Those Summer Blahs

It's continued to be hot, and humid with a good chance of multiple scary thunderstorms these past couple of weeks.  That time of year when you are a bit chilly inside in the A/C and go outside to get warm and it takes less than 5 minutes to have your skin feel like it will melt right off you.  Ick.  I'm starting to get in that fall mindset.  And then, there is some vacation time to finally get to look forward to.  Last year's vacation time was nixed by a little suprise appendectomy and my vacation time was used as recovery time.  Not quite as fun and relaxing.  So, I'm really (REALLY!) looking forward to this year's time away from work.  I have no particular plans other than to not have to think too hard about anything, lol.  Now on to the stitching updates.

Nature's Little Helper is progressing at it's usual snail's pace:

The Holden Shawlette almost has the stockinette section done (only 8 more rows).  Then I get to move on to the lace border.  Praying for the Knitting Gods to help me through that. 

Let's just say I'm very happy for lifelines.

The socks, hopefully, will be done in the next week or so.  I'm turning the heel tonight, then it's all downhill from there.  I'm so sick of looking at this same pair for the past two months.  So, of course, I had to go and plump up the sock yarn stash. 

That's Trekking XXL color 43 on the right and Green Dragon Yarns Tonal Lavendar on the left.  The Green Dragon Yarn was quite pricey, but there was no way I was leaving that purple behind.  I have no idea if it will end up as socks or something else yet. 

The good part about summer is the vegetables.  Frying up some squash and onions today.  Yum. 

During the mind-numbingly quiet times at work this week, I have been reading through GlennaC's blog Knitting to Stay Sane and I love, love, love these socks and I think I will soon have to figure out how to knit with more than one color of yarn.  But, I gotta have those socks or something very similar (ie maybe not knee highs). 

But I must, I must first finish the Monkeys and the ribbed socks I started and knit up some of the other stash.  Oh, and there is a hat I am going to try to get to this fall, too.  And it's gotta be in that green.  Well, not THAT green because apparently, they are no longer making that yarn, but I think I can find a good substitute. 

So, I'm off to watch some Olympics (Thanks, NBC for spoiling the swimming you will be showing in prime time with who won...and who lost, which was the bigger news, apparently) and turn the heel on this sock.  Stay cool!

Tamara

Catching Up

Welcome to my new followers!  I have a couple of finishes today, finally. 

Here is Nature's Little Helper:  I think this is 6/28 pages now.

And the one sock of the Monkey pair is finally done! 

Hopefully, the mate will go much faster. 

I have been spending more time at the computer these last two weeks and not picking up needles as much.  I'm looking into my family's genealogy.  It's so fascinating to look back on one's ancestor's lives, isn't it?  People you never knew, but because of them, you exist. 

Ok, enough deep thoughts.  I've got to go start that other Monkey. 

Happy Stitching,
Tamara

Happy Independence Day! (and a page finish)

Welcome to my new follower and Happy 4th of July!

I was planning to get several things done or well progressed, but, of course, I always have more goals than I have ambition or time.  I finished another page on Sanctuary last night (yay!).

HAED Santuary of Knowledge
R Spangler

I think this is 16/77 pages complete.  Since I'm no longer doing them in order, I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to research it right now.  And there is a fairy now! 

I spent a few hours unraveling my shawl to correct a mistake and re-knitting.  I'm back to where I was and I just have to figure out how to keep track of my center stitch.  The yarn-over keeps migrating over the stitch marker and messing me up.  So, I'll be trying a few ideas I saw on Ravelry. 

The monkey (sock) is still on my back.  I'm halfway through the foot and I was hoping to have it finished today or tomorrow, but the shawl sucked up a bit more time than I expected it to.  And now I want to get working on Nature's Little Helper because I also wanted to get a page finish done on it.  I'm soooo close. 

I'm also hoping for no more nasty storms like we've had this past week.  I'm really over those and the 90+ temps. 

Happy Stitching,
Tamara

Last June Update

I can't believe we're looking at the tail end of another month.  Sheesh,  it'll be Christmas before we know it.  I had a little slump this week, so not much progress to report. 

Sanctuary of Knowledge:

HAED Sanctuary of Knowledge
Spangler

Nature's Little Helper:

HAED Nature's Little Helper
Warren

And the never-ending Monkey socks (no-purl version):

Housekeeping is done for today and I am planning to show Sanctuary some love.  I'm hoping to have a page finish by July 4th. 

Happy Stitching,
Tamara

June IHSW and Then Some

Here's my week's progress on Nature's Little Helper.

HAED Nature's Little Helper
Warren

The Monkey socks suffered yet another setback.  I was halfway through the foot when I finally came to the conclusion I really disliked the way the purl sections looked when it was on.  So after asking myself several times if I really wanted to rip it out, sleeping on it, Monday morning I ripped it out.  I restarted it with the no-purl version and so far I'm liking it better. 

Then last week I also spent entirely too much time on Ravelry and decided I could not wait another minute to try to knit a lace shawl/triangle scarf.  So I ran down to the LYS and nabbed some Blue Heron Bamboo Lace yarn.  Now, up to this point I have yet to buy yarn in a hank.  For some reason, I decided not to have them wind it for me.  I do have the ball winder I got for my birthday.  How hard can it be?  (Can you guess where this is headed?)  So, later that night I decided to wind the yarn.  I very soon discovered the benefit of a yarn swift.  Two minutes and I had 1230 yards of a tangled mess.  Oy.  I managed to get part of the skein hung over the banister and got a large part of that wound.  Then I spent the next two evenings untangling from the other end.  Honestly, I thought it would take me months to get it undone.  Valuable lesson learned about hanks of yarn.  If you do it right, it is quick and easy.  Done wrong, not so much.  So now I've cast on and gotten a good start on the Holden Shawlette.  I'm pretty sure I can do it if I can keep the project on the needles.  This stuff is super slippery.  But sooooo soft and pretty.

Holden Shawlette
Blue Heron Bamboo Lace
Summer Meadow

The colors in that picture aren't very true;  it's a richer teal color.  I'm almost halfway through the main body and then the lace portion will start. 

Happy Stitching,
Tamara

Monkey Takes a Vacation

The sock got a mini vacation while I attended a conference for work.  The sock and Nature's Little Helper lolled around in the hotel room whilst I sat through hours of lectures.  Hours and hours. 

At least the view from the balcony was nice.  This is as close as I got to the beach with the time constraints.  The sock very much enjoyed sitting out there in the evening.

After going for a short walk.

And greeting the locals.

Now I'm going to try to settle in for IHSW while I do laundry.  With any luck, there will be an actual needlework update for next week. 

Happy Stitching,
Tamara

If At First You Don't Succeed...

try, try again, right?  The sock in the last post was ripped out Thursday night after I got the heel flap done (why is it looking so funky???) and realized I had only cast on to 3 needles instead of 4.  I've never been a whiz at math, but even I should be able to figure out 16 + 16 + 16 does not equal 64.  You'd think, anyway.  So, the sock was restarted on 4 needles and I started knitting away.  Until Saturday night.  When I had gotten a few repeats of the leg done, tried it on and saw that it was too big.  So it was ripped out again.  On to the size 0 needles.  I have the leg done and it appears to be fitting well.  I hope to get the heel flap done, the heel turned and the stitches for the gussets picked up.  Whew.  The pattern itself is not a problem, fairly easy as long as I don't zone out too much and forget when to stop at the end of the round (yes, even with a stitch marker to remind me).  For anyone interested, I'm loving my new Hiya Hiya DPN's I picked up last week. And this beautiful skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints (85% merino superwash wool/15% mulberry silk).  This stuff feels heavenly! 

And the sock:

Monkey
Paton's Stretch Sock Licorice

The pattern doesn't show up well in the picture.  A tiny bit more progress on Sancuary of Knowledge.  I probably would have stitched on this more if it wasn't for the sock fiasco.

HAED Sanctuary of Knowledge
Spangler

A little fairy is making an appearance in the lower left corner of this page at the edge of the column.  And a pitiful few stitches in Nature's Little Helper.

HAED Nature's Little Helper
Warren

Happy Stitching.
Tamara