I downloaded the e-book “Knitting Socks for the Absolute Beginner” from amazon. It was written by Diane Dobson-Barton.

I chose this “book” because it was a step-by-step pattern for how to create a sock. Mind you, it is a baby sock, but it has all of the elements of any other.

It took me two days (working a few hours per day) to complete this sock. It looks like it would be the right size for a 3- or 4-year-old child.

I used one, size-3 circular needle (with 40” cable) and sport-weight baby yarn.

Now, I’m learning how to make them toe-up!

How has your week been? Mine was long, but this weekend has been nice!

We got our tax refund and I ordered some circular needles and yarn. When my supplies arrive (hopefully by the end of the week) I intend to learn to make socks! I’m quite excited! Socks were the reason why I learned to knit in the first place. Do you have any website, pattern or book suggestions?

I haven’t done any more work on the Irish Hiking cowl or the One Row Lace scarf. And I haven’t done any more work on the African Flower Mandala afghan. I did however start another doily (a pineapple motif). Yeah, I think I have a pretty good case of project ADD going on…

I am not going to start another project. I think four projects and socks should be my limit. Actually, less than that, ideally. But, I am going to allow myself to start doing the socks.  Besides, the weather is getting warmer. We don’t really need scarves and cowls and afghans now, right???

In other news…

School is going along great. This course is not as difficult (yet) as I was expecting.

My youngest child is in Washington DC to speak to people about YouthBuild. I’m so proud of him!

The animals are all doing well. I still haven’t decided when to shear the goats. And we still haven’t decided whether or not we’re keeping the horse.

My sister and I are planning on going to the High Desert Wool Growers Fiber Market Day, on the 31st. We went last year and it was fun. I think we may make this a yearly sister thing.

Have a great week!

This past week, work has been CRAZY!!! We’ve had three people out on vacation and we lost one gal, last week. So, this week we’ve been down four bodies. The workload hasn’t been drastic (with the exception of today), but because we’ve had so many absent, many of us have been working overtime. Well, if I only work eight tomorrow, I’ll just get a full 40, because I had a couple of hours to make up. Thankfully, the three absentees will be back on Monday and we’ll be able to breathe again.

As a result of the extended hours, I’ve been exhausted. I’ve been in bed before 9:00 (generally before 8:30!) every night. This is unheard-of for me. The only time I go to bed that early, I’m ill. Since I’m finally pulling out of being ill for what feels like the last eon, I’m really hoping that it’s just the hard work.

I haven’t done any crafting this week, but last weekend I started to learn the crochet crocodile stitch. Now, admittedly, I’m not the most intuitive crafter… I can make ANYTHING, but I MUST have a good pattern (same with cooking). When I was trying to learn this new stitch, I had a heck of a time.  I think some folks, when creating patterns, assume that people can “fill in the blanks” and I am just not one of those people. I was up until 1:30 in the morning on Saturday, trying to “fix” the pattern for this stitch. I found three patterns that were all a little different and I combined them to create what (I hope!) is an easy-to-follow pattern. I’ll post it here on my blog and on ravelry. My guess is that while I may be one of the few that struggle with (what seem to be) incomplete patterns, I’m not the only one. I’m not sure when this will happen, but I’m going to try to git-er-done this weekend.

Because I was so involved in the crocodile stitch, I didn’t do any knitting. So the Irish Hiking cowl that I’m making for my hunny, is hibernating. As is the One Row Lace Scarf that I opted to make in the Bunny Print yarn. And I can’t make both at the same time, because they both require size 8 needles and I only have one pair. Gosh… I’m working on: two scarves, one neck warmer and an afghan… I don’t think I’ve ever had so many works in progress at the same time!

I’ve taken a couple of pictures, but I haven’t resized them, yet. I’ll try to get more pictures and post them this weekend.

There hasn’t been much going on around here, though I do have a few things to report…

I passed my CPT coding course and am now on to my next course: Healthcare Reimbursement Methods. Once I finish this course, I’m on to my externship! After I correctly code 12 medical records (in my externship), I will be a graduate! Yay!

We’ve had some snow, around these parts. My sweetie says we’re sitting at about 2 feet of the stuff, on the ground right now; much of which has fallen in the last couple of days. It’s been bitter cold and windy. Thankfully, the next few days are supposed to be sunny and warmer. I am so ready for spring!

Have you ever heard of Irlen Syndrome? Yeah, me either… Yesterday, I was visiting my favorite tatting forum: Needle Tatting and one of our regulars linked to a post on a tatting blog: Tatted Treasures. When I visited, her post was discussing her battle with Irlen Syndrome. When she was describing her symptoms, I identified with enough of them that I thought I’d take the self test. It can be found on the Irlen Institute website. I was quite surprised at the results of my self testing and have scheduled an appointment with a diagnostician. This could be the key to many (if not all) of my issues with light. I’m very excited at the prospect of relief and so thankful that I found Heather’s blog!

Work has been okay. We just found out that our department is merging with another. This doesn’t normally bode well for “contract” employees. I’m a bit nervous that I’m soon to be unemployed again. And though I work for the Evil Empire, I hope they offer me a permanent position. It’s a good job, pays well, decent hours. It would be nice if it wasn’t 35 miles away from my house, but we can’t have everything, I guess.

The goats are doing well. They’re spending more time in their house – understandable when it’s 15 degrees (Fahrenheit) and wet outside.

I don’t recall if I mentioned this in my last post, or not… But, we harvested one of our pigs. She was 230 pounds hanging weight. Well, it’s been almost a month and hunny went and picked her up today! Mmmm… We’re going to be eating good! No more rationing the meat! Yay!

Dizzy (the horse) is doing well. She’s gaining both weight and spirit, every day. We put her blanket back on, because of the cold. The first night, she managed to take it off; but other than that, it’s stayed on.

Well, I guess that’s all folks! I hope you have a good night!