Let the knitting begin...

I have finished the 2 socks on 2 circs top down socks... Took about a week... Not too shabby ;-)

We FINALLY got the cast on for the toe up socks... It only took me about 4 hours to get the hang of how to do it... (This includes nap time due to a cold...) I have cast on and done my increase to the foot width... I will post a picture of my progress tomorrow...

Man, somehow I ended up with another cold... This bites! Yuck...

WHEE! My packages arrived today :-)

I am so excited!!!!

I have now "officially" entered the knitting olympics! (No ADD tendancies of procrastination on this one! LOL!) I was playing catch-up with my blog reading and was over at The Knitting Fiend's Blog and looking at the page. Under Project teams, I found my Olympic match made in heaven... SOCK TEAM USA!!! Since my current passion runs with socks, this is perfect! I have mentioned my sock knitting goals were 1) 2 socks on 2 circs cuff down 2) 2 socks on 2 circs toe up and 3) design my own sock pattern. I am about 3/4 of the way through goal number 1, I thought the 2 socks on 2 circs toe up would be a GREAT project for the Olympics. I will be stretching myself to learn a new technique or three and I will be doing the project I love most, which is making socks!

Last week (to fulfill goal #2) I ordered Queen Kahuna's "Crazy Toes and Heels" book to learn the toe-up method and I decided to try some sock yarn from Knit Picks. For $2.99/50g ball, I figured I have nothing to lose on the yarn... I just wanted something inexpensive to try these new projects on. I have the Lorna's laces to use once I have mastered the new technique... I chose the Parade yarn in Blues Parade, Plum Parade and Gumball Parade and 2 balls of the Storm Simple Stripes yarn. It's 75% Superwash Wool and 25% nylon. The Parade yarn knits up to 6 stitches per inch on size 3-5 needles! Yeah! Fast socks!!! The Simple Stripes knits up 7-8 stitches on size 1 - 3 needles (more fingering yarn...) This is what the Postal Delivery Person had waiting for me today when I came home from work :-) I am SO HAPPY!!! Now, I can take all of the goodies on my business trip to San Jose (on the Left Coast) next week...

Congrats to Scout for her National Exposure!!! I know someone famous now :-) (Well, there is this race car driver who knows me by sight, but that doesn't really count... We see each other and chat once a year...)

Stitch and Bitch was really fun last night! We had 28 people at the Flying Star!!! I sat with Scout for a bit and helped her with 1 sock on 2 circular needles. Scout, I have a really good book called Sensational Knitted Socks that goes into the technique. Let me know if you want me to bring it to Village Wools when I stop up there on Saturday afternoon! I worked a bit on my current sock project and probably did more bitching than stitching last night :-) I am gonna miss my girls when I am out of town next week... I REALLY look forward to our weekly gatherings... It is great to unwind with an excellent bunch of women while enjoying one of my favorite hobbies and an adult beverage or two! Scout showed us this really cool twisted drop stitch I will have to try sometime... We also had quite the lively conversation about the men's equivelent to Valentine's Day...

Work has been absolutely brutal... Let's just say we had the Queen Mother of all Data Pulls due yesterday, I present the white paper tomorrow and I have 2 more days to get all of my stuff together for this trip next week... Today was the first day I was able to get out by 5pm...

Today's saying du jour: Cats - the only self-cleaning appliance!

Stupor Bowl X-tra Large knit along...

Scout asked for folks to play in a Super Bowl knitting challenge. This here is my picture of the before... When we came home from the party, I started working on the socks again. Here they are as I am starting the heel flap...









Here is my progress through the game. After the game ended, I had finished the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up the gussett stitches and started the gussett decreases. I have a ways to go on the decreases before the straight foot part.

The party was great! We really had an excellent time! Hubby and I stayed at the Embassy Suites last night. It was a very romantic evening... We had a nice breakfast this morning, then went and did a bit of shopping (pet food, Stupor Bowl Food...)

Good game! Congrats to the Steelers! I give the game a B+, the commercials were a C-...