Friday, September 29, 2006

Fun with Socks

The Model your Socks Contest ends tomorrow.
(Silly me, all in a panic had to bribe Princess B to get pictures taken of her..Thinking it was the 30th today..silly me)

anyways, I had some fun, did some strange acrobatics to get this picture:



The cute shots:



um...Yeah...blogger needs to go back to time-out....



and my funky entry.

and just for fun
SOCKS ON CROCS!!!

(in case you haven't heard, there is that movie that was out this summer...This has started silly blogs, blogging about Snakes on a...whatever and that translates to the knitting worlds as
"
Snakes on a sock", Snakes on a Skein, Socks on Crocs whatever)

I have been plugging away on the hourglass and meant to have a progress shot, but I've been playgrouping all week with the kids, and busy otherwise.

I did 4 blocks for the Grey's KAL Afghan..which is pretty good since I didn't knit on it all day.

I have almost finished one jaywalker and think I'm going to start the second one now to make sure I have enough yarn....I love toe-up socks!

p.s. the model your socks flickr page is
here.
my flickr pictures are
here

edited: I have NO IDEA what is going on with blogger--the fonts are all weird today and i know others are having the same problem.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Monday is for....

...ME!!!

went to the post office today and lookie here:



this is what I won from Gromit. Go over there and give her some love.
thanks Gromit!!

gorgeous orange-y sock yarn.

hello??
It's from Spirit Trail

sigh--love it.

anyways,
so, I totally fell off the wagon and bought yarn.
now, in order to redeem myself, I have been looking for this stuff for a month and it is for presents.

the first:

This is going to be a hat for little man, and if it works out, for my nephew for Christmas.
it's for the Charlie's Cap Pattern from Magknits:


and the next...I saw out of the corner of my eye and had to go fondle it...

it's so gorgeous...

I think it's the Autumn Harvest colourway.
The LYS owner just got it in and doesn't even have patterns for it yet.
I told her I was going to make a felted bag and she can't wait to see it.
which means, I have to put it in on the list of stuff I want to make.
I think I'm going to try a booga bag--we'll see.

sigh..I love yarn, and it's becoming a problem...

Funny story: we went to a chili cookoff/fundraiser thing yesterday which was at a farm.
There were some sheep in the back so I said to PrincessB:

"What are those?"
Sheep
"What's on the sheep?"
Hair
"What's the hair for?"
Yarn!!!

That's my girl!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Saturday sky...Sunday pie!!

Okay so I made it on Saturday but we sure are enjoying these pies.

last weekend I went apple picking...and bought a 1/2 bushel.
I'm soo. glad I didn't buy more.

we've been eating the apples, I've made 2 batches of applesauce (canned some) 2 pies, some apple butter and I still have 1/3 bushel left.
I was looking at the harlot's blog the other day and she had a link to someone she calls "the oracle".
I read his blog and he had an apple cranberry pie recipe with more recipe's in the comments, so I tried them out.

my first pies!!



the first is a Dutch apple pie with a coconut crumble topping.
the second is his cranberry apple pie--which I love but everyone else seems to think has "too much cran".
I bought crusts (hubby only asked me to make the pie at 8:45pm and could not DREAM of making home made crusts that late).
they turned out quite well--but the top crust of the cran/apple pie split and fell apart.

still--they are sooooooo good.

look at that yummy, runny, goey pie-goodness.
wow, pretty good for a first attempt i think.

anybody else have good apple recipies??

my yarn is still soaking in the vinegar water from Friday--I can't wait to paint it!

we are off to a chili cook-off fundraiser this afternoon.
see y'all tomorrow.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Saturday sky

There was a blogger that decided to do a Saturday Sky theme as things tend to slow down in blogland on weekends.
I know that all weekend I like to check my bloglines to see who's posting--and most often, it's
nobody.

Weekends are lazy, I like to sit and drink coffee in my pj's, read, surf and do stuff online (when hubby is home to watch the young-uns).

Today, he's not home--but since I'm listening for little man to quiet for his nap, and since I found the camera and took some update shots, I thought I would share.

Saturday sky:

It looks blah, but that's what it is today--blah.

But on a good note, the cat barf yarn (I really need to stop saying that) looks a lot better--and kinda fun:

I even got crafty last night while waiting for Princess B to sleep--I made some ghetto stitch markers:

I say ghetto, because I didn't really do anything crafty to get them made.
I bought the jump rings, wire and charms at Michaels this week and didn't think to check the size of the jump ring--which is the part that actually goes on the needle.

It would have been nice to check that, since that is the size that is important.

I did some
searching for instructions, but none of them actually had sizes written.
Luckily these fit on the 4.5mm that I'm using for the hourglass--so it's helping me mark the sides for the increases.
I might make some more, if I can figure out how to use the wire to dangle it properly.

I heart ladybugs....

Progress shot:


that's all for me for today. I thought I would do some more yarn painting but I just found out I'm having company in 5 hours. Less painty--more clean-y!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!!!

Happy Belated Blog-versary to me...

*singing*
yep, in true me-style--I missed it!
my first post was from September 08th of last year.

Yeah--happy blogversary to me!

Woohoo!!

thanks all for reading (9 Bloglines subscribers--*waving*), for commenting and just for being other knitters and bloggers.
it's weird when I read others blogs that have links to friends who blog.
I don't' have any knitter friends who blog....I have a friend who blogs, but that's about it.
I'm always excited to find knit bloggers who live sort-of close to me.
makes me think that maybe, just maybe they are doing the same thing as me every night--close by.

I guess I have virtual friend bloggers....And that's good enough for me!

my sister is supposed to be blogging here--that is actually why I named the site "the chicks with sticks"--so we could take pictures of the things we are working on and show them to each other.
kinda like a Mason-Dixon thingy.
She does live in the US and I do live in Canada--it would work.
Except her camera was broken for a LONG time and now that it's fixed, her hubby isn't so sure he wants to show her how to upload pictures--thinks she'll get addicted!!!

what?? blogging is not addicting is it???

tee hee.

anyways, I have some progress shots to take tomorrow--the cat barf yarn actually looks good skeined up (I needs me a swift, my hand totally fell asleep trying to wind it on my arm)
I wanted to do more painting tonight, but Princess B decided to avoid bedtime and kept running downstairs from 7:30pm until 10pm....Sigh.
I finished another ball on the hourglass Sweater and made some progress on the S'mores socks.
I'm not sure that this yarn is actually working out for the Jaywalkers. It's a fingering weight, the gauge is the same but the socks are turning out huge....I'd give them to hubby, but he doesn't like the yarn...Thinks it's ugly.

I have to find the camera and then I will take some pictures in the am.

G'night....

Friday, September 22, 2006

The blog ate my homework.

Warning--long post.

I did a nice post last night--all about the yarn dyeing Princess B and I did yesterday, about Grey's Anatomy and about my knitting juju, but the blogger ate it.

So, I thought I would re-cap.
Knitting Gods--smiling.
Yarn painting--cat barf
Bad stuff--still happening.

The only thing that made me happy was Grey's, chocolate, munchy food and Dr Pepper.
Oh yeah, and knitting.

Okay, so I'll tell the whole story

Princess B and I did some yarn painting with the Jacquard acid dyes I got form Knit Picks.
I ordered Pink, Green, Purple and Orange.

Yesterday we worked on stripes of pink (her favourite), green (fun and bright) and orange (my favourite colour, or so I thought)
I knew with her helping that mishaps would happen--not a big deal.
She decided that green should go everywhere and painted green on the pink and on the bare spots. NO problem.

The orange was not a bright orange but a, well a rusty orange..
the finished product looked kinda like cat barf.

I don't' have a cat, but if I did, and if it barfed--this orange is what it would look like.

The rest of it looked like a clown exploded.

It looked pretty good in the sunshine:

um...Okay blogger has decided that the picture looks best on the right--can't fix it, whatever.

So, the yarn--fun but not as pretty as I'd hoped.

Anyways, hubby came home early and let me take a nap! I was so tired yesterday that I almost fell out of a chair!
The kids have each been getting up at night and really early in the morning--so after a week of that, I was toast.
I had a nice nap, made a nice dinner.

Daddy painted with the princess and she even let him put her to bed (this is a BIG feat at our house since I am the only one "allowed" to do it, in her book).

I watched what I thought was the premiere of Grey's at 8pm but didn't pay too much attention since it was coming on again at 9pm..so I thought.
I found the project I wanted--and the knitting ...(don't want to say knitting gods as there is only one true God, don''t want to say fairies as I don't believe in such things--knitting...Juju?)
was smiling.

The project is an afghan of my mom's that she never finished. She died 6 years ago this January and my sister and I inherited her WIP's (including the only sweater she tried to knit for me, that she started when I was 6--unfinished, in a bag).

She had done a bunch of the squares and had the yarn all in the bag. I was thinking that it might be hard to figure out the patterns for the squares, when low and behold--the pattern was hiding in the bottom of the bag!
knitting juju--good.

Other juju--bad.
I went out at 8:30 to get some milk and snacks for the Grey's Premiere
(Chocolate, Doritos and DR Pepper--have to have Dr Pepper when watching a show about Dr's!!!)
So, a nice/smarmy young lady with way too much attitude, cut me off in the parking lot.
I had to stop short as she almost caused an accident. So while I'm sitting there waiting for her, a shopping cart makes a break form the corral and hits the car!
when I went into the store to suggest they have someone take the carts in, the nice young check-out girl just blinked at me. I told her again that I was just driving by and that the cart came away and smashed my car...she just smiled and blinked.
her friend called someone, but they still just stood there and blinked at me...Okay.

So I start watching at 9pm, only to realize it's a different episode!
apparently here, they showed NEXT week's episode at 8pm and the premiere at 9pm.
weird.
oh well--I guess I will watch it again next week.

I managed to finish one square during the premiere and since I have 86 more to do, I'm thinking I might need to dedicate all of Thursdays to square making.

I think I shall try some more painting tonight, when the kiddies are asleep. Hubby will be working and I will have the house to myself!


p.s. in case you are wondering why i am saying juju, it's a thing from Grey's Anatomy.
The "She Sheppard" (I LOVE that they call her that) was buying everyone hot cocoa, to get rid of the "bad luck" of people dying in the OR. I don't belive in luck or karma or juju, but it's a fun word and I'm sticking with it...

sorry about the ramble..thanks for dropping by!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

can you see me?

can you see me now?
how about here?

i entered the you know you model your socks contest at you know you knit too much and my picture is posted on the blog

can you guess which one i am?

it's the pink and brown one.....

that makes me happy.
and now i am off in search of the wallet.
i am hoping that whoever stole it, got bored and threw it in a local trash can.
i told princess b that it was dora adventure, so she's all game.
little man just want's to go "ow-side" so he'll be happy.
the sun is shining, no one has used my credit card since it's been gone--so everything is a-okay.

see y'all later.

More bad juju...

*sigh*
I just found out that my wallet was stolen.
from my car.
which was parked in our driveway.

*sigh again*
I hope the crook is happy with what they got--about 50 cents and all of my ID.
the birth certificates, health cards and gas cards.
unless they'd like to pretend they are a 3.5 year old girl or a 17 month old boy, I don't think they'll get far with the ID.

oh well--the credit card has been cancelled and that's about it.

I'm just praying that they crook will have a case of bad conscience and decide to return the ID.

*sigh*
I think more sock knitting is in order.
that, and more chocolate.

send chocolate.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Bad juju

Yes, I have it...Bad juju.
Okay, so I don't really believe in luck, I am religious not superstitious.
But, why on earth doesn't anything yarn related work out for me??

I'm working at the hourglass, I really am--but all that round and round and round with nothing fun, is boring me. And my wrists are sore.
It's weird, that happened with the last sweater I made--but no sore wrists since...hmmm..
maybe it's just "sweater wrist"

That's why I am loving socks these days.

So, I dove into my knitpicks stash and decided to wind up the "smores".

Got myself ready:
Ball winder-check
Hubby to hold the skein--check
Going slowly so as not to wreck anything--check.

So how did I end up with this:

I looked away for 2 seconds and it snagged. The yarn was all wrapped around the little gears and it was awful. I spent a few minutes laughing (at juju) and patiently unwinding.
but, like always, I was forced to cut the yarn as it was too tangled.
It's happened before:
here, here and here.

Sigh, but on a good note--I LOVE this yarn.
I am making jaywalkers for myself. This will be my third pair of jaywalkers, but the first for me!
Except--I sort of didn't think to check yardage, and only ordered one skein.
What is with me??
I don't think I will get 2 full socks with one skein, so I am doing them toe-up.
It's going quickly and after less than one hour, I have this:

Cute little toe.
My daughter calls s'mores "delicious hot schmoes"--a line from toy story, so this is the the
"schmoe toe".

I really like doing the short rows this way, as there are no holes!

I will do more on the hourglass tomorrow. I've gone through 3 balls, and I'll say it again:
"I'm really scared I will run out of yarn"
I have googled hourglass andean silk so many times to see others who have done the sweater with this yarn, to see how many extra balls they ordered, but no one has fessed up yet.
I ordered more than 1 extra ball, so I'm hoping I will have enough.

Send some good thoughts my way---some good knitting karma, or something.
or--send chocolate!!
tee hee.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Missionary work

Yes, I've done it--I've given someone a knitting lesson!!

the harlot calls that missionary work. I've actually done real missionary work too.

I've had a great couple of days.
I spent the WHOLE DAY yesterday with good friends.

I went to see one friend's new house did some knitting and some apple picking. (near Napanee, HI Amy!!!!)

She already knew the knit stitch and her mother had taught her casting on and binding off, but she needed some practice. I taught her to purl and she jumped right in to making a dishcloth with a heart pattern!

what a girl!

she owns the first season of grey's anatomy, so I watched some episodes I missed and borrowed the set.
so, I will be knitting with grey's this week, getting ready for the Grey's Anatomy KAL.

fun!

we went apple picking which was fun. We actually told the owner of the orchard that we were apple picking virgins, to which they replied "That's the second time we've heard that today".

We each bought a 1/2 bushel of apples (Macs, Spartans and Cortlands)--so I need to figure out something to do with them.

(I look really weird in the first picture--but I'm squinting in the sun)

Then I drove past home--didn't stop--on my way to another friends for dinner and a movie.
It was a bit rushed, but fun.

So today--the sun is shining, I have been dreaming of dying more sock yarn--so I think I shall do something crafty today.
(I also have been dreaming of spinning and I don't spin, so how weird is that).
I would love to learn but the $$$ factor makes it a hobby I can't afford right now.
I bought a cheap drop spindle from e-bay but I don't know how to use it.
I found a site last night that had some advice, so maybe I'll do some of that today to.

I also gave hubby a list of thinks he can make me:
a swift, a warping board (a la Scout--seriously people, have you SEEN her yarn? gorgeous, just gorgeous stuff)
and a ghetto skein winder/measurer thing.

yeah!

Friday, September 15, 2006

It's Friday....

Doesn't mean much, except we've had a whole week of grey weather and I'm about ready to scream.
So....In the hopes of keeping my sanity, Princess B and I did some kool-aid dying with the left over yarn from the Africa socks.

She chose blue and orange for my nephew (thinking that I could just whip up a pair of socks this morning...to send with his late birthday present) andred, pink and orange for herself.

Here are the results.
this:

became:

and this:


became this:


but first it did this:

in case you can't tell, it's a big splatter of orange kool-aid.

apparently 2 minutes in the microwave= good

3 minutes=bad.

I could hear it popping from the other room.

The blues don't show up very bright in the first batch, but I still think it's cute.

Her skein is quite dark, you can barely see pink, it's mostly just dark red and dark orange. She likes it and wants to keep touching it.

Some progress on the hourglass:

I have only knit on it 2 nights. The one night was the night of boredom and last night we had friends over so I didn't get anything done.

I'm already on the 3rd ball of yarn and am still keeping my fingers crossed that I will have enough.

...and in KAL news, I have signed up for Lolly's Socktoberfest 2006. I love socks, and I'm a joiner, so....Join!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

but mom....i'm bored....

i'm bored too.
i'm so bored that i didn't even knit last night...
felt tired, felt lazy and felt bored.
so, i curled up under a quilt and watched the end of Rockstar Supernova.
Lukas...way to go. Canadians win this contest 2 years running. whatever that means.

i woke to a little princess wanting to cuddle me, but spending the next hour kicking me in the ribs and wanting me to move over...not pleasant to wake up to.

so, i've had some coffee, but it's still raining and little man just begged me to put him back to bed. weird that at 17 months (yesterday) that he knows how to tell me, and i know what he means.
he demanded i pick him up, asked for "ba ba" he made his little excited noises until i picked up the "right" bottle and then relaxed in my arms...okay, no complaints here.

so, in the spirit of bordom, i tagged myself with a meme.
i know, sad, but since no one tags me, i'll just play tag with myself.
blah....


My 10 Names Meme
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( pet and current street name) Lucky Mary

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy) George Dark Chocolate or Norma Sweet Tart.

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name) M. Ann
I like J. Mac better

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Orange Dog.

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Ann-Marie Scarborough

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)Macjuevcam

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink) The Orange Coffee

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers)
Earl George or George Earl

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) (Alfred) Sung Docs

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name )
Jill Joseph (that’s not really fair since all go by our middle names)
Norma Norm—now that’s weird
now, i'm even boring myself

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

ask and ye shall receive...

the new knitty is up with a feature about bind-offs....
and there's a picot bind-off which i might just have to try for the flamingo socks.

and in other news:
i have started the second ball of yarn for the hourglass sweater. i have only done about 30 rows, so i'm surprise that i'm out of 1 ball already--and hoping i have enough yarn.
i did calculate things and ordered an extra ball...but now i'm worried.

no progress shot, as it's kinda boring...
i hope the kids sleep this afternoon 'cuz i'm tired and i need some coffee, chocolate and prime knitting time!!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

4th time's the charm....

Okay, so I had to frog the hourglass AGAIN.
I got about 20 rows into it, when I realized that there was a twist and I was making a giant orange mobius.

I ripped it out and spent the whole evening getting back to where I started. I am really hoping that this is the last time, or I might just lose interest in this sweater.

I signed up for the Grey's KAL, hosted by Melissa. Where you watch Grey's Anatomy (season 3 starts on Thursday!!) and knit along.
Melissa suggests something grey, but I don't have anything grey. I'm trying to pick a project that I might work on only Thursday nights and see if I can take the whole season to finish it.
My mom had a knit afghan that she started and I inherited--many many sample squares, to finish and sew together. That might be a good project.
now if only I could find the pattern book she used....

Monday, September 11, 2006

Spaaaaaaaa

Yes, I went to the spa today.
hubby got me a gift certificate for my birthday in may...and I've only now found the time to go.
it was heaven.
I had a back masque--which sounds a little weird, but I got a back/neck and shoulder massage as part of the deal!
I also got a pedicure which was nice, and since I've never had one before a neat experience.
the spa was beautiful and relaxing and I almost fell asleep, except...
they played the theme from Twin Peaks....Twice....
and it freaked me out a little bit.
the first time was before the therapist came in and I was relaxing on my own almost asleep.
I heard the music and instantly thought of the log lady.
then, right after the masque the therapist was about to start the back rub when the song played again. It creeped me out.
sheeesh.
I didn't watch that show much, but I do remember the theme.

anyways, the day was nice, almost didn't want to go home.

I did get some work done on the hourglass sweater

--not much, but this is progress as I finally managed to knit a few rounds with the right number of stitches and without a twist in it.
I had to rip out the first 3 attempts!

I have never knit with any knitpicks yarn before, and I am loving this andean silk.
it feels so soft I just want to rub it on my face all the time.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Socks on a....

blog....
I don't' know. I've been listening to too much lime and violet.
they have a podcast episode called snakes on a podcast--where everything gets turned into movie references.
snakes on...Well, everything.

anyhow--I think I'm hopped up on too much sugar. It's fair weekend here in the county and we spent the afternoon running around and trying to keep princess b away from the rides and ice cream.
no. such. luck.
she had fun and got the largest ice cream ever.

on to the socks.
I took some shots tonight at 7pm when I got the camera back, because I couldn't wait to photograph the picot edges.
I'm still undecided, but I think I like the larger one better.
what'ya think?


I have to decide and then re-do the other sock.

and now I bring to you, a collage:
the flamingo socks and the flamingos that we saw in Kenya: (note, if you watched the constant gardener, the lake where she is "found" is the lake where we saw these flamingos)


I'm about to cast on for the hourglass sweater..I'm a little worried about sizing and am reading up on negative ease.
anyone know about this and care to comment??

Friday, September 08, 2006

almost there


i am so close to finishing these socks.. and i think i shall love them.
princess b is excited, because they are pink and she wants me to knit her a pair next...
i still have to figure out the picot cast off--can't seem to find one that doesn't involve sewing a flap down, or 3 needle bind-off type technique. we'll see.

had some fun with princess b. tonight. here she is cutting the hair of the little grass-guy craft she made at vacation bible school this year.

and she took a big nap this afternoon--i wish i knew that she was asleep, both kids were napping and i was blog surfing--could have been knitting!!!
but look at that face....

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Baby jays

Not much to see on the flamingo sock. I've done the heel on the second sock, so it won't be too long now. I pulled it out tonight and it hardly looked like I had put a dent in it..but watching most of "Lord of the rings, Return of the King"--did the trick.
I say most of, because we started at 9pm and by 11 when we realized there was more than an hour left, we called it a night.
well, hubby did.
I was just at the short rows for the heel and I couldn't stop there...so I did the heel and then put it away.
to blog.

I finished the baby jays before I went to my sisters, but didn't take any pictures.
I finally got the macro setting on my camera figured out.

I think they are quite cute:

the stitching is cute and the little toes make a cute "m" shape
I can't wait for him to wear them.

Pattern: toe up Baby Jays
Yarn: Left over Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima from Sockapalooza
Needles: Addi Turbos US 2

Oh, jaywalker, how do I love thee. I have made 3 pairs, and still no pair for me! But man, I love this pattern!

I will take a picture of the flamingo sock, when the lighting is better. Taking some tonight just got a nice flash, or yellowish looking yarn. ick.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Home again home again jiggety-jig...

...something mom always said.

we're back again. We got home from my sisters Saturday night, went to bed, got up for church, came home, ate lunch and left again.
we just got back from 2 days at the cottage--complete with some leftover ernesto rain.
some highlights:
princess b did some fishing


I caught and ate my very first fish!
  • I worked on the flamingo sock #2
  • I took a 2 hour nap (can't remember the last time I did that when there wasn't sickness involved)

    I made a merged picture of the "I dreamed of Africa sock".
    here's me in Kenya, making strips of material for the girls to knit rag rugs. The sock is beside me, in it's early days--and then the finished pair.

That's about it for now.
I am actually excited that tomorrow is the first day of school. no school for me, no school for princess b, but there is something about fall and the newness of school that gets me excited.
That and I just bought some fall clothes. I actually bought 2 sweaters from the goodwill. One is a very nice wool fair isle (again, I am trying to get over my fear of wool).
Went to tar-zhay and bought some jeans and cool shoes (I'm all about brown and pink these days, not sure why).
I am looking forward to wearing sweaters, which means...
I need to cast on for the hourglass sweater.
I have tried to e-mail to be part of the KAL, but no response.
I'll get the sock done first and then we'll see.
I am trying to do a picot bind off, but it's not working so well. Anyone else tried it?
any tips?
I sit with the vogue knitting book on my lap, but the pictures don't make sense and the edge looks really weird.
I tried wendy's method, but then I have to stitch the flap down...Not sure I like that.
I'm learning so much these days, and I love it!!!

Saturday, September 02, 2006

sock on vacation

hi everyone.
i am baaaaaack.

we never did figure out how to get the pictures onto my sister's computer.
maybe because we have a different camera.
maybe because we had 3 children stuck to us all week (i say that in a good way--we had tons of fun) . we drank tea, knit, ate way too much and watched some 24 (i love me some 24)

i got a package from knitpicks (woohoo!) which i can't show you right now because:
A) I ripped into it as soon as I saw it
B) What was not immediately opened is now sitting outside in the car and since it's monsooning like crazy I am not running outside to get it.

what i will tell you is:
i ripped open the clover bamboos and immediately cast on for the opal flamingo socks using wendy's generic toe-up pattern.
i LOVE these socks.

4 nights of knitting and i have one done. (this being said, 4 nights equals about 1.5 hours each time, but really less than that because as soon as i sat my sorry self down on sisters big comfy couch i would nod off)
basically it would be about 8 episodes of 24 season 1 (this is my second time watching it--it's soooo addictive)

the sock did some tourist-y things too.... it went to the zoo


it did a lot of driving.

i had some trouble with the second sock. i finally got to listen to knitting podcasts on the i-pod and was listening to lime and violet.....when....
i laugh so hard i lost a toe.....ripped a stitch.....
i actually lost the provisional cast on for the second sock and had to start all over again.
those lime and violet girls are pretty funny....
it's another rainy day---and we are off to the cottage for a couple of days. not the best time to go for the weather, but hubby's family are all still there for the next 2 days so.
and since it's rainy--maybe that will give me the opportunity to sit and get a dent in the second sock... a girl can dream can't she???