Hello There! I'm back!

You know you're too far behind on up blogging when you have to upload all the pictures you're planning to use before composing the actual post! I'm erratic at posting at best. Life gets in motion, and I get swept along with it. Not altogether unwillingly! I'm going to try to be as brief as possible as I've got a new project on the needles that is moving along screamingly, and I'd like to watch another program on TV while I work on it tonight. ;)

First! The Jaywalkers are done! I finished the second one up on Thursday without the due pomp and circumstance they deserved due to being overtired. (Sorry guys.... I'll wear you with pride this week!) The second sock went much quicker and without any noticeable errors. Amazing what happens when you read a pattern huh? I love this pattern and will defiantly be making more of these!

Next on the needles is a felted bag I snagged off of Ravelry. I'm not sure of the name right now and will post that with a link later. The really important part is that this bag is being made from some of the very first yarn I ever spun. Pre-wheel even! I'm terribly excited about using something of my own creation and am having fun as the yarn goes by seeing the differences in my spinning. This bag is intended to be for me and I plan on lining it and possibly embellishing it. Not sure what, but I've a hankering to complete a "girlie" bag. (Not my style, so I'm not sure what that's about!)

And last but not least I give you Tucker. The Hubster went for a motorcycle ride today and when I went looking for Tucker he was laying across the driveway waiting for him. Too cute!

A Priest, A Rabbi and A Jaywalker....

The snow finally receded enough that I have been able to get in and out of our driveway with ease the last couple of days. Of course it's been alternating between snow and rain all day. ;) No real accumulations thus far, but we're supposedly "in for it" soon. I'm not concerned about it to tell the truth, which is a bit abnormal for me so maybe I'm learning to go with the flow better.

Knowing today was going to be ugly weather wise, I planned to spend some quality time with my crafts. Last Wednesday I finished up spinning the dark green merino/silk and today it was plying time. It went surprisingly fast, which probably means I don't have as much yardage as I was hoping for. The skeins are currently drying in the bathroom, so I'll try to get pictures of it later this week and will post the weight/yardage specs at that time. I'm pleased to finally have it done as I think it's been over a year since I originally dyed the fiber. I'll have to look that up too as I know I blogged it. lol

So...it's confession time. I finally finished my first Jaywalker sock, and yes....I immediately cast on for the second. I'm approximately 5 inches towards the heel right now. But back to the first sock. It truly deserves a place of honor. I knit this sock at least 5 times....I honestly lost count. The first time I started it, I posted a progress pic at that time and it seemed to be smooth sailing. Not so much. That original attempt proved to me that it was not going to fit my foot, so I ripped it back and started the next size up. Thus proving that I can not measure my own foot. Oh, I can, but I evidently can't read a tape measure so that's a moot point! So, on we cast a new size and hmmm.....this one looks really cool...but smaller. That doesn't make sense. I moved up a pattern size...yet the sock looks too small?! OK, I admit that at this point I should have just set it all aside until I could think properly. Those that know me will say, " um, and that would be when?!"

Did I set it aside? No. I ripped it back and cast on for the next size up and off we went. Now, this one, if memory serves me correctly, fit around my ankle. My concern was over the fact that it was so tight to pull over my heel. (I had waited until I had knit the heel flap, but not picked up the gusset stitches yet to try it on.)I ripped this one out, and tried again getting the same results. So, being so very puzzled and figuring it was one of those knitting things I'll just never understand, it was frogged one more time and I decided to do some Internet searching. (Keep in mind that there were several false starts on this as well due to the fact that I was not knitting it on DPNs but on one circular needle and that can be a bit tricky at first. lol) After looking on line for complaints about the pattern(and finding none) and after looking for pattern corrections (and finding none because they are not needed!), I decided to try the toe-up version. Still using the Magic Loop method, I cast on the toe and worked my way up to the point where the patterning would begin. That's when I dug out my trusty copy of the pattern and looked at it again. As I'm re-reading the pattern a light bulb came on. What's that say there?! I'm suppose to knit a row, then do a pattern row, then knit another row? There's suppose to be a knit row between pattern rows? I don't recall doing that the last umpteen times! YIKES!

So I ripped the toe out, and cast on the appropriate number of stitches and worked that sock out. There are several mistakes in this one that I was unwilling to frog back for. I was waiting to see if the darn thing was really going to fit, and it does, so the mistakes stay in. They'll be a good reminder to me of the lessons learned in this sock. The good news is that I found out I can measure my own foot and I can read a tape measure. I'm pretty persistent, I just need to remember to read the pattern!

Here it is on my foot just to prove it fits. When I complete the pair, I'll post the specs!

Here's a little bit of Roo just to reward you for making it this far. He does love his snow!

All that Jazz!

Whew! It's been a busy time and I've been away from the computer at home for a bit. I've been trying to get some stuff done around here that resembles cleaning, but really, you can't tell at all. It's that "organizational" cleaning that usually means one area looks great and the rest of the house looks like a pit as we wait to take stuff to the thrift shop. It's a lucky thing I'm not planning on decorating for the holidays this year. heheheh.

After frogging my jaywalker sock for the third or fourth time (I've lost count!) I'm going to try it out another way. I evidently can not count, can not measure and am not knitting to gauge even when I think I am. Oh I'm not giving up by any stretch of the imagination, have no fear. I'll get this one eventually. It baffles me completely as to how I could have screwed this up so bad so far. Evidently I have monstrously large feet as I am using needles larger than called for, with yarn that meets the requirements, yet I've knit the largest size written in the "larger sizes" addendum to the pattern and can not get it comfortably over my heel. So! I'm gonna try the toe up version and see if maybe that helps. I'll keep ya posted. (Maybe.lol)

In between fits of knitting and frogging Jaywalker I ran across the yarn to complete my lap-gahn. You may remember it from about this time last year. Yep, that's when I completed the main portion of the darling little thing. At that point I couldn't find the rest of the yarn to complete the border around it. Well in on of those cleaning/organizing fits a week or so ago I found said yarn and decided to finish her off before I lost the yarn again. So here it is. In all it's glory! Only 4 or 5 years late! heheheh

Today I spent a major portion of the day picking a black Alpaca fleece and prepping it for the good ole washing machine. (What a huge pleasure that is! Little VM, no poopies and ooooh so soft!) It's spent most of the rest of the day and evening being soaked or spun out in the washer. I've a couple of more rinses left before we're done for the night. It spins out so well in the washer that it should be dry in about a day and a half, tops!

OK I'm off to make dinner for tonight and lunches for tomorrow. It's an early morning for us tomorrow. If you don't hear from me until after Christmas, don't be surprised. hehe And if that's the case, y'all have a wonderful holiday, k?!