Bobbi's Socks Blatherings

poor non knitting hands

2010-08-30T02:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't been posting as I haven't been knitting or doing anything but cooking lately. I know most of my readers are not expecting much of my blogs LOL. the skin on the pads of my fingers is very sensative; too much keyboard use?

whooo eee, long time no post!

2010-08-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

NOT much kniitting on my poor hands and fingers and dear husband has had to do the gardening too. Alas, wonderful year in tomatoes and no pictures, imagine, they look like the ones on 2007.

no new pictures, really

2009-08-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

boy it has been so long since I posted, hope I haven't lost any readers.
not sure what to say, so this is a test drive sort of thing.

Yesterdays pictures of the garden stuff

2009-06-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have peaches on the trees and they are looking so luscious already, I have no idea how they will taste as I just planted them this year.
I have tomatoes as you can see, too. ripe ones, green ones, small ones, big ones and volunteer ones.

You deserve more pictures!

2009-05-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Since I was so remiss, and didn't mention that the previous batch of pictures had the cherry pink amaryllis's I am uploading more pictures. One will show the tomatoes progress and the cucumbers we are harvesting (boy are they sweet and crunchy) and whatever the pictures I can load in; there seems to be a limit each time. My husband took the pictures of the cats all lounging on the rocking chair.

Holy cow, it has been a while!

2009-05-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a while yet again since I posted, meanwhile the garden is growing, the husbands' knee is healing and I have been cooking and busy. The knitting has been ripped out a bit but now severely and the gardens are burgeoning and the husband is active and busy. One picture is over the most gigantic chile rellenos I have ever made, or seen; in the pan, they don't look big but that frying pan is about 18" across!!!! I could only do two rellenos at a time, the chiles were about 12-14" long and they took a lot of cheese but my husband said they were the best he ever had and he was born and raised in Southern California where chile rellenos are common and popular here.

I will show some more updated pic to show the progress!

Plantings, tomatoes and chilis

2009-05-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

Assorted photos

2009-05-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been around

2009-04-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

I need to upload pics that are on the camera; we have an eppiphyllum blooming, the leaf with buds is how they appear first. The calla lilies were huge this year, I had one that was as big as a lunch plate. And we don't use chemical fertilizers.

Still planting stuff

2009-03-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

This is a view of the Earth Boxes in the dusk. We have about 10 more tomato plants to plant.

There is a contest going on!

2009-03-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

If you are a lover of handknit socks, like me, a very nice blogger is celebrating her 200th post with a gift of socks to someone who reads the blog and posts about it and then links to it. Who wouldn't love that?? Here is the link, and she has a great blog I have read off and on for a while.
http://yestheyareallmine-mom.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-200th-post_12.html

That is so generous, because if like me, they take forever-and-a-day that is wonderful indeed!

The tree had 5 varieties of flowers/fruits

2009-03-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have some other pictures of the peach and nectarine flowers on the tree; the bright red double bloom is the Nectarine Double Delight which sounds awesome in taste. I can't wait, I hope it sets. I will upload also the cauliflower pictures that are very colorful.

pictures of the flowers

2009-03-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have trees blooming

2009-02-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

I had bought some trees, 2 apricot trees meant for Southern Californias mild winters, and a "SHOWY 5 in 1" tree, which has 3 branches of nectarines, and 2 branches of peaches on a stock which is meant to withstand our dry hot climate. The nectarines and peaches are blooming and the flowers are indeed showy. Not enough to take pics of as the rest of the garden is tacky looking at this time of year.

Happy New Year

2009-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Belatedly, but happy new year, nonetheless. I am so remiss, partly because I need to download another photo program and partly because I haven't been really knitting, and the gardening is minimal in the winter time; the garden is mostly cruciferous veggies and salad things. I am planting of course, but there isn't much to show off. Cooking wise, I am still widening the horizons, I am making tamales, and can sure see why the Mexican women get together in groups to do so. I have a tendancy to like labor intensive things.

Updated cat pictures

2008-12-17T00:57:00.001-08:00

Some pictures of kitty Christmas presents; or otherwise. Gremlin is in the tent, Bandit is on the chair on the Christmas blanket, Scooter, the orange cat went to the vetenarian today as part of his Christmas checkup. the other picture is Princess laying in the new cat scratcher/lounger, Gremmy rolling in catnip and Elfin in the cat bed. All new.

Friday afternoon in November

2008-11-21T17:27:00.001-08:00

The top picture is my husband hefting two of the mature tromboncino squashes, each weighs around 20 to 30 lbs. So far hanging in the gazebo is around 10 mature squashes hanging, and on the vines are many more. I don't know how long he will let them stay on the vines as he is getting antsy to prepare new plantings for the brussels sprouts and other cruciferous crops. There are a couple knitting pictures taken at a restaurant we enjoy, one tiny shawl in brown will be one of the flower basket shawls; the picture of the vinca was all washed out and not pretty, and the rainbow one is knit by my friend Colleen and I am making the same shawl in the same yarn and colors. The bottom picture is me in the squashes; I am about 5'5" now so you can see how long the squashes get.

garden

2008-11-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

Garden today before I pick more of the brandywine tomatoes, and squashes and those shrubs of basil.

Oh, and Bleu likes to hang out in the cat carriers; each cat seems to have a preference, although there are three that look the same to me. Gremlin sleeps in one at night, when he isn't laying between my lower legs holding me hostage all night long.

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Yarn I have tried to show off

2008-11-14T00:56:00.001-08:00

This was a gift from a friend for my birthday and I have had trouble uploading it from my photo program, but maybe now my Mac will let me put it there.

Some yarns to make shawls

2008-10-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

I have been acquiring yarns to make shawls; I still love to knit socks but I have lots of socks already. I will see if I can show the patterns I want to knit, but am on the Mac so who knows :)

oops, forgot to say...

2008-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

If you are a knitter, you will plainly see that I did NOT follow the pattern correctly on that previous post. It should be a diamond shape, not diagonal. OOOPS, not right but still not bad to look at.

long time again between posts

2008-10-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted, the garden is still going strong, the tomatoes are slowing, which is a good thing as I don't feel all covered in tomato juice all the time, the squashes are awesome, someday I will take pictures. The chilies are amazing, I even gave away a couple of varieties of chilies to the Sears guy delivering the newest freezer today. That new one is awesome, has compartments so hopefully we can track food by either dates or cuisine; like the Asian in one compartment, Italian in another; the beef and the pork overflowed into other compartments; guess we won't have to shop for a good long while, and the pantry is much the same. Handy in this economy. It got to the point in tossing food out (lots of chili and soups and stuff like that) that my hubby started tossing my cherished tupperware out and I wasn't even fighting to keep it. I have no idea how many chicken tortilla soups are in there. Knitting wise, I am trying shawls; not well but trying. I have gorgeous yarns and patterns. Wish me luck. Oh, and I had to order another set of Harmony Needles to accomodate the larger sizes needed for shawls.

Tomatoes and more tomatoes

2008-09-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a clean kitchen, I really do because then I would take pictures of all the pretty colors of tomatoes. And these are the ones that were saved out from the fire roasting of the night before. Those are awesome smelling and then we re-roasted the serranos and jalapenos and we tossed all of them together. I need to get the mouli mill out to get the tomato skins off and the seeds out. Then can them up.
The Brandywine tomatoes are still going for Guiness records I guess; the green ones are still about 7 inches or more across and shocked the friend of my husband who grew Mortgage Lifter and other big ones and never saw tomatoes so large. The squashes are growing and while we pollinate them ourselves due to a dearth of bees, some of the pollinations didn't take but others have. I have visions of tromboncinos that are the baseball bat size yet again.
That is it for the garden report; time to put stuff away.

My Trekking 100 socks are not done

2008-08-28T01:06:00.001-07:00

I didn't finish the socks in time for the Ravelympics; I still have the foot and the toes to do. But it will be done; the cats seem to approve of the socks.

It isn't my fault, of course

2008-08-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

For Weeks I have wanted to take pictures of the garden (mess) that I have going but the major problem with an incredible small space is not being able to back up far enough to get pictures of tomato plants that are 8 feet and more; some much more but they are not getting any more staking than that. The tomatoes are producing extremely well, all the heirlooms are producing better than they ever have. All the volunteer tomatoes are ripening, we have been eating grape tomatoes that are red, but I am still waiting to see if any of the yellow ones show up. I have huge trusses of round tomatoes that seem to be the type that are used for the "tomatoes on a vine" that one buys in the markets. I wouldn't be surprised, my cutting board that is a juice catcher would keep the seeds for the compost pile so who knows what is growing where they popped up? Tonight for dinner, we used the so far, biggest Cherokee Purple for the chicken tacos. I loved that they were not so juicy that they were hard to handle and not totally full of seeds. The size of the seeds reminds me of the Black Plums so I don't want to eat those in case they taste like them too. The Cherokee Purple tasted great and now my husband is even happier with having trellised and re-trellised more of them today and saw how laden they were with fruits. Last nights' Greek Salad had the Box Car Willie Tomatoes in it and they were extremely tasty, more so than I had been led to believe.
I asked my husband to take one of his fancy-schmancy cameras out to the garden to try to capture not just the size of the plants, but the size of the fruits. He has all sorts of lenses for all his cameras as he will probably go pro again. Oh, and he picked all kinds of chilies today, so that made him purchase mango, papayas, pineapples and who knows what today. I don't know if he plans on using the passion fruits that keep dropping like little bombs out front. Husband will make hot and sweet killer salsa that would hurt most mere mortals but is excellent with chicken and fish. Thank goodness for the pressure canner, besides the fish he catches (this is albacore and mahi-mahi season) he makes salsas, and I want to can up tomatoes and pickle some of my spicy peppers. Most of the red jalapenos are going to be packed in tuna for pressure canning but otherwise I love them as cheese poppers.
My thai basils are growing sooo incredibly well, time to make more Thai dishes. Oh, and I can't even go into how many tangles the various varieties of cucumbers have gotten into, but luckily it didn't keep them from producing well. A bit too well. A pickling cucumber that is 9 inches long will have to probably be made into antipasto mix with peppers and cauliflower and stuff. The Tromboncino squashes are running wild and free over the trellises and the hops are in close competition. Whew.

Knitting Projects

2008-08-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

On Ravelry, the knitting community site, I signed up for 3 projects, one is a new sock for SockPut and in the Works In Progress Wrestling event, 2 pairs of socks to finish up. The socks are cuff down trekking, and one toe up trekking. The socks to make are going to be a golden yellow, for Team Hogwarts, Hufflepuff house.

Shuffled the colors on the blog around

2008-07-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

http://bobbissocksblatherings.blogspot.com/feeds/post/default

Thanks Joansie and Yarndude for pointing out that the comment color was hard to see. I hope I got it fixed.

Started a new KAL

2008-07-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

AND NO there are no pictures to show for it! I got together with a knitting friend (whose hubby works with mine) and a friend of hers and we had a great time; we were to do one pattern, called Storm, a toe up sock with a provisional cast on. Well, we ALL tried it. And we all ripped it out. I got so I liked the looks of it but it was fiddly. Then L. brought out a pattern she used for a pair of socks and we tried that cast on and we all loved it, we used our circular needles from the "get go" something I generally don't do. I normally start the socks on double points, whether toe up or cuff down, then change to the magic loop method for speed and no losing of precious needles. We will meet next week to start our heels together. We will still be doing the Storm pattern, just not exactly the entire pattern. I bet her heel is fiddly too so we will see. I did bring my camera but to be honest, if you spend an hour or more on one project and rip it, when you get to the toe cap on another sock it sure doesn't look like much. I brought the yarn, from an Etsy shop that doesn't sell it anymore, I don't believe. The yarn is called Vinca and is a shadowing yarn and the progress pics will all be different for all of us.
Hopefully pix next week. And meanwhile that garden is getting so tall I might need to ask my husbands' friend who is 6'4" to tie up the Brandywine and Big Rainbow tomatoes; I am only 5'6" and it is beyond my reach. The squash and cucumbers are vining and vying for which plants they get to crawl over.

Progress on the garden

2008-07-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

It has been less than a month since the planting began in the back of the hill and the tomato plants are burgeoning and setting fruit. Nice to have that much progress seeing as the heat wave was pretty intense during the planting time. The pepper plants have greened up nicely and the fruits are almost full sized.

Happy JULY 4th

2008-07-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a good day; we did and also a wonderful dinner. Our garden is progressing, the plants are healthy and growing so well. The cucumbers are blooming and hopefully will be setting in this miserable heat and humidy. I HAVE AN AIR CONDITIONER NOW!!!!
It took an electrician or 3 but the dedicated line is in and we are comfy and dry. No humid house, nice and cool. Wonderful. I will make every effort to get out and still garden to keep things happy while I am cool in here. The electric rate increased to more than sixteen cents a KW before we installed the a/c so this will be expensive.

Speaking of gardens

2008-06-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have been transplanting plants like crazy; some into larger pots to hold til the oldest raised beds are re-built and re-configured. That includes Japanese eggplants as I have some recipes to use them that are awesome. My sister in law is from Malaysia and she has great ideas for eggplant. We also planted more serrano chilies; they usually overwinter in our climate; the hot Santa Ana winds in October did them in and we didn't have any left. We planted more habeneros, and harvested the fruit off the one that overwintered outside. Tons of basil is being replanted; no more room in the ground and the ones in the pots are now taller than the ones baking in the sun; we had to put up two Beach umbrellas to shade the hot chilies from the morning sun, and the later afternoon sun. They are now setting and happy. All the heirloom tomatoes are growing like gangbusters; we are organic gardeners so that is a nice thing to see. One year I used Miracle Grow and got amazing fast growth, then the tomatoes produced so fast they couldn't absorb the calcium fast enough and we got blossom end rot. We always put our ground up egg shells in the holes when we plant the tomatoes; we also put in the worm castings and coffee grounds and stuff. Last year I literally had so many of the Sun Gold and the Jelly Bean tomatoes draping all over the plumbagos that they were about 12-15' long and totally covered, covered, I say, in fruit. The huge Brandywines, Kelloggs Breakfast and the other heirlooms produce huge tomatoes which I couldn't and didn't keep up with; so much for the Excalibur dehydrator waiting to be used. I blew it. Not this year!!! I planted 5 varieties of cucmbers for Greek salad, and gazpacho. The white cucumber says it doesn't need to be peeled. neat. I sure wish I could grow dill. The only dill I can grow is in my Aerogardens.
Wow, now it is Hubbys' birthday and I need to head off to bed even though it is HOT in here. Good night all. Oh, I need to upload more pictures but the computer is hot and so am I.

Kalyn's Kitchen: More About Freezing Fresh Herbs: Freezing Thai Basil, Sage, Tarragon, and Mint

2008-06-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

Kalyn's Kitchen: More About Freezing Fresh Herbs: Freezing Thai Basil, Sage, Tarragon, and Mint

What a wonderful way to preserve the herbs we are swimming in for later when we don't have them. I have hundreds of Thai basil plants as we use it almost as a vegetable, not so much a garnish. This is an excelllent blog to reference.

Oh, as a matter of fact, the Thai basil that overwintered in the house next to the Aerogardens set seeds which I strewed in pots a few days ago; they are up in our over 100 degree heat for days climate.

Garden Pictures

2008-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

I took more pictures outside; I swear the tomatoes have grown inches since I took pictures recently. I also noticed that the two jalapeno plants flanking one planting are yellowing, guess I need to give them some nitrogen.

I also took pictures of the red tomatoes and the yellow ones but you can't really see the yellow tomatoes, in the white Aerogarden in the kitchen.

Not the best pictures, but they are pictures.

2008-06-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

I finally took pictures of the garden bed (s) but it was sundown and the light was not right. However, I will take more pictures another time. Like those cherry tomatoes in the kitchen, the red ones and the golden ones. Tasty.

Oh, and the Meyers lemon tree in a pot has the oddest fruit set; it is like they tried to be set like a cluster of grapes, I have never in my life seen anything like that. I love Meyers lemons, the fragrance and the flavor. The chilis' were planted on the step gardens and in the wine barrel. We aren't done yet, this is just to whet your appetite. Stephanie, if you see this, those are your raspberry progeny next to the wine barrel, they rooted themselves over there.

Long time no Post

2008-06-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize it was so long since I posted! Hubby got back the beginning of June so I was getting the house sort of cleaned or decluttered a bit. I also haven't knit one single stitch since he got home, busy, busy!
Hubby got the back tomato bed all re-soiled and planted, we have about 6 heirloom tomato varieties in there, plus basil and other non heirloom tomatoes. Oh, today we planted chili peppers, Jalapenos, serranos, Hungarian hot wax and some cubanelles; I don't think those are hot, but they are for frying. We already got the Thai chilies and other hot ones planted and the habenero chilies that overwintered have bright neon orange fruit ready to make salsa. I need to get the squashes and cucumbers in the ground. I can't wait for Greek salads! Cucumbers are soooo easy to grow, as are tomatoes and if you buy by the pound look at the money you save by going out back and picking your own when they are ripe, knowing you don't get poisons or weird chemical treatments done to them. The Tuscan black kale is almost done making their seeds, I will save lots of them for future years, I can't imagine not growing that. I am still eating the leaves and it is still wonderful tasting. Bliss.

socks in progress and finished

2008-05-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

There is one pair of socks I am making in the Vinca that is problematic; the toe doesn't look right on the one that the colors are looking good, and the other sock is *blech* in it's color shading. That will be ripped back, probably to the end of the toe, the color in the skein is a mint green with a light pink, but the muddiness of the coloration in the toe is like, dirty mauve. Ick.

My Step mom got her socks, and is trying them on and laughing so I guess my plan about those bright colors worked. My step-sister says the cuff is a bit snug so the lornas' laces socks will be made looser.

I went ahead and took more in progress pictures of the Trekking 106 pastel socks even though I am barely creeping along on them. I love knitting, I love that color, I am just sort of "mojo-less" I guess.

Hootie handling the Heat

2008-05-21T03:22:00.001-07:00

Life is hard in the summer time, it is easy just to lay whereever you can for as long as you can. I forgot to celebrate her 12th birthday; will do that when my husband comes home and we can celebrate the kittens 2nd birthday too. Oh, and the 22nd anniversary of the date he joined the Navy.

Home Brew Stash (Is there such a term?)

2008-05-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

I just received a BIG ol' box from Home Brew Heaven and it was all kinds of hop pellets and grains and stuff for my hubby to make after he gets home (heck, I am a wuss about even trying to connect the propane tank to the burner outside) and I had ordered hop rhizomes, and some of these are HUGE and full of buds sprouting. I am totally impressed. You will have to take my word for it, they ain't pretty to others so I didn't take pictures. I mean, the grain looks like grain, etc.
There is also a present for my husbands' birthday gift in that box. Nuff said in case he sees my blog.

updates and Bleu

2008-05-09T01:29:00.000-07:00

I am working on my socks too, see?

Meanwhile Bleu has taken to sleeping on paper plates in the kitchen every night; he is there as I type.

a sock my friend is working on, will be trying next

2008-05-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

I like the layout of the sock done the Crazy Toes and Heels way, I have had the book for years and haven't tried that heel but my friend was working on it during lunch at Chilies' and I like that gussett and the padded bottom. Look

at the back of the heel and it is pretty clear, I think.

brew off day

2008-04-18T21:46:00.001-07:00

This is the brew off in San Diego, across from the bay under the flight path of the jets of the airport. Vanessa did all the brewing for me, she is energetic and was very helpful as it took hours to bring the water to a boil, then of course, the brewing. She mentioned that the hops and the brew were happily blowing off all over her refrigerator so the yeast is active and ready to make a strong Double Imperial Pale Ale, which is very hoppy and bitter. My husband should love it.

WHAT A DAY

2008-04-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

My plans sounded so simple; sleep, drink coffee, get out and drive to the homebrew supply store and buy stuff.
Not that that didn't happen. But first, a little back story, about 27 hours ago, when I was in the garage (attached) trying to get Bandit, my big tuxedo cat out of the garage as he is still pretty sick and sneezing so we could go to bed, I noticed a :: smell ::. an odor if you will, like broccoli that was tossed on the compost bin and not turned. Only, there was no broccoli and the composter hasn't been used in 6 months or more. And this WAS the garage. So, I followed my little nose and decided I had better check the freezers. Well, the big chest freezer was all fine and dandy, and stuff was frozen. With extreme trepidation, I then opened the lid, or top of the other freezer, the one that is only about 4 years old and bought for those gigantic fish my husband fishes for, the yellowtail, the Ono, and mahi-mahi and all those dungeness crabs he caught in Washington.........you know where I am going with this, right? OMG.
my gag reflex is well honed after years of acid reflux and stuff. I almost fainted and with my bad knees and stiff joints, couldn't get up the stairs to the house fast enough and while I won't regale you with details, ended up having to also clean the bathroom too.
FAST forward. I had immediately called DH's friend in a far city in San Deigo county who "manned up" and came to my rescue today, after he went to the Army/Navy surplus store for a respirator, and some haz-mat type gloves. After friend got here, he assurred me, with the Darth Vadar voice, to GO and be gone for as long as I wanted to be as "I WILL BE HERE FOR A LONG TIME" and believe me, as much as my heart and mind said, no, stick it out with him, my guts helped me scoop up the car keys and I got out of there ASAP. $200 in home brew supplies later, for the brew off that another Navy wife is going to be helping me with for brewing the beer for the husbands, and then having to stop at Costco for 4 bags of Arm and Hammer baking soda in 12 pound bags, it was eventually time to come home. I had stopped and got fast food, but I couldn't eat it, knowing what was going to await me at home. I wasn't sure about how the neighbors with the houses about 6' or less away from each other felt about this activity, but what awaited me as I pulled into the driveway was about 8 large trash/yard bags all tied up. I had bought those before I left, and one box had 24 odor shield bags, by Hefty or one of the better brands, and he used each and every one. He didn't get into any of the other bags. Now, he is gone, I am still not ready to deal with stuff, but now there is a skunk on the front porch, trolling for the cat food I put out for feral cats. I suspect there will be holes in bags during the night. Right now, at quarter til one in the morning, I don't much care.
...now, to sleep, perchance, not to dream......

another reason not to post

2008-04-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

Right now I have 6 cats that have the rhino-virus, and with me not feeling well, not much sleep is occurring. I hope today to drag my lazy self out of here and pick of the home-brew supplies for this weekend. I am going to be making a double IPA with the help of some of my brew club members, most especially another Navy wife. That will give us some brownie points, I am hoping.

Why I haven't been posting; Startitis

2008-04-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Just a very few of the socks in progress I am working on!!

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More socks in the making

2008-03-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

It is more than time to add more pictures, I have been knitting in tandem so I am not finishing anything, just putting more stitches in more socks.

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Aerogarden Pro

2008-03-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is the salsa garden growing, 2 cherry tomato plants, and one jalapeno plant; this is a somewhat old picture as I am now eating the ripe cherry tomatoes. The jalapeno is fighting with the tomatos so is not blooming yet, but has blooms ready for when it gets enough light. I have the light set that will increase the light, along with a longer lamp arm, I just haven't set it on there yet.
The other aerogarden that has tomatoes in it has 2 colors of tomatoes, I am going to attempt to transplant some of them in pots, for outdoors as it is time to put plants out, here in Southern California; our gardening is pretty much year round out here and who doesn't love fresh home grown tomatoes? Flavor and color, it doesn't compare to storebought.

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Progress of a sort

2008-02-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

This left sock in on gauge for me, but the right one had too many stitches in it so I had to rip it all out and start over again. C'est la vie. The yarn is so pretty it is not a big loss to have to redo it so that is fine.

First tomato of the year, ripening

2008-02-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get really close to it; the others, greener were in the way, but you can see the color coming in.
My other tomatoes are growing, and my new Aerogarden is on the way, I just got notification.

Valentines flowers

2008-02-17T21:03:00.001-08:00

I was surprised and happy to receive tulips from my husband who is over seas and ordered online. The tulips are from pro flowers and arrived in perfect shape and did very well. I brought in the pots of daffodils blooming in the back yard to show off with them.

A bit of progress on the Trekking XXL

2008-02-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

The start of the leg, I cast on about 90 stitches to compensate for the cankles, and the swollen ankles (no matter that I take 2 kinds of blood pressure meds) I really love the shadowing of the yarn and it feels good to use. It is fun to watch what happens every row or so. I know that with much less width that it would show a more gradual shadowing, but it is all fun.

Flowers blooming, yarn and socks

2008-02-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

The mini-daffodils in the pot are less than the size of a quarter; I love these guys. The passion flower is blooming on the front porch; the vines are in the ground and I am weaving the vines back and forth across the porch to block out the sun as much as I can since it gets horribley hot and miserable in the summer time. Any shade is nice. The passion flower is intertwined with passion fruit vines. The box of yarn is sock yarn, very bright colors, and the sock at the bottom is two skeins; one is primary colors in sockotta and then interspersed with wool yarn, Wildefoote in color Deco Green which is very, very bright. I love it.

Ribbing on the new socks

2008-02-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

The ribbing is now about twice as long, but here is an update pic. I had to charge the battery on my camera so will update occasionally on these. These are the first cuff down socks in quite a while.

Superbowl Knitting with bright yarn

2008-02-03T15:29:00.001-08:00

Look, the New Harmony needles from Knit Picks match my yarn I will be using today; I will just do plain knitting, this is a great yarn that shades and doesn't want any cables or lace.

Lovely yarn I got today

2008-02-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

New yarn I just got in for colorful socks. I can't believe how vibrant the colors are and I can't wait to start knitting away. I might start that colorway that is all stripey on the left side on Superbowl Sunday. I will be allllll by myself, and even bought a token beer to drink for my husband who is already deployed and can't be here and maybe can't even watch. I hope he can. The striped yarn has orange, green, turquoise and red, which sounds horrible and garish but makes a lovely striped, shadowy pattern. I hope to get them knit soon.

I got a free skein of yarn!

2008-02-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

The turquoise speckly yarn is a free skein from Astrids Dutch Obsessions she chose to go with my new order. Perfect!!!

Tomatoes Growing in my Kitchen

2008-01-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

These are cherry tomatoes growing in my kitchen in my Aerogarden Pro 100 which also has jalapenos growing but they aren't blooming yet. One tomato plant has about 20 tomatoes that have set. I am happy with that.

Socks to go to my mom, frog first

2008-01-15T21:46:00.001-08:00

The green socks were originally for me and were made for my large ankles, but they are so warm that my mom would appreciated them more than me. This means I have to rework them for her size, not mine. The bright socks at the bottom are for me and will continue to be, I am doing them toe up, in Knit Picks Felici on circular needles, size 2.25mm.

Happy Aerogardens and herbs

2008-01-11T22:25:00.001-08:00

This is the salsa garden on my husbands refrigerater in his computer room. See the blooms? The other one in there is the gourmet herbs, which we are harvesting over and over.

My Aerogardens are thriving.

2008-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

My Aerogardens are being really busy and productive. My gourmet herbs are being harvested again and again, and the tomatoes in the salsa garden are blooming and setting. The peppers aren't blooming yet. Rats, the images won't upload!!!

Cosy cat weather

2008-01-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

Since it so rarely rains here in Southern California the kitties all found places on all the chairs to cuddle up in. One of the cats was wet as he was chasing birds in the rain (he isn't generally allowed outside so he took advantage and was bad) and he was soaking wet. We had to put down towels and cat beds all over the living room. I think these photos capture the cuddly-ness just right. This is Gremlin.

Happy New Year

2008-01-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

I did the requisite Black Eyed Peas for the first meal of the day; heck, it turned into the ONLY meal of the day, I made what looked like a vat of it in my oval Rachel Ray cast iron pot that weighs like, 5 pounds all by itself with its' lid. I varied it this year; I added carrots, cross cut to signify gold coins (wealth) lots of my cavalo from the garden (Tuscan black kale, very tasty) to signify paper money along with celery. That and a boatload of onions to the peas made it a very tasty dish. Usually I will make a Texas caviar which is delicious but is a bit tedious to eat all of. I had some Cajun sausages so added those for the boost in spiciness and flavor. The blackeyed peas were fresh in the produce department this year instead of soaking the hard ones all night long. That gave them more texture, I think. All in all, I will do this again. I didn't add any salt, just some chicken bouillion in place of the salt. No need for pepper or other spices.
This is my first post of the year and I realized I have been remiss in not just posting, but posting about food.
Happy New Years to my blog buddies.

Sorry about the light color in the previous post

2007-12-14T13:26:00.000-08:00

http://bobbissocksblatherings.blogspot.com/feeds/post/default

I thought that the periwinkle color would show up better than it did against the green background.

New socks for me

2007-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

I finally finished a pair of turquoise socks; these are Opal Magic. I have large ankles which explains the cuff area, not to mention that I finished them last night in time to wear them to bed and wore them all night long as it was cold. Next time I will make them longer in the cuff area.

Newest progress pics

2007-12-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

These are new pictures of my Arugula sock; it was down to where I would have started the heel; I decided to rip out and recast on more stitches in smaller sizes.

OnLine socks in Dune

2007-12-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

These are 2 pair of socks in the same colorway; the one on the left is a pair by my friend Colleen done on her knitting machine as a test, and they look perfect. She only has to kitchener the toe on the left one. I hand knit the ones on the right for my sister, and the toes have been waiting for a couple of months for me to kitchener them or find someone kind enough to do that for me. I suck at kitcheneering due to knitting with the right hand and sewing with the left. It doesn't orient well at all.

I thought this would be a good example of both styles.

I am back

2007-11-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

Long time, no post. I just got my new computer installed today; well, there are 2 more disks to upload, after I did the Leopard system. I can't figure how to attach pictures to my emails but maybe I can find a couple I took today.

Made it through the fires

2007-10-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is the sunrise over the mountain in front of where we live; I took this from the front porch about 9am and was still all packed waiting for the mandatory evacuation call. I am very grateful that the call never came.

More socks for my sister

2007-10-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to figure out the exact ratio for the heel on the short row heel. Each person has a different ratio. The Trekking socks in that colorful patterning begged to have bright green for the heels and toes.

Got some socks done to post

2007-10-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

To the right are the orange socks in Opal Magic for my orange and yellow loving sister.

These are Lornas' Laces Flame socks for my sister and in the picture with the socks all around, she is modeling them in the middle.

Sunsets over Imperial Beach on a cloudy day

2007-10-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

http://bobbissocksblatherings.blogspot.com/feeds/post/default

2007-09-20T23:21:00.001-07:00

This is a tree that holds itself as sentry to the property. It seems to have been the same size for 50 years.

The Wanderer Returneth

2007-09-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

I came back from the Deep Woods and the two memorial services for my uncle and my father. We got to see lots of family, and I even got to meet new cousins, which keep popping out of the woodwork. Not hard to do in the woods.
The trip out there was nice, Northwest Airlines commercial nice. The trip back, on the two flights, were the stuff of which Northwest has been trying to counter. And failing. It didn't help that once I did arrive in my final destination, the prepaid shuttle (*$$70) was no where in sight or sound. The various shuttles that service Lindberg Field came and went 3 times before my Cloud Nine came; so, having arrived an hour and a half late to Minneapolis as the little commuter hop was sitting, and sitting and had no air on before they decided to turn the key or whatever they do to turn a plane on and make it go. Then, the flight to San Diego was delayed as they needed to order a part and eventually they decided to put us at another gate and another plane. That one took off two hours later.
To top it off, I was sick part of the time I was gone; off and on and returned with what I think is a cold. Considering the mildew in the house, a cold is a GOOD thing to have. I am beat, tired and drained. Oh, and going to have family for a couple of weeks in the house that I had neglected when I had a bad ear infection and struggling in more than 100 degree heat. Gotta try some red bull or something for energy.

Decamping to Wisconsin

2007-09-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

And I do mean camping. Like, in a trailer. Last time we assembled en masse, it looked like the refugees of Hurricane Katrina, which by happenstance occured the same time. I will be with my new-klee-ar (thank you Mr President) family as we prepare to say good bye to our father and our uncle. We are many and widely scattered so we decided to assemble in September for various reasons to do this. Next time I hope to post pictures of the property that has been in the family for more than a hundred years.

We will be interring the ashes of my father, the lower right hand side of the picture. He loved the land and was raised and farmed on it with his father until he joined the Navy to go to the 2nd world war. This was his wish.

Too hot to move around much in 108 degree weather

2007-09-03T19:17:00.001-07:00

My cat looks almost comfortable in this heat, it stays into the 90's at night until after midnight. Not great for sleeping. I found her cousin sleeping in the tub; he just rolled over and got the other side cooler. This weather is so wrong. No rain since February or March but the humidity is a killer.

Yarn to make me feel better; it was my birthday

2007-08-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

Since I was turning "more" than 55, I decided to stock up on more sock yarn. Admittedly, the 3 skeins of yarn to the left are for a lace shawl, the rest are for socks, from Knit Picks. I loved the feeling of the new Felici yarn.

Progress again on a sock, whee

2007-08-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

These are progressing, I am on the heel of the second sock and am creeping down to the toe area soon on the first sock. The sock blockers are mens' size 10 so since my sister has size 9 1/2 womans, it will be shorter. I am keeping track of the progress and I need to kick up the pace a bit.

More progress on that one sock

2007-08-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

A friend dropped by today and while I had her around I persuaded her to try on my sisters sock for fit. So Far, so good. Just another inch or so then I will start the toe and then the other sock.

Progress on my sisters sock

2007-07-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

I just put in a short rowed heel on the sock for my sister. That is the no-wrap heel from the Easy Sock pattern from Oz yarns' archived web site. Very easy to do; there is the tiny hole in the corner where I have the color change so I will do a sewed stitch to close that. It is not big, just want it to last, sister lives in the Umbria region of Italy on a hill and it can get cold.

The Sorting Hat must be Confused

2007-07-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

I have taken the tests about 6 times; most of the time it says Gryffindor, 2 times it said Hufflepuff and one time it said Ravenclaw. Now, I don't mind being thought intelligient, as a Ravenclaw, Modest, Humble and Hardworking as a Hufflepuff, or brave and chivalrous as a Gryffindor, and daring to boot, but this is what the conundrum that Harry Potter must have felt. I guess I would be the chamelean and blend in with those around me whereever I went.

toe up socks for my sister

2007-07-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

These are Lornas Lace socks made in sock yarn, the colorway is flame. I have to rip out the one with the heel and lengthen the foot.

Knitting at the Olive Garden again

2007-07-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

The weather was hot, the food was good and the knitting was fun. What can I say besides that? Lornas' Laces sock yarn in Flame colorway, toe up socks, on a circular.

My Bleu

2007-07-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

OK, he is grey but when he was a baby he looked like blue mist, so I think it is a great name. He likes attention in the middle of the night when I am trying to sleep.
Just thought I would show him off.

Wildefoote Deco Green yarn for heels

2007-07-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

I think this is the perfect color to contrast with the Trekking sock for my sister, and the Opal socks for me. I might even do the toes too but haven't made up my mind yet. I just love this color and it wasn't easy to find.

Colleens' sock in progress

2007-07-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

Colleen got her kit a month after me and she is down past the heel and on the foot, whereas I have not even done my heel yet. However part of that is waiting to see if I can get some bright green yarn to go with the sock. Hers will look so much better than mine and look at that patterning! I love my camera.

Fun Knitting Day

2007-07-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

I met with a friend at PANERA BREAD CO. which has not just great bread, but some awesome broccoli chedder soup. That makes for a great place to camp out for a couple of hours (the length of time it took my mango freezee drink to stop giving me headaches everytime I took a sip) and we got some knitting done. I was working on socks for my sister and a sock kit that my friend Colleen is also working on. Her kit came a month after mine and she is way ahead of me. I did cast on extra stitches and stuff, but still it looks awesome in person. We got a lady at an adjoining table to take this picture.

bright socks for me and my sister

2007-06-29T01:13:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be fun to do socks in the same pattern for both of us. Gremlin wanted to be in the pictures, he loves my yarn and needles.

Fine Martial Fiber: Dilemma#links

2007-06-27T02:14:00.000-07:00

Fine Martial Fiber: Dilemma#links

Uhhhmmm, that would be SPINNER

2007-06-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do know the difference in knitting and spinning and have done both :) but it looked like she was knitting her yarn when I first looked at it.
That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Knitter in Colonial Virginia

2007-06-27T00:57:00.001-07:00

My husband was in Virginia and some of the cities and townships are having all kinds of anniversary celebrations of the 400 year colonizaton of the British. He took it upon himself and took this picture for me knowing I would be happy to have it.

Socks for my Sister

2007-06-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have been knitting several pairs of socks for my sister; well some will BE pairs, but I thought it was time to show what has been keeping me busy.

My sister will be here in the States in September so I think, I hope, I have time to finish them.

International Knitting in Public Day in San Diego

2007-06-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

We had a nice turn out especially since we had knitters come from 2 other counties that could have attended their own knitting groups, but we hold ours in San Diegos' Balboa Park, home of the famous San Diego Zoo so it is a wonderful location and perfect weather. Very good day.

ONline sock yarn Beach

2007-06-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

This is surprisingly soft and non-splitty yarn. I liked the color on a blog of another sock knitter and actually expected that feel that Sockotta gives; this is so much nicer, you WANT to keep knitting with it.
Now to go into speed knitting mode.

2007-06-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

Collen's sock and daughter

2007-06-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

We met at a favorite restaurant for knitting and chatting and brought the socks we were working on. Fun day, some knitting, lots of food.

a bit more progress on the cuff pattern

2007-06-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show the little progress I have made of these totally cool socks. Great pattern from an exclusive designer.

http://bobbissocksblatherings.blogspot.com/feeds/post/default

socks aren't posting very well

2007-05-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

Lots of socks in progress

2007-05-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

It is about time for some updated photos of what I have been working on. I am working on lots more, but thought that this would be enought to show for now.

socks in progress

2007-05-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

http://bobbissocksblatherings.blogspot.com/feeds/post/default

I hope this link works. I actually need to take a picture of that bright Opal sock, I got another 20 patterns done, I think, on it.

Nice to have Spring again in the backyard

2007-05-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Luckily it has been so pretty out with high clouds that keep it from getting too hot.

took sock pics finally

2007-05-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

It was more than time to post new pics of socks in progress; some are toe up, some are almost finished. Some are for gifts.