Cuff-tastic!

 

I'm nearly done with the cuff of my first 'real' pair of socks.* Looks nice, doesn't it? I'm at 5.5 inches. The pattern calls for 6.5 inches, but these are men's socks, so do I have to make the cuff as long for me?

Let's take a look at some sock patterns in my Ravelry queue...Charade calls for a cuff 7-8 inches long,  Thuja and Rivercat recommend 7 inches, and Mr. Pitt's Socks call for 9. It turns out that maybe the cuff length in this pattern might be a bit short to start off with, so maybe I shouldn't

I was also a bit worried that I was running out of yarn. I know that's crazy but I weighed the ball already on the postal scale here at work and it measures up to be 3.3 ounces remaining in the ball. I looked up what the original skein weight and it was 3.53 ounces. So, not running out of yarn!

*Okay, so I have made a pair of socks, in 2008, in worsted weight yarn, as preparation for Sock Wars. But I don't seem to have a post about it. And for some reason I don't consider them real socks.  I do have one about Sock Wars though, right here! The socks I made are really bright and a bit baggy. They are complete, I wear them when it's cold, so they're socks!

From dirt to skirts

I went shopping with a friend yesterday for all manner of things - garden and housewars and clothes and yarn. The last one was a bit of a falter in terms of my shopping list. We went to Michael's to get supplies for her new craft project, and I wanted to get two more skeins of Naturally Caron Spa, an acrylic/bamboo blend, for a lovely scarf I'm making. Well, Michael's didn't have that yarn but they did have some yarn priced at $.99 a skein, and I sort of fell into the bin and cleaned out most of their remaining stock. 6 skeins of black and 6 skeins of raspberry/maroon in patons Lacette, and 4 skeins of Patons Stretch Socks in Licorice. Maybe they're not carrying Patons anymore? I've been wanting to get some laceweight yarns and also some sock yarn for this pattern I found on Ravelry, and I think I did well even though I hadn't planned on buying it.

I'm trying very hard to make lists for shopping, make estimates of how much I think things will cost, and stick to that.

Also shopped at Ikea and Home Depot, and bought 3 skirts. Two of the skirts were ones my friend bought and didn't want, but they are perfect for me. I seem to be fitting smaller sizes lately, but when I check the scale I haven't lost any weight. Maybe I'm finally starting to see my body differently and buy clothes that actually FIT my body, not just float over it. Hmm.

I'm trying to be productive today, I really am. It's a Saturday morning and what am I doing? Going to have some bloodwork done that I was supposed to do before my physical in March. I've been either sick, busy, or forgotten until now, since I have to fast the night before and I tend to be a night owl. Just routine checkup stuff, like cholesterol. Then it's off to COmcast to return the cable box and modem. I switched to RCN two weeks ago and I've gotten 3 prerecorded phone messages about returning my box. Sheeh! I'm going already!

On the craft front, I've now cast on three times for the Lace Ribbon Scarf, and I thnk I've got it. The first time was when I was still working on the baby gifts, and I wanted to have a new project to carry around. Part of the cast on got stretched out, and it still bothered me 4 rows in so I ripped it out last night. Cast on again, went along merrily, and realized that my cast on was waaay too tight. RIP. Now I have 8 rows, can see the pattern emerging, and the yarn is even getting soft. Amazing! I'm using Plymouth Yarn's Sockotta, which I bought a year ago for socks, I think. Now that I've started this scarf I have found a sock pattern I want to try this year, but it needs a self-patterning yarn that makes a clearer stripe pattern so the stitches will show up better. Broadripple by Rob Matyska

I thought that I would spend this entire week cross stitching, since I felt I needed a break from knitting after cranking out baby gifts one after the other. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed making them. I would think about the parent(s) and baby to be and try put my love into the piece. It all turned out beautifully and is posted on my Ravelry, and I've put the finished pictues below. I did end up working on a hibernating cross stich, the 18th Century Band Sampler (or Long Dog Mystery Sampler). I really like the colors in this piece, and someday I'll get this one finished and framed. I'll post a picture this weekend.