woolythyme

f-i-n-a-l-l-y!!!.....

Fresh off the needles....FINALLY.  I tried them on and they are perfect.  (Do you block socks?  Once on your feet, they certainly look blocked, so I rarely do.)

2015 is creeping to an end, and a 2015 resolution was to get UFOs and WIPs in order. (oops.)  But---why did this project linger? I zipped through the first sock; it was a test knit for Brandy and I knew she wanted more eyes to look over the instructions.  The pattern was written perfectly, I loved the resulting sock (although I didn't much like doing a toe-up start, and the short-row heel is not my usual one--simply an 'old dog' issue on my part), and there is no texture I love doing more than a leaf motif.

 Madelintosh sock yarn.  Heavenly.  I absolutely have no excuse for the 6-month completion time.  And now that I did the toe-up for a second time...you know, it's not that bad.  And that heel?  Fits nicer than my usual flap heel.  The detailing on this pattern really was quite lovely.  If you are looking for a nice January sock knit---I can highly recommend this pattern.

 

In keeping with the UFO clean-up, I moved on to this...

and did this...

I'm on a roll now!!

yarnalong...and, one of the many joys of aging

A friend passed along a little stack of books a couple weeks ago...all deemed worth a read, she said.  I immediately plunged in to Go Set a Watchman, and liked it a lot.  Lots of people have already commented on it, so I'll leave it at that.  Also in the pile was Ann Patchett's State of Wonder.  I read that.  I think.  Scientists in the Amazon, right?  I was on an Ann Patchett 'kick' a while ago.  Bel Canto is one of my favorite of all favorite books.  Loved Run.  Magician's Assistant...a good read. I know I read State of Wonder. (Didn't I?)

To make an ongoing story short(er) and succint....nothing about this wonderful book is stimulating me to remember what happens next, but nothing comes as a surprise except the fact that I truly did not remember how beautifully it is written.  I can only vaguely guess at what is next, marvel that I had forgotten such poignant parts of the storyline, relish the details.  In other words, I guess I'm having the proverbial 'senior' experience.  I could tell you, yes..I read this before, and yes...I really liked it.  Now, I'm rereading it and loving it as if this was the first and only time I set eyes on it. 

 

I wonder (am I having my own State of Wonder?) if that's also why I can put down my Tokyo Shawl for a day, and pick it up again with the same love with which I cast on? (now that's a scary thought.) 

In the upper part of the picture are some plain vanilla man-socks that keep me company during the CandyMan's baseball games. (If you follow me on Instagram---I'm woolythyme1---you have already seen these and have watched the progress.) He plays two games back-to-back (the punishment joy of being on both the JV and Varsity teams) sometimes three times a week.  Hubby should have a drawer-full of new socks and my daughter should have her mitered square blanket finished by the end of the season. 

We both are already suffering from bleacher butt.

 

joining Ginny for yarnalong

I'm out of time-out....finally

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend storms left us without a land-line and without an internet connection.  I tried hard to embrace being disconnected and faired a bit better than hubby who looked at his phone every 30 seconds for four days.  It's rather humbling to discover how tied I am to technology when I thought of myself as a person who could easily go 'off-grid'.  

I finished Mrs. Poe (by Lynn Cullen), an historical fiction of the love affair of Edgar Allan Poe and Fanny Osgood.  I wanted to hop on the internet to see how much of the story really was based on fact (in spite of the epilogue that pretty much told me).  I wanted more info on Virginia Poe (the 'real' Mrs. Poe), and Mrs. Clemm, her mother, and the mother-figure for EAP.  

I wanted to call the car dealership and make an appt for the routine maintenance on my car.  No phone book....I look numbers up online.  

I've promised a friend I would download a pattern for her.  

I needed a baseball score.  (NEEDED it.)

 

So, I spent a little more time reading.  A little more time in the garden.  A little more time knitting.  All was well.  And it got even better when the mailman brought a letter from my lovely, loyal 12-year-old Granddaughter-penpal. I did just a teeny happy dance that this correspondence is based on letters....real, honest to goodness written letters....and not on email.

 

My book this week is her recommendation....Flora and Ulysses.

 According to Rachel:  

'It's such a light-hearted, entertaining book.  Christopher (her 10 yo brother) and I read it in school and laughed out loud through the entire thing.  This story is about a girl named Flora who loves comic books and a squirrel named Ulysses who accumulates super hero powers after getting sucked up by a vacuum.'  

Honestly, who could resist?  (and it was the 2014 Newbery Medal winner to boot.)

 

My knitting is a result of a request that I was sort of afraid I would never be able to fulfill.  A friend  (probably the most knit-worthy person I've EVER met!!!) commented on 'her favorite' of all favorite summer socks, which just happened to be some I had knit for her.  (I've knit quite a few over the years.  Like I said----she's KNIT-WORTHY!).  I knit them y-e-a-r-s ago.  The project was pre-Ravelry days.  I looked through books.  I rummaged through patterns.  I dove through the piles of un-filed papers. I looked at every single anklet sock in the Ravelry pattern database. Na-da.  On one last (more careful) scan of sock patterns in my general socks folder (there are also folders for textured, beaded, and slipper socks---it HAS to be here somewhere!!!! I never throw a thing away) I discovered a black and white copy of a pattern that I vaguely remember was eaten by a furry friend.

Who, me?  (Like my haircut?  Mom had time to make me an appointment.  I think I look pretty handsome.)

There it was.  No photo.  No designer.  No pattern name.  It was a Knit One, Crochet Too pattern with a copyright date of 2006.

I discovered (on the k1c2 website) it's called 1436 Ankle Socks and was designed by Helene Rush, owner of the company, for a yarn called Wick.  I'm using some KnitPicks CotLin that was kicking around; I know this isn't what I used on the 'favorite' pair, but I also don't think I used Wick (now long discontinued).  I'm thinking these were knit when Fixation was all the buzz, so I ordered a couple balls---once the internet connection was reestablished! 

Sport wt yarn, larger needles, ankle length ---- this is a very quick knit!

 

yarnalong

I've been listening to The Mad Sculptor by Harold Schechter, a true crime 2015 Edgar nominee.  It takes place in the exclusive Manhattan neighborhood of Beekman Place on Easter Sunday 1937.  I'm still listening to the lead-in to the actual murders committed by Robert Irwin, a brilliant but obviously disturbed sculptor....and the nationwide manhunt that ensued.  It's fast-paced, fact-filled, and totally consuming.

 

I looked down and Atticus was 3/4 finished.  How did that happen?

sock yarn madness....

These broken seed stitch socks were going to be the solution to my bag of leftovers.  Between this pattern and the scrappy socks vanilla pattern (just switching up odd colors willy-nilly)....I was going to blast through that bag.  (ha!!!)

Do you have any idea how little yarn you actually use with these multi-colored socks?  

So, I decided it was time for another life-long-never-ending-(although it eventually does)-scrappy blanket project.  (Remember???....this is the person who has made !!3!! mitered square blankets.)  Strips this time.  Who-cares-how-wide strips.  Narrow. Wide.  Wider.  Medium.  Whatever I feel like.  Whatever fits in the 'travel bag'.  Maybe several started at the same time.  

(Yes.  That bag is FULL.  Yes.  I knit too much.)

 

Garter stitch.  Miles and miles of it, which lucky for me is one 'pattern' I can knit while I read.  (Probably the reason I knit so many 'vanilla' self-striping socks.  Probably why there is a glut of leftovers.)

A friend just dropped off this book.  I know nothing about it except she said it was fabulous.  My yarn and I are ready.

 

And just for good measure, I started another pair of socks for my hubby that he doesn't need.  

 

joining Ginny for yarnalong.

in season (socks)...are in season

 

Ahhhhhh.  Life is good.

 

Pattern: In Season

Yarn:  Socks-that-Rock, lightweight

Books and bountiful yarn...

When something (in this case cearnog x 2) comes off the needles, something else goes on...

In Season was a 2009 Socks-that-Rock Club kit, featuring a pattern by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  (Once again, I'm a little late to the party.)  I think it was pretty aptly named.  Short, summertime socks that have an interesting cuff, but not too much detail; only a little concentration is necessary.

I gave up (temporarily? maybe/maybe not) reading & Sons, and moved on to The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay (Sarah's Key) It was a really quick read...'quick' because I finished it at 3:30 am; I kept holding out hope that it would get better.  It didn't.  I grabbed it at the library the other day--an author recognition thing.  When I just checked amazon.com to make sure I was spelling her name correctly, I noticed it only got 2.5 stars.  I should have checked there first.  I think I would maybe give it 2.  (In other words, don't waste your time.)

On the same library-grab, I got Nicci French's Tuesday's Gone.  A British psychological thriller...it opens with a social worker discovering her psychotic client serving afternoon tea to a naked, decomposing corpse covered in flies.  What's not to like about THIS one??!!  I'm turning pages!

 

The socks can wait.

 

Joining Ginny for Yarnalong and Nicole for Keep Crafting

a sad sock saga….

Remember the mitts?  All that worry for nothing?  The endings aren't always that happy around here.  

 

This poor sock.  It started out a plain, jane, vanilla sock and it was not looking good.  Boring.  Boring to knit.  Boring to look at.  A friend was knitting on Jaywalkers, another of those 'modern classic' patterns (10,062 pairs of them made...or 20,124 socks!!) that I had yet to do.  I thought the simple chevron pattern would give it just enough interest to take them from boring to brilliant.  A good plan.

 

They were in the travel bag, so I knit a bit here, a bit there---never realizing that the huge yarn ball I started with was shrinking at an incredible rate.  Out comes the scale again.  Since I didn't have a clue how much yarn I started with (another mystery ball), and even if I did know---a bit of it ended up in the sock blanket (oops.  note to self:  don't rob full skeins for a scrappy project--I see TWO squares:  one square is just a little right of center, the other in the upper right corner.  See them?) I still wouldn't know.  (you followed that, right?)

 

I measured the remaining yarn.  Then I measured the sock-in-progress (subtracting for the needles).  It was close.  Maybe?  Maybe not?  Drat.  No way. BUT, I figured this out at the toe, so...rummage rummage rummage among the sock yarn and I found something that really isn't too bad.  Got it on sale a couple months ago.  Just stuck it in a plastic baggie when I got home and tossed it in the closet.  Good color.  Good weight.  Good choice.  IT.WAS.EATEN.THROUGH.BY.SOMETHING.  BLECH.  (note to self:  be very very very wary of wool on super sale.)  I was able to salvage a few longish pieces to ply together....

 

I'm actually rather pleased with the rescue.

 

Now---I get to go through this angst again.  What do you think my chances are that I'll 'win' once more.  (My luck is starting to run a bit thin.)

 Stayed tuned for part 2....of the sad sock saga.