From Sheep to Sweaters 'n Socks

Mostly knitting related comments on my life.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Why do I sabotage myself???

I actually knew before I started this "finishing 4 socks beofre the end of the week" thing that I wouldn't last more than 1-2 days? Why ? you ask... because, after living for 35 years with my wonderful self, I know myself :)

I did finish 1 sock and I've been wearing them already, but I made them really really really short LOL. But hey, a finished sock is a finished sock. I also started sock number 2. Am halfway through the second pattern repeat (out of 3), but I haven't worked on it since Wednesday. I also knit a sock for a kiddie. Said kiddie will be here in Lux for 1 day in April. I don't know said kiddie so I don't know if it will fit or not. We will see that when she's here. And if it fits, I'll knit sock #2 to match sock #1... if it doesn't fit, I'll take all the necessary measurements and make a pair to fit said kiddie.

Yesterday I was feeling horrible again. I'd been up all night coughing so horribly that nothing helped. I took several doses of my syrup and even one of those codeine containing pills, but still no relief. I finally fell asleep at about 6 am and woke again at 8. Last night was about the same, except that I slept 5 hours instead of 2. Anyways, I didn't knit all day, except in the evening I cast on for a new shawl... I need some shawl knitting right now LOL. I started Fiber Trends Seascape Shawl using KnitPicks Shadow in Jewels. I'm thinking about making the bottom border longer and maybe do a crocheted picot edging instead of a knitted one (I don't understand the explanations for the knitted one LOL).

Off to knit some more...

Cheers Eva

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Challenge...

As I mentionned yesterday, I'm challenging myself to finish all the twins to the single socks I've got lying around here. I thought it would be 5 or 6 socks, but I think it was only 4. That's okay too.

Twin #1 is done. I was just 10 rows of garter + 25 rows of ribbing short of finishing it. I did them last night while watching CSI NY and part of Criminal Intent. As soon as it was done, I weaved in the ends and cast on for twin #2. I thought I had the pattern for my Nina's Socks by Jeanie Townsend with me in the living room but I didn't. So it's the Feather & Fan sock in Trekking XXL colorway #67 that got started (the colors are a lot more muted than in this picture, but it is the only clear one I could find). This colorway is soooooooooooo yummy, that I'll need to get another skein and just make plain socks with it, to show off the gorgeous colors of the yarn. So far I'm done with the ribbing and the first 2 rows of the pattern repeat. I hope to finish this sock today LOL.

I linked to the Jeanie's yahoo group where you'll find several gorgeous free patterns for socks. I don't remember if you have to become a member of the group to have access to them or not though. Anyways, it is definitely worth it as that group is a very very nice group. Very friendly and helpful.

Off to knit knit knit... oh and I will post pics soon, but ya know... my camera's in my purse and I'm still in my bed and it is a LONG way to get to the hallway hahaha. In other words me's just very lazy :)

Cheers y'all, Eva

PS: I was having a look at the Trekking XXL colors on the site where I linked to, and to be honest, the picture of color 106 looks a LOT more like the 67 I have than the picture of the 67 color LOL. So I linked to that too...

Monday, March 27, 2006

Results of dr's visit...

I was at the dr's office faster than expected. I called at 8.15 to get an appointment and the assistant asked if I could get there within the next 15 minutes... I whispered yes... My throat's in such a bad shape that my voice is gone. So, I jumped into some clothes (I'd had the bright idea of showering before calling), ran over to my dad's and got him to drive me to the office. I need 15 minutes to walk there, so the car was the only option. My dad stayed instead of going home. I was out of there within 15 mins. My doc was shocked at my state. I said that at least my temperature had dropped to my "normal" temp of 36.3 deg C (97.34 F). So as I thought, I've got a double tonsilitis, sinus infection and bronchitis... hoping to keep away from the mid ear infection.

For once I don't have an infants illness (yep, I tend to get things infants or elderly have), but as my throat is in such a bad shape, I got liquid antibiotics, just like for infants..... can we say YUCK YUCK YUCK?????

I'll be home all of this week and I've decided to knit all the twins for my single socks (5 or 6 I think). So far I've not knit a stitch hahaha.
Guess I'd better get cracking.

I might even come up with a post or 2..

Cheers Eva

Sick...

I've been wanting to post for more than a week now, but first my puter got sick and went to the puter doctor and then on friday I woke up with the tiniest scratchy feeling in my throat. This normally signals a cold coming on. By 10 am I was feeling and looking horrible. So bad in fact that my superior told me to go home. As it was a friday I needed a sick note from the doc. I had slight earache and my midriff hurt when I breathed. So I had an appointment at quarter past two in the afternoon. The doc said that it looked like a cold and that I came too early. I told him that if I'd waited til monday to come I would have had tonsilitis and a double mid ear infection. I know my body. It goes from one extreme to the next in a matter of hours.
As I was his last patient for the day we chatted for about an hour or so. After one hour I told him I started feeling feverish and was extremely cold. I walked home, but every yard of the way felt worse.
I got there and then waited another hour before my dad arrived, and we went to the pharmacy and grocery shopping. At the grocery store I was sooooo happy to have the cart to hold on to because I doubt I would have been able to walk if I didn't have it. We finally got home around 6.15. I went straight home and to bed. I was freezing cold. I piled all my duvets on my bed, put on 3 sweaters, 2 pairs of socks, couldn't find my pj pants... Took some Tylenol cold medication. An hour later I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo burning hot that I got rid of everything and had just a sheet on me. I didn't sleep all night, was extremely restless and just felt horrible.

Saturday more of the same... I got my dad's thermometer and I had a fever of 39 degrees (102.something fahrenheit)... which is unusual for me. My throat felt better... but the pressure behind my cheekbones and above my eyes was horrible. Even simple breathing hurt my head. I went and had dinner at my dad's but paid for it on Sunday.

Yesterday the pain in my face got worse and my throat is simply killing me... even air just passing my throat (my breath) feels as if it is glass shards. I took some Tylenol sinus and that releaved the pressure in my face a lot, so I guess I'm having a sinus infection. The coughing and my throat have gotten worse. My fever's nearly gone, although I still feel feverish.
I'll be in my drs office first thing this morning (in about 3 hours)... and begging him for anything to make the pain go away.

I've felt so horrible that I haven't even knit or watched TV all weekend.

With me it really is a case of all or nothing...

Once I feel better enough to post I will do so...

Friday, March 17, 2006

Tests





You Have A Type B+ Personality



B+





You're a pro at going with the flow
You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer
A total joy to be around, people crave your stability.

While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity.
Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done
You're passionate - just selective about your passions



Do You Have a Type A Personality?


You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll.
You're totally weird and very proud of it.
Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in... in your own strange way.

Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Blogger duh moment...

okay folks, my blog is back to having pictures. I finished writing the post that I started a few days ago when the problems with my website started. For some reason Blogger posted it on the 7th of march... the title is sock-sock, sock-sock, sock (or something original like that LOL).

cheers Eva

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Paddy's day

Cute isn't it :) Ciara... that's a name I like. I'm pronouncing it Keeyarah LOL...

Your Irish Name Is...

Ciara Carroll

sorry...

but the servers hosting my site containing my pics are still down... Nola said it would take a couple of days before they would be up and running again. I'll post a post containing pictures as soon as it all works again :)

Cheers Eva

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

I'm out of the stash-along...

yep, you read that well, I fell of the wagon. Last week a coworker asked me to order her some sock yarn online as she was having trouble with the site. Of course I obliged... and I got the box yesterday. Lo and behold, several skeins of sock yarn jumped in the box that my coworker didn't order. Of course I racked my brain and realised I must have hit the "in cart" button a couple of times subconsciously.

Kim, I'm really sorry that I didn't manage to stick to it till the end, but I've done a lot better than I expected to do, so I'm pretty happy with myself.

Okay, folks I had this long post with pics and so on that I wanted to do, but my website is down so I can't access the pictures. I just contacted my website manager (now doesn't that sound posh) and she told me that the place where the servers are had a power outage yesterday and that it would take another day or 2 before it would be up and running again.

I was soooo pleased with myself, because I managed to add comments and arrows to one of the pics to point something out LOL. Ah well, I'll post it as soon as everything's working again.

Cheers y'all, Eva

sock-sock,sock-sock and sock...

Hello every one... first of all, let's all thank Nola for getting it all fixed again so that we can have pictures on this blog :) Nola, I know I was a total pain in the you know what... but I do thank you for getting it all straightened out :) Here are some virtual yellow roses for you... they're called Olympic Gold (I nicked them from some site that had tonnes of images of yellow roses, but no references as to who took them).




Okay, now on to the knitting content and the reason for my title. As you may have guessed it refers to having finished 2 pairs of socks and a singleton (in the meantime I've finished another singleton, but it will be featured in another post).



This first pair of socks is done with a very bulky yarn by Lana Grossa. The recommended needle size was 8-9mm. My friend AMN wanted some thick woolen socks to use as house socks. I thought I'd try and use this yarn. I used 5mm needles and 1 ball of yarn for each sock. The pattern's a basic toe up pattern. They took me about 15 hours to complete. Luckily AMN and I have the same shoe size so I kept trying them on to see if they fit. I gave them on Wednesday and just had some feedback... they're too short. I don't know if she means the foot part or the leg part. Anyways they went on her trip to Tenerifa today, so I'll know more once she's back. I'll rip and reknit whatever needs to be done. Oh, the way they are now, I only had a couple of yards of yarn left over on each ball, so next time I'll make them, I'll use a ball and a half per sock.



This is a pair I knitted using KnitPicks Dancing in Ballet. I LOVE THEM... I've got them on my feet right now as we speak. I bought a sampler pack of this yarn while in the US and am glad I did so, as KnitPicks will discontinue this yarn. When they run out of it... that's it!!! I did find a German company that sells the exact same yarn, but under a different name. It is called Hot Socks there. I found it in this german online shop. I might order some more from KnitPicks and have it mailed to CH in OR (Hiya CH!!! More stuff to mail hahahaha). The one thing I'll change, is I'm going to make them smaller and longer... they're kinda loose...



And this is the singleton... done in Knitpicks Sock Garden and the color is Hydrangea and not Sweetpeas as I've been calling it all this time. Guess I mixed my 2 favorite flowers up LOL. Since I took this picture I did weave in that end you can see hanging off the toe.
For this sock I used a garter stitch short row heel... which I LOVE. It is easy, and fast.


This is a picture to show how the colors and texture of the yarn seem to be different on the cuff. Really weird LOL. Oh and this is the softest wool I've ever felt. It feels like cotton...



And finally a close up of the garter stitch short row heel. I'm sooooo darn pleased with myself... I figured out how to add comments and arrows (although a bit wonky) to my picture hahahaha.
This is to show how those wraps disappear in the garter stitch rows.

Since having done this first sock using the garter stitch short row heel I've done a new sock using it too... I did figure something out though. A normal short row heel adds about 2 inches of dept to my socks... with a garter stitch short row heel it is more like 1.25-1.5 inch... so you do have to remember to make the foot of your sock longer than you normally would. I don't seem to be the only person with this "problem"... Maybe I'll have to do some research to see if this is "normal".

Well, this is it for now... I've got pics and things for more posts, so be on the look out the next couple of days :)

Cheers Eva






Sunday, March 05, 2006

Controversy...

Okay, I've been blogwandering for the past few hours and from one of the blogs I came across Franklin's blog. Franklin's the artist that created the Knitting Olympics medal. Which I display here in it's big size for referral if you read this post on Franklin's blog. Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in people's brains... how they turn anything and everything in something "inappropriate"!!!! Don't they have anything else on their brains???




I also took the time to read all the comments... and there's one that suggests that we, Europeans, are probably falling over laughing at those 2 e-mails and yes I was!!!

Anyways, go have some fun and read that post!!!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Can we say White Fluffy Crap???

I've sooooooooooo had it with winter you can not believe it!!! Yesterday it started snowing... nothing more than the inch or two we were promised. Last night the weather dudes at the airport said we'd get about 7-10 inches overnight. I was already whining about that. But this morning on the radio they said it had not happened so far. The at 10 am it started snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing. At 11 people were advised that the speed on the highways was reduced from 120 km/h to 90 km/h and the first trucks-in-ditches were announced too.
Now it is 1.30 and as you can see from my pics, it's still snowing hard... My dad's on his way from Belgium by train and I don't have the heart to call him and tell him that they've just started saying that they're cancelling public transport (i.e. busses) as the folks of road maintenance can't keep up with keeping the streets clear.
The weather dudes are expecting the snow to go over into rain which is not a good thing as the ground is cold enough for it to freeze immediately.



View out of my bathroom window... it makes me dizzy to see all those flakes coming down in such a hard way.


This is a pic of my balcony... see how the snow clings to the fabric windbreaker LOL... it is hilarious!!!


I wanted to show how deep the snow is on my balcony... that's a screwdriver which is 7.5 inches tall... I got rid of all the snow on my balcony last night, so we've had 7 inches so far and we're expecting more...


Here you can see a wall with a tree in front of it... between the wall and the tree is a road... that was cleared 20 minutes before I took this picture, but you can't see the road anymore.

So all in all... me hates this crap... I hope it will be gone soon..

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Here's my gold...

Here's my gorgeous Olympic Gold Medal


The smaller button will reside on my side bar :)

If you go to the Yarn Harlot's post The Podium you will find an e-mail address where you can participate in some prize drawings. If you enter you will get an automated response with a PDF file with a certificate you can print out. It looks gorgeous :)

Congratulations to all my Olympic companions!!!

Hugs Eva

How about...

a KAL for that gorgeous Fair Isle cardi from KnitPicks??? I know that one person already ordered it and maybe I can get some others to join????

I would say May 1st as starting date. That way I will not fall of the stashalong wagon and I'll have time to get the yarn from the US to Lux (as KnitPicks won't ship outside the US/Canada).

Anybody game???

Cheers Eva