Monday Meanderings

I took a vacation day today so that I could attend a workshop at my LYS on Continental knitting. It went very well. It was a two hour workshop and I am comfortable with knitting, purling and casting off. Well comfortable in the fact that I understand it, actually being able to do it efficiently and comfortably will take some practice :o)

My boyfriend asked me if that meant that when my right arm fell off from too much knitting if then I would switch to the other way, hahahaha!!

The shop is carrying a new sock yarn, so I could not resist purchasing a skein. I always feel like I accomplished self restraint when I only buy ONE skein, LOL! It was $16 for this skein and only one is needed for a pair of socks. It is called Ranco from Araucania Yarns.



The colorways were so cool! Most of them very dark, rich colors, but those are the ones that speak to me. An instructor had knit up a sample sock in this yarn, so after seeing that then I really couldn't pass it up!

I also picked up two skeins of Lamb's Pride to make myself a scarf trying out Continental knitting. I don't want to do Continental on any projects that I already have going in case my tension is different since its a different method.


Based on the colors in my new sock yarn, I picked out these two skeins. I am going to do a simple rib scarf with different size stripes.

Here's my two recent cats are weird photos.

Why he thought he would fit in this basket I'll never know. Don't quite know what he's thinking in this one!! Did he really thing this would be a comfortable place for a nap?!?!

Here's another, what are you doing?!?! She's got her basket or a pile of freshly laundered clothing (which they love) to sit on and instead she's teetering on the space between the washer and dryer!

Cats and Christmas Trees

Cats love Christmas Trees, however, they do not appreciate a camera flash to the face, LOL!! Most of them won't look at the camera because of the flash or they make a nasty face because I am blinding them.

Each year we put the Christmas Tree up the day after Thanksgiving. We purchased a fake tree because of the cats, I thought they would be too enticed to climb a real one ... or try to climb it. Every time we bring the tree "guts" out they are fascinated by it.

They all come into the living room ... yeah like they weren't there with us already. They like to investigate the branches, run around, try and kill each other by ambush. Regular stuff.




The first year we got the tree Peanut (above) and Ollie (below) were so funny. They took turns hiding in the box and freaking the other one out by sticking their paws through the hand holds cut out of the box, it was so funny to watch. One would be in the box making scratching noises, so the other one would investigate and POW get wacked upside the head by the paw through the hole.


Nanuk is lazy and likes to just supervise :o) Either that or he is trying to figure out why the heck we are playing with a tree in the living room.

I ventured out on this Black Friday to do some shopping for my Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap Pal (stuff not pictured here - all I have left is to pick out some coffee) and I couldn't help myself since I had a coupon and gift certificate, so I picked up this stuff. I had my eye on the Interweave Knits Holiday Issue since there are some sock patterns and a nice fingerless glove pattern in there, also I found a nice hat pattern that goes for about $8.00 online to purchase, well its in this mag and the magazine costs $7.99 so I thought it worth it just for that.

I also picked up some Patons Classic Wool, I want to make myself a pair of house socks too. I'm not even sure if I need two skeins since I usually do not do cuffs as long as patterns suggest, so if I only need one then I will use the other one to make a pair of socks as a gift for someone.

And believe it or not, I had a skein of Sassy Stripes in my stash for about a year with no mate ... I found the same dye lot at the store where I bought it today ... so I couldn't pass that up!! Now I can make a pair of socks with it.

Magic Loop I Love You!!

I have taken a few sock knitting classes and have read lots of material on the internet and have learned how to knit socks toe up, cuff down, on Double Pointed Needles, on Two Circular Needles and on One Circular Needle (aka Magic Loop). I have recently found that I really do like the Magic Loop method!

The baby sock below is the first sock that I got far enough on to turn the heel on the Magic Loop method, not having done it before, I did not know if it would be harder than on DPNs or what. I found it worked just fine and I knew exactly where I was in relation to the pattern that I had that was based on 3-DPNs.

The other thing I really like about Magic Loop is that all the places on DPNs where there were usually loose stitches are gone in this method, all of the portions of this sock are smooth and the stitches are equal and there are no gaps or loose spots.

I have been working on this Toe Up sock since October, I don't like working on it. My forearm muscles start to hurt shortly after I start working on this on Size 2, 5" DPNs. I transferred this sock today to the Magic Loop method and after only a few stitches could tell that I was not feeling the same discomfort. I thought it was the yarn because it is really fine (even for sock yarn) but I think it was the method combined with this really fine yarn. I have made other things on DPNs and have not had this problem. Either way I will be doing the second sock on Magic Loop!

These socks are for a co-worker and I really just want to be done with them so I can move on! I don't think I will be informing people in the future when I am making something for them, there's just too much pressure to get them done - self imposed of course, every time I see her at work I think of these socks! She purchased the yarn, so I really feel pressure to get them done asap!

Here's my silly boy in his hoop. This is supposed to be some sort of grooming thing, but he just likes to sit in it. One time my grandmother had one for her cat and her cat didn't like it, so she gave it to me. Oliver immediately claimed it as his "thing". Well this hoop was "used" so much that it fell apart on him. I found another in a mail order catalog and as you can see, it was worth it, LOL!!

I have been checking out my pal's blog for the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap and think I have enough information to get stuff for a great package :o)