Socks on Display!

The leg of sock #2 is finished. Now I just have a heel and a foot and I'm done! This yarn is so vibrant and fun to work with. I get compliments on it everywhere I go. Scout did a great job!
Here's a little impromptu photo shoot of the socks at my desk. And yes, my notepads match, not planned though. I'm just that good!

And here's the underside of sock #1 to show how awesome those colors are.

And an upclose of the leg...

And an upclose of the completed sock.


And, a modeling the sock shot.




So, that's what I've been up to (as well as a few other things, but I don't have pictures yet).
And for those of you who participated in Comforting Jef, Christine left a very sad update today. Go over there and give her your support!
Melissa

Vacation! (Long post with lots of pics!)

The trip went really well. We left on Friday morning around 7 am and arrived around 1 pm. After a tasty lunch, we went yarn store shopping! Our first stop was Simpatico Yarns in Bedford, Texas. I really can't say enough nice things about this shop. The owner was soo nice, the selection was small, but wonderful, and the whole experience was great! Here's what I got:
Some Trekking...

Some Cascade Fixation....

Some great yarn to make two of the baby kimonos from Mason Dixon Knitting...

and some Crystal Palace needles and a few cool little things for my Secret Pal.

After this store, we then went on to Yarn Heaven in Arlington, Texas. I was really prepared for this to be the store that would be my favorite based on their website. I was kind of disappointed. They had a much better selection than Simpatico Yarns, but their prices were a good bit higher. I did however, snag some Lorna's Laces in the most beautiful Charcoal color. This stuff is gorgeous...

I think another turn-off for me at this store was that the store smelled strongly of aromatherapy-type stuff and it was a bit overpowering. My husband and I also thought we detected the odor of cigarette smoke, and that is a HUGE turn off for me. All in all though, I had a great shopping experience.
Six Flags was great! LittleMan was loving the log ride and the train, so guess what rides I rode the most? LOL! Hooker and I rode the Roaring Rapids to try and cool off and even took the seat that people swore you got soaked in every time because that's exactly what we wanted. We were the only two that didn't get soaked. Go figure.


We also went shopping at the Grapevine Mills mall and ate at the AWESOME Rainforest Cafe. That place was $$, but really cool. LittleMan loved it! Saturday night the Rangers won, so we got to see a great fireworks display from our hotel window. That was pretty cool.
When I returned home from vacation, I had some stuff from Knitpicks waiting on me. It's very pretty. I can't decide what to knit with next! The yarn is Knitpicks Memories in Smores and Yukon.


I also got a chance to take some pictures of a friend's baby yesterday. That was alot of fun. Babies are hard to photograph, and their skin is hard to make not look quite so red, but we got some great shots and she was happy.

Finally, can someone link me to a really tiny preemie hat and possibly other preemie items? I would appreciate it!
Melissa

It's TIME...

Tomorrow morning we leave for

and I can't wait. What's better than Six Flags? Yarn shopping, which I will also be doing. It makes me want to do this...

Anyway....

I finished the sock and have started on the second one. I would show you pictures, but I think I'll just take pics of the socks on vacation and post them when I get back. That will be much more fun I think.

We had quite a scare today. My uncle who will be 92 this year went missing around lunch. And it's 92 degrees outside...and he's out of it most of the time. I was fairly sure the call would come that he had dehydrated in the woods and passed away. But, around 3:30 the search party found him in the woods, high-powered rifle in hand, "hunting". He said he sure was glad to be back home. Good lord!

Another funny story...Monday Scuba Steve had to go to the emergency room. He was outside and a bug flew in his mouth and he coughed it up. About 30 minutes later, he couldn't talk or swallow. It had stung him in the back of the throat. They gave him shots and he was fine. What a nut!

Anyway, we're gone. Knitting group will be tonight and I'm expecting about 3 new members at least. I'm excited about the growth in such a small amount of time!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

My Secret Pal is AWESOME!

First of all, let me say that my secret pal rocks! She has by far exceeded my greatest expectations. Every other swap I have participated in in the past has been slightly disappointing (never knitting related), but this is awesome! So, what did I get?

A wonderful white chocolate and orange soy candle in the neatest pink/orange colored holder which is already on my desk. Sidenote: my office is right beside two bathrooms in our building...the vapors can get to you, so the candle is awesome!

A bag that I had actually been eyeing just a couple of weeks ago. This will definitely be going on my vacation/yarn store shopping expedition!

A picture frame that I already have a LittleMan picture picked out to go in.

And, the best of all, Lorna's Laces. This is Shepherd Worsted in the colorway Flames. I really love the colors and this stuff is so soft!! The colors remind me of this scarf I got from Scuba Steve for my birthday. I love this stuff. I am now a LL believer!

Thank you so much secret pal!!!!!!!
I have also been knitting away on the sock with Scout's yarn. I love this stuff! The sock is looking great and I've definitely made progress despite limited knitting time lately. I knitted for a little while at the doctor's office yesterday and got the "I thought only old ladies knitted!" comment. How freaking original. It reminds me of the "That's going to be a big baby" comment while I was pregnant. Except I didn't have knitting needles that I wanted to stab in the offender's eyes when I used to get that comment. Restraint.....

I'm getting geared up for the getaway this weekend. Hooker and I have been busy finalizing plans. I am so ready to get away for a few days!
I still have some Huggies Pull Ups coupons to give away to anyone interested. Just leave me a comment! :)
Have a great week!
Melissa

Edited to add pics of sock on my foot:(It doesn't look that tie-dyed in person)

Knitting Group, Socks, and Pimp my blog!

The knitting group (class) at church last night went so well! This is only our second meeting and we went from 5 people (excluding myself) to 8 people (excluding myself). There were 3 or 4 others who wanted to come but their schedules wouldn't permit. So, I feel like we'll increase in numbers as the group comes along.

Last night was really cool though. Out of the 4 new people who came, we had a lady in her 50s who knitted some in her 20s and needed a refresher, a disabled girl not much older than myself who is in the nursing home with my papaw, and a teenage couple (about 16 years old). Yes, you read that right. I had a guy, a teenage guy! He actually caught on a little faster than his girlfriend at first and it was so cute watching them helping each other out.

The boy's mom is the star pupil from last week and his grandmother came last week also. His grandmother had bought needles and Peaches N Creme yarn this week and completed an awesome garter stitch washrag. I was so proud!
I was going to take pictures, but I was scared that the guy wouldn't respond well to "evidence" that he was there knitting. I'd hate to scare him off! :)

In other news, I did a book swap with Susan . I was so surprised to see the box in my mailbox. I'd forgotten all about it, my mind's been kinda fuzzy lately...lack of sleep I guess. Anyway, the two books were there as promised, but also some awesome stitch markers in the cutest little case! I was so surprised. They are soo cute!

The new sock is going well. These colors are awesome. I mean really, really awesome. Pictures can't show the brightness and awesomeness of these colors. Scout, you are truely an artist!

In other news, I'm pimping my blog. Yep! You heard me right! I have gotten in touch with Karen to do a little banner and button and color re-working to the blog. I can't wait to see the results! Thanks to Christine for recommending Karen!

On a final note, I have a whole bunch of Huggies coupons, some for any Huggies, some for only Supremes and Nighttime ones, and some for body wash. If you want some (there are plenty to go around), leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll be glad to pop some in the mail for you. They expire on 6/5/06, so you'll have to use them kinda fast. I think I have one (just one) for Johnson's Naturals products if anyone is interested in that one also. That one will be first come, first serve.

I hope you all have a great weekend!
Melissa

Summer Sherbert Socks....

Well, I finished sock #1 from my Summer Sherbert sock yarn for my sock pal. I like how the colors turned out. I discovered something after finishing sock #1. I was trying to get gauge for another pattern with my sock yarn from Scout, but couldn't do it. I was using the needles used for Summer Sherbert sock and they weren't cutting it (I *thought* they were 2.5's) and the 3's weren't cutting it either. So, I did what I should have done in the beginning and got out the needle gauge. Here's the problem. The dpn's I was using came with my first ever sock kit that I ordered off ebay that came from the UK. Do you see where I'm going with this? The needle size was 2 1/2; however, that was mm, not US size (and I call myself a college grad). So...I had been knitting with something between a 1 1/2 and 2 and thinking it was a 2 1/2. So..now I must go to JoAnn's at lunch and purchase some 2 1/2s. I hope that solves the problem. Surely it will. I feel like such an idiot.
Here's sock #1 anyway....


And a nice pic of Layla...isn't she cute!! (But bad...very, very bad...we're still having housebreaking issues)


And of course, LittleMan.

I got new books the past couple of days. I got Sensational Socks and the Knitter's Bible. These were my free Crafter's Choice selections. I'm pretty excited to get into the Sock book.
I heard from my Secret Pal yesterday. I was soooo excited! I can't wait to spoil and get spoiled! I think it's going to be a blast. I do have one question though. Do any of you try to send stuff to someone and then let them mail it so that the stamp cancellation thing won't give away your location? For cards, etc, that would be easy and cheap, but for packages, I guess it would incur a decent cost. I'm not sure how most people do that.
I tried to order more Dye Your Own sock yarn yesterday from Knitpicks. But they were sold out. However, quite funny, if you go to knitpicks and so a search for natural colored sock yarn, it comes up in the search results and says it's like $9,999,999.99 a hank. I thought that was funny. I did order a couple of worsted weight Dye Your Own skeins. Maybe I can make a funky scarf or something like that. So, where are the rest of you ordering your yarn from since Knitpicks is out? I found some links on the Dye O Rama blog, but I wasn't sure how everyone liked the different kinds.
Finally, Grey's Anatomy season finale was great. They totally redeemed themselves from Sunday. I think it turned out well and I can't WAIT for next season. Even LuckyHusband watched it with me. Honestly, Sunday night was the first one he ever watched and he couldn't wait for Monday. I found that to be funny.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommies out there!! I did pretty well! I got these gifts from LittleMan last night.
A card

Some gifts

The bag included some picture frames, cute Post-it notes, pens, a gift card to Stage, a MOM picture frame a cool snake-like candle lighter, a Circle E Bird of Paradise candle, and some free knitting pattern leaflets that LM collected at the Wal Mart. And best of all-permission to blow some money on yarn on the internet and when we go on our little weekend trip at the end of this month!! :)

I finished another MD washrag. It's the neopolitan and I ended up giving it to my aunt. I can always make myself one later on.

I also began a sock for a sock pal. It is from the yarn I dyed and I am so excited about how it's coming out. I wasn't too sure the yarn would make anything I overly cared about, but WOW, I really love how it's coming along. (The pictures are kinda blurry for some reason...it isn't that fuzzy like it appears where the pink and white are.

The colors seem to run kinda diagonally. It's pretty cool. I hope she likes them! (I know she reads my blog, but she should at least get to see what she's getting into. :) )

Speaking of pals, I got my SP8 match today. YIPPEE!! I'm so excited about this. I've already bought two gifts, I hope they will be okay for my pal. :)

I also have 5 more participants for this Thursday's meeting of the knitting group at church. I'm pretty happy about that. (And nervous at the same time. )

I got this at church today from LittleMan. How cute (I helped him a little bit). The church bought the frames and I taught Children's Church today, so I helped him paint it. The church also gave some beautiful decorative crosses to all the mommies. I hung mine in my car. It's so pretty.

I hope you all had a great weekend and a great Mother's Day. I'll be blog visiting tomorrow. My home computer is dial up and is so slow that it takes forever to blog hop.

Melissa

Great Balls of Yarn!!

This is the second time I've done this post and I'm pissed that blogger ate it the first time....grrr...
Anyway, I got the ball winder and the swift in yesterday. Remember these?




Well, meet the Dr. Pepper colorway (really does look like the colors of a Dr. Pepper can...the flash kinda skewed the colors, but at 6 am this morning, I wasn't dealing with natural light!)


And the colorway who has yet to be named (suggestions are welcome!)


Here are all of my yummy little yarn cakes:



In other news, I also started our knitting class/shawl ministry at church last night. No one had any experience with knitting, so it was new to everyone. Mrs. Dorothy decided to stick with sewing. She's working on lap ("TV") blankets for foster children. They are so cute!


Here is my star pupil, Wendy.


She caught on so fast! She was doing great with knitting when she left! Her mother, pictured to her right, was doing great also. Danette, on the left, and Mrs. Dot, on the right, were crocheters, so they seemed to have a harder time getting used to everything. But they still did well. They decided to stick with crocheting their shawls.


I've also been working on another washrag (I know BIG surprise). This one I'll be keeping though. It reminds me of neopolitan ice cream and was inspired by some yarn on Amanda's blog this week.


When I was a kid, I got off the bus at my great-grandfather's house. We always ate neopolitan ice cream. You know, the kind in the big plastic buckets? Anyway, this rag will be staying at my house. It's the "Big John" washrag. LOL!
Hope you enjoy all the pics! Have a great Mother's Day. And since it is Mother's Day weekend..I'll throw in a pic of LittleMan.


Have a great weekend!
Melissa

Read the Headlines....

It's true...the Hooker has graduated....











The corsage is from being a guest presenter at the ceremony.
I also got this in the mail yesterday....


It's even more beautiful in person...Thanks Scout!
Here is the Mason-Dixon washrag for my mom....


Being shown with LittleMan:


And little man with the new yarn from Scout


Already he's aggravated with the stash enhancement and subsequent pictures.
I finshed another M-D washrag last night...pictures tomorrow. Don't forget to check out the Mason Dixon Knitalong blog There are some mighty crafty people out there.
Thanks to this site for the newspaper pic...