Socks are finished!

They came out pretty good! I gifted them to a friend and he loved them!

Now I am knitting birdhouses...have 7 small ones knit and hoping to start a large one tonight. Just need to find some plastic canvas for the large one. Then to felt them and see how they look. If they come out good, I am going to knit up a lot of my leftover pieces of yarn and give them for gifts.


KNIT ON!!

Sock Progress

Well after having knit the gusset and part of the foot I decided I didn't like the looks of it. Tried the sock on Hubbys foot and it was just too wide. So tinked it back to the heel and decided to decreases 2 stitches across the top as i picked up the 15 stitches I needed for the gusset. I then decreased the gusset an extra stitch on each side so I have decreased 4 stitches for a total of 56 sts to make the foot.
Ahhhh it looks so much better and it fits so much better on hubbys foot! I then knit 40 rows to the toe decrease. I then decreased 4 stitches ever other row. row 1.(needle 1) knit to last three stitches...k 2 tog, k1, (needle 2) k1, s1, k1, psso, knit to last 3 stitches on this needle, k2 tog, k1 (needle 3), k1, s1, k1, peso, knit to end of 3rd needles. row 2, knit. Continue to decrease until you have 12 stitches left . put 6 sts on two needles and I have done the Kitchner Stitch to finish them off to have a smooth end for your toes.
I will try to rewrite this as I know that I do not come across very good when trying to explain how I am knitting these socks. And I think that is because I am a true lefty~ Ask my husband, he can tell you he has a hard time to understand me when I try to explain things to him because I do it from my point of view not his right handed point of view.

KNIT ON!

Sport Weight Socks..continued!

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY TO EVERYONE!!!!!






The cuff and heel.


I have knit 80 rows of knit one purl one ribbing for the cuff I like to use the K1, P1 ribbing as I feel it helps to keep the socks up on the leg.
I divided the sock into 30 sts for the heel and then divide the other 30 sts on the other 2 needles.
The heel has 30 rows...row 1: Slip one, knit one across the thirty stitches....the second row is slip the first stitch and purl to the end. I did this for 30 rows.
Now to do the turning of the heel...hmmm. I will post when I get that done! I do not have a pattern for these socks, so I am winging it as i go...I will post the rows as I go along. And hopefully more pictures as the sock evolves!
Picture of the heel.
Turning the heel, I S1, purled 15 sts, P2tog, p1, turn, (11 unworked stitches on your needle) then I s1, k3, k2tog, k1, turn (11 sts unworked) s1, P4, p2tog, s1, turn, s1, k5, k2tog, s1, turn. Continue to decrease 1 st each row till you have 1 unworked st...next row...Row 11...S1, P12, P2tog, P1, turn, Row 12: S1, K13, K2tog, K1, turn (1 unworked st) Row 13: S1 P 14 K2tog, turn, Row 14: S1, K14, K2tog...Now you pick up 15sts for the gusset!
I will have to go over this and make sure Ive written it correct and in the last post on the socks I will do the whole pattern so you and I can understand it. I am so left handed! But I knit right. I just see it in my head differently then a righty does. I drive my husband crazy when I try to explain things to him. lol Oh well.

You cal always check out Rays yarns at his site too. www.knitivity.com I have placed many orders with Ray and have not been disappointed yet! He is also on Facebook if you want to check out is BRS specials he posts there.



















How do you like the size of the wooly nylon I am using! I bought this online from a company in Canada for $30.00 This is half the size from when I bought it a year or so ago. I have saved a ton of money buying this huge spool! The little tiny spools I bought at Jo-Anns many years ago were selling for $5.99. Now I wished I had kept track of how many socks Ive knit using this spool! I tell everyone that I bet I won't live long enough to use it all, but the way Ive been knitting wool socks I bet I do! Just in case I do, I ordered another one for that "just in case" time! I use this on the heels and toes. It does help to save the sock from wearing out quickly.
Back to knitting and watching "Sweet Home Alabama!" I love this movie...Reese Witherspoon and Patrick Dempsey...love love love them!

KNIT ON!!

New socks started!

Well I've finally gotten around to winding the four skeins of yarn I bought last March from Knitivity. I am using a size 3 needle and have cast on 60 sts and am using a knit 1 purl 1 ribbing. Since I am a knitter who counts rows, I will add to the post when I get the cuff done and let you know how many rows I have used. I only have a single skein and I am hoping to make a pair of long cuffed socks. I am debating whether to start the second sock from the end skein to see how far I can get. If I can't finish both pair, I will take another skein (of a different color) and finish then that way. My family doesn't care about color, just care that they get socks!
Knit On!

Spring is coming to the Katahdin Region!

Sunset at the Marina off route 11. Mount Katahdin and the 5 Lakes Lodge.

Deer at the Gateway Inn in Medway. So much fun to watch them eating.

Blue Jays filling up on an old hard roll!

Maine Winter 2012

All I can say is that this winter has been a good one for sure. We have spent this one at camp, have not burned one stick of hard wood, no big snow storms so far and love being here. I have wanted to live here year round since the first year we bought the place, 1997, but because of work and the fact we have to plow 5 1/2 miles to get to the highway, we have always gone back to town and spent the winters there. This winter has been a dream come true. I feared being snowed in and not being able to get back to the highway for weeks at a time! Not this year. We have not had any big snow storms to date but we have had rain. Lots of ice. I think the ice is scarier than the snow now that we have lived here. We waited 3 days for the men to get in touch with the people who do the winging back and sanding. Then they only sanded very lightly. We now have ice again due to the melting and refreezing the past 4 days. Predicting a heavy wet snow for Friday/Saturday. Hoping the men get off their butts and make the call so its sanded tomorrow. We will not be able to move the snow if there is no sand underneath. And thankful that we have studded snow tires on both vehicles! It has helped a lot on the ice when traveling to and from town for food. I also think that being a retired person now I fear a lot of things that 20 years ago would have just been a new adventure! I am so glad we took this adventure this winter!!!!! (I need to clarify that there are many people staying here year round now and we all have pickup trucks with plows...I made it sound like we are alone up here and we are not! We all work at the plowing each storm. )

This is the first year since the late 70's that we have not burned wood! The cost is so much more then expected, but the baseboard heat is worth every penny of it. We have been toasty warm and the temp is controlled in each room....nothing like at home with burning wood daily. Hubbys back injury has been the reason for the new furnace here at camp. I am pleased with it to say the least! At home we would burn about 5/6 cord of hard wood plus a 100 gallons of oil for the hot water tank. Here we are burning less than 90 gallons of propane every two weeks. The insulation has done its work too! We have what some call a crawl space under the camp, but it is a particle foundation on a floating slab. We had that heavily insulated this fall so this has helped with keeping the heating costs down. Since we have our water pipes and tanks underneath we had to heat it. (I am scared of the heat tape most people use on their pipes on trailers) So baseboard there with its own thermostat has really worked out wonderfully. No complaints in that department!

I have done a lot of knitting this winter, but not like I did years ago. My hands hurt now due to old age and I find my attention span on knitting is not like it was either. I love to knit but I find that I want to do something else a lot now. I have been good about finishing up each project before I start another one...no more 50+ WIPs laying around any more. LOL (Is that my old age telling me to make sure its done cause at this stage of the game I may not wake up to finish it?) LOL I do have a lot of yarn and patterns all bagged up and ready for me to knit. I like that part! I buy the yarn and pattern, photocopy the pattern so I can write on it as I knit the project, put it in a zippered bag that I have saved from purchases of sheets or something that is big enough to hold all the stuff and put it in my big covered plastic container! When did I become organized? I do not know! Hoping to start my DIL sweater soon. It will probable be a summer project...one when the black flies are out and I can't stand them and will spend the days inside till the heat kills them off!! Oh and fishing season this summer will take away from my knitting too. I love to take out my little row boat and row around the lake. And last year we bought kayaks...so that will be something that will take away from my knitting time too! Cant wait to head out with my girlfriends and paddle the rivers and lakes with them...and I might even invite Hubby to come with me! We shall see. He isn't a long distance paddler due to his back injury so we just go around the cove here..but when the girls call, I am off and paddling like I love to! Summer hurry up and get here please!

Hopefully I will post some pics in the next few days of my last pair of finished wool socks and the snowmen Hubby and I made while out on our daily walks! We even took one day to color them all with a spray bottle and food coloring! Life is good at Cedar Lake!

KNIT ON!

Knitting project

Well, I am knitting more wool socks. I am finally starting to see the end of my Bartlettyarns I have had for about 20 years. Leftovers from my yarn shop days. I will probably never use up all the rest of the yarns out there in the building. I try not to buy more, but as a knitter who is a yarnaholic I don't see that ever stopping. WIPs are many, but I have finished up quite a few being in the woods all winter this year. I do want to knit the sweater I purchased last summer when we went to Portland. Stopped at a lovely yarn shop in Freeport, Grace Robinsons, and purchased a pattern book that I had wanted to buy from that shop 3 years earlier but they wouldn't sell it to me unless I bought the yarn that the book used. Well this time they were very happy to sell me the book. It was the last one and was the display one. They sold it to me for half price! I did buy yarn from them but not the one the book called for. I got one that was one sale for 50% off! Made it in my price range.

Winter this year has not been a real Maine Winter. We had no -30F weeks at all this year. Very little snow too. Lots of rain and ice. Mud season will be early for sure this spring! This week has been very nice...sun, sun and more sun! We had some rain on Thursday, so on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when we went for our afternoon walk we made snowmen on the banks along the road. Sunday we sprayed them with colored water. LOL Green and purple snowmen! Life is good in the Maine woods!

KNIT ON!

Finished knitting the new foot on the cuffs tonight. As you can see, I didn't have enough of the burgundy color yarn to make them match! LOL Hubby thinks they are great. Nice to be able to reuse and save me the time of knitting cuffs too!

It took me an hour or so to cut back and get each sock on the needles. The socks had been washed many, many times over the last 5 or so years so they were a little felted. One sock was wore up a few rows higher than the other. Glad to be done with this project. Now to start something new. I know it will be another pair of socks, but I also want to knit something for my DIL. Have the pattern and yarn, now to stay of the computer and Facebook and I might get something done!

KNIT ON!

Wool Sock Project

Last night I decided to try and save a pair of wool socks that I had knit for my husband about 7 years ago. He had worn the heels out and was still wearing them and driving me nuts every time I saw his heels sticking out from them! lol So I cut the foot off and then worked it back to the ribbed cuff. I decided to add some rows to the cuff to make them longer, as over the years he has decided he likes them high! I kept thinking I should have just thrown them in the trash and started a brand new pair, but I really hate knitting the cuffs. (They seem to take the longest when knitting a pair of socks to me anyway!) As I worked to get the cuff to a place where the yarn was still thick I kept thinking, "Throw this away! Its going to take more time to do this then to knit them from scratch!" So after an hour or so I finally got all the needles on and the stitches counted and I found that it wasn't as bad as I thought! I am using Bartlettyarns wool that is leftover from a pair I just finished yesterday. These were knit from all leftover yarns when I was knitting the felted hats that were the rage years back. Well, I was knitting the heel and put them up for the night. This morning I noticed that my wooly nylon strand was not there...Dang cat chewed it off again..but she left the wool alone. What am I going to do with this cat? She has eaten all the strings off my blinds, so now we have cheap pull down shades. She gets into my sewing threads and eats those too! I have them in a case and she works at the cover till she gets it off and then eats the thread! lol

Hope you enjoy the photo of the socks. One is still "hole" lol

Hoping to finish up the first one tonight and starting the second one tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be very, very cold here in Maine for a few days so I am staying in and enjoying the heat in my home!

Camp For Sale At Cedar Lake, Maine

We have our camp for sale at Cedar Lake, which is located outside of the town of Millinocket in Maine. We are near Baxter State Park and Mount Katahdin.

In the past year we have added a lot of things, including a drilled well, a filtration system for it, a new metal roof, a new bedroom, a new state of the art computerized furnace (baseboard heat!)( and a new addition for the furnace), a new hot water system, new gas stove, hard wood floor, more insulation and other things. If you are interested in buying our home, you can contact me at 207.447.5794 or beaulierla@gmail.com

Asking price is $299,000.00. The camp sits on 1.75 acre of own land, 275 feet of shoreline with a beautiful sand beach. We have made this into a year round home. With the other landowners here, we plow the 7 miles of road to our camps. We have two bedrooms, a loft, a full bath, kitchen and living room, septic system, and our lake does not have the water level dropped as the others in the area do. The lake has white perch, salmon, trout, splake and other types of fish. We also have a backup generator installed for those days when the power is out so there is no lose of power here at all. It is a Generact system. We also have internet and phone service here now. It is a little piece of heaven. If you are looking for a beautiful place to rest and relax, this is the home for you! There is a huge deck on three sides of the camp too. We enjoy many afternoons on the deck watching the birds and animals or eating our BBQed lunches.

The master bedroom is 16' X 18', the second one is 16' X 10'. The building is 40' X 28', built in 1997. As I get the chance I will add more pictures for your viewing enjoyment! Oh, the lake is one mile by two miles...spring fed and very clear!

I will be adding more pictures as the seasons change.

This is knit from acrylic worsted weight yarn, Encore by Plymouth yarn. I bought the yarn from Rosemary's Gift & Yarn Shop
39 Roosevelt Trail, Windham, Maine 04062

Time!

I think it is time that I start to use this blog again. Living at the lake this winter and I have not done a lot of knitting, but I have made a dozen pair of worsted weight wool socks for hubby and friends...and I did knit one sweater for my Grandson Ben!
Winter has been very mild this year...no long term below zero weather at all, not much snow, but a lot of rain/ice. Very hard to plow when its icy underneath the snow that has fallen. Mud season will be here soon, so we will be moving back to town for a couple of months...will be nice to see people and go to the grocery store when something is needed instead of making a list to pick up when you go to town once a week. lol
Christmas was wonderful!!!! Sarah is 5 1/2 now and Ben is 3. Sarah was so excited this year...made Ben get into the experience too.
I will try to post some pictures of my socks and things...

KNIT ON!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day and hope that you had a great day and plenty of knitting too!

KNIT ON!!!!

Olympic knit hat pattern

http://cleverknits.com/2009/12/plural-of-moose-is-moose.html

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/olympic-reindeer-hat


This was posted in the Knitlist today. I have downloaded the pattern and printed it out! Now to find some yarn and make me one of these!

Tried to download it to this post but it won't do it for me. Please check this out!!! Easy pattern to follow.


KNIT ON~~~

Knitivity Yarns

I placed an order with Ray Whiting a couple of weeks ago and today I received my yarns. I am so anxious to start on them. Planning on a couple of sweaters for the grand kids with a couple of the colors. Love the bright ones the most so I will be using them for the sweaters. Now to decide what to make for a pattern. No cables as they will not show up too much and I really want the different colors to show and not a design. I have a couple of SS roll neck patterns in sport weight that I am thinking I will use.

I did order wool again and now my DIL said she would prefer something she can wash and dry in the machine! Nice to time to let me know after I had already placed the order. Oh well, next time it will be a merino wool for them.

I really love the yarns Ray gets for his hand painted yarns..I have not had one skein yet with a knot in it so I have not had to hide any ends except from starting and stopping.

Been a while since Ive posted, just been so caught up with Facebook that I finally decided to take a break from that and the games on it.

I do have a nice purple WW sweater started for Sarah. Have the back done and the front to the sleeve bind off. I am using some of the Brunswick yarn I have left from my old yarn shop. They stopped making the yarn 15 years ago so does that tell you how old the yarn is. It was still in the plastic packaging and it is in mint condition. I have a couple of bags of their blueberry heather left too. Will make something with that soon.

Well, I am going to go start supper for hubby..he still has his job and we just keep our fingers crossed that the mill will continue to run for another couple of years and then he can retire.

KNIT ON!!!!

American Logger Bar & Grille

If You're a fan of American Logger then you will enjoy these pictures of the Pelletier's new venture in the business world. Our little town is so very proud of this family. Thank you Pelletier Family, you ROCK!!

They lifted this logging truck onto the roof of their new business which is scheduled to open in January 2010.

Ben's new sweater.

 
 

I bought this yarn last summer in Freeport, Maine at a yarn store there and had intended to knit Sarah another side to side sweater. Not being able to find a pattern that I liked I just never used the yarn. So I had a free pattern that came with the yarn I decided it was time for Ben to have something hand knit from Grammy!!

At camp and enjoying this summer. No surgeries this year so I have been out fishing a lot. I do not keep the fish as I hate to clean them...lol. So I go out in my little row boat and have a quiet evening fishing and enjoying nature. Had a couple of loons come up on side of the boat the first night out and scared me half to death!! I was hoping they wouldn't try to grab my lines and get the hooks caught in their mouth. I use a bobber and row around the lake fishing. I hate to sit in one place and have to pull up the ancher so I fish this way.

Well back to the woods...going to try to finish a pair of socks to send to my son today...their friends lost their house and everything in it Friday night due to a lighening strike! They just finished rebuilding the older home and were planning their wedding. Life always throws something at ya when you least expect it.

KNIT ON!!

Deathbysocks

Here are a couple of pictures of the socks I knit for my victim Melody! I hope she enjoys them. I used Knitivity yarn for this.



Giant mosquito~~~

Anna's new socks

Camp and knitting

the road is open to camp. BUT!!!!! The culvert they replaced last fall has washed out. It is down on our end so no one is in a hurry to fix it. DH hauled two loads of gravel yesterday and at least now we can drive over it without killing the truck and ourselves. LOL We are getting old. We are putting in a new hot water heater...we are going tankless this time. It will be so much easier to close up the camp without the big 40 gallon tank of water to drain. Mike is going to put it in and put easy disconnects for us so that we can blow it out and replace with anti-freeze and not worry about that for the winter months.

I have received my hand-painted wool that I ordered from Knitivity. One group is of the colors of Samantha and the other is from our grand puppy Ollie. Going to knit myself a cardigan with hood out of the Samantha color and some socks. Possible a hat and some mittens if I have enough. The Ollie colors are in worsted weight and sport. Knitting some hats and socks for DS for Christmas gifts. I will work on them at camp this summer.

We have someone coming to look at the camp as soon as the road is graded. It is a mess this year. No one took the road rake this spring so it has hardened up quickly and with the ruts from the logging trucks still there. And the sides of the roads are very soft. Someone was stuck today...lol They must have walked to the main road and got a ride home. When we came out this afternoon the truck was gone but you could see the area he was stuck in. Get too close to the edges and they mud just sucks the vehicle in and there is no stopping it. Ha Ha. Better them than me! Mud is worse then snow any day!! lol

I have another pair of socks finished and one and a half of another pair too! Hope to post pictures tomorrow if it is raining out. We will not be heading to camp too early tomorrow..need to run to Medway to the vets to pick up Penny's medications for her thyroid problem. lol Hard to believe that a cat has the same problems humans have.....oh well. She is worth it...she is needed at camp to catch mice for us again. This has caused her heart muscle to thicken so now she has heart problems too. She has had a good life with us and we will keep her going as long as she isn't in any pain. But for now she is taking her meds, eating and has put on a pound in the last 6 weeks. I will start looking for a kitten soon to replace Samantha. I know that Tonto will not be here much longer as he is over 17 years old now...almost 18!!! We don't want Feather to be alone, she hates it when we go out and leave her alone now, can't imagine what she will do if she is the only cat in this house. She has never been alone.

Time to go watch the Young and Restless, or as DH calls it...the old and useless! lol Want to finish my sock tonight. God Bless!!

Take care all and KNIT ON!

Sox from Knitivity sport yarn

I finished up this pair of socks from Knitivity yarn I ordered from Ray. This is from sport weight yarn and the color is Art School sr. This is 100% wool. Down Home art yarn is the brand. There were no knots or tied together strands in any of the skeins I have used so far. I had more then enough to make this pair of socks and enough left over to make me a single sock with a short cuff. But I am going to make a little sweater for my DGS with the other skein and will keep this leftover for just in case....lol. Winding a different color to start tonight with. Will post when finished.

The pattern I used is from my head. I cast on 52 stitches on size 3 dP needles. The cuff is knit and purl and the heel is half of the cast on. Nothing to knitting up a pair like this for anyone. If anyone wants the directions that I have in my head (lol) just ask. Will gladly try to write them down. Oh, I do use wooly nylon for the heel and toe reinforcment on all my socks.

KNIT ON!