Emptyknitster

During the holidays the NorDakPurlGurl asked me about my hand knit socks and how they wore. I was quite indignant and said I had yet to have even one pair wear out, they were “as strong as iron.” Not a week later as I was folding the clean laundry I discovered a hole in not one but two pairs of socks! A week later while  doing another load of clean laundry I found yet another hole in a pair of socks I knit years earlier. A few years ago, in anticipation of this event, I bought a darning egg. And have been waiting to use it ever since. Now, the time has come and looking at the four socks – one pair has holes in both socks of the pair – even though they are hand knit I'm not sure they are worthy of repair. I have never darned socks. Although very frugal Mom never darned socks. It wasn’t because she didn’t know how, in fact she darned Dad’s socks for several years after they were married until the day Dad walked in the room while she was darning and said it really wasn’t...

At Christmas, The Chick brought me some sock yarn she bought a few years ago. At the time she only knew how to crochet and wanted some new socks. This was at a time when we thought if there was a crocheted sock pattern then it was possible…What a disaster!! A poorly written pattern, no give in the socks…WORTHLESS! She brought me the yarn thinking I could use it for the Rabbit Hole Mitered Square Blanket. What a thoughtful daughter! (I may NEVER have enough yarn to finish it!!) But alas, this yarn is 60% cotton, 20% wool, 20% nylon and I'm using 80% wool and 20% nylon... So I began a new pair of socks, now that I’ve found the Fish Lips Heel Pattern designing socks is a breeze! This is a very simple spiraled slip stitch that occurs every color change in the sock.   Pattern: Fish Lips Kiss Heel Pattern Yarn: 60% cotton, 20% nylon 20% wool Colorway: Pastel stripes Amount: One skein Needle Size: US Size 0

A little over a month ago, while The California Dreamin' Gal was in Africa at a conference, older sister sent me this SOS photo message: I found out later, The California Dad felt The Pirate could do without his mom or he could do without his sweater but he couldn't do without both! So, The Pirate wore his sweater to school until Christmas break. By then I had frantically begun knitting Pirate Sweater IV but even after completing three sweaters  previously, or perhaps because of it, I ran into a little technical difficulties . Following some discussion and soul searching I decided I could live with the imperfection. The skull and bones (minus the cross) would remain and I knit on. Meanwhile, The Pirate started the New Year minus his sweater. Last Monday, after a week without it, a friend brought up his loss. He was very happy to report that there would be a new Pirate Sweater on his back by the end of the week. The news went through the 5th grade like wildfire! The Pir...

Argh!! This is the fourth pirate sweater I've knit for The Pirate and I can't believe what just happened! Look carefully and tell me what you think: Usually I can't stand to have known errors in my knitting. However, ths time I knit a solid 6 hours after the mistake before I noticed. The Pirate didn't notice when he was shown the sweater...  Shall I rip it out and lose 12 hours total keep on? While I'm waiting for a verdict I knit on this: 202 squares and counting!

The Chick received a bread making machine for Christmas and was interested in this recipe: Cinnamon Sunrise Regular loaf                            Large loaf 3/4 c               Water                1 1/8 c 2 1/4 c            Flour                 3 1/3 c 1 T                 Dry Milk            1 1/2 T 21/2 T            Brown Sugar     3 T 3/4 t               Salt...