Oh the week that was.

So, after that ER visit, baby girl wasn't doing so well, so on Tuesday we were admitted to the big local hospital, where we ended up staying until 9:00 pm Friday night, to get her vomiting etc. and dehydration under control. Not a fun week. Not fun at all, seeing your baby on an IV. I had time between the doctor's visit that ended with "she needs to be admitted" and actually going to the hospital to pack a few things, so of course, I tossed in some knitting.

Did I toss in any one of my current projects? Nope. I started another sock. I am a bit worried that they're going to be a skosh too small - I got the leg of one done, and I'm in the midst of turning the heel. I'm doing another pair of Monkeys in KP Imagination, the Wicked Witch colorway. SO PRETTY.

Like I said, we got home Friday night, and the weekend has been spent recovering. The boys are up and down. Thankfully the baby is just so delighted to be out of that room that she's in a great mood.

Too tired to knit.

There has been a vast amount of barfing in our household over the last few days, including more laundry than is good for our septic and six hours in the ER to rehydrate the baby girl, and a current looming threat of hospitalization for said baby, should she not pee enough tonight, so my knitting has been pretty much abandoned for the moment. The logistics of cleaning barf off of a WIP are beyond me, so better not to risk it, right?

That being said, I did get in a lace repeat on Falling Leaves when barfing baby kept me from going to a baby shower, but the boys (DH and the little boys) went to a birthday party and the girl napped.

I somehow snagged a hole in the bottom of my heavy winter socks...I think these were the first socks I made, and they're so awesomely warm, semi-felted and just lovely. I don't think I ever blogged them, I think I finished them before I had this blog...I can probably darn them, but I'm bummed. They're so warm and lovely.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting for...

A FO! This is a baby hat for a shower I'm going to on Saturday for one of the neighborhood ladies who happens to be a knitting lady too (there are several knitting ladies in my neighborhood, which is awesome). I know I'm on a yarn diet (I KNOW, ADRIENNE!!), but I didn't have exactly what I wanted for this so I did buy yarn for it. Does it count if it's for a gift? The pattern is my own, and I'm going to write it up and put it on Ravelry, I think. It's terribly cute! Now I want to make one for my own little girl.

Moving Along, Now.

Mainly for my own records because really, I think reading about someone else's knitting progress without pictures is just pretty boring. But it amuses me, so there you go. I am actually getting something done, though now that the weather seems finally to be cooperating a bit, that may stop. I did spend the afternoon outside running around with my kids, riding bikes, and playing catch and baseball with the neighbor kids. Suburban paradise, I think.

So, I got re-enchanted with the Double Gradient Noro Scarf. Honestly, I don't love the colors in this one (and I won't mention the fact that I caved on my yarn diet and bought some more pretty pretty NSG to make ANOTHER one of these, no, I won't mention that AT ALL) but it's so fun to knit and so interesting to see what the yarn does! So that's out of hibernation. I've got more of the super-secret project to do, with the gague issues that are making me crazy. I've got Falling Leaves still in process, and a couple of crochet things. I just remembered that Branching Out is still in process, and I started a big lace project. Lace? It's hard. Mainly I'm having trouble adjusting to the lace-weight yarn. I fear I've got ladders at my joins in my Magic Loop because I don't want to yank it too hard. I can't redo though, I had so much trouble getting started. I don't know, we'll see. But yeah, it's hard. Anything else? I'm going to a baby shower for one of my library knitting ladies next Saturday, so I've got to whip something up for that.

Maybe I'll take pictures of all my WIPs and post them. And then feel horrified at all the things I have in flight.

Around the Riverbend

Yes, I am actually following up on a promise to blog about an FO. And I even have pictures. So, here are the Riverbend Socks. The pattern is from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, the yarn is Regia Cotton Colors (I believe the colorway is 5407, but the ball bands are long gone, so who knows?). I believe I knit these on KP 2.5 mm fixed circs, using Magic Loop (of course). If I ever knit a pair of socks with DPKs, well, I don't know, I think we'll all be a little stunned.

Okay, so the pattern is the issue here, obviously, because this is a plain stockinette sock. On the one hand, I really like the yarn. It's lovely to knit with, has a really nice feel and I like the fabric produced on this size needles. I love the reinforced heel, I've never done one of these before. I really love the Riverbend design. Unfortunately....I do not love the fit. I've worn them a couple of times now, and they're baggy. Not horrendously, not so I can't wear them, but they bag around the ankles. I also think the cotton leads to a fabric that stretches out and doesn't bounce back (I'm not sure if that's the proper term or not, but these stretch as you wear them). Even brand new, they bagged at the ankle. Fit is apparently an issue with these new sockitectures. The thing is, I haven't (so far) really had fit issues in the other socks I've made. People on the Ravelry group talk a lot about how much you have to "tweak" the numbers to get them to work for you. I don't know, I'm just not sure I have that kind of time, you know? I can definitely wear these...perhaps the bagginess would have been alleviated by fewer stitches at the largest part? (Fewer decreases?) I don't know. Maybe I have narrow ankles. :) I just don't have the brainpower right now to do a lot of tweaking of anything.

I'd love to do some more socks from the book, I really do think it's such a neat idea, but I'm thinking now might not be the time for it. So sad, because I love the heel architecture. Maybe I'll do another pair, but not increase as much as she tells you to and see what happens. One thing I love about this particular architecture is that the increases are all on the bottom of the foot (can't take a picture because I've been wearing them all day and they're grubby). This means you could easily adapt any patterns to this architecture. I may try it, I may not. I'm glad I knit a pair (and finished them!), and I do think they're really pretty, I'm just a tad disappointed that I followed the numbers and they don't fit as well as I'd like.

Fo and Gague Issues

I haven't had the energy to take a picture but I finished the Riverbed socks!! I actually finished them on Thursday, but I haven't worn them yet, for shame! And I do need to take pictures...maybe tomorrow. I'm dead today. In the Riverbend sockitecture, the increases are all on the bottom of the foot. I think it makes a nice fitting sock, though there's a tiny bit of puckering around the ankle. I've actually read this as a common complaint for many of Cat Bordhi's sockitectures, which makes me ponder whether they'll be for me. The yarn is really nice, Regia Cotton Color, so pretty! I just did a basic stockinette stitch, simple enough. I will try and do pictures tomorrow, I promise! What's odd is that even though I've finished something, I'm not going to go cast anything else on, I'm just going to go work on some other WIPs.

And now, I'm working on a secret project that I can't blog about yet, but I am having gague frustration. I hit required gague in stockinette perfectly on my first try (yes, I know, *I* swatched! ME!!), and started the pattern. Well, my first round I messed up the pattern (forgetting to add in a P3, which, y0u know, makes a difference). Ripped out, started over. I can't remember what I screwed up the second time, but I did, ripped out, started over. Third time, I realized that I'd been misreading the lace pattern, like, seriously dyslexicly (is that even a word?) misreading. Sigh, rip, start over. Finally nailed the pattern, am sailing along and...it's too big. As in, close to 20% too wide. This is a project where gague really matters. I ripped it, and started again, going down a needle size. Sadly, the only size 8 straights I appear to have are stumpy little bamboo 9-inchers, so they may not work and I may need to head out and get new needles tomorrow too. Just to get it measured, I'm going to have to get it off these needles.

I don't know, sometimes I think I'm a pretty decent knitter, and then sometimes I'm just stunned at my own ineptitude. :)