I heart Knit Picks

I opened up my mailbox today, excited, as always to see the new Knit Picks catalog. I confess, I don't order from them a ton, mostly the yarn I use when I am dyeing yarn. But, they always have great ideas, and occasionally I jump in on something.

Anywho, the first two pages . . . they have crafted their own set of really cool interchangeable needles. Now, I have the Denise needles, and I love them. I use them for tons of projects. I love just having the cables around to hold projects that are on hold so to speak. My only issues are sometimes, the joins aren't perfectly smooth so certain yarns can get caught up (not ever snagged so far, but caught up) and also that they don't go very small in size. The size part seems to be the nature of the beast. But, I will say, Denise has amazing customer service. Before my LYS carried the extra lengths, I faxed them an order and it was on my doorstep in what seemed like 2 days or less. Love that.

And now the new kid on the block interchangeables, well, I'm just going to have to buy them. They look so sleek. They look like Addi's but interchangeable. What could be better than that? And of course, price is pretty darn awesome for a starter set. I'm hoping you guys will take a look and let me know what you think, if you think there are any drawbacks to them. And, seriously, they are purple , well the cords anyway, it's like they were made just for me. Sigh.

Why I love knitting (the first of many columns)

I'm over at a friend's house for dinner and we pull out our knitting afterwards. She's working on a poncho for one of her daughters and had never knit in the round so I needed to help her get going. About the third row in said daughter comes in and starts watching me knit. She's not saying much, she's seen her own mother knit and she's eight-ish years old. But, then I switched to working on Aden's blanket and all of a sudden she's fascinated by the changing color blocks, the softness of the yarn, all of it. Doesn't matter that her mother is knitting a chair away. This is exactly why I had Cindy teach Sugar Bear to knit, because me teaching her initially would not have gotten her very excited.

And this is one of the many reasons I love knitting. I love watching a kid get excited about it. I can remember when I was little and my mom taught me to cross stitch. I remember the joy of it. And I think that's why I am so addicted now! Because it brings back that joy to me every time I pick up the needles.

So what gets you going about knitting? Also, if you comment, tell me where are you from...I don't mean address, just give me a state or territory or country. I keep some track on sitemeter, but I saw someone from Ireland today and I thought wow! is someone from Ireland really reading my blog????

My One Skein Pal

I've been a real slacker on this one. A) I am a slacker because I haven't sent my package for June out yet and hello, it's the end of June and B) (Far worse), I got a lovely package in the mail from my pal and didn't post about it yet. Clearly she is paying close attention to the blog and sent me yarn in "my colors" and flower seeds. Lucky for me, due to all of this unbelievable rain, I still have a shot at sowing these little guys this year. That would be the only good thing about the rain that never ends. Talk about an inconvenient truth....where I am from, outside of DC in Alexandria, VA, they have had such severe flooding that they had to shut down part of the Beltway. Think Belt Parkway, think Long Island Expressway, think LA Freeway and whatever the one is in Atlanta that screws with everyone. This was a major deal to shut down part of this highway where construction is already hell as they build a new bride that is already obsolete. And, of course, FEMA is all over this one, screwing it up as they go. Amazing how this agency actually worked under Clinton, but I digress . . .

Bottom line is my secret pal rocks, another one from CA (love you CA girls, transplants or not (I mean transplanted location not boobs ladies, oh right, those would be implants)). Can't wait to see what next month brings.

I'm going to pick out the one skein yarn for my pal right now! Stash here I come!

Who knew?

I have to laugh about finally getting into the Knitting Blogs web ring. I got over 100 hits today which is way above average for me. I now am honored to be one of 1000 knitting blogs! We'll see how many of you stick around. The fun thing is that you guys are sticking around to read the blog for longer stretches at a time. Either I'm getting funnier or you guys are really bored.

Madonna, Madonna, Madonna

Wow, wow, wow and did I mention WOW ? What a night, what a concert (thank you April), and what an amazing experience.

A little of my Madonna history: My first album ever was Like a Virgin (remember when they were albums?). I can remember where I was when my mom gave it to me after school. I can remember that the "bad girl" down the street already had it and that my mom got major cool points in my book for getting it for me. I'm pretty sure it was fourth grade.

I wanted to be Madonna. I wasn't sure what she was, but I knew that was what I wanted to be. She had all the boys, she had the best clothes, she got to wear as many Madonna bracelets as she wanted to (of course, I did too until my mom found out what they "meant.") I can remember watching the video for Dress You Up in My Love (when MTV actually played music) at my great aunt's house in Philly (Cable had not come to Virginia yet unless you were really wealthy) and dancing around the room like a fool.

I wanted to be her for Halloween that year, but someone else at school was going to be her so instead of being a copy of that girl, I went with Boy George as my costume. There's a story there too, I'll tell that one another time.

And last night, seeing her live for the first time (as I was too little for so long and then for a while never considered spending "that much" for concert tickets) . . . I was so right to want to be her. Emy, I am sure you can attest to this. As April said, she commands your attention. Whatever you say about her, she always knows who she is, even if it changes from time to time as part of her evolution. And she doesn't take any crap from anyone. I admire that most of all. Not to mention, I'll be working out a lot harder the next few weeks because at 47 she has a better body than most of us will ever have in our lifetimes. She is one taught muscle. As are her dancers who are just remarkable (and really, really young).

So, that's my ode on Madonna for this morning.

I have actually been knitting. Working on Aden's blanket from forever ago. Have to get it done. It's one of those, knit in strips, multi-color deals. I think I had a picture on the blog a while back. Anyway, it's kind of hanging over me, though not in a bad way, and it's time to get it done.

Okay, friends, time to get my butt in gear and get some work done!

Snap it up

Astrid is having a big fat sale on Opal and Regia, so if you are finding your stash wanting in the sock department, click on over there and get some goodies. Plus, she sends Dutch chocolate with your order, what could be better than that?

I'm trying to contain my excitement because I have tickets for Madonna tomorrow night. The problem is, I think my fellow attendee is in the process of canceling. I think I would go see her even if I were on my death bed. I was too young to see her when the whole Like a Virgin thing happened, have wanted to see her ever since, and now I have my chance. I'm almost ready to go by myself if I have to!

Picture Day!

Finally, I am back at my own computer and can download all of the great vacation shots. I warn you, the fishing shots are graphic. Just so we're all clear, these guys were all catch and release (some of them were not so smart and became the benefactors of multiple catch and releases, but they go on to swim another day). I'm not showing you all of the fish anyway, lest we all get bored and click, click away.
I think I mentioned that we hit the National Zoo also. Such a great zoo, I mean, it's not San Diego, but it's still very large and they have some incredible exhibits. The zookeepers showed considerable interest in keeping Sugar Bear and Mimi, but I told them that at least until it is my decision to send them back to the zoo, I would keep my little animals on hand. I may regret this soon as it's early and I am already inundated with "what can I do questions?" Sugar Bear had a field day putting her hat on all of the statues and making me take pictures. I love her sense of humor and her sense of art :)

The last picture today requires a wee bit of explanation and is bound to offend someone. Lake Anna is a very rural community. When I got up to buy bait at the local general store/bait shop/gas station/health department, I walked in to a cloud of cigarette smoke. The woman behind the counter who was making breakfast sandwiches had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth with an extraordinarily long ash on the end (granny ash). This gives you the idea, I think of what the area is like. A couple of towns over from my mom and dad's place in Mineral is a town called, I kid you not, Bumpass. If you don't believe me, look it up. So, my parents were at Wal-Mart buying treats for the kids and they came across these fake teeth that seemed to have a good fit at Lake Anna. I only wish I had been wearing them when I bought my bait. Those are our friends who live at the lake year round in mom's neighborhood. It's fun for the girls to play with their two boys because each girl is only a month apart from their respective boys. (God, I need more coffee after this marathon vacay).

The fish was THIS big

Little known fact about me. I love to go fishing. I think there are actually a lot of similarities between fishing and knitting. It's a solitary pursuit. You must be patient. It takes some skill. And sometimes it can be so god dam$$d frustrating that you want to pull out a shotgun (even though you don't believe in firearms) and fire directly into the lake to get that carp (the equivalent of throwing your knitting needles across the room sorta kinda).

While at Lake Anna the past two days, I fished my heart out with the girls. I even caught my own bait fish (much to Sugar Bear's enormous chagrin--doesn't bother her that pigs get slaughtered for bacon, but god forbid I use baby trout to catch other fish)with a net and some bread. Had my nightcrawlers and lures and everything, it was a beautiful thing I tell ya. Caught three catfish. Pictures to definitely follow on the biggest one of those (about eight pounds). Caught a blue-gill. Caught a bunch of silvery fish whose name I am not sure of. Caught two small-mouthed bass. All in all a good day.

But, it was the fish who got away FOUR times that was the bane of my existence as a self-respecting fisherwoman. Carpy.

Day one at the lake he got a lure and a rather large hook. Day two we saw him swimming around with said hook in his mouth, very Goth. So, I began again to try for him. Two separate times, the swivel opened up and he got two of my hooks. But it was the last time that really piss## me off. He took the hook, the bait, and almost me. I wish I could demonstrate online the way in which I had to try to get this fool fish out of the water. I kid you not that if the catfish I caught was eight pounds, this sucker must be ten because the fight he put up was enormous. The closest analogy I can think of is the movie Grumpier Old Men when they try to get Catfish Hunter at the end. This fish is entering into mythic proportions for me. And he will be mine . We're headed back the beginning of August and he is going to be mine. I'm buying a new pole and I am not messing around.

Needless to say, no knitting has been accomplished this week. Perhaps today on the drive home. Not while I am driving of course :)

Vacay craziness

I've been gone since Friday and have finished four, yes a whopping four rows of knitting. Ergh. I chose to drive down to VA on Friday instead of DH, due to the fact that I didn't want the trip to take twelve hours, but that meant no knitting. And we have just been running like crazy people since then.

Sugar Bear and Mimi are having a joyous time with their grandparents and I am enjoying seeing my friends and soaking up as much free babysitting as possible. We had an awesome trip to the National Zoo yesterday and I have great photos, but currently no real way to upload them. Double rats!

I really need to vent about Six Flaggs and their outrageous employee positions, but no time right now. Will definitely get into it later. My apologies for any crappy spelling, my grandfather's computer has some pop-up issues right now!

Blooming this week

Just so you can see that it has finally stopped raining here (and is rapidly approaching the 90 degree mark), I thought I would share with you some of what's going on in the garden. Look for Toady in the lettuce, he's almost completely hidden! I harvested a ton of lettuce this morning to take to VA for my mom and family. Can't beat totally fresh lettuce. I'm a little bummed because I know that some of my bulbs, etc. are going to be blooming over the next week and I may miss them, but hopefully there will be something left to photograph at the end.

I'm amazed that the irises bloomed at all because I was a naughty girl and failed to move them in august when I was supposed to and split them rather clumsily this spring. I had so many that I had to divide them up into at least 10 clumps....that's what years of neglect will get you!

The white begonia (which I must say is totally spectacular) I started indoors over the late winter early spring and I thought that perhaps I wasn't going to have any luck with them. And then voila! The blooms started appearing last week, but didn't open up until this week. Very cool.

Lucy, resident genius

I know somewhere I have a picture of our cat, Lucy that I could post. Somewhere. Which basically means that I can't find it and can't get off of my a$$ to take one right now, additionally, she's eating so not in the mood for a photo. I completely forgot to post about this earlier so here I am now. But, I digress...

Last night at 2:49 a.m. I heard possibly the loudest MEOW ever, followed by a couple of smaller meows. I sat upright in bed because only recently has Lucy been allowed to wander the house at night. She's a mostly outdoor cat, except in the hell of winter here in CT when it would be inhumane to leave anything remotely alive out in the world. She usually lives in our oil room, but now I've grown progressively more attached so I let her roam around. Again, digression.

So, I hear the meowing and think she is on my bed (again, a new phenomenon for her) and realize within seconds that no, she isn't in my bed but the MEOW was loud because she managed to do it right next to the "baby" monitor in Sugar Bear and Mimi's room (we never used these things when they were actual babies but now that they are on the other end of the house, it makes me feel at least a little more secure; yeah, right). Smart ass cat if you ask me, making the meow right into the monitor. Then the next sound was Sugar Bear whispering, "Lucy, knock it off." Followed by, "Maaaaaahm, Lucy won't stop scratching at my covers." Right-o.

So, up I go to get rid of Lucy at which point I realize that Mimi is now awake as well and there is no getting either of them back to sleep without me. After 45 minutes of us all laying there pretending to be asleep, we gave up and came down to my bed. Of course, they went to sleep but not me because I had that damn Backyardigans song in my head from the Secret Agent episode (if you don't have kids, this is lost on you right now, but if you do, I hope you too will suffer the Sneaking and Hiding disease I had last night at 3:30 in the morning).

I must have finally gotten the song out of my head because I clearly remember having a dream after that in which I was hanging out with Rod Stewart and his latest chippy, explaining to him that DH and I often laugh about the fact that we used to have Beatles songs stuck in our heads and now it's the Backyardigans.

Can you tell I haven't had coffee in two days?

The Best Dye-o-Rama Buddy Ever

That's right, be jealous, I have the best secret pal ever from Dye-o-Rama. I got some truly spectacular yarn in the mail today from Emy. I only wish that I had time today to take a picture in better lighting to do this yarn some true justice. If you click on her site, she has a really nice picture of it. And how cute is all the stuff in the package? Emy rocks! I think it goes without saying she is a Virgo :) Now I just have to find out when her birthday is!!!

And look at all the cool, color-coordinated swag it came with! Love the mini photo album, looking forward to taking all the candy on my VA road trip (We leave tomorrow) and who doesn't love a purple pen. And I can't wait to use the bath teabags. She knows I have kids!

I also want to give her a little plug, if you are into stamping or are just curious about it you need to check her site Stampin Up! Stamping with Emy. The card she sent was adorable and of course, stamped by herself!

I will not hold it against her that she went to William and Mary, but rather congratulate her on not killing herself. She should know what I mean! Go JMU Dukes!

Alpaca envy

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am writing the newsletter for my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), George Hall Farm. I showed up with the kids yesterday morning to speak with George's nephew about the newsletter and was greeted by the site of 4 beautiful Alpacas recently shorn and looking so totally adorable. Sadly, my camera was charging at home so I didn't get any shots of them (one of them is named Flanders, I just love it), but I promise to do that soon. The farm is awesome, chickens running everywhere with guinea hens, their little chicks all over the place. I even spotted two Angora rabbits though that is one fiber I am not currently coveting. Interesting that at least so far, the Alpacas only have bottom teeth, but they have an apparently wicked kick with their cloven hooves. I'm going to see if at some point, the woman planning to spin it will either let me watch or purchase some of the final product. I'm becoming an Alpaca stalker.

The agony of De Feet

Seriously with this padded heel on these socks. Due to the fact that I had to knit the other portions of the stockinette on 0's I started to do the heel on 00's. Now that I have a nasty case of arthritis and carpal tunnel, I'm switching back to the 0's. It's a negligible difference which is a very good thing as I am way too lazy this week to frog out the approximately 10 rows I completed on the heel in the smaller size. Have you frogged anything on 0's or 00's lately, hell on earth with the dropped stitches. Even tinking out hurts my head to think about. I do love the padding of the heel though so I should not complain too much. It's all adjustment on my part. And, at least I will not have to make the same mistake when I get to the second sock. Trying to finish the heel tonight so that I can keep on rolling. That or to finish the Top Secret Project .

I've decided to nickname the kids for the purpose of blogging, though it's not exactly like I am hiding their identities when I post pics of them. Daughter number one (aka C) will heretofore be known as Sugar Bear and daughter number two (aka S) will be known as Mimi (short for Screaming).

More on yesterday

I really have no idea why it is that I am knitting these socks on such small needles. The first year and a half of my knitting (remember, I have only been doing this since spring 2004), I was the girl who always had to go up at least 2 sizes for what seemed like every single project. And the suggested sizes for this sock were 5's for the cuff, 2's for the foot and 1's for the heel (an approximation of what the pattern actually says). I had to do the cuff on 1's. I'm doing the first part of stockinette on 0's and now I think I will have to do the heel on 00's. I've lost my mind. Really, it's only because I have never done anything on needles that small, my hands just feel a little man-hands in the process. Meaty. In fact I could seriously injure someone with the 00's. Way pointy on the ends. I poked myself putting the stuff away last night!

And due to the fact that I am unable to stop talking about super-girl-daughter-number-two and her amazing pull-up adventures . . . she did it again last night. The girls are having some adjustment issues this week because my grandparents and mother were here all off last week so they had mucho attention compounded by the fact that this is callista's first week off from school. Last night was the "I'm going to pretend I have to barf so that mommy or daddy will take pity on me and let me sleep in their bed" night. That was a no go. C came crying downstairs (and hour after they were supposed to be asleep) that she was afraid that S was going to yak all over her. When I went upstairs to see if there was any legitimacy to the claim (since it's been going around school), I picked up a hysterical S in the hallway to find naked buns in my arms. In the middle of her hysterics, I say, "Wait a minute here, you have no pull-up on" and she, waiting for my reaction, bursts out into what can only be called maniacal laughter. She's the laugh with your whole body kind of girl, so needless to say, I laughed with her. It's really hard not to.

Blog rut

But, I swear I am coming out of it. First, let's start with Anne Coulter. Not like she deserves any more print, but for the love of God she is Satan. I don't think I really need to say anything more than that. Anyone who has the balls to criticize 9/11 widows, clearly Satan. Damn that liberal media.

Second, and more importantly, I bought new dye colors today. Haven't yet had the chance to try them out but I can't imagine them being anything but fabulous. I still have 1 lb. of yarn plus I also have a skein of merino left over from Knit Picks. I am hoping to get on this this week, but who knows? This is C's first week out of school, so anything can happen!

And on the daughter C front....she had her "Recognition Ceremony" on Friday as she gets ready to move from Kindergarten to first grade. It's a slightly big deal because if she was in a public K, she wouldn't be eligible for first grade for another year because her birthday is in January. We're very proud of how hard she has worked. The reading, the math, she's doing good work!

I've been happily working on my Rockin Sock Club Socks. I finished both cuffs just in time for my circular needles to arrive from Astrid. I'm doing the socks on size zero. It's shocking for me really as I have not done anything that small before.And I think the heel I am going to have to do on double zero's. Clearly I have lost my mind, but I am glad that for the first time ever I took the time to swatch for gauge on socks.

I also had quite the accident at AC Moore. I have no idea how all of this yarn ended up in my cart (though I suspect that the $1/ball had something to do with it). And what pray tell am I going to do with cheapsh$$ yarn?
Those faboo washcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting. If you don't have this book, get it already, I'm tired of singing its praises.

I'll post some garden pictures tomorrow. I was too sad when I went to my strawberries and saw so many that had literally molded on the vine I couldn't bring myself to go much farther. That's what ridiculous, endless amounts of rain will do for your crops. The peas are fine and we had those in a delicious salad of our lettuce last night. (And our toady is back in our lettuce, happily burrowing away to stay cool).

And I have to get my a$$ in gear because I am also doing the newsletter this summer for our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, George Hall Farm. I'm sure that I'm going to overextend myself on this one, but it's for a good cause!

The big reveal

I'm so psyched...my Dye-o-Rama pal, Carriereceived her package yesterday. And she liked it, she really, really liked it. I'm thrilled that my first swap went so well. You can click on her name and see her adorable blog called Knit-Whit and a great picture of the package that I sent her (of course, I forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it). It's been in my blog column for a while, but I couldn't say who she was, just in case she stumbled across me. I don't love ruined surprises. I can't wait to see how the yarn knits up for her!

What's with the blogger spell checker not working for me for days? My apologies for any bad spelling folks. Half the time I blog, I don't have my glasses on so I am squinting like a mole at the screen and therefore miss basic misspells, even when I proofread. And this used to be my carreer. Oy!

Gay marriage (again)

Is it me or is it just absolutely silly that we even have to talk about this issue? The senate voted down the moronic amendment to the Constitution today by a measly vote. One vote. I'm amazed anyone even had time to show up for voting whilst worrying about whether or not the FBI might hit their office in their absence. (I'm not even going to give myself the opportunity to go into a full-blown digression on this one, you can thank me later).

I spoke to my grandfather about this issue today. He's 81. And a democrat. And one of the most honest, upstanding people I know. And in his typical, non-judging fashion, he said, hey "I don't really want to watch two men kiss but who really cares if they want to get married? It has nothing to do with my life." Exactly.

First, there is the argument that if they are allowed to get married, it will undermine the instituion. Cause you know, the institution has been doing so well on its own these past few millenia. There's a lot more freaky sh$$ going on in hetero marriages than probably 99% of homosexual relationships. Gay marriage could only improve the numbers if you ask me. It would probably lower the divorce rate.

Second, why now? We're talking thousands of years of gays coexisting with straights. I'm Greek, we invented the "gay thing." Oh, right, I forgot, while our young people are dying over in Iraq, our economy is going to hell again, gas prices soaring, Iran trying to go nuclear and well, you know that little immigration problem, I totally get why this is our biggest problem. Hell, it's the biggest problem facing humanity isn't it?

Third, I think it was a Senator (again, who are these people?) who made the suggestion that next people will want to marry their pets or their kids. Do I even need to make a comment on this one ? I'm just trying to figure out how people like this make it out of their houses in the morning. They must have some kind of helper standing by. "Good morning sir, don't forget to take your enormous ego, your sense of entitlement and your bigotry with you to the senate floor today. Wouldn't want the other boys laughing at you."

Kid logic

S took off her pull-up again last night somewhere right after she went to bed. When asked why she felt the need to take off her pull-up her response was, "I was singing and dancing in my sister's bed." Obviously. I. am. not. in. the. know.

And the monsoon rain is back. Cause that's just what we needed.

"Still a genocide"

Was the title of a recent Washington Post article about Darfur. I won't go so far as to say that the peace agreement meant nothing, but is the tiniest of baby steps in what will be a journey of giant steps. Please consider emailing Bush today (because you know how forgetful he can be when he thinks we aren't minding the store) and tell him he must keep up the pressure. You can also forward the information to your friends so they can sign also from that link.

If you are interested in the Washington Post article (the only real newspaper :), okay so I am partial), click here.If women and children being raped and slaughtered on a daily basis doesn't get you to take action, what will?

Technical Difficulties, round two (aka Comcast is a big fat stinker)

Seriously, my cable connection was out again today (maybe yesterday by the time I actually get to post this as I am working offline. So I have no idea if anyone is talking about the cuff of the socks. I can’t post my weekly, what’s blooming in my garden shots. IÂ’s all terribly frustrating. I’ve run around all day like an absolute lunatic. It’s amazing how much I am getting finished around the house when I can’t obsessively check my email, sitemeter, KR and other people’s blogs! Arrrgghh!

I really want to go to the Fabric Place in Cromwell. I’ve got chairs that need to be recovered. They were kitchen chairs and now they are just a mess (or a PWT dream depending on your point of view; I’m thinking of doing a post just on abbreviations because I realize that sometimes I use abbreviations that ya’ll just don’t get). I want to get some sort of (unless it’s hideous looking) indoor/outdoor fabric because the chairs are wicker and now that they are no longer in my kitchen, I think outdoors is the place for them. I also have to recover the random chair that my MIL gave me right after we got married. I never loved the fabric colors, but then one of the kids got something on the fabric which I could not remove so, might as well cover that while I am at it. I’ve never been to this store before but have heard great things. That will have to be my DIY project for the week.
My Yiayia is in town so she can help keep an eye on S while I get some things finished!

Well, since I can’t blog, I must knit (and go through back issues of cooking light for the past five years in an attempt to make room for more yarn).

And good news, I actually got my butt to the post-office and mailed my Dye-o-rama swap sock yarn! I cannot wait to see what her adorable blog has to say about it!

Update post comcast screw-up Thought I would throw in a couple of garden pictures to brighten the text. Enjoy.

Two cents

I've had a lot of on and offline discussion about the sock cuff. So, I thought I would weigh in here and invite thoughts and comments (please people I won't bite) about it. BTW, I am almost finished with the second cuff, hope my needles get here soon. Though, this week will actually be a week of DH sweater work (have to finish that front!) and I am almost finished with the Top Secret Project. No reveal on that one until August! Stay tuned, but I digress...

Some people love the buttons on the cuff, some people not so much. I like the buttons as I think it really sets the sock off. My friend, Kelly, wants to knit them for her fiance (I know, I've already told her she can't knit them until she is actually married, only 19 more days to go on that front) sans buttons. And I know Holly in CT is interested in them without the buttons as well. I'm thinking you knit the cuff as written until you get to the part about the button-holes. Skip that and you also may have to/want to skip the picot edge. If you wanted the edge I am guessing you would just somehow sew it together just behind the edge. Without the edge I am thinking you just blanket stitch it up prior to picking up the stitches to do the rest of the sock. I could be totally off on this as I don't have the pattern in front of me.

Linda???? I'm thinking you would have the best idea of how to do this w/o the buttons and/or edge.

No knitting to show off today....I've been cleaning a closet and doing laundry. Necessary but no fun.

Technical Difficulties

Due to the incredibly vicious storms that blew through here Thursday night and early Friday morning, I had no internet service yesterday. Had not power for almost 12 hours either, but you know the computer was the bigger deal. We have a generator, but not everything is attached, blah, blah blah. Anyway, I finished my first cuff of the Socks that Rock and am working on the second one now. Too cool! I completed my first picot edge and my button holes (though I opted out of the one row button hole) look nice if I do say so myself. I started looking at buttons for the sock, but I'm not sure yet what direction I want to go with those yet. Something funky and fun I think to match the mood of the socks.
I can't wait to get started on the actual sock part, but I have to get those needles first! The WS looks very cool to me. The purls almost ended up making a rib pattern (whether or not they were supposed to is another story). And I just love, love, love the colors, don't you?
I've got to get my butt to the post office today to mail my Dye-o-rama pal her yarn. Enough already with the procrastinating! Can't wait to see what she says about it and what she posts about it on her blog. I've got to get moving on my One Skein swap pal also. Have to pick out the skein for June and start thinking about what I will make for August.

Play a dirge

I'm an animal lover. Not to the point of any kind of activism, but in general I love animals. Even the wildlife around here for the most part. The squirrels, foxes, turkeys, Canada geese, and the deer all friends for the most part. But, it seems that the wildlife and my car just cannot get along this week. I've managed to kill a chipmunk and a squirrel this week. I must say that I didn't feel very troubled about the chipmunk. While I wasn't aiming for him, one less chipmunk around here just means safer crocus bulbs.

I did feel a little bad about the squirrel, though. Mind you, this could not have been the smartest squirrel in the pack, he actually ran into my car. I kid you not, I saw him run right into my right front tire and heard the thump. I've never had that happen before with a squirrel, I don't think I've ever hit one.

I used to have a bird problem. I don't mind them, in fact, I love seeing them in my birdbath (we had to take the birdfeeders down because there's a black bear in the neighborhood and I am not trying to encourage him hanging out with us and the kids). But, there was a period of about three years around the time I was in college when it seemed I hit at least a bird every few months. They were literally flying into my car (a big red VW Golf affectionately called The Big Red Shoe because it resembled Clown footwear). And then one day I was on my way back from Harrisonburg, VA, home of many, many chicken farms. I was behind a chicken truck and I still can't quite figure out how this happened, but a chicken landed on my windshield and bounced off. Really? Yes, really.

For those of you familiar with Little Caesar's pizza, they had a commercial very similar to this and when it happened to me I thought, that had to be where the ad guys came up with it, it must have happened to one of them. Cause you can't make this stuff up. I couldn't eat chicken for weeks. Because when it bounced off my windshield, it landed hard in the emergency lane on I-81. Not like he was on his way to live at a country club, we were in Wampler country, but still. Not the nicest image.

Apparently, my karma has decided to run over the rodentia instead of fowl. Thankfully, the kids haven't noticed either time, but my luck on that front is only bound to last but so long.