Birthday Socks

My latest pet project has been a pair of socks knit for my sister for her birthday. As with most people I know who know that I knit, she has asked me "Why don't you ever knit anything for me?" So I asked her what she wanted and it turned out that she wanted socks. Great! Good choice - not a sweater that would take me a really long time. Her birthday has come around and with her choice of yarn I decided on the BFF Socks by Cookie A.

On a little note that I snuck in with the socks, I wrote her: These socks are called BFF socks and I knit them for you because not only are you my sister but you are my best friend. Now stop complaining that I never knit anything for you. :-) Love, M

The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the color Thraven, which looks really cool when knit up. It is mainly black with spurts of dark green throughout and it gives off the appearance of a raven's feathers. Needle size is US2.


Music To Knit To
To quote the O'Jays, "I love music, any kind of music." This is true of me - I love any kind of music - except Country. And I pretty much have music playing all of the time. When dinner time rolls around , I pop my iPod into the speakers, start the music, and Oliver and I dance around the kitchen while we make dinner. Whenever we take a road trip, I can always be found on my computer the night before we leave, downloading new songs and whipping up mixes for the car. Since I was a child of the 70's and 80's, I have a soft spot for that era of music, more on the rock side, not so much pop. My favorite type of music by far is alternative rock. I really like to find those gems that are left-of-center and out of the mainstream. It is only fitting that I put a mix together to listen to while knitting "Socks that Rock". So these are the songs that have been in my ears while knitting up these socks, taking my mind off of the time and making my fingers fly a little faster:
- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
- Shake It - METRO STATION
- The Curse of Curves - CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR
- The Pedestrian - FOXBORO HOTTUBS
- Shut Up and Let Me Go - THE TING TINGS
- My Moon My Man - FEIST
- Good to Sea - PINBACK
- Do You Wanna - THE KOOKS
- Believe - THE BRAVERY
- Fight Song - THE REPUBLIC TIGERS
- Keep the Car Running - ARCADE FIRE
- Running Up That Hill - PLACEBO
- A Bad Dream - KEANE
- The Gift - ANGELS AND AIRWAVES


So... take a listen! Hope you enjoy!

Faux Rib Socks

I have been a really bad blogger lately, but these days I would rather be knitting than blogging. I am knitting up a birthday present for someone who shall remain nameless and I have very little knitting time these days - I only have two free hours during the day when Oliver is down for his nap. So blogging is taking a back seat.

My latest FO is the pair of socks I was working on.

These are my Faux Rib Socks. I found this stitch pattern in Debbie Bliss's book "Baby Knits for Beginners" for the Ribbed Pillow. The first row is K3 P1 and then knit all stitches on the second row. The finished fabric lies a little flatter than a true rib. I thought this would be perfect applied to a pair of socks. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Blue Moonstone. I loved knitting with this yarn, although it was a lot heavier than I expected it to be. Come winter I am going to have one warm pair of feet. Needle size is US 2.

Summer Vacation

We've been away for a little while - ok, a long while - almost three weeks. Oliver and I headed off to Dallas, TX in the middle of June to visit the grandparents and Andy joined us when he got a break from work. We were also joined by my sister and her two girls. It was fun, exhausting, and very, very hot.

My dad took us to the Fort Worth Zoo. The kids had such a great time and I had fun watching Oliver get excited about all of the animals. What was his favorite thing to see at the zoo? All of the rocks! - of course - he is such a guy!



One evening, my Mother-In-Law took us to the Nasher Sculpture Gallery in downtown Dallas.





We also paid a visit to the Dallas World Aquarium with my In-Laws.


And then we took Oliver to his very first Major League Baseball game to see the Texas Rangers play. (So sad his first game wasn't to see the Red Sox, but that's the way it goes.) He had a fun time and his favorite part of the game was the fireworks when the Rangers hit a home run.

Then it was on to Connecticut for a week to stay with my sister until the 4th of July where we celebrated with a picnic at the beach.

After all of this time away from home, it felt really good to get back and sleep in my own bed again! I did manage to get some knitting done while I was away and I even finished a project! I will have to save the knitting for another post...........