Rockin’ Sock Club Spoiler

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to see this months Rockin’ Sock Club socks.

Hey, it’s Maria.

Don’t you just love getting a physical? It’s great knitting time! Every other year, Honey and I go to the Mayo clinic for complete physicals. Look what I finished.

It’s Lenore. This is the yarn and pattern from the Rockin’ Sock Club for this month. The pattern was designed by the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl McPhee. I don’t remember what the yarn color is, and I’m too lazy to get up and find the ball band.

The other thing I worked on while sitting around at night is The Medallion Travel Bag. The pattern is from Noni.

Isn’t this an awesome bag? If the pattern is right, it will take 2640 yards (12 skeins) of Cascade 220. It’s huge.

It’s 4 octaves huge. I’m over half way on the body, but it seems to be taking forever. It’s knit on size 13 needles and the yarn is doubled. I have the leather straps for the bag but I still need to order brass feet for the bottom. It’s also supposed to have a zipper, but I’m not sure if I’ll add that or not.

You want to hear about our physicals, dont’ you? My Honey and I both have the same BMI. Yet I was praised and he was chewed out. Body mass is determined by your height and weight. Officially, I’m not obese any more. I’m merely overweight. Honey is in the same boat. Why was he chewed out? He was told two years ago that he needed to lose weight. (He’s been the same weight for 20 years) and he’s on cholesterol medication. I, on the other hand, lost 35 pounds in the last year, my glucose level went down, and I don’t have cholesterol issues. The moral of the story? I get to teach him how to eat healthier. Actually, for him, he’s going to need to just cut back his portions. He eats pretty well.

Nana stayed with the kids and told us they were perfect. I’m suspecting she’s getting senile. (Just kidding, Mom!) It’s so nice to come home to a house that’s in order, and kids that are happy. Thanks, Nana!

I’m thinking I need to do some quilting this week.  I’m ending up with sore wrists from too much knitting.  I could get some sleep too, since that’s what I sacrifice for time to knit.

Hey Lexi, hows that blanket coming?

TGIF….It’s Knitting Time!!!

Hey, it’s Maria.

I helped with vision and hearing screening at school this morning. Those kindergarteners are so cute. I’m so glad I don’t have one any more.

Laundry is sorted and being washed.

I need to figure out what to make for dinner, and then I’m free, sort of. I really need to clean my sewing room. That’s fun, isn’t it? Come on. I need a little help here. It’s fun. Really, it is.

Yesterday was geek day at school. Three out of four crazy kids participated.

Charming children, aren’t they?

I actually left the house yesterday. A bunch of us got together for quilting and knitting. I had good intentions of breaking out the quilt stuff, but I’m so addicted to knitting right now. I started a new project (Wow, there’s a news flash!) It’s the Noro Striped Scarf from Brooklyn Tweed. I like his colors better, although there’s purple coming up in one on my skeins. Since his scarf is prettier, I was going to take a prettier photo of mine. Nope, didn’t work!

Not only is his knitting fabulous, his photography is amazing too.

I finished something!!! Really, I did. I have a hole in my left pointer finger to prove it. My August Rockin’ Sock Club socks were knit on size 0 needles, and I use my left pointer finger to push the needle. Therefore, I have enough of a hole in my finger to bleed. I’d jump every time I hit that spot with that needle.

I love the pattern. The color, not so much. My timing was impeccable because my next Rockin’ Sock Club shipment arrived today. I’m not going to post a spoiler because a bunch of people already have. How do I know that? I looked a couple days ago. I’m not very patient. Can you believe my flowers? It’s the end of October in Minnesota!!!
Now I get to brag about the accomplishments of someone else. One of the women in our quilting group is the very famous Heather Mulder Peterson, of Anka’s Treasures. If you’re not a quilter, that name won’t mean much to you, but if you are a quilter, you probably own some of her quilt books and patterns. One of her books and one of her single patterns are the top sellers in the country.

You will be glad to hear that Heather has two new books and two single patterns out. You wanna see?

and…..

The photos are kind of small because I stole borrowed them from Fat Quarter Shop. Order lots of stuff from Kimberly. She has awesome stuff and ships quickly. Heathers books and patterns are on page 2 & 3 of the What’s New section.

I’ve known Heather for more than 10 years, and it’s been so amazing to me to watch her style (and she has lots of it) grow and evolve. She hates attention, so she’s going to shoot me for this. And yes, she reads the blog. Hey Heather, I have two words for you. Free. Advertising.

I need to go. I have to make this apron today. Because I’m such a Debby Domestic. I’m going to wear it with pearls!

Oh, one more thing. I was talking to Lexi today. (I do every day) and I made a comment that she said had to go on the blog. I said, “I hope one of the kids is bratty after school today. My car needs to be vacuumed.” That’s a job that I hate and use as a consequence. I’ll let you know if it happens!

Hey Lexi, who do you think will be running the vacuum today?

There are Flowers Growing in My Crack….

…and other miscellaneous Monday madness.

Hi, it’s Maria

What did you think I meant by that title? Last summer, the petunias showed up in the crack in the patio. They came back this summer. Then, this fall, the marigolds showed up. How do they get there???

What did we do this weekend? Lots of cooking. I made these Cranberry Orange cakes with an orange butter sauce. I’m not a huge cake fan, but these were wonderful.

I always thought I disliked cranberries because of the icky cranberry sauce that came out of the can, in the shape of the can. Nasty!  I found out that I love anything with fresh cranberries. Aren’t these cute?

I also made risotto for the first time. The consistency was right but I’m looking for another flavor. This recipe had sundried tomatoes in it. I had risotto at Pazzaluna in St Paul last year and it was the ultimate comfort food. It had sage in it. I’ll definitely be trying more recipes.

Saturday night we had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, Jello (Honey is 100% Norwegian) and green beans. Yum!

Another kid learned how to knit this weekend.

She had to go to bed Saturday night, but Lexi and I knit and watched movies until 3:00 AM. I started this:

I’m not telling you what it is yet, but it will be felted.

Yesterday, Lexi (a bit tearfully) headed back to college. I’ll miss my knitting pal and friend. Thank goodness for phones! Before she left, Lexi got to see this:

Georgie smelled like wet puppy for several hours, and guess where she chose to nap? Right next to me while I watched Nascar.  I worked on my Summer of Lace sock from Rockin Sock club.

Today……..I was just lazy. My house is messy, and I chose not to care. Tomorrow I will care. The house was quiet today except for the jackhammer in the basement. No, I didn’t have a hangover. We’re trying to fix a water issue in our basement. And no, we didn’t find the dead thing in the fireplace or ceiling tile, but thanks for asking.

Here’s what our day looked like today. Green, green, green grass!

You can’t begrudge us the green grass. There will be snow on it soon. Remember, we live in Minnesota!

Hey Lexi, what did you do at Loops tonight?

Crazy One, Two, and Four

Hi, it’s Maria.

Tonight we had Crazy One (me), Crazy Two (Lexi), and Crazy Four (Gio) knitting. Crazy Three knits too, but she just returned from a Youth Convention and looks like a zombie.

So, having commenced with the group knitting photo, lets get back to the pile of projects from the last post. I’m working on several things. Of course, there’s my Damask Kauni. It’s gotten several inches longer.

Then there are two pairs of socks. I finished my Waterfall Socks from the Woolgirl sock club. They were really fun to make. I don’t do socks on size 3 needles very often.

Next up are my Flower Power socks from the Socks that Rock club. I just found out that the November shipment is going out next week and I’m not done with the second sock. I finished the first three shipments on time, so I have to get these done. These are on size zero needles.

Here’s a really scary photo of a vest I started for Honey.

It’s from the Men in Knits book. More details later. I haven’t decided if I like it or not. The yarn is Mirasol Hacho, a 100% merino wool hand dye. The colorway is Northern Lights. The yarn is touted as a do good yarn, the proceeds of which provide an education for the children of the farmers. (OK, so I’m a cynic!) Anyway, I love the yarn, but I’m not sure about the colorway.

Along with the knitting, a nasty basement storage room was cleaned. 46o pounds of junk were added to a landfill. We’re also on the hunt for whatever died in the wall or ceiling of the basement. The smell is nasty!!!

OK, Lexi. It’s your turn.

Hey Lexi here,

So I’m going back the the real world tomorrow. One last time to raid the free yarn store (aka mom’s stash).

Here is the latest in the WIP stack.

See, when I don’t have classes or homework to divert my attention, I can get so much more done. It is a blanket from Kaffe Fasset’s lastest book Kaffe Knits Again. The pattern is called Brocade Throw. I’m using an odd assortment of Rowan yarns. Of course, the Hanson women can’t leave well enough alone and just use the pattern as is. We must modify it. For some reason, this pattern called for a garter stitch border. I, however, decided that the yarn was far too pretty for that, so I skipped the border and decided I would come back to it later. I also decided to back it in velvet or some other yummy fabric.

Mom, are you sure I can’t go to school here?