Dave's Hand Knit Socks

Since the year I learned to knit socks, a new tradition has formed. Dave gets a new pair of hand knit socks every Christmas. It didn't start this way. I knit my first pair of socks using Silver's online sock tutorial. I was so mezmarized by the process, and beyond delighted with the fact that I had knit a real sock...with my own two hands! Words just can't describe the feeling of accomplishment that gave me. For the next several months, socks were all I wanted to knit. By the end of the year, I had knit socks for all my sisters, nieces, and, of course, my husband. I had finished Dave's pair as fall was approaching, so he wore that first pair a lot. Each night, before he settled in to gather his news for the next day's broadcast, he'd put on those socks. He loved them so much, I made him a pair for Christmas, and that was the start of our new tradition. Below, are photos of the socks I've knit for Dave though the years.

It all started in 2006. Sadly, I don't have a picture of that first pair, but if you'll imagine these socks in green with tan heels and toes, you'll have a mental picture of Dave's first hand knit pair of socks.  I made the pair pictured above in 2009 for our anniversary, using the simple stockenette starter pattern from the book, Knit socks.  This book, by Betsy Lee McCarthy is the perfect book for beginner sock knitters.

By Christmas of 2007, I was brave enough to knit dress socks, and using thinner yarn.  This pattern, called  Gentlemans Sock with Lozenge Pattern, is from the book, Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush

I knitted this worsted weight pair in 2008, using a pattern from Favorite Socks, an Interweave Press book, compiling patterns from several different designers.  This pattern is called Two Yarn Resoleable socks, designed by Wayne Pfeffer, adapted by Anne Merrow.  I highly recommend this book.  Sometimes I get it down just to look at the lovely photography (yes, pictures of socks can be quite lovely).

2009 was the year for another pair of dress socks.  I knit these using a pattern I found on Ravelry, called Gentleman Socks, published in the blog, Fiber Fool, by Kristi Shueler.  Beautiful pattern, but this picture doesn't do it justice.  I was saving these for Dave's Christmas gift, but wanted a photo for my Ravelry project page, so I modeled them myself, thus the ill fit.

Another worsted weight sock for 2010.  This pattern is called Bulky Boot Socks, and can be found in The Little Box Of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott.  This, so far, is Dave's favorite pair.

This is the latest pair, and happens to be my favorite.  In fact, I'd label this as another pride and joy project.  The pattern is called Best Foot Forward, another design that can be found in the book, Knit Socks, by Betsy Lee McCarthy.  I modified this pattern just a little bit, by using larger needles than the book calls for.  The largest size is a mens medium, and Dave needs a large.  The size 5 needles and worsted weight yarn made that possible.

Hoya Bloom Share

As promised, here are the photos of my different blooming hoyas.

Hoya Shephardii (String Bean Plant).  I bought this one from ebay, along with two other varieties.  Sadly this is the only one that survived, but the good news is that its growing strong, and has now began to produce blooms.

Hoya Carnosa (Wax Plant).  This one is the most well known of the hoya plants, and the most readily available.  I think I got this one from Home Depot, but they also sell them at Lowes and Walmart.

Hoya Carnosa Compacta (Hindu Rope Plant).  Hindu Rope plant blooms are very similar to those of the Wax plant.  I'm assuming it's because they're both from the Carnosa family, but that's just a guess on my part.

Hoya Pubicalyx.  As beautiful as ever.  I got this plant from a fellow davesgarden.com member, when I first became interested in hoyas.  Gardeners are such generous people.

Leaving you with one more Wax plant picture, just cause it's purdy :)

Hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Almost Done!

We haven't put the pictures back on the walls yet, but the painting is finished, and the furniture back in place!  Love it!!

We're Painting!

I was not sure if this was going to happen, especially since I slept half the day, but yes, we've started painting.  We moved all the furniture out of the room, with the exception of the bed.  We then went to Home Depot for our paint and supplies, and made a quick trip to Kroger for groceries.  We managed to get the first coat of green finished.  I'd say we accomplished a lot, especially with such a late start.  Extra Kudos go to Dave, for getting the yard mowed this morning while I slept in.

Vacation Time

Dave's vacation began with fun and family.  Sunday morning, we picked up Kloe (Dave's Granddaughter), and started out for Houston.  It's the time of year when Kloe gets to enjoy summer with Robin (her mother and Dave's daughter).  Houston is a long drive from here, but it was such a fun trip the time just flew by. We stopped along the way to eat at the Lakeside Cafe (I'm sorry I don't remember which small town the cafe is in), where we took advantage of the opportunity to try what they boast is "the best chicken fried steak in Texas."  It was quite good, but the best in Texas is a huge claim to live up to, and our local McKee's restaurant is hard to beat. Maybe I'm just partial. 
After we reached our destination, we dropped Kloe off at her grandmother's house, made plans for lunch the next day, then went to our hotel.  Happily, the swimming pool was vacant, so Dave and I went for a swim.  I learned something new about my husband, folks.  Dave is an excellant swimmer!  I knew he could swim, but I had never actually seen him in action, and I was very impressed.  I, on the other hand, am easily intimidated by the water.  I can swim a little, but I have to stay in the shallow end.  I have to have the reassurace that my feet will touch the ground, should I need them to.  After about 45 minutes to an hour, Dave got out. He wanted to relax in a pool side chair with his book, so I did some water exercises.  It was about 8pm when we went back to the room.  By this time, we were starving. 
Freshly showered and dry, we started out for ihop.  We had copied the address, along with the one for Waffle House, out of the phone book, keyed them into the GPS, and started out.  Now, as handy as the GPS is, and as much as I love having it, I have to say it's not completely flawless.  First it told us the address for ihop didn't exist (that should have been our first clue), so we told it to take us to where Fuqua street (where the ihop is supposedly located) begins. After spending $3 to use the tollway, we arrived at this dark, bumpy street in the middle of nowhere. The street sign said Fuqua, but obviously it was not the correct area.  We decided it would be best to forget ihop and go to Waffle House.  After pulling into a convienence station, we keyed in the address for Waffel House.  Not wanting to spend anymore money for tollways, I selected the eco route, which apparantly means back streets route.  Grr!  It was almost 10:30pm when we reached Waffle House, but I'm please to say that the staff was friendly, the service was speedy, and the food was delicious!
Monday morning, as we were gathering up our stuff to check out, Dave contacted Robin to ask where to meet for lunch.  On our way to the Chinese restaurant Robin had recommended, we passed right by the ihop!  Yes, people, there was an ihop not two blocks from the hotel, it just happened to be on the next street over. Fortunately, we found the Chinese place with no trouble.  The food was incredible, but paled in comparison to the long visit we shared with Robin, her husband, Roc, and Kloe. People came and went, as we sat and talked, laughing and catching up until it was time to leave.  Reluctantly, we parted company and headed for home, but this definately will not be our last visit.  As we were driving through Houston on our way out of town, Dave spotted the exit for none other than Fuqua street.  Ha!
After one more stop in Rockwall for our monthly Costco trip, we finally arrived home a little before nine.  What fun!  Now we have to settle in and do the other thing we had planned to do while Dave is off, and that is to paint our bedroom and clean out the screened porch.  Neither of us wants to do this.  It's hard to switch work mode after your brain has spent such a great time in vacation mode.  I'll keep my readers updated on whether or not the painting gets done. ;)

They're Here!!

As of yesterday, I am the proud owner of a lovely Denise2Go interchangeable needle set!  Yay!!

I'm keeping this set, along with my knit kit, in my purse.  One never knows when one will happen upon a yarn store while traveling, does one? ;0) 

Pride And Joy Project

If I were to name one knitting project that is my all time favorite, it would have to be my red wave pattern wrap.  I started this project on September 3rd of last year, and finished it on September 12th, just in time for the Red River Valley Fair.  I was so proud of it, that I just knew it would win a blue ribbon.  I had to settle for red.  Oh, well....red is good. :)

The pattern, designed by Matilda Karlsson, is a free Ravelry Download, called Stolen From The Sea.  I used Ranco Multy, a wool/nylon yarn from Araucania.   

I just love the tone-on-tone red color, and the soft texture made this yarn a dream to knit with.  Maybe that's why I love this wrap so much.  Not only did it turn out lovely, it was a pleasure to knit...and it photographed beautifully for my blog. That's super important... 

Denise2Go

When it comes to knitting needles and supplies, I have to be the craziest, most out of control person alive.  Last night, I ordered this Denise2go needle set from Jimmy Beans Wool.  It was a competely indulgeant thing to do, but I couldn't help myself.  Being the proud owner of two complete Denise sets, I know the quality, and smoothness of knitting these needles provide.  Now I'll have all that in a convienent travel size.  I love the fabric used to make the case, and having the different colored tip sets and cables to match is so much fun.  And today, my order was shipped!  Yay!!

How Hoyas Bloom

On May 2nd, I shared with my readers, pictures of my hoya pubicalyx plant with its first bloom of the season.  I posted my favorite of these photos to facebook, and was happily surprised at the response.  Not only did I recieve plenty of compliments, but several of my friends wanted to know more about hoyas, and how they bloom.  Because of their interest, I've created this picture post about the hoya bloom cycle.

Hoya pubicalyx.  The very photo that spark much interest, and the inspiration for this post.

This is that same hoya, minus the bloom. As you can see, it is a vine-like plant with woody stems.  You must be very careful if you decided to cut this plant back.  Blooms are formed on peduncles (or spurs), which remain after the bloom has been shed. If you cut a stem with one of these on it, you have to wait for more blooms until another one is formed.

Clusters of flowers appear from these peduncles each year.  See the group of tiny spheres at the tip of this spur?  That is the beginning phase of a new bud.

This bud is from my hoya carnosa (wax plant).  I can tell this bud is young because the tips are still in a spherical shape.  As the buds mature, they flatten out.

These buds from my hoya shephardii (string bean plant) have flattened into a more disk-like shape.  When your hoya buds look like this, get ready!  They are about to open!

Of course, I couldn't end without sharing a fully opened bloom.  This is from my hoya carnosa compacta (hindu rope plant). 

I have Three varieties of hoya plants in different stages of budding.  As these open, I'll be taking photos of each bloom.  Stay tuned for another hoya photo share in the near future. :)

Catching Up

For the past week, my blog has been quiet, while real life has been a whirlwind.  My sister had her gall bladder removed on May 31.  Scar tissue from long ago surgeries made the procedure much more difficult than the doctor had anticipated, and the first few post surgery days were very painful for her. My other sisters and I spent a great deal of our time at the hospital so we could be with her.  As her body began to regain strength, we started taking shifts.  Since I don't work outside the home, mine was the overnight/early morning shift.  Her condition continued to improve, and I'm happy to say that today (meaning yesterday, because it's midnight) my sister was strong enough to go home.  She's doing better, but still needs much prayer.  Please keep her in your thoughts.  Special thank you to everyone who helped us by praying, visiting, and running errands.  We are forever grateful to all of you for loving our sister so much.