Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Still recovering . . .

I tell you, getting back my energy after the close of the show has been tough. I've taken daily naps and even slept in a few mornings, which if you know me, you know is very rare. Today was the first morning I have awakened at my normal time of 5 am feeling even remotely chipper.

I worked another hour on the February socks this morning. I am a long way from done but am hoping that I'll have a few hours today, between dance classes and the 45 minutes of free time I usually have at Awana before the awards need to be prepared. It's going to be a challenge to finish these by March 1 and finish the stealth B-day gift before March 4, though. I'll keep you posted.

For those who are interested, the sock pattern is a variation on the Sweetheart Socks from Interweave Knits Holiday 2007 magazine. The magazine is not available anymore but Interweave has been putting out some of the patterns from it as PDF files you can purchase and download. So far, the Sweetheart Socks are not one of them but an e-mailed request might make it available.

Now, my socks are modified because I couldn't make gauge with the yarn and needles I had on hand (I refuse to use 00 or 000 needles - ugghhh!). I removed a couple ribbed wales and re-charted the whole pattern to a toe up configuration. Lest you think I'm some kind of genius, for cable patterns, it just a matter of turning the pattern upside down. The direction of the cable symbols reverse themselves and I could have gotten away without charting it, if I wanted to run around knitting from an upside down magazine all the time. However, since I had to remove some stitches from the pattern anyway, re-charting seemed like the best way to save time in the long run.

If anyone is interested in receiving the re-worked, toe-up chart, just send me your e-mail address and I'll forward it to you via e-mail for free. It won't be a complete pattern, just the charts but I've found that it isn't hard to incorporate a charted pattern into other generic toe-up patterns.

I am very excited to be making plans to attend the Shepherd's Harvest Festival again this Mother's Day weekend. I've been stalking the web site daily, waiting for the class lists to come out. Registration starts March 15, so I'm anxiously awaiting the finalized class roster. I love trying new things at the festival. Hope some of you will join me in attending this year.

Well, time to get my kids going on school. Life goes on, even after the show closes.

4 comments:

Sheepish Annie said...

You know, I think that giving yourself the time to rest up after all that hard work was the least you could do for yourself. We're always so much the better when we let ourselves recover from the chaos, even if it was a fun kind of chaos! ;)

Guinifer said...

See now - this pattern is written for me! I think I even have that mag.

Ellen said...

I was bummed we couldn't fit the play into our schedule but pleased you'll be at Shepherd's Harvest. Once again, I'll be working the MKG table and (hopefully) participating in the Big Fiber Sandwich. I've heard that's good for you . . . See you there!

Anonymous said...

OOoo...that Shepherd's Harvest sounds nice. Hmmm...long way from Texas but I do have a SIL that lives in Prior Lake. Is it anywhere near there??
BTW - I love your socks!