I Have Ginormous Feet

**If you live near Cape Canaveral, FL and have kids, there will be a kids fishing clinic this weekend. It is free and the kids get a fishing pole, tackle box and lessons on how to fish. It is from 9am-12pm on Saturday June 30^th at the Port Terminal #4. If you would like to come leave me a comment or email me and I will give you directions. I will be with my company volunteering there**

Well I wouldn’t exactly say they're ginormous, unless you compare them to my newly finished Freesia Sock. I couldn’t get the darn thing on my foot. I knew my gauge was a bit tight at first but I didn’t have the next size needle so I just knit then anyways. Up until I got to the heel I was able to squeeze it on so I thought I might be OK. I even went up a needle size for the heel. Oh well, I guess they will have to be given away.

Since I am not thrilled with the sizing I may not knit the match right away.

And as for my next project…Lotus Knits is having a contest. All you have to do to enter the contest is post a picture on your blog of your first finished knitted item or what you’re going to knit next that you have not cast on for yet and be sure to post the contest rules.

Then, email to lotusknits@gmail.com or leave a comment on her blog to let her know you've posted so she can come check out your blog! Be sure to let her know that you saw the contest on my blog so I can get another entry into the contest! I saw this contest over at Ewe Gotta Knit.

The very first thing I knit (besides a wonky swatch) is Zeeby’s bag from Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: the Happy Hooker. I never did finish it but I worked on it last night. I chose that as a first project because it is 2 large panels of stockinette stitch, the very same reason it is still a WIP. :-) I am almost done with the 2^nd panel then all I will have left is the bottom, strap and pocket.


My next project will be to get some socks on the needles cuz you always have to have a pair (or pairs) in the works. I am leaning towards my Alice’s Garden from White Willow's Etsy Shop. I just love the colors! Don’t know if I will use a pattern or just knit them plain toe-up but I will definitely pay attention to my gauge because I want these for me!

I don’t know how much knitting I will be able to do this weekend, but I hope to have a toe cast on at least.

What will you be doing this weekend?

-Michele-

One Down, One To Go (almost)

**If you live near Cape Canaveral, FL and have kids, there will be a kids fishing clinic this weekend. It is free and the kids get a fishing pole, tackle box and lessons on how to fish. It is from 9am-12pm on Saturday June 30^th at the Port Terminal #4. If you would like to come leave me a comment or email me and I will give you directions. I will be with my company volunteering there**

I started the ribbing for the Freesia Sock last night but I think it is a bit short. I got a little nervous that I would run out of yarn so I started the ribbing.

Now that I am almost halfway through it and there seems to be yarn left I may rip back and make the leg longer. I was knitting at a tighter gauge that usual for socks so I used up more yarn. I am learning from my mistakes for sure.

I am almost done with the first Freesia Sock so I am trying to decide what to knit next. I want to do Child's First Sock but I don’t have Knitting Vintage Socks yet. I think I want to knit Monkey socks next. I don’t think I want to let myself cast on for another big project until I get a couple more things off the needles. I am close to finishing Zeeby’s bag and my Big Bad Baby Blanket….but I am bored with them both because they are mostly stockinette stitch. We’ll see. I think the Hourglass is calling to me…

I sewed on Sheldon’s legs last night but I think they look a little long for him. Maybe next time I will shorten them. He looks all nakey without his shell on!
Not much going on tonight so who knows, maybe the Freesia Sock will be finished!

-Michele-

Meet Sheldon...

Can you guess what these are?

That’s right…those are Sheldon’s legs. He is finally finished! Or at least he will be when I sew them on tonight.

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Grass and Green Apple

Needles: 3.25mm dpns and 3.5mm straights

Pattern: Sheldon from Knitty Winter 2006

Pattern Designer: Ruth Homrighaus

Date Finished: 6/25/2007

That is about the only knitting I did while on my anniversary vacation. It was awesome. I won’t bore you with all the pictures but you are welcome to see them on my Flickr set here. Also, we stayed in the Swan, not the Dolphin, and we were not able to go see the cool show. But we will be seeing Cirque Du Soleil' sometime soon since it is in Disney.

We both took off Friday and walked around both the Swan and Dolphin, and the Disney Boardwalk. It was such a nice day until the thunderclouds rolled in.

After it cleared up we sat by the pool with some mojitos and relaxed. We had dinner at Kimono’s and the hubby had sushi for the first time. He liked it but he had to use the kiddy chopsticks that are tied together on the top. We played some golf and some arcade games. It was wonderful. When we got back to our room we found champagne and strawberries a friend had sent to us. So nice!

(We ate two of them before I remembered to take a picture)

We had a great time. And when we were leaving someone was skywriting. I think it was for us…

After returning home Saturday we went to the movies and saw Knocked Up. That movie was so funny! I think we were the loudest in the theater. I definitely recommend seeing it.

I got some cool new stuff for my sewing collection too.

I haven’t figured out if I want to quilt yet, there is a lot to learn. I like the easy patterns in Sew Easy though. Love that sale table at Barnes and Noble.

How was everyone else’s weekend?

-Michele-

The Home Stretch

Now that I am so close to finishing my first Freesia sock I am knitting like a mad man in the evenings. I think I probably got a couple inches done last night.

I love knitting my socks on dpn’s but after reading Kristin’s tutorial on Two Toe-Up Socks on one Circular Needle, I want to try it. I love the idea of knitting both of the socks at the same time but I have to get some circulars first. I have been reading about the Knit Picks Options for a while and so far everyone loves them. I have seen them reviewed everywhere, on blogs, in magazines, and in online articles. I love that you can get the full set for a reasonable price too. So as soon as I get my hands on some circulars I am trying socks on them.

Kitty Update:

Jessie is doing much better. Her tummy is almost all healed up. We have one final check up on Monday but I don’t see that we will have any future problems. Well, we might if Jessie doesn’t learn to start watching where she is running. We got her a laser pointer last week and she just goes nuts. As soon as we touch it she’s off and running but she doesn’t look where she’s going and often runs into the walls, corners, chairs, etc. She has not been hurt yet but from how hard she hits them she probably should have. We try to limit her laser pointer time now.

"Gotta get the dot!!"

Well I’m off for another mini vacation this weekend so there will be no post on Friday. I may get one in when we get back though. It is me and the Hubby’s 2^nd anniversary on Monday June 25^th so we’re headed to Disney World!! Well not exactly. We are going to stay in the Walt Disney World Dolphin on Friday night. I think we will be going to a fancy dinner and maybe a Cirque De Soleil type of show, I don’t know for sure. We are still trying to figure out what we want to do while we are out there. It will be a nice and romantic couple days away for us. Exciting!!

I hope everyone will have as much fun as I will!!

-Michele-

Mini Vacation

I’m back, not that I went anywhere though. I had a weekend filled with knitting, shopping, sewing, gardening and of course food. On Saturday morning I went to Cocoa Village to walk around and shop. I stopped in The Village Gourmet and Knit & Stitch and got a mini Cucina hand wash and lotion to go in my knitting bag, and some 2.75mm DPN’s.

There are a lot of cool little shops and restaurants in Cocoa Village. I stopped in Ossorio for an Italian cream soda and a Croissant bread pudding. It was delicious and refreshing to sit and people watch. I got some knitting done while I snacked too.

I worked on my Lantern Moon knock off needle case but I would rather not show pictures yet. It seems that I forgot how to measure since the piece for the large pocket ended up bigger that the whole case. But it is OK because I have a wonderful little thing called a seam ripper. :-)

I finally replanted my Plumeria’s on Sunday. They are too big for their pots and have started leaning. I decided to replant then in the ground by the front door. Since I would have 2 pots once they were replanted I bought some Lavender plants to fill them. I've been wanting to plant Lavender for a while. I just love the way they smell. My next project is to try and pull some of the weeds and grass from around the Plumeria’s. It was just too hot to do it yesterday.

I have the best of both worlds because I have 2 people to wish a Happy Fathers Day to. I got to talk to my Dad and Stepfather Rudy. My Dad and my nephew Joseph were fishing without me! Joseph is 8 and loves to fish. I miss them both a lot so maybe they will come visit soon. Rudy and my Mom were heading out to LA to visit my Mom’s Aunt Elva. I Miss her too. I hope I can make it out to California to visit again soon.


I got a lot finished on the Freesia Sock. I am now well into the leg. I followed Wendy’s pattern and was a bit confused at first but not surprisingly it all worked out and I have a beautiful heel. I got the 2.75mm DPN’s so I could go up a needle size for the leg. I thought it might be too tight if I didn’t.

Since it was Sunday, we had a nice big grilled dinner. We had top sirloin steaks, grilled onions and asparagus and fried noodles. Just what I was craving.

And no, I did not eat that entire plate. I loaded the plate up for the picture. :-)

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

-Michele-

People are reading my blog?!

I have to admit, I did not touch my Freesia sock last night. I got this great idea to try and make a needle case like the ones Lantern Moon has. I know that I have only ever sewed 2 bags but I am willing to try. I still have a bunch of fabric from the drawstring bags so I tried to make a pattern for myself. I finished the outside and top flap last night and I have to say it looks pretty good. I may not show any pictures until I decide if I like it though. I got pretty crazy with the pattern and measurements so we’ll see.

I do have some new Freesia Picture from two nights ago. I started on the heel and have to say that I am thoroughly confused. I am following Wendy's pattern and I don’t exactly know where this is going. I am leaving it in Wendy’s hands. I have faith that in the end I will have a nice heel. It doesn’t look like I started it in the pictures, but I did.

And no I don’t have clown feet even though it may look rather large right now. I wear a size 8 1/2 - 9 most of the time. It will look more proportioned when I am on the leg.

I have an odd question…Did anyone else feel a bit weird when they first discovered that other people are reading their blog?

I have had a couple of comments by the same people and had a nice email exchange with Patti (who happens to be the first blog I started reading) and Dee, and it all feels a bit odd. I know that I started this blog fully aware that others may read it but I didn’t expect that anyone actually would. (besides my mom and aunt) So thanks guys for being interested in my ramblings!!

Did today seem unusually slow to anyone else? I need a nap…

-Michele-

Knitter and Now Quilter?

Thanks for all the well wishes for Jessie. She is doing great. Yesterday I took her to Collins Animal Hospital (They are so nice!) for a second opinion and the doctor said that she was infected. He gave me antibiotics and told me how to clean her up so she should be all healed in about a week. She already looked better this morning.

We got to see the shuttle launch on Friday evening. It was awesome from the water. With all the rushing out the door to get a good spot I forgot my camera. I was so mad at myself that I couldn’t get any pictures. I am trying to get some from friends that had cameras though. It seemed a lot louder from the water than it is from land. Did anyone else think so?

I also got a nice package from my Mom and Aunt Martha on Friday.
I couldn’t believe they bought me a sewing machine. Thank you guys!! I have been wanting one for a while. This one is so cool! It is a Brother ES2000. It is so easy to use and I have already started making some little drawstring bags that I saw on the Happy Things Blog.

I just love the way they came out and they were really easy too. Now that I know that I can sew straight lines I want to try and make a quilt. I know it will take some time to gather the fabric and plan it out. Oh, and learn how to do it, but I know I can and it will be fun.

Sadly Sheldon is still without legs, But I had so many other things to play with over the weekend. I did make it to the heel on the Freesia sock last night. I hope to have it finished and be on the leg tonight. More pictures of it tomorrow. I don’t know if I like how it is going yet, but I am not the type of person who likes to rip back something I have worked hard on. We’ll see how it goes.

Have an awesome Tuesday!! It looks like it is going to storm in a minute here.

-Michele-

Cross Your Fingers for Atlantis

Well Jessie was at the SPCA yesterday. Her incision started opening up so we took her in. I am worried that it may get infected but they said it is fine because she still has her stitches inside. They said to keep it clean and dry. I don’t think Jessie liked that she had to spend the day there. This morning she woke up at about 5am and decided to get us up. She ran in circles around our bedroom (including through our bed), ran up to our bed and jumped off of it, played in her litter box making as much noise as possible and even scratched at the shower doors to make them bang together. She did this until 6:30am. She’s a sweetheart huh?

I did not get much knitting done last night but I should be able to get in some tonight. The Hubby and I are meeting some friends for a launch party. Then we will head out in their boat to see the Atlantis launch. I have never seen it from the water, but you can get much closer in the water than you can on land. It should be fun! This is the first launch this year because the fuel tank was damaged in a bad storm in February. It goes up at 7:30 so I may or may not be able to get good pictures. We’ll see if it is not scrubbed because it stormed in the afternoon last couple days. I hope it doesn’t rain tonight.










Since Wendy just posted her pattern for Fingering Weight Toe-Up Socks With Gusset and Slip Stitch Heel I will volunteer to test it. I like that heel for the Freesia Socks. Like I said I hope to be on the leg by the end of the weekend. I will have more pictures when there is more progress to show. Again on my list for this weekend is to finish Sheldon. We’ll see if he gets done.

This is Jessie after her surgery. She did not want me bugging her!

Remember to keep the Atlantis team in your prayers!

-Michele-

Is there a Sweater in my Future...

It is a beautiful Wednesday and I am all cooped up in my office. I would rather be knitting at the beach. At least I got a nice surprise when I got home yesterday. I love it when I have a box waiting for me. Of course Jessie had to open it first.

I received “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” by Joelle Hoverson. I am so happy I ordered it. Check one off my Summer Knitting Goals.


The Patterns are beautiful and there is a wonderful chapter on using color. I am already planning my next project. I want to knit the Hourglass Sweater.







If I had the yarn I would probably cast on now! I am glad I don’t yet because I have plenty of projects to finish first. I just think it is beautiful and there are so many knitters who made it and are happy with it. I just love Ravelry! I was able to look up the pattern and see how many people knit it and their pictures. The one I liked the best used Knit Picks Andean Silk, an Alpaca, Silk and Merino Blend. I don’t know if I want to do it in Hollyberry or Lettuce. I might just order a color card to see it in person. It is kind of hot in Florida to be knitting a sweater, but with how slow I finish projects I should have it done for winter.


I went back to working on the Freesia Sock. I really want to get the heel done by the end of the week. Last night my knitting time was cut short because a friend of our needed the Hubby to come over and fix their cable and TV, He is sort of on call with his side jobs. They really only needed him to come but I couldn’t pass up a chance to see Shea, their 7 week old son. He is so cute!!

I talked to my best friend Casey yesterday and she decided to postpone her wedding a year so I won’t be heading to Massachusetts this fall. I really wanted to see her so we may have to plan a trip before then. At least now I will get to spend all of my vacation time with my mom when she comes out in September or October. I can't wait!!!

Happy Wednesday!

-Michele-

There's Nothing Like a Florida Storm

Well the Tiki Bar got rained out…(Because of Barry) So we all relocated to Jason and Linda’s House. It was a lot of fun. Their baby boy just loves people! He is about a month old and does not mind at all being passed around the room. That’s just great because everyone wanted to hold him. After the party the Hubby and I met up with some friends for a late night snack at Outback. Yum-O!

Me and the Hubby made it out to The Avenue yesterday. I got a yummy Caramel Frappuccino and we wandered around AC Moore. So many ideas, all I need is the funds for them!


We had a quick lunch at the Melbourne Square Mall and found some great placemats in Bed Bath and Beyond. I had originally gone in there looking for a gram scale. (And no it is not for illicit things, it is for yarn) I have seen many people use these to split a ball of yarn evenly. I think I could probably use it in the kitchen too. I didn’t see what I was looking for but there were some pretty fancy (and pricey) ones there. I just need a simple one.



We also stopped in Barnes & Noble because we can’t pass it and not go in. I picked up the summer issue of Knit Simple. There are some cute tanks and stuffed animals that I would like to try.











And for those of you that had Jessie in mind over the weekend, She is doing great. We had a little trouble Friday night until the anesthesia wore off but she is back to herself now. I don’t really like the way they sewed her up (she has a belly button now…) but she seems to be healing fine. She spent the first afternoon home licking all the orange iodine off her belly. That first night home was when the worst of Barry passed. We got some much needed rain all night but we didn’t need the power to be off all that time. It went off at about 10pm and was off until about 8am the next morning. We hardly slept at all because it was hot so we opened the window. Then a frog was on the windowsill croaking so we shut it. Then it got hot again so we opened the window and so on. It was beautiful Saturday and Sunday though. The wind and rain really made everything smell fresh and clean.

You can kinda see her little belly button scar on her shaved belly.


I did not touch the Freesia Sock all weekend. I worked exclusively on the Dream Swatch Scarf. I forgot how much I like the pattern and yarn. I am using Lorna’s Laces in Jeans that I picked up from The Loopy Ewe. I think I made some progress but I have a long way to go!



I hope everyone did something fun over the weekend!

-Michele-

Well Wishes for Jessie

Another weekend is here! I just love the weekends. Today is my boss’s birthday so we are all heading out to the Grills Tiki Bar (his favorite place). It should be a lot of fun! I will try and head out to Cocoa Village tomorrow because it has been far too long since I poked around in the LYS. I think I may go over to The Avenue to walk around and look also. There is a really nice craft store there too called AC Moore. I hope the weather is not too bad. It’s supposed to start raining tonight and all day tomorrow. We need the rain anyways.


Little Jessie is getting spayed today. I dropped her off at the SPCA this morning. I hope she will be OK. I can’t believe they labeled her as “Caution Will Bite”. She only hissed a little at the girl that gave her the shots. She really is a sweetheart. Last night she was being extra loveable and by the end of the night we knew she was in heat. If anyone has been through this with a cat knows why I am so glad they still took her in today. I will have to pick her up this afternoon and she will be a bit loopy for a while. I still have to find out where I can take Lenny to get neutered. He needs it soon.

I have been knitting but there is not much to show right now. I am still working on the Freesia Sock and slowly making progress. I tried to knit Sheldon’s legs last weekend but I was too frustrated when it didn’t work the first time. I will try again this weekend and finish him!

Cutie pie Lenny with his red eyes...

Anybody hungry for Sushi? I love Sushi!

I hope everyone gets to relax this weekend!

-Michele-