I did it!

Re-cast on for sock #2 for the Vintage Sock Swap on Thursday and finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I really like the pattern (Child's French Sock). It knits up super fast and it's very easy to memorize. Now it's off to the post office for these fellows along with some other goodies for my pal.

I also managed to get a hold of the camera to take pictures of the Christmas yarn that the hubster got for me.
Cherry Tree Hill in Jewels and Gypsy Rose and Dream in Color Smooshy Sock in Ruby River. Soo in love with the Smooshy Sock.



These are the ones I got from The Sheeps Tale. Cherry Tree Hill Cherry Blossom, Wild Cherry, and Winterberry. Opal Neon somethingoranotherIdon'tremember.



And to round it all out I got some pretties from The Loopy Ewe. Cherry Tree Hill Sugar Maple (for Firestarter Socks) and the Claudia Handpainted in Sherbet is for my SITM2 pal. And that, my friends, is the last bit of yarn I'm allowed to order until at least Easter. I figured if I told myself 'No yarn for a year!' I would be stalking the Loopy Ewe for a sneakup or something very shortly. But 3 months is no big deal. If I can make it 3 months and I'm not on edge then I'll see if I can make it to my birthday.

Oh! In the mail on Saturday I got a package from Betty in Hawaii (Hi Betty!) with some beautiful blue multicolored millefiori glass bead stitch markers! My camera battery is currently dead so I can't take a picture, but they did come and they are super pretty and I can't wait to start using them. I guess I'd better get my heiney in gear and finish the last two sets for my pals to send out next week. Or maybe before the end of this week if I'm ambitious.

Haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

So sorry to my pals that have been trying to get to know me through my blog. December wasn't a very good month. Sick kid, sick me, doctors visits, hospital stay and now I can't drive a car or yawn, but I won't have gallbladder problems anymore!

Christmas was good though. Santa brought the kid an easel and fun stuff to go with it, she got some toys as well but I tried to keep it low key this year. She has a ton of toys as it is and is the only kid on both sides of the family so she is rather spoiled. The husband got his coveted PS3 and I got a Nintendo DS and some loverly sock yarn that the husband picked out all by his lonesome (I think I'll keep him).

I don't have pictures of the Christmas yarns (not sure where the camera is atm), but I do have a picture of the lovely things that my No-More-Hum-Drum Mittens swap pal, Melissa, sent me.



The new Cat Bordhi book, knitpicks harmony dpns and some beautiful pink Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. I have no idea how she knew I wanted that book, knitter telepathy I guess. I can't wait to crack into that sucker and see what fun new things Cat Bordhi can teach me! I had been waiting for those needles too. Every time I went to order, they were out of stock. Melissa must have a quick clicky finger! I also finished my mittens for the swap. I did Matrix from the most recent Knitty and I think they turned out pretty well.




I wanted to keep them for myself >.> I need to work on stranding a bit more, but I think for beginning tries they don't look too bad. I figured out color dominance and holding both colors in one hand. I have also been knitting away on the socks for my SITM2 pal. I had been looking for orange yarn for my pals socks since I didn't have any in my stash (other than Halloween yarn and I wasn't too sure about that) so hubbo decided to stop off at the yarn store after work (woah! was my reaction too) and picked up a skein of Opal Rainforest 'Otto der Tanzer', which is the bird with blues and oranges and browns. I finished the first sock while in the hospital (kitchenered the toe while on morphine, that was a feat) and the second sock last night.



That's the best I can do picture-wise right now. They match up perfectly. I am so very happy with the way they turned out. I am a big fan of the Opal yarn now. I found The Sheeps Tale had some of theirs on sale for as low as $7.25 a skein. There went my 'knit from your stash' diet for 2008. I ended up with $55 worth of yarn in my cart (can't resist the siren song of Cherry Tree Hill) and the husband finished my order for me while I was getting the kid ready for bed (I think he wants something. He usually rolls his eyes at my yarnyness, but lately he has been supportive. Although he has been dropping hints and asides about needing new computer parts. I'll bet that's what this is about...)

I have been thinking about my knitting goals for 2008 and have decided that there are two things that I would really like to do. Start and finish a sweater for me, and try my hand at steeking. Not going to give myself a pile of resolutions or anything like that. I figure if I can knock out those two goals then I'll have had a pretty good year and anything else I learn will be icing on that cake. Mmm cake. For now I have to finish sock #2 for the Vintage Sock Swap and get that package ready to send out. Gotta get it done before Monday. Just can't get sidetracked by my Nintendo DS, the PS3 or my wee warlock on the Warcraft. Focus, Jess, focus!

Things that I am Thankful for

This a contest for the Sock it to me Twice swap, but it is also something I have been thinking about recently.

Two nights ago my youngest brother found my middle brother on the garage floor face down in a pool of blood, so the very first thing I am thankful for is that he is alive and on the mend.#2 bro found #1 bro and we were able to administer assistance and prevent a terrible thing from happening (he had been drinking heavily and it was very cold outside, terrible terrible things). He is doing much better now. The lump on his forehead is draining down his face so he looks like he got into a fistfight.
After that happy story I'll move on to nicer things. The #2 and #3 things I am thankful for are my kids. One human and one canine.

#4 is this guy. My wonderful husband.








#5 is my family.
#6 having a roof over my head and a safe vehicle to drive
#7 my health. Things have been a bit hurry up and wait lately, but we've figured out what's wrong and are planning on what to do to fix it.
#8 is my husbands job. I am very lucky to be able to stay home with C while he works
#9 the ability to be free. I am very thankful for the men and women in the armed services and for everything they do to make sure we stay free and safe.
#10 chocolate.

Sock it to Me Twice!

1. How long have you been knitting? Do you consider yourself beginner, intermediate, advanced?
It'll be 4 years in January. I consider myself to be intermediate/advanced. I'm not afraid to try new techniques. I think the scariest thing would be steeking. Cutting into my knitting on purpose gives me the heebies. I'm going to need try it soon though. Aversion therapy =)

2. How long have you been knitting socks?
Probably for almost 3 and a half years. My third project was a sock. I knit a scarf, a hat and then a sock. The sock took me a month to finish and now lives in my sock yarn drawer without a mate.

3. What are your favorite fibers to work with?
I haven't worked with anything other than wool and cotton. I think I need to branch out from socks, sweaters and dishcloths.

4. What is your favorite color?
If I had to pick one it would be blue. If I was allowed more than one answer it would be blue, pink, purple, green and red.

5. What are your current WIPs (works in progress)?
Hahahaha. Did my husband put you up to this question? The short answer is Selbu Mittens, a pair of socks for a swap, Tangled Yoke Cardi, Enormous Mittens and a hat for the kidlet.

6. Name your favorite yarns, (brand, fibers, colors, etc.).
Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Chewy Spaghetti, Cider Moon

7. What are some yarns/fibers that you stay away from.
None really

8. What is your family situation? (Married, kids, pets?)
Married, 4 year old daughter, 1 Labrador

9. Name some of your hobbies.
Other than knitting I do counted cross-stitch, quilt and sew clothes and costumes on my 'borrowed' sewing machine.

10. Name some of your favorite movies?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Silence of the Lambs, The Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart

11. Do you like to read?
I love to read. Before I had my daughter I worked at a bookstore and read a book a day or so. Since having her that has severely dwindled. I miss reading, but I don't think I could read a paperback and knit at the same time. I'm just not that talented.

12. Do you collect anything?
Dog hair and dirty socks? I used to collect frog figurines years ago. If you asked my husband he'd tell you I collect sock yarn.

13. Do you own an iPod or mp3 player?
I have an mp3 player, but I don't use it. Never found a time I needed it =/

14. What are your favorite type of knitting needles?
I'm digging my knitpicks metal dpns at the moment. I would really like to try their new wooden ones, but every time I go to order something they're out.

15. What knitting notion could you not live without?
My sewing needle. Somehow I'm down to one out of the 5 I started with. I guard it with my life.

16. Who are some of your favorite designers?
I don't have any

17. Do you subscribe to any magazines? (Knitting or otherwise.)
I have a subscription to IK

18. When is your birthday?
July 4

19. Do you have a "wishlist", (on Ravelry, Froogle, or Amazon)?
I do on amazon. It's under jessnoyes(at)comcast(dot)net. If the search comes up with children's toys, that's the old list that I can't seem to get rid of =( I don't need anything from that one.

20. Do you have a Ravelry ID?
JessN

21. If you had a sheep, what would you name it?
Clarabelle (yes I know that was a cow. she would also have a pink bow =D)

And then some?

When I asked the ultrasound tech if I had everything that was supposed to be in there she said 'And then some'. Turns out I have at least 5 gallstones, the largest of which is blocking the bile duct. That is the one that is causing me the problems when I eat fatty foods. I have an appointment with a surgeon on 12/5 and hopefully won't have to wait very long to get the thing out of me.

Enough about my innards and on to the knitting. Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures at the moment, but I have been working on the socks for my Vintage Sock Swap pal. I decided to do the Child's French Sock pattern. I liked the color of the ones in the book so I pulled some KnitPicks Essential in Burgundy out of my stash. I have just finished turning the heel and am on my way down the foot. I'm also making some enormous mittens for enormous hubbo's hands. Using the Urban Necessities pattern from MagKnits, but I went up a needle size to accommodate his 9.75 palm circumference. Luckily the first one fits quite well.

My etsy favorites list is currently 3 pages long. I think I need to decide on what I am getting my pals from the Mitten Swap and the Sock Swap and order it so I can be sure it's here in time for mailing. How to narrow three pages of super neat stuff? sigh...

That's all it is?!

I had another 'episode' Sunday night/Monday morning and decided that the 7th one was enough to make me go to the ER to see if there was something seriously wrong (this one wasn't nearly as bad as the previous one, thank Maude). At the ER I was diagnosed with 'abdominal pain', given a shot of pain meds (that did pretty much nothing), told I need to have an ultrasound of my gallbladder, and I'm not to eat anything fatty or delicious ever again. Or until I have that sucker ripped out. I have an appointment with a GI doc on Monday so hopefully I'll get this solved before having another one of these episodes. I could really do without being taken out with pain for about a week.

In knitting news I have gotten some stuff done while attempting to pretend I'm not in pain. I have almost completed one of the mittens for my swap partner. I think I might be redoing this one though. This one is almost too tight I think so I am going to knit the right one a needle size up and see if that helps. And my floats where the needles changeare a bit tight. Good thing I have heaps of yarn. I have also finished about 8 mittens for Cait, but none of them seem to fit her properly. There's one on the needles right now that look like they might be a winner.

*grumble grumble* Shipping *grumble grumble*

According to the 'tracking' website my Knitpicks package was supposed to be here yesterday but got to my local post office this morning after 10am. Grrrrr. I didn't cast anything on yesterday because I didn't want to abandon a project for the mittens. I was itchy itching for something to knit today so I cast on Calorimetry this morning and finished this afternoon.



So my itchy fingers were calmed for a bit, but I still want to cast on for some Halloween socks. Itchy, itchy, itchy.