Holy Cow!

My last post was what? Valentine’s Day?!

Obviously, I dropped the ball with blogging. In fact, I forget how to make a list here. OK, I found it.

  • February – I was so enamored with the Mosaic socks that I couldn’t stop knitting but I did. I decided to have a party* in June and needed to deal with a lot of stuff.
  • March – I wanted new carpeting for the stairs and second floor but first wanted to stain the stairs a darker color.*
  • April – I was still working on the stairs and encountered a problem during the process*. To clear my head, I visited my BFF in Ohio. We had a wonderful time!
  • May – I finally finished the stairs and had new carpeting installed*. We went to our oldest grandson’s high school graduation in Michigan. Then a surprise retirement party for my sister-in-law.
  • June – Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. We had our family reunion and anniversary party.*
  • July – Hot, hot, and more hot! I went to my first Book Club meeting*.
  • August – My neighbor and I decided two months ago to have a combined yard sale so that occupied most of my time. It ended up that I didn’t have as much to sell but still made $101 plus I got rid of stuff. Most of what didn’t sell went straight to Goodwill and not back into the house. As you might know, having a yard sale is way too much work for very little return. After that adventure, I finally got back to my socks and discovered a BIG mistake.

Well, of course, I discovered a BIG mistake.

Here I am past the heel and gusset and two pattern repeats into the foot section.

The leg.
Something happened here.

You can see where the heel begins on the far right where the red arrow points.

The row right there is where the BIG mistake happened. The chart was wrong (or so I thought) so I redrew it and went right on knitting the gusset and foot.

When I looked at the sock, something wasn’t right. I know it’s there but you might not be able to see it. It finally dawned on me that I reversed the Main color and the Contrast color.

Could I live with the sock being wonky and wrong? With that busy pattern, who could tell it’s not correct?

Me. That’s who. I am my grandmother’s granddaughter. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

*More to come (at a later date) about those other projects and events mentioned above.

Have a great day!

Patti

Three things

#1

I recently read an article about a family who started eating dinner by candlelight. The kids were calmer, less distracted, and more open to talking and sharing thoughts and feelings. Being calm and less distracted sounds like a good idea for meals.

#2 

Thou art dust and to dust thou shall return

Today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season.

#3 I couldn’t wait to begin something new as my knitting mojo went on vacation with Pepper’s sweater so I started a new sock! It’s the Easy Mosaic Sock by Winwick Mum. It looks complicated but only one color of yarn is used for each row except one. To get the two-color look, a stitch is slipped from the previous row onto the right needle without knitting it and continues with the row pattern. 

Easy Mosaic Socks, Regia Tweed, Knit Picks Chroma Twist

I’m using Regia 4-ply tweed yarn in charcoal and Knit Picks Chroma Twist in Surf’s Up (discontinued yarn). 

Easy Mosaic Socks, Regia Tweed, Knit Picks Chroma Twist
Easy Mosaic Socks

The pattern is free and Winwick Mum explains the process much better than me.

Are you doing anything special for Valentine’s Day?

How do you observe Lent or is it just another usual time?

Have you started any new projects this year?

Patti

But I don’t play tennis anymore

My knitting has been sidelined for a while. The Curaçao Diamonds did number on my left arm. I really love those socks but the fingering weight cotton blend yarn and US #1 knitting needles were too much for those muscles especially since I hurried through the second one.

I looked up my symptoms and self-diagnosed tennis elbow. Rest and a combination of heat and ice are the only things that will help.

Once my arm feels better, my knitting queue will include seamless slippers (requested by my other sister-in-law), some baby hats (from super soft stash yarn), and a new sweater for Pepper. The slippers will likely be Frankensteined while using up odds and ends of worsted weight yarns. Pepper’s sweater will be from my yarn stash, too.

And speaking of Pepper, she is the star* of our training sessions! We’ve gone to two so far and she and I are learning how to communicate better.

*Never mind that our sessions are one-on-one with the trainer!

Happy knitting!

Curaçau Diamonds

My S-I-L received her socks. I like to include a little card with all the pertantent information.

I asked her for her honest opinion regarding color, size, length, fit, feel, and whatever else she opined about. Here is her response:

Happy feet!! The color is very pretty, bright & wonderfully rich, and I can tell already the socks will keep my feet toasty on cool days. 😃 They are warming my always cold feet quickly!  They stay in place perfectly when I put my shoes on, no bunching!!

Comfy they are, though not as comfy as the last 2 pairs you made me which are the most comfy ever. They feel a bit short and I worry my foot will wear out the toe quickly. I will wear them judiciously. If I had to choose between one or the other in terms of softness, I would choose the last pair.

These are wonderful and I thank you!!  💕 


I told her that she can block them while wet, stretch the foot area and then dry flat. I’m new to cotton blend yarns so tell me if that will work or not.

The last two pairs I gave her were a nylon/acrylic blend.