Sock Wars III is over for me

Sock Wars III, originally uploaded by daniinnc_2000.

So I have been beaten in Sock Wars. My Detonator socks arrived on Tuesday. I knew that I wouldn't last long, but I figured I should at least try. When a week went by, I nursed a brief glimmer of hope. After I got my socks, I emailed my assassin to let her know that she got me. It turns out that I wasn't her original target. She beat my assassin and then had to knit my socks. This means that these people are knitting way faster than I thought!

These socks were a great fit and I loved them, but I sacrificed and gave them to the MIL. Why? Because she has worn the last two pairs I made her until they were nothing but string. I was supposed to make her a new pair two years' ago. Yes, that's me, the bad daughter-in-law. So I figured the least I could do was give up this pair.

According to my assassin, the yarn used for these sock was Trekking XXL. I knew it wasn't the recommended Tofutsies because it didn't feel like dental floss. C1 fell in love with the color changes and wants a pair for herself. She's a knitter so now is as good a time as any for her to learn how to knit socks. I don't think I will spend the $17 for Trekking XXL. Lion Brand has Magic Stripes for half that price.

Even though I got knocked out early, Sock Wars III has encouraged me to try other knit-alongs. I've been knitting for long enough that I should be taking more chances and trying new things. More on that later.

TipNut.com (What's in my Google Reader?)

My Google Reader is loaded down with feeds. Since it is free and doesn't involve cluttering my bedside table with books, I subscribe to any blog that intrigues me. However, I don't get around to reading all of those feeds every day. As I type this, I am subscribed to 73 blogs with 333 unread entries. Out of that 73 there are about five blogs that I check every single day. TipNut is one of them.

TipNut is an aggregation blog, which is a blog whose primary purpose is to share links to posts on other blogs. I don't know if that is the official term, but that is what I call it. TipNut's particular niche is household hints. I've seen other blogs that offer household hints, but I like the feel of TipNut. The page design is clean and easy for my weak eyes to read. Also, the author doesn't just link to the article; the post on TipNut also has comments about how to make the particular tip work better.

The true appeal of TipNut for me as a person with a retro bent is the old-fashioned feeling. For instance, TipNut has many posts about homemade cleansers but they aren't presented in a modern "green" fashion. I get the feeling that author uses these recipes to simplify life and do things the way our grandmothers would have done them. Adding to that impression are the vintage patterns for items like laundry bags and embroidered dish towels. If you are a person who is trying to create a cozy environment for your family, you would do well to make TipNut a daily read.

Turning Into an Earth Mother

My original gardening plan has gotten bigger and bigger, probably because I keep trying to find reasons to be out in the garden. I started off thinking I was just going to plant four vegetables in containers: tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and basil. Since my last gardening post, I've added cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, green onions, chives, squash, zucchini, banana peppers, and jalapenos. Another change is that the bulk of them are in the garden bed that I wasn't planning to use until fall. I decided that I would rather use my bed for free rather than sink money into more containers.

I knew that I would enjoy planning the garden because I have been dreaming of one for years. What I didn't expect was that I would like digging around in the dirt. I like shoveling the soil and the compost onto the beds. I even like standing outside and just looking at the plants. I'm thinking about putting a chair out there so I can sit and read.

Spending time in the garden has changed my whole feeling about the outside of the house. I treat the yard like another room now. I make the kids go out and pick up trash just as if they were straightening up their bedrooms. I'm more aware of how it must look to the neighbors when I have junk all over the porch and the lawn. Won't ABM be surprised when he comes home to a clean yard?




The funny thing is that the garden itself isn't even that pretty. The planks are left over from a play structure that ABM built for the kids about six years' ago. He tore the rest of it down when it got rickety but didn't feel like pulling up the bottom part that was secured to the ground. So I have a plot that resembles raised beds with all my plants squeezed in there haphazardly. Not a lovely sight, but I'm happy with it just the same.