Summer of One Sock -- The Endless Toe

Ok, I've finished the Tonks Monkey Sock. Twice. And ripped it out. Twice. The toe was too long. Twice. And it's been four rows too long. Twice.
How does that happen? I swear, if it's too long this time, it's going into hibernation. The good news is that my sister won't be back until the weekend, and the toe is only 18 rows. But man, I am getting out of the mood. And silly me, I cast on the second sock before she tried the first sock on again. So, when the sock was too long, I had to take the second sock--all four rows of it--off the needles to finish the first sock. Poor planning. Especially since, now that I think about it, I could have just knit the second sock, finished it, then ripped out the toe of the first. Ack!

More Gnuman Gnome-y action

I've posted several entries at the Knitting Gnome Swap blog about our mostly non-knitterly adventures with Gnuman. Feel free to jump on over, since I'm unlikely to post more here, unless I cut and paste from that blog, which is not particularly original, but still....hmmmmm.

In the meantime, check out Gnuman and the treats he brought with him!



Isn't Kelli the coolest!

And, Gnuman also had the good fortune to arrive on the same day as my Yarn Pirate Booty Club package! Look at him hold that yarn!



And here he is with an almost finished Nymphadora Tonks Monkey Sock:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--NO SPOILERS

I finished! It was immensely satisfying, and I'm going to re-read it, probably starting tonight, although I need to give Gnuman the Gnome his turn (to read about Gnuman's recent adventures with me, go here and here). But I'm not saying anything else, because I assiduously (and successfully) avoided any possible spoilers, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anybody.

I also got out to the movies last night and saw Hairspray. It's infectious and impossible to resist the music! It's the first movie I've been to in many years where people clapped at the end. I'm a long-time devotee of the John Waters original, and did see Hairspray on Broadway with the original cast. I must say, though, that I did not like John Travolta's performance: the accent was annoying and distracting, his affect was cartoonish, but boy, he can still dance!

Between Harry Potter and Hairspray, there was no knitting yesterday. My sister did, however, try on the Tonks Monkey Sock, and it's too long, so I'll have to rip out the toe and the last round of pattern repeats and re-knit. It won't be too hard, though.

SOS - Summer of One Sock?

I bet you thought SOS stood for Summer of Socks. For me, so far, it is Summer of One Sock. Here it is:

Well, I apparently didn't upload the picture to flickr, and I'm not at home, so you can't see it, but I finished the first Nymphadora Tonks Monkey sock, just two days before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My sister is coming out to visit this afternoon, so she'll try it on, and then I'll cast on for the second sock. I figure I can finish it before the end of the summer...hopefully.

I have several other projects on the needles. I'm two rows away from finishing the baby sweater from Knitting at Knoon's Wee-one's Welcome Set. I'll have to take a picture of that, too.

But now, it's time for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That's the nice thing about living in a small town: when you pass your mailman who's been your mailman for 30+ years, he'll go back to the truck and give you the book.

Oh, and if anyone's looking for me on Ravelry, I'm Jennifersm3. Hope to see you there!

Harry Potter all around

I'm making progress on the Tonks Monkey socks. I have about an inch or so to go before I decrease for the toe. I did have to spill to my sister that I was making them for her (I hadn't mentioned it because I think she is just about my only regular reader) because I was not able to finish even the first sock in time for today's opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Which, in accordance with our tradition (going back to 2001), we saw today. But I was able to give her a set of Hogwarts House stitch markers, custom-made for us by Shelby to tide her over. And now that she knows, I can break out my own set!

Oh, and I finished Half-Blood Prince last week, so I'm all set for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm very excited, especially because the movie Order of the Phoenix was just not that good. Of course we (my sister and me) liked it, and the sets and effects are excellent, but we didn't like the way they modified the story for the big screen. (Not to worry, no spoilers here). I mean, they hardly mention the Order of the Phoenix, and if you hadn't read the book, you wouldn't have a clue. And it's the title of the movie!

And back to knitting (because I'm all over the place these days), I finished the body on the Wee-one baby sweater. Now, I just have the sleeves to go, and fortunately, they can be knit in the round. It's been a lot of fun to make so far, it's just so small. I forget how small newborns can be. Ironic, because by triplets were 4-4.5 lbs. at birth, and man, they were really small. We have pictures of us holding Baby J, who dropped below 4 lbs. after birth, and he literally fit in the palms of our hands. By comparison, my daughter was 8 lbs. 5 oz.

And big news: I got into Ravelry! Hot damn! Off I go to enter something!

Knitting and Adventure

So, Summer of Socks (aka "SOS") has begun, but I have not started my socks. I'd really like to finish the two pair I have on the needles (the Tonks Monkey socks and the Scarlet Fleece with the garter stitch toe problem), but the rules require that the socks can't be started before 5 a.m. EDT June 21, and obviously, I started these before then. But I have a bunch of other stuff on the needles (but no pictures due to a full memory card and my inability to buy a new one since CompactFlash has apparently been phased out) that makes me reluctant to cast on one more project:

1. Morehouse Farm Huckleberry sweater. I have one sleeve left to do, but it's starting to be too hot to knit it. I wanted it for our holiday photos (I was going to make one for each child) but it will be too hot to wear on the date of the photos. It's really cute, easy and fun--nothing like knitting in the round, a three-needle bind off for the shoulders, and picking up sleeves and knitting in the round. No seaming!

2. I've picked up the secret project and have made more progress--I'm more than halfway done!

3. I'm going to be an aunt! To a darling baby girl! So I cast on for a baby sweater--Knitting at Knoon's Wee-one Welcome Set--in Cider Moon Titania. It's great to work with and the pattern is so much fun, and well-written! The sweater is knit from the top down, and you can pick up and knit the sleeves on dpns. I'm not even done, and I'm definitely making this again. I'm up to knitting the garter trim on the body, and then will have to knit the sleeves and button bands.

4. I located my Perchance to Knit Irises socks that I need to rip down to the ribbing. I only knit about four rows of pattern, but I just hate the Pony dpns and I have to switch to my Knit Picks dpns. But again, these won't qualify for SOS.

5. That Decadent Fibers blanket I had trouble with at the beginning of the year. It would be a good gift for my niece.

That having been said, I am somewhat tempted to cast on another pair of socks. I just received my next installment from the Socks That Rock Sock Club. What hot colors! And I scored Duet Sock Yarn in Army Girl from The Yarn Grove (and Jane is just lovely to deal with). I bought two skeins in case I wanted to make another Wee-one sweater, but I'm actually thinking of treating myself to a pair of Army Girl socks. The pattern is interesting, too: toe up with an after-thought heel. Both techniques would be new to me.

And of course, I've been sidetracked. Boys are no longer napping. The days are really long, and they require a lot of activity. We have camp three mornings a week, and come July, 4 afternoons a week. We have triplet swim lessons two days a week. The pool opened, so we have some "swimming" (wading in the baby pool and scaring the daylights out of all of us in the pool with them). Baby Girl locked herself in the hall bathroom while I was in the shower, and my husband had to break the door down.

Oh, and on the Harry Potter front: no progress on the Tonks Monkey socks since the photos were posted, but I'm now 1/4 of the way through Order of the Phoenix. I just might be able to finish Half-Blood Prince by the time the last book is released.

Nymphadora Tonks Monkey Sock in progress

It's a dark and gloomy day. It's cold and rainy, or almost rainy. Today was the fourth day in a row I've been to the doctor's office (yes, Baby Girl has caught the bug, too), though on the plus side, the boys had a good report from the pulmonologist. I've been up for two nights dosing sick kids, not having slept more than three hours straight. Yet, I am using up naptime to take poor quality pictures of my Nymphadora Tonks Monkey Sock in progress. Unfortunately, the colors aren't as vibrant as they are in person, due, most likely, to poor lighting and poor photography skills, not necessarily in that order. I'm sure I'll take pictures outside on a sunny day when they're done. Besides, I finished my May Socktopia socks in May, and still have to photograph those, too (and maybe take the toes out and make them longer, but that's for another post).

Without further ado, here are the pictures:





Off to a little knit, and hopefully, a big nap.