Baseball Knitting

Today begins the Major League Baseball season!  I just love baseball and I knit quite a bit while watching.  In fact, I really began knitting in earnest when my oldest son began pitching at the age of 9.  I was terrified he was going to be injured (as I had been as a careless 12 year old and had my front four teeth knocked out, and successfully replaced) so I started knitting during his games.  I could pay attention to what he was doing,  but I also had something to focus on so I wasn't going nuts. 

I've taken my knitting to numerous baseball practices and games for my kids, but also to some major league baseball games, too.  My favorite team is the St. Louis Cardinals.  My son choose that team as his favorite and converted me, since I was raised a Red Sox fan.  We have enjoyed some great times watching the games and even meeting some of the players a few years ago. 

In addition to the start of the professional season, Saturday begins my sons' little league seasons.  They both have games on Saturday, so our entire day will be spent "at the fields"!  We'll get home just in time to watch the local university, Virginia Commonwealth University, compete in the NCAA Final Four.  Quite a lot of sports knitting this weekend!

Here's a peek at my newest socks:

Lots of Knitting Time

My dad was scheduled for a "quick" medical test yesterday.  Needless to say, there are no such things, so I had quite a bit of knitting time, so much in fact that I had to call my sister to fetch my child from school!  The test results were good, so it was all worth it.

As for the waiting room knitting, I used all of the sock yarn not used in my first 2 at a time socks and started a scrap yarn blanket.

I also worked on Mary's Lazy Day Shawl.  After dinner, I worked on the toe of my newest pair of socks and watched a bit of Dancing with the Stars.  I'm always amazed how those people learn to dance so quickly.  It wears me out just watching them!

Knitting Socks

I love knitting socks.  I love the yarns, watching the patterns appear and the impact a verigated yarn has on the pattern and vice versa, I love wearing hand knit socks.  I just love knitting socks.  But, there have been times where I have gotten tired of knitting socks.  I have never left an orphan sock, but I've been close.  I do enjoy the two at a time method.  It's been quite awhile since I've worked on socks.  September to be exact.  I stopped to work on Christmas knitting, then other things grabbed my attention recently.  So, I picked up a pair of hybernating socks and again became hooked.

I finished a pair yesterday, went to the mailbox to find this:

 It's from Winding River Yarns' Harry Potter yarn club.  What timing!  So, I quickly wound it into two cakes and this morning cast on for Melissa Morgan-Oakes' Tuscany socks.  I have time today to wait for my father to have a medical test so I can work on this or the little (for now) scrap yarn blanket I'm making with remnants of socks.  I'll post about that later...

Son #1 has the flu!

Well, my luck ran out Saturday evening - son #1 began the fever, body aches, and cough associated with the flu.  Bless is heart - he is miserable.  It's such a big deal to miss school at his age, too.  The missed lectures and make up work can seriously impact his grades.  However, this can't be helped.

The weekend did have a few positive points.  I finished my socks, the sunroom painting was completed, and our hometown team upset Kansas in the elite 8 of the NCAA tournament.  This town is not known for it's college sports, so this is enormous around here.

About the socks, they are from Melissa Morgan-Oakes' book http://www.amazon.com/Toe-Up-2-at-Time-Melissa-Morgan-Oakes/dp/1603425330/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301327424&sr=8-2 Toe Up 2 at a Time Socks.  I much prefer knitting socks toe up and the two at a time method prevents the awful second sockitis!

Well, it's been 2 months...

I have been away from the blog for 2 months.  It all started with my bout with the flu, despite having ensured the entire family had been vaccinated.  I must admit, my episode was mild in comparison with that of others, but it was a miserable few days.  Once I was well, son #2 arrived home from school with the same symptoms, but his case was mild as well.  Son #2 recovered and attended school for a whole week and one day.  Then, the secondary infection began and four more days of school were missed before all work was completed from the first illness.  After antibiotics, an inhaler, and nose spray, a new round of missed work has been completed.  In the meantime, darling husband, son #1  and I were visited by yet another upper respiratory illness.  Sadly, I was the only one who lost a voice during this entire mess!    Fingers are crossed that son #1 and darling husband have avoided the flu entirely.

Between all of this, I was finalizing decisions to demolish and rebuild our sunroom (as it was a do-it-yourself project gone wrong by the previous owner) and replace the roof on the entire house.  At this point, the roof is on and the sunroom is nearing completion.

Sunroom before:

Sunroom during:

And our living room, storing all the sunroom furniture, etc:




I have been knitting.  I completed a beaded scarf for my mother's birthday, am finishing some hybernating socks, began a scarf for Christmas 2011 (not because I'm so well organized, but because I wanted to learn double knitting and this pattern is perfect for a dear horse riding friend), and began a shawl designed by Mary Keenan for another possible Christmas gift.  The previously mentioned sweater for my husband is hybernating, as it is fairly complicated and my head is not capable of such at this point.

But, the best news of all is baseball season is upon us.  My sons both play little league and I love watching them play.  We are also planning a trip to either Washington DC or Baltimore to see our  beloved St. Louis Cardinals play this summer.  I can't wait until the seasons begin.  Sadly, last night the basketball season of my alma mater, the University of Richmond, came to an end.  However, I am so proud of how they played - the sweet sixteen in the NCAA tournament is nothing to sneeze at (and I've been doing plenty of that!).