April 23rd is special because.....

Here is something cool, I was tagged by MidwestKnitGirl.

The rules: Go to Wikipedia and type in your birth month and date (mine is April 23), then post 3 events, 2 births and a holiday. Then tag 5 others, I only did 2, sorry. I tag LaurieC, BetteM,. I actually thought this was an interesting one to do.

Events: 1597 - Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
1867 - William Lincoln patents the zoetrope, a machine which shows animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel.
1988 - Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon, after spending the record total of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200, left the charts for its first time ever


Births: 1564 - William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright
1928 - Shirley Temple, American actress and politician

Holiday: National Beer Day in Germany (THE BEST!! I AM GERMAN)

No pool = lots of knitting

Not a lot of pool time this week, so I did a lot of knitting! I did a test bag and it worked out fine, so I made the real bag yesterday/today for the Notions Bag Swap, isn't it the cutest thing? Now I need to find a magnet to include in the package.
I finished all the pieces for the ITE IV tote, just waiting for it to dry so I can put it together.
I even cast on for a pair of CF socks for me! I was going to use Trek Casts On Pilchard socks, but they were TOO BIG. I frogged them and I'll just use my handy dandy anklet pattern, but make them taller.
I've been scouring for patterns for the rest of my sock yarn, I think I will try the Monkey and Jaywalker Socks that are all over the knitting blog world.
Big weather changes today, finally some rain (big thunderstorms) but it has been a month since we've had any rain.

Is this a problem?

I was going through the stash the other day, and this is how much sock yarn I have! If you count, I think there are 19 pairs!! Oh my, earlier this year I was on a yarn diet (I don't think it worked, even though I pledged to not buy myself any yarn, I was in 4 swaps, so my stash grew!). This time I'm serious, no more sock yarn (see how I get around that) though, technically I am only making socks, and I buy the other yarn as needed per project.
My ITE IV tote is drying, I think I need to re-make the pocket, I didn't follow the directions and it is too large (it did shrink during felting, but it is still larger than the bag) I'll give that a few days. I've finally found the bag I'm going to make for the Notion Bag Swap here.
I'm going to test it out today. And my friend LaurieC is back from vacation today! Yipee. I really missed her!

Etsy yarn

Here is the yarn I ordered from Etsy; ZenGarden. I LOVE the colorway!! and the cute little sock travel bag and stitch marker!
I don't think I'm going to make socks from this yarn, I'm just going to keep it on the mantle and look at it all the time :) HA

Off to the LYS this morning, the contrasting yarn I bought for my ITE IV tote is not going to work; I think the yarns will felt differently and the tote will get messed up. Oh well, more stash for socks!

News Flash

The LL socks are FINISHED!!! YIPEE. But look and see how much yarn is left...what to do with it? Maybe little girl socks? Don't know. I do know that I can now cast on for the 1st of 3 pairs of CF anklets for my friend!
Oh Boy, I looked in the stash, I have so much sock yarn!
I feel like I'm living in the SocksInTheCity podcast with Carrie!!
The 2nd sock went much faster than the 1st.
Started June 4, Finished June 16, 12:55pm (just as the baseball game was ending)

Big News! Big News!

My secret pal is (was) Patty!!! aka MidwestKnitGirl.
She was the best pal ever! She was so good at keeping her identy secret. Though, I did read her blog at the end, she had emailed me about joining her "friends" swap, and I did, how funny. Very cool, check out her blog. See all the great stuff she sent in her reveal package:
Cherry Hill sock yarn and pattern, homemade candles, candy bars (yum, now she likes these!) t-shirt and pencils for the Mall of America (she lives 5 miles from there, no yarn stores though). I had such great fun in the SP10! Can't wait for the next one.
And, the 2nd best news!!! I am currently working the toe decrease on the 2nd LL sock! YES, I will be finished with it today!!! happy happy joy joy. Then I can concentrate on the ITE IV tote and all those CF Anklets for my friend.

Double the fun!

Here are 2 packages I received yesterday.
First is my Stitch marker swap pal, Nicola, from England. She personally dyed this yarn for me :) see the beautiful green color! It also has yellow and white. It is Blue Faced Leicester laceweight, I'm looking for a pattern for a shawl or stole, any ideas out there? Also received some adorable stitch markers, all shoe related (in green) and some English chocolate that was total liquid upon delivery. It is in the fridge trying to regain its shape!
The second package is from my Swap-bot small knit kit pal Terry-Jo. I received 2 skeins of CF Mardi Gras, sock patter, needles, stitch holder and my favorite gum. Plus a cute little bag to hold the socks while they are being made up!
Thanks to both of you! Off I go to finish my current projects, LL sock #2 and the ITE IV tote.

Updates

My 10 year old took this picture in art class! I love it so much I had shutterfly make notecards.

Well, today is the last full day of school, i.e. the last full day of MY vacation before the boys are home! Yikes, where did the year go? It went by sooooo fast. I am so looking forward to not having to drive them back and forth every day. They don't go to our neighborhood school, I chose to put them in the school where I work, so that means no bus service, no pushing them out the front door while standing in my robe, holding my coffee. I must physically get dressed (well, pj's covered up by sweatpants)and take them myself. It was not that bad, only seemed to be a pain since I finished up preschool.

Knitting is being accomplished. I just keeping going round and round on my ITE IV tote, a few more inches, then I start the decrease and then the pocket and the trim. Should (should) be done soon. I don't think I'll have much goodies to put inside, because I don't know what she likes.

SP10 pal says a box is coming my way soon and I will be very surprised! Maybe she is coming in the box?

News and Views

Not really, it just sounded nice :)

I am going to turn the heel on the second LL sock tonight! I don't care that it's not going to match the first one, I think I'll send them to sister who doesn't mind when things don't match! (not really) I'll keep them, I love the yarn.

Then I need to make 3 pairs of CF anklets for my friend and finish up my ITE IV tote. I did a lot of work on it this weekend, even worked on it Saturday (Knit in Public Day). I was the only one knitting at the baseball game. 12" of round and round, I think I'm at 8 or 9".

I've joined another swap, the Notions Bag Swap, my SP10 pal told me about it, her friend is running it, so I joined. Got my pal's name tonight.

Still waiting on 2 packages, one is coming from England, hopefully this week, the other, I don't really know, I lost my upstream's name, and I haven't heard anything since the "hello I am your pal" email. Maybe this week.

Really loving the podcasts! But that Socksinthecity is DANGEROUS!! I finally broke down and went to Etsy; and bought some pretty pretty yarn, hopefully that will come this week and I'll post pictures.

Off to get the boys in bed; this is THE LAST WEEK OF MY VACATION, school is out on Friday. We did join the pool today, so I know where I'll be spending lots of time :)

Stripey VS. Blotchy

OK, I don't know what to do. The first LL sock came out all nice and stripey-like. The second sock is coming out more blotches of colors, and the colors are not exactly the same. The red is more vibrant in the 1st, and there seems to be more brown in the 2nd. I have no idea if they are the same dye-lot, can't find the other tag, but this is the yarn my hubby bought for me in CA, and I'm hoping the ladies at the yarn store would have checked to make sure the two skeins matched. So when I'm finished, I will have a pair of socks that are basically the same color but they will not "MATCH" each other. I am big on matching, things must match, they must look the same (very Type A, that is me :)
UUUGGGGHHHHH all the time put into these socks.

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO??? and do not even think for one second that I am going to frog this 2nd sock. I want to be done and move on...I treated myself yesterday to some Koigu.

I think I should just stay away from any type of patterning sock yarn, I can never ever get them to match, even when I find the pattern and try to match. Solid colors only for me.

IT'S DONE!! IT'S DONE!!!

Yesterday evening the sock mojo fairy paid me a visit, I just started knitting and kept moving along at top speed (maybe that socks in the city podcast helped? I just found her and I love the podcast). But looked what I did, the LL sock is finished!! See how beautiful it is? and it fits like a dream :)

Here are the specifics:
Started: I don't recall, maybe March??
Finished: Monday, June 4, 4:10 pm
Pattern: Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, Lichen Ribbed Sock
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Color 107 Red Rover
Needles: size 1 dpn

Only a few modifications to the pattern, I did 7" on the leg (not 8 1/2") and for some reason, I picked up additional stitch so on the gusset I had to do 1 additional decrease.

I love it!!
Now, off to cast on for the mate before I lose the sock mojo :)

Finally....something is finished!

Here are some CF socks for my friend, she didn't want anklets, so I used two different colors and made them taller! How cute. I have some yarn left, so I guess I could have made them even taller.
Now, off to finish that LL sock (but not the mate) and cast on for my ITE IV tote!
Happy weekend.

Trouble with a capitol "T"

Have you seen this??
Could be BIG BIG trouble :)

Happy Endings

This is going to be long....

Can you believe it? Hockey is over, we had our final game last night. Now we are hockey free until....................June 5. HA, the boys are skating once a week in June & July, because you know, the season never really ends :) and then we are back to training camp early August. Oh well, I will savor in my 5 rink-free days. Back to cooking every night, oh, except Tuesdays and Wednesdays (baseball).

Yesterday was also the last day of Preschool, we had our "Teddy Bear Picnic". All the classes were there, playing games, eatting lunch and saying goodbye to friends. Some are off to kindergarten, some are off to different preschools and some are off to different teachers (but within the same preschool). I had a GREAT first year and I'm looking forward to a whole new batch of children next year. I couldn't have done it without all the love and support and friendship of everyone in my classes, so THANK YOU to all the moms and Mrs. T too!

SP10 is also winding down, I think June 15 is the end. I've had a great time, even though my pal figured me out early on, I still had tons of fun making up her packages and sending her notes. My upstream pal has been very secretive, she finally will reveal herself (I think) in the last package.

I've sent off my swap-bot small knit kit to Chile, should be there in 5-10 days, I'm waiting for my package. I know LaurieC received my beaded stitch marker package, my package is coming from England, so I know it will take awhile.

ITE IV matches were sent out earlier this week, I've been in contact with both up and downstream pals :) I'm bouncing back and forth between 3 patterns, I'll have to chose today, as I'm off to the LYS to buy the yarn.

Comerica Park is participating in Stitch & Pitch this year!! YES, I've got my ticket for the Sept 9 game vs. Seattle. It's going to be a blast, hope the weather is nice and the Tigers are winning. I have no knitting friends locally, would any of you cyber-pals like to make a trip to up for this fantastic event?? It'll be fun.

And finally, I am knitting, I have 2 different socks on the needles, that darn LL sock, I have turned the heel, finished the gusset and am making my way down the foot. I can't even believe I'm going to have to make the mate uugghh
I've also got some Cascade Fixation going from my friend, she wanted taller than the ankles, so I'm making 2-tone, very cute, I'll post when finished. Then my friend, the chef, wants me to make the ankle socks for her and her daughter. And if that's not enough, I even bought more yarn to try the Magic Loop method. I really need help here, does anyone have a pattern for easy Magic Loop socks? I'm not sure I'll be able to translate a regular pattern (all that changing needles and etc.) Let me know if you do.

There, that's it! Told you it was long. Since I'm not working T/Th/F anymore, my second grader wants me to come have lunch with him, so I'm off for popcorn chicken!

Dishcloth swap

Received my package this week, in the midst of the electronic issues!
Beautiful cloth and wonderful goodies! Thank you so much!

I've got my package ready to send to Chile for the swap-bot small knit kit exchange, I'll go to the post office on Tuesday.

And FINALLY names go out on the 29th for ITE IV!! Cannot wait. I've got a few bags picked out, I just need color choices from my partner.

So sad, last day of preschool was Thursday. We packed the school away that night, and now we have the big picnic to look forward to! That is going to be on Wednesday. My kids get out of school on June 15th, so I have Tues Thurs and Fri all to myself until then!! I still work at their school on Mon and Wed.

P.S. HAVE YOU NOTICED? MORE BOOKS ARE BEING READ THAN PROJECTS ARE BEING KNIT AND COMPLETED. I HAVE 3 MORE BOOKS ON THE SHELF TO READ!!

Electronic issues

I have been having MAJOR electronic issues these past few days. Computer has been "iffy" too many updates and it doesn't like to work.

I had purchased myself a brand new ipod nano last Monday, it decided to stop working today (or yesterday or Monday after I loaded the KnitPicks podcast) needless to say, I was at the gym, ready to get on the treadmill and the darn thing was stuck between 2 screens.

I came home and tried everything listed on the Apple website to make it work, nada no good zippo. Called Apple, explained the situation, and the girl makes me go through EVERYTHING I HAD JUST DONE!! Finally she realized it was majorly messed up and said I could return it to Target for a new one.

After working all afternoon to get this new one going, I think the original one I had purchased had been returned...hmmmmmm maybe because it didn't work properly?

Anyway, funny story, I had purchased the lime green one (HA you even had to ask) and the original Target store had only pink, silver or black, would I care for one of those? I said, Miss, see what I'm wearing (lime green shirt, green ring, fancy green bracelet from my sp10 downstream and my green keychain) do you think I want pink or green or silver? I think not. :) So I had to call another Target and put the only green one they had in stock, on hold (see, green is everyone's favorite color).

ITE IV - REVISED

. Name and blogger handle: Leslie aka LeslieJ

2. Blog URL (if applicable): a purse a day

3. Do you want a purse that is felted/not felted/surprise me: Love felted!!

4. Color/fiber likes and dislikes: I love green (really?), or any color, except orange, OK, I HAVE DECIDED I DO NOT HATE ORANGE SO MUCH ANYMORE, A LITTLE BIT OF TRIM OR MAYBE SMALL ACCENT OF ORANGE WOULD BE OK :) (see I'm branching out)

5. Do you tend to be dressy or casual? Very casual, I work at a preschool

6. Prefer a pal who lives in the USA or international? Either works for me

7. Miscellaneous info (anything you want to tell your pal): This is my second ITE exchange, I had lots of fun in the first one and can't wait to get started again.
I have 2 boys who play hockey, so I am always driving them around.
I (sometimes) scrapbook and I love to read.

And another post for today

Just received this package from my SP10.
Very cute stitch markers (beach themed), spices, a bookmark and a tiny scrapbook kit (really need to get back on track with that)
Thank you so much. Who are you??

I will be sending a package to my SP10 on Monday, also my Beaded Stitch Marker Swap package to TADA....LaurieC! (Hope it wasn't a secret swap)

SP contest #6

Here is my current (and only WIP) and it has been in progress for almost 2 months.
It started out as a "Sensational Knitted Sock", but it was going to be too big (I wrote earlier about the frogging). It is now a Nancy Bush sock, but I am getting bored with it. I did actually start on the heel a few nights ago, but I haven't been back. You will notice the sock is RED, but the one pictured is GREEN. I am branching out (teehee)

Also, I have decided that I am not totally against the color ORANGE. I received some Orange flowers last week at preschool (from the kids) and I think they looked quite lovely. So I may try and branch out and start using maybe a SMALL amount of ORANGE as an accent color in my next big extravaganza (that's a 3's preschool word) I'm not planning on knitting any orange socks or anything :)

I WON!

How cool is that? I won contest #5 for SP10. My hostess Robyn, has sent me a virutal sock pattern for winning! (Now, if I could only figure out how to retrieve it! I am having issues with Adobe)
I'll keep you updated!
9:52 am - we are good to go! Robyn re-sent the pattern and I have received! Now, which yarn to use?? :)