FO: Acai Berry Socks

I'm getting behind on posting for this blog. If you looked at my Ravely projects, you know I'm knitting. My feeble excuse is that I've been having female problems......... hot flashes, migraines, fatigue, etc. My hormones are out of wack. I have a doctor's appointment in a week..... I'm going to walk into his office and just beg him to fix me! I've self diagnosed myself and I think I have either PCOS(95% positive this is it) or I'm going through early onset menopause because I've never had kids. I haven't ovulated since February. I know I haven't been ovulating because I'm one of the "lucky" who has pain(mittelschmerz) when I do. Please bear with me........




I named the socks after the main ingredient(Acai berry) of a beverage I tried called Purple. This is my 3rd pair of Monkey socks. I've knit this pair for my mom's other sister who's birthday is coming up.

Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy Visual Purple
Needles: US 2 Addi turbo 40" circ magic loop method
Gauge: 7.5 spi Don't ask me how my gauge went down????? I'm a tight knitter.....
Modifications: Round heel using Heel by the Numbers file available at the Socknitters group.
Start: July 17, 2008
Finish: July 23, 2008

In about 12 hours I'll get to start on my OlympicSox2008(Ravelympics2008) socks. I've joined 2 kals to help get me motivated. I'm knitting US mens' size 13-14 wide socks for my nephew's big feet. I'm using Bobby Ziegler's Thujas. In the OlympicSox2008, my events are the Marathon and Water Sports(Swimming). I'm able to do that because the socks a big and will take me awhile to do them and they're blue. Wish me luck :-) And I hope all of you finish your Olympic knitting projects. Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Crimson Purls aka Berrylicious Socks

One of the things I enjoy about the Summer of Socks competition is seeing what everyone is knitting. Haveyouanywool posted a pair of gorgeous Flickers(pattern by CookieA) that I have to knit! I've already bought the pattern. I'm waiting to buy the yarn until the last week of the Olympics. I don't want to get distracted from knitting nephew's socks that I'm knitting for the Ravelympics.

The other pair of socks I'm waiting to knit and buy the yarn for is the Monkeys in the Dream in Color Smooshy Ruby River. I knit a pair of them for my aunt and LOVE how they look. The socks are soo pretty!! The Berrylicious socks are for my aunt who made a special request for a pair of socks she could wear around house. I'm mail them to her for her birthday in September.



Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy Ruby River
Needles: US 2 Addi turbo 40" circ magic loop method
Gauge: 8 spi
Modifications: I omitted the set rows for the heel flap. I made the heel flap only 28 rows(14 PU sts) long.
Start: July 10, 2008
Finish: July 17, 2008

Monkey See Monkey Do Socks

When the Summer of Socks kal/competition started, it seemed everyone was knitting and raving about Cookie A's Monkey socks. I decided I had to knit a pair myself to see what all the fuss was about. I love love this pattern. It's an easy pattern to knit and I had the pattern repeat memorized after the 2nd repeat.



Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy Midnight Derby
Needles: US 2 Addi turbo circ magic loop method
Gauge: 8 spi
Modifications: I used Ozlorna's large Monkey spreadsheet.(You can send her a message on Ravelry and she'll email you the spreadsheet.) I casted on 80 sts instead of 64 because of my big feet and leg swelling I sometimes have. I used Techknitter's wonderful SYTK left leaning decrease. My left leaning decreases are purrrtty now instead of sloppy looking.
Start: June 30, 2008
Finish: July 10, 2008

You'll see more Monkeys from me soon. One last thing, my Anura Socks picture is now featured on the Sensational Knitted Socks Lace Rib pattern page on Ravelry. Yay!!!!

Fraternal Jaywalkers

I haven't been posting on here because I have been compulsively knitting socks. I'm trying and succeeding at knitting a pair of socks every 2 weeks for the Summer of Socks 2008 competition on Ravelry. I know I won't win the most socks knit, but maybe I can win one of the biweekly prizes. I'm trying to get my sock knitting time down to less than 2 weeks in preparation for the Summer Olympics. I'm participating in the Ravelympics in which I'll attempt to knit a pair of US mens size 14 wide socks for my nephew in about 2 weeks and work an extra day at work each week. Its an endurance/time limit challenge for myself.

Well anyway here's the Jaywalkers I had to knit after seeing so many of them on Britknitter(Brittany knitter)'s blog.



Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Dusk colorway
Needles: US 1
Gauge: 9 spi
Start: June 21, 2008 I had to look on Ravelry for the date
Finish: June 29, 2008

In the next couple of days I'll post other socks I've knitted. I don't this post to be too long.

Life = Risks

" Energy and persistence conquer all things. "
~ Benjamin Franklin



If you're going through hell, keep going. "
~ Sir Winston Churchill

It was slow at work last weekend and I got to thinking about my life...... and I'm disappointed with myself because I've become complacent. In the last few years, I haven't done most of things I've wanted to do.... get my RN license, move away from Corpus Christi, go to France, further my education, start exercising on a regular basis, etc. My life has ground to halt because I've lost my focus. I've decided no more of that!!! I made a list of goals I want to accomplish in the next 6 months. I'm not publishing here(some of you know why). The goals center round beginning a new chapter of my life. The video above inspires me to work hard and meet my goals.

And the winner is

I counted all the entries and using

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

39

Timestamp: 2008-07-02 00:23:55 UTC

The winner is Bean!!!!! Congradulations!!! Please send your name and address to clwdaisy@yahoo.com or to my Ravelry ID: wildflower38.

Everyone left me some great sock stories! I enjoyed reading them all. I did run into a slight problem with my email account. Some of the messages were "bounced." (My Scrabulous email games were bounced too.) I have moderated comments set up and I wasn't getting an email for some of the entries. I accidently rejected/deleted one for the last entries then found 15 messages from people.

The rejected/deleted comment was by JackieCasts:
I'm knitting my second pair of socks. This time I'm doing Magic Loop (first time was DPNs). This sock and I just fought and fought and fought. I can't tell you how frustrated I was. Once I stepped back and tried to read my knitting and calmed down, everything was fine. Moving right along with no problems!


I contacted Blogger about it and I had all the comments/messages when I generated the winning number. I want to thank everyone for stopping by and telling me a sock story.

What I did while waiting for the Summer of Socks to begin and Blogiversary Contest Begins

Anyone who's ever stopped by and read my little knitting blog knows that I love socks. I started knitting because I wanted to knit socks. Every now and then I knit something other than socks..... things like this hat



Velox Hat aka Fountain Hat by Katie Himmleberg from Spring 2008 Interweave Knits in ShiBuiKnits sock yarn in Blossom colorway.... or this cell phone bag



Can you hear me now? phone bag by Kathy North from Designs by KN in Cascade Cotton Rich DK on purple..... it's so soft... now when I do a dishcloth swap I'm using this yarn..... or even a water bottle koozie



Drink Up bottle koozie by Anita Moore of YarnDemonAdventures. I made it for my downstream pal in the Multitasking 9-5 swap over on Ravelry. I spoiled Britknitter... go check out her blog to see what I gave her. Nichole my hostess paired us up well. (Thanks Nichole) Britknitter is a sock knitter who loves Jaywalkers. She's knitted at least 7 pairs of them. All of which are lovely. She made me want to knit a pair Jaywalkers too.



I'm knitting the Jaywalkers with a Cherry tree Hill supersock in Dusk colorway..... was the 1st sock yarn I ever stashed. It's a mixture of purples. blues, greens, and reds(mauve). I need a little more yardage than what's in the skein(420 yds) so I'm using some leftover yarn I have in the same colorway to knit the heels and toes. The Jaywalkers are my 1st pair of socks for the Summer of Socks KAL competition over on Ravelry. I had planned on knitting the Muscari Socks first but I changed my mind at the least moment. I'll knit them in July.

I'm digressing from the real purpose of this post. I've been blogging for a year now. I started this blog because I wanted to participate in the Dog Days of Summer dishcloth swap and having a blog was a requirement. I'm holding a contest/drawing to thank and show my appreciation of my readers. One lucky reader will win:



Melissa Morgan-Oakes' 2 at time SOCKS: The Secret of Knitting Two at Once on One Circular Needle

US1 40" Addi Turbo Circ....

The Yarn Harlot's Things I Learned from Knitting.... whether I wanted to or not

Dream in Color Smooshy in Visual Purple colorway

Sock Blocker keychain

So you're probably wondering what you dear reader has to do to get entered into the drawing. There are 3 ways:

1. Leave me a message telling me a short sock story.... the 1st pair you knitted or what pair gave you second sock syndrome or the time you knit a pair and they didn't fit or when you tried to knit a pair of socks and got so frustrated you ripped them up, etc. (All those things have happened to me.)

2. Post a link to the socks(or ripped up yarn) you're talking about in your story.

3. Blog about this drawing on your blog and link it back to me.

The drawing will end at 2359(11:59 pm) CST June 30th. If you leave an anonymous comment, please leave me your Ravelry ID so I can find you. Thank you so much everyone and keep knitting.....