Fleece Artist socks

Yay! I finally gave my one Fleece Artist sock its mate! It's about time too. I really wanted to get these finished before I started my "vacation" socks (more about that in another post) so I just buckled down and got it done. Peasant heel:

Short row heel: Pattern: none, just plain ole stockingette stitch; one with a peasant heel and one with a short row heel

Yarn: Fleece Artist merino sock; color Cosmic (from The Loopy Ewe)

Needles: US #1 circular

Notes: I learned two new heel methods with these socks! First I wanted to try out one of Alyssa's favortie heels, the Peasant Heel, done by knitting in waste yarn and then going back and doing a sort of wedge heel. I like it okay. At first, I decreased way too much (down to 8 sts on each needle I think) so I ripped back a little to about 12 or 14 sts on each needle and then grafted the heel together. It still wants to bunch up a little on the bottom of the heel so maybe I did something wrong. So, with the second sock I tried a Short Row heel to sort of compare it with the other. I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with it either....I don't think it creates a deep enough heel for me. One thing I did love about it was how quick it was compared to a traditional heel flap/gusset combo. All in all, it was a good experiment and now I have a nice new pair of cozy socks.

Hey! I was tagged by several people for the 7 Random Facts meme!

1. I'm not a James Bond series fan at all but I actually loved Casino Royale.
2. I have by B.S. degree in Geography
3. I actually use my degree at my job....I'm a Reaseach Analyst for a commercial real estate company (sound important, doesn't it? haha)
4. I've never lived anywhere else but Texas
5. I LOVE steak!!!! specifically, ribeye steak. I'm drooling right now.
6. I learned to drive a manual transmission about 5 years ago when I met my husband and that's all I've ever driven since....I love it!
7. I have a major sweet tooth! I seriously could eat dessert after every meal.

Okay, so that's 7 totally random things about me. This meme has really spread like wildfire. If you haven't been tagged yet, considered yourself tagged. It's fun!

Out of the Dark Ages....

Ok, so, I've just discovered Bloglines. Can you believe it?!! I knew what it was I just never knew how it all worked. Well, turns out, it's easy peasy. Now I can't believe I waited this long to check it out.

So, anyway, I've been tagged by Lara for the 5 Secrets About Me meme! I had to think about it for a little while but this one is easier than the 6 Weird things meme because you just have to list things about yourself that you have not previously revealed on your blog.

1. I have recently started collecting original edition Nancy Drew books. I really enjoyed them when I was young and read quite a few of them. I'm not going for "collectors" quality or 1st editions or anything, I just want to get all of the original (before they were "revised" to modern language) edititions. So far I have 6 out of 56.
2. I am the oldest out of 8 children. My parents had me, my sister, and my brother and then adopted 1 brother when I was 8 and then adopted 4 more after I was 16. My family is very diverse which I think is really neat...we have Korean, Equadorian, and Guatamalan.
3. Even though I'm a big homebody, I really like to travel a lot! The only continents I haven't been to are Africa and Antarctica and I don't really have plans on visiting the latter! My favorite place is New Zealand and I've been lucky enough to have been there twice!
4. My husband and I met on a blind date that was set up by a neighbor of mine. I think that's the only blind date I've ever been on! We just hit it off...it was pretty cool!
5. I used to be really big into road cycling when I was in college and didn't work full time. Two years in a row I participated in a famous bicycle ride called the Hotter 'N Hell 100. It's a ride held in North Texas in August and it's 100 miles. People come from all over the country to ride it. It's infamous for the triple digit heat you get to ride in. It's an accomplishment that I'm very proud of and I hope to do it again someday when I don't spend 2 hours a day in my car commuting.

So, that's it! Now, Disentangled, Jen, Alyssa, Emilee, and Maureen you are tagged!!!

BTW, sorry about the "new" posts that are popping up if you have me in your bloglines. I've been going back to old posts and adding labels to them and they get republished.

Weird MLE

I got tagged by Emily!

6 Weird Things About Me Meme


1) I love grilled cheese sandwiches....but more than that, I love making grilled cheese sandwiches. I make them with pre-shredded Colby/Monterey Jack mix you buy at the store and some of the cheese always falls into the pan and I let it fry up and then I eat it!! I guess I just love fried cheese!

2) Sleep is a priority for me. I can get up and leave in the middle of my favorite TV show if it's my bedtime (and we don't have Tivo). I'm very diciplined in this way.


3) When I was 13 I got the mumps....even though I had been vaccinated as a child. The vaccine is only like 97% effective and I just happened to be in that 3% where it was ineffective.


4) I had never heard of the Dukes of Hazzard until about 3 years ago. I'm 26. Yeah, I was a little sheltered growing up.


5) I love dipping my french fries in my Frosty at Wendy's. Maybe this isn't so weird because I'd say it's about 50/50 of the people that I know that like/hate it.


6) I love rainy days! As long as I'm not actually driving out in it, I love being inside and watching it rain. And I like cloudy days too. I guess because it doesn't rain all that much here and it's a nice change.


So there you go! I actually had to think for a little while to come up with 6 things. It was fun though! and I've been enjoying reading what other people put down as their weird things. So, if you're reading this, consider yourselft tagged!

And here is a little sneak peek of my Endpaper Mitts....I have one done so far. I'm hoping to have the second one done by the end of next weekend. The one mitt took longer than I thought it would...hopefully the second will go quicker.