Blog issues

I've moved my blog. Apparently, changing your email account can cause issues. Please go to String Theory for the most up to date version of my blog. sorry for the inconvenience. Mikki

Punny Sox

Okay, so I've been absent. Sign me up for a spanking. I've been knitting. Sox and hats, mainly, plus a sweater. Oh and I saw the Harlot at World Forestry Center. Where I scored some special yarn. With which I'm knitting a pun. Knitters Without Borders = Jaywalkers. Get it? (Yeah, I know, back to the needles...)

How to put a folded hem on toe up socks

I like toe up socks for many reasons. I also have recently become enamored of folded hems at the cuff of my socks. Difficult to do from the toe up. Either my bind off/sew off is too tight, or too loose. Anyhow, I figured out how to do it. Be warned, there is grafting involved. I have included photos, please excuse their quality.

You will need one sock in progress, and extra set of circular needles in the size you are using.

First work you sock from the toe up as you please. When you are ready to knit the cuff, knit the front and back of each stitch.


Then you drop the working yarn, and get an extra needle. Slip the stitches for the first half of the sock as follows: stitches knit on the front leg of the stitch on one needle, stitches knit on the back leg of the stitch on the other. This will place the stitches for the front half of the sock on two needles.


Repeat this process for the back half of the sock. You now have four circular needles on your sock, two on the 'inside' and two on the 'outside'. Ignore the inside needles for now. They will be used later, but for right now are just holding the stitches.


Using on the the 'outside' needles, knit your hem.
For a flat folded hem:
knit 4 rows
purl one row (turning row)
knit 3 rows.
For a picot edge hem:
knit 4 rows
(yo, k2tog) to the end of the round
knit 3 rows

See the 'inside needles sticking out? This is correct.




Turn you sock inside out. You will now graft the 'inside' stitches to the 'outside' stitches. A great grafting tutorial is here. Use the last stitches from the back half of the sock to start your grafting. Graft the front half of the sock. Move the last stitch from each needle to the back half of the sock, and continue grafting.










When your reach the end, secure your ends and turn the sock right side out.












Enjoy! Please let me know if you have any problems with this pattern.

I found my yarn!!!

When we left our intrepid explorers, they were preparing for interviews in Portland, OR. At the time, we were deciding if we could really get that new sweater, a pair of socks and a shawl finished in a week and a half. Really, I actually thought about it, even calculated how many hours it would take, and decided the socks would do nicely, as meals/work/sleep were not optional.
Trip was fabulous! A week later, 4 job offers. Accepted one (no need to get piggish). A week later apartment found. Time to plan the move.
Tempers flared, we don't pack the same. I'm from the get-it-into-a-box line of reasoning. DH is from the clean-and-sort-the-crap-out-of-it , then pack it camp. These two approaches do not coexist peacefully. I need a schedule, he doesn't remember the schedule. It's actually quite funny, in hindsight.
I actually have a craft room in the new apartment. Oh, by the way we moved last week. Did I mention that? No? Oh, sorry. Mom says I have my priorities screwed up, as I am unpacking my craft room last. I argue that food and sleep are priorities (according to Maslow), and I know where my current pair of socks is, and can put my hands on them, so it's all good. Again, different styles.
I have another 11 days off, to finish unpacking, figure out the transit system, and get my new driver's license. But that's another story....

Let me 'Splain....

I left home over 20 years ago. No secret there. In all of this time, not once in my recollected memories has my mother actually sent my Xmas box to arrive before the aforementioned day. It's fun actually, I get gifts twice every year. Today I got an email from her:

Yep, you got it! Today, I mailed your Christmas gifts. You know, yesterday was Orthodox Christmas, so I am really only one day late. Or something like that.

So, do you have power yet? If not, you aren't reading this email. lol

My box is on the way!!!! And yes, we do have power again, thanks to PG&E, who supplied power to the shopping centers first, then the residents and hospital of Chico, CA. Some people in town don't have power yet, and another storm is coming in tonight. Thank the Goddess for flannel sheets.

I call a 'Do-Over"

Happy National Do-Over Day!!! (otherwise known as New Year's)

All things that happened last year that were less than stellar are over. Mistakes past. Angry words, gone. Today you have a chance to change it all. Sounds like a commercial, doesn't it? Well, maybe it is. Maybe you need a Do Over. You remember those, when we were kids. Call a Do Over. May the new year a beautiful one, full of promise and joy.

Just Do Over, differently.

Hugs,
Mikki and the rest of Snuzzleheim

Yes, I'm still knitting

Frantically, in fact. Unfortunately, most of it is for Yule, and can't be posted yet. My family sporadically checks my blog. I will post photos in a couple of weeks. And then there is the birthday surprise for my little sister! She will, in fact, cry. This project is a joint mission, paid for by me, pulled off by my mom, and being delivered by my not-so-little brother.

On the AWWWW front:
One brother is home from Iraq, just a couple of days ago. It was his second tour, and was extended this time, so we were kind of holding our breaths about whether he'd actually come home. Welcome Home Doug!!! Your kids and wife need you. We all are getting why you're spending the holidays at home. I think a nice quiet Xmas is in order.
Little brother Brad is home from the Marine Corps for the holidays. (Grab some Kleenex now, I'll wait) He only told two sisters that he was coming home. Em picked him up at the airport on Tuesday night around 11pm, and drove him to his fiance's house, who only knew a surprise was being delivered around midnight. Emma sat in the car to see her reaction. Apparently, Becca practically tackled him on the lawn. The next morning (Wednesday) my unsuspecting mother was leaving me a message on my phone telling me Jake's chest measurement and how surprised she was about how big babies really are from numbers standpoint, when she dropped the phone and disconnected it as Brad and Becca walked in the front door. She called back a little bit excited. Happiness all around. Hooray, my mom has no children in a war zone this holiday season!!

Hope your holidays are just as special. Blessings from our house to yours.