Its NOT bigger on the inside ...

I started knitting the Tardis socks. The pattern calls for 72 stitches ... usually I do 64 and get 8.5-9 stitches per inch and these fit well. My feet are long, but very thin ... I'm thin, so my ankle and foot circumference are around 7.5". I thought knitting 72 stitches on size 0 (2.0mm) needles would do ... but even with only two rounds done, this looks HUGE for me. With a crude measurement and guesstimate I think its going to come out at 8" ...

What to do?!?! I think I am going to try and design my own Tardis socks ...


It was going quite well ... I know I knit tight, so by the time I got to this point I thought I should try it on and make sure I was stranding loose enough for it to fit over my heel ... nope. Close, but not quite. This is indeed, NOT bigger on the inside.


I should have known this pattern was going to be a problem. I don't know if the skein was like this or I did it. When I cut the ties, I thought I did an oopsie, where I cut the wrong strand ... but maybe it was the ends ... then I found the ends.


What the arrows are pointing to are not the ends, I had to tuck the extra up into the swift in order to wind off the yarn. I had a big ball and an itsy bitsy ball when all was done.

The sock is in time out for the meantime. I think it'll end up working out fine if I strand, REALLY loosely. But right now I have deadline knitting and should stop fooling around with these socks.

I went to JoAnn's on the way home Friday night for some ribbon for my friend's wedding invitations ... that I really need to finish this weekend. I decided to browse while I was there ... my only defense is that I have a head cold and I was delirious ... I know, I know I said no more yarn, but it was buy one get one half ... hey, at least I only got one pair of sock skeins!


Then I saw this cross stitch, too cool to pass up. But $16.99?? Then I saw the sticker "Contains 2 Designs! See Reverse" Well $16.99 isn't too much for TWO patterns. Then I saw the posting, 10% off green stickered cross stitch. Whoo hoo. yeah that didn't amount to much though, LOL!



This store was designed really well. The magazines are all by the register queue. But the isle is large enough that you are not in the way of people in line if you want to just browse the magazines. I picked up the Fall Interweave Knits and the Halloween special Just Cross Stitch while waiting in line. I am a sucker for anything Halloween, its my favorite holiday. I am also a sucker for ornament type cross stitch patterns and this magazine was chock full of both!

Stencils and Snow

For some reason I thought stenciling would be a fun activity. OK its not that bad, but I wouldn't call it fun, LOL! I got these plain wood boxes for a couple of bucks at JoAnn's a few months back. I had extra paint from the trim in my craft room so I thought I would paint them to match and use them for storage - maybe WIPs or yarn or magazines, I've got plenty of things to put in them! I used my Cricut to make a stencil and penciled it on and then painted it in by hand with some acrylic craft paint.


The box is tipped on its side for picture purposes. I stenciled above the handle on the other side as well. I think its a little off center, but I'm wondering if its the handle. I measured and checked several times before I penciled it on. If you squint a little bit it looks just fine :) Its good enough for a storage box, I'm not making a work of art here.


I have two boxes so I have three more stencils to go. Once they are painted in with the light purple paint I figured I would embellish with darker metallic purple and some clear glitter paint, not sure yet.

We've got quite a bit of snow! That's our deck furniture you can barely see there ... don't worry, we tipped the table over on purpose for winter so that the snow wouldn't break the glass top.

Way in the back you can barely see the bird bath, I would guess that the bird bath is about 2 1/2 feet tall ...


Snow, snow everywhere. I don't mind a little snow, but its too much right now. Lots of roads and parking lots are difficult to get out of because you can't see what's coming. People have to shovel their roofs off to prevent damage or collapse. We should really shovel off the deck this weekend. Its got even more snow because some of it is what came off the roof. It rained a bit today too, initially they were forecasting more snow, but it was up in the 40s.



When I went to the bank this morning I brought my camera to snap a picture of the icicles on the front of the local seafood take out place (closed for the season). I noticed them last night while I was driving home ... but didn't have my camera and it was way dark out by then anyway. The icicles were from the roof to the ground and were about 6-12" in diameter. The front part of the building is a screened in area where patrons order from a window - like and ice cream place - but in the summer its nice so while you are waiting for your food you're not standing outside where the mosquitoes can get you. I would guess the roof of the screened in portion is probably 10 feet tall. When I drove by I saw that the icicles had broken and fallen down. So no picture :(

When I got back from the bank errand, it was snowing, BIG, huge, fat flakes ... OK that I'll admit was very pretty (especially since it didn't accumulate). I watched the birds at the bird feeder and the huge flakes fall ... reminded me of a snow globe.

I had lots of grandiose plans of finishing some knitting project today, but instead did some much needed cleaning around the house. The floors were an absolute mess from the snow. Muddy, icky footprints everywhere and I was really sick of hearing things crunch when I walked around. So most floors were swept and mopped. Only to get messy again this coming week I'm sure. While the idea of taking our shoes off when we enter the house in theory is a good one, in reality, its just not possible all the time.

I wish I had a project that was near completion, but as I think of them, I can't think of any one that's any nearer to the end than any other. I think I may pull out my Nugatory socks and try and figure out where I was in the pattern ...

Or maybe I'll work on this ...


Because we actually do get Hummers here ... not this time of year though, LOL!

Rain, rain go away

We have been getting so much rain here this month. I think we only had 3 days of sun in the entire month. This is a photo of one of the gardens ... boyfriend dug up these columbines the other day to save them from drowning. They are back in pots now, I'm not sure if they are going to survive.

I got a lot of stitching done yesterday on this project. I was lucky I could find it. When we moved, anything that was in progress got packed with miscellaneous stuff depending on its location. Everything not worked, is all together in tubs in the basement.

I think I will be finishing this one up soon. Its a little more than half done, but there's also a lot of backstitching all over to finish it.



I also got some more done on my next sweater. I will take some photos once more is complete. There's 12 inches of ribbing before the main body takes shape. Boring! I am working it in a cotton / acrylic blend and because of the cotton its a little tough on my wrists, so this one may take a bit of time to complete or else I may end up with carpal tunnel.

I would love to get down to 2 knitting projects and one cross stitch at a time. I don't like all these WIPs hanging over my head. At the moment I am working the sweater, a pair of socks for a co-worker, then I have the Price of the Wood Elves socks, gloves for Diane for this xmas, boyfriend's scarf from last year that was supposed to be completed for winter ... or the year before I can't remember. And a scarf for my mom that was around the same time, I can't find the working copy of the pattern and the magazine is packed in a box somewhere ... and no I don't know what issue or title it came from!