Summer of Socks ’08 – Ms Lindz – My little corner of the internet

Nanner Socks, life and so on

Posted on August 1, 2008 by mslindz

I’ll start off by showing you my recent completed knitting.

Pattern: Nanners by Wendy
Started: July 14, 2008
Completed: July 29, 2008
Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch Superwash in “Just Ripe Nanners”
Needles: US 0 bamboo DPNs
Notes: I love this yarn and pattern. The pattern was easy enough to memorize and I learned new things while knitting it. I learned more about toe-up socks, how to do a heel flap and gusset toe-up, and how to do a sewn-in bind-off. I love these socks! Its possible I’ll knit another pair and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more of this yarn.

Since I finished a pair of socks, I cast on another pair (of course!). This is a special knit that I’ll tell you more about at a later date!

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Not sure who out there has been following the development of the Twist Collective, but the first issue is out as of today and there are so many things I want to knit from it! I think it’s a really fantastic magazine and I love the concept of the entire thing. Cookie A. has two sock patterns in this issue, there’s three sweaters I’m considering knitting, and I love all the socks (shocking, I know). Really, if you haven’t seen it check it out!

Aside from that, the sign-ups for Mystery Stole 4 are open as of today. I’ve signed up for it and looking forward to more information when it becomes available. If you’re part of the Pink Lemon Knits Yahoo Group, you’ve probably read Melanie’s special announcement that her blog was marked as spam and she can’t post to her blog until Blogger unmarks her as spam, so she hasn’t posted anything to her blog about it yet.

~~~~~

Yesterday, Matt and I went to dinner at this fantastic Korean place and then swing dancing with my friend Grace. The food was really good and I am going to go back there the next chance I get. YUM. After dinner, we made our way to Step-n-Out for swing dancing. The lesson wasn’t quite as good as the last time that Grace and I went (different teachers), but I learned some different moves and Matt really got a lot of it down pretty good. We had fun dancing a bit after the lesson, then called it a night. I had a lot of fun though and I’m really glad Matt came and enjoyed himself. I found a flyer while I was there for a place that does salsa lessons. I recalled Matt saying he’d like to do salsa lessons some time, so I picked it up since the place is quite close to where we live. Hopefully we can go sometime soon.

Last night Matt said he’d like to do some cooking classes with me, so I said I’d look it up and see what’s around us. The Learning Kitchen is pretty close to us and it looks like they have a lot to offer! I’m excited about taking some lessons now!

Not much else going on this week. Still dealing with the back problems and slowly getting nowhere with physical therapy (both a good and bad thing, really). In a week I go back to the neurologist to see what he says. Scared and anxious about it, but I know things will work out okay. Starting to feel better physically after more changes in medication, but at lease I’m able to sleep through the night without waking up again. It’s Friday and time for a nice, relaxing weekend. Hope yours is a good one!

Oh! One last thing… a little poll if you wouldn’t mind filling it out :o)

Current Projects, Gardening

Nanner socks, Nanner bread, and the Garden

Posted on July 27, 2008 by mslindz

I can hardly believe that July is almost over! Where has this summer (and this year) gone?!

This month seems to have gone by especially fast for me. I think the change in my medications had me rather foggy most of the month making it feel like a blur. I’ve adjusted to the change, but found that the side effects don’t outweigh the benefits on this one, so the next time I go to the doctor I’m going to ask to be taken off of it (which shouldn’t be a problem at all). I started going to PT this past week. So far it made my back waaaay worse than it was and then my follow-up appointment on Tuesday was canceled until this coming Tuesday, so I don’t really have much of an idea where it all stands other than so far it hasn’t helped at all.

Aside from that stuff, I’ve been knitting on my Nanner socks like crazy. I finished the first one on Thursday and started the second one the same day. I’ve now completed the heel of the second sock, so I should be done with this pair very soon.

After thinking about it for quite a while, I decided to join the Ravelympics. I decided it’s time for me to get back to that Starlight sweater I started near the beginning of last year that has been sitting in my WIP pile for too long now. I’ll be doing the WIP Wrestling event for Team Splurk. Here’s what it currently looks like:

Last week I managed to snag a Ravelry t-shirt while some were in the store:

I love it!

My garden has been growing like crazy. I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Flickr album, but here are a few of my favorites:

I have three ripe tomatoes and plenty more on the way. The bell peppers have finally started showing and a few more cucumbers have come up, too. I’m not convinced that they are doing that great, but they’re doing okay enough I guess. The thyme and cilantro died completely and I pulled them out of the container they were in. The lavender and lemon balm aren’t doing so great and I’m not sure what to do about it. I trimmed back the lemon balm because it was getting a bit out of control. Seems okay enough, but the lavender – I have no idea what to do about it. It is looking rather wilted at the moment. Overall, though, I’m just really happy about the success I’ve had!

Today I baked up some chocolate banana bread since we had some bananas that needed to be eaten or baked up. I think it came out really good! I’ve made it before, but it’s been years since I made it. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Lindsey’s Chocolate Banana Bread
Yield: 1 loaf

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 bananas, crushed
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and crushed bananas, combine well. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add flour mix and vanillia to creamed mixture, combine well. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes, or until done. Cool, serve and enjoy!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend :o)

Completed Projects, Current Projects, Gardening

Monkeys and Nanners

Posted on July 19, 2008 by mslindz

I’ve been meaning to update for a while, but it was one of those things I just kept putting off until later. Honestly, though, for the last few weeks I haven’t been feeling that great physically. Recently had some medication changes that didn’t effect me well. I think I’m adjusting better now, but I’m still quite tired most of the time. Went to the Physical Therapist on Thursday for my back problems (two herniated discs in my lower back) and was given some exercises to do. So far I think they are making the pain worse. I go back on Monday, so we’ll see what she says about it. Anyhow, enough about all that stuff. There’s knitting and garden stuff to talk about!

Last weekend I completed my Monkey Socks! I really love how they turned out. They’ll be nice and warm to wear this winter. I also found that I love picot edging and I’m sure I’ll be using it on socks in the future.

Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Started: June 29, 2008
Completed: July 13, 2008
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock, mediumweight, color: Cobalt Bloom
Needles: US 1 bamboo DPNs
Notes: The only difference I made in the pattern is knitting a picot edging instead of the ribbing. I really love how they came out!

After finishing those, I cast on my next pair of socks almost immediately. I’m working on a pair of Nanners (pattern by Wendy).

~~~~~

The garden is doing okay. I have one cucumber growing (well a lot of little small ones, but only one that has REALLY grown), a bunch of tomatoes, three Hungarian hot peppers, and one yellow bell pepper has finally sprouted. The herbs haven’t faired too well. The thyme, sage, and cilantro all died. The basil, lavender, mint, lemon balm, and rosemary all seem to be doing good, though.

I am a little concerned about the cucumber plant. A bunch of the leaves have died off and I have no clue why. It also killed two little cucumbers that were growing. I’ve been watering and feeding all the plants pretty good, so I don’t know what might be eating it. Seems to just be the cucumber plant, though. A few leaves have died on the tomato plants, but nothing to be really worried about. The cucumber plant, on the other hand, has parts where it’s not really green, but yellow and those are the parts that the leaves are dying on. Hmm. Must research and find out what might be going on.

~~~~~

Tomorrow Matt and I are going to the Dayton air show. It’s supposed to be really hot tomorrow and possibly rain. I’m hoping for no rain and hopefully the heat won’t kill us. Should be fun, though :o)

Current Projects, Gardening

The garden grows and the knitting goes.

Posted on June 29, 2008 by mslindz

After some contemplation, I’ve decided to not continue to upload my garden photos to my TypePad album. I already upload them to Flickr and the quality doesn’t seem as good when I upload them to my TypePad album. That said, I’ve uploaded a bunch of pictures to Flickr of the garden today.

My favorite of the bunch are these ones:

Hungarian hot peppers

Cucumber

Tomatoes

I wanted to get photos of the garden yesterday, but the sun didn’t want to cooperate with me. I managed a good set of photos today, though. I can hardly believe how fast everything is growing! I have THREE cucumbers growing now, along with three tomatoes that have been growing for about two weeks now. There’s a lot more flowers sprouting up on the cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. The Hungarian hot peppers have a third pepper growing now. The bell peppers still haven’t flowered, but when I grew bell peppers before, they were the last to fruit, so I’m not too worried. Over all, everything is doing pretty well. I think the bugs are pretty much gone. I still see a few here and there, but nothing that I’m overly worried with anymore.

As for knitting, I’ve been working on that SoS ’08 pattern that I talked about in my last post. I turned the heel, completed the heel flap, and started on the leg. I tried it on and I’m just not happy with it. The pattern makes the sock twist, which is all well and good because I figured it would even out once I had the heel done. Yeah, not so much. Still twisty. It’s also a little tight on my foot and hard to keep straight, so I think I’m going to be frogging it. I’m wasn’t really sure about the pattern with the yarn that I was using anyhow. It’s for the best in the end. Still stinks that I’m nearly done with the sock and I am frogging it. Ah, well. It’s better to have socks that I’m going to wear. I do love the yarn and really enjoy working with it, so I’m sure I’ll find a pattern that works better with it.

I’ve started a new sock, since it is Summer of Socks now. I tried to do Mokey’s toe-up, magic loop style, but the 2.5 mm needle wasn’t working with the yarn. The sock was coming out too big for me, so I frogged the toe I’d done and started it top-down on 2.25 mm DPN’s. I’m doing picot edging, which is a first for me! I like the fabric the 2.25 mm needles are making much better than what I was getting with the 2.5 mm needles.

I’m off to go visit with family for a while. Hopefully I can get some knitting time in there somewhere!

Current Projects, Knit Ramblings

Knitting, now complete with pictures!

Posted on June 27, 2008 by mslindz

Here’s a photo of the Trekking XXL socks I’ve been knitting:

I am making up the pattern as I go along. I created a chart for the cable and I finally realized something: designing isn’t easy! Okay, I don’t know that I ever thought it was easy, but there were times that I would think “OMG how does someone charge SO MUCH for a pattern I could easily come up with on my own if I had a stitch dictionary?” (And, note to self, I really need one of those – a good one. I’m open to recommendations.) I realized that the truth is, designing is tough. Writing up a pattern, especially if there’s charts, and having it test knit and proofed is no easy thing. I’m not sure that I really realized these things until I put more thought into it than I did before. Now, those patterns that I once thought were a little too much, really aren’t too much and are worth what the designer asks for them. Also, I’m cheap (and broke), so I think that contributed to my thoughts of “OMG that’s so much money for a pattern!”

I’m not entirely sure that I’m going to keep knitting this sock. I may end up frogging it and knitting something else with this yarn. Right now it’s on hold since I started some other socks because…

Summer of Socks 2008 started last Saturday! I cast-on the pattern Wendy wrote for SoS ’08 on Saturday and I’m up to the heel flap now.

The pattern had some errors and while I figured out the pattern repeat
one rather quickly, I had a hell of a time figuring out the heel flap
situation. I’ve never knitted socks toe-up with a gusset. I read the
pattern over and over, but just couldn’t make it make sense for me. I
finally figured it out today after some finding out it was indeed an
error in the pattern and what I needed to do to make it work. I felt
rather silly after I found it was so simple, but it happens to the best
of us! (Trust me, this hasn’t been the best brain week for me. I’ve
been a bit foggy-headed lately!)

I don’t know that I have “goals” for SoS ’08. I kind of doubt I’ll be
the one with the most socks knit or anything like that, but I would
like to try socks toe-up using the magic loop method. I already have
yarn and a pattern in mind for that:

This is my Socks That Rock yarn that used to be these socks.
I decided I didn’t really like how they turned out (a tad small) and
figured that I should just frogg them and knit them into something I
liked better. I’m planning on doing toe-up Monkey socks.

Last Friday, I caved to the nanners and ordered some nanner yarn from Lime & Violet. I have never purchased Lime & Violet yarn before, but have been wanting to since they opened up shop. I’ve been on a “yarn diet” (read: budget) for a while now, so this is a rare treat for me.

Now, not only can I knit Wendy’s nanner pattern, but I can knit it with nanner yarn!

Since I’m on the topic of nanners, I’ll share my lunch from yesterday:

Nanners: “100% Perfection”

Anyhow, enough nanner obsession.

My right shoulder has been giving me some problems this week. It seems that knitting a lot + using the mouse a lot at work = ooowwwww for the right shoulder. (I have a touch-pad mouse at home, which doesn’t seem to aggravate my shoulder.) Matt has been a sweetheart and has massaged it a few times this week, which helped a ton. The next day using the mouse at work made it hurt by the end of the day, so I’m not sure what to do.Massaging helps, but I don’t have anyone to massage me while I’m at work and it’s hurting the most! The only thing that makes it feel better is doing less with it. I can’t do less work and I don’t want to start knitting less. The beginning of the year until now, I kind of lost interest for a bit. Nothing was really calling me to knit it, but now I feel like I’m “back in the saddle” and ready to knit! Until I can go to the doctor again, I’m not sure what to do to help it. sigh

Have you seen the Twist Collective? I’m sure if you’re a knitter and you aren’t living under a rock somewhere, you’ve probably heard about it. (Don’t feel bad if you haven’t, I’m usually living under a rock and the last person to hear about things. Most of the time, anyhow. Anyway….) I received their email newsletter the other day talking a little more about it. It sounds like it’s going to be really good and I like their set-up for the most part. There’s been some issues with how Interweave Knits is now paying the designers for their patterns and keeping the rights to them. I know a lot of people are upset about the whole thing. Personally, it doesn’t really seem all that fair, and could explain why I’ve been less impressed with their magazine lately. I didn’t even buy the last issue because there wasn’t a single pattern I wanted to knit (seriously, this never happens, there’s always at least two). Anyway, back to Twist Collective. Their magazine is going to be web based and all the articles are going to be free. There’s going to be patterns, but they are charging for each pattern individually. The upside is that most of the money goes back to the designer for each sale. The downside is they haven’t mentioned how much they will charge for each pattern and could end up being a bad thing if you love EVERY pattern in an issue or even a number of patterns because that could end up being rather expensive. It will be interesting to see how that works out, but overall I’m looking forward to the first issue due out at the end of July.

Not much else has been going on this week and no real plans for the weekend other than cleaning. Hope you have a good weekend :o)

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