My uncle – Brandon passed away 3 years ago tomorrow at 23 years old after hitting a semi head on. We still all miss him dreadfully and his absence will never beforgotten. Love you Brandon.
Hopefully I will be back later this month for a very long overdue blog update.
Hey ya’ll sorry for the long blog silence – not going to really offer any excuse other than life just got away from me during the last few months.
I am hoping that maybe my new toy will help with blogging more frequently as I can now blog from anywhere with an available internet connection. After all these years of thinking that a laptop would be cool, but would be a waste of money since I do have to have a desktop for some of the programs that I use on a daily basis I broke down and bought a netbook. Now a netbook is definitely smaller than a laptop and typing on it will definitely take some getting used to, but especially with the deal I got on it I couldn’t pass it up. Part of the decision to buy was based on the week that I spent at my sister’s – she let me use her computer while I was there, but I didn’t feel comfortable spending a lot of time on it since it was her computer and the amount of catch up I had to do when I got back was horrible. Also I got a really nice Christmas bonus from my job and decided that I would buy myself a really nice present this year instead of spending the money on a lot of little things that would end up as more clutter. Can I just take a moment to say that I love my job and the company that I work for – I work in retail as a normal associate yet I still got a very decent bonus (everyone did who works for this company) and make a very decent wage while still being treated like a person – all of which is so rare in today’s society. I wish I could publicly state who I work for, but I just don’t feel comfortable with naming them so just know that there are still some decent employers out there in the retail industry. By the way here is a link to the netbook that I bought – I just got a better deal that what is listed there since I bought it on Thanksgiving Day – gotta love internet shopping.
I have been doing a lot of knitting, but on a lot of differnt things so no real progress photos to share, but hopefully there will be some in the near future. I have put most everything to the side to do some baby knitting. One of my friends was due to have a baby on February 17th, but she went into premature labor and they couldn’t stop it and she had the baby on October 30th. He is a strong little boy and hasn’t had any major setbacks and is fighting so hard. I had planned on doing some knitting for her, but since she lost her first child at 20 weeks she wanted me to wait to start knitting until she hit 30 weeks so I hadn’t started anything. So I have a baby blanket and 2 Baby Surprise Jackets on the needles and am currently doing trouble shooting on all of them. The one sweater needs to be ripped all the way back as I have realized that somehow I managed to miscount the first increase and have 3 extra stitches on one sleeve. The other sweater is actually back to where I could finish the knitting I believe – I just need to double check that I have the correct number of garter stitch rows before I continue with it. The baby blanket is the one that I am dreading working on since I have to try and fingure out where I am in the repeat I am and I have already tried starting back up with 3 different rows and had to tink them all back as each of the was the wrong row. There is a way that I could work on the blanket easily, but it would involve ripping back all the way to the start of this repeat and that is easily 15 rows, maybe more so I am holding that back as a last ditch solution. Besides those three items I have 2 or 3 pairs of socks on the needles and Christmas knitting (not counting all the other projects that have been put on the back burner until the gift knitting is done). Luckily the Christmas knitting doesn’t have to be done until the end of January as that is when my sister and her family are coming down so that we can all head to Disney World for a week. The gift knitting involves a pair of slippers (of my own design) for my father, a scarf for my brother-in-law, a shawl for my sister, and either a sweater or shawl for my mother (need to find out how much more weight she wants to lose before I decide as I already have to restart the sweater since she has lost too much to wear the original size that I cast on for). I would also like to get the shawl that I cast on for my friend (same one that had the baby) done as well – I put it down because it had me cast on almost 900 stitches and you knit those in a modified feather and fan pattern for the first 12 rows then you decrease down to half that amount (creating a ruffle) then after that you are decreasing 4 stitches every other row so once you get past the ruffle it should start to move a lot faster. I just got discouraged on row 5 or 6 of the ruffle because of how long it is taking to knit each row and sat it down for a while, but I would really like to get it done for her.
Well, I do have to work in the morning and I have been up since like 7 this morning so I am going to let ya’ll go so that I can get some sleep. I will try to post more regularly, but I make no promises.
That was a long trip. My sister, niece and nephew kept me busy. Will post more later this week – have photos and may even have an FO photo, but right now I want to eat dinner, get things around for tomorrow and get to bed. I was in the car driving for almost 10 hours for an 8 1/2 hour trip (that includes a couple of stops even) due to several accidents and slow downs in Kentucky. Have to work at 8:30 tomorrow which is wonderful – early shift after a long week away and I just know my department will be a mess. Catch ya’ll later.
Hey ya’ll – sorry I haven’t blogged since the 31st (though ya’ll are probably getting used to it since I have been a very bad blogger lately), but things got kinda hectic between work and trying to get ready to go on vacation. I arrived at my sister’s last night and boy has it been fun. Daniel is just wonderful and Natalie is so different – the last time I was up she was talking, but not very much – now she is a blabbermouth and is never quite. I believe I have already been a big help to my sister, though it was fairly easy last night and today since her husband was home – tomorrow will be the real test since he will be at work and we will hopefully be going to 2 doctor’s appointments (she needs her staples removed and Natalie has been sick since Tuesday and isn’t getting better, even with the medicine she got on Friday) and to a couple of stores to do returns. Hopefully I will be able to blog a couple of times while here as we have my mom’s laptop downstairs and with Natalie sick she has been actually napping during the day so maybe there will be time for me to blog.
I did mention last time that I had some FOs to show ya’ll – here are the last couple of socks that I have finished for the WendyKnits Socks form the Toe Up KAL over on Ravelry for her Socks from the Toe Up book.
Cinnamon Seaweeds – from her free patterns
Start Date: August 4, 2009
Finished Date: August 17, 2009
Toe: Turkish – Rounded it by starting with 9 stitches and increasing on the first 6 rounds and then every other round until I got to the correct stitch count.
Heel: Slip stitch heel flap
Needle: 2 US 1 circs for 2aat
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Cinnamon Girl
Comments: I love this pattern. I decided to do 1×1 ribbing on the back of the sock to hopefully make sure they fit my sister correctly and it worked. This wass the first pair of socks I have made for her and while I know the foot width and length were okay I was not sure about the ankles as she has fairly slim ankles compared to mom and I.
Koigu Nanners – from her free patterns
Yarn Used: Koigu KPPPM in P616
Needled Size: US 2 (2.75 mm) 2 circs for 2aat
Start Date: July 12,2009
Finish Date: July 19,2009
Toe/Cast on: Turkish – mods to toe were to cast on fewer stithces and increase every row for 6 rows then every other row until to correct stitch count
Heel: Slip stitch heel flap
Bind off: Sewn
Comments: Used size 2s like normal with Koigu but should have used 1s as even the small is loose on me and based on previous experience would have expected to have to knit the medium – the only thing I can think is that with all this sock knitting I am getting more comfortable knitting socks and my gauge has loosened up since I am not constantly having to think about keeping the stitches tight to prevent the ladders I used to get.
Birch On Hold Socks – from the book
Started: July 1, 2009
Finished: July 12, 2009
Toe: Turkish Cast-on
Heel: as per pattern
Needle: 2.75 mm Harmony Knit-Picks circs using 2 for 2aat
Cast-off: Sewn Bind-off per book
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in Birches
Comments: Loved the pattern, but have found that instead of doing a plain back I should have done the ribbing from the heel up as they are a little baggy. I did about 4” of pattern after the heel and think that is the max I can do for me without having to do increases as the top would be a little tight if they didn’t sag a bit. The yarn was a wonder to work with, but the color is too variegated to show off the pattern well.
Ultra Alpaca Feather and Fan Shawl from Folk Shawls
Started: June 2007
Finished: July 26, 2009
Pattern: Feather and Fan Triangle Shawl from folk Shawls
Needle: US 7
Yarn: Ultra Alpaca in Black (6245), Charcoal Grey (6289), and Cream (6201)
Comments: I really love this shawl and it is really wearable even though it turned out huge. While I do wish it hadn’t taken as long to make as it did I do have to remember that even though this was cast on back in June of 2007 I didn’t work on it that long before sitting it aside for Christmas knitting and then I only picked it back up as in January of 2008 as it was already fully started with the pattern, needles and extra yarn all bagged which made it easy to grab when we got the call about my uncle’s accident. Then the shawl went into a major hibernation when we got back from that week as every time I tried to work on it I got upset and couldn’t stop thinking about my uncle since I had worked on it almost non-stop while waiting for the machines to be turned off and the funeral – I think the only time I wasn’t knitting that week was when I was in the hospital room saying my goodbyes, at the funeral and then the gathering afterward. When I put the shawl away I had managed to get all the way to the 5th or 6th row of the lace. So when I pulled it out in July after finishing both pairs of socks for the KAl I just had to finish around 50 rows of the lace which went very fast. I still think of my uncle when I look at the shawl, but now I remember the good times – like how goofy he was and how he was so camera shy and when I wear it I feel like he is looking down on me and watching over me to make sure nothing bad happens which makes it kinda like getting a hug from him.
Well, that is it in FOs – I do still have my Diamond Gansey socks on the needles for my grandpa, but didn’t manage to finish them in time for the KAL, but I am working away on them as I want to send them to my grandpa for Grandparents Day on the 13th. I did bring along some yarn to cast on the free pattern for the KAL for September (feather and fan socks) in case I finish my grandpas and need something to work on while here. I still have at least a full repeat and the ribbing to do, but it is slow going since I chose to use thin black yarn and size 1 needles for them. I try to let ya’ll know how things are going, but for now I should try to get some sleep as Natalie, my brother-in-law and my sister are sleeping and I managed to get Daniel to sleep about and hour and a half ago. I should probably try to get a couple hours before he wakes up wanting to eat again – my sister is still pretty sore and I am hoping I will be able to get him before she trys to get up – even though I will have to wake her up to feed him I know she will appreciate it if she doesn’t have to get up to get him too. Have new photos of Daniel and Natalie to post, but need to get the uploaded tomorrow before I can post them. Good night ya’ll.
I cannot believe I have let almost 2 months go by without posting – I have so much to share with everyone that I am sure it will take a while for me to get it all written up so here is a quick post to introduce you to the newest addition to our family.
My nephew Daniel Anthony was born this morning at 8:02 am weighing in at 8lbs 4ozs and 21 inches long.
Natalie seems to really like her baby brother – the only thing she seems to be having trouble with is the fact that she cannot sit on Mommy’s lap due to my sister having a c-section. Right now my parents are there and they will be coming back on Sunday which is when I will head up there for a 1 week vacation to help my sister out. I cannot believe that he is here already.
Have to run for now – need to go run some errands. Will try to post again before I go on vacation as I have quite a few FOs to show ya’ll.
Melissa Sue's Corner 