What I did on Summer Vacation

August is the month of vacation. A month to rest, to renew, to plan, and to prepare to begin anew.  I spent the month cleaning up some projects.  I decided to combine the Sock Knitters Anonymous Challenge, Summer of Socks, 26 Pair Plunge and Stashdown for a personal challenge to tackle my pile of UFO's.  Some had been lingering a short time and some significantly longer.

These two are projects that I cast on in July.  I wanted to finish these so that I didn't fall behind on my club kits.

These are much older.

In total I had 9 pairs of socks in progress!  Let me show you what I finished!

This pair I finished today.  The pattern is Dorothy Gale Socks from the Woolgirl Wizard of Oz Club.  I started these in September of 2009. That's right.... 2009!  I knit the 1st sock, but was not completely happy with it.  The pattern is really cute, an honestly great tribute to Dorothy in her blue and white gingham dress and her rich brown braided hair, but the yarn.....?  I don't love it.  I love the dye job and the vision of it, but the fabric it created is truly flimsy. These will be house socks as I don't believe they would hold up inside shoes.  But I'm glad they are done.

This pair is Crest by JC Briar and was the Rockin Sock Club kit for May.  The colors played beautifully for me and I love the striping I got, especially on the leg.

This pair is Tiberius from the Cookie A Club June kit.  This was a new yarn for me, SweetGeorgia CashLuxe Fine, and it is fantastic.  I would absolutely buy this yarn and would recommend it.  It's a nice light feeling yarn that makes a beautiful fabric and has great stitch definition.

This is Jubilee, also from Cookie A Sock Club, but from June 2011.  These were designed using Hazel Knits Artisan sock which is one of my favorite sock yarns.  I used the club yarn for the other pattern from June 2011 and used this old Hazel Knits club yarn from my stash.  I started these in July 2012.

At some point I decided I needed a break from all the socks and pulled out this hat that I had started this spring.  The pattern is Chelsea Market Hat.  It's an easy pattern and used just one skein of Madelinetosh Vintage.  I intended to put this in "The Gift Basket" but I might just keep it for myself instead.

So that's what I finished during the month of August!  Now I'm going to work on my Vodka Lemonade sweater while I wait for some Plucky Knitter yarn to arrive.  I ordered some Traveler Sport so that I can make Rolling Rock for Plucktember.  

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday

It's been several weeks since I've participated in Ten on Tuesday, simply because the day has gotten away from me before I could post!  This week I'm doing it first, BEFORE I get involved in the daily summer craziness.

The prompt this week is 10 Words that Describe You with no elaboration.

1. Reliable
2. Thoughtful
3. Creative
4. Friendly
5. Competent
6. Innovative
7. Confident
8. Respectful
9. Smart
10. Conscientious

So here's a question for you.....  I take pride in everything I do.  Whatever I do, I like to do it well and I want to be proud of my efforts and what I leave behind.  What word would you use to convey that sentiment?

Want to join the fun?  Visit Carole's page to join and see what other people share.

Time for a Finishing Fest

August is the vacation month for Socks Knitters Anonymous but it has turned into the "Free Up Your Needles" month in anticipation of the new year to begin in September.  I gathered up all my SiP's to get organized.....

The good news is I found all the projects that I have on my Ravelry project page.  The bad news is that most of the patterns have to be located still.  That shouldn't be a big deal as I'm pretty good at making a working copy of my patterns and keep the originals in a binder or I know what book they are from.  But I do have 9 socks in progress.  The top picture is the ones that will quality for the SKA challenge, and they are all first socks.

The bottom picture is socks from my sock clubs and I am working on the 2nd sock for both of these.  I'm not quite keeping up but I'm not horribly behind either.  My RSC club arrived on Saturday and the Cookie A club should arrive Monday.  I should finish both of these this week then move onto my older SiP's for the rest of the month.

I wonder how many of these older projects I'll be able to complete during August?

I also got the itch to start a new sweater recently.  I cast on Vodka Lemonade and have been poking away at it a bit at a time.  It's a top down sweater that begins with a collar that is 5 inches of seed stitch! 5 Inches!  Perfect for mindless knitting :-)

Do you have anything fun planned for August?