The Joy of Socks

Oh all right, so my post title is dumb :-)

This is my first attempt at knitting socks. I'm using Red Heart's Heart & Sole sock yarn in Spring Stripe and using the accompanying free pattern Red Heart has on its site:


I figured I'd make a pair for myself first, that way if I mess them up then I'm the one who has to live with the mistake :-D

If these turn out well then I'll be digging into the ball of On-Line sock yarn I got from The Recycled Lamb and knitting up another pair. The color variations in that yarn look like they'll be a lot of fun.

Update, 8/18 - First one down:

I think my son approves:
I've also started a pair of socks using the On-Line sock yarn and a technique called Magic Loop:



Basically Magic Loop is where you use a longer circular needle to knit a smaller garment in the round. This site and this video are good tutorials if you want to learn more.

The advantage of Magic Loop, aside from not having to deal with DPNs, is that your work will supposedly come out more seamless. Given this is my first effort I suspect that won't be the case for these socks, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the striping coming out of this yarn and learning something new.

Mother-Daughter Time

My daughter came out to visit this past week from California - I can't believe it's come and gone already. She came out with her father, grandmother and aunt.

We belatedly celebrated her 17th birthday when she got here. I gave her my Little Meggie kick spindle and emailed her Jan's demo of it from YouTube at her request so she can see how to set it up and get it going at her pace.

I finished her W tank just in time. It looks really great on her:


It did turn out a little on the large side for her so she is opting to wear it as a vest, and it's working out pretty good. She got a lot of compliments while she wore it here.

We got her a really gorgeous lemon poppy cake from Rheinlander Bakery:


We spent most of our time the rest of the week doing what we do best - raiding all the fiber, yarn and craft places we could hit. We first went to Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins out in Boulder, where my daughter got herself a few ounces of a beautiful merino roving and some gold Angelina fibers that she has already started combining on her drop spindle:

My son loves to watch his sister on this video over and over :-)

I also got myself some "Summertime" roving by Alpine Meadow Artisan Fibers that I began spinning on my wheel right away:



We also visited The Recycled Lamb in Lakewood for the first time. While my daughter grabbed a few balls of bright colored wool yarn from there, I got myself a ball of sock yarn and half a pound of alpaca fiber. We descended upon Hobby Lobby a couple of times too so my daughter could spend the gift card my MIL gave her and got even more yarn.

My daughter went home with several pounds of yarn from my stash - I felt it was time to go through what I had and pass it along. She is planning to keep some and then give away the rest to her great-grandmother and possibly to charity.

When we weren't busy going to the craft stores we were busy using what we got, sitting around like a couple of old ladies and making our projects :-)

My daughter's grandmother also visited SS&S and Hobby Lobby while here. She said she had to shut her eyes at one point or she would end up buying everything in both stores.

We managed to get away on an overnight trip up to Idaho Springs and also visit the Buffalo Bill museum and grave on Lookout Mountain. My daughter did an Old West portrait at Margie's while in Idaho Springs that turned out fantastic - I loved watching her dress up in costume and have fun posing for the camera:


My husband and I had one done for our anniversary last month, so now we have a matching picture to put up with ours... one day we'll get one done of our son when he's older and can sit still and then we'll have the whole family!

My daughter also made a painted stained glass project for her aunt, who has a birthday the day after hers:


Finally, we caught a couple of movies - Iron Man and Wall-E. I have already seen Iron Man and love it, my daughter thought the electromagnetic thing in Tony Stark's chest was "creepy." Wall-E was a hit for us as well as my husband, it really bowled us all over.

8/11: I just got an update on my daughter's trip back home. Her Dad had decided to attempt the I-70 route back to Cali and it was a challenge between massive rain, a sandstorm, and just having a hard time getting the RV over the passes in the mountains. Thankfully they had family in Vegas who treated them to some hospitality and relaxation before they made it back home last night. As long as everyone is safe and sound, that's what counts.