Finished Hand Knit Socks

These are my latest finished project. I made these socks at the same time. You no longer have to knit socks on 4 or 5 double pointed needles, like our Moms and Grandmothers did, or actually like I used to do. Knitting needle manufacturers now make pretty long circular needles, so that you can use one of those, in a magic loop technique, to knit socks. That is what I did with these socks. To confuse the issue more, I started at the toe and worked up to the ankle and worked on both socks at the same time on the same needle. When you work on them at the same time, like that, you also get them both done.

Last fall I had attended a spinning retreat in Louisiana. I dyed the yarn in one of the workshops that I took. The workshop was great and I learned a lot about dying spaced dyed yarns.

Knitting Tools?

OK, now some of you are probably wondering if I have lost it. Maybe. (LOL!) I went to the local hardware store and purchased my own caulking gun, caulk and grouting tool.

Yes, this does mean that I now have caulk, a caulking gun and a grouting tool as tools amongst my knitting tools. Turns out they are very handy tools for us knitters and crocheters to have around. When you make slippers or slippers socks, you can use the silicone caulking to make the bottoms non-slip and more durable. Not only that, but the cost isn't sky high either. You can buy caulking in colors, but I have used clear here.

These are my Mom's socks. I had hand spun the yarn and hand knit the socks years ago. They are bulky socks, good for snow boots. Well, Mom was thinking that it would be nice to be able to use them in the house without her shoes. So, I volunteered to put the coating on the bottom so she won't slip on her wonderful wood floors.

If you are interested in doing this to your socks or
slippers, here is a link for you. http://allbuttonedup.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/making-slippers-non-slip/

Look What I Have!

Isn't this a great scarf?! It was handknit by my friend Deb. She used to live near me in TX. But, she left a few years ago, for points north. Really far north, Minnesota, to be exact. She made this great scarf for me at Christmas and I am really late in getting it on the blog. She also gave me the Disney book. What fun to look in there and see lots of great project ideas. Then my birthday came in January. It is a special friend that remembers a January birthday, several weeks after Christmas. But, she did and the Knitted Babes Book arrived at my house. I am so excited to make some of these. I need to start collecting the supplies for them.

On the family front, our trees are blooming and it was to be around 80 today. Yup! Twenty days ago I posted about snow. (see below). And we are hot today. Weather in north TX doesn't have a usual, except hot in the summer. If you don't like it, wait a day. As a matter of fact, the weather will be cooling off this weekend. (Good, it is only March.)

I will be gardening in pots again this year. I still have not worked up the courage to have a garden spot, where the copperhead snakes may be lurking. So, I have planted some tomatoes and a bunch of herbs in pots on the deck. I also found some blueberry plants that are supposed to grow well in TX, so I have them in pots too. The directions said they would be OK, in container gardening.

If you are curious, the pool temperature is 56F. So, we won't be swimming for a while yet.

I built a SNOWMAN!

I have just built the first snowman that I have had a chance to build in years! The snow is absolutely perfect for snowman building. The snowman, is wearing a handknit scarf, by the way. Jeff, the husband, is wearing a handwoven scarf and his favorite M & M coat! Yes, I made the scarf and I will put a good picture of it on here, one day soon, when the weather stops surprising me with snow. Oh, you want to know about that coat? Well, we found it in a NASCAR shop a couple of years ago. It was when the M & M car was being driven by Elliot Sadler and another sponser on the car was (drum roll please)UPS.

Jeff wears it everywhere and I mean everywhere. AND everywhere we go, people are offering him money for it! IF anyone ever offered $100,000.00 cash maybe I would make him sell it, but until then, he wears it everywhere. LOL!

Oh, yeah, back to the snow. Here are two more pictures. The top one shows the hill from the back of our house, down to the lake/pond behind our house.

The other one shows the front driveway and the birdbath. I wanted the birdbath, to give you a perspective. Hope you enjoy the pics, as tomorrow afternoon, the snow will probably be all gone.

More SNOW!

Well, it is March 6. Yes, the same day as the post below, with Jeff in shorts! That picture was taken yesterday, but I blogged it earlier today. Just a little time lag here. So, as I am writing about a warm day outside and the snow being gone, we are actually in a REAL snowstorm! We are under a winter storm warning, as snow is coming down fast and furious. Major schools are closing early, colleges are closing night classes. This is the view outside the windows downstairs, where the den and my project rooms are.
Needless to say, I am enjoying the snow. However, the roads and traffic are a mess out there. The pictures are not fuzzy, that is snow falling in front of the camera.

The D.J on the radio just played "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." I know that you folks up north must think we are crazy. But, for folks who don't usually see more than one inch of snow in a winter, and we saw 3 inches earlier this week, that was really exciting, BUT now, we have about 2 inches on the ground and sticking on the driveway. The forecast is for 5 inches. Believe me, this is headline news.

The Day After

Here we are in north central Texas, the day after the snow and the primaries, March 5, 2008. We have survived both. But, take a close look at this picture. Notice the snow is gone! AND notice Jeff sitting on the step in his shorts and tank top. Heehee! When I said I was going to take a "day after picture, he said, "Oh, wait, let me get into the picture." He ran upstairs and donned his SUMMER clothes. Mind you, at 70F a guy doesn't mind shorts, but I want you to know that I was wearing jeans, wool socks, a long sleeve T-shirt and my Crocs(shoes). I had although, taken off my handspun wool sweater.

I want you to know, that this pine tree, which is in an island in the street across from my house, tried to eat a kittie cat this morning. LOL! The girls and I were walking past it, for the second time, and two of us kept hearing a meowing sound. Stopping and turning, we all heard it. By the time we found her, she was up on the bottom limb, looking down at us so pitifully. We had almost passed her by, but her crying turned to screaming, which made me turn. Kittie, was up in that tree about 12 feet from the ground. She didn't want to jump, truthfully, I don't blame her. She was facing the side of the tree where there were no more branches, so we were able to get her turned around and there was one lower branch on that side, she is a smart Kittie. Two of us went off to get Jeff's ladder, knowing by the time we did that she would jump. And of course, her mommy, being one of us walkers, did get her down, before we even found the ladder. She was able to coax her to walk to the end of the branch, where she could reach her. Note to self: must find out where the ladder is being stored. It moved, sinced I last used it. :) Well, anyway, Kittie had followed her mommy about that far on the walk, and mommy didn't realize it, and apparently had gotten scared up into the tree. She is not usually a wandering kittie, so she had a nice cuddly ride home in mommy's arms. A happy end, and the tree is in time out, for treating the kittie like that.

It Snowed

It is so unusual for us to have snow here, especially in March, that I had to take pictures of it. As you can see the snow didn't stick to the driveway. On the streets there were patches of black ice, which made for some horrendous commuting. But, here in the woods, it has been peaceful. However, even as I write this at 4pm central time, the snow is almost all melted. It doesn't usually stick around a long time.

The first picture is the front of the house, and the other picture is the view we have through the trees at the small lake behind our houses, taken from our deck.