Spring Time

I love spring! I love seeing the flowers bloom. It is a sign of rebirth and new growth. Spring makes me feel happy and excited about life. 

Unfortunately, it is also a time for pollen which means itchy eyes, sniffling, sneezing, and sounding hoarse. 

I thought I’d share with you some pictures of flowers from my yard. 

Sock Madness 18 Rounds 1 and 2

I just finished my socks for Round 2 and submitted them. Now I’m just waiting to see if it was approved.

I love a good challenge and my friend, Patte, says I’m product-oriented. So, I like getting something finished even if I dislike the process of getting there.

I’ve learned a lot of new skills and techniques so I’m happy I gave it a try. It is a free challenge so I had nothing to lose. I made 3 pairs of socks over 24 days which really surprised me. Of course, I didn’t do anything else that needed to be done. After I finished each pair of socks, I had some free days before the next round so I tried to catch up on some things.

Now, I think I’m over the challenge and will step back if my socks are accepted. There may have been some mistakes and I just don’t have it in me to knit another pair of them and hope I don’t make another mistake. If I do move to the next round, I’m not sure I want to spend the time making another pair of socks that doesn’t fit anyone I know. The required size is turning out to be so huge. I’m ready to knit something fo myself that I can wear.

Here are socks from Round 1 and Round 2:

Postcard Show

Yesterday we went to the Postcard Show hosted by the Tropical Postcard Club. We got there around 10 am when it started and stayed until 1 pm. It ended at 4 pm but we had to get on the road before then. It was so nice to see our postcard friends. I thought there was a good turn out and I was glad to see a couple of our stamp club friends come to the show. 

Don found lots of treasures that he couldn’t live without. I surprised him and bought 4 boxes of postcards from another friend for his birthday. Of course, our car is packed to the gills as we make our way back to our summer home and I felt like I needed a shoe horn to fit anything else in the car! We will miss our postcard friends but we will be back in 6 months for the winter. 

Sock Madness 18 Qualifying Round

I’ve decided to try a new adventure and I signed up for Sock Madness this year. It is a Ravelry challenge that involves knitting socks. You have to pass the qualifying round to get assigned to a team and then compete. I think each round gets more difficult and the deadline gets shorter.

Qualifying Round: You are sent an email with a specific pattern. You have to knit it exactly as written with specific minimum requirements. After you finish, you have to take specific photos and upload it to your project page. Then you email the judges with a link to your project page. If it is before the deadline, they let you know if you see any mistakes or if you are approved to move to the next round.

So, I knit the Hydra Scales socks which was completely out of my comfort zone. These socks are knit cuff down and I usually knit toe up. These socks called for 64 stitches and I usually knit mine on 52. These socks had a heel construction that I’d never done before. I have to Kitchener stitch the toes which I hate doing. Plus it included stripes and cables.

My first submission: I had cables on one sock going in the wrong direction but was told it was easily fixable by using a duplicate stitch. I wasn’t sure if I should fix it but I did.

My second submission: I did some overthinking and thought all the cables were going the wrong way so I duplicate-stitched all of the cables. They let me know that now I had multiple cables going in the wrong direction and they saw that one sock had a leg that was too long (too many repeats) and the foot was too short (not enough repeats) and that I would need to reknit that sock. I almost gave up but I was many days ahead of the deadline and what would I do with these wonky socks so I fixed it. 

My third submission: I reknit the second sock. They approved it and I moved on to Round 1.

I am proud of myself for finishing the qualifying round. Now I’m working on Round 1. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Things I’m Learning:

• New knitting techniques.
• I’m faster than I thought I was.
• I’m better at Kitchener Stitch than I used to be.
• Knitting one sock at a time isn’t that bad.
  
  

  
  

Bills, Taxes, and Enjoying the Front Porch

It was a lovely day today. I always (or at least try to) balance my checkbook every Friday and pay bills. Then I worked on our taxes. I usually start this on the first of February but I kept putting it off this year. Yesterday I gathered all the needed info and filled in a spreadsheet. That makes it easier to fill out all the tax forms. Today was the first draft of my taxes. I usually review it once a week and find a mistake every week. Next week I will plug the numbers in on the form that is on my computer.

I spent most of the day I sat outside on the front porch. I knit, played games on my phone, and browsed the internet. I watched season 12 episodes of Chicago Fire that I’ve missed. I went inside to eat lunch and watch The Waltons. Little Bear wanted in the screened porch so I let her in and she went to the corner chair for her nap. After lunch, I sat back outside until dinner time.

I will miss my time on the front porch. The weather is so perfect at this time of year. It isn’t too hot and it isn’t too cold.