Rebel Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone (Tuesday the 17th). One last year in my thirties. I know some people can't wait for me to join the 40 club, but I am going to not rush it and enjoy whatever is in store for me during this year.

Since I had to work on my birthday (didn't make any sense to take it off since it fell in the middle of my work week), Manny and I went back to one of our favorite places last Sunday. We headed back out to Greenport, LI for the afternoon. The day was cloudy but it gave us some relief in the heat department which was really nice. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Claudio's again and even indulged in an ice cream desert prior to lunch since we had to wait 20 minutes for a table at the restaurant.

On our drive back home we took a bit of a scenic route. We pulled over at one of the small town beaches to enjoy the ocean for a few minutes. Manny and I were trying to decide if the water was warm or cold. He voted for cold and I voted for warm. I couldn't resist it and had to find out...

Manny snapped this photo of me and titled it "Rebel". You can see in the photo there is a designated swimming area and I am outside the zone. What can I say? I was living on the edge that day. LOL BTW, I was right. The water was warm and I wished I could have taken a dip.

I have been knitting and have made great progress. I restarted my knee high socks and it took me 2 days to get back to where I was before frogging. Now today I have an almost completed sock.

This is what it looks like on me...


...and this is what it looks like off...

It's unbelievably long. As I'm knitting I can't help but think this looks like a long sock for a snake. It's amazing how something so off looking fits just right. Anyhoo, as of this writing I have completed the cuff and just need to do the sew bind-off. Hmmm, I wonder where my sis stands with hers? ;-)
Oh, and I may have picked out another stashed sock yarn and matched it to a pattern already.

A Foot and a Half

Yesterday when I took pictures of my "knitting in progress" items, my Buttercup Socks looked like this...

I had a foot and a half done on them. Today they look like this...

A pair of completed socks!

I must say that I absolutely love this yarn and the color. Back before I got laid off from my job I had enrolled myself into the Sundara Sock Yarn club. Unfortunately, two shipments into the club I had to drop out because of no longer having the money for it. However, I did get some awesome skeins of yarn before I stopped the shipments.

This one is called "Tuscan Rose Over Lemon". It reminds me of a beautiful sunset and I thought it was a perfect match to the Buttercup Pattern. I knitted these socks as is with no modifications at all. I started them on July 29, 2010 and finished them today, August 14, 2010.

Now that Buttercup is off the needles, I can return my focus to this sock...

This is the Creatively Dyed yarn from my last post in which I said it was going to become a pair of knee highs. It's going to be a basic 2x2 Rib sock. My sis and I are actually knitting these together with the same yarn (different colorways) to wear up at Rhinebeck this year.

It will be interesting to see who finishes theirs first. Her and I have opposite days off from work so we always know where each other is and where we have to get before heading back to work ourselves. Right now she's ahead. I believe she is at 5" (or very close to it) on the leg of sock #1.

As you can see in the above picture, I am only at the ankle, but I will actually be starting over because I'm not happy with the "snugness" of the foot. I used size 1 needles and realized I should have used 1.5's on the foot like I did on my Mustang Sally 2x2 Rib socks. But alas, I am not worried about sis getting too far ahead of me. I completed what's in the picture in 2 days. So I am confident I can catch up to her and take the lead soon. :-) Lots of love to my sis!!!

RPM'ing

For an early birthday present my parents bought me some Fannie's Fingering yarn. I actually picked it out at the yarn shop when I was visiting Myrtle Beach. My mom was pretty sneaky. She was in front of me at the cash register and asked to look at the yarn I was holding. I was talking with my sis and next thing I knew my mom turned back around with a bag and wished me Happy Birthday. I was indeed surprised.

I loved this yarn so much I couldn't wait to knit with it. I knew that I would probably finish my Angee Socks while on vacation so I came prepared with a couple of sock patterns. I think I have learned about finding the right pattern for your chosen sock yarn. I initially started the Buttercup sock but soon realized I didn't like the yarn for the pattern. The colors in the yarn were obstructing the ability to see the pattern. So I ripped and settled on knitting a pair of RPM's.

It didn't take me long to knit these up. I enjoyed knitting the pattern more than I thought I would. I love the finished product.

Pattern: RPM
Yarn: Fannie's Fingering (Colorway: Falls Flowers)
Started: July 11, 2010
Finished: July 29, 2010
Mods: Completed an extra set of the Spiral Pattern to make the leg longer.

I have given myself a little challenge in preparation of attending Rhinebeck this October. I want to knit up all or most of my sock yarn by the time of the festival. At first I didn't really think it was going to be possible. Then, I pulled out all of my sock yarn stash and realized I only have yarn to make 12 pairs of socks. Plus I currently have another sock on the needles. That really isn't bad at all I think.

The Creatively Dyed yarn (the orange yarn in the upper left corner) has already been balled in preparation of starting a pair of knee highs. So that will leave 11 pairs of socks to knit. We'll see just how much I can knit between now and Oct 15th.