Sock Sock Sock

I made a sock! The stitches are irregular, you can clearly see where the three needles met, and there are at least two visible holes in it, but it is undeniably a sock.

Or, as Greg so succinctly put it:

“Wow, honey, that looks cool. It actually looks like a sock! I mean, it looks way better than the ones you made before, which were more - ah - ” (seeing my expression) “it looks great, honey.”

And what’s more -

It fits! Mostly. I’m so happy I could cry. That’s all I wanted, I just wanted to make Max a pair of socks. (although I still have one to go. Bah.) I bought the DPNs on Saturday - it seems that Wal-mart does not carry double-pointed knitting needles, and I almost didn’t see the two sets they had at Michael’s stuck up between some huge circulars and a rack of crochet hook cases. Perhaps most people feel it is easier just to buy the socks. I suppose that is true, but they have defied me for two weeks, and so I had to show them who was the boss, as it were.

At any rate, I used a pattern listed on Knitting Pattern Central, the Striped Child’s Sock pattern. I had a hard time with a few parts of it - and I am not even good enough to know whether the difficulties were due to my own inexperience or were caused by a flaw in the pattern. I mean, I don’t know, but it seemed like some of the numbers just didn’t add up in the heel and toe decreases, and some things were poorly explained. I had a bad time with it, anyway, but then again - it was my very first thing ever made on DPNs. I was confused the entire time, excepting the portions where all I had to do was knit around. I’ll get better, though.

In other news, my pattern has been accepted for the December Issue of CrochetMe! Kim said it was too cute to hang onto until the next issue. I promise to respect deadlines in the future! I swear! Hey, guys, somebody smack me if I start muttering about submitting something after deadline again. Deal? Awesome. I’m really psyched, and I’m already hard at work for my cleared-in-advance-with-the-editor submission for the LOVE mid-issue theme issue (Seeeee? Way ahead of schedule, and clearing it with the editor? I’m so good).

Oh, and I still need to make a Mother-in-law Christmas gift. I’m thinking…slippers. Anybody have any favorite slipper patterns? That you don’t exactly need to know their shoe size for? Bother. Maybe a scarf.

Much ado about nothing

Wondering where I’ve been? Oh, I’ve been busy. Very, very busy. Max has been in the emergency room twice in the past three days (although for things that were less ‘emergencies,’ per se, than urgent/acute conditions) and I am exhausted. Exhausted!

We took him in on Sunday night because he was feverish and coughing, lethargic, breathing rapidly…it looked bad. However, after slogging through the emergency procedures for four hours (they get to you less quickly if your life isn’t in danger: great for those who are having heart attacks and such, but it’s so frustrating when all you need is ten minutes of a doctor’s time and it takes four hours) we were told that it was an upper respiratory infection. (Translation: he has a cough) Go home, they said. Treat the symptoms. Lovely. Max, he hates the Robitussin.

So yesterday - joy, joy - the fever disappeared, his energy returned, and Max started getting back into trouble as usual.

This morning, he woke up covered in spots.

Spots?

Yeeees. Spots. Actually, some spots, some blotches. All over. All OVER! Covered in giant red blotchy spots. Oh, dear. Greg had already left for work. I had to call him, get him to come home so we could go to the hospital, and then I spent all day in the emergency room. Again. I am so tired. And once again, after spending five hours in the ER (although we got a lot more attention this time - apparently a toddler covered in spots is more interesting than the same toddler with a fever and cough) we were told that the rash was viral, and no big deal. (Translation: his cough gave him a rash.) What the $%&*#*(%+@!?!? I have never seen a cough turn someone into a freaking dalmation! Then it took over an hour to get a bottle of baby benadryl from the pharmacy. Should have just gone to Walmart or something.

So, to sum up: I have spent over 11 hours in and around the hospital in the last three days, when I could just as easily have stayed home, and Max would have been fine. Of course, I felt better when I was told that the (very alarming) rash was harmless, and when they assured me the cough was not pneumonia. (Hey, I didn’t ask - he just had possible symptoms, so they checked for it. I’m not paranoid. Most of the time.) I guess it’s a price that must be paid to be a mom. *sigh*

On a craft related note, if you’re wondering what on earth I was doing all last week, I have this to say.

Why did I assume that I could simply sit down and design a pair of socks - in knit (my area of lesser competency), no less? Hubris, I suppose; pure hubris. But I have been duly chastened by the knitting goddess, and when next I approach socks I will be equipped with a pattern, proper humility, and a set of DPNs. *sigh*

All of this wasting time and getting distracted by other things has thrown my crochet designing behind schedule. I doubt you’ll see a pattern from me in the next Crochetme - though I’m shooting for the mid-issue - but I’m working on it. Things are going very, very well, too - which simply proves again that the crocheting goddess just loves me more. My mystery pattern will feature (get ready, now) a variety of sizes. Don’t get too excited, though! It’s something very small, but it represents a new era in my pattern possibilities. Yay for me!

So - um, I think I’m going to bed early.

A pattern, a pony, and a pickle…

This morning sees the second of my patterns going on sale here - the ever-awesome Lloopy Llama! Seriously - go check it out.
In other news, the pony has been sucessfully completed!

There he is, standing by a skein of Red Heart super saver for size comparison. Counting the ears, he’s 19 1/2 inches tall! Woohoo! Now, all I need to do is find someplace non-dusty to stash him for two months! I’ve been irresistibly inspired by this project: in the future I can see horses and huge toys of my own design appearing here.

But for now, I’ve got a bit of a problem.

I knit a scarf for Greg’s grandmother, because she taught me to knit last Christmas, and then I made the hat for Greg’s grandfather because he’s nice and I think he’ll appreciate it (every year he takes a trip to the mountains and goes elk-hunting with a pistol. A pistol? Apparently. He’s not as old as his age yet, lol!). Now it occurs to me that Greg’s mother (who lives with her parents) will very likely be offended if I don’t send her a handmade gift as well. Any ideas? Smallish, but still ‘thoughtful’ ideas? Things that won’t be destroyed by the pack of dogs that lives with her? (I think every stuffed animal she owns has been chewed on at least once…)

Please feel free to post ideas and specific patterns, because I really need to get to it…

What the - where did my week go?

Um. It’s Saturday? I want my week back. Not that I wasted it, really, it just seems like it whooshed by before I could take it in. I mean, I’ve been working - I’ve really been doing a lot for my Christmas crocheting (good thing, too, as we’re halfway through October…). Wanna see?

I made this hat for Greg’s grandfather. It’s a hunting hat, you know, with those earflaps that tie up on top of the head. I used the Deer Stalker Hat pattern from freepatterns.com, and I have to say it kind of sucked. I actually checked my gauge and matched it to the specified gauge, and it ended up being twenty-five inches around. That’s way bigger than a head. I had to redo it, using a smaller hook. Have you ever tried to crochet worsted weight with an F hook? The whole project I had to fight with it a little, because the hook was just a little bit too small to work the yarn easily.

So, when I started on the Perfect Pony that I’m making for Max’s Christmas, and it said to work with an F hook, I said ‘uh-uh-uuuuuuh… I’m using a G!’ So I did. It’s pretty fun, huuuuge, though. I like that, though, it’s cool to make something so large that is neither an afghan nor a sweater. Oh, and the pattern is rife with inaccuracies, miscalculations, typos, as well as at least one flaw (in my eyes) - the body pattern sucks a bit, I’d have made it less…ripply. I noticed it was rippling but hoped that it would even out a bit…by the time I realized it wasn’t going to, I was freaking tired of making the body, so I left it and employed a clever use of stuffing to reduce the ripples. The saddle covers it nicely, as well. If you make this pattern (which, don’t get me wrong, it makes an awesome pony, you just have to be alert to retarded pattern mistakes and be able to adjust it as needed) don’t assume the body will unripple, just go back and increase less. Bleh. So, here is where I am so far:

I have the legs finished (well, one is shy a few rounds, I need to go out and another skein of yarn for about…80 stitches. :P) and I would have them attached but…I ran out of stuffing. I’ve had that bag of stuffing all year! Apparently the giant stuffed pony uses up a buttload of stuffing. I’m super psyched, though, both because it looks awesome and because…

Christmas is COMING!

Awww, somebody at CrochetMe likes me!

And it seems that they’ve been reading my blog. I happened to peek at my pattern again today (What? No, I haven’t been lurking around there, being secretly delighted to see my pattern so professionally presented in a publication. I don’t casually peek around blogs and message boards to see who likes them or makes them, either. Shut up!) and as you can see here, they’ve put a ‘Part I’ on the top of the first page, and added the group shot beside the abbreviations. I didn’t even ask! That’s why I love them.

I *heart* Crochetme!

To continue in the spirit of showing and telling, we went to Walmart yesterday. It wasn’t the Walmart we usually go to (a nice, new SuperCenter just down the road from us) but rather the Walmart next to the Sam’s Club, since we were shopping there, anyway. Of course, that particular Walmart caters to a … ‘less affluent’ area of town. There were very few white people there (I felt a little conspicuous - as you can see from my pictures I’m so pale I might glow in the dark - you’d think I’d have a tan, living in Texas, but no…), as well as a table set up where a middle-aged woman was pitching infomercial scissors. You know, the ones that can cut through aluminum cans? I think that is the great, unfulfilled need in America. All of the alminum cans that are languishing uncut? It’s obscene.

However, I was delighted to find that instead of the token yarn section found at the supercenter (half of one side of one aisle, it’s heartbreaking) that this Walmart has two huge walls of yarn. OOoooooOOoooOOooooooo… So I bought yarn. Well, I mean, I went there to buy yarn, but it was such a thrill to be able to choose which shades of which colors to buy. It was great. I actually bought a little more than I meant to, but the fact that they had everything that I needed made me, I think, a little giddy. I know some of you will think me silly for going nuts over a yarn splurge consisting of 7 skeins of acrylic, but hey. I don’t get to buy much yarn. Isn’t it pretty?

The Simply Soft (which I’ve never worked with before - I’m edging my way up the acrylic chain, eh?) is intended for the next CrochetMe pattern I have planned. Goodie, goodie! We’ll see if I can do it or not, won’t we?

At any rate - you know how they say “You can’t buy peace of mind?” Greg and I were surprised to find peace of mind on sale at Walmart for $9.95. Heeheehee. Poor Max. No more kitchen escapades for him. I think he’s a little sad about that.

Then, we were forced to show our receipt before we could leave the store - I guess to ensure that we had paid for the yarn and the gate. They weren’t singling us out, either: that Walmart apparently pays a woman to stand by the door and check receipts. I’ve never been in any other store where they’ve done that except for Sam’s Club (and if you’ve seen the chaos they call a food court between the registers and the exit, you know why). It was an interesting experience.

Now, for the last stop on our photo-tour, I have one thing more. Some of you (I’m betting not many) may remember my very first post ever, about the lace I was making (also my first thread project ever). For months now, it’s been shoved in a bucket under some other things while I worked on everything else. Yesterday I pulled it out and began working on it again. It’s nice - I feel pretty domestic making lace.

Of course, I started working on it before I bought my yarn, but instead of allowing myself to run off and frolick with it, I’ve decided that I’ll continue to work on my lace for a while.

Well, Crochetme is here!

After an agonizing wait ( ) the new issue of CrochetMe is here! Looks good, too. A few things are still trying to resolve themselves - for example, I keep trying to read articles only to reach the bottom of the page where the words are cut off. Refresh, everyone, refresh until they can work all of the kinks out. It’s redesigned, with the promise of a searchable pattern index to come - uh, excuse me while I wipe up my drool - and it looks like there are some good, fun patterns in this issue.

Like mine, haha.
I’m a little sad that they chose not to use my group shot for the cover picture, and a little concerned that the second page is hard to find - if I hadn’t been looking for the other half of my patterns, I mightn’t have seen the links for “Safari Sniffers - Page 2.” People, don’t forget to look for the lion, and tiger, and gorilla faces! Oh, my! Ah, well. I’ll show you the group shot here, at least. Click on the ‘Basket-o-Fun’ to go see my pattern!

I’ve also updated the link on my free patterns page to go to my pattern. Cheers!

Oh, and hey - all of these people who are waxing sad and poetic about the ‘lovely’ days of summer being gone before you can savor them all - HAH! Now it’s my turn to have nice weather. I live in Texas. The summer is unbearable. During the summer months (read: May through September) we huddle in our homes around the air vents like Alaskans around the heater in January. It was 108 degrees last month. Yeah. It sucks. But now - now a cold front has moved in, and for a few days at least we’ll be able to spend time outside for the first time (excepting dusk, dawn, and just after a rain) since April. I can’t wait. Max and I are going to the playground in the middle of the day today. Yay!

I just saw a weather forecast for my family up a few states - a low of 33 tonight? You don’t say. That sounds cold. I don’t feel too bad for them, as while I was sweltering in 100-degree-plus weather this summer they had weather in the 80s. Plus, my mom makes great cocoa.

Of course, by the end of next week we’ll be back up into the 90s, but for now…

I’m going outside!

In case you haven’t heard -

The October/November issue of CrochetMe will be understandably delayed.

While you’re waiting - and I’m sure you’re waiting patiently, aren’t you? - why don’t you check out the crocheting forums at Crochetville, the awesome free patterns at Crochet Pattern Central (or heck, why not Knitting Pattern Central, it rocks too), or go surf the blogs in the Crochet Blogs webring?

Also great for passing time are the games at Popcap, some of my personal favorites, and the awesome kitty pictures at Stuff On My Cat.

In other news, I’ve gotten permission to sell some patterns here on my blog, which is great for both you and me, as the overhead here is low enough that I can offer them for very reasonable prices. Everybody appreciates that. So, that will be something to look for in the future.

So everybody - have a great day, and practice patience!

Edit: I’ve changed my free patterns page so that, rather than listing the patterns available, a thumbnail of the pattern photo appears. I’ve also added the pattern for the scarf that appears with the newsboy hat I made. That pattern, however, is complex enough to require testing, so it won’t be available for a while yet.