Just can't Beet It!

I have another finished project to show you and I am so happy with how it came out! This yarn is from the July Rockin' Sock Club shipment. It's called Firecracker and I love the vibrant colors of it. I had a hard time deciding between the two patterns but I chose My Heart Beets 4U by Knitspot to make with the club yarn.
True to it's name, it has a beet motif worked into the heel flap, and I love how the pattern looks like beet greens coming out the top of the beet.

While I was knitting the first sock, I thought it was really interesting how the colors pooled on the leg, but once I got to the foot it got much more stripey. Did my tension change or was the stockinette on the bottom of the foot really changing how much yarn I was using?

I cast on the 2nd sock and knit away. Do you see it? Look how matchy-matchy they are! Apparently I started at the same place in the color progression when I cast on sock 2 and had no idea! And again I had pooling on the leg and striping on the foot. So my tension didn't change, but the stitch pattern definitely has an effect on how much yarn is being used and how the colors stack up.

I love how they came out, and you just can't beet that!

It's been so long!

I have finally finished a pair of socks for August! It seemed like it took forever, but it really didn't. I had the best of intentions and the best of plans, but I have a family and they have had other ideas as to how I should be using my time this summer. Two of my three boys are back to school now, so I've regained some control of my time.
The pattern is Papaver by Knitspot, the yarn is Bugga! by The Sanguine Gryphon in the color Long Horned Beetle. I cast these on in July as part of the SKA challenge on Ravelry. The designer for July was Knitspot and I have several of her patterns in my queue.
In trying to be true to the "challenge" of SKA I decided to knit the short row heel that the pattern calls for. Normally I would substitute a heel flap as I don't think that short row heels are my best skill but I would really like to improve them. I always get a hole on the first round after the heel is completed. Fortunately for me on this design, it kind of looks like it belongs there, so I'm not going to dwell on it.

I cast on a second Knitspot pattern in July too. I should back up a bit though and tell you that this cast on is also part of the July Rockin Sock Club! Yay! The July kit came with this awesome colorway, Firecracker, and two awesome patterns! I was not sure how I was going to choose which to do first and with the kit's yarn until I realized that one of the patterns was by....... you guessed it, Knitspot!
My decision was made! This pattern is called My Heart Beets for U, and the heel flap is a beet motif :-) This picture was taken a while ago. I am actually almost done the first sock and I hope to finish it tonight. I have just one more pattern repeat to go and then the toe :-)
I'm on a mission to complete this pair by the end of the month! I think I can do it!

Happy High School!

I wasn't kidding when I said summer was over! Today was the first day of school for freshmen

Chandler and our neighbor Sophie

I suppose if you have to go back to school in what seems like the middle of summer, you might as well get to the bus stop in style!
Happy First day of High School Chandler!

On the Road Again...

It's a mixed emotions kind of day at my house today. It's the beginning of school. It seems like summer just started, but it's over already. Justin is headed back to the University of Alabama to begin his sophomore year. (I know. The hits just keep on coming. When did he get old enough?)

He's going into an apartment this year instead of a residence hall, so he needed a little more stuff. It's a good thing he bought a truck this summer, because all this never would have fit in the Jetta! Although about 85% of it did last year.

Sorry Neal. You can't go to school with your boy :-( Both of you would love that though.

All packed and ready to go. I know he's going to be great and he will make us proud, but I miss him already. It's exciting to see them discover themselves, find what they love and pursue it. It's also a little hard knowing they're not going to be at the dinner table and sleeping in their room at each night.

Can you believe he'd rather do a road trip with his dad than his mom?

Roll Tide!

Poppies will make them sleep

This post features the Woolgirl's Oz Poppy Fields Kit. If you don't want to be spoiled, look away, and come back after you've received your kit. In the meantime, I'll distract you with my dog Emma.

I have a drain pipe in my yard that is surrounded with rocks. There is a chipmunk living in the rocks and she was on a mission to try and catch it today.
She could smell it and hear it in there and it was driving her crazy! She went round and round trying to catch it for 4 hours this afternoon! Persistent and tenacious definitely describes her :-)
So. Here is the Poppy Fields kit. I have to admit it's one of my favorites from the Wizard of Oz series. I prefer the kits that have more knitting related goodies as opposed to mostly swag/bling. There is a box bag by Zigzag stitches which I absolutely love! A stitch marker by WeeOnes, which I now realize I forgot to take a picture of, a pattern by Sexy Knitter which is very clever, a poppy hair clip, and.......
the yarn is by Miss Babs! in sport weight. I was surprised it was so orange! When I say it's ORANGE, I mean it's like Tang orange, or maybe Hunter Orange would be a better description. When I think of poppies, I think of the red poppies that the Veterans give out for Veteran's day. So, yeah, the orange surprised me.
The other cool thing in the kit is a little clutch by Sew-fantastic with a notepad in it and a spot to hold a pen as well as a pocket. This will be great for keeping my lists that I need to carry around with me. It's big enough to be useful, yet small enough that it will fit in my purse.
The shipping for this kit took longer than usual. Miss Babs had smoke damage in their studio and had to dispose of inventory and start anew with new supplies. It's really kind of heart-breaking when you think of somebody having to dispose of their hard work, let alone yarn. You can read about their experience here if you're interested. The good news was that nobody was hurt!

Did you get this kit too? Are you going to make the pattern that came with it or make something else with the yarn?

Birthday Socks for me!

I'm so far behind blogging! I'm not sure where all the time is going this summer, but it is slipping by quickly. In less than 2 weeks 2 of my boys will be back to school. Unbelievable!

Anyway, I have been knitting, and collecting yarn as much as I tried to convince myself to just knit from stash this summer. I've decided that one big blog post would be too much, so I'm going to try to do a number of small updates, almost daily, until I get caught up.

First up is my Birthday Socks! My mom knows how much I love my Socks That Rock so she got me a gift certificate for birthday. I spent it on this,

Apple Valley Road in mediumweight. I cast on Blackberry Brambles by Irishgirlieknits. Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Pretty, isn't it?

I love how these striped, especially on the heel flap and the foot.

Happy Birthday to me!!!