Four more days...

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

I think it has been the middle of July since I last posted, and though I've missed actively participating in our blog, the time away has allowed me to really work on doing well in my class...and it is paying off. I can hardly believe that I only have four more days (though two of those days involve taking tests -- that's the thing about summer classes -- every time I turn around, there is a test). Since then, I actually had to finish the gift sweater I had languishing, so that I could give it away, so here is my finished version of "ChildHood". The front... And the back...
I can't remember all of the variations I made to this pattern, but I think the larger size, the kangaroo pocket, and the fact that it is a pullover instead of a cardigan, immediately come to mind as being different than the picture shown on Knitty.

Anyway, I have a little breather tonight, because my boys are staying with their grandparents for a few days. They are extremely excited to have "no parents" with them there, and so I didn't have the heart to tell them that Mommy is getting a bit of a nice break, too. I need it! Sometimes, it's difficult for the mom when the kids are around most of the day -- they have so many opportunities to fight with each other, and so I have many opportunities to be frustrated by it. It's not like it was when I was growing up and kids just walked out the back door and into the neighborhood and played with the many children in the neighborhood until the moms shouted out to them that lunch was ready, at which time the kids went running home from friends' houses. Nowadays, many of the moms in my neighborhood are at work, and so their kids are not readily available to meet up for random play by just showing up at a park. And, even if they were around, these days I won't even let my kids out of my sight.....

I've been knitting a little bit on socks. Here is the Embossed Leaves pattern from Favorite Socks, except, as noted in another post, I'm making them toe-up. I like the results. I actually figured out Magic Loop, and though I LOVE LOVE LOVE it for the Turkish cast-on, I found that the loops of the needles which stick out on the sides keep getting in my way once I've got the toe established, so after making half of a foot, I switched back to my dpn's. I still want to try knitting socks using the two circs method.....to be thorough.....but I really like the dpn's. I just turned the heel on the second sock.....

Regarding the toe-up socks... I'm finding that the heel area is a bit snugger than I like, so on my next pair, I'm definitely going to try making a heel flap from the toe-up instead of using the short rows w/ yarnovers method. I am loving the whole toe-up concept so much that I don't think I'd change back to top down as my "standard" way to make socks, but I do want to try to get the heel area a bit looser.

So, I should go put a load of laundry in the washer, and then get some studying done for tomorrow's test. I can't believe it is the final week of my class, ALREADY!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)