Da Da Da

(It works better if you can imagine the dramatic music along with the da da da)

I finally finished the first sock of doommy doom doom, other wise known as Child's First Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. It took me close to six months to finish this sock. I cast on the first time on June 14. After knitting the cuff the first time I decided it was too big and ripped on with 8 fewer stitches...
which caused the sock to get stuck on my leg when I tried it on after the gusset. So in all fairness, I've knit this sock twice in that time. But now I have one finished, so ...

That's right! I cast on for the second one! This photo was taken after I had completed two repeats on the leg. I now have 4 1/2 repeats out of the 6 I have to do for the leg. Good thing too, because I decided that I am going to give them to my sister-in-law for Christmas. She is taking care of 4 kids right now while my brother is in basic, so she definitely deserves some hand knit love for the holidays. The yarn reminds me of Monet's Water Lillies, which is her favorite painting, so it's perfect.

I also decided to make my dad a pair this year. The only knit item he has from me is the first scarf I made out of cheapo acrylic, so it's time he got something.

The leg is now about 7 inches long now. I am using Austermann Step in a denim colorway (my label says 20-200115, but that's not on the website. I think it's 21.7789-20). I am using size 2 needles, which is nice. Unfortunately I sat on my sock bag, so I broke one. I need to go by my LYS to pick up some new ones.

However, I'm not going anywhere tonight. It is snowing and yucky out. It has given me opportunities to wear my new hat, though. It's only a little bit itchy, right where it touches my forehead. It only covers about 1/2 inch, so it's not bad. Also, I could find merino itchy if it was on my forehead. It's my curse as a knitter - I don't like to wear winter hats. Since this one's so pretty I will make an exception.

Remember my mom, the crafty one? She felt bad for me because I haven't had a Christmas tree in two years. My cat likes to pull off all the ornaments, and Purl just likes to destroy things. So she made me one!

It's hanging right over my couch and is so pretty and festive. I think it's what put me in the mood to knit for other people this year!

Finally, some temptation. These ladies are enablers! I know the list is meant to be given to other people for ideas, but I just want to buy something from every store they listed!

Catching up: super picture heavy

Hi. I haven't posted pictures in awhile, mostly because I've been too lazy to even get them off of my camera. So now that I'm finally getting around too it I have about a month's worth of pictures, mostly non-knitting related, to show.
This is my cousin at the zoo. Isn't she cute? She's standing in front of a giant fish tank inside a cave. I love how the fish looks like it's coming up to give her a giant kiss.

This is the baby elephant. I hadn't gotten to see her yet, so this is exciting. The matriarch of the pack died recently, so the pack is with out one right now. The zoo is wondering who will step up now that she's gone.

This is my cousin and I in front of the hippo tank. My cousin is only 17 so I'm thinking about making a shirt for her that says off limits. She kept getting whistled at while she was here.

I took her to my favorite place in St. Louis, Laumeier sculpture park. This is my dad's favorite piece, Ball? Ball! Wall? Wall! (sorry, RAC's website is down, and they have way better info on the sculpture's at Laumeier then Laumeier's website, so I can't link the actual piece. But it's there if you search. It also has all of the public art in St. Louis listed, so you should check it out). This guy in the picture was running across the top of the piece. Apparently Purl knew that this is not allowed, because she barked and growled at the guy. This may not seem odd to most of you, because that's what dogs do, but Purl does not bark, and she almost never acts aggressively. I always joke that as long as an attacker called her pretty and petted her she'd let someone come up and mug me. She's not very protective (most of the time, this is a very good thing. I don't want an aggressive dog. It would be nice if she was a bit more concerned with my well-being though. I mean, seriously. She's big. And while in most cases an 80lb rottweiler is more then enough of a deterrent, she's a big baby. Good thing I didn't get for anything other then a pet).

Still at the park. This is a picture of Chelsea taking a picture of me.

Actual knitting! This is the gauge swatch I did of Orangina. I finally cast on again yesterday, worked two repeats, and already am short a stitch. Lace does not like me.

Today is my birthday! My parents came up with my nephews yesterday to buy me new running shoes! Both of my parents ended up getting a pair, as well. This place really knows its stuff. My mom and I both have messed up feet. Mom's had surgery twice this past year due to hers, and I have arthritis, so we both need special fits. We found them here. My dad's an avid runner, so he was due for a new pair.

When my oldest neph got out of the car he was so excited to see me. The first words out of his mouth were "Aunt Becca, we got you a cake with your name on it!" My mom tried to remind him that that was a surprise, but he proceeded to tell me all about the cake. He's so cute. The youngest just discover smell, so he likes to tell everyone about it. He will come up to me and say "Aunt Becca, I smell!" while sniffing. He just means that he sniffed, but this cracks me up every time. The first time he did it I told him to go find his daddy, because I don't take care of smelly diapers.
After we got the shoes my dad took me to the opera. This was SO.MUCH.FUN! We saw The Mikado, which was so funny. We also did the pre-show picnic, which was a lot of fun. Next time I go I'm going to bring my own food, though. The provided stuff was really good, but the people who brought there own stuff looked like they had more fun. People brought in these really nice baskets with wine and really great looking food. The people sitting next to us had Red Lobster! There were some crazy looking outfits there. The man we sat next to in the show had on orange pants! And there were so many bow ties! I'm trying to get my friends together to just go to the picnic before hand. We can get dressed up and buy our own wine and just sit out and people watch.
Finally, here is a shot of the Cabo Halter in progress.

Apparently I need to clean my mirror. I now have the bottom section attached. All I need to do is attach the zipper and do the hem. Yeah!
And just in case anyone thought I would pay more attention to what I was doing while sewing then I do while knitting, don't worry. I don't.

I didn't have a seam ripper, either. I got to pick that seam out with a pin. I'd even gone over the stitch a few times, due to tension issues with the machine. Shiny. My mom gave me a seam ripper for my birthday. She thinks she's funny.

She's Crafty

My mom is a quilter. The first quilt she ever made was for me - the Ohio Rose - and was beautiful. When I graduated from high school she made graduation quilts for me and my my two best friends (I am still friends with both of these girls. We graduated almost 7 years ago, and have were friends in middle school in one case, and in preschool in the other. This is something I take both pride and joy in). In my opinion my mother is very talented, and has created some very beautiful and useful quilts, including this one, which now hangs on my wall.

She also made a wall hanging of Purl.

I have had this one for almost a year and just now got around to hanging it! When mom made it Purl had a collar with rhinestones on it, so mom used silver and black material for the collar! (I am very upset by the fact that I can't find a sparkle color big enough for her anymore! Big dogs need bling too!)

She made the quilt I use on my bed out of flannel material. It is so comfy!

Really, this one is just an excuse to show how Purl sleeps. This cracks me up!

I love that I finally have stuff on my walls that are not prints! I have had the same art prints up since I was a sophomore in college. It was defiantly time for a change. I'm hoping that I will be able to start saving a little bit of money each pay check to buy real art to hang up.

In knitting news, I finished the first sleeve on something Red. I know this is a bad picture, but none of my neighbors were home and I wanted to show it off!

This,

Has become this.

I got tired of unknitting rows only to find more mistakes. I still love the pattern, and plan to start over again as soon as I finish Something Red. The weather is perfect right now for a light-weight shawl worn over a tank top.

Finally, Purl and I went for a hike on the KT trail today, and I took lots of pictures. I will save those for now. Maybe I will use them in later posts so I have pictures to share for a while. It was a beautiful day, and the KT trail is gorgeous this time of year. Here is a picture of Purl has we leave the apartment. It's her first time in the cruiser, and she is not too sure about it. I had to help lift her in!

She the tail tucked? Poor girl.

FO's and Christmas!

As promised, here is a picture of the finished sock. I still need to weave in the end, but I still consider this finished.






Same sock, different view. This one lets you see the stitch pattern a little bit better.

I got almost through chart A on the shawl, then I missed a stitch. So I frogged. And the yarn got into a knot. And the dog that never gets into bags, decided to get into the yarn bag. She got the Fino. She tried to blame the tangled mess on the kitty, but the yarn had a little too much drool on it to be the cats fault. She also ate my Christmas cookies, so if anyone wants a large rotti/st. bernard puppy, I might know of one you can have.

I bought my SIL some wine glasses from the Foundry, designed by Ware with a Flare. She's not a big drinker, so I got glasses with big bowels. That way she can drink other stuff in them.

These are from my co-workers. God-bless them. Deb from Needle and Distaff is going on a cruise this January, so I got her some Trekking sock yarn. It's their soy/wool blend - I can't remember the name and I can't find it online. Sorry.
This is the best present by far. Here is Drew (the dog I drove to Sullivan) in my parents house. They were dog sitting for my brother's family. She is looking longingly at my father. She has really taken to him and my brother, and is great with the kids.

And just in case any one was worried about Purl, here is her Christmas present. This,

turned into this.

Purl missed her cat while we were in Rolla.

But Pretty didn't really miss her!

Christmas Knits

So that whole Christmas sock thing? It's out the window. If I could figure out the provincial cast-on, I might still be working on them, but for now, no Christmas sock. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished them anyway, since today is Christmas. Instead, I decided to start Ethereal Fichu. So far I have started this 4 times, and since on row 24 I have an extra stitch, I guess I'll be starting again. I am using Alpaca with a Twist's Fino, which is probably the only reason I am willing to start this a 5th time.
I spent Christmas with my parents this weekend. Poor Purl took 8 walks in 3 days. Now that we are back home she is sound asleep on my bed, pretty much unwilling to move. My parents had all of the nieces and nephews Saturday and Sunday - there are 4 total. My brother and sister-in-law work weekends, so my parents and hers usually split the kids to help out. The oldest nephew (3) had a children's choir concert in church on Sunday, so my parents got all 4. I need a vacation from this vacation! Luckily, my parents had wine, so I survived. Plus, I got books! About Knitting! Socks! Santa brought Sensational Knitted Socks, Knitting on the Road, and Knitting Vintage Socks! I am very excited about this. I also got season one of The Dog Whisperer. This will hopefully teach me some useful information for Purl.
I hope everyone's Christmas was as good as mine.