It's been a while since I posted, but my life is really crazy right now. My job is currently downsizing, because of outsourcing. They decided to outsource about a year ago, but this didn't effect anyone's job right away. Apparently the salary that they were offering the people who they outsourced the work to wasn't enough. They took the training and then moved on to other companies who offered them more pay doing the same work. So as a result of this outsourcing the orders started to get backlogged and clients started to get pissed, which resulted in them going to other companies that could get the job done. This lead to loss of revenue for the company and you know what happens next. It started with the sales people at the being of the fiscal year (March 2007) . A total of 140 sales people where let go. The group I supported started out with 20 people and was down to 3 by the middle of September. I just knew it was coming my way sooner or later. It finally happened on September 19th. My supervisor called me in to give me the bad news/good news, my last day is September 28th. I received a package which consist of 16 weeks of pay, 6 months worth of health insurance payments (which I could opt to keep or use towards the health insurance coverage) and Career Transition Services (resume writing and interview skills). In addition, I'm also eligible for unemployment benefits starting October 1st. So for the past 2 weeks I've been home trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. This is an opportunity for me to make a career change but I'm not sure which direction I want to go.

On the knitting front, I joined a KAL on Ravelry for Mr Greenjeans. I'm using Cascade 220 in Pink Rose Heather. I haven't cast on yet because the patterns has an error and I'm not quite sure how many stitches to cast on.

I finally finished the Jaywalkers.


I'm also giving yarn away to any takers. I don't want to hold onto it anymore because I definitely don't plan on using it. If you're interested email me at smkfreeshawn at gmail dot com.



This is my longest post ever!!!!

This Ann Bubb's On-Your-Toes Socks. The pattern is in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits (my favorite knit magazine). I purchase the yarn over a year ago from Purlsoho. It is Lorna's Laces stripe yarn dyed just especially for PurlSoho. You get so much yardage from Lorna's Laces sock yarn that I decided to try a toe-up sock with it so I can see how far up I can go.

And the most exciting new of the week is SCHOOL'S OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I complete forgot to blog about the most important day of 2007, my daughter's graduation day. I'm so proud of her. She received her Associates in Arts on August 8, 2007. Everyday I give thanks for my children, because they make me feel so proud of myself as a parent.




It's back to UNCG for her in the Fall.

Now back to my knitting, not that to take away from my daughter's graduation.

I'm working on a pair of Jaywalker socks.

I spend all of my extra money on yarn!!!! I need to admit this to myself and hopefully it will help me to stop. I can't help myself. Since I joined Ravelry it has gotten considerably worse.

I'm currently working on Pomatomus. I love this pattern.

I had to make some changes to my Nancy Drew socks, because I didn't have enough yarn. I guess my gauge was off a bit. I ripped back the first foot toe area and re-knit using Koigu.

I finished the first foot of the Nancy Drew Socks.

I can't believe it, I actually won something! I entered a contest over at A Knitter In Queens blog and I won 3rd prize.

I really hate that I have to come up with titles for my post. Why can't I just post?

I'm currently working on the second foot of my Charade socks. I had to rip back the first foot twice because it was too long even though I was following the pattern instructions. It suggest you knit the foot until it measures 2 inches from desire length. Then you start the toe, but the instructions for the toe is almost 3 inches long. So I fixed it by ripping back the toe until it was 3 inches from my desired length, now it fits perfectly.

I'm still struggling with the Lanett Baby sweater.

Look what I got in the mail today!

I just got back from a visit with my daughter in North Carolina. This was my first trip since she's started school. I use to go every summer to Greensville, NC when I was a teenager, with my sister's in-laws. NC is a beautiful State, I love the mountains. I went to Linville Caverns, which was very exciting.

I finished my second pair of Monkey Sock last night. I have to tell you, the first pair I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR mediumweight, but this time I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the Devon colorway and I am in love. I plan to buy more of the sock yarn. It was soft and easy to work with. The socks are not too heavy like the STR and I have tried the lightweight and it was just to heavy for me, even for boots. I cast on June 10th and finished June 19th.

I have an update. I got several responses to my post on both sites and the majority suggested that I sew up the gap once I've completed the sweater.

I'm having a bit of a problem with the Lanett sweater pattern. I've reached the pouch area and the patterns says "place the next 41 sts onto a st holder and cast on new 41 sts over these sts. Cont in ST st in the round over all sts until work meas 5 in." This has me stumped. How do I cast on 41 new sts without creating some type of opening. If I hold the sts on the holder in the back then there will be hole in the front and if I hold in the front it still creates a hold. Boy am I confused. I posted a thread on Knitty Coffeeshop and Craftster.org. I hope I get some type of response soon.

Just wanted to post an update picture of my progress with the Monkey Socks. I love this pattern, even more than the Jaywalkers.



I finally got around to starting a project for my son's Aunt, she is expecting twin boys in August. The shower is this weekend, so I'm going to buy her something from the registry. I hope to have the sweaters, booties and hats done by the time it starts to get cool.





This is my first baby item, I'm so excited.

This is all the knitting I've done in the past month. Two pairs of Monkey Socks.

I said I would post more often, but it hasn't quite worked out like I planned. I really don't have an excuse why I don't blog more. I think it's just me. I start something and then have a hard time sticking to it. I love to start new things but hate to see them through to the end. Like the old saying goes "a jack of all trade but a master of none".

I'm still knitting away. I have finally settled down when it come to working on projects. I currently only have two project I'm working on compared to the 5-10 projects I would try to work on at the same time.

I started the Rusted Root. I still in the first section of the pattern (knitting the sleeves). I'm really enjoying this pattern. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm using Addi Turbo, which I have finally master. It's also my first raglan sweater.

I'm still working on the Knitty's Baudelaire sock. For some reason I'm having a hard time finishing this project. I'm not enjoying the pattern, because I think I'm doing something wrong, what, I don't quite know. Also, my bind-off on the first pair was a disaster. I had to rip it out and bind-off about three times, because it was too tight and would not fit on my leg comfortably. I'm currently researching the different bind-offs to find one that is really stretchy.

I purchased a lot knitting books recently. I am addicted to Amazon.com

I haven't made an entry in this blog since January. Wow, that's a long time!

I'm back and I promise myself I will make more of an effort to post here, even if no one is reading it. Maybe someday I will get brave and post my blog addy somewhere so someone can know it exist. But for now it's just for my eyes.

Since my last post I've knitted another Jaywalker socks using STR (Sock that rocks) yarn. This yarn is very thick. I like it better than Kiogu especially after I blocked it. I notice once you wash Koigu it starts to get a little fuzzy and that annoys me, sort of. I haven't notice any fuzziness with the STR, so far.

I'm presently knitting Baudelaire from Knitty.com using Koigu. I forgot how long ago I started working on this socks. I am on the second foot. I don't think I would knit this sock again because the left side of the ssk and then pass over gave me a hard time. I've searched the internet for a solution but couldn't find one.

I'm in the middle of job searching. I've finally had enough of my job, so I'm currently looking for a new position.

I haven't had much time to knit. I'm still working on my scarf and I bought more yarn to make a matching hat. It's finally cold enough to wear the things I've knit. I also have two pairs of socks I'm working on. The Baudelaire from Knitty.com and a simple pair called Madder Ribbed sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage socks. I realise I love knitting sock but I don't like magic loop. The stitch between always look bad no matter what I do, so I'm back to DPs. Another thing I've learnt is I have to cast-on with larger needles because I think I knit the top too tight.

I plan on finishing the Viveka sweater I was working on for my daughter. Where the sleeves join the body is too has no give. I going to rip the bind-off out, knit another inch and a half on the sleeves and then bind off using larger needles. I hope this helps. I like working on this sweater, I can see another sweater in my future.

I hope to post pic soon, I hate to read blog post that don't have pics.

Happy New Year!

I'm so glad the holidays are over. I'm broke but happy. I finish knitting the Viveka from Knitty.com for my daughter but the sleeves are too tight at the join, so I took it apart. Hopefully I can find a better bind-off, a lady at the LYS told me to use needle 1 size larger.

I haven't been able to take pictures because it's been cloudy everyday.