Saturday, June 8, 2013

9:13

Pair #9
yarn: gingerbread people Desert Vista Dye Works
I had to buy this yarn after my BFF bought it. I'm such a copycat. It's self striping, and sparkly. And it came with a mini skein for contrasting heels and toes. Love.
pattern: Basic sock pattern.



Friday, June 7, 2013

8:13

And just like that, pair #8 are done!
I made these as a pay-it-forward gift for Bart's cousin Cari in Florida. She has special ordered many items from me, and mentioned a few times how she'd like some socks. How could I resist?

yarn: Karynlandia colorway, BMFA
I cannot say enough nice things about this yarn. It's lovely to work with, has a great twist, comes in gorgeous colors, and is so squishy that I just love to squeeze it!

pattern: ripple socks, from Not Just More Socks by Sandi Rosner
easy to memorize, quick to knit.






Friday, May 24, 2013

7:13


Hey, wow!
Two blog posts in one week. I'm on a roll :)

This is pair #7. Knit up superduper fast.
yarn: Cakewalk yarn, colorway Brooklyn


I really love the little bits of color in the yarn, and will buy more! I will also knit this pattern again, as it  was so quick and easy. Maybe in a manly color next.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

5 & 6:13

I have become the anti-blogger. I think about it, really I do! I just never seem to find the time to add new things, and photos, and links. It's a lot of work, yo.

I have found time to crank out many new pair of socks.

First up, a pair that I started probably 2 years ago and never finished. I don't know why...the pattern is awesome and the yarn is squishy. The pattern is Kai-Mei by Cookie A., sock genius extraordinaire.
The yarn is Prism Saki
 This pair I made in April for a KAL on Rav. These are Mullet socks, in the BMFA colorway Baby Zombie. The minute I saw the name of this color I knew I had to have it. Love me some zombies :)

I have become terrible at taking photos of things I've made lately. I made two baby sweaters as gifts and didn't get a photo of either completed before I mailed them off. Don't know where my head is at, but it's not on photo taking.

At this pace, I will for sure have 13 pair by January 1st!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

4:13

This is the fourth pair of socks I've completed in my quest to knit 13 in '13.
Simple socks, to rest my brain between all the cabled business I've been up to lately.
Yarn is from Desert Vista Dyeworks, given to me by my BFF Heather.
I love self striping yarn. Nothing but happiness here.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Sock experiment 2

Since sock experiment #1 was so successful, my BFF and I decided to do another one.
The first pattern I chose was very fussy. I knit almost an entire sock before I decided that I loathed it. So I scrapped that sock.
I decided upon Yarnissima's Slingback pattern (I've been wanting to knit it for a long time) and I decided to do it in this lovely Smitten Stricken yarn that I got in the Cookie A. sock club last year. It is more purple in person than it is in the photos. Lovely, lovely yarn. I really loved it.
We had the entire month of March to work on it.


 The first sock was a little tricky; this pattern is a toe up and I never do toe ups. But I figured it out, and then was moving right along. The second sock gave me fits. I don't know what happened, but by the time I got to that criss cross in the middle, my counts were off. I tried to tink back and fix it, and ended up ripping out the whole thing. Heartbreaking. So I've now actually knit this sock 3 times.

 My Bff Heather is a big old cheater. She came to visit me St. pat's weekend, and she was all finished with my pair. AND she came bearing other gifts, all so she could say she kicked my ass. And she did.
This was the pair I got in return. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe them. I love them so much. If you can't tell, there are owls all over them. With beaded eyes. I told you she kicked my ass!

I love my socks. Love love  love!

Monday, March 18, 2013

I've been trolled!

I got an email today from an old friend and co-worker, who brought up the fact that I don't blog very much anymore. My response was that I rarely get comments, so it feels often times like I am speaking to no one. And I've always had a hard time blogging my real feelings, the hard parts, my inner truth. Then comic bloggers became huge and I didn't feel like I compared, so I just stuck with my less than exciting approach...occasional stories from the everyday.

So today, I decided to write a blog post. I logged onto blogger to find that I had 11 comments awaiting moderation. Wow! 11 comments is an avalanche to me. 9 of the comments were spam. No surprise there; I get a lot of spam.

But there were 2 comments posted anonymously by an actual person who read 2 different posts and felt the need to comment.

Both of the comments were very nasty, and I was a little shocked at first. I am not a prude in the least, but apparently I am more naive than I thought. I figured if I didn't say anything polarizing, didn't talk about religion or politics or how sometimes I want to run far, far away from home, then I wouldn't have people hating on me.

I was wrong!

After 30 minutes or so, I got over my jaw dropping shock and started to get angry. How dare someone who doesn't know me say mean things to me under the cloak of anonymity? And if you do know me, I must have done something really bad to piss you off so much. I forgot that I'm not still in high school, where the mean girls rule and everyone else just shuts up. I had a stalker in high school, and it wasn't any fun. (If it's you, Kathy, I certainly hope you got some help for your mental health issues, you crazy bitch.)

You obviously read several of my posts, enough to comment on the fact that I don't have a job and have plenty of free time. Are you jealous? I do have plenty of free time; I am a lucky girl. I have a husband who works very hard to support our family so that I can stay home. There are days when I would switch places with just about anyone on the planet, and there are many more days that I am incredibly grateful. I worked for many years. I still work, every day. I just no longer get paid for it. I hope that my kids can appreciate (one day, in the distant future) all the things that I do for them that they take for granted. I will only have them with me for a short amount of time, and I don't want them to feel like I didn't pay enough attention to them while they were home.

I struggle every day. I struggle to find balance between being a mom and being a woman. Between being a mom and being a daughter. Between being a mom and a wife. I struggle with depression. I struggle with my weight. I struggle with feelings of inadequacy. I question every decision I make. I regret the choices I made in my past. I hope to make better choices in the future. I hope that my family knows how much they are loved. Every day.

I'm no longer mad. I actually laughed at the second comment. I was poking fun at myself, calling my hair hot (it wasn't in the least) and you clarified it by telling me I was fucking NOT. And that my ass looks like 5 pounds of chewed bubblegum. I may be overweight, middle aged, and unemployed, but my ass is anything but fat. I wish it were a little rounder!

So, thank you, internet troll, for reminding me of how good I've got it. I have great friends. I have a great family. I have a damn good life.

And you can suck it.