"n" is for

...'nnouncing the winner of the copy of the joy of sox!

some very interesting things in your knitting bags! sounds like "some" of us need to dump our bags out more often! LOL!

being from the old school, i like to do things the old fashion way...yep. i cut up all your comments and stuck them in here:


shook everything around and drew out this:

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so, yoyo socksister! you have won a copy of the new sock book, the joy of sox, courtesy of lark books and moi! congratulations! i hope you enjoy the patterns. please email me at ajmcfong at yahoo dot com with your mailing address and i will get this lovely book out to you.

and because so many of you took the time to leave me a comment, i decided to draw 3 more names and will be giving you a pattern of your choice from my ravelry store. you can also pick the mystery sock but the pattern will not be available until october.

kate
turtle
stacy

if you gals would pm me (rav id is bellybuttonknits) over on rav with your choice of pattern, i will get the pattern out to you.

thank you all for playing along!

obligatory ugly hummingbird picture
6-21-09

one of my friends sent me a picture of a baby cockatoo and it's even uglier than baby hummingbirds!

"m" is for

..."make" someone happy AND "mystery" socks!

i want to make someone happy by giving away a copy of the joy of sox! here's the deal. leave me a comment ON THIS POST telling me the strangest thing you have in your knitting bag and why it's there. i keep a small superball in my knitting bag. it's perfect for sticking in sock toes while you are trying to even out that little kitchener graft! strange but it works. or if you are more normal than that, you can leave me a comment telling me why you think you deserve the book or how/why you got into sock knitting. once upon a time, i honestly did think it was strange for people to be hand knitting socks!

deadline for posting a comment will be tuesday, september 15th! us residents only, this time. sorry. please leave me a way to contact you should you be the lucky winner.

and the final clue for the carefree mystery sock kal went out over the weekend. so i can share some pictures with you.

my pattern still doesn't have a real name...
kind of like the empress of fantasia in neverending story

it's a mystery sock

pathetic, huh?!

crystal palace yarn - panda wool (ultramarine)
us 1.5 (2.5mm) needles
i love them but i only wish i had added some sparkly beads

hummingbirds
6/20/09

i kept wondering when they would get cute!

"k" is for

kal!

my mystery sock kal starts tomorrow. wish me luck! i've never lead a mystery kal before. and i found the pattern was much more work to write up than a regular pattern. but then i do tend to make things a tad more "jazzy" than required. and yes, that was a hint. LOL! you should be scared! :op

hummingbirds
6-19-09
bigger but still ugly

"j" is for

...just because i can.

remember that noro yarn that i knit into :

the entrelac scarf?

i actually finished the scarf, using 4 skeins of noro. didn't like it so frogged the entire scarf and started

the mystery of marie roger scarf

i liked how the colors were making stripes. however, i kept losing my place in the scarf and ending up tinking back at several times. do you know how frustrating it is to find a mistake in a scarf that is knit lengthwise?! yes, close to 300 stitches in a row. and yes, i did...

ten stitch scarf

the yarn is in its third reincarnation of a scarf! and i think i will keep this one. i did have to frog this version once after knitting 3 -4 repeats because i realized that i was knitting the corners wrong and that they were not sitting flat. i get easily confused, thankyouverymuch.

i don't think i have ever gotten so much play value from any of my other yarn. seriously!

and you all know i love contests. barbara bretton (author of "casting spells" and other romance novels) of romancing the yarn blog is having a 2 month prize giveway. well, i won her drawing for july 11th. she sent me this cute bag, bookmark, a magnet (it's some place), and 2 skeins of elann baby cashmere (perfect for a scarf-and you all thought i was scary with socks! LOL!)

there is still a month to go for the daily drawings so go on over and sign up. it's really easy!

and the sign-ups are open for the carefree mystery sock kal. as i mentioned in my last post, i am designing the socks and i hope some of you decide to play with me. i hate being lonesome. you do need to join the carefree kal blog in order the receive the clues. there will be a limit to the number of people allowed to join just cause that's the way blogger plays.

hummingbirds

6-17-09

"i" is for

... itsy-bitsy! ( stretching it, i know!)

"vauvan sukka"
which translates to "train socks" (i think)
my way

kroy sock yarn
us 1.5 needles (2.5mm)
40 sts (probably 3-6 months)

saw these adorable baby socks on ravelry but the pattern is not available. it would have been in finnish anyway (and my knowledge of finnish is even less than german which is virtually non-existent). so what was i to do? why, reverse knit the socks, of course. as per protocol, i knit three socks to get the two. i started off with some leftovers and got to the last 6 rounds of the toe to realize that i would not have enough for a pair (unless i downsize to 32 sts). groan! well, you know me and the frog pond. so, i started all over again with a new skein of yarn. the socks are sooo itsy-bitsy (that they make you want to start talking in a high squeaky voice!).

i may write up my version just so i have a reference for future pairs. i love how they turned out!

in september, we will be having a mystery sock kal over at the carefree kal blog. i have the sock done and just have to write up the clues. let me know if you are interested in playing along. you have to be a member of the blog to receive the clues.

hummingbirds
6/15/09

they've grown a lot in 2 days. still looking like plucked chickens.

"h" is for

....hummingbirds! my hubby spotted a hummingbird's nest in a tree in front of our house. we weren't sure if the nest was active so i used our digital camera to take a picture of the inside of the nest.

look at what we found!

may 31, 2009

mama wasn't sitting on the nest when hubby first spotted the nest. it was very well camouflaged in the leaves. later, mama came back and we got a shot of her sitting on the nest. can you see her?

here's a closer look at her. she wasn't afraid of us.

i took a couple of pictures of an old nest that we found on the ground a couple of years ago. the inside of the nest is about the size of a quarter. i imagine the eggs are a bit smaller than pinto beans.

then i stuck the nest next to a dwarf marigold flower

it wasn't until almost 2 weeks later that i thought to see if the eggs had hatched. ding-dong here should have been checking everyday; then i could tell you how old the babies are.

june 13th
did you know that the hummingbirds use spiderwebs to build their nests? it looks funny to see the nest stretch and wiggle as the babies get bigger and move around.

the mama hummingbird usually lays two eggs; laying one, skipping a day, and then laying another. she does not start sitting on the eggs until both are laid. it takes 16-18 days before the eggs hatch. the babies are born naked and without the characteristic long hummingbird beak (which i am sure makes mama happy). they really are butt-ugly!

fledging usually takes place about 3 weeks after the babies hatch so i suspect that i will find the nest empty soon as the babes venture out with mama.

we have been following their progress and have been taking pictures every day or so. i will be posting more pictures. it's not everyday that we get an opportunity like this. isn't nature wonderful?!