finished my Slouched Tuva Hat. I made it with Pacifica Zephyr DK Yarn. I got the skein of yarn when I made a small contribution to their kickstarter campaign (It may have not been kickstarter, but it was one of those crowd funding groups.). The yarn is 50% cotton and 50% wool. It looks like a rustic wool, but doesn’t feel quite as rustic with the cotton. I liked knitting with it. Davey modeled for me so I could show the stitch pattern. Really easy to do, and I like how it looks.

It doesn’t quite slouch on my head the way that I hoped it would. This could be because I messed up somewhere when I was decreasing? Maybe I should have made it a little longer given my large noggin? Not sure, but I will definitely wear it anyway.

I am also working on number two of a pair of socks. I actually got started on the second one almost immediately after finishing the first. The yarn is self-striping, and kinda looks like Seahawks colors I think.

I tried to get Davey to help me model this as well. The sock was enormous on his foot though.

I tried a foot selfie:

I am knitting the sock with the “How I Make My Own Socks Pattern” from Susan B. Anderson. I have done several pairs with it. It’s a very basic sock pattern and perfect for self-striping yarn.

I’m working on the second one today while I rediscover knitting podcasts. We are having a quiet day after a busy yesterday on Whidbey Island at a taekwando tournament. It’s gray here and was actually snowing for quite awhile. I’m watching Susan B. Anderson who mentioned CraftStash, so I listened to her for awhile as well. It’s such a fun way to learn about new yarn, projects, books, and all types of things.

I am trying to get this sock done so I can get back to my gnome mittens. It’s rather sad that I put down this mitten with just the tip of the thumb left to complete. I don’t quite understand it. Maybe it’s because I was faced with having to start the second mitten. I do like these very cute gnomes however.

Happy Sunday!

I finished the Quaker Ridge Shawlette

Posted on November 9, 2012 by cpeezers

The beading of the shawl is finally done. Whew. That took a long long time. I finally sat down and knocked the rest of it out. I am not sure I want to do quite that large of a beaded bind-off again, but I really love the result. This photograph makes this look more pink than it actually is. I took this photo outside with no flash.

I took this one inside with no flash, and the light was really pretty good.

The color is actually somewhere in between the two. Helpful huh.

I have to say one more time how nice Madeline Tosh Pashmina is to knit with. It was a treat!

This is probably the truest to the color. Anyway, I love the ruffle!

Yay for finished projects!

Sunday: Shawlette and a couple of recipes

Posted on October 7, 2012 by cpeezers

Davey and I have been hanging out this weekend. David had to make a trip to Texas, but he’ll be back this evening. Today Davey and I worked on putting up the Halloween lights. Hopefully I can take a good picture in the evening. We are very excited about Halloween!

I have a Halloween knitting project which is in progress. I’m looking forward to blogging about it soon!

I’m working on the bind off on my Quaker Ridge Shawlette. This is a Susan B. Anderson pattern, and it’s been really nice to knit. The slow part is the bind-off. I’m doing a beaded bind-off. I’ve never done one before so it was a little tricky at first. I felt like all thumbs with the little beads. I’m getting better at it though. I need to get it finished up (almost 500 stitches to bind off. yikes.).

This is not a great picture. I’ll take some better ones when it is done.

I also wanted to share a couple of really good recipes that I made lately.

One is Pioneer Woman’s “Simple Perfect Enchiladas“. These are really good. I used hamburger, but shredded beef would be good too. I always use Hatch enchilada sauce too. If you can get it, I highly recommend it. It seems like some red enchilada sauce is kind of bitter. Not hatch.

Another positive was that the enchiladas warmed up really well. We aren’t crazy about leftovers typically, but these were great leftovers.

I also subscribe to allrecipes.com emails. They had a recipe up yesterday for Spicy Beef Stew. Now this sounded a little weird to me because it called for a jar of marinara sauce and a can of Rotel. So odd that I just had to try it. However, it all blended in and I couldn’t tell at all that I’d put spaghetti sauce in. I put it on mashed potatoes. I confess I made Hungry Jack mashed potatoes. I had not made instant potatoes probably ever, but I’d read somewhere that they were good. I always thought instant potatoes tasted weird, but these were really good. Definitely good to put stew over! Lots of leftovers on this too.

Ok we need one more extension cord for our lights. And maybe some frozen yogurt.

Saturday Stuff

Posted on July 28, 2012 by cpeezers

Saturday morning. Actually, it’s Saturday afternoon now. I was starting a post this morning, but then Davey and I decided to go for a little hike. It was great, and I took some pictures. I want to blog about it tomorrow.

But for today, it’s miscellany.

I finished a sock last night. It’s just a plain sock pattern that I like from Susan B. Anderson. I really should have it about memorized at this point. It’s top down with a heel flap and a kitchener toe. I am knitting the sock with the Zauberball Crazy yarn. I am really enjoying it. I love watching the gradual color changes emerge.

The yellows are not quite this yellow. They are a little more orangy. I must have not had the light right or something.

Now I am not going to start on the second sock. Instead, I need these needles to knit the pug from Knit Your Own Dog. I’ve been looking forward to starting it. I like starting things. This morning, before we left, I needed a bag to carry our picnic stuff. So I have this light backpack which had a knitting project in it. I had to switch the project to another bag. I told Davey that I have too many projects. He wisely said, “Mommy. You should just do one project at a time.” He should have mentioned that a couple of years ago.

And I have a recipe I want to share. A friend posted this on facebook the other day, and I immediately wanted to try it. It is (almost was – it’s about gone) a Strawberry Yogurt Cake. It turned out really good. Davey was disappointed that there was not much icing. (It’s just a glaze.) David was a little freaked out by the parts of the cake where the strawberries were. He didn’t like what he referred to as the “housing” surrounding the strawberries. I live with particular Davids. David agreed though that it was a great recipe. I think he might prefer that I make “Yogurt Cake” next time rather than Strawberry Yogurt Cake. The strawberries are really good in it though!

And finally, I wanted to blog about Koko puff. We’ve been taking her out for walks again for the last couple of nights. Last night, when I showed her the leash, we saw a glimmer of the old Koko. She got all excited and kept biting at the leash like she did for years when we were getting ready for a walk. Poor thing. She loved it. We just worried about her back legs which barely work, but we basically just walked about 4 houses down and then turned around. She did lots of “smells”, as Davey calls it, and we walked very very very slowly. So we’ll definitely keep doing that. Davey loves to “walk” her.

Here’s the top of their heads as they look at something together.

Patchwork Sock

Posted on May 24, 2012 by cpeezers

I was reading some knitting blogs the other day, and I came upon a description of a Ravelry knit along that looked fun. It’s a “sockalong”. I’ve not knitted socks in a year or so, and I’ve missed it! The idea of the knit along is to just use leftover sock yarn. I have some of this. I wasn’t sure how it was going to look, but I tried to pick out some colors that I thought would be ok together. I finished the first sock today. I think it is one of my all time favorite socks. It also fits great. I used this basic sock pattern from Susan B Anderson.

I think my favorite sock to knit is just a plain basic stockinette stitch – especially in fun yarn – or especially like with this sock where I changed colors every ten rows.

I didn’t want to try to get Davey to take a picture, and David wasn’t here so I put my sock on a sock blocker and used the marimba keys to help pose it. Very handy!

One thing I learned from knitting these socks was a nice way to finish off those ends. I had lots of ends to weave.

I may be one of the last knitters to have learned this handy method, but I watched a video by Susan B Anderson, and then I tried it out. It is easy, fast, and efficient.

At each color change, you just take the two yarn ends and tie them in a simple knot.

Then you take the end and run it up and down several stitches in a row through the purl bumps.

Then you trim the ends. So easy. Finishes it up so nicely. Looks great!

Davey had his “big shows” today at The Little Gym. He had one for his karate class and one for his Giggleworms class. He had a great time. David and I were poised with our camera and videocamera. I had to switch to my phone when the videocamera battery died (I’d not properly charged it). So we got lots of footage and some pictures. Here’s Davey with Mr. Nick getting his karate medal. He loved that.

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn

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