Sweetie had to take our elderly friend to the hospital yesterday afternoon. He didn’t get home until 11:30 last night! The poor gal has diverticulitis, a very painful intestinal problem. She is usually able to control the symptoms with her diet, but she’s getting worse. Thankfully, they only kept her overnight. She’s back home now.

While sweetie was gone, I decided to make a yarn bra. A yarn bra is something that you put your center-pull ball of working yarn in and it holds it in place, nice and neat.

I used this pattern for my ball keeper. It was very simple. It took me about an hour and a half to make.

I don’t remember what kind of yarn I used. I bought it at Walmart and it was the only turquoise yarn they had. Of course, I threw away the ball band. (I really have to stop doing that!!!) But, it’s a bit chunkier than typical Red Heart Super Saver. The yarn is acrylic, but it is super soft. I used a size J hook.

This shot was taken indoors, so the lighting isn’t great. But, you can see it in action. The dark object on the circular needle at the bottom of the frame is the sock that I’m working on – pictures of that to come, eventually.

My work in progress fits perfectly inside the little bag, along with the ball of yarn. The little bundle fits in my purse and is always handy. I added a wrist strap, so I can work on my socks wherever I happen to be – no worries about having a place to set it down!

The animals are doing well…

The goats are ready to shear; and I suddenly find that I will be in need of carders, very soon! They’re as cute as ever and playing an awful lot. It’s so cute!

The horse is back up to her normal weight! No ribs! I need to take some more pictures of her. She’s Little Miss Sassafras, to be sure. We need to get a saddle and start riding her. Well, we need to LEARN how to ride her… We know that she doesn’t like having a bit in her mouth (but really, who would?) so we are thinking of going bitless. We’ll see…

The pigs are getting bigger and we plan to harvest another next month. We found a local smokehouse (in the town we live in!) and we’re going to have him do it up for us. We know we got someone else’s pig, our last order. We don’t know if it was a mistake or intentional, but we aren’t using that smokehouse again.

Well, that’s about all I have for now. Have a good night!

Hi!

I have for you another practice sock ta-dah!

I used the same yarn (white, acrylic baby yarn) and needles (size 6) as my first (and frogged second) practice socks.

Please excuse my dark photos. It was nighttime when I shot the pictures. I attempted (poorly, you have my apologies) to adjust the colors in Photoshop.

This is a shot of the cuff. It’s just a few rows of K2 P2 ribbing.

The heel was done in the Eye of the Partridge pattern. It’s hard to see in this picture, but it has raised diamond shapes.

And here is a shot of the entire sock.

I have made my calculations and re-written my pattern to suit my next pair of socks. I have cast on and finished the toe (am on to the foot!) of my REAL socks.

I’m using a size-1 yarn and size-0 needles. I want the fabric to be a lot more dense than these practice socks have been. The stitches are teeny-tiny and I feel like I’m knitting with toothpicks, but it is coming along great (albeit slow because the stitches are so small). I think they are going to be quite comfy, indeed!

It’s too dark to try to take pictures of my progress; it’s a dark-colored yarn and I know my photos won’t do it justice. I may be able to get some shots soon, though! To be continued!

In other news… I have finished the textbook portion of school and am on to the externship portion! These first few units are review, which is great because I need it. But, there’s light at the end of the tunnel! I’m almost finished! YEE-HAW!!!

In my last post, I told you about the baby sock that I knitted. That was a great success. I decided to take the next step toward my goal and try my hand at making an adult-sized sock, toe-up.

I learned Judy’s Magic Cast-On (love it!) – terrific video here – chose The Knitting Swede’s Rounded Toe, and proceeded to use Silver’s Sock Class to make the sock.

Silver’s tutorial is for two-at-a-time, but I just followed instructions for one. I must say, this is a VERY GOOD tutorial and I highly recommend it.

I found that I am just not too fond of the heel. Silver gives instruction for a short-row heel and I really think I prefer the heel flap. I got to the cuff, knitted a few rounds and then cut the yarn.

I then began my quest for a toe-up pattern that includes a heel flap. Last night, I found a pattern called Mash Up Magic Loop Toe Up Socks, by Zhenya Lavy.

This pattern has all of the components that I’m looking for: toe-up, worked using magic loop and it has a gusset and heel flap. After downloading the pattern, I noticed that really it is more of a recipe… You take measurements, swatch, put numbers in blanks, do a little simple math and voila, you end up with the perfect sock!

I find the numbers and calculations to be very comforting. If you have the foot available for measurement, you will get a sock that fits perfectly. She also gives numbers as estimates, if you don’t have the person’s measurements.

I’m excited to be able to get started on these socks and I have a feeling that it will be my go-to pattern. Also, I visited her blog and she actually has a workshop for this pattern. Step-by-step, with pictures, well-written! Until I get the how-to burned into my memory, I’m sure I’ll be visiting her site, often!

Because I was unhappy with my latest iteration of the mighty sock, I did not take pictures. But rest assured, when I finish with my next (hopefully my last!) practice sock, I’ll post some pictures.