Birthdays rock

Well, actually I don't really feel that way. Once I hit a certain number of birthdays I sort of wished I could just skip them each year and not be reminded that I'm a year older. That is until last Friday when KatyaR gave me this:

I apologize for the bad picture but you are looking at Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road, a pair of the coolest Wooleez socks, and 2 skeins of Fortissima Colori sock yarn (the picture lies - the 2 skeins are the same color). Thank you, KatyaR. You rock!

Pregnancy Update

I think I've finally hit the stage where the nausea and dry heaves are fading away, and I'm hoping that my energy level will soon pick up as well. My lower ab fat has morphed into an actual bump which is pushing my stomach fat upwards, so now I have a nice stomach fat roll bump and right below that a baby bump. I'm bumpy. We're talking to the boy all the time about the baby so that he will be completely used to the idea before another little person comes to invade our house, and I think he's starting to grasp the concept. The cutest thing is when you ask him where the baby is and he tells you, "It's in my tummy." Oh son, that is sweet to want to carry the baby for me, but I would never do that to you. The most surprising thing is that he is now telling us it's a girl. He's adamant that he is going to have a sister. I hope he's not disappointed if it turns out to be a boy.

Koigu sock question

In the comments from Tuesday’s post, I was asked a question about the koigu socks. I’m sorry, Melanie, but I couldn’t find an email address for you, so I’m answering you here. I hope that’s ok. Oh, and thank you for asking about the socks.


M. said...
Hmmm . . . koigu socks are the best thing in the whole world. Well, after babies . . .
Anyway, what are you doing? What size needles (I think I used 2's) and I want to say about 60 stitches? I'll look it up if you need me to. Keep trying-- they'll be worth it.


When I first started the socks, I used this pattern. Same needle size, same number of stitches – just as it’s written. It was way too big so I ripped and started again with fewer stitches (but I don’t remember the exact number). It still seemed a little bit big, but it was livable and I thought I would give it a go. However, when I got to the short row heel everything turned ugly. It was my first time doing a short row heel and well, apparently I’m not supposed to ever knit a short row heel. I stayed up until almost 2:00am trying to make the stupid short row heel work, and I think there might have even been some tears of frustration involved, not to mention that my fingers were sore and my bamboo needles felt like they were on the verge of breaking. But still I muddled through. The next morning I knew I couldn’t live with the heel I knitted and I was much too frustrated with the sock to tink it back to where I could start a normal heel, so I just ripped the whole thing.

So on I went to my next choice of patterns. This one used a size 2 needle opposed to the size 1 on the first pattern, but that was fine. The author says she has a size 8 ½ foot that is narrow to medium in width. Great – me too. And it had a regular heel. So I knit it exactly as written (72 stitches in k2p2 ribbing on size 2’s) and even though it seemed like a lot of stitches, it was less than the previous sock and I knit a bit tight, so again, I went for it. When I tried it on to see how many more rounds I needed before starting the toe decreases, I realized the error of my ways. And that’s when I sat the beautiful koigu down and told it, “I love you, but I think we need a break.”

Now, I would like to again state for the record that both of these patterns are perfectly lovely patterns and one should not use my ineptitude as a guide on whether or not to make socks from them. They just aren’t the right patterns for me. I am determined to actually make these socks though, so if you have any suggestions, I will gladly accept them. I’ll bet I could make them work with 60 stitches with size 2’s… One day I will have koigu socks. And I agree, they will very much be worth it.

Birthday surprise

Lookie here! Oklahoma finally got a lottery! We have been waiting for this for so long. Our governor's platform was that he wanted to have a lottery where the proceeds go solely to fund education. He was elected, and shortly after the people of Oklahoma voted on the issue. I'm not sure on the exact figures, but I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 75% in favor of the lottery. And now we finally have the first scratch-off tickets!


And what a coincidence that the day they chose to release the tickets should be the husband's birthday. So the tickets in this picture are part of his birthday present. We'll probably do more stuff at the weekend though. We're all about the weekends in this family. So if you live in Oklahoma (or you live close to Oklahoma and feel like taking a road trip), go buy some scratch-off tickets. Help us stick it in the faces of the legislators who voted against this and are still saying it will never work.

Letter to my sock yarn

Dear Koigu yarn that I love in color #P859,

Why do you hate me? I have tried several times now to knit you into a beautiful sock, yet you resist me. Why? Have I offended you? Is it because I have not devoted my full time and energy to making you into something beautiful? I have attempted two different sock patterns – which are lovely patterns, by the way – and you simply refuse to conform. And yet I want to keep trying because you are so soft and I long to have beautiful, warm socks on my cold feet this winter. So I will let you decide this time which pattern you want me to use. What kind of sock do you want to be? And until you tell me, I will work on the other project I have started, a baby sweater for my cousin in Ohio. It’s your choice – become a beautiful sock or spend the rest of your life in a plastic bin in my closet…

Sincerely,

Missy

I honestly don't know where I went wrong. It seemed to be going so well and then I actually tried the sock on. It's freaking huge. I don't know if my gauge is off or what, but this just won't do. If I spend hours (or months) lovingly knitting a sock, I want it to fit. Sigh...

Fourteen

I can hardly believe it, but yesterday was our 14th wedding anniversary. 14 years. Wow. We didn’t do anything special because of the hubby’s crazy working hours, but we did meet for dinner after I picked the kiddo up from daycare (plus my mom is coming to babysit this weekend so we can have a proper date). However, we did talk on the phone for a while earlier that morning and he told me that if he had to do it all over again, he definitely would, which was really nice to hear. We’re not a particularly romantic couple, mostly because that’s just not his nature and I learned a long time ago that you can’t change your spouse or force them to be someone they’re not. But we still hold hands sometimes and he still opens my car door and we still snuggle when we get the chance. We’ve been through a lot, and there have been many times when we did not get along, but we have grown together and (I hope) learned from our mistakes. There are many reasons we have lasted so long, but I like to think that one of the main reasons is that we have a mutual respect for each other as individuals. My husband is a good provider for our family and he’s never been jealous or abusive, and when I tell him that I need a little bit of time to myself, he does whatever he can to give that to me. He’s also a great father. I can’t imagine going through life with any other partner. Babe, I love you deeply and I hope we have many more years together.