Wheww What a day and it sure is late!!!

Boy was today a big day! Three tests and one quiz! And through all that I only got one single row done on my trekking sock, what a bummer! LOL

I wanted to let everyone know if you read this and emailed me privately that I'm just SO tired after today, and the fact that with studying last night I only got about 4 hours sleep that I thought I would have some time to get back to you when class was over, but by the time I got out of class, had to run to the store, came home, finally got dinner, fed the animals and gave scritches to my dog and parrots I'm just sitting down and its after midnight.....So I'm SO sorry but I'm headed to bed so I can get up and start studying again! LOL And of course answer my email. :c)

My Kodiak is still doing good so I'm really thinking he probably pulled a muscle and it was just very painful for him during those few days. I'm very thankful for all the thoughts and prayers, I'm totally convinced this has helped him and we are so happy he is feeling better.

Okay, I'm off to bed, just wanted to let anyone who is either up late or is getting up early that I was thinking of all of you knitters out there and hoping your knitting day was better than mine, and wish you a great knitty day tomorrow!!

April in SC

My dog and my studys

Well today didn't end up being a good day for studying, guess that means a semi late night, than tests in the morning, than a 3 1/2 hours race in the afternoon to finish up homework and studying before my class/tests tomorrow night...I sure can't wait until its over with!! LOL

As for my boy Kodiak, I ended up canceling his vet appointment this afternoon. I had noticed the problem Friday night, called the vet Sat morning and by that evening he has been fine and has appeared fine since. I think he maybe pulled a muscle playing or something. The hot spot that was healing doesn't appear to have any infection in it, no swelling, no heat, no abscess, it really appears to be healing fine, so I canceled and will continue to keep a close eye on him. I can totally palpitate his leg, underneath it and all around it without a single flinch or yelp, he's been walking fine and not lifting that leg or anything...so for now, I'll watch and give him my usually 1,000 loves a day.

I would like to thank everyone who kept him in their thoughts and prayers, I'm sure this helped and it was very much appreciated.. he is one special boy to us!

As for knitting....When I did my swatch on my first trekking sock I swore I was getting 9 sts per inch on my size O's, since I was considering CO with my Lornas Lace and was going to use my size 1's I was just pondering what my Spi would be and started to look for some patterns I might use with the yarn.. I really liked the Eagles Flight Pattern but wasn't sure the yarn would look good with it.. Anyway (I'm sorry, I'm tired tonight!)... I wasn't sure I could get that on my size 1's and for some insane reason I can't find one of my size 2's!! Uggghhh.. So I'm not really sure why but I decided to look at my finished trekking sock and I swear it shows 10 to 11 Spi!!! I checked the second one I'm still working on and it shows the same.. I checked last night and it was really late so honestly I'm not sure if it was 10 or 11 but I can say with assurance it was one or the other! lol Now that is when I got to thinking to myself how the heck I'm going to 8 Spi with my size 1's.. Probably not gonna happen. Still I'm hoping on Wed to be able to swatch with the 1's or just say to heck with it and wait until my 0's are free. :c)

Didn't get to really knit today, probably because I spent all my free time reading up on the socknitters group and asking questions...shame on me but I just can't help it!! They are so great over there that I can totally get lost just reading and asking questions.. Hopefully I will get at least a few rows in between class's.

For now though I still have math homework to do and Medical Terminology to study! I hope everyone had a good knitty weekend!

April in SC

Thank you and good morning!

Thank you so much Karen and Laurie for leaving such encouraging comments and helpful to!! Oh and a good morning to all! :c)

I woke up this morning to some nice hot coffee and my Fiance starting breakfast, I had him ditch on the breakfast though and we sat over coffee and talked. Boy that's nice, I swear with school, kids and animals we never seem to do that often.

Last night my youngest daughter (6) got off my bed and my beloved dog Kodiak (10 1/2) yelped out and I thought maybe she landed on his paw, but then my Fiance said he had done that the other night when she just got near him...that was odd and I figured I better check him out, although he seemed fine and he's one of those dogs that does nothing, literally, he just lays at me feet and you'd think he was stuffed. So about an hour later my oldest daughter's (16) friend comes over to stay the night and she was petting him and he yelped out again when she touched his shoulder.. Of course my daughter came to tell me right away and I knew something must be wrong. :c(

So I come out of the family room into the front living room and call him over.. Kodiak gets "hot spots"...he has flea dermatitis, skin allergies and can lick hot spots if he's stressed which not always that hard to do, he's always worrying and trying to herd the kids, he is part Aussie after all... Anyway, I knew he had a rather hot spot on on his upper front left leg but it had been healing nicely...At least I thought it was.. In 10 1/2 years they have ALL healed great, we make sure to clean them out and give him a bath with special soap to help... Well this one hasn't I guess but its not presenting like a regular infection. There is no real swelling, no extra heat coming from the area, it doesn't appear abscessed...so of course I'm panicking. He's my buddy, he came to me at a time when I didn't have any one else, he went through my divorce with me, we've had some hard times together and thank goodness some very good ones, so I'm totally upset all night and kept checking on him through the night. So I get up and call the vet this morning and they can't get him in until Monday, so me being all panicky I asked them if they thought he live until then! LOL Ummm yea, he probably will, but that sure won't keep me from worrying at least a year off my life.... SO as dumb as this sounds, IF anyone reads this, please keep my buddy in your thoughts, there would never be a way I could convey how important Kodiak is to me, how close we are, if I didn't have my Fiance I would say he was my best friend and soul mate!! It's just heart breaking to see the pain in his eyes and see him flinch if he even thinks you going to touch that shoulder.. :c(

As for knitting, I worked on my second trekking sock for a few rows last night. I'm past the gusset working on the foot part and so far the ladders look less than the first one which made me really happy. And this afternoon we are going to my aunts for dinner and visiting and I can take it with me to work on, knitting, coffee, visiting and dinner...what a perfect day!!! (except for my doggy of course)...

For now though I better do some studying before we leave. I hope everyone out there has a great Sat day!!!

April in SC

Lornas Laces..

Well, since I'm on a role today with actually getting a blog post up, I thought I would ask my LL Question....Should I or should I not use a pattern with this yarn?? It's Lornas Lace Bucks Bar #142. So should I do just a vanilla sock or a pattern and if a pattern what do all you experts think would be a good pattern??

I can't believe how excited and nervous I am to actually knit with this stuff, and honestly if I don't do something soon it will be worn out from just rubbing it!! LOL

In all my life I've only found knitting to be my bane on life..I love it so much, yet, its the only thing I've done that I can never make up my mind on and its one of the only things in my life I have such a fear of messing up..which is super dumb I know! I mean after all, its my knitting, its what I like to do and who cares what others think right?? (unless its for them anyway..lol) So why all this anxiety about making sure I pick the right pattern for the colors/yarn? I have no idea, but I've never seen myself as a very imaginative person, so mixing colors really isn't my thang. Maybe that will change as I do/learn more.. I guess on thinking about it, I do have a few reasons why I'm such a worry-wort over it:

1) I don't have much money to spend on yarn, so in buying I not only have to be very selective and know what my projects are going to be, but if I mess it up to badly that project may have to be put on the back burner until I can get more yarn if I've frogged it to death.

2) I've never been a color person, I have always stayed on the conservative side, most knitters aren't like that, and now that I am one I find that I'm blooming as much as the beautiful yarns I've knit with, but I'm still insecure about my choices and don't feel confidant at all about color-ways and such.

3) I'm not patient...there I said it! Now with that said I'll explain a little. I'm very patient when it comes to knitting, I'm perfectly content to do each row, take my time and enjoy all the process's that come with knitting, but I'm not very patient when it comes to having to pick the yarn and the pattern, I'm nervous, not confidant, and just want to actually get to the point of casting on and knitting and sure as heck on my budget don't want to make a mistake...

So with those three reasons stated, I will do my best to work on them.....after I get help with this pattern/yarn issue.. ;c)

Thanks everyone!!!

April in SC

What a busy month and half!!

Well her I thought I had another week before college started again to post here in my last post and boy was I wrong! This last two months sure have been eventful. So eventful that I didn't even get to knit almost the whole month of Jan! Finally I just told myself that I needed to take some time to relax even if it was only for 5 minutes at a time, which is about what I was getting there for awhile.

In the meantime, school has kept me busy, my family, knitting, reading email's when I get the chance, did I mention school? lol And of course that does not count the animals, our entire heating/air going out and having to be replaced for 3600, and a four day trip to nationals with my daughter and her team who are all on the ROTC Precision Team for her high school. Oh and of course school... :c) Ohh yea, and for some reason I had about 3 weeks where the "S" button on my keyboard was sticking and it was driving me nuts, don't know what fixed it but its fine now, thank goodness..

For some reason I feel like I'm studying my butt off and still not doing as well as I'd like to be, I still have all good grades, but I feel like I'm studying way more for how much I'm retaining, which doesn't seem to be enough. This weekend I will be evaluating how I'm studying and seeing if there is anything I can work on.

Okay, for knitting! I was inspired once again to try posting pictures to my blog by the wonderful people at the Yahoo! group Socknitters . These Ladies/Gents are FANTASTIC!! I can't even tell you how wonderful and patient they are, how they will go out of their way to help you in any possible way you can think of, even down to searching the Internet for just the right sock pattern for you and the yarn you have chosen..Awesome people who all deserve great big hugs.. :c) And here is the story of the pics...

So I got my first ME sock done (which is not a pattern name, really just my first sock I have made for me), I made a pair for my honey but not for myself, and of course since his were a "trial" I just used a Lions Brand which was fine with him, I don't think he really cared much as what he wants is a sweater, not a pair of socks..lol... However, for me I went and got some actual sock yarn..woohooo. I was SO nervous and excited I was almost shaking, and then I waited for 2 whole days before I started knitting with it...insane I know! LOL So I got some Trekking XXL Color #126 and some Lornas Laces Shepherd in color Bucks Bar #142. I decided to start with the trekking. I went to a LYS that didn't have a great selection but were awful nice I'm sure I will go back, anyway I wanted to buy online and will still be doing that, but I wanted a small project to take on the trip to nationals and didn't have time to get an online order in time for when we were leaving. Well when I went I brought my 16 yo with me and she said the trekking looked like it would be ugly, and I said, well we'll find out. I thought it would just stripe, but as I started to knit, oh boy, it didn't just stripe at all and the colors have come out beautifully!! I don't wear pink and it has just a bit in it but I'll tell you I can't wait to get these on my feet!!

As for the Lornas Laces, I'm not sure what pattern I will use, my trekking is just a basic ankle sock (I don't usually wear socks, just sandals or heels all year around, so I'm really not sure about high'ish socks at all! lol)...I will try and get pic's of my color way and any suggestions would be great...

So after completing the first sock, I started on the second and someone on the sock knitting group asked about trekking...FINALLY I might be able to contribute more than just sharing a pattern I pull out of my sock favorite folder (being the pattern junky I am)..how exciting...and that is where my pictures come in...I can actually share my trekking sock for someone else to see, I have something to share finally that is finished and might help someone!! Life is good today, especially right now...because after this I have to go study!! LOL

The sock wasn't perfect, hasn't been washed and I did have some ladders (I wonder if they will go away after being washed?)....ohhh and not to brag, but I felt SO lucky! When I finished the first sock, I was only 2 rows off on the color way when I started the second, no wasted yarn looking to match it up...how cool was that?? And I might even get two pairs of ankle socks out of this yarn, course I have small feet at only a small size 5. What a bonus! :c)

Anyway, I hop everyone has a great weekend and has the chance to feel the wonder of yarn flowing through their fingers as the colors spring to life on the needle!

April in SC

PS. Last night in class I was knitting before it started and someone asked what I was making, so I pulled out the finished sock (which I have been religiously carrying around with me like a geek) and she couldn't believe the sock yarn patterned itself like that, she thought I had done it myself....I'm not sure I will ever be good enough to do that!! LOL