The Boyfriend Sock Curse?

So most knitters have heard of the boyfriend sweater curse, right? You know, knit your favorite guy a sweater and the relationship is doomed. Well, thankfully, I've discovered that my particular knitting curse is sock related. I'm way more likely to knit socks than a sweater. In fact, I've knit maybe a total of 15 pairs of socks and only 1 short-sleeved sweater, in my knitting life.

It has resently dawned on me that the last 3 guys I've made socks for are no longer in my life. Well, atleast, not in a positive way anyways. (The only man who I've knit socks for that I don't have negative feelings towards is my step-dad.) The first in this list of sock relationship sabotage actually got 2-3 pairs before it went to crap. The second, got 1 pair and wore them only once or twice before I kicked him to the curb. And now the third...... I had just finished turning the heel on the first sock. That's quite the agressive progression.

I figured that this last pair (or half sock, really) would end up in the bottom of the UFO pile. At least it wouldn't be lonely;) Although friends tell me to knit them anyways for someone else, I hesitate. They are themed for this particular person and although I love black and white stripes I don't have huge feet. I've decided that they will not end up in the UFO basket, but they will be my travel socks as it's a very mindless knit (HA, mindless, yep the pattern fit the [almost] recipient).

So, now that I know all this, I've decided to look at this not as a curse, but as a tool. I'm thinking that everytime I meet a guy that peaks my intrest I'll cast on a pair of socks and see what happens. If the relationship isn't gonna work out, given my track record, I may only get to the heel increases maybe just the toe. That seems like a fast way to figure out if the guys a good one. On the other hand, if I actually get the pair completely done I'll know that the boy in question might actually be worth my time. Maybe even a sweater......

On another knitting note, I can't seem to stop making hats. Think it's something to do with the weather getting colder. But I have 3 new hats of my own designs.

Hours knitting:8
Total hours: 128

Summer fun

Well, It seems that the summer is comming to an end. The Kiddo is back in school, the sun is actually setting at night, and I'm starting to knit for more than 10 minutes at a time. I've had all the best knitting intentions this summer.... I've taken my knitting needles and yarn camping, fishing, to the gravel pit, to softball games, to hotsprings and bon fires all with the best knitting intentions. Then, well, it's summer damn it and not more than 2-3 rows get knit at a time. I'm personally surprised that I've finished ANYTHING at all.


I did finish these "Catnip" socks (a free pattern on Ravelry). Also finished 2 stuffed animals for my daughter from the "Odd Bod" book, but she snapped them up so fast they didn't get there moment in front of the camera.

I can feel it in my creative bones, that the knitting winds are starting to change directions as the days are getting shorter. There will be more knitting.

Hours Knitting: 11
Total So Far: 120

Dyeing to knit...

I blame it on summer and all the kool-aid commercials. I love the bright colors!! Yes, I know mom, I don't actually wear bright colors (my closet consists mainly of all things black and red) but that doesn't mean that bright summer colors don't make my heart feel full of hope and joy. So, remembering that a million years ago I bought a bunch of dye-able yarn from knitpicks I dove into the darkest depths of my yarn stash to find it then headed to my local wall-mart to find as many different flavors (colors) of Kool-aid and Jello. When I got home, the party began..... And now I have some wonderfully summery colors of yarn that my daughter is begging me to turn into something for her. And my heart soars.......

Now I just wonder when I'll be able to knit it up. I have no doubt that I will cast on a hat or perhaps some wrist warmers (probably both) but I do wonder if it will ever be cast off. I've been dealing with a terrible case of cast-on-itis lately. Symptoms include having 3 different socks on the needles, 2 different animals from the Odd-Bod Bunch book by Donna Wilson also on needles, and 1 hat. And I want to cast on so much more. Ugh, need to focus. I've knit for hours and hours and hours over the last few weeks without a single finished object to show off. Unless you include 1 finished sock. I don't consider socks done until they are both done soooo. I did do my best to fight Second Sock Syndrome by immediately casting on the second one as soon as the first one was off the needles but that was over a week ago and I still haven't made it to the gusset increases. Oh well, at least I'm still knitting, and knitting, and knitting........

Hours knitting: 29
Total so far: 109

Finally Done

Woot woot, happy dance. I finally cast off my Temperance socks. They were a knit-a-long with my mom and sister. Mom finished first and sister is running a bit behind. We'll let it slide considering she's the one with a full time job, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a husband. So glad these are finally done. I really like the finished project, but knitting them was a bitch.

I also finished my toe up, modified "Jaywalker" socks. I love the way the yarn worked with this pattern, I will be using this stitch pattern again. However, I will know next time that there is NO STRETCH in the stitch pattern. So I'll have to go up a needle size when I get to the cuff part. This pair is a bit difficult to get over my ankle. Note to self - try on socks as you go, that's one of the perks to knitting socks toe-up. So, do it, damn it.

On another knitting note, my mom is comming to visit me tonight for a week. She lives in Fernley, Nevada, I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. I am SOOO excited to see her. She is also a complete knitting addict. I can't wait to show her all our lovely yarn stores, talk knitting patterns till the wee hours of the morning and knit together. Pictures to come.

Yours Knitting: 16.5
Total So far: 80.0

Too hot for hats

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As many of you know, I have been sick lately. I'm still battling the crud left over in my lungs and not back to my 100% self. About all I've been able to knit on lately has been hats. And not wonderfully intricate lace or beautifull cables, no. All that has been able to come off my needles lately are very basic stockinette stitch hats. I found a beautifull simple hat pattern on Ravelry called the Felicity Hat. It's done in a lucious purple malibrigo yarn that is like knitting with the softest cloud. So beautifull, I love it. As I got a bit healthier (ie, wasn't praying for death) I decided I wanted to do something a bit more challenging, but not to much. So, I changed up the felicity pattern, adding a few purl rows into the pattern, and changing the decreased at the top. Does this mean I'm now a designer? Haha, don't really think that this counts, but I'm calling this hat the "Berry Picker" I used a MANOS del URUGUAY Kettle Dyed pure wool in a colorway that makes me think of mixed berries. This hat makes me look forward to the fall when I can go berry picking. I'm testing the pattern again with Dream in Color and if all goes well, I'll write up the pattern and post it.

I am in LOVE with these hats!!!! However, it being 87 degrees outside, I guess I'll have to wait a few months to wear them. Wow, did I just complain about it NOT being cold here in Alaska. I must still be a little sick.

Yours Knitting: 18
Total So far: 63.5

To sick to knit

Oh how it sucks to have a whole week off of work and be too sick to knit. For 3 days I thought it was a common cold and tried to use the time to catch up on my knitting. It only took me about an hour to completely screw up a sock. Now I must unknit 6-8 rows of my temperance sock. The sock which I've moaned about before. Anyways, I'm waiting till I'm all better before I even think about touching that damn sock again. What started off as a common cold has now turned into pneumonia. Ugh, thanks to a 2am trip to the ER with a temp of over 103 and difficulty breathing, I now have the meds to get me back in good health, back to work, and back to knitting.

Before my sick week I did get some knitting time in on a toe up Jaywalker sock that turned out lovely. Will post pics when the second one is done.

Hours knitting: 9
Total so far: 45.5

A shawl for Mothers Day

I had a wonderfull day with my daughter spent watching movies and hanging out.... and knitting. After having to un-knit (tink) 2 rows of lace pattern (total nightmare) I was able to finish my "Traveling Woman" shawl. Yippee!!! This was my first shawl and my first time reading a lace chart. It's such a feeling of acomplishment. I still have to block it, but concidering summer is here, that may wait for a bit till I have some other things to block with it. Blocking is almost as repulsive to me as a gauge swatch, so I like to put it off till I have a few things and can do them all at once.

To my amazing mother, I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART. I could never put to words how much I admire, respect and cherish you and our relationship. Thankyou for all you have ever done for me (even if I didn't understand at the time). Thankyou for changing my diapers. Thankyou for teaching me how to be strong. Thankyou for showing me compassion. Thankyou for nurturing my creative side. Thankyou for always being my number 1 fan. I would not be the person I am today without you. I am everything I am because of you.

Hours knitting: 6
Total so far: 36.5

When work gets in the way

Well, I knew it would happen. Damn work interfering with with my knitting. This last week has had very little knitting time. At least in compairison to when I was unemployed. Oh how I miss when I could knit for 10 hours a day. I don't think I fully apprecieated it at the time. I think I was more focused on the fact that I didn't know how I was going to pay rent or buy dog food (and forget about buying yarn).

I'm LOVING my job!!!!! It is so rewarding, I am truely blessed to be working at the facility that I am. That fact makes it a little less painfull to be away from my knitting needles.

I've been working on my Traveling woman shawl. I now only have 7 rows left. Woot woot, that sounds so close..... But as the pattern goes on, the rows get longer and longer. It's now taking close to 15 minutes per row and will continue to take more and more time the closer I get to the end. But that's the way a shawl goes.

More knitting to come during the weekend. Yipee for friday. I'll be posting pics as soon as this shawl is done. Hopefully by sunday......

Yours knitting: 3.5
Total so far: 30.5

More times you just gotta rip it.

Sung to the tune of Divo's "Whip it" When a problem comes along, you must rip it, when the knitting just goes wrong, you must rip it..... Yup, had to rip out about an hour and a half's work, cause I either can't do math or was just too wiped out to think. Most likely a combination of both. With the prompting of my mom, and my knit group the Fairbanks Fiberistas, I decided to try my first shawl. Never thought I'd want to knit a shawl cause well, I'm not a grandma. But I'm really likeing the idea of a small one that can be worn like a scarf. And the timing couldn't be better because both my mom and the knit group want to do shawl Knit A-Longs. So I decided on the Traveling Woman shawl another wonderfull design (and free pattern) from Liz Abinante. I don't know what I did wrong the first go around but I had 8 more stitches on one side of the "center" than the other. I didn't even realize it till my mother texted me and asked how I was doing. Damn, I'm so glad she did, who knows how long I would have kept going before I discovered the monsterous mess I was making. Ugh, let the ripping begin.... Thankfully It was my day off and I had been missing my needles anyways and was just happy that I had the time to rip and start over. After the ripping my Saturday was spent knitting for 40 min (the time it takes to watch an episode of CSI on DVD) then dishes, knit for 40 min then vacume, knit, fold laundry, knit, fold laundry, knit, knit, knit. And it was good. I'm now done with the first repeat of the 1st lace chart. Which happens to be the first lace chart I've read. Yipee.

Yours Knitting: 6.5
Total so far: 27

One love over another

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If you know me, you know that two of the things I love in my life are knitting (obviously) and my tattoos. The issue that I'm having right now is that, in my new job/career I am having to dress a bit more conservative than I'm used too. Being a bartender for the last 5 years, tattoos where never a problem. In fact, they were an asset that I'm sure have influenced many many tips. Now, working in the health care profession, specifically with the elderly, they have become more of an issue. They aren't asking me to cover all my tattoos and they aren't telling me that my tattoos are bad, but they are nervous of how our residents will view me because of my tattoos (which I don't entirely disagree with). So, they have asked me to cover up my wrist 1/4 sleeve. Ok, I'm sure I can do this. I have a few options, I could A) Where long sleeves under my scrubs (but as the weather is getting warmer, that could really suck) or B) Where a wrist brace ( then I get asked "What happened?" a million times and I have to explain the whole situation or C) I can cover up 1 love (tattoo) with another love (knitting). So, that's what I've decided to do. I've only made one wrist cuff so far and today I will wear it to work and see how it goes. I envision making a bunch of these and trying a few different yarns. I would just love to have a different one to match each of my scrub tops. Today is my first day on the floor interacting with the residents. I'm so excited as this has been along time coming. I'm also scared to death, but I'm sure that will subside when I get out there and am able to jump in with both feet and do the job I have been trained to do. The job that I WANT to do, that I feel very passionate about.

My knitting time has been drastically reduced in the last 2 days because for the last 3 months I've been unemployed, and now I'm working full time. I'm sure that I'll miss having all that time to knit but I'm going to really enjoy finally being able to afford the yarn I want. The knitting will continue.....

Yours knitting: 3.5
Total so far: 20.5

10 Reasons Knitting is better than Sex

After my sister texted me last Saturday night and asked why I wasn't out on a date it got me to thinking......

10 Reasons knitting is better than sex

10. It doesn't matter if your hair and makeup is done. Your needles will still let you touch them.
9. You can do it in public without being arrested.
8. It's less hazardous to your health, I've never thrown my back out while knitting.
7. After 20 minutes of knitting, I've never felt unsatisfied.
6. I regularly do the happy dance after CASTING off.
5. I can watch Law & Order or Criminal minds while knitting and no one thinks it's sick or disturbing.
4. The only disease you can get from knitting is Second Sock Syndrome.
3. I can spend hours on the Internet searching knitting related things and no one thinks I'm a perv (Well, not for that at least)
2. You don't need a shower afterwards.
1. If you want to snuggle with your yarn after, you can. If you want to roll over and start snoring, that's OK too.



I did get some knitting done. Friday night, cast on the second Leyburn. Sunday afternoon, cast off. And now the pair is done. HAPPY DANCE! HAPPY DANCE!!!

Hours knitting: 9.5
Total hours: 17

Avoiding the temperance

I'm doing a knit-along with my mother and sister. Atleast that's what I should be doing. We're all knitting Temperance designed by Liz Albinante. Available as a free download at Ravelry.com. It's a lovely pattern and is turning out well. However, there is a left twist stitch in the pattern that makes me want to stab out my eyes with the sz.0 needles I'm knitting with. Who ever discovered that stitch was a real sadist who I invision takes great pleasure from the pain she has caused me, my mother, my sister and countless other devoted knitters who love the pattern enough to work through the pain. Sorry mom, but I've taken a bit of a break. I know you, of all people, will understand. Here's how far I got, before I took a Temperance vacation.


Just because I've been on a Temperance vacation, does not mean I havn't been knitting. Just knitting on other things. I've started the Leyburn sock pattern, also a free download from ravelry.com. This was such a quick knit, it seemed to just fly right off the needles. The first one actually flew off the needles twice. One of the benifits to knitting toe up socks is that you can try them on as you go, but for some reason I forgot this and did not try on the sock till I had cast off. UGH, tears were shed when I tried and failed to get the sock over my heal. Due to the stranding in the stitch pattern, the cuff was to tight. CRAP!!! So had to frog back to the heal and switch from sz 1 needles up to sz 4, then back down to sz 1 for the ribbing. Thankfully it worked. Now, do I cast on the second one, or get back to the Temperance sock?


Nope, I didn't cast on the second sock. Nope, I didn't get back to the Temperance. Instead, I finally cast on a pair of slippers for me. See, I've made a grand total of 16 pairs of these slippers for OTHER people and never a pair for myself. Even though the whole reason I bought the pattern was to make myself a pair because I had worn out the same pair that someone had made for me. Still not done, have to do the soles and then felt them. Does anybody wanna let me use there washing machine? Havn't figured out how I'm gonna felt them when it seems that everybody I know has a front loading washing maching. Ugh, I'm sure I'll figure something out.


Hours knitting: 4.5
Projects: See above
Total hours so far: 7.5

Knit night with the girls

Got to spend a wonderful evening with my knitting family, the Fairbanks Fiberistas. Although the group meets once a week, we can't all make it every time, but that doesn't matter, it's always a blast. Plus, if the whole group were able to meet up, I can guarantee we would never be invited back to the venue it was held at. As we can be a loud, crude, crazy bunch of yarn obsessed women.

Knitting hours: 3
Projects: Slippers (I'm calling them the "Finally for Me" slippers)
Leyburn Socks

Pics of my projects will generally be posted when they are off the needles. Unless I decide differently, which I can totally do because this is my blog and I can do what I want. Yipee, I think I'm gonna like this.

Getting started

So this is my first attempt at the wonderful world of blogging. Lets see what happens.

I am starting this blog as a way to keep track of my knitting adventures (and maybe some random life ones as well). I read on another blog today about a bunch of ladies, fellow knitters, who are starting a 10k hours of knitting socks movement. The theory behind this movement is that it takes 10 thousand hours of doing something to become a master at it. There was some great documentation behind the idea but I'll leave that for the other women to contemplate.

For me, this was a wake up call. I've been thinking about blogging for months. Thinking about what I'd blog about, what would be the main theme, what would motivate me and be worth sharing. This excites me. I was thinking about doing like the other ladies and focusing on knitting socks, but I think this is just too narrow for me. That and all Ive knit for the past year has been socks. I've actually spent the last few days trying to get away from my trusty sock needles. So, I'm gonna broaden the horizon and focus on knitting in general.

And away we go...