Sock Drawer Reflection

After blocking and photoging them, I went to put away the Blathnat socks I showed you yesterday. It occurred to me that I wanted to share with you my handknit sock drawer.

It is such a beautiful sight to me. Full of positivity. It's a reminder of friends. Friends who've designs I've knit, who've gifted me pretty yarn and provided encouragement in knitting and in life too.

Also, a reminder of growth. In my knitting skills and outlook on life. The first socks I knit are those cream coloured ones in the top right corner. I knit them in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. A really dumb yarn to make socks with, but they are very comfy cosy house-socks nonetheless :0)

Making those first socks was a challenge. The thought of turning a heel had my heart racing. But stitch by stitch, I did it. And so life goes, challenge after challenge is overcome.

I give you, the pretties......

disco xoxo

Blathnat Socks

These are Irishgirlieknits' Blathnat socks. They were the January mystery socks in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry.They start out with a super pretty cuff in a leaf shape. This pulls the top of the sock into v-shapes and makes for some interesting knitting.
One of the mods I made to the pattern was to incorporate Cristi's double gusset heel decrease. I absolutely LOVE this decrease. It leaves the patterning on the top of the foot clean against the stockinette sole and gives a wonderful fit against the arch of the foot. I've said it before, but it bears repeating - this is GENIUS. If you haven't tried it yet, please do on your next sock.I messed up a wee bit by not following the pattern, and did a standard stockinette toe. I should've kept the reverse stockinette going. Next time.

The yarn I used was Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in colourway Loden. It is a thin sock yarn, with what I think is a pretty tight twist. It wasn't as soft as Socks That Rock to knit with, but it's made what looks to be a hard-wearing fabric. Time will tell.

Altogether this was an enjoyable knit. I really like mystery sock knit-a-longs. A clue each week is about the right amount of sock-knitting I want to do.

The pattern is still free, through 29th February, so if you haven't already, do rush over to Ravelry to download a copy.

BeeKeeper's Update

So, now we don't have a guest room for this quilt to hang out in, it's becoming a quilt for my bedroom.

Progress so far is 32 "flowers". That's 224 hexis. It is about one fifth of what I'd need for our king size bed - I'm too afraid of the large number to calculate exactly. Maybe this'll end up as a throw, slung over the bottom of the bedframe. I'm keeping on keeping on, so we'll see how things go.
I have plenty of yarn yet to knit up and I'm not bored at all. Quite the reverse in fact :0) Most days I'll pop out at least one hexi - what else is a girl to do in the car line at school?! Slow and steady wins the race.

I figured out I can get 5 flowers out of one skein of yarn, leaving enough for maybe 2 or 3 more hexis. Perhaps I should mini-ize the leftovers and destash them to other beekeepers.

I took someone's suggestion of striping the greys and yellows vertically. The flowers are sewn together, although not sewn to each other yet. I want to wait until I have more, so I can play with colour placement. Maybe in a little while, I'll start sewing 2 flowers together - it'll be a heck of a job if I leave it til the end.

How do you like it so far?

Disco xo

A New Occupant for the Guest Room

So, in this post, I told you about our lovely, newly-decorated guest room. Well, no sooner had its 1st guest occupant departed, than it had a newer, more permanent bedfellow.

Matthew has been asking for his own room since we moved into this new house in April. I always thought he didn't really, and that he'd miss Teddy. Turns out I was wrong and he really did want his own room. Like really, REALLY wanted his own room.

Like willing to give up his thumb, want his own room!

We had already been told by the dentist and by his speech therapist that the thumb needs to go if he's ever going to have straight teeth or no lithp. So, the time had come. The deal was, give up the thumb and you can have the room.

I made these little thumbkins a good while ago, and both boys had been having some success with them. They do tend to fall off in the general thrashing around of the night-time, but at least they help with the daytime and falling asleep sucking.
Now, we (mostly) have no thumb-sucking, and my lovely grellow room has Pokemon posters on its walls (quiet sobbing).

But what of the grellow blanket in progress?.........

Disco xoxo

Trending...

Did you see Jo's post last night? It made me smile, 'cause look what I spent yesterday making...One turned into....Then this morning, a veritable parliament.....I couldn't help myself. They take no time at all to crochet, the time is all in the addition of eyes, beaks and tummies. The boys have asked me for 'some' for their rooms, so I'll be making more. I think a production line is the best way to go if making many of these hooters. I can't be going through the whole button stash for each individual owl.

Pattern: Austin Owl

Hook:3.75mm/US F5

Yarn: scraps of worsted

Happy Weekend

Disco xo

Juan

Meet Juan. He's Hubbs' little helper in her Spanish class and the kids love him. She asked me to knit him a sweater with his name on it, so I turned to Monkster's Sweater, a pattern I've made before that's designed to fit a Build-A-Bear.

I used some Mission Falls 1824 wool I had on hand and got to work. The sweater knit up super quick and is a perfect fit. The name was duplicate stitched on after finishing.

I think he looks quite dapper :0)

disco xo

Card Swap

It feels like a thousand years ago that we used to do swaps on the Knittyboard. Remember the Knittyboard?

I started my BeeKeeper's Quilt last fall and joined the Tiny Owl Knits group on Ravelry. They seem to have some pretty manageable swaps, so at the beginning of January I signed up for the Card Swap - send a different person a card, once a month. Very do-able.

Here's the card I received from my 1st pal, along with a mini-skein for my BeeKeeper's and some herbal teas, yum!

It sure is nice to get a surprise in the mail and now my office is just a little brighter too :0) Thank you Sparrow :0)

Disco xo

Cheering Things Up

Q. What should you do if your dishcloths start looking like this, and you need a bit of cheering up anyway?A. Get out your Mason Dixon Knitting book and cotton stash and whip up a few of these babies.....
I'm enjoying my first cup of tea since Tuesday. I've been busy helping to run our school book fair and was not prepared for how busy it would be (or how much $ I'd have to count and bank at the end of each day). It is heart-warming to see our youth so keen on reading. And buying invisible ink pens!

Happy Friday y'all.

Disco xoxo

p.s. thank you all for your condolences, good wishes and thoughts for our David. Each means a lot and is a great comfort. xo

Getting back into the swing of things

Today is a month since my younger brother David passed. He was 39 years old and died of a heart attack, the day I last posted here. A tragedy and a waste. He was funny, smart and loving.

Happy times on the beach with our Mother

Last weekend Tommy and I travelled to the UK for his funeral. We arrived on Saturday, David's 40th birthday. We visited with him in the Chapel of Rest. I cried to see my baby brother's purple lips, they'll never smile again.

The funeral brought familiar faces. Family I hadn't seen since the last funeral (I guess we've reached that stage of life) and friends I hadn't seen in the 25 years since I left our hometown. David's schoolfriends that we knew as 4 year-olds together, never changed, laughing and telling stories of outrageous childhood deeds.

David and I, ages 19 and 21

The past month has been difficult, heart-wrenching and spent in a brain-fog which has seen me, metaphorically, staring blankly out the window, just cruising through the tasks of daily life.

My knitting has been slow and contemplative. A pair of socks, "hexipuffs" and dishcloths. A thought with each stitch, slow and steady.

Now, I am getting back in the swing of things at home. Leaving my house to shop, exercise, do my school PTO duties and visit with friends. As they say, life goes on......