FO!!!

Oh boy, it's been a long time since I've posted an FO (at least one bigger than a preemie cap or bib). I finished the Cable Lattice Socks:



Project Name: Cable Lattice Socks
Designer: Coats Patons
Pattern Source: Knitnet
Yarn: Socks That Rock - Little Bunny Foo Foo
Yarn Source: Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Date Started: 2/16/08
Date Completed: 5/18/08

Comments: These are a little funky with the change from striping to flashing, but I kind of like them. The pattern is very straightforward and not difficult. My slowness in finishing them was just lack of knitting time, not difficulty with the pattern or the knitting itself. I fell in love with Socks That Rock all over again with this pair of socks, but I came so so close to running out of yarn - just a couple of yards left when I finished. I probably could have made them .05 to 1 repeat shorter and been ok, too.

It seems like I always have more coming into the stash than I have going out. I got a couple of new skeins of sock yarn as part of the Amazing Threads sock club:



I'm not a huge fan of the footie pattern that came with the yarn and this yarn is thicker than I typically like to use for socks, so I'll probably knit something else with this yarn.

Other Fun

Besides going to the movies, I've had some other fun too. I think I forgot to mention I read this book:



I know, I'm late getting to these. I try to read each book right before the next movie comes out, so I have the book fairly fresh in my mind and I don't know what's going to come next when I see the movie. But after I finished book 5, I couldn't wait that long to read book 6, so I read it now. If you read the Harry Potter books, you've probably already read this one and if you don't, you probably don't care, so I won't describe it. I'll just say that I really loved it and I'm really sad there's only one more book left. So far I've managed to avoid any spoilers for the final book, so I may read that last one this summer before I do stumble across something I don't want to know.

I also read this book:



I'm trying to go through all of my books and get rid of the ones that I realistically will never read and read some of the ones that I've had for a long time. This is a mystery that's part of a series about a woman who is an attorney and grew up with hippie radical type parents. In the series, she sort of struggles with her identity and where she really sees herself in the world. I started reading this series either when I was in law school or shortly thereafter and really loved it and identified with the character. For whatever reason, I set the last three of this series aside and never read them. I wish I had read this when it first came out. It's set in the mid-90s and a lot of it is about computers and technology and all of that stuff is now incredibly dated. I'll still read the last two of the series because I enjoy the authors writing and the story and characters, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to others to pick up now.

I also did a little visiting for Easter. I dyed Easter eggs with my niece, Alexis:



My nephew Jason, wasn't really sure about the taste of eggs, but he sure liked playing with the plastic Easter eggs:



Isn't he absolutely adorable? He turned 1 just after Easter, so I got to celebrate that with him too. Also adorable is my new "nephew", Dexter:



Alexis just loves him. He's so wiggly and puppy-like. Love him!

And finally, I've done some knitting. I had the absolute pleasure of meeting up with the Uberstrickenfrau while I was in Sioux Falls. We both managed to overcome our shyness and fear of meeting strangers from the internet to have coffee and knit and it turns out it's almost like we already knew each other and weren't really strangers. Huh, funny that. You can read her hilarious (as usual) tale of meeting on her blog. She's not as far behind in blogging as I am, so you'll have to scroll down a little bit. She even captured the moment for posterity with a photo like a REAL blogger. I'm so glad to have met in person and super excited to have someone to knit with when I'm ready to strangle my family (not those cute kids, just the adults).

As for the actual knitting itself, I am almost done with my other niece, Jessica's hoodie:



I absolutely ran out of yarn, so I was just going to sew on the zipper and call it done, but when I put my hands in the pockets, I think they are too shallow, so I'm going to see if I can still get another skein and knit on the pocket ribbing on the top of the pockets too.

I also finished the first of my Cable Lattice socks. What a difference a few stitches make:



In the ankle area, where I had a lot of stitches, the striping disappeared and the colors were sort of randomly spread out. By the time I decreased down to the foot size (4 stitches less than on the leg), the stripes had morphed into flashing. I actually kind of like it. I think it looks cool and so different. Here's how it looks on the foot:

Actual Knitting Content

I know I've been promising, and here it finally is. I've been knitting up my Elann samples from the last six months, so that's kind of boring to look at. But I've almost finished the Olivia's Sweatshirt for Jessica:



That's kind of boring to look at too. It's just plain blue stockinette. The real excitement is feeling it. It's a very nice, soft fabric that I think Jessica will like. All I have left is knitting and sewing on the hood and installing the zipper. Just in time for spring! :-) Oh well, you can always use a hoodie when it gets cold at night, right?

I've also been working on a pair of socks:



These are called Cable Lattice Socks - I got the pattern in an old issue of Knitnet. I'm using Socks That Rock yarn in the Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway. I'm in love again! STR is definitely my favorite sock yarn. It's so pretty and also so soft and cushy. This particular colorway is extra yummy because it looks like ice cream - chocolate, caramel, strawberry. Mmmmmmmmmm.....