This photo was taken with my iPhone and then enhanced using the CameraBag app. Cool, no?
11/10/08 ETA: Mitts are worked on my new Knit Picks Harmony DPS--which, can I just say?--are totally fab.
Happy Socktober everyone!It was rather a pretty little picture: for the sisters sat together in the shady nook, with sun and shadow flickering over them,--the aromatic wind lifting their hair and cooling their hot cheeks,--and all the little wood-people going on with their affairs as if these were no strangers, but old friends. Meg sat upon her cushion, sewing daintily with her white hands, and looking as fresh and sweet as a rose, in her pink dress, among the green. Beth was sorting the cones that lay thick under the hemlock near by, for she made pretty things of them. Amy was sketching a group of ferns, and Jo was knitting as she read aloud. A shadow passed over the boy's face as he watched them, feeling that he ought to go, because uninvited; yet lingering because home seemed very lonely, and this quiet party in the woods most attractive to his restless spirit. He stood so still, that a squirrel, busy with its harvesting, ran down a pine close beside him, saw him suddenly, and skipped back, scolding so shrilly that Beth looked up, espied the wistful face behind the birches, and beckoned with a reassuring smile.
"May I come in, please? or shall I be a bother?" he asked, advancing slowly.
Meg lifted her eyebrows, but Jo scowled at her defiantly, and said, at once, "Of course you may. We should have asked you before, only we thought you wouldn't care for such a girl's game as this."
"I always like your games; but if Meg don't want me, I'll go away."
"I've no objection, if you do something; it's against the rule to be idle here," replied Meg, gravely, but graciously.
"Much obliged; I'll do anything if you'll let me stop a bit, for it's as dull as the desert of Sahara down there. Shall I sew, read, cone, draw, or do all at once? Bring on your bears; I'm ready," and Laurie sat down with a submissive expression delightful to behold.
"Finish this story while I set my heel," said Jo, handing him the book."Yes'm," was the meek answer, as he began, doing his best to prove his gratitude for the favor of an admission into the "Busy Bee Society." (115-16)
(The Busy Bee Society is the girls' attempt to avoid idleness over the summer holidays--in a previous chapter, the girls take a week "off" from their chores, with Marmee's approval, and must deal with the disasterous consequences). LW includes lots of descriptions of women's domestic work, but I guess I hadn't paid special attention to this particular one until I learned to knit socks.
Haven't had time for much knitting, so here are some garden photos. I discovered this guy in the back yard a few days ago while I was rushing to get ready for school. Even though I didn't really have time, I snapped a few photos so I could identify him (or her) later. I wish I'd thought to put another object in the photo for scale, because this was one ginormous slug. And kind of striking with the spots and all. Kate was way too interested, so I had to put her inside while I snapped the photos. Eventually he crawled off into the grass leaving a nice slimey trail.
So, if you know your gastropods, you'll recognize the above specimen as a leopard slug, so named for the cool spots. I found lots of info in the internets, but I especially liked this page which refers to them as "handsome," because--sliminess notwithstanding--they are something to look at.
My friend Beth gave me several seedlings in early spring. Thanks to our backyard squirrels, this is the only plant that survived. I planted it a bit late, so the flowers have only recently appeared--but I think they're gorgeous. I was expecting the usual blue variety, but these are huge white flowers about 4 inches across. They provide a nice bright spot just as everything else is fading away (like the purple coneflowers in the lower right corner of this photo). The purple asters have just started to bloom. I'll post pics next week when they really start to take off. I'm hoping today's rain (from Hurricane Hanna) will encourage the plants to bloom.
Even though this past week was only the second of the semester, I was busy enough that I had hardly any time for knitting. I still try to do a little every day though, even if it's just a half hour. So this week I did some swatching to find a good pattern for some Regia Bamboo I've had in my stash for awhile now. On the left is the Chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks which I thought might show off the pretty colors of this yarn. On the right are Froot Loop Socks from the spring '08 issue of Knitty .
I didn't think either pattern did much for the yarn, though. Then I tried Retro Rib from Favorite Socks.
I tried this pattern once before in a different yarn, but gave up because I kept making mistakes. It's not a hard pattern to memorize--just 4 rows, with only minimal variation between rows 1-2 and 3-4. But I kept making mistakes. I'm doing slightly better this time, although I have had to frog bits here and there. The above photo isn't great, but I think that the pattern nicely shows off the colors of the yarn, even if the yarn overwhelms the pattern just a bit. So I'm sticking with this for now.
Just returned from a week at the beach where, it turns out, Kate discovered her inner water dog. (Kate's half collie, and we suspect the other half is some kind of retriever--she looks a lot like a flat-coated retriever.) Up until last week Kate showed zero interest in the water, but something about the ocean made her curious, and, after giving me a heartattack by suddenly plunging in--and UNDER--her little head popped back up, she paddled to shore, shook off, and was ready to go back in. Fortunately, we stayed at a dog-friendly hotel, so dragging a wet dog back and forth to the room wasn't a problem, even when Katie decided to "dry off" on the carpet in the lobby.
I didn't do as much knitting as I expected to while we were away, but I did knit most of the second waving lace sock, which I finally finished this morning. This is an excellent pattern and, if we weren't having such pleasant summer weather (good rain, not too hot), I might wish for wool-sock-wearing temps.
Since we've been home, Kate's been spending a lot of time doing this--
Since the spring, several new puppies have moved into the neighborhood, and this is what she looks like after playing with them.
We're having our house painted, so it's been a little crazy around here. Add to that the fact that my camera batteries ran out of juice and, well, that's why so much time has lapsed between posts. But, I have been knitting, and I'm especially proud of these:
Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks. And here's best part. They're knitted from my first hand-dyed yarn. Knit Picks bare merino/silk dyed with Kool-Aid. I love the color, but it was sort of an accident. I wanted blue socks so I bought some Tropical Punch which, contrary to the color of the package, is (of course) punch RED. Ick. I had some Grape already which I thought might make a nice sock color, but I didn't have enough. So I ended up using 4 Grape plus 2 Tropical Punch, and that combo produced a purple-pinky color, not unlike the color of the socks on the cover of FS. I may have stuffed too much yarn into my dyepot, or maybe I didn't stir enough, because there are sections that barely took up any color. But I kind of like the heathery effect, at least as a first effort at hand-dyeing. I already bought more wool to try again, and I've been reading more about hand-dyeing, includine A Dyer's Garden. If I can bear to chop off the heads of my marigolds, I'd probably have enough to dye yarn for a pair of socks.
We've had quite a bit of rain here in eastern PA, and my garden is looking fab, if I do say so myself. Last week's prize was this lovely lupine. I'd planted four in early spring, and didn't expect to see any activity until next year, but then last week, I spotted this purple spike and have been adoring it ever since.
I also added a few more things, just for a bit more color, including some cosmos, one of my favorite annuals.
Kate as always loves to be outside, and on hot days, she flops down in this cool spot, which we've taken to calling her "nest."
Over the past few weeks, we've spent quite a bit of time deciding on (and changing our minds about) paint colors. Now that the main color is on, we need to make a decision about accent colors. At the moment, we're wondering whether to go green (left column) or gold (right column).
We've had so much rain lately that everything is green and growing like crazy. I know it won't last, but I sure am enjoying it now. We spent most of the holiday weekend working in the yard, but I did have some time for knitting, including--taDAAAAA!--rescuing these Broadripples from my WIP pile. I started these over a year ago, shortly after learning to knit socks. I don't remember why I put them down, exactly. Probably I just got interested in something else. Anyway, I thought I had only the toe of the second sock to go, but discovered a small mistake. So I ripped the foot back, re-knit, and finished them this morning. Yay! I wish I'd knit the foot a little longer, but it's not a big deal since Cascade Fixation is so stretchy. 
I love the springy colors and how they kind of go with the colors that are appearing in the back yard as various perennials begin to bloom. Like these peonies.
Even before the flowers open, the buds provide little balls of color. And lots of ants--which might have attracted this guy,
although I suspect he was more interested in all the worms I unearthed as I was working. I don't know if it was the SAME robin following me around all day. All I can say is that every time I looked around A robin wasn't far off, and he had a beak full of worms. We seem to have lots of earthworms this year, and I'm taking that as a sign that our efforts to improve the soil are working.
Among the first signs of spring around here are huge mulch piles in everybody's yard. This is a small portion of the load delivered to us a few days ago along with a bunch of organic soil. A. and I spent the weekend preparing planting beds--i.e., weeding, edging, etc. We made a start, but there is a lot of work left to do. And we really don't have a big yard.
One of my spring favs is sweet woodruff (above). Ours is just about to bloom. The tiny white flowers appear in early spring, and the leaves keep that pretty green all season. Plus, as the name suggests, the plant has a really pleasant smell.
As for Kate's contribution to our gardening efforts, when she's not sitting on plants or stealing our gloves, she's stretched out on the grass.
Can't say much about my current knitting projects, most of which are Mother's Day related, because my Moms? She's now on the internets (yay Mom!) and she checks my blog. :) On a recent visit home, though, I did make good progress on the above Oak Ribbed sock, which is installment 4 in my knit-every-vintage-sock initiative
the other day (thank you!). In my next post, I'll reciprocate. :)
I made these little mittens for our youngest neice, who celebrated her second birthday last week and whose birthday party we attended yesterday. There were so many presents that our little package was nearly lost in the shuffle--but the mittens captured her attention anyway. She put them on immediately, and began wheeling around her baby and carriage (another gift). Completely adorable.
I used the "Classic Mitten" pattern in Folk Mittens and then Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns for help with sizing. Yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease, not one of my favs, but I figured these will probably need to be washed after a bit of wear. Because these are teensy and because I've made quite a few mittens in the past year, this was a fast project until I got to the finger-knitted cord, which I had to practice a few times in order to get the hang of the technique. Not that it's hard--once you understand, it goes fast--probably faster with two colors since it's obvious where to go for the next loop--but initially for whatever reason, my brain wasn't processing the instructions.
Also finished--well, nearly finished--this weekend was Ela's Favorite Hat from OS Wonders. I've been looking at patterns for a while now in search of something I could wear for early morning dog walks. I queued a bunch of things on Ravelry, and then remembered there were some patterns in OS Wonders that I'd liked. I also had a skein of Malabrigo (Vaa) left over from Christmas knitting that I thought would be good for a hat. I love LOVE how this turned out. I still need to add the i-cord decoration at the top. But this hat is warm and totally cute and, if I can say, the Malabrigo was an excellent choice for this pattern. I was a little worried that the pattern wouldn't look as good in such a soft yarn, but that didn't turn out to be an issue. Plus, the pearl rows nicely bring out the subtle color changes of the yarn. I did have to CO an extra 10 stitches to accomodate my huge head, and consequenty I was a little worried the extra stitches would ruin the proportions. But in the end, these mods didn't seem to matter.
Finished these over the weekend and felted yesterday. They were still a bit damp this morning, so I put them in the sun to speed up the drying process. It's cold and windy here in Eastern PA, but the sun is shining. I love how these turned out, and I wish they'd dry already so I can wear them!
Pattern deets: Chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, knit on 2.5 mm DPNs, in Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in "Fern"
Confession: halfway through sock no. 2, I noticed that it was a little narrower than sock no. 1. And what I finally figured out was that I had accidentally used 2.5 mm DPNs on sock 1 and 2.25 mm DPNs on sock 2. Duh. (Oh, Knit Picks nickle-plated DPNs , I love you, but I wish you came with sizes tatooed on your shiny selves!) So I frogged sock #2, and started over. Along the way I was fairly crabby about the splitty-ness of the yarn. But as the socks began to take shape and I figured out how to catch/fix the splits, I grew fonder of the yarn, and I will definitely try it again for socks. Making the forethought heel for this project also added to my heel repertoire. Always a good thing.
I'm using Kraemer Yarns alpaca, bulky weight, in rose gray on size 10.5 circs. This yarn is buttery soft, and I look forward to using it for other projects. As for this project--it's quick and easy. I added 5 extra stitches (which gives me 55 total at the cast-on edge and works out to one extra for each section--i.e., two front panels, 2 sleeves, back) since my gage on these needles is slightly fewer stitches per inch than in the original pattern. This may make the capelet too big-- I'll just have to see.
And then below is another pair of Easy Mittens from OS Wonders. I really like this pattern--and, actually, I really REALLY like it with this yarn: Paton's SYS. (GK tells me that she finds this yarn too splitty. And it is. A little. But for me the fuzzy softness is worth dealing with the occasionally splitty strands. Also? So far, it's not pilling. Gotta love that.) I knit these in the smaller size on #6 DPNs.
Truth? They're just my size, which means that they'd probably be a bit snug for a person with average sized hands. If I were making these for someone else, I'd probably go up a needle size.
And, last but not least, can I just say that I recently spent a TOTALLY pleasant afternoon at The Knit Knack in Maplewood NJ. This shop is fab, in no small part because of the friendly owners and the wonderful selection of very beauteous yarns. GK and I spent a very cozy couple of hours knitting (and catching up) as we sat in the comfy chairs at the front of the shop. I also came home with more than a few things to add to my stash, including the most lovely Trekking XXL, which I've nearly finished knitting into a pair of socks. Just for me.
So, I'll find another use for this yarn. Fortunately, I got my Ravelry invite last week (wooHOO!!), and I can look for new ideas there.
Before, you had to walk through that doorway on the right to get to the back, and so we had two rooms that weren't very functional. Now we have a nice entrance to the back and, to the right, a little pantry.
Below are two new projects I started over the weekend. On the left, "Yarrow Ribbed Socks" from Vintage Socks, and on the right, 20 rows of what will eventually be a bird cage cover to keep Gino and Rocky warm once the temps start to drop.
Socks are on size 1 DPNs and I'm using Apple Laine's Apple Pie sock yarn (50% wool, 20% mohair, 20% silk, 10% Nylon) which I purchased at The Loopy Ewe . This yarn is really really soft and a pleasure to knit with. These will be really warm socks! The cage cover is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes because, well, it's cheap, and this project requires a lot of yarn! I've been thinking about this project for a while and trying out different designs, including crocheting a giant circle, which, after 15 or so rounds, turned out to be really really boring work--probably because I'm not experienced enough with crochet to come up with an interesting design. In the end, I decided to knit separate panels to form a box. That way I can break it down into parts and maybe do something interesting with the individual panels and/or in piecing them together--I'm thinking maybe buttons or ties. Other than those plans, I'm mostly making the design up as I go--which, I realize, could be a terrible mistake. The panel in the above pic will go on the top. It's just a rectange of st st framed by garter st. Here's what I've done so far:
I think I'll keep going this way until I cover just a little less than half the area of the cage top and then do another 16 rows of garter stitch. Depending on how things look, I may actually construct the top piece of two panels rather than one big one.
Yarn is Mauch Chunky that I bought a couple weeks ago at my LYS. I hadn't tried this yarn before, but I'm really liking it. The color is "bing cherry," and I'm using size 11 circs (24", but I probably could have used 16") and DPNs.
And below, finally FINALLY, I finished the second blue stripey sock. The first of this pair was my first short-row heel attempt, and I discovered after I posted (bragged) that there was actually a pretty big hole at the last wrapped stitches on each side. A few gajillion SRHs later, and, grateful for advice from helpful friends about minimizing those dag blasted holes, I forced myself to finish the second sock.
