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Yarn Porn from Jacksonville

Hooray, hooray! AuburnChick went shopping!!! It’s pretty sad when I scout out yarn stores when we go out of town, but that’s exactly what I do. I got up bright and early this morning, GPS in hand,and made my way to KnitWitz, a “real” yarn store in Jacksonville. What a delightful store!!! Here’s what it looked like when I walked in…

To be fair, I justified my visit with the need to buy yarn for the chemo caps I am getting ready to make for a couple of people.

Here’s the Rowan Calmer that I plan on stranding with the Trendsetter eyelash yarn to make this pattern.

I bought this color (same brands as above) to make a cap for my daughter’s friend’s mom…the same gal I made the comfort throw for. She starts chemo the first week of June.

Now, here’s where I went off track a bit. Being in a real yarn store, and never having access to one, made me feel totally okay with buying the rest of what you’ll see.

I bought solid sock yarn because I’ve only made socks with striping or variegated yarn. There are many patterns that I’ve stayed away from because I just knew that the colors would hide all of the hard work.

This is Lorna’s Laces, and the colorway is Periwinkle. It is so pretty! I’ve finally, finally learned that you have to buy two skeins of this brand of yarn to make calf-length socks. Each skein is only 50g!

The next yarn is Berroco Comfort Sock. It’s either white or creme. Yeah, it seems like a “blah” color, but I think that everybody needs a pair of white socks, and I can already envision some lovely lace pattern.

Now, the neat thing about this store is that just when you think you’ve seen everything, you haven’t. As I got to the back, and I touched everything, I found myself fondling some very soft yarn. I picked it up to check the label, and lo and behold – Malabrigo! This is the first time I’ve actually seen it at a store! Remember that one of my KH buddies sent me some not too long ago, so it’s not the first time I’ve touched the stuff. But, I’ve never actually visited a yarn store that had it stocked! I fell in love with this color – Water Green. It is the same color as my first prom dress.

I left the store a bit poorer but richer in spirit.

Off I went to watch Soccer Chick play a game. Now, I never thought I would find it too hot to knit. I am cold-natured. But I have to say that today was the hottest day of soccer that I’ve sat through this season. I pulled out the Tidal Wave socks that I’ve been feverishly trying to finish but found myself unable to knit more than a couple of rounds before setting it aside.

However, I did elect to stay at the hotel while everyone went to dinner. I really wanted to finish these socks…and I DID!!! Lookie…

Please allow me to apologize for the absolutely horrible picture! Since I’m out of town, I don’t have my wonderful Ott Light, which allows for natural lighting and true colors to pop out.

The important thing is that the socks are done! So, a rundown on the sock stats. I used size 1 (2.50mm) circular needles (one 24″ and one 16″). The yarn is Tofutsies, color #799. Here is the link for the free pattern. It’s fabulously easy. I didn’t even use the chart for the second sock. I modified the pattern by continuing the pattern repeats down the top of the foot. I knit six pattern repeats down the leg and then six more from the instep to the beginning of the toes.

Tomorrow, I’ll cast on for the first of the two chemo caps. These will be a first for me…and I’m nervous about the eyelash yarn getting in the way of the knitting. But I trust that God will honor my desire to serve Him, even in this small endeavor, and will allow me to knit the caps without too much difficulty.

One Down, One To Go

Wow! Life’s been hectic the last few days!

I stayed up late Friday night and finished the first Tidal Wave sock.

I had to try it on, even though it’s a little too big since Chicklet’s friend has 9 1/2 size feet!

When I turned the heel, the yarn either changed colors or appeared to because of the slip-stitch heel called for in the pattern. I don’t know if you can tell, but the yarn, at this point, is absolutely vibrant — totally different from the leg.

I fully intended to spend Saturday and Sunday knitting up the mate, but regular house work got in the way.

Whatever would AuburnChick be doing that would take her away from knitting, you might ask. Well..enter in Mr. AuburnChick

Why, oh why, do men think they can go for years without caring one iota about the yard and then, Presto, Change-O, in one fell swoop, stick their noses in and wreak havoc?

These…

used to be here…

and here…

I didn’t get a picture of the mini-tree-like-things that were also in these flower beds. Mr. Chick went out, bought a saw, and cut them down to nubs and attempted to shovel them out. In the process, he managed to pull something in his back, leaving one huge hole and a mess that, guess who, had to clean up.

Grrr…

Yes, folks, I had to use my pristine knitting hands to finish what that over-ambitious man-thing had started. I even told him that I had better not mess up my knitting hands…I had a sock to finish on a very short deadline.

No such luck.

My hands were a wreck afterwards. I had to dig moats around each plant, breaking as many of the roots as possible before partially disabled He-Man could pick up the shovel and finish the job, with me lifting each plant, allowing him to strike at the remaining roots, freeing them one-by-one.

I was done knitting for the next two days. My right palm was very bruised.

Sigh…

I did pick up the sock today and managed to finish almost two full pattern repeats during Littlest Chick’s athletic awards ceremony. The pattern is so easy that I have it memorized. I’ve decided that I won’t have time to block them. I’ll simply be thrilled to hand them over when I’m done. I have lots more projects in the works!

Progress

Well, despite the rough start to the week and the fact that I worked many extra hours, I did manage to get more of the Tidal Wave sock completed. Here’s how it stands at six repeats:

My daughter’s soccer friend has long legs, so I had to knit one more repeat than the pattern suggested. My goal is to get this sock done this weekend and finish the second one by Wednesday or Thursday. We leave next Friday for a tournament, and I want to gift them then. Actually, I should probably finish by Wednesday so I can block them. Grrr. I do not block socks, but I will do the right thing…think about presentation. Forget the fact that they are Tofutsies…lovely color by the way…it’s all in the presentation.

I was also a bad girl last week. I ordered more yarn <gulp>. Don’t tell Mr. AuburnChick, okay?

Lookie what came in yesterday. Thank goodness Little Mr. Chickadee’s swim meet was canceled. I was able to head off the UPS guy and hide my prize.

Yes…it’s more of the Alchemy Sanctuary that I am totally in love with. The one on the left is called Ruby, and the one on the right is called Platinum. I bought the pink one for a friend who liked the color when she saw it online (she also liked the Greenaway Fingerless Gloves that I made for our co-worker). So, not wanting to waste all of that shipping cost, I ordered another skein. Getting more for my money, you see.

Despite the fact that I was having a bad week, Pele (Soccer Chick’s dog) did not have a care in the world.

Must be great to be a dog…in my house anyway.

Doggie training camp is going well…for Molly anyway. She’s turning out to be a smart dog, despite Mr. AuburnChick’s declaration that she was stupid. He said this when I first brought her home, over his objections. I think the word stupid meant stupid-cute.

Off I go to work on the heel flap of these socks. More later…

A Tuesday Worthy of Chocolate


Pictures speak louder than words.

Tuesday was not the best day. I was greeted at work by a friend bearing a bag of M&M’s. Out of the blue. Very much like my friend. She loves dark chocolate. I’m a milk chocolate kind of gal. Common denominator? Chocolate. The perfect base for friendship. We have a way of bringing chocolate goodies to each other at just the right time. I can see God’s hand in what might seem trivial matters to some people. Chocolate is not trivial to me.

Especially on days like Tuesday.

Without going into details, it was just one of those days. I was glad to get home. However, upon finding out that a new employee was starting the next day (yep…very short notice), I spent the entire evening prepping their computer…remotely from home. Thank goodness for technology. Thank goodness for chocolate.

We had a new gal start in our office this week (a different person from who’s starting on Wednesday), so we took her out to lunch. What a treat for me! I never take lunch since I work part-time. The lure of Mexican food was too much to resist. I quickly jumped in my car and followed my boss.

She started going the back way to the restaurant. I followed blindly. However, when we started pulling up to a seafood restaurant, I got concerned. Surely they wouldn’t have changed the restaurant without calling me to make sure I knew? She had no way of knowing that I was following her.

However, the car I was following passed the restaurant. Now I knew that something was not right.

“Ring, Ring…”

“Hello, boss. Where are you?”

“At the Mexican restaurant, of course!”

Great. I followed the wrong car. Good thing this city is so small. I was there in no time, embarrassed. What kind of impression was I making on the new gal? “Oh, it’s just AuburnChick…you know…”

My bad day extended into my home life.

I’m working very hard to get my dogs trained properly. This has been on my mind since my first attempt to take all three to the dog kennel. See this post if you haven’t heard this story. Let’s just say that I could do the Iditorod with my dogs.

I’ve read that dogs need to be walked…a couple of times a day. Simply running around the backyard is not ample exercise. So, I’m trying to be a good mommy and walk the dogs properly. Easier said than done.

Yesterday, I went to the bookstore and bought this:

In case you don’t know who this man is, he is the Dog Whisperer. I’ve seen some of his shows, and I’m amazed at how quickly the dogs respond to him. The biggest thing about his training, however, is that the owners are actually the ones being trained. Boy, do I need training!

Ever since Pele joined our family, we’ve allowed ourselves to be controlled by our most adorable furry family members. Aubie, in true first-born fashion, was never allowed on the furniture. We were strict with her, and she is the best behaved dog in the world. Not so with Pele and Molly.

So, we’re doing doggie boot camp. We’re starting with walking. You would think that walking a dog is easy. Wrong-O! Molly and I only made it around the cul-de-sac. Walk, stop (when she pulls), make her sit, treat. Walk, stop, make her sit, treat. Over and over and over. I can’t even begin to imagine what the neighbors must have been thinking. Hopefully something like, “Boy, that lady sure loves her dog a lot.” Good mommies make their children behave, whether they are the two legged or four legged kind.

Regardless, my hands are sore from the leash, so knitting has been slow the last couple of days.

After coming in from our training session, I checked dinner, which was in the crockpot. BBQ beef sandwiches were on the menu. Mouth watering, I looked at the meat. Hmmm…it looks…a little pink…

My hands carefully touch the side of the crockpot. Cold. A look at the front assures me that the thing is turned on low. But what’s this? The cord…it’s not plugged into the outlet.

Sigh…

What a dork. I forgot to plug it in.

Sigh…

A whole roast ruined. I had even doubled the sauce mix too because it is so delicious. All that $$ gone down the drain.

So, the kids were reminded of how great it is to have me cooking again and to not take it for granted. They actually took it in stride, which pleased me.

The fact that this happened today just did not surprise me.

Thank goodness for the goodies pictured at the top of this post.

Oh, and here’s a knitting update. I have managed to complete almost three repeats of the Tidal Wave socks for my daughter’s teammate. Here’s how they look so far.

I am using Tofutsies, color #799. It’s a fabulous pattern…very easy.

So, on to Wednesday. Hopefully I won’t have to eat the whole bag of M&M’s. I can’t make any promises though.

Simple Lace Headband

Well, folks, I’ve had a frustrating couple of knitting days.

I did finish my Monkey Socks. That was pretty cool. Here’s a picture. Forgive the posing…it’s not great, but it’s proof that I did finish. And no, the left sock is not bigger than the right one. Again, bad positioning by your’s truly.

With the Monkey Socks done, I figured that I would start on the pair for my daughter’s teammate. I had dug around my stash and came up with this skein of Lorna’s Laces Lorikeet.

I then had the task of selecting a pattern. I finally settled on the Broadripple Socks. So, I eagerly began.

First, I had to untangle this mess:

Here’s my progress so far…

Well, I got almost half of the cuff completed when I decided that I better check the yardage on the wrapping.

Uh oh…

215 yards. Not good. So then I weighed the yarn. It weighed in at about 60g. Not good. I know that to make calf-length socks, you need almost 100g of yarn.

Great. AuburnChick’s luck. No surprise, eh?

The pattern recommends two skeins — no wonder.

Back to square one. The only other 100g skein of sock yarn that I currently possess is the Tofutsies #799 that I bought in Las Vegas (the one on the right). I was kind of heart-broken. I like this yarn a lot. The colors are fabulous. But I don’t have time to order some and wait for it to come in. My goal is to get this pair finished in time for our next tournament…two weeks from now.

With that decided, I spent about two hours on Ravelry this morning, in search of the perfect pattern. I finally decided to use the Tidal Wave sock pattern. I plan on continuing the pattern along the top of the foot.

Meanwhile, I was discouraged and needed a quick fix. Instant gratification.

So, I picked up some yarn that a friend sent me…spun by her…and made this Simple Lace Headband. I used a size G crochet hook and made a chain instead of the i-cord recommended by the pattern. Then, I used size 10 1/2 needles for the pattern itself, since the yarn is kind of bulky in places. Here is the result of my efforts the color is represented best in the third picture)…

With that accomplished, I’ll cast on tonight for the socks for chicklet’s friend. Keep your fingers crossed for me!