Final Shipment of Year One of the Lord of the stRings Sock Club

If you have not recieved your December shipment- you may want to wait before reading.....










Introducing:

Rohan

Sorry about the picture. I didn't actually have a working camera at the same time that I had the sock- so I had to scan it..... lol

This design was inspired by the main village of Rohan. The majority of the people in Edoras had long golden braids. The tombs of the kings were covered in simbelmyne- also called Evermind- delicate white flowers. At the entrance to Meduseld- the king’s hall in Edoras- the guards had shields with the emblem of the blazing sun on them. Hence the gold “braid”, and the delicate vine flowers, and the blazing suns on the socks. And since horses were immensely important to the people of Rohan, they had to be represented somewhere. The horseshoes on the soles of your feet won’t leave imprints when you walk, and they won’t press into your foot- but they do make a fun finishing touch.

Fun socks. I like colorwork. I admit this sock didn't quite work out the way I intended, but at this point, I can't remember what I did intend. So I'm very happy with these. :-)

They'll be for sale from The Unique Sheep 6 months after the club.

Child of the Yarn

I had to giggle this morning. A friend of ours used to call my children either
"yarnies" or "children of the yarn". Well, today, it was quite obvious why (I don't think he wanted his picture taken)
He decided to let me take pictures after all. :-)
Now, I have to confess- that in all honesty, this was not my work. Well, ok, dressing him and taking his picture was my work; but the knitting is not mine. I was blessed to have some dear friends from The Parlor throw me a cyber-baby shower and send me a plethora of hand knit baby items. It was super cool, b/c I was so busy designing this year, that the time I would normally have filled w/ knitting for my baby was filled w/ designing. I only had time to make 2 little hats, 1 little jacket, and 1 pair of socks. None of which he is wearing in these pictures.
I like to think that it's cute that my children are "children of the yarn". I think they like it. Last week, ES asked me to make him some pants that match a sweater I made for him. And YS has been wearing his handknits every day until I have to force them off him to wash them. I suppose the suddenly cold weather may have something to do with that.....

In other news, one set of grandparents finally got to come spend some time with Babybug:


We are eagerly awaiting the time when the other grandparents can come do the same thing....

Giving Thanks

This post is 2 days late- but Happy Thanksgiving anyway!!!
Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays. I love spending the day with lots of family and friends and being thankful for all the good things that have happened over the last year.
This year was not what we expected or wanted in that regard, however. We all got the flu this week and have been sick through the holiday. So no family or friends got to come hang out and be thankful with us.
I am very thankful, though.
Thankful that this sickness hit at a time when Joel is able to be home and help me with the 4 sick children. Thankful that we went to the Dr. before the big weekend and got some medicine and lots of helpful information so we could avoid the ER trip....
I am thankful for my 4 (Four!) children- that, on the whole, they are pretty healthy.
Thankful for our new big home with a backyard! (and on weekends like this, thankful for our free Wii so we can rent games and have something to do between nose blows... )
God is good to us. There is so much to be thankful for!!! Even when we don't get what we want, we have an amazing amount of good things that happen to us.

The last 6 weeks have been wild!! Babybug is growing well. He is a good baby- as long as he is being held, he is happy. ;-) It makes it a bit difficult to get things done; but I am enjoying all the cuddles. We've finally gotten back into doing school with the older 2. Life is gradually sliding into "normality", I suppose. At least as normal as it gets with us. ;)
I finally finished a knitting project! It took me 7 weeks to make a pair of socks.
That is an amazing amount of time to make a very basic pair of boot socks; but I figure, since there were days I could barely work one round, and days I couldn't even pick up the needles for taking care of children and home- 7 wks is ok. :-) I have 2 more Christmas presents to knit, then I really want to start working on some designing. I haven't done any designing for 2 months- and it's driving me crazy! My email has been getting notifications: "such-and-such magazine is taking submissions for......" I want to do it! But I have no time, and can't promise to get anything done at a certain time right now. Probably not for a long time......Oh well, at least I can knit- one round a day.... :-)

#2

This post is rather late due to life circumstances. :-) But- in October, I had my 2nd pattern publication in Yarn Forward Magazine.
Issue 19, November.
Introducing
Ruth's Tunic
This is my photography-obviously. And the way I intended the sweater to be worn. A high collar, simple herringbone pattern that changes direction with the color changes. The yarn is, naturally, The Unique Sheep Sashimi. In Tritiziana Gradiance colorway.
This was the hardest pattern to write I have ever attempted. The knitting really wasn't that difficult, but the writing so that the knitting could be duplicated was very hard. There's a lot of things happening at the same time in this sweater. But I am thrilled with how it turned out. I absolutely loved working with the Sashimi yarn. It is so light, soft, and smooshy. It was wonderful. To get the color changes with this sweater, you have to use Unique Sheep yarn. They are the only ones who do the Gradiance colorways. You could do it with other yarn- but then it would just be a basic sweater with a lot of seaming. With Gradiance colorways- it's something more.
The funny thing about this sweater, is that when I sent it in to the magazine, I apparently didn't explain properly how it was to be worn (it was so obvious to me). This is what happened in the magazine- photo copyright St. Range Photography.

I love their photography, mine is horrible-- but the sweater is on backwards. :-) But, you know, it works great! So, unintentionally, I made a sweater that can be worn 2 different ways. If you like a high collar- or if you don't, this works. :-)

(the professional photo really does much better justice to the colors- they are lovely....)

BabyBug

At 9:08pm Friday October 16th, Milo was born. 8lbs, 2oz. Healthy and doing well.

He was allowed to go home w/ his family Saturday night. Where he promptly became an adorable little starfish.

His brothers and sister were thrilled to meet him- and cannot leave him alone for even a minute. We are all so glad he is here safely! Thank you to all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

Countdown shortened

Well, we had a good Dr's visit this morning. Came away with a plan, and a definite date. Now, don't get me wrong- I am all for waiting and having as natural a birth as possible. In fact, I really wanted to have this child without assistance from medication- but you know, sometimes, you have to take other things into consideration. Quite honestly, if I had my preference, I would have had all of my children at home with a midwife. But I have some health issues, and that is just not advisable- as was proven at the birth of my first child, where I would have died if I had tried to have a homebirth. No, some people really have to have medical intervention. And thank the Lord it is available!
Anyway, to get back to my point- for a variety of reasons, my Dr is concerned for the baby (and me) that it is not advisable to go past my due date with this pregnancy. So if this little bumper doesn't decide to come on his own in the next 7 days, we will go to the hospital for an induction. In the meantime, I'm going to use whatever safe "natural" methods possible to convince him it's time to make his appearance. Which basically means we'll try some chiropractic and acupuncture next week.
Come back in a couple weeks! I'll have pictures for you. :-)

The Pattern that brought about the Lord of the Rings Sock Club

In the interest of saving space and time-
Read all about it HERE
(Thanks)