Quick and Random Catch Up

June has been another whirlwind month for my family!  In my last post I told you that my mother had been very ill.  I am happy to finally be able to share that after nearly 7 weeks in the hospital, my mom went home last Friday.  The last several days have been filled with home evaluations and making sure all the services she needs to be successful at home, and STAY there, are in place.  Success!!!  I can finally take a deep breath and feel comfortable that all is going to be ok :-)

We also had a couple of big celebrations!  Saturday my nephew Taylor married the love of his life, Vanessa.  What a wonderful person she is and we are all so very pleased that she and Taylor will be making a life together.  Welcome to our family Vanessa!  I think you know that we already love you! The most incredible thing happened at their reception.  Shortly after they arrived and a thundershower had passed, a double rainbow formed over Lake Winnepesaukee, where the reception was held.  With a moment like that, how can their life together be anything but perfect?!?  (If you are friends with me on Facebook, I shared the picture that the photographer took of them under it.  It's stunning!)

My middle son, Justin who is on the left in this picture, celebrated his 21st Birthday on Sunday! Crazy! I'm not exactly sure how it's possible that 21 years have passed since he was born, but shockingly it has.  He's a great kid and I'm proud to be his mom :-)

In knitting news, I recently knit Vancouver by Samantha Roshak, aka KnitQuest, as a sample for Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  It's knit with their BFL Sport which is just fabulous. (I might have some in my stash, enough for a sweater even. I just need to decided on a pattern) This spent a lot of time with me at the various hospitals my mother was a patient in during May and the beginning of June.  If you went to Black Sheep Gathering this year, you would have seen it in person.  Be sure to look for it the next time you visit BMFA at a festival or show!

And last but certainly not least, today is our Anniversary!  Tom and I have been married for 27 years. We're going to take a quick trip to Niagra Falls for the weekend.  Admittedly it's part Anniversary trip and part R&R because I am just plain exhausted.  I'm looking forward to it :-)  It's also the beginning of vacation of us, so hopefully there will be lots of R&R over the next 10 days!

Have a great weekend!  And say a little prayer that the house will still be standing when we get home.  The boys are staying home alone together for the first time.....

PS- Is it bad that I spent more time deciding what to bring for knitting that I did clothes?  It's a 9 hour drive. I have 2 partial socks and my Vodka Lemonade packed.  I hope it's enough :-)

Dear Month of May....

There are so many ways I would like to finish that sentence. But how about we go with "Here's your hat, what's your hurry?"  Most of this past month has been consumed by major health issues and if I'm being honest, scares, with my oldest son and my mother.  The short story is that my oldest son had a bowel obstruction.  The good news is that the surgeons at our local hospital, which is part of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical school system I am thankful to say, were able to resolve the blockage without surgery.  The bad news is that it did end up taking nearly 5 days and he was hospitalized for 6 days.  He's doing great now and has resumed all his normal activities like nothing ever happened!

During Matthew's hospitalization my mother was hospitalized with what turned out to be multiple issues that took time to identify and even more time to resolve.  She was transferred to a major medical center which is located an hour's drive from home and spent 2 weeks there.  This weekend she was moved to a nursing home much closer to home.  The hope and goal is that this will be a short term rehab stay.  I wish I could say that I am seeing good progress in her condition, but sadly I'm not. I've been trying to do my best to help not only my mother through this, but my dad as well.  So much information to absorb and so many questions that needed to be asked.  It has worn us both out!  If you are so inclined and could remember my mom in your prayers, my family would greatly appreciate it.

I have managed to squeeze in a bit of fun though.  I made it to all but one of Chandler's lacrosse games.  He was a proud and happy kid to put on that school jersey and play! Almost forgot, he got his license too.  Perfectly timed as luck would have it, as he got it literally two days before all heck broke loose!

 

I've knit a sock from the March RSC kit and am on the heel turn for the second sock.

Today I decided I needed a little retail therapy.  My LYS just got in a big shipment of Madelinetosh, so I treated myself to a sweater's worth of Vintage.  The color is Mourning Dove and I'm planning to make Narragansett by Baby Cocktails with it.

I also picked up this handy tray system for starting seeds.  I want to plant a small garden again this year.  I think I'm a little late to be starting, but... what the heck.  If it doesn't work out I'll go buy some plants to put in later.

That's been my month in a nutshell.  I'm ready to move on.  So, month of May.... don't let the door hit you as you leave.  June, I'll be glad to see you.  Please treat us nicely.  I think we've earned it.

Firestarter

The last time I posted I said that I would probably focus on my Firestarter sock so that I could hopefully finish it before the end of the month.  I did it!  I finished these Saturday night and was able to take a couple pictures on Sunday.  I had started this pattern before and ripped it out because I couldn't quite get it right.  I'm not sure why I was so intimidated by the pattern.  Once I decided that I WAS going to make these for the March Sock Knitters Anonymous cable challenge I conquered it!  I did make one modification by using Judy's Magic Cast On for the toe instead of the provisional cast on, but that was it.

Here's a close-up of the gusset and heel.  I love the simple cable along the side of the foot and how it splits for the gusset expansion.  If I make these again or another Yarnissima pattern, I will shorten the gusset by an increase or two.  These are just a smidge longer than I would  like.

I decided to use the Russian Bind Off.  Thank you Jennifer for the suggestion!  I checked my Wendy Johnson book and she had great instructions for this bind off.  Plus I really like how the finished edge sits right on top of the cuff, there's no slant to it at all and it has the perfect amount of stretch.

Here are the final details:
Pattern: Firestarter by Yarnissima
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, color is Beached
Needles: 2.25mm for foot & 2.5mm for leg
Mods: Judy's Magic Cast On instead of provisional

My Sweet Lunch Date

Do you remember the sweet little sweater I showed you a couple months ago that I made for my niece Morgan? She has grown into it and wore it yesterday when she came to visit for lunch with her mom and big brother! She is so adorable! I had a great afternoon with her.

She was completely pooped out by the time they left.  It must be because it's so much fun at Auntie's house :-)  (I apologize for the sideways picture.  I haven't figured out yet how to rotate pictures with this new blogger format)

On the knitting front, I have plenty going on.  I finished the first Clandestine sock.  I can't say that it's my favorite pattern to knit, but I really love the way it looks finished.  It may stay a single sock for a bit though before I tackle the second one.

I cast on the March Rockin Sock Club sock pattern, Redbud.  It  so pretty and I was ready to knit something that wasn't blue!

I also cast on Pointelle for the Knit Sock Love KAL.  I chose Skinny Bugga in Acmon Blue from my stash as it is a sponsor yarn for this pattern, and I like to use sponsor products when I can.  I'm not sure I'm loving it though.  The pattern seems lost.  I'm not sure if it's the yarn or the color or if I just don't have enough pattern knit yet to give it a chance to shine.  After a couple days of thought I've decided that I'm going to knit another 6 rounds or so on this one and I'm also going to cast on in a different yarn.  Then I'll decide which one I want to continue with.

I also started my 2nd Firestarter sock. I took this picture in the morning and I finished the gusset and started the heel turn while waiting for Chandler during lacrosse practice in the afternoon.  I think I'm going to focus on this sock for the next couple days so that I can finish it for the end of the month.

That would be two finished pairs of socks in one month!  Woohoo!

The Djinni's Out of the Bottle

I completed my Dragonfly Fibers Mystery sock KAL last night!  I love the look of this finished sock.  This pattern was divided up into 6 clues.  Let's take a closer look at them...

Clue 1 - The cuff is a pretty cabled rib.

Clue 2 - The Leg is a ribbed cable with wrapped stitches.  Very cool look!

Clue 3 - The Heel Flap is a patterned heel flap that is a continuation of the leg pattern.  Very sexy heel.

Clue 4 - Cristi's signature double gusset on the bottom of the foot which led into Clue 5 which is an eyelet foot/instep.

Clue 6 - a patterned round toe.

Personally I am not a big fan of the round toe on a sock.  It's not my best skill.  I have a hard time pulling it tight enough so that it doesn't open up while I'm wearing it.  I thought hard about changing the toe to my personal favorite wedge toe with kitchener stitch finishing, but decided to suck it up and give it the college try one more time.  You can see that I pulled that sucker as tight as i could until I worried the yarn might break, then I tried tacking it a couple extra times.  I have my fingers crossed that it will hold.

Pattern: Djinni in a Bottle by Cristi Brockway and Rosi Garmendia
Yarn: Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock, color Arctic Pearl
Needle: 2.25mm
Start: March 25
Finish: April 19
Mods: None!

WiP Wednesday

I have some actual progress to show!  I finished the foot and toe of the Dragonfly Fibers Mystery Sock.  I haven't cast on for sock #2 yet because I'm trying to make some progress on other projects too.  But soon, very soon...

Clandestine has gotten some attention.  I'm almost finished the leg.  Just a few rows to go and then it's time for the heel flap.

I've turned the heel on my Firestarter sock and am making great progress on the leg.  I'm not a big toe up knitter, so I'm not super sure about the best bind off for this.  What's your favorite toe up bind off?  I'd love to hear what you like and why.

I have sleeve separation on my Vodka Gimlet sweater!  I've tried it on and the fit is great too!  This is still my car knitting, but I did bring it in the house to do the sleeve separation.  I figured that would be hard to do while supervising Chandler driving :-)

Que Sera hasn't gotten any attention for a couple weeks so I didn't bother to take any pictures of it.  It may continue to rest until I get a couple of these projects finished.

I hope you're having a great week!  I'm going to have a bit of a lazy afternoon myself today.  I just need to decide if I'm going to watch last night's episode of Deadliest Catch, or begin Season 2 of Downton Abbey on DVD :-)

Mystery Monday

The final clue came out yesterday for the Dragonfly Fibers Mystery Sock KAL.  I have about an inch to finish on the foot before I start the toe.  Stay tuned!  Or better yet, join the fun!