Finally Finished a Sockdown

I'm very excited that I finally finished a Sockdown challenge on Ravelry's Sock Knitters Anonymous forum! I started January's beaded mystery socks, but never got them done. So here is my contribution:

The pattern is Move Your Fanny by Gigi Silva and the yarn is Paton's Stretch. The pattern has been modified somewhat--I needed the cuff to be a minimum of 3", so I had to make it longer than the "recipe". I think they will make nice summer socks, or Wii Fit socks with the ribbed bottom.

The most interesting thing is the heel and toe. They are done in one piece, so you don't do gusset decreases on the heel, or traditional toe decreases on the toes.

The yarn I am not thrilled with--it is very hard to Kitchener stitch with stretch yarn, and I don't think I'll use it again.

Otherwise not much is going on here. I am casting on another pair of socks (March Sockdown). I am trying to come up with yarn to make Emily a sweater in time for Easter. This is not surprising. I am a last minute Easter sweater maker. Many an Easter morning has found me sewing the last sleeve or button on.

Kids are good. Jobs are good. Husband is good. Cars are not so good. Pets are good. Life is pretty good.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I had a little fun today and called Jimmy the Groundhog's "Groundhog Hotline" in Sun Prairie, WI. I remember in high school I had a French teacher that was from Sun Prairie, and proclaimed Jimmy was the only "real" groundhog.

It turns out today it didn't matter, because both Jimmy and Phil in Punxsutawney saw their shadows, so it's 6 more weeks of winter.

Big surprise.

We had my parents over for the Super Bowl last night. It was nice. I would have liked my brother over, but he was busy. There was (and still is) a ton of food. It probably wasn't the smartest thing for Brian and I to do the day before our physicals, but the Super Bowl comes but once a year.

And was I the only one who thought the car commercials were a perfectly good waste of 3 million dollars? I think my favorites were the "Mean" Troy Polamalu Coke commercial, the Monster.com ad with the guy sitting under the other end of the moose, and the Pepsi ads. (MacGruber and the "I'm good" Pepsi Max commercial). And we sat with our 3-D glasses on to watch the Monsters vs Aliens movie trailer (which didn't look like a bad movie) but we were more impressed by the 3-D in the Sobe commercial after it! You can watch them all at Hulu.com.

Oh and the game was surprisingly good too.

I didn't knit at all during the game. I am working on something lace and didn't trust myself to knit during the game. I am going to start a scarf for Brian today that is a little more basic, and that I can take with me to the doctor's office today. I gained 2 lbs from yesterday morning, which is entirely not fair. I didn't even eat that much! (I really didn't. I just didn't eat anything good for me...).

I did finish my hat I was working on. It's the Palindrome pattern and it's made from Paton's SWS, which is amazingly soft.
I'm not a big hat person, and I'm even wearing this one.

And Emily wanted me to take a picture of her this morning. I don't think Saffy appreciated it, but here's the picture:

Interesting Inauguration Day

I spent the Inauguration at my parent's house. My mother had Fox News on (of course. There is no other news network to watch.) She kept trying to bait me into an argument, and I refused and just kept knitting my hat. The whole thing made her agitated, but she just kept watching because "It's her president too" and she's "not going to talk about him the way people talked about Bush" while she made disparaging comments and observations about him, the crowd, etc.

Anyway, Fox News had some interesting things to say. Like how Obama's speech was full of "fear-mongering that got him elected". They gushed about how wonderful and graceful and amazing the Bush's are. They also said because John Roberts screwed up the swearing-in, and it's documented in the Constitution what he is supposed to say, maybe Obama isn't officially president.

Seriously.

Anyway, did you catch The Daily Show last night? Did you catch the "Moment of Zen"? I couldn't find a clip of it, but this pretty well sums it up:

The Year is One.

A Cold Few Days

Brrr...it's been cold here in Wisconsin-land. The kids were off of school for 2 days because of cold (unheard of in my lifetime...when I was a kid...ahh, never mind!). I think they enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed the fact that the Appleton School District canceled school Thursday night for Friday when they knew it would be too cold. It was nice to have a little notice. I am not one to complain about canceling because of cold. I think when it's -40 below with the windchill, keeping little ones inside is a great idea.

I've been busy knitting a lace project, but I can't show it to you here. A) It's a gift and B) I screwed it up royally yesterday and I don't want to look at it right now.

I ordered myself a birthday presents from Sonny and Shear. Some more yummy sock yarn!
I bought it for 40% off, which makes it even more yummy. Not that I need more sock yarn, but it's nice to splurge. I wouldn't have gotten it if it wasn't on sale.

I also finished Nicholas' camouflage fleece tie blanket.
It's so warm, now Brian wants one. I told him I'd need at least 5 yards of fabric to cover how tall he is, so when he's set to "pony up the dough", I'll make him one.

We also had Nicholas' belated birthday party at The 10th Frame. The staff was excellent and the kids had a great time. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to have been told they were having another party that day. I would have changed what day we had it--the kids had to eat on the lanes, and stand around a tiny table. "They just have to be careful". They are 5 and 6 year olds. It was quite a mess.

Here's Emily getting ready to bowl:
We're going to make dinner and have a Lego party with the family tonight while we watch football. Then I might decide if I can salvage my knitting or if I will be frogging it or setting it aside for a bit.

Yarn Rich

Ooo...my Knit Picks order came today. I got a gift certificate to Knit Picks for Christmas and of course I couldn't wait to spend it!! So I ordered this yarn (Knit Picks Gloss, laceweight, in Port) for a gift I am making:
and this yarn (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted in Coal) for a scarf I am making Brian:
I also finally wound this yarn to start the January SKA Mystery beaded sock:
I was already to the second row of beads when I had either a child or a cat rip out my knitting (Neither the children nor the cats are 'fessing up), and when I put it back on the needle of course the beads were off kilter. So I ripped the whole thing out! The bad part about knitting socks 2-at-a time? When one is wacko, the other suffers. So I am casting on for that one again tonight.

I decided the one thing I desperately need is straight knitting needles. I have bazillion--that don't match. My smaller sizes are all over the house, as they are used to poke in the doorknob and unlock doors. I have 5 size 8 needles...none of which match. I am making a scarf that calls for size 8's, and I am hoping I can make gauge with 9's, because I have both of those the same.

The kids went back to school today. Nicholas found out his teacher is gone for at least a week because she had to have knee surgery. Brian picked the kids up and said they were just falling down like dominoes on the sidewalk. It was glare ice and the sidewalks near school (not school property--the homes around school) were not salted. Nicholas fell and hit his head. The sidewalks and parking lots are so dangerous right now.

I did get the girls room cleaned and organized and their Christmas presents put away. The upstairs is officially cleaned--yay! It's back to (paid) work for me tomorrow, so at least I accomplished something.

For MW, TD and BK

From Urbandictionary.com:

Asshat: One who has their head up their ass, thus wearing their ass as a hat. Asshat

or

Asshat: A person, of either gender, whose behavior displays such ignorance/obnoxiousness that you would like to make them wear their own ass as a hat.

Just had to share...

Emily got a snow globe for Christmas that plays "Fur Elise". She asked me what that song was and I immediately began singing the McDonald's Commercial, "I will have a big chocolate shake, and cheeseburger, and also whoops! and also fries. And I will eat...my fries myself...and not give any...to my dumb brother..."

I found it on You Tube and all Emily wants to do is listen to it. She's at the piano now pretending to play it: