If I Ran the Zoo...

...actually, most of the time I feel like I do! In this case though, I am talking about another of my special children's books, "If I Ran the Zoo" by Dr. Suess. I don't actually have much in my little collection in the way of Dr. Suess, so I was a bit surprised when this one jumped out at me the other day when I was scouring the shelves at one of my favorite little used book stores.

I certainly grew up with Dr. Suess and, I thought, had a good memory for his works. However, when I saw this one, I did not recall ever reading it before. It is, as with all Dr. Seuss books, absolutely delightful in it's whimsy.

It tells the story of what "young Gerald McGrew" would do if he ran the zoo, from turning out the normal animals to replacing them with all sorts of strange Suess inventions. I particularly liked the page when he decides to "...go down to the Wilds of Nantucket and capture a family of Lunks in a bucket..." I don't recall seeing any Lunks in Nantucket, but I'll have to look more closely next time!
On the down side, this book was published in 1950 and does reflect some of the cultural insensitivities of the time. It also has a very gung-ho attitude about going to the ends of the earth to capture the most rare and endangered creatures on the planet. I can't imagine we would see a new book published today that contained these ideas.
However, in my own little way, I have been enjoying it. Because of the old ideas and the fact that it is in pretty much pristine condition, I am not planning to share it with my girls any time soon.
What a shame, it will have to remain one of "mommy's special books" as the girls call them. Not bad for $1.

Fred Flintstone Socks

Yes, that's right, it's another pair of socks. Any non-sock knitters who may have looked in on my blog before are probably running for the hills. Not only am I knitting a zillion socks, but I also keep knitting plain old boring socks. In my defense though, the cool yarns I have been lucky enough to get to use have been keeping me very entertained. Also, work is kicking my butt, so stockinette in the round has been just about the right speed the last couple of weeks.

So. here are the latest socks - a pair of fun ones for the hubby:

Pattern: Same old, same old, Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock, Heavyweight, Colorway: Fred Flintstone

The hubby asked for some really heavy socks since his feet are always cold. This was the heaviest sock yarn I had, so we went with it. He is very happy with the results. Actually, to be honest with you, he didn't really understand why I would ever want hand knit socks. He understood the colors were nice, but really didn't get why I would want to put all of that effort into something that would wear out. Then he tried the first one on and was hooked. His comment was "Why can't a store bought sock fit like this?" I said "it might have something to do with the fact that these were knit to fit your foot exactly!"

Trouble is, now I have created another monster who wants to make sure he has a place in line with everyone else for new socks. What a shame I am hating the sock knitting so much, huh?

By the way, this yarn also came from the Blue Moon stash sale last November. It was already wound and only had the "seconds" tag on the outside, which does not list the color. However, when I pulled the end out of the ball to start knitting, another tag had been stuffed inside that said this was the "Fred Flintstone" colorway. A quick search on Ravelry has confirmed it is accurate.

Here's one last shot. I think the hubby could have a career in sock modeling ahead of him, don't you?

I have another pair of socks already on the needles and am nearly done with the heal flap for the first one. It is another pair for me. I figure, if I follow the 1 pair for someone else, 1 pair for me plan I should have plenty of socks in short order. Not too many, because I don't think there is such a thing!

Yet more socks!

Lots of time on a plane, travelling across the country has turned into another pair of socks for me:

Pattern: Same old basic pattern, Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock, Weight: Medium, Colorway: No idea

This yarn was some that I bought at the Blue Moon stash sale last Fall. I wrote a bit about the sale here. It is the one in the middle in the first yarn picture. It was the only one that didn't look like anything in their current line. I'm going to guess that it was something they tried out but never sold. In the skein and in the above picture, it looks very blue and yellow. In person though, there is a lot of green where the two colors met and bled together - something I think was probably not intended. Overall, the knit socks don't look exactly like I had hoped, but I'm still pretty happy with them.

This was my first time using STR and I thought the yarn was really nice to knit with, very sproingy and soft. I actually knit the entire first sock on my trip East and had to make myself wait to start the second one until I was on the plane, heading home.

It still went really fast and I ended up having to work on my husband's boring vest. I was smart (?) and didn't bring any other knitting. The vest saw quiet a bit of action while I was in my hotel and on the last part of the return home. It's still not even ready to be seamed up though. It sure is turning into a slog...

Anyway, long trip = happy socks for happy feet!

Excellent Mail!

Well, I made it back late last night from the LONG work trip. When you have to travel all the way to the East Coast from Oregon, it takes forever. The trip was completely uneventful, travel-wise and even a bit productive, work-wise, so it could have been worse. I also ended up having quiet a lot of knitting time and did complete something, which I will show you next time.

The reason I am waiting to show my new FO is I received a wonderful package in the mail while I was gone - my "Defeat the Winter Doldrums" Dishcloth Swap package. Many thanks go out to Alicia for such a great package!

Here's a terrible picture of all of the loot:

She sent three skeins of dishcloth cotton in beautiful colors, some yummy extra dark chocolate in convenient individual sized packages and some really nice smelling "Wild Orchid" Bath gel. I am kind of particular about scents but Alicia was extra patient with me, soliciting ideas about what I might like. She did great - I love it!

Additionally, she sent these gorgeous stitch markers, which she made herself. Again, sorry for the terrible picture. It does not begin to capture how pretty they are. I am not much of a jewelry girl, but boy do I love to "dress-up"my knitting with pretty stitch markers!

Next, she made me this really cool dishcloth. It is knit with the "illusion knitting" technique and contains a hidden picture of a snowflake. Alicia has a better picture over on her blog if you want to check it out.

It is knit with Cotlin from Knitpicks. I had never seen this yarn before, but it feels nice and seems perfect for dish or washcloths.

Finally, she also made two Tribbles for me. I have been thinking about trying this pattern for some time, but now can try the finished product first.

Thank you so much Alicia. I love everything! Thanks for being such a great swap partner.

Another week has gone by...

...and I don't have much to say. I found out Friday that I need to be away for work all this week. I just dread hearing that now. When I was younger, before the hubby and kids, I used to love to travel for work. I would get to stay in nice hotels, watch cable TV (we still don't have cable, can you beleive it?) and eat fancy food. I would meet interesting people and immerse myself in work.

Now, I just want to be home with my babies. Oh well, at least I anticipate I will have LOTS of knitting time on planes.

Speaking of knitting, I have a finished object to show you. It's a helmet liner, destined for a Marine serving in Iraq.

Pattern: Helmet liner pattern found here, Yarn: Cascade 220, colorway 1208

This was a pretty easy, fairly quick little project. Why did I knit this, you might ask? Well, my good friend Katrina has a cousin, her favorite cousin in fact, serving as a Marine in Iraq. She is planning to knit at least one too and asked if I wanted to join her.

Then, when I told my sister about this project, she reminded me that her best friend has two sons serving as Marines in Iraq right now too. Actually, one of them was the ring bearer in my sisters wedding, which makes me feel so old. She is my younger sister! Anyway, she was very interested in this project and has gotten her knitting group involved. They are planning to put together a bunch of liners and goodies to ship off to the young men they know in the Marines in Iraq. I think I will send my liner with them. I love the idea of helping out. It's such a small thing, but if it really makes a difference then I am happy to help.

I guess thats it for today. I'll be off-line for awhile, but hope to return with lots of finished objects to report on.

Little Socks Part 2

I can not make something for one small child around here without making something comparable for the other. Thus we have another pair of small socks:

Pattern: Knit to Fit Ankle or Calf Socks by Nancy Lindberg, Yarn: Socka by Stahl Wolle, Colorway 6358

I've already written plenty about this pattern. The yarn, on the other hand, I have never used and I do not plan to ever use again. It is a cotton/wool/polyamide combo that my skin did not like. It actually wore a sore on my tension finger - not sure if it was an allergic reaction or just super rough. It also is really thin, but on the plus side, it actually made really nice fabric.

Luckily I only had one small skein of it in my stash and do not plan to buy it again.

By the way, I am not such a fast knitter that I started and finished these after the other little socks. I knit them pretty much at the same time.

I have a bunch of other stuff I have to knit now, so I may not get to make any more socks for a bit. At Knitting Guild last week one of the members mentioned that she has about 24 pairs of hand knit socks. I think that sounds like a good goal...when I get a chance...of course, the kids want more too, having already asked what's going to happen when these have to be washed!

Little Socks

Finished: One adorable pair of striped socks fit for a 2 year old

Pattern: Knit to Fit Ankle or Calf Socks by Nancy Lindberg, Yarn: Regia Crazy Color, colorway 5260

This pattern is so flexible! You can make any size socks with any weight yarn. At this point, I don't need to consult it any longer, but I am using the basic construction for the socks I have been knitting. Yes, there are more in the works already!

Sorry, this picture is a little blurry - it is very hard to get a 2 year old to hold still for any picture, but especially one of their feet when they are wearing new socks.

The stripe repeats are very long on this yarn, with one sock taking slightly more than one repeat. I did not want to waste an entire sock worth of yarn just to get the socks to match exactly, so they are slightly different.

V. could not care less. She calls them her "Happy Socks" which, of course, makes me happy. When we took them off tonight for the bath she asked "Can I wear them again tomorrow, pleeeeease?" I guess she likes them!