Friday, September 25, 2009

One Down, One To Go

The start of the 2009-2010 Knit Purl Sock Club was this month. I had used my California address and when I went to visit the dear husband last week my September sock club was waiting for me. I already knew it was there and had ask Jim what the needle gauge was so I could bring the right size needles to begin. Needless to say I started sock one and I got quite a bit done on the plane home to Arlington while finishing up listening to the last Harry Potter book. As of today I have one sock complete.
This sock pattern was designed by Kristin Spurkland and is called Eikrem Sock. The yarn is one skein of Chameleon Colorworks Twinkle Toes and the color is Socktail. This yarn is a blend of 50% superwash merino wool and 50% Tencel. The tencel makes is somewhat splity but I like the sheen it gives the yarn. Now I need to cast on the next sock to avoid the "second sock syndrome".

Monday, September 14, 2009

To Market, To Market



Here's finally a picture of the market bag I made during the Labor Day soccer tournament. The pattern came from www.quicklyunravel.blogspot.com The pattern was posted on her blog on June 1, 2007. I made it out of some leftover Tahki Cotton Classic . I plan on making the handles longer on the next one so it can fit over my shoulder. Now I just need to remember to put it in my car so I can use it the next time I go to the store!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Mia


I had offered to sew the league patches on the boy's soccer jerseys for those that did not have the time or ability to do so. Mia decided she liked laying on the bags with the jerseys. I hope none of the boys are allergic to cats!!

Monday, September 7, 2009

My Labor Day Weekend

Besides all the knitting I am doing these days the other thing that fills my time is soccer. Soccer practice, soccer games and soccer tournaments.

This weekend was the Plano Labor Day Soccer Tournament. No tournament is complete without early morning games. We are talking 7:30 a.m. Subtract from that the 45 minutes the coach wants you to be there before the game and another hour it takes to get to the game and we're talking leaving the house at 5:45 a.m. That is just WAY TOO EARLY. I did check into getting a hotel because we also had 3:00 games both days but being a holiday weekend there was not much available. I was given the option of king size beds (no I do not want to sleep with my child) or smoking rooms. So we drove back and forth. I will say I saw some new parts of highway 121 and 161 that I have never seen before. Thank goodness for toll tags.

Saturday's games were at Pizza Hut Park. The facility is great but they really need to have covered seating for the spectators. Especially since they charged $7.00 to park. The morning game, which we won, was great but the afternoon game was hot and to top if off the boys had to play on Astroturf. Talk about adding another 10 degrees heat. We tied that game. Sunday morning we played at Russell Creek Park. They have covered seating!! This game we lost but still qualified for the quarter finals at.......Highpoint Park. They're fields needed some TLC and water. And you definitely did not want to use the ladies facilities. The field we played on was smaller then our normal field and fast. This game we lost which ended our tournament play. While I am sad the boys didn't get to play in the semi-finals and finals I was very happy to be able to sleep in today.




This is a pictures of all twenty-two of the boys. I guess I really should refer to them as young men. My child is top left.



This is just an awesome picture of the child in action. Watch that elbow!! One of the dads on the team takes pictures throughout the games and then shares them on Shutterfly. Thank you Keith.

Of course I did get some knitting done waiting for games to start and at half time. I get to involved watching the action to knit during the games. I finished a market bag which I will post when I take a picture of it.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Some More FO's


I've been finishing a few small things lately. This is called Bird's Nest Smoke Ring by Shui Kuen Kozinski. It is a free download from elann.com. If you remember a few posts back I wasn't really happy how my Andamento Socks were turning out so I frogged them. This is what the yarn became. I was very happy how it turned out. We just need a little more nip in the air I can start wearing it.




This is the July installment from my Knit Purl sock club. The name of the pattern is called Tessuto by Sara Morris and the yarn color is Saturday Market dyed by Knitted Wit. This was my first pair of toe up socks on two circular needles and I enjoyed making them. The pattern called for the Turkish cast on which was easy to do and made for a seamless toe. I did have some issues with the short row heel. Jean talked me through it over the phone (I was in California and she was in Texas at the time) but she also said she learned a new Japanese method of short row heel that she couldn't really explain over the phone so I hope to meet with her soon and learn it.
The second year for the Knit Purl sock club will be starting in September. I think I did pretty well this year and finished (used) four out of the six yarns. Two of the yarns are already packed and I'll wait to do those in California. I'm looking forward to another year of wonderful sock yarn and original patterns from them. And the tussie is always a fun treat. My goal this year is to try and finish each pair before the next one shows up. We shall see!!