Help me choose: Cosmo, Piazzi or Serendipity?

I'm up to the heel, well, almost, up to the heel with my socks currently OTN. That means time to start planning my next pair. Since I'm usually a good girl and don't have a big stash I only have 3 colorways to choose from.

First up is "Serendipity" by Fearless Fibers. 100% superwash merino and an AMAZING 550 yds. Holy smokes. I could make knee highs with that much yardage!



And then there is "Cosmopolitan" by Yarntini. It is only 260 yds. Can I make a pair of socks with only 260 yds??


Then there's my most recent purchase from Sharing/Karen's Heavenly Creations.
Description says "This is a hand dyed hank of blue faced leicester ultra superwash. It is a 3ply finger weight fiber with 400 yards." And here's a link to her Rav profile.


So leave a comment here on the blog or FB or via email and help me choose! I've never knit with any of these brands before either.

Great reminder

My massage therapist said to me "I deliberately make a mistake in everything I knit to remind myself I am not perfect."

Today's Knitviews (oh, and yesterday's!)

I skipped my Tuesday yoga. I am getting desperate to finish Levi's blanket. I'm oh so close but his birthday is even closer! The sitter (Aunt TT) showed up as usual and away I went. I decided at the last minute that instead of going to yoga I would journey here:




and knit. So I knit and listened to LimenViolet for about an hour. I found out that it takes me about 12-15 minutes per round. UGH! Every few stitches I have to push them around the cable so that's part of the slow process. I will be happy once this blanket is done.
Today I snuck in a 20 minute nap before Levi went off to school which gave me just enough energy to not NEED to take a longer nap after he left. OTOH, for the Lu 20 minutes is NOT enough. She got cranky, I gathered up my knit bag, etc, swung through McD's (waiting for her to fall asleep) for a grilled chicken salad (YUM but why don't they have fat free ranch?) and sweet tea and headed here.


I didn't get ALOT of knitting done because I had to eat then I remembered at noon on the nose that my son's Easter/Spring party was at 12:15. But I did feel close to hubby. See way off in the distance? That's where he works.
I headed out and was driving along between the waters and out of nowhere is this flock of medium sized black bird things w/ long legs. I slow a little because, you know, birds FLY. Oh no NOT THESE BIRDS. I hit the brakes but couldn't swerve due to oncoming traffic and I think I took out 3 of them. Oh the guilt! The anguish. I called my hubby and he and the guys got a good laugh out of poor guilt ridden me.

Some quick yarn porn. This should be arriving soon. It left the California shipping center on the 6th, I think.




There are several skeins but I'm only receiving one of each color. Which is two skeins.

Oh no what have I done??

I have heard about the Loopy Ewe many times. I see that people on Rav have bought yarn there. I have always been wary of going to the website. I just had this gut instinct it was a bad idea. Why can't I listen to myself?? Sigh. Thanks Lime & Violet.

OTN, socks and yarn for Livie :)

I'm just full of blogging tonight! Thought I'd share some photos. First up is Levi's Spiderman Blanket. I couldn't get a photo of all of it since it's on circs. There is another complete blue section and a partial of another blue section. The pattern has it ending with another 2 sections of red but I'm running out of time. I'm up to over 500 stitches per round and I'm lucky to get a round done in a day. 11 days til his bday. I'm also considering entering this at the fall fair. My aunt has entered things so maybe she'll pipe up with some ideas of what is required and who to contact for info. Anyway, here's the spidey blanket that so far I've been able to keep a secret from Levi.



Livie is always asking me to make her something, lately, since I'm making socks she's wanting socks. I found her some purty colored cheap sock yarn! Go mom! I bought these from Rav classified board specifically, SamplerStitcher. Red Heart and Sole tequila sunrise for 3 for $10.


Bernat Sox Multi crazy hot 4@2.50 ea




And Spinning Yarns "Confetti" for $11 shipped. May or may not make this for Livie. Maybe for me. :)

Oh and I yanked her pics so I hope she doesn't mind!!


Then I was bad. Oh so bad. But it was ohhh so good. On etsy I found these and couldn't resist!
Citrus Zest and Piazzi
. Usually that's about double what I'd pay for yarn but the day was a special day in my heart so to celebrate and lift my spirits at the same time I splurged.

Ok, on to my Lorna's Laces "Child's Play" socks. I have worn them several times. I wash them with towels or clothes and dry them in the dryer. No special treatment. They're a little fuzzy but otherwise are holding up so far.




An update of my tye dye socks. The pattern was for cuff down but I am doing these toe up and changed the repeats. So the pattern is technically upside down. I think I've cast on too few this time. Ay yi yi as Livie would say. Eventually I'll get it figured out.



Oh, here's some yarn I bought when I bought the tye dye. Yarntini.

Knitting views

So I'm at the massage therapist and as she starts on my arms I mention, of course, that I knit. Not a lot of it every day but I do knit daily. And to prove it I had a huge knot in my arm above my wrist. It's been there at least a year because I've had my dd rub it for me. So we start talking knit talk. She's a beginner knitter. I told her I am too. That I taught myself to knit about a year and a half ago but I've crocheted since I was a kid. She asked me which I like better. I said "Knitting, it looks better and I've always liked the way knit looks over crochet, but crochet's......ea...easier...?" I realized as it was coming out of my mouth that I no longer actually believe that crocheting is easier than knitting! I was always told that if you learn to crochet first then you find knitting more difficult to learn and vice verse. And I thought that was true. I was very intimidated by all the loops on the needles and oh lawdy how do I fix a mistake several rows down? OR drop a stitch?? Oh the horror of horrors! But, now, NOW I can knit without looking! I can FIND my mistakes and drop down to it fix it and it looks sort of ok! And I LIKE that better than ripping alllll the way back like you have to do in crochet. I would just like to know when did I pass that bend in the knitting journey?

Stolen moments of knitting time. I don't get very many opportunities to knit uninterrupted. I have a 16ish month old and she's absolutely fine playing by herself but as SOON as I pick up the needles she's all over me like sti....um.....flies on.....like (oh there has to be a knitting term I can use...)....oh do I have the best daughter or what? My 7 y/o just walked up and started rubbing my foot. What was I saying? Anyway, toddler=no knitting. I finally figured out that after lunch and during my daily dose of brain rot brought on by Days of Our Lives, if I close the gate to the living room she will go play in the kitchen and I can knit for about 20 minutes. Desperate to finish my son's blanket before the 16th I try to do this every school day. Friday I was almost busted by my son. He gets home at 2ish which Days is over at 2 so I knit from 1:30 to 2ish. Well, he got out early! PANIC when I saw the short yellow bus in front of the house just a couple of minutes after I picked up my knitting. So I shove it in my project bag and jam it in the space between the couch and wall.

I discovered another way of stolen time to knit. Well, I know it's not a new idea I just don't have many opportunities since I don't go many places. Drive around til toddler falls asleep, pull over and knit til she wakes up or I need to get home. Doesn't work well during the school day. I nap with her during her morning nap otherwise I don't make for a nice mommy in the afternoon when it's me and 3 kids (3 grumpy, tired, hungry kids) until daddy gets home at 6. The toddler also is ready for a second nap at about 2 on. It's difficult to get her down w/out falling asleep myself but having the 4 y/o run amuck is never a good idea. It gets pretty tense when it is time to make dinner. The joys of motherhood! Anyway my point is her nap time doesn't coincide well with my sans older kid time during the week. But, today I was able to drive around this morning, park at a beautiful country cemetary and knit for nearly an hour! BLISS! Then we went to my MIL1's house for fake Easter dinner and on the way back all 3 fell asleep and you guessed it! I pulled over and knit for about 30 minutes. And on Saturday I took my oldest to the park and knit in the van while the toddler slept. YES! Score for all involved. I will be updating this with pics here in a few. I hope!
My knitting views today:









OH and I am SO trendy! Or is it technologically advanced? Or geeky? Or all 3? I had discovered podcasts as previously blogged. I also have downloaded them to my MP3 player (way cool) AND for my bday (double 3 my hubby kept saying) he bought me a stereo w/ not only a cd player (imagine that? NO CD PLAYER!!!) but an aux plug for my mp3 player so as I knit by the cemetary or park I have been listening to Limenviolet's podcasts. They are a freaking riot! They are dirty, foul mouthed and unPC but I love them! They ramble on with some resemblence of a topic list but they get sidetracked much like myself. I envision myself with them sometimes because I can so relate to the potty mouth, trainwreck conversations only I tend to have w/ my husband because no one else likes to listen to me ramble and certainly usually don't appreciate my more colorful language. My amazing hubby just called me to dinner so I'm signing off. I may just get a spanking if I'm late to the dinner table.....

Wordle.net fun

Tye Dye Chevron socks

I've decided to go with Charlene Schurch's Chevron pattern. Here's my notes so far.
3/15 started swatch with a cast on of 60. Too big. Decreased to 52 for only 2 pattern repeats but increased the pattern to a 13 stitch instead of original 11. Aren't I getting good?

3/16 Using knitpicks size 1. Cast on 52. Using short row toes.

Pics of the yarn

Noteworthy sock pattern mention

I'm sure more experienced sock knitters already know this but for the newbies like myself I have discovered that the yarn over cable sock from Sensational Knitted Socks is the same pattern as Vogue's The Ultimate Sock book's wrap mock cable. Just thought I'd mention that.

Tye Dye Sock yarn..what pattern?

Tye Dye Socks
Originally uploaded by chickwith2stix

I have this exact yarn. I borrowed this picture from flicker from chickwith2stix. I cannot decide what sock pattern to use! I have some sock books, Sensational Knitted Socks, Vogue Knitting and Favorite Socks. What pattern from either these books or a free pattern on the net should I use?