Tuesday, July 21, 2015

It once was a weekend.

This past weekend was one of wonderful balance.

I had a lovely simple dinner with The Manfriend and The Kid, because it was hot and we couldn't be bothered with the whole cooking thing. Grateful for the option and well pleasantly full afters. :)

I got some much needed exercise for my body and brain.

I cleaned or tidied rather, my apartment to a status less ... frightening. I even managed to put the laundry in it's place. There was a moment there where I thought it was possible the piles would come alive and form a sibling. "Geez Mama, look, it can walk on it's own now!" shudder. 

We celebrated my father's belated birthday with a fun meal. Lots of good eats and lots of laughter and stories. Just the way we like it.

Those crazy kids are my Step-Mom and Dad, cute huh?
Sunday a very haggard half mug of coffee me, *FaceTimed with my friend CK who is visiting family in the UK and working on her very first sock. She was struggling to understand the heel construction. She's working on Hermione's Everyday socks. It turns out she was forgetting what ssk meant knitting the 2 slipped stitches together and was making an extra large gap. 

Well somehow in helping her, I remembered I had another Hermione lounging on needles in a bag. It was my attempt at the pattern using magic loop. And friends and fellow knitters, by good golly, I think I get it. Somehow I have wrapped my brain around making this pattern work for me. It's going along swimmingly. And somehow this is pretty much the only thing I've knit for the past few days. 



Dare I say it, I see the speed that magic loop allows for sock knitting? I know I'll never give up the old double point needles. I love propping up a sock on a table to admire it in it's spikey 3 or 4 needle glory. However, I do plan on utilizing this method more, after all ... the more socks on the needles, the better.

I will have a few cast ons to show, but probably not until the weekend and even then they will still only be slips of pretty color, but that is the joy of knitting isn't it?

Also later this week, I will have a sock yarn giveaway to celebrate our love of a summer sock knit. Thursday or Friday.

Wishing you all well and a happy knit.

*We can discuss the bizarro-land of FaceTiming later ...

18 comments:

  1. Lovely sock. It looks perfectly blocked already and it's still on the needles. It takes a few washings for my stitches to behave.

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  2. What a lovely photo of your dad, I hope he had a good birthday. If I ever knit a sock I think it will be with the magic loop method. All of those pointy needles sticking out everywhere confuse me. Enjoy the rest of the week Ellen. CJ xx

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  3. Family gatherings for happy occasions are THE best! Happy be
    Acted birthday to your Dad.

    Love the yarn you're using for the socks. I've only used the Magic Loop technique a few times.

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  4. I discovered magic loop ages ago and never went back to the spikes! The Hermione sock is a beauty; I'm glad you could help your friend!

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  5. You have no idea how happy it makes me to see your beautiful socks on the needles. :)
    Hermione's Everyday socks are the best!!
    Happy Birthday to your Dad, :)

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  6. Love your sock - that may be the next pattern I attempt! Glad it was such a fun weekend. I know about those piles...they are everywhere in my house. Guess I'd best attend to them soon.....

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  7. Sounds like a great past weekend. Your step-mother has the cutest expression on her face. :-)

    Hermione is looking good. I like that colorway --- it would go well with a lot of clothes.

    Regarding your comment on my blog ----- yes, I'm a firetruck traditionalist! LOL I get reminded of that all the time by Steve. HIS firetruck was white with blue trim ---- so, so wrong IMNSHO. LOL

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  8. I'm so sorry to let down the knitting community! If I had only remembered that, I "think" I would have got through the whole sock! Xxx

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  9. Ellen, could you email me for a technical question? Thanks for your time.

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  10. magic loop? really? I'm such an old dog when it comes to sock knitting; can't imagine doing it on anything but my trusty dps. :( Love you socks!!!

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  11. I love the photos of your Dad and his wife, they are adorable. Sounds like a PERFECT weekend. I cleaned a bit also, not fun but very necessary.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  12. happy birthday to your dad!! You have a fun looking family :) I'm like steph, just give ,me dpns.....

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  13. I love the yarn in the sock! Looks very elegant. I prefer Magic Loop, but sometimes I just pull out those dpns, but only when hat knitting since I left sock knitting behind long ago.

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  14. Your parents are too cute! And you rock on cleaning and helping out your friend with her sock emergency. verypink.com helped me when I couldn't start the heel flap right. I found her sock knitting videos and found out I was knitting backwards in the round! I am dying to knit those Hermione socks but I have too much knitting to do right now.

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  15. Those weekends go by way too fast, don't they? Looks like you had fun, and you are coming along on your H. sock much faster than I am!

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  16. Sounds like a good weekend to me - if only they were longer!

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  17. If we were having a Horror House Contest, mine would win hands down! Your dad and step-mom are such cuties! The magic loop socks look great. I have a love/hate relationship with ML. I like that it's speedy but I tend to get overly robust in tightening up the join which makes it difficult to move the first few stitches around.

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