What? Needles has a Non-Sock FO!

Yes, I have finished a non-sock project. It has been awhile since I've finished a project that wasn't a sock. In between sock madness rounds, I couldn't stand the feel of sock yarn & small needles so I cast on a shawl using worsted weight yarn.



Pattern: Forest Canopy by Susan Lawerence. This pattern is also available through the Ravelry Store.
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Pansy Golightly (2 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Interchangeable, US Size 9 (5.5 mm)
Cast-on: March 29 Bind-Off: April 10 Blocked: April 19
Modifications: I used worsted weight instead of DK, 16 pattern repeats instead of 12


Here is a better picture of the texture. It is before blocking.



In other news, I finished my round 3 socks last week, cast-on round 4 tonight, & cast-on French Market Bag last night. More details later.

TTFN

AARGH!

Imagine Charlie Brown's cry of frustration after he believes Lucy won't move that football again . . . AARGH! That's the sound I made today.

I never knew I could be so competitive until I joined Sock Madness 2. I told myself that I wasn't going to worry about the 3rd round. Then, I received the 3rd round pattern, Slippin' Stripin' Socks. It came on a Thursday evening. I had lesson planning to do, my house was a mess, my children needed help for their school projects. . .I was behind in all areas of my life. But, there was this pattern, calling my name. ". .. Carol, cast me on . . . come on, you know you wanna . . . Carol . . ." Normally, I'm strong but I bowed to the pressure that was the pattern.

The sock had a totally new to me construction, knit with 2 strands of lace weight yarn. I cast on using JaggerSpun Zephyr in Emerald and Black. I knit until bed Thursday night.

I got up early Friday morning & finished the lesson planning that I needed for that day & wrote an algebra quiz. As soon as I finished, I knit until it was time to leave. After school, I went to my daughter's softball game. Of course, I knit while I was there. I ended up leaving early because I got a migraine. I was unable to knit the rest of the day & went to bed at 6 pm.

Saturday, I was still having problems with light sensitivity & recovering from the migraine so I didn't get to any of the softball or baseball games. I did use the time to knit & took several naps. Here's my sock Saturday morning. . .




I knit as much as I could Saturday & Sunday. I had to help the kids with their Science Fair projects & go get my taxes done. I decided that my grading & lesson planning could wait until Monday morning. The Sock Madness divisions were filling up quickly. About 9 o'clock Sunday night, I started to grow weary. My hands hurt, I was tired, & I wasn't sure I could continue. For a minute or two, I debated about staying up all night to finish the socks & still go to work. Then I toyed with the idea of staying up all night & calling in sick. Finally, I did the right thing & put my socks down so I could go to bed. When I got up at 4:30 Monday morning, all divisions were full.

As you can see, I was so close.



I'm full of "if only"s . .if only I didn't get a migraine Friday. . .if only I stayed up later Saturday night. . .if only I didn't help my kids & ignored my husband . . .I might have advanced to round 4.

I'm sure my family is happier now that I'm out. My husband supported me the first & second rounds. I don't think he was too pleased about this last round.

I plan to continue & will knit all the other rounds as the patterns are released. Maybe I can increase my speed so I'll get even further next year.

A Big Whine

I don't normally talk about my health but this post will be about that.

March 25th I woke up with the funny sensation that I always have before I get a migraine. About 10 am, the right side of my face really started hurting. So, I took my Imitrex and went to bed. About 2 o'clock I realized this was not a migraine & figured I had a cold. I pretty much stayed bed the entire last week of my vacation. I had planned to get my lesson planning for April finished so I would be ready for the next couple rounds of Sock Madness. For the next few days I was weak, achey, & congested. I only had the energy to be up & about for an hour or so. Then, I'd be exhausted for the rest of the day. When I'm sick, I go to bed for a day or two and my immune system kicks in. Being sick for this long was new to me. I have to admit, I was getting very whiney & feeling really blue.

I went back to work on Monday. I didn't feel well but was hoping that getting back into the swing of things would help. Little did I I know. . by the afternoon I was having a hard time concentrating & no voice. I came home to find that the 2nd Sock Madness pattern was released when I was at school. By the time I saw the pattern many people were already 1/2 finished with the first sock. I knit for a couple of hours and went to bed.

I got up Tuesday and felt fine but I had no voice at all. I went into school & only made it until 9:30 & then I quickly wrote subplans and made arrangements for other teachers to take my students. I came home, slept & didn't knit on my socks at all. A few people finished their socks already.

Wednesday I arranged for a sub. I called to get a same day doctor appointment. None were available, I'd have to go to urgent care. I hate going into urgent care. If I felt good enough to get dressed, drive for a total of an hour, & sit in a waiting room for 3 hours, I wouldn't need a doctor. I finally decided to go anyway. At least I was able to knit for about an hour of the time I was waiting. Then I was too tired to do any more. I was told that I had a sinus infection but it was really irritating my throat. I was told to stay home through the weekend. Oh darn, more knitting time. I was given antibiotics & a stronger decongestant. It was a good thing that she told me to stay home. I was feeling much better Thursday but still had no voice. I tried to watch my daughter's softball game but only made it 30 minutes before I had to come back to bed.

I spent Thursday & Friday mostly on the couch knitting & not talking. My throat killed me. Here's what my Sock Madness Round 2 socks looked like Thursday morning . . .



I finished about noon on Friday . . .



The name of the pattern is Reversai because the sock looks exactly the same on the inside and out. It has a garter stitch heel, foot, & toe. I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Devon. I am disappointed that the pattern doesn't show very well. By the time I realized that it wasn't showing, I didn't have time to switch yarns & hope to finish in time. I need to stock up on my solid yarns for sock madness & the sock pentathalon. Most of the patterns are complex & need a simple yarn. I was hoping to knit from my stash instead, my stash is growing. Ugg

I am pleased to announce that I came in 16th out of 35. Only the first 20 participants in each division get to advance (80 out of 140 move on to round 3). I am feeling better but my throat still hurts & I don't have much of a voice. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow goes. I'm looking forward to going back to school but I don't look forward to all the talking I will have to do!

end of whine . . .

TTFN

Dr. Pepper Zombies

I've entered myself into Sock Madness 2, a knitting tournament based on college basketball's March Madness. Knitters were divided into 4 divisions of about 58 people each. The first 40 people finished with their socks advance to the next round.

We were given teasers about the pattern a couple of days before it was released. It was described as a "scary pattern & to think of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. I didn't really have any scary yarn but I found yarn in my stash from The Knittery in a wool/cashmere blend. I thought it looked a little bit like dried blood.



I got my copy of the pattern about noon on the 13th. I knit as much as I could and finished at 2:30 am on the 16th. I was really afraid that I wouldn't finish in time to advance. It took me 40 hours to get these socks done. I knitted my fingers to the bone. See?



Actually, the yarn had excess dye & bled on me. Here are the finished Zombies taken at 2:29 a.m. I was the 14th to finish in my division.



. . . and a better picture . . .



This was my first eye of the partridge heel . .



The cuff pattern reminds me of a muscle. . .

.

. . . and the drop stitch was fun too.

These are the most comfortable socks that I own. The fiber is warm (my feet are always cold) & the pattern hugs my feet. Not too tight or too loose.

I've named the socks Dr. Pepper Zombies after the only soda that I'll drink - Dr. Pepper. They match my Dr. Pepper t-shirt perfectly.

The next round won't start until April 1st so I have time to get caught up on stuff before I drop everything to knit nonstop again.

TTFN

Things about Me

I know that I've been pretty silent lately. First, life got in the way & then competition knitting came along. Since my last entry, I've finished 4 or 5 pairs of socks. More about them later. Today, I'm answering the tag I got last month when I was really sick:

4 jobs I held
Pizza Joint Asst. Manager
Hotel Desk Clerk
Newpaper Carrier
Teacher

4 movies I like
Harry Potter (all)
The Lord of the Rings (all)
Star Wars (all)
Field of Dreams

4 places I've been
Italy
Holland
Scotland
Washington, DC

4 places I lived
England
Germany
Arizona
New Mexico

4 TV shows/programs I watch
Heroes
Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Tudors
24


4 Radio-shows I listen to
No radio - just podcasts
Cast-on
Lime & Violet
Daily Breakfast
Pottercast

4 favorite foods
Ice cream
Chinese
pastries
Cadburry Creme Eggs


4 places I'd rather be
Walking in the snowy mountains
the beach
Scotland
stranded alone on an island for 48 hours

Organized Knitting Club 30 Day Challenge

I've been feeling overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities, Most of it comes from not using a planing system. My school gives us lesson plan books that also has space for personal planning. I tried to use it for school & personal but it just wasn't enough. I just received my Julie Morgenstern Franklin Covey Planning System. I'm starting to feel the effects already. I've transferred my school calendar & family calendar into my planner. I've started to make lists. I'm a big list person. My brain was cluttered & now I feel I can relax.

I'm also taking care of the clutter in my house. I'm taking the Organized Knitting Club 30 Day Challenge of organizing my knitting space or room. Since I don't have a knitting room, I'm organizing my bedroom which is where I store my knitting stuff.

Here is where I keep my knitting stuff. There was quite a bit of non-knitting stuff in there too. You can't even begin to see how crammed & messy the drawers are but they are packed very full.



I completely emptied all of my stuff on my bed. It covers half of the king sized bed.



Here's how it looks now:



I have my needles and stitch markers on the top shelf. I use the highlighters to color code charts. The second row has WIP and sock blockers. My books are on the bottom shelf. In the back you can see my Tom Clancy collection & my colored pencils that I'm keeping out of my kids' hands. These are the only two non-knitting things in the top part of the cabinet. I still keep pants in the larger bottom two drawers.

The side drawers have more supplies. The top one has lace yarn & beads. The next one has other knitting notions.

The bottom three drawers have most of my sock yarn.



I haven't tackled the top of the cabinet yet.

I also dejunked another side of the room. All in all I threw out 5 grocery bags of trash & have 3 kitchen trash bags of stuff to donate. Armed with my lists, I'll tackle other parts of my room over time.

Knitting Update

It has been forever since I posted. I just haven't felt like writing. I've had the blahs.

I have two socks that I'm currently working on. One is The Master Coriolis sock by Cat Bordhi. I've had her book for months now but didn't take the time to sit down & start on any of the socks. But the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry challenge this month was to knit a sock using a new to you heel. So, I took the challenge & cast-on Feb. 1. I finished the first sock yesterday.

I learned several new construction techniques with this sock. She begins with a garter stitch toe . . .



. . . and continues with the gusset increases going around the leg.



The sock has a traditional heel turn & toe-up heel flap. The sock ends with a seed stitch and 4-strand bind-off.



The second sock spirals in the opposite direction. It was a quick knit - I think the first sock took less than 9 hours which is really fast for me. Of course, using 2 strands of fingering weight yarn speeds it up too. Here's the completed sock.


Pattern: Master Coriolis by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett in the Mirage Storm Colorway
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony, US Size 5, magic loop

I'm working on a pair of intarsia socks - my first color work. This pair of socks is for my BFF, T.



The main color is Knit Picks Bare (75% superwash, 25% nylon) with a strand of Zephyr (50% wool, 50% silk). The contrasting color is Fleece Artist Somoko in Blue Lagoon. The blue semi-circles are two halves of a heart 'cause I want her to know that I love her. There are lace hearts on the instep as well.

I do have some other stuff to blog about but will close for now.

TTFN