Dinner club comes tomorrow...
Decorations are decking...check (high and low....inside and outside)
Feather tree is reassembled....check (the picture is just blurry; it's not ready to fall again!)
Dishes are washed (no doggy pre-wash)....check
My supervisor has been sort of slacking off...
allowing this to happen.
I have no food cooked.
Gotta go!
Hubby's BROWN socks...(remember these?!?...the ones YOU all convinced me I needed to take on the plane a couple weeks ago) and Dan BROWN's latest novel. It's been awhile since I've grabbed a page-turner. I love to knit and read at the same time when it's a mindless, quick action story, but I can only knit very simple things; plain ole vanilla socks fit the bill. So, these left the safety of the car where they were poised to be a long-term, knit-and-grab-when-I-get-stuck-at-the-railroad-crossing (which happens more than you would suppose).
The book was fast paced, this time staying in Spain...a country I've never visited. But Gaudi took center stage, and his work I'm very familiar with....and the reason Barcelona has always been a dream trip. So I enjoyed it. I didn't like the fact that I found the story a bit predictable. It was no Da Vinci Code.
And the best part?
As I finished the last chapter, I found myself ready to kitchener the toe of the second sock. The book and the socks ended at exactly the same time.
THAT NEVER HAPPENS!!!
(and you thought Brown and BROWN was the coincidence, didn't you?!?)
Janesville Jacket is finished. It's pretty perfect for a cool fall day; the only problem is....we have yet to have that 'cool, fall day'. I think we're close.
This has been 'hanging over my head'....I volunteered (yes, I really did) to knit 6 shawls for a dear friend's daughter's wedding. I finished the prototype...sent it off, and I received the 'A-OK' that it was just what the bride had in mind. So far, so good. Five more to go. The only problem....BIG, CHUNKY yarn (which I hate) using BIG, CHUNKY needles (which I HATE even more). But, now, the knitting is done...the finishing won't take too terribly long and the wedding isn't until December, so I'm sort of free from this project---at least for a bit.
What to cast on? Do I want to finish a UFO? (no) I've put the Ghana socks in the car for stop-and-go knitting. They are guiltlessly out of sight. Now what?
Enter, the chevron cowl. I had a mini-package of Wonderland yarn assorted colours...and one large skein (in grey, what else?) This is simply a basic chevron pattern, done in the round. I'll knit until each of the mini skeins is gone, separating each section with the grey....and then I'll kitchener the ends together. Reversible...no ends to weave in. Pretty mindless. My kind of project.
It's moving along nicely. I was happily engaged in the whole thing. Yarn is lovely.
And then, I went to the mailbox Friday, and found the new issue of Making: no4 Lines.
I'm not going to turn this into a spoiler alert post, but YOU NEED TO RUSH OUT AND BUY THIS ISSUE ASAP. This cowl is going on the needles soon---real soon. As are a pair of socks, a shawl, a pair of mittens, and the sweater!!!! I really need it in my closet. This list doesn't even include all the sewing things I might like to try! I have loved every issue of this magazine, and when I receive each issue I declare it is my all time favorite....
this time I really mean it. I want it all.
Hermione's Everyday Socks. I was pretty sure I was the last sock knitting knitter to make a pair of these, but from the comments, I see there are a few of you who also have put these off. Why??!!? This is one great pattern....just a few purls thrown in to keep the socks from pooling badly---or, at the very least, to give pooled areas a bit of interest and texture. It has a modified eye of partridge heel...again, simple, but a wee bit of additional interest. A well written pattern. And it's free. I used size 1 needles on the leg of the sock, then went down to a 0 for the heel and gusset and foot. These are probably the best fitting socks I've ever made (and I've made a whole lot of socks!!!!) My vanilla sock pattern has found some competition. This won't be the last pair I knit.
Another featherweight jumped on the needles...just because it's a pretty straight-forward knit and I have a couple books I want to dive into...and this yarn has been in the stash too long. (I wonder why.....it's actually a bit more teal than the color in the photo!)
And soon to be on the needles...No show socks by La Maison Rililie.
Let the holiday knitting begin!!!
The knitting pace is picking up. Fall must be in the air!
This book is quickly becoming my favorite summer read. Robin Wall Kimmerer is, according to her bio blip on the back cover, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, a scientist, mother, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, and an award winning author. What it doesn't tell us is she is also a lyrical poet. A reverent Nature Lover. A keeper of traditions. A relationship builder. An extraordinary storyteller.
Elizabeth Gilbert has called it 'A hymn of love to the world'.....something our world could use a little more of
A beautiful book (thank you, Jane, for recommending it to me!)
And, yes.
I chose my *project yarn by the book cover.
* Hermione sock pattern. Tosh Sock in the Mansfield Garden Party colorway.
Years ago I grabbed bits and pieces and itty balls of random, mismatched sock yarn (which for some strange reason I CANNOT THROW AWAY) and made fraternal-twin socks. Since there are m-a-n-y bits and pieces and itty balls of sock yarn around here, I was planning on having a whole drawer full of these.
I have one pair.
BUT...if you wait long enough...someone will come up with another, sometimes better idea. (Since I am the copycat queen, you can be assured that it won't be me.)
And, along came...Pixel Rise socks.
Unlike fair isle---where you need a 'plan', you can pretty much use any yarn and get something that isn't too ugly.
The pattern is written for toe-up socks with an afterthought heel; you can tell I'm ignoring the toe-up part; the afterthought heel? I'll make that call when I get there. But the patterning is a great way to use up yarn that most organized people would have trashed after their original project was complete.
I actually think they're pretty cute.
Freddy thinks so, too.
(eep!...to think he almost missed this photo shoot!)
Two of the (too many) books I bought on my recent bookshop crawl around Cape Cod....and both are winners. I read Dinner with Edward in a single sitting. The subtitle: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship...pretty much sums up this memoir that leaves you hoping that such a friendship someday comes your way. Edward is a ninety year old who has just lost his wife; Isabel is in her middle years, facing the demise of her marriage. Thinking she is helping Edward's daughter, who lives far from her dad--Isabel agrees to check in on the aging, grieving gentleman.
The food descriptions are inspiring, but the friendship that develops between these two is energizing.
on the book jacket: 'a book about love and nourishment, and about how dinner with a friend can, in the words of M. F. K. Fisher, sustain us against the hungers of the world.' I can't recommend this one enough!!
The next book: Counting by 7s is a YA book about an adopted 12 year old 'genius' who is suddenly orphaned again when her parents die in a car crash. Another story of unlikely friendships (so far...this one I haven't finished yet); well written. I'm liking this one, too!
One Skyp sock is finished, using some of the Chatham souvenir yarn.
The yarn is a bit busy, but if you look closely at the flap heel you can see that the flap begins and ends with three garter stitches. This results in garter bumps to pick up along the edges for the gusset instead of the usual slipped stitches. I really, really like the neat, slightly decorative look and will be using this one again. (Saw this on Nicole's the gentle knitter podcast).
I'm in no rush to finish a pair, so this one is going in the single sock pile---and it is now a pile, because three makes a pile, right? I've wanted to try 'the vanilla is the new black' heel, too. I guess that mean the pile will continue to grow...into a heap?
Freddy and I decided it was time for another shawl when I came across Meridian. A lovely, simple garter shawl that would make a perfect travel project (where were you two weeks ago?) and an even better knit-while-you-read project. I even had some yarn in the stash, although someone (not mentioning any names) ate the ball bands. I'm pretty sure the larger skein is Lydia sock and the smaller one Koigu.
We're both anxious to start this one!
(Note: the pattern has no teeth marks yet or crinkled edges. It's way too early in the game!!)
A pair for hubby's drawer.
A pair for mine.
I think the knitting-blahs are just about over. (I knit vanilla socks during the knitting blahs.) I feel a case of startitis coming on.
Small flower mitts jumped on my needles last night. A lovely little pattern designed by Leigh Miller, and written up by Ann Myhre (in both Norwegian and English). Colorwork still frustrates me at times. I know once I tighten up the dangling ends and block it, this mitt will look terrific, but until then it looks sloppy. Color selection is a bit tricky since I'm just using leftovers.
Who am I kidding? Plenty of choices. I'm just not good at that, either. I already see three or four combinations that might work better than what I'm using now. Decisions. Decisions.
Freddy's choosing next.
On the needles...more socks. Sunshine by Cookie A. from the book Sock Innovation. It was one of my travel projects that traveled but didn't get a single minute of attention. (I knew better than to take something that used a chart. Really I did!) As it was, knitting time was limited, and resulted in only a single pair of vanilla socks, mainly finished because I spent over 6 hours in the airport, but that's a whole story in itself.
I also finished reading my airport book...The Thing with Feathers: the surprising lives of birds and what they reveal about being human by Noah Strycker. Loved it. Pigeons and their homing instincts, Penguins and fear, Parrots and love of music, Magpies and self-awareness, and Albatross and love to name just a few. Book cover: "[Strycker] thinks like a biologist but writes like a poet" pretty much sums it up. Beautifully written, and the stand-alone chapters made it perfect travel reading.
On my arrival home, I did a very rare--almost unique--thing, and went to my bookshelves for my next book. Digging in America by Anne Tyler is about two families who were presented their adopted Korean girls at the Baltimore airport on the same evening. I just started it, so that's as far as I am in the story; the story will continue to follow the girls and their families as they become friends, in spite of the fact that in any other circumstance, their paths would never have crossed, nor would they have built a friendship. (You can already tell that their backgrounds and values are worlds apart.) I like Anne Tyler. Don't know how I missed this one.
My new-to-me, old kantha quilt--one of the Brimfield treasures from the trip-- matches my book and project! How cool is that?
When I don't know what to knit....I knit socks. I have a rather obscene number of socks (three drawers full), I have given away that many if not more, and am now working to fill hubby's drawers (yes, that plural was intentional). I apparently live in that knitting-world-of-indecision quite a bit.
So, I felt rather confident when asked to teach a sock class for a new knit shop in town. Of course, I needed a handout, right? This is going to be a 'concept' class, not a simple 'project-follow-the-pattern' class; the handout had to reflect that. The next thing I knew, my handout had turned into a color-coded anatomy chart for the class's itty-bitty sock sample (The shop where I'm teaching is The Itty Bitty Knit Shop---had to stick with the theme, right?!?) as well as a full size worsted weight sock.
At the moment, it looks as if you need a PhD to decipher it. I should perhaps adjust it a bit. But, I leave for Brimfield (antique and flea market) in the morning....anyone else going???
I've got the most important stuff packed.
If you are there...I'll be easy to find. I'll be the one knitting socks, what else?
wife, mom, grandma, knitter, photographer, traveler, gardener, antiquer, bookworm, cook--trying to tread lightly on this earth
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