a sock fix

I love my hand knit socks. 

So I was rather disappointed to see a weak spot developing on the heel of a pair I made last April.  Less than a year later and you could just about see through the stitches in that one spot.  But I knew that a hole would be worse, so I set them aside with the intent to learn how to reinforce the weakened stitches aka darning. 

It only took me 4 months or so to get up enough gumption to give it a go.  On Monday, I finally did. I Googled instructions and other helpful info on sock darning.   I learned that the kind of darning I needed to do is called "Swiss darning" or duplicate stitch.  I found a really good video tutorial here.  Armed with this info, the yarn leftovers from making this pair of socks (saved for just such an emergency!), a yarn needle, and a darning egg, I set forth into the realm of sock darning to tame the mighty sock beast!  Uh. Oops!  What I meant was to fix the weakened stitches.  But taming a sock beast sounds much more exciting, don't you think?


Of course, I didn't think to take a "before" photo.  So you'll have to take my word for it when I tell you if I had but worn these colorful sockies even one more time, I would have had to learn how to fix a hole in my sock instead!

the darned socks!  

{note: only one actually needed darning at this time. thankfully, i've got lots of yarn leftovers remaining so this pair should last me a very long time now that i know how to darn 'em!}

{here you can see the darned stitches where the brighter not-yet-faded yarn is! :D}

So that was my knitting (repair) lesson for this week! 

Actually, I also learned how to do an invisible double increase as well.  But I won't bore you with that story.  At least, I won't today.  [grin]

ARGH!

okay, so i'm a LOST fan. we got sucked into the show from the start and have been watching every episode ever since.  tonight's finale was going to be the end.  the final episode.  i knew that i could then go on with my life without wondering if there would be another season of LOST or what twist or turn the storyline would take next. 

we sat down at 6pm tonight and watched the 2 hours of LOST review and interviews with the actors and all.  all was going well, until about 8:50pm.  suddenly, our local ABC channel froze up in the middle of a commercial break. after about a minute without it coming back on, i'm thinking "no! this can't be happening.  please come back on! please come back on! i don't want to miss a minute of LOST!" 

it's now 9:35, and we're watching a black screen.  as in, the tv's on, tuned to ABC, but nothing is coming thru.  so since we've missed over half an hour of it already {and if you know the show, you know that a lot can happen in that time!}, we're going to have to wait and see if we can watch the rest tomorrow night.  i'm hoping ABC will have it available online!  i can't believe what a let-down this has been for me tonight.  i even got my parents to watch the kids for us this weekend so we wouldn't have to worry about interruptions from them--requests for a drink of water, getting out of bed for no apparent reason, needing tucked back in, etc.--during our viewing of this epic finale. 

i guess it just goes to show that you can plan, but you can't ever know exactly what's going to happen!

My new 'do!

I know I've been a bit focused lately.  Obsessed, actually.  But changing my hair was and is a big deal to me.  So, now that the change is done, here are the before and after photos!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

My stylist did a great job of listening to what I wanted from my new hairdo.  Layers.  The ability to let it air dry and still look nice.  And not need to use styling products unless I want to.  So, that kind of threw out some of the ideas I was looking at.  They're much more high maintenance than I am!  {smile}

My hair cut ended up very similar to the style I had back in 2008 when my hubby and I went to Maui to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  Same sort of layering and similar length.  I think the only real difference is that I now have side bangs which I did not have then.  As you can see, they kind of blend in (for the most part), but when I pull my hair back in a ponytail or bun, they hang down to the sides of my face.  It's a nice change.  And my head feels about 2 pounds lighter!   :D

a week to decide

my apologies to those who thought i was getting my hair cut this week.  if you were reading fast, you might have missed that i said next week. specifically, my appointment is on the 20th!  so i still have about a week to decide what exactly i want my hair cut to look like.  (and then we'll see if the stylist--and my hair--can do what i want!)

i also asked my Facebook friends to check out my last post and requested their input/advice.  {thanks to all who responded!}

here's the "voting" results so far.  {i'm still open to suggestions!}

two friends suggested i cut off enough to be able to donate it to Locks of Love. (i still have to figure out if hennaed hair is accepted.)  i'm not sure i want to go that short again anyways.

two friends like hair style #1 (selena gomez's long, layered look with side-swept bangs) but another friend cautioned that long bangs like that might be annoying if they tend to fall in front of my eyes {she also mentioned that it could be easily remedied by cutting them shorter.}

one friend likes hair style #3.  another likes style #2.  (both are mandy moore styles...similarly layered cuts with slightly different bangs) but another friend thought my hair might be too straight to actually get the same look.  

another friend mentioned that she liked my hair in my maui luau photo and thought the addition of bangs would look cute.

and finally, a friend who recently watched the movie "Fireproof" recommended i check out the hairstyle of the character Catherine Holt, played by Erin Bethea.  it's another very similar style--layered, with side-swept bangs. 

i'm so glad i have some time to really think about this!

i thought it might be fun to look through the hairstyles i've had in the past few years.  so here we go...

june 2006

also june 2006, after cutting off enough to donate to Locks of Love.  this one was an ugh! style for me.  it looked nice from the back, but didn't frame my face properly. 

                   

thankfully, my hair tends to grow quickly and by november it already wasn't quite so bad.

 i think it even looks nice in this photo, but it's a tad shorter than i like.

by 2008, my hair had grown out.  (here's the maui luau photo mentioned earlier)

 this photo from the same trip shows the length a little better.

well, as you can see, i haven't had bangs for quite some time.  in fact, i think it's been about 8 years--give or take a year or two.  {i'd have to dig out my older photos to find out for sure!}  there have been times when i liked them, and others when i hated having 'em.  i think that's going to be the hardest part of the whole hair style decision.

bangs?  or no bangs?  what do you think?

lookin' for a new look

in other words, i'm sick of my hair. 

it comes down to this:

long & straight = simple & BORING 

i know some people may be shocked to hear me say this since i haven't changed my hair much for the past couple years {at least!}, but after a while, long hair like mine just gets in the way.  perhaps if i could be creative with my hair styles it wouldn't be so bad.  but i can't even braid my own hair and have it look nice.  also, the length makes it rather heavy and the straightness makes it slippery so it won't even stay up in a bun or ponytail very well anymore.

i've been thinking about this for at least a month.  i really just need a change.  so i made an appointment with a hairstylist {who i know from church} for next week.  thursday.  i'm so excited!  i haven't had my hair cut {except an occasional trim} for a couple years! 

so i'm thinking layers.  and a bit shorter, but it'll still probably be longish since my hubby likes it long and i do want him to be happy with it too!  maybe i'll even be adventuresome and get bangs cut while i'm at it.   i haven't had bangs in years. 

it's been kind of fun to look for a new style and see what's trendy for spring and summer 2010.  {not that i ever intend to claim trendiness! lol!}

after much online-hair-style-hair-cut-trendy-website browsing, i've found a few celeb styles that i think i like.  but i'm not sure what would look good on me.  

examples of styles i like:  

1. selena

2. mandy

3. mandy

i like the longer length of selena's hair, and the layers look nice.  and the side-swept bangs are really pretty.  i also like mandy's many layers but i'm not sure about the bangs in #2.  however, i like the fact that mandy's hair style seems easy to care for and appears to be somewhat versatile.

what do you think?  

i'd love to get a little "hair advice" before my hair cut next week.  so leave me a comment and let me know what YOU think i should do.  and if there's another hair style that you think might be better for my low-maintenance, but not-too-short preferences, i'm open to any {good} suggestions!

thanks!