Knee Socks

I have some new socks I'm working on. They are very basic with stockinette feet and a 2 x 2 rib for the cuff. All I know about the yarn is that it is a cotton sock yarn; I bought it on eBay and it didn't have the label with it. It was one skein that I divided in two by weight with the ball winder so I knew how much yarn I could use for each sock. My first sock, which isn't quite finished, started out as a pattern until I decided the yarn was too busy for the pattern; so there are some inconsistencies in the sock. Since they are for me, I don't care; I doubt anybody will get close enough to my legs to see them.



On this sock I started at the top of the cuff and knit for as far as I thought was safe without running out of yarn, knit in the waste yarn where I'd put the heel, knit what I thought would be the rest of the foot but stopped where I thought the toe would start. I have a lot of the #2 sock needles that I'm using so I went back to put the heel in and tried the sock on before finishing the toe. After getting the entire sock done with a perfect fit to my foot I still had a lot of yarn left so I unraveled the cast on and proceeded with lengthening the cuff. (This caused another inconsistency in the cuff, but not too noticeable.) As you can see in the photo it has become a knee sock, which I am thrilled about since I don't have any. I stopped before running completely out of yarn just in case I don't get as far on the other sock before running out.

On the second sock I cast on at the ankle, knit a couple of rows, knit the waste yarn in, and I'm now knitting the foot. I'll use the other sock for the pattern where to start the toe, I'll then knit in the heel, I'll unravel my cast on (it I had really been thinking I would have used an invisible cast on), and the rest of the yarn will knit the cuff from the bottom up.

It all sounds more complicated than it really is. I'm doing everything I would be doing anyway (except the unraveling) just in a different order. This way I should be able to use all the yarn and I can easily match the length of the socks to each other. I can't wait to wear my first pair of hand knit knee socks.

PS. I tried on the first sock and it isn't quite to my knee yet.

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas festivities are over for this year. Last night we celebrated with Aliya and her new husband, Chad, at my in-laws. My mother-in-law, Sandy, goes way overboard on this holiday. Every room is heavily decorated, even the hallways and bathrooms. She also likes giving mountains of gifts to everybody. You just never know what you might unwrap. I think Chad was overwhelmed, just as I was at my first Christmas with the Dean's.

I didn't do very well in the gift giving department this year. I just couldn't come up with any good ideas so rather than give items that would find their homes in attics and garages I tried to think of everyday useful things. I hope the recipients weren't too disappointed; maybe I'll be better inspired next year.

I even had a hard time with Rocky; I used up all my good ideas earlier in the year so he got a pocket radio for the Duck games and an elk wall hanging. He scored points with me though. He gave me a Light Wedge and a chair massager. I guess I'll have to let his forgetting my birthday slide.

Aliya gave me the most perfect gift, novelty yarn. I was quite surprised, delighted, and touched. I haven't been given a Christmas gift like that since my mom died. I have no idea what the yarn wants to become, but eventually the perfect pattern will come along for it. I'm sure it will be beautiful whatever it will be, coming from a lush, soft yarn like this.

Of course the most important part of Christmas is just being with and hearing from loved ones. Not only did we get to spend a fun evening with the Dean's, but we exchanged phone calls with three of my brothers and one of my aunts. For the perfect ending to a perfect holiday Rocky and I are spending the day home alone in our sweats and our hair uncombed.

Merry Christmas everybody.

It's Almost Here

Here it is, just three days before Christmas and I am ready. We always do the gift exchange with Rocky's family on Christmas Eve so we lose a day there, and there were a couple of things I was going to make for gifts, but I've decided I don't really need to if I don't get around to it; so that means I'm ready. I even have everything wrapped; actually I mostly used gift bags so that was easy.

Fortunately my family gave up gift exchanges a long time ago so we have no worries there. It does seem that since my parents are both gone my family has kind of grown apart, and I do miss being with them on holidays. (We do exchange phone calls and keep in touch.) That's probably why I don't find much pleasure in the holidays anymore. Now I think the perfect holiday would be for me and Rocky to hide away on a warm sunny beach somewhere and overindulge in more relaxing ways. Well, a girl can dream.

Now I'll don my rain apparel, Fa la la, la la la, la la la. and feed the livestock with a carol, Fa la la, la la la, la la la. I can't figure out how to fit scooping poop into the song so I'd better quit.

Nice Surprises

I forgot to tell you about the friend I ran into last week. I was shopping at Costco and here comes Melissa Locke and her youngest daughter up an aisle. Her name is not Locke any more and her daughter is the youngest of six children. Melissa and I were classmates in middle and high school. The real surprise about running into her is that she lives in Papua, New Guinea where she and her husband teach. I have only seen Melissa one other time since high school. It made my whole day to see her.

Yesterday I had another nice surprise. When Rocky and I took Aliya on her graduation cruise a couple of years ago we met a nice German man named Kilian. Kilian was on the cruise alone so we invited him to join us for dinner one evening. Since then we have sent letters and holiday cards back and forth. When Rocky and I got home from work yesterday there was a message on our answering machine from Kilian thanking us for the Christmas card we sent and wishing us holiday cheer. It was so nice to hear his voice, I only wish I could have been home to take his call. This is the photo taken during our dinner together in December 2005:

Forks

We went to the annual Fork Christmas party on Saturday. For those of you who don't know I was adopted and found my biological family, the Forks, about nine years ago. (Maybe I'll start writing the story about it on the blog.)

Anyway, it was pretty low key this year. Most of the children are now teenagers and they did a game exchange. The adults didn't exchange gifts this year, but Dotty (the oldest sibling) made surprise gifts for everybody. Earlier this year my biological father passed away; he was a Harley Davidson nut. Dotty took his Harley t-shirts, cut them into panels, and made everybody a quilt.

As you can see, they are very cool; she backed them with polar fleece.

On another warm note, we are trying again to get out pellet/corn stove to work. It is finally burning well, since we can actually buy wood pellets this year, but we keep having smoke issues. It might have something to do with the fact that it is a free standing stove that we are trying to use as an insert. Who knows? I plugged in a CO detector just in case.

Non-Event

Yesterday, yours truely turned 39; it was totally a non-event. Rocky and I were eating breakfast when my brother, Gordon, called to wish me a happy birthday. Gordon NEVER calls me, so Rocky asked what he wanted so I told him. His response was, "Is today your birthday?" We've only been married for 13 years so I guess I shouldn't expect my husband to know when my birthday is yet.

I actually had a pretty nice day. I got a lot of work around home done and only had to get one phone call from work. I also received a call from my brother, Dave, and one from my aunt, Debbie, whom I have not heard from in a couple of years.


I finally washed some of that yarn I've been working on:

I'm quite pleased with the results. It is white baby alpaca plied with a variegated rayon embroidery thread. I don't have any plans for it so I'll put it in our booth and hope some knitter or weaver will have the perfect project in mind for it.