Going Back To Brooklyn

This was a great weekend. Allyson didn't go upstate so we decided to hit up La Casita in Brooklyn for a little visit. I had been there once before but Al hadn't been so she was really looking forward to going. Not only is it a great yarn shop but our friend Ria works there! It's not huge but they truly utilize their space well and have it jam packed full of yarns and accessories.





Yarn, yarn and ummm...more yarn. Oh and these!



Lots of needles including the interchangeable Hiya Hiya circular needles which I purchased. I got the smaller set which is size two through eight with several cables including a sixteen inch which isn't easy to find. I do a lot of hats and really wanted an interchangeable set with a 16" cable so I was very happy to find these. I'm going to buy the larger needle set when they come in, they're on back order.
So we wound up spending the day there with Ria, Amanda, Jen and Hannah. We had loads of laughs and got a lot of knitting done. Ok more laughing than knitting I will admit. The only bad thing about this shop is that it's too far away from my house!
Currently working on the socks for my sister and a hat for my niece. Hope to have both of these done this week and begin working on more socks for me.
A trip upstate this weekend to go to a party and see family including my gorgeous niece and my beautiful goddaughter. Really looking forward to a weekend in the country!

Socktoberfest

I just have one question. How come I didn't know about this until now? I read a bunch of knitting blogs, I'm on Ravelry, I'm on Twitter. How'd I miss this?
Needless to say I will be participating in Socktoberfest. There seem to be no specific rules to it other than to knit socks during the month of October. I've just cast on a pair of River Rapids so that will be my first pair. I think my goal will be a pair per week so, hopefully, by Halloween I should have four pairs of completed socks. Yes I am an optimist.
I'm going to try to knit all new patterns for the remaining three pair of socks to challenge myself on this. I'll be scouring Ravelry for patterns and I'd love to end it with a pair of Halloween themed socks, if there is such a thing. I also have a couple of pairs of Christmas colored sock yarn so I may try to make a pair of Christmas themed socks.
If you'd like to participate in Socktoberfest here's the link to the Ravelry Group with any and all information you may need.

Finished & Blocked

I finished the scarf Allyson designed. It's really lovely and a breeze to make.





The eyelet pattern is really cute. Each little hole looks like it's framed because of the stitch pattern. I wish I'd made it a bit bigger but it will be fine for me.
Al and I are going to go to Lion Brand Yarn Studio tomorrow. They have the Hiya Hiya interchangeable circular needles I wanna check out. Also I'll be picking up a pair of tickets to the Maker Faire which is taking place this weekend. Lion Brand Studio was giving them away on Twitter and I was lucky enough to score a pair! I've never been and it looks like fun. Now I just have to coerce Glenn to take me. Maybe I'll tell him there will be power tools.

A Free Pattern!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in the city so Glenn and I decided to hit the beach for some knitting and metal detecting. We left the boys at home. They were getting over their first full week of school. Let's hear an "awwww" for the boys, huh?
Several months ago Allyson had given me a scarf to test knit for her but I had but it aside because I was in a sock groove. I brought it with me to Coney Island yesterday and pretty much finished it. I love this pattern. Very simple to do but it looks like there's a lot to it.





This is most of it. I've just taken it off the needles and need to block it today. I love how the eyelet part of the pattern really stands out. It's to be worn like a neckerchief with the bigger piece in front and wrapped around to the back. I can't wait to block it and try it on! Here's the pattern for it on Allyson's Ravelry page.
Not much else in other knitting news. Just getting back into the swing of the school thing with the boys. Both of them have big tests coming up this year - Glenn will be taking SATs and Patrick will be taking high school entrance exams. Gah where does the time go? At least Glenn knows what he wants to do and what college he wants to go to. Nice to have your life all planned out at 15, isn't it?
Hope you're all enjoying your fall as much as we are!

The End Of The Summer Of Socks

With the Labor Day weekend, summer has ended and so has my summer of socks. Here are the socks I made just for me:



They are Lacy Mock Cable Socks, Sunday Swing Socks, Bubble Wrap Socks, River Rapids Socks and another pair of Lacy Mock Cable Socks. I also did a pair of socks for my sister, Annie, and my niece, Joyce. I think I did another pair but I can't remember which socks nor can I remember for whom they were knit. Getting older sucks. Glenn, my fifteen year old, has taken to telling me Alzheimer's jokes to make fun of my lack of memory. I start to tell him to be kind that he'll get older one day but then I forget what we were talking about and I keep on knitting.
I finished the Bella's Mittens for my niece and now I''m working on a Sockhead Hat for her sister. I like the Sockhead hat because it's 4 inches of ribbing and 9 inches of stockinette stitch which is a good television knit.
I really enjoyed making socks this summer. I only did a few patterns but really came to understand the construction of socks. I have a feeling that the summer of socks will be sliding into the autumn of socks. My sister, Pat, wants a nice pair of socks since I haven't finished her sweater yet which she reminds me of at least once a week. I'm going to find a nice gansey pattern to make her. She's not a lacy kinda gal and I'm sure she'd love something easy and simple with a pretty design. Think I can find a sock pattern with a design of a sweater on it?
I'm getting really excited about Rhinebeck next month and I can't think about it or I'll get over excited then I'll make myself crazy. Ok, crazier. It's ok though because I forget about it after five minutes anyway.

And The Winner Is....

Emily! Patrick read through all the jokes and picked Emily's joke as the winner and here it is:

A farmer was milking his cow in the barn. As the farmer worked, one of the chickens walked over. "Got any corn?" said the chicken. The farmer glanced at the chicken, said, "No, I don't have any corn," and went back to milking the cow.

A few minutes later, the farmer looked up from his milking to see the chicken standing there. "Got any corn?" said the chicken. "No, I don't have any corn! Can't you see I'm busy milking the cow?" The farmer grumbled to himself and got back to work.

After another minute, the farmer looked up again to see the chicken still standing there. "Got any corn?"

"NO! I don't have any corn! And if you don't leave me to my milking, I'm going to nail your feet to the floor!"

"Got a hammer?" said the chicken.

"NO!! I DON'T HAVE A HAMMER EITHER!!" yelled the farmer.

There was a short pause.

"Got any corn?"

I want to thank you all for participating. We both had a lot of laughs reading the entries and Patrick just loves that you all went through the trouble to find something you thought he'd like.

Contest Deadline Moved

I just realized that my contest is supposed to end on Friday but we won't be here! Since the boys have off from school for Rosh Hashanah, we're going away tonight for the weekend. I'll be picking a winner sometime on Monday so make sure you get your joke in on the contest post. Good luck!

Another Score!

I've been a busy knitting fool lately. I finished the Bella's Mittens, I'm working on a Sockhead Hat and a pair of Bubble Wrap socks. I've also been busy looking at what sock yarns are available on Ravelry in the destash group. I really like the idea of that group, which I'm sure I've stated several times before. Even if I don't buy anything, I love looking at what yarns others are using and getting ideas of what I want to use.
This week I actually purchased a lovely skein of SockPixie yarn from a gentlemen who was destashing. It's a Tencel/Merino blend called Napoleon & Josephine.



It's got red, gold, brown and black in it with a terrific sheen from the Tencel. I'm really looking forward to knitting up a nice pair of socks for Patrick with this yarn.
If you're on Ravelry, make sure you check out this group. You can get yarns at good prices and you may be helping out another knitter short of funds.

Realization

This week I finished up a couple of projects I'd been working on. One was the Lacy Socks I had in my last post and the other was a pair of Bella's Mittens. I've knit the mittens twice before and really enjoyed making them. The first pair was for my niece, Joyce, made from Classic Elite Montera yarn which is 50% wool and 50% llama making for a softer fuller knit. The second pair I made with Shetland Marl which is 100% shetland wool. I really enjoyed making both pair of these mittens and they came out lovely.
I cast on this third pair of mittens and began knitting. I was making them for another one of my nieces who lives in upstate NY and is crazy about Twilight. I picked a striking red I had in my stash. I knit the first couple of rounds with no problem but after that I realized I didn't like knitting this. Was this the same pattern? I looked and realized it was. Why didn't I enjoy this as much as the first two? The only difference was the yarn. I realized that I did love the pattern but it was the yarn I didn't love. I wonder if that's happened in the past where I thought it was the pattern but it may well be the yarn! I'm going to have to go through my library of knits, which aren't really that many, and find knits I didn't really like making and redo them if I like the pattern.
I won't say what yarn it is but suffice it to say they made a lovely pair of mittens that will be well used and loved. The rest of the yarn is tucked away at the back of my knitting closet to be used only in the most dire emergency.

Fair

While on vacation we looked for local things to do. Glenn found out that the Wayne County Fair was going on while we were upstate. It's in PA and a bit of a drive but well worth the trip. We've gone before but not in the last year or two. I think the last time we went, I wasn't yet knitting so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had knitted goods that had competed for awards! Here are a few of the prize winning pieces:





Aren't they sweet? They also had an animal auction which included goats and sheep, prize winning vegetables and fruit, games and rides. The boys had a couple of major wins.







Patrick won that giant mouse and Glenn won a giant pug dog. We almost had to strap Patrick to the roof of the car. Next year we may take a van.