I’m just knitting really, really slowly.  And I haven’t been sharing because I haven’t been able to take pictures due to Heathen #1 breaking my digital camera a couple of months ago.  I got luck for a little while as my dh went on the road and left his work camera here, but the next time he came home, he had to go and remember to take it with him. 

Anyhow, I finally got a new camera which means that I can once again take pictures and bore thrill you with my knitting exploits.  Lucky you!

First up!  One must always have a pair of socks on the needles at all times.  So:

Show-off Stranded socks made Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in Spring Frost.  These are turning out so pretty.

And, for some God forsaken reason, I have decided to torture myself endlessly challenge myself by attempting a lace project.  Specifically, Juno Regina from the Fall 2007 Knitty.  Um, yeah.  Lace is hard.  It is tedious.  It is kicking my ass.  It require a level of concentration that is hard to find in a house full of five children.  I started it on April 21.  Here is my progress:

That’s about three inches, folks.  Pitiful.  In my own defense, I did rip it out about six times and switch needles about three.  But it is still going to take me until 2009 to finish, LOL!

One fell off and turned a different color!  Wait.  That’s not right, is it?  Okay, well…something happened.  Because I knit my second Monkey sock with the same skein of yarn that I knit the first (Juliette sock yarn in Limeade & Violet from Yarn Love) but it came out completely different. 

As you can see, the first one (top) was mostly green with little splashes of purple and blue.  The second one is mostly sky blue with quite a bit of purple and a little green.  I made these as a gift for my 16 year old daughter, but now I’m not too sure.  Do they look like two different socks to you?

I’ve started two new projects, but the monkey upstairs is calling me to get him up from his nap right now, so details will have to be discussed later.  I’m sure that you will all be waiting with bated (but hopefully not baited….ewwww)  breath.

One monkey to go.  The first Monkey Sock est fini! 

I screwed up the first couple of stitches of the kitchener because my five little hellions monkeys just couldn’t be persuaded to give me a couple of minutes of peace and quiet in oreder to complete my first kitchener in the past year.  Do matter how much a begged and cried nicely I asked.  I ended up doing it backward.  Oh well, it really isn’t that noticable to anybody else but me and I’m considering doing it on the second sock as well so it just looks like a design feature, LOL!

This is really such a fun knit that I in no way dreaded casting on the second sock.  I’ve already completed the ribbing and the first two pattern repeats on the cuff.  Hopefully, I will finish over the weekend. 

In other news, I managed to hunt down two skeins of the elusive Regia Nation 5399, rainbow-striped, sock yarn made famous in the Yarn Harlot’s blog the other day. 

It came yesterday and I’m trying to decide which sock to make for it.  I’m torn between using it for Jaywalker socks or just making a very plain vanilla sock and letting the stripes take center stage.  Hmmm…..decisions, decisions.

Yes, I am still knitting, LOL!  I actually frogged the first Monkey sock yesterday because I just wasn’t happy with it.  I didn’t have too much done anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.  So, I re-cast on and I’ve gotten through the fourth repeat of the lace pattern for the leg. 

I am really liking how this is turning out.  As a matter of fact, I’m thinking that I might have to gift these to my daughter Bailey for Christmas this year.  She was trying to steal my Zig Zag socks from me when she was here for Thanksgiving and I think that she would like these even more.

Really.  For real.  I know that you all have been waiting with bated breath from my triumphant return to the world that is knitting.  (Yeah, right….snort.)  And your patience, dear reader, has paid off.  Behold……

 I have actually cast on a pair of the infamous Monkey socks for a KAL on one of the message boards that I belong to.  I’m using Juliet sock yarn from Yarn Love in the Limeade & Violet colorway.

Okay, my knitting skills are really, really rusty right now.  Like, I almost forgot how to use DPN’s.  I had to stop and think about it for, like, five minutes before I could remember how to arrange stuff.  But the actual knit & purl stitches….well, they were still there like old friends in my muscle memory just waiting to be called upon once again. 

And so the adventure begins again…..

Well, the leaves here in Wisconsin are beginning to turn and there is a definite chill in the air when I get up and send the olders off to the bus.  Must be time to start knitting again!  I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down with needles in yarn when it was so beautiful outside and the days were so long. 

I am still (yes, still) working on the Chevron scarf.  Mainly because I haven’t touched in 3 months, LOL!  I’m going to try and finish that up while I begin a pair of wool longies for the baby.  I’m going to try a pair of Wooly WonderPants out of some undyed,aran BFL that I have.  And then I’m going to attempt some out of this breathtaking yard that I purchased from Stitches Under the Sun.  I also bought this t-shirt because I think it would be really cute with said longies. 

So, I’ve done a lot more shopping than knitting.  But I’m going to get back to work tonight.  Probably.  Hopefully. 

Well, here it is:

I don’t think that I’m going to make the other one because a) it doesn’t fit very well and I can barely get it on and b) I’m so tired of it that I couldn’t possibly face another.  So…this will be my very first sock project to fall prey to the dreaded SSS. (That stands for Second Sock Sydrome for all of you muggles out there.)

I’m chugging away on the Chevron Scarf project still.  I knit and I knit and I knit, but the damn thing doesn’t seem to be getting any longer! 

So, not much going on here in the way of knitting.  To compensate, here’s some random garden pr0n from my flower bed:

The peonies are starting to bloom and OMG!  Do they smell heavenly!  If I could rub that smell all over my body, I would just sit around sniffing myself.  Wow, did that sounds wrong or what?

Sometimes the mail can make me so happy.  I got these last week and I’ve been sitting around petting them and dreaming of what they might become. 

Here’s the latest shipment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club:

Pretty, huh?  It’s their new Silkie yarn which is superwash merino and silk in the Waling on the Wild Tide colorway.  Soooooooo soft.  Hoping to actually make the the pattern that this came with, but it is made on two circular needles and I’ve never done that before.  So.  Here’s to hoping.

And from the Pick Up Sticks chum fest earlier this month:

Sweet Georgia in Nolia.  Gorgeous.  I have no idea what I’ll make out of this.  Or even if I’ll ever be able to make anything out of it since it is so hard to come by.  If you haven’t checked out Pick Up Sticks, do it.  Awesome customer service.  She even sent a little, wooden sock blocker key chain with a pattern for a tiny sock to fit it.  How adorable is that?!

For sure is definitely here.  It has been too nice to stay inside and knit much, so Princess, the Terrorizer and I took out the digital camera and hunted for all things spring-y while velcro baby napped.  This is the first time that I’ve lived in a house with any kind of landscaping in place and it is fun to try and figure out what we have.  Lots of new (to me) things due to the change in climates from Oklahoma to here, too. 

In the “garden”, we have discovered rhubarb!

Guess, I’m going to have to learn to make pies.  Also, we knew that we had strawberries, but they are starting to flower.  Princess loves these flowers and I can tell why she is enchanted with their sweet simplicity.

We have our very first flower in the shade garden on the side of the house and it was a beautiful surprise:

It’s a Bleeding Heart.  I have always admired these in gardening catalogs, but I’ve never seen one in person.  Ever.  It’s very striking in person.

More things that I’ve been experiencing in person for the first time:

Lilacs.  Mmmmmmm…..these smell so good when they start to bloom and they are everywhere up here.  Gorgeous!  And we have lots and lots of trees that are busting out in beautiful, dainty white flowers right now.  Are these dogwoods?  I don’t know, but would love some opinions.

That’s all for now.  I’ve had two very wonderful yarn deliveries in the past week or so that I’ll share on my next post!

Ta-Da!

Finally, I can take something off the needles and move it to the finished column in my mind!  All in all, it was an easy knit and would have been quick if I didn’t get bogged down by the tedious bits and keep putting it in time out. 

No was elected by the kids at the high school to be a junior something or other at their prom.  So, he got all formal-ed up and went to the prom on Saturday.  Boy, does this kid know how to work a tux, or what?