Busy Busy

 I have been busy busy busy this week.  Not much
time to knit.  Plus work is making me so tired I'm not
knitting much when I get home.

These are the chocolate brown socks, almost ready to
put the marker in for afterthought heel. Not much
progress, but it's all I've got.

 Some disturbing news this week....remember back in the fall
when I knit the really nice socks from Year of Techniques?
well I used tencil yarn, and mentioned then I hope I wasn't
making a mistake.  Well, I guess I was. I have worn these
maybe 5 times, and yesterday both heels sprung holes.!
I RARELY EVER wear my socks without shoes or slippers
so they won't catch on anything...and both on the same day?
UGH x 10000000000000000000000000000

Ruth is working along on her Opal socks.
Her own pattern....so NICE

Martha his super busy at school so no updates from her.

In other news:

Joe and I worked a lot on some new tile for the entryway
by the front door. There was linolieum there before, and he
pulled it out along time ago and just had time to finish.
It took a lot of time this weekend (a lot of knitting time).
I didn't do much, but did help.  I think it looks so nice.

Also, we are adding a backsplash to the kitchen. Never did it
when we redid the kitchen. Joe said wait a few years and then
you will have a whole new look.  I'll show before and after
pics when it's done.  He did a little work on it today and we both
love it.

Tiffany went to a  Roaring 20's party yesterday...
I think she looks great!

Joey and Casey were at a winterfest party yesterday.
Don't they look cold...but happy!

Have a great week dear blog readers....
I'm going to try and knit a bit...

Back to Reality

Back to reality means back from vacation.

We had a wonderful time...driving from New York to

Nashville, and as far as Lynchburg, TN.

Not much knitting...I managed to finish the ribbing on

Mark's sock. It is almost 3".  Because he is so tall, I like

a longer ribbing, and I will do a 9" leg.  Even though, it's

no secret I hate knitting the ribbing.  Yarn is Hawthorne

by Knitpicks, size 2 needle.

I finished up Joey's first sock before we left, and got the ribbing done
and a few pattern repeats. Most of it was done after we got home.
Panda Silk yarn, size 0 needle.

Ruth is working on a new sock.
Socks that Rock yarn, Rogue Roses pattern by Yarn Harlot.

Martha is working along on her socks...
More Tofutti, 45% cotton, 35 wool, the rest is some nylon.
This is k3p1 pattern

 Martha is also working on a sweater. The pattern is
  by Louisa Harding called Breckmickle

her progress
almost to arms....
lovely!  

In other news, Joe and I had a wonderful vacation.
we had soo sooo sooo much fun!

We drove down one-lane roads through beautiful sprawling
horse farms near Lexington KY.  See the miles and miles of
fences....

The stables are nicer than most homes in this particular
area. So so so beautiful....

We went to the Wild Turkey Distillery near Lexington.
Drove over this S-bridge to get across the
Kentucky river to get to the distillery.
 Apparently one of 3 in the country.

The whole distilling process is totally fascinating.
A real work of science.  There are several in the area.
They keep a lot of people employed in Kentucky and
surrounding states.  All of the corn,  rye and barley is
grown in the area.  It sits for 6-8 years in the barrels
before it is bottled. 

One day we went to the Acquarium restaurant in Opry
Mills mall right next to the Grand Ole Opry.  It is a huge
acquarium in the middle of the restaurant. HUGE fish.
Very cool. Food was not that great....LOL

There are two people scuba diving and cleaning the
glass.

Grand ole opry has flowers planted. It was only about 50 the
day we were there.

Nashville was so so so fun. There is a lot of
construction going on. So much that it is very hard
to get around. Walking or driving. Notice all of the scaffolding.

This picture was taking from the roof. The last day we were there
it got to 70.  The picture is a bar across the way that is 3 floors of fun!

This picture is taken at 6:00 am the morning we were leaving.

We saw Los Lonely Boys in concert. They are so wonderful.
Their dad actually came and sang a few songs.
 

We drove to Lynchburg TN  to visit the Jack Daniels
Tennessee Whiskey distillery.  People actually make that
a destination, and go to Nashville just to see Jack Daniels.
 It is set on acres and acres of beautiful land.

 

Joey took care of Mickey for us, coming every other 

day. He was so lonely while we were gone. Poor fella.

He was so excited to see us he literally cried and carried 

on for two hours after we got home. After driving over 750 miles

to get home in one day, we were pooped, but stayed up to fondle

him.  What we do for our pets, right?

This picture is on Saturday....he was lovin the loving.

 

Thanks for letting me indulge on our vacation.  I left out a lot

of details but you get the picture - it was FUN!

Saturday I went to a bridal shower for my niece.

My sister in law made these flowers out of paper, and

then painted them.  So lovely!!

 Notice the beading wound in...

She is very talented and crafty.

Hopefully more knitting news next week dear

blog readers.....have a fun knitting week.

Jazzy

So I am working on Joey's brown sock.  This week Joe said
OMG you're making Joey a brown sock?   Yes, even Joe realizes
that brown is not fun to knit with. Must be the influence of the
pink socks I made him at Christmas, and the koolaid dyed socks
I made for Joey.  They were definitely much more jazzy than
brown.  But, I did have a plan.  I was going to put some color
in the heel and toe.  The yarn is Panda Silk which is 52% bamboo,
43% superwash wool, and 5% silk. Joey's feet love the bamboo,
it wicks the sweat away.  Jimmy  Beans wool had a big sale
last year so I bought a few colors. Brown, yes, but an accent
color too.  I liked the looks of afterthought heel so much I decided
to do it on the plain brown socks...in stripes!

This yarn is sooo wonderfully soft, he won't mind that
it's brown...and the pattern is an easy one I made up...
Knit 6 rows plain, and then K1P1 for one row.  This heel with
the stripes was very very fiddly, but I like how it came out.
The toe will be stripes also.

Joe and I are going away on  Friday for a week so I hope to
have one sock complete.I'll work on the other one when
we are driving.

I did start Mark's giant size 13 sock to take when traveling
also.  His are brown, but a nice Knitpicks Hawthorne brown.

Not enough to show yet.  

Ruth has finished the blanket...so nice and jazzy...

what a lucky baby! and what a lot of work!

She also started a onesie for the baby.  

Here are the details in her own words:

Pattern is Tiriltunge by Siv Jane Aksdal. I'm leaving the hole pattern out since I'm not sure if it's for a boy or girl. I think I'll do short sleeves since the baby will be in Phoenix. The yarn is Knit Picks Hawthorne fingering. Cosmic Speckle. I've also decided to do snaps instead of buttons. Now that I'm done with the increases and put the sleeves on holders, it's going quickly.

I love it!

Martha has finished up her first sock. Her own pattern.
 yarn is 45% cotton, 40% wool, 15%nylon. They’re for early fall, 50* weather...
I think her pattern is very jazzy!

In other news...we got snow on Friday...a lot of it.
Thick, heavy wet snow.
Joe thought it was hysterical that the driveway at Lowes
was clear, but the snowblowers were buried.

It was sooo pretty today.  But cold.

The pile in the driveway is huge...still.

Years ago I made a booga felted bag, and still use it all of the time.
Left it laying on the couch this week....

and guess who decided it was snuggle worthy

He looks so uncomfortable trying to fit on it instead of stretching out...
he is just such a character.

He's not very happy that I put it away

Joe was wearing his deer hat so I snapped a quick picture

We are traveling next week so no blog.  Chat in a couple of weeks
dear blog readers...Happy Knitting!