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Knitting Along

Just knitting along here. How about you? Did you read Clara's review of Stitch'n'Bitch? I looked at the book today in my LYS and I have to agree; this is a terrific book for new knitters and for knitters like me, who just want to channel some of the terrific knitting energy that is happening right now. And there is so much positive knitting energy! Doesn't it just do your heart good?

Our knit-bloggers community is such a wonderful resource! Every time I roll around the ring, I'm astonished at the number of clever, resourceful, and talented knitters that make up our circle. If you haven't surfed the ring lately, give it a go; there are new blogs and renewed blogs and a lot of lovely knitting going on. Right now I'm still in glove— I love Nanette's gloves so much! I'm still working on fingers and finger gussets in Sister's glove, but Nanette's photos have me energized and inspired. And on the knitting sidelines, I've finished another bead bracelet—not woven on a loom, but knitted on 0000s. Here it is, obligingly modeled by Little Jack:

And here's a close-up, obligingly modeled by me:

Deluxe results from string and beads and pins. I think they'll make great gifts, and they are addictively delightful to knit.

Pups

Here's some treats for you from me and the pups:

Della says Happy Halloween! And we all wish you a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Knitknitknit 2

You must go see Nanette's Sanquhar gloves!

What? Still here? Really! Go look! Nanette has produced the most beautiful and functional knitting imaginable, and in luscious black and white laceweight. (Be sure to note the finger gussets!) I'm eager to finish my first pair for Laura so that I can make a pair just like Nanette's truly gorgeous gloves, except with my initials, of course. Aren't they splendid? I'm in glove.

Mail Call

A package for me! And look what was inside, fresh from this Ebay seller:

It's Colinette DK, in the colorway Popsicle. Isn't it luscious? I think it's grand, and that it will make a grand vest or two-color knit. Popsicle. Cool!

Pups

Pups are quite busy being adorable. They are very fond of wearing bandanas as a Dachshund Fashion Statement, and I made them some new ones for Halloween.

Enjoy your Thursday!

Knitknitknit

Tons of knitting fun here! The Glorious Glove Project is the most challenging knitting I think I've ever done, so thank you for your kind comments on Tuesday's entry.

I'm at a sticky bit with the index finger, so I picked up my other knitting so I could think about glove construction while still accomplishing stitches. By the way, I forgot to charge up my camera, so we will be photo-free today. Except for pup-pictures; we always have those laying about.

I'm still working on the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore, but am finding it rather, well, familiar right now. The motif is lovely, but the same from row to row, so it's just a matter now of finding joy in the beautiful color changes. And looking forward to crocheted steeks!

The two pairs of socks I told you about last week are still in the works; Laura's Beaded Rib has the heel turned and the gusset stitches picked up, and those yellow-brown-stripey Opals have grown a few inches, down to the heel flap. And, because I am fascinated by beads right now, I cast on four stitches for a nice silvery beaded bracelet. Bead knitting of this type is very soothing, once the beads are strung.

Photos tomorrow!

Actually, I do have some photos, but they are too scary to show you. I think I told you my son and his girlfriend are living in So. California. They sent pictures to me of their backyard, and of the view from their deck. Less than an eighth of a mile from their lens, one of the fires is raging, and the sun is just a blurry disk in a smoky sky. Their neighborhood was evacuated, but during the night the fire moved south of them, so they were safely home the next morning, with no harm done, and lots of frightening photos. Please join me in a chant for rain to positively pour on So. California!

Pups

Della says Keep Your Sunny Side Up.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and enjoy your knitting.

Glove Story

I've been working on my part of the Glorious Glove Project today, and we have, I think, achieved a thumb. The free pattern seems a little sketchy to me regarding the thumb details, so what I've done is knit it in the round and in pattern up to the top; from there, I'm decreasing and will then graft the thumb together. If you are working on this glove and know a more accurate or better way to interpret the pattern, please let me know.

Tomorrow I will attempt the fingers; but here is Monday's progress:

Rather elegant, if I do say so myself! Since this initial pair of gloves is for my dear little sister, though, I decided to spice up the palm.

Pretty spicy! I love knitting for my sister! And, I am loving learning how to knit something completely different from what I usually knit. First glove! It's glove at first sight for me.

Pups

Little Jack says it's Tuesday—wake up and smell the tacos.

Hope your day is easy. Send glove tips if you have them!

Beady-Eyed

The bead-knitted bracelet I finished a couple of weekends ago reminded me how intriguing bead work is, so this weekend I took a knitting break and took a class in bead-looming. That is, weaving seed beads on a loom. Oh ALL RIGHT! I didn't really have to take a knitting break, but I had gotten to the point in the Glorious Glove Project that I needed to measure the fit on Sister's hand, and we couldn't connect until late Sunday afternoon. Amazingly, my very first knitted glove is going to fit Laura perfectly. Go figure! I hope the second glove fits perfectly too.

So. Back to the bead-looming. I learned how to warp a bead loom and then weave with Delica seed beads, which are the tiniest of tiny beads. Here's what I made for my beginner's project:

It's a bracelet, only awaiting the perfect bead to use for a clasp. It's woven in Laura's favorite colors, black and silver and red. She likes little devils as much as skulls, but I was kind of skulled-out, plus, I only had the red beads, SO! red hearts and a little red smiley devil face. I feel very lucky that I have a sister who will wear what I knit and bead.

The scale of this weaving is 20 beads to one inch.

That's only six more per inch than the Sort-of-Sanquhar Glove project, so while it was tiny, I found it quite interesting to continue to further scale down my work. The drawback to weaving beads on a loom is that all the warp threads have to be woven in once the piece is finished. For this bracelet, there were 42 warps that needed to be hidden, so it took nearly as long to weave those ends in as to do the actual bead-weaving. (How Kaffe Fasset sweater knitters do it, with their hundreds of ends, I'll never fully understand.)

Catherine reports that she has just purchased a book called Knitting With Beads; I hope she'll be reviewing it. Beads and bead-knitting are addictive, even with all those ends. I'm knitting several more bracelets now that I've located a source for the metallic thread base.

I feel quite peculiar not having any wooly knitting news. Luckily, there's plenty of knitting in the works, so you'll have tons-o-wooly-knitting tomorrow.

Pups

Here's Mikey, modeling his Halloweiner costume:

He loves the Pumpkinhead disguise, and loves wearing it around the house. Della and Jack are not amused, as they seem to think this is beneath dachshund dignity.

Happy Monday to all! Is your costume ready?

Groovy Kinda Glove

A busy day, but there's nearly always time for a few rounds of knitting. I worked on Sister's Bead Ribbed sock, and also on my very exciting yet not-quite Sanquhar glove:

A close-up of the puzzling and mysterious Thumb Gusset:

Working on something wearable at this gauge (tiny stitches, tiny needles) is both interesting and challenging. I like the idea of being able to knit gloves as much as I like the idea of handknit socks, so I think I'll continue with gloves once this prototype pair is complete. Because I've never knit a glove before, I've had a number of (probably) pesky questions about how to interpret the pattern directions, and my support group has been exquisitely gracious with answers. This knit-along is The Glorious Glove Project, and if you'd like to try your—ahem—hand at glove-knitting, head over here and sign up. Very helpful, very talented, and very generous knitters.

Off-Topic

A few entries ago, Rachael was talking about her new tattoo-to-be, and even had a show-your-tattoo contest. The glove I'm knitting at such a tiny scale reminds me of the intricacies of tattoos, and it seems the back of a glove hand is a blank canvas rich in possibilities. But I digress. I've been thinking about tattoos since Rachael brought it up, because in my observations around Austin, I seem to be the only person without a tattoo! There is some awesome body art on display here, in the most mundane venues. I see tatoos at the grocery store, at the knit shop, at the library, and, of course, on my sister. Everywhere! Since I've been in the process of realizing I'm in the tattoo-less minority, I was immediately struck by this story (via boingboing) about an artist who is seeking 2095 people each willing to have one word of a story tattooed on their person. The story will not be published anywhere else in any form. As of the 18th, 650 people had agreed to wear one word. Isn't that astonishing? The tattooed participants will become living words. What a cool art project. I wish I had more nerves about needles, because I'd like to participate in something this imaginative.

Pups

Della speaks for all of us here when she wishes you a marvelous Friday and a restorative weekend. Hooray for us! We win again!

gLove Hurts

Knitting a glove on 1.5 mm needles (yes! that's 000!) is hard on knitting-hands. I find I have to take frequent breaks to shake out tension in my hands. But that's the only drawback; otherwise, this is a fascinating project for a first-time glove knitter.

Here is the pattern I'm using, and this is what my glove is *not* going to look like:

I mentioned yesterday that I was waiting for my laceweight yarn, in traditional Sanquhar black and white, to arrive. The yarn I'm using, black Wildfoot and red-purple-orange variegated Lang Jawoll, simply doesn't have the high contrast that would show off the patterning. However, I still think it's pretty cool!

Here's the checkerboard pattern above the corrugated ribbing cuff:

See? With my low-contrast yarn, you can't really tell it's a checkerboard. So the black and white laceweight will be a welcome arrival. Wait. In the original Sanquhar glove photo from the pattern site, you can't really tell it's a checkerboard either. Hmmm.

But Wait! There's more!

Cute sisterly initials and little blobby hearts. Upon finishing the knitting up-to-this-point, I realized that I had once again failed to center correctly. I don't mind so much; the hearts were sweet afterthoughts, since this set of gloves will be for my dear sister.

Now, when knitting on four double-pointed steel knitting needles that are size 000, you can expect a number of punctures. Those things are sharp, and as you might imagine without too much difficulty, sharp on both ends! That's why they are called double points! I made an emergency visit to my Local Yarn Shop, where they happened to have two Addi Turbo 000 circulars, so I've switched from the dps to two circulars, and am punctured half as often.

Pups

The pups are getting their own web-hits... the top search words that are bringing visitors to this blog are "halloween costumes for dachshunds." Can you imagine? (It's not just me. All dachshund-owners must be slightly cracked.)

Mikey says it's Thursday; get your toys ready!

Have an easy day; we'll look forward to seeing you here tomorrow.

Yielding to Temptation

I've been watching a knit-along at this Yahoo Group, and today I yielded to the temptation to join in and start a project that is not socks or the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore. More about that later; first, here's this:

Cute! It's true I've been feeling rather like a sock-knitting monkey the past few weeks while I was knitting on socks-deadline, but I never expected to receive an actual mini-sock monkey in the mail! Thanks, Amber!

Now, back to the temptation part of this entry. The Yahoo group I've been following has been knitting Sanquhar Gloves, very cool knitting indeed. I've never knit a glove, much less a pair of gloves . . . and it's too tempting! Mary, in her 12 October entry, detailed her notes on a Sanquhar swatch, and I am using the same free pattern that she is, and aiming for the same 14 stitches per inch gauge. Sanquhar gloves are unique to a small town in southern Scotland, and the distinctive patterning created by the knitters there has been documented through historical records back 200 years. Traditionally, Sanquhar gloves are knitted in black and white laceweight wool. While I wait for my wool to arrive, I'm practicing with some sock yarns and pointy 000 needles, because I've never knitted an actual garment at that tiny a gauge. Here's the cuff, nearly finished:

Pretty sweet! Nanette has finished a pair, and I am eager to see her photos, since to me, she is the Queen of Patterned Mittens.

Pups

Mike and Della say if it doesn't fit, you must reknit.

We are wishing you a wonderful Wednesday! See you tomorrow!

So Distracted

So I've set the arm steeks and begun the decreases for both arms and the neck on the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore, and I am beginning to get back into a knitting groove with this project. Yet, I feel a bit distracted still, by Scribble Lace and bead knitting and beaded sock-knitting. Before I forget, I should show you the arm steeks, right?

In context:

So steeky-lovely! I'm not quite eager yet to finish it up, but am Moving Toward Eagerness, and I suppose that's all that's needed to finish a vest this pretty.

The Socking News

Here is the sock I was telling you about yesterday, the Bead Ribbed beauty designed by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. My version of this design is in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, color Forest, with teal-lined crystal Size 8 beads. The curious thing about beaded socks is that they are quite comfortable to wear, despite the presence of several hundred tiny glass beads. Is knitting beads into a handknit, handpainted wool sock gilding the proverbial lily? I think so . . . but gild on.

I think these will be very pretty, and I'm glad to rescue them from sock-basket obscurity.

And this pair-to-be, too.

This Opal yarn has lost its label, but I remember it as one of the first Opals available in the US, even before that Opal Tiger (!) yarn. Does that make it Vintage Opal? :-)

I think that for a while I was so smitten with the self-patterning yarns that I would cast on each new one that I received, and then abandon it whenever a New! New! New! sock yarn was announced and available. I moved a big clear plastic 30-gallon-or-so storage box filled to bursting with sock yarns from NJ, and I'm glad I moved it; it feels like a Socknitters Holiday finding "new" socks and sock yarn whenever I dive into the sock yarn bin.

Pups

All pups are well; they have been enjoying the cooler weather we've been having here. Of course, it's a relative-cool...I never thought I would consider 80 degrees cool, but here I am, and glad to have the pups along for the ride.

Jack says RingaDingDing; it's Tuesday. Be cool.

Lotsa Knit Stuff

Lotsa nice stuff happened knit-wise this weekend! First, the birthday guy liked his socks (Regia 5342—Go Yankees!):

The Big Thirteen, so we don't pose like little kids anymore. My nephew is simply the most wonderful young person; I wish you could meet him, 'cause I know you'd agree. I'm very glad that I'm getting to know him.

Mamas, Don't Let Yer Babies Grow Up to Be Knitters

Speaking of wonderful, what's more wonderful than a cowboy? (Were you wondering Where have all the cowboys gone? Have you checked at your local knitting guild?)

This particular cowboy was at the meeting of my Texas guild, the Austin Knitters and Crocheters, and he was knitting his lushly cabled Sweater Project. David is creating a beautiful sweater, is an excellent knitter, he reads my blog, and likes my dogs. Yeah! He's way-okay in my book.

David is the first knitting blogger I've met in person, and meeting a person you've heretofore only read about is quite an unusual experience. Until Saturday afternoon, David and I had never met, yet we had lots to talk about since we read each other's blogs. How curious, though, to sit down next to a stranger and know that you can ask about the big date Monday, or how the knitting chart software is coming along, or how Mom's big dogs are doing up in the Hill Country. I really enjoyed this real-time encounter, because it was like meeting an old friend. Thanks, David, and thanks to all knit-bloggers and blog-comment-ers—it's wonderful to know you are out there, sharing your lives and your knitting.

Re: the guild, I liked it. There are a larger number of members than in my guild in NJ, so there is a feast of show-and-tell items. At this meeting, there also was a workshop on knitting a bead bracelet. It took me the nearly the entire length of the meeting to string my beads, but once that was done, it was knitting-flying.

Here's the knitting, on 0000 pins:

A little close-up:

And here's the finished bracelet on Sister's wrist:

Cool, huh? This is fun knitting, once the bead-stringing is over. I made two bracelets from this kit, and I think they would make great little holiday gifts with a much lower time investment than knitting socks.

Socks?

Yes, after nothing but socks last week, more socks! I thought my sock-basket was cleared out, but over the weekend I found a pair I had started for Laura sometime last year: The Beaded Rib Sock pattern from Jackie E-S. These need to be finished, because they are very festive, and because Laura wants them.

And, I found an Opal sock in a very lovely stripe pattern, half-knit in golds and browns. These need to be finished because I want to wear them. And! I found two more pair, small, and each at the 1.5 socks stage. Since I can't remember why these socks were abandoned, it should be easy to just pick them up and go directly to sock pair-completion, but I may be able to talk someone else into finishing them, especially while she's in a bit of a weakened state.

Martha asked about the roll-top on many of the socks I've knit-blogged about recently. I began doing this after seeing Sande Francis' sock photos on the internet, and I sometimes prefer this style to doing a ribbing. It's an easy top-down start, makes a cute little comfy roll, and stays up just fine — no slouching or slipping in my experience.

Pups

Mike, Jack, and Della had a lovely weekend with plenty of romping time. They especially liked the Dracula Dachshund card that David got for them.

The pups have been thinking about Halloween costumes, but they hadn't realized there was a fanged and caped vampire-dachshund they might emulate. Wot tricks! Wot treats! Woof!

Jack says it's Monday! Hurry along now, and have a great one.

1, 2, 3 Socks—I'm Out

Done! The final sock toe was grafted during the 10th inning. Yeah! I'm glad the sock-session is over at the same time as the playoffs. I had said I wouldn't be showing these socks to you, but hey! they are so cute I just gotta post a photo.

These are Regia Mini-Ringel Color, #5342, on US size 1 needles for a soon-to-be-13 nephew, and the background color is actually a deep purple. I like them.

As the festival of sock finishing mercifully draws to a close, I am ready to return to my Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore. When last we looked at it on 7 October, it was ready for arm steeks—do you remember? No? Here's a photo from way back then:

Pups

The pups went to visit their new vet today, so there was much nervous dachshund energy, which included restless milling about between my ankles in the examing room and a general tangling of leashes and some random growling. Here they are, trying to be invisible dachshunds.

I'm glad we have a nice new vet; there seem to be periodic dachshund emergencies, and so it's good to be prepared. The pups are very dear to me, in case you hadn't guessed by now :-) Knowing that their records and shots and dispositions are all introduced to new vet techs and vets now is a worry I can cross off my worry-list.

But why worry? Mikey says It's Friday!! So Share the Love and Pass the Cookies!

Have a great weekend! I'm going to meet the Austin Guild knitters and crocheters on Saturday, and I'm most pleased! Virginia, have a wonderful weekend at Rhinebeck; I miss you and wish I was going too.

Socktivity

My enforced sockknitting is nearly over; last night during the Cubs game I worked down to the gusset on the final sock-on-deadline; I'm three days ahead of my scheduled delivery and two and a half pairs of socks up, so I feel like I'll make it. Oh, what a sad ballgame. Let's not speak of it again, shall we?

Textile News:

Last weekend, Sister and I went to the South Austin Street Fair, held in the parking lot of the Horseshoe Lounge (pop-ups), and I completely forgot to tell you about the textiles we rescued. They were sitting in a basket and it was going to rain at any moment; there was nothing to do but fork over our combined limited cash! I must say Sister was very gracious about it, and so was the careless vendor, who let us have the pieces for the contents of our wallets, 16 bucks. They are vintage embroidery pieces, but I'm not familiar with the format. They are canvases that are handpainted, but the background is all millions of stitches, presented in a painterly way. Then the details are filled in with hand-stitching. I'm going to ask Brent (whose birthday it was yesterday) if he's seen anything like them. Here they are; have you seen anything like them?

And you can see a bit of the back of the Fujisan canvas here, too.

Cool, eh? And just sitting there, waiting to come home.

Pups

Little Jack says Welcome to Thursday.

Della advises you to Pounce on the Good Stuff!

Mikey sends his woofy love, but doesn't want to pose. Have a great day; we'll be waiting for you on Friday!

Approaching Maximum Sockosity

Thank you, Teresa, for putting up that scary counter! I'm down to the last sock of the three pairs I needed to finish, and it feels good! Ribbing is complete! No photo today, because this pair is for a special someone who sometimes reads this bloggity. For a photo of some ultra-cool knitting, I recommend you rush right over to Amber's blog entry of 5 October.

Not a lot of knitting or other news from me today, as yesterday was A Visit From Mother Day, and that tends to tire me out. However, it's a new day, with knitting time allotted, Mother Is Back Home, and so I aim to get nearly finished with the sole sock that stands between me and my regularly scheduled knitting!

Jack says WOOF it up, 'cause it's Wednesday! Have a very good one!

Sock-cess

We continue to successfully crank out those pesky socks that are missing mates, so scroll down to the cute pup photo if you're bored with my socks. I certainly am. Only one sock left to do, because I finished the acid-green Opals. I'd like to be able to tell you what color number they are, but there isn't a designation on the label--really!

Little Jack calls your attention to the blue blobby-bits that nearly match from sock to sock around the gusset area. The self-patterning definitely broke, but at nearly the same place. Who knows why this yarn works this way? It's too mysterious for words. But I like it.

A pup-less view:

Sweet! Nearly day-glow, and done. All that's left is the toe of the Regia and its mate to clear out my sock basket and finish my sock-knitting deadlines. Closer yet to my reunion with the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore. Oh! Ginny asked how I avoided the sock ladder syndrome while working with two circular needles...I think it's because I automatically snug the yarn up to the working needle as I go. However, I'm sure there are other excellent methods, and they can probably all be found in the Tips section of the Socknitters site.

Smart Clothes

Intelligent textiles and garments fascinate me. Are you also interested? If so, check the Wear Me Exhibition page for the latest in tech-clothes. I love the idea of the shirt that sheds its own wrinkles through body heat. I'd like one of those, please. Why can't I have a smart sock that knits itself, I wonder? Or at least a doppelganger who liked to do nothing but knit up my sock stash? Surely an evil twin would come in handy sometime.

Pups

Della is curious: is that powdered donut sugar on your chin?

Happy Tuesday! Work it, knitters, and we'll meet again tomorrow.

Socked Up

By dint of sheer socking willpower, I finished the odious birthday-request socks this weekend. Not many people get to demand socks from me, but the recipient is a special case. Knitting on demand is difficult for me! So I'm glad the socks are done, and I hope they will be worn in excellent health. I'm equally pleased that I can now officially stop whining about them.

Here's a picky:

These are knit from Strapaz Wolle, the Norweger Ringel kind, in colorway #002. I think they would have matched had I started both skeins from the correct end, but instead, I started one from the center-pull, and one from without. Here they are, ready for presentation:

Cool packaging, right? A festive take-out container, acquired from The Container Store, and embellished with a little shiny doo-dad. Last night I finished up the gusset decreases on the Opal green sock, so I'm feeling perked up at the thought of being able to return quickly to the Morning Glory Vest with a free conscience. If I finish them today, I'll only have one pair of socks missing a mate, so Fair Isle, get ready, 'cause I'm a-coming.

Pups

Della says It's Monday! Get to Work!

Hope your day is easy-breezy-beautiful! See you tomorrow.

Um. . . Socks.

Yes. The same socks! I feel as if I'm serving you leftovers. So I tried to spice up the presentation with a different background. Do you find it more exciting?

So, ya, I finished the heel flap and turned the heel and picked up the stitches for the gusset. Can you stand it??? These are the big fat socks-on-a-birthday-deadline again.

Personal

Yesterday, I had not one, but two separate bad tires! During the morning commute, one new tire had to be purchased and installed. I must admit that the car *did* drive better after that. However, during the late afternoon commute, the new tire's mate on the right side went flat. What an exciting day. Almost as exciting as this second sock. Luckily, I was near the place that fixed the first tire, so I got to know the gentlemen at the Texaco. They weren't impressed with the second sock either.

Let's see, what else is new . . . Flor's finishing up a beautiful pullover vest--take a look!

Pups

Jack is back, and feeling very well again. Hooray!

Della says it's Friday, so get a little silly!

Have a happy one, and have a terrific weekend!

Second-Sockin' Along

Not a lot of knitting time today; not having a commute sure cuts into sock-knitting time! We do, however, have a little progress to show on the big fat birthday socks due 20 October.

This sock SO doesn't match its mate. I don't much care; I just want it to knit quickly. I wish it would knit itself! One spring, in NJ, I traded handknit socks for massage therapy sessions. Oh, how I came to hate seeing my massage therapist wiggling her bare toes in her Berks. Knitting on demand is a drag; I have a lot of admiration for production knitters. Reading Annie and Kate's adventures in knitting on deadline give me the idea that production knitting is for stronger knitters than me. But. I have to get the gift socks finished up so I can get back to the Morning Glory Vest in a carefree state of mind.

Baseball and this blog

What riches to have the time and inclination to watch when the Cubs and Yankees and Red Sox are playing. Viewing the playoffs creates some tension in me (but not my knitting), and so I'm posting a lot earlier in the day than I usually do. It's hard to drift off to sleep when the Yankees are getting pounded, even by the Red Sox.

Pups

Little Jack was a bit under the weather today, so Mikey and Della amused themselves by finding Nemo.

We hope you find something to amuse yourself with today. Happy Thursday!

Sock Hop

Closer to Sock Hope! I hope to finish at least two pair by next week, because they are birthday presents for mid-October birthdays. And here it is already, the 8th! Yikes! What is more tedious than knitting the second sleeve of a sweater? For me, the dreaded second sock. That's why I'm sock-hopping around on three instead of just finishing pairs one at a time.

Sade's Mom has a countdown-to-Christmas on her blog, and watching it has made me realize I need to prioritize my knitting. But the fair isle is so relaxing . . . and "scribble lace" is so much fun! I almost resent these second socks. But I know I won't be able to stand myself if I find lone socks in the workbasket (especially at gift-giving time), so I plan to press onward and try to think happy thoughts as I make my way around and around in sock-time.

Sisters

Yesterday I picked up my nephew from school and I enjoyed it very much. He reminds me of his mom at that age, and those memories are very dear to me. I moved away from Texas when I was in my late teens; Laura stayed and grew up to be the beautiful person she is today. Here we are, at four and 18, with me teaching her how to blow bubbles with bubblegum:

Here we are now; am I lucky or what?

Pups

Della wants in on this sister and sock act; she wishes you a Wednesday filled with happy moments and memories.

Enjoy your day!

Tuesday

My blog-title-generator seems to have issues lately. I hope it starts working again soon, so I can leave off with the weekday titles.

Knitting Progress

We have a new "Scribble Lace" (from Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting) item to report, and here's Sister demonstrating its loveliness:

The fabric that results from this is very interesting; lengthwise, this is over 60 inches long, but when you hold it by the sides, it shrinks up into a square. Laura can wear it like a long scarf, or fold it and wear it as a triangle-type shawl. Brilliant.

And speaking of brilliant, Alice Starmore's Morning Glory Vest is ready for arm steeks now. One of the really charming design aspects of this vest is the way she has patterned a design along the front steek. Isn't that a nice touch?

In context:

I also have sock progress, but not enough, so I'll save that for another (cleverly-titled) entry. I really like the Strapaz, by the way. It's a pleasure to knit.

Pups

Dachshunds, as a breed, are known to be very opinionated pups. Michelle wrote yesterday that her dachshund, Mr. Stubbs, refused to wear his handknit sweater (and refused in a very damp and ungracious manner). My pups, when living in the NE, enjoyed their sweaters, but perhaps I was just lucky in choosing colors that Mike, Jack and Della preferred. There's nothing so stubborn as a dachshund, Michelle. Better knit a different sweater for Mr. Stubbs. For best results, I suggest letting him choose the color.

We have happy stubborn pups here. They wish you a good day! Della reminds you: It's Tuesday, so stay alert!

Monday

Oh dear! This oversleeping-on-a-Monday thing seems to be turning into a regularly-scheduled event. The pups and I are late this morning. Still, Mikey says Put Your Best Foot Forward.

So! Did you have a nice knitting weekend? I didn't get as much accomplished on the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore as I could have, but it's because I simply can't stop reading and swatching Unexpected Knitting by Debbie New. I think I made it clear last week that I love this book, but really! I LOVE this book! That Scribble Lace stuff is more fun than watching "Carnivale," and watching Carnivale while scribbling made me feel deliciously delinquent. I found I was powerless to resist scribbling with some feathery eyelash I had in the stash; it's nearly finished, so I'll show you tomorrow.

Today should bring some blog-reports on Stitches East...what did you buy? How was the weather? Did you take a class? I heard Debbie New was there and her classes were overflowing...tell all, please. I miss the NE dreadfully!

Monday-Monday-Monday! We have to fly here; have a wonderful day, and we'll see you tomorrow.

Friday

Returning to the Morning Glory Vest (by Alice Starmore, in the out of print Stillwater), I'm in the groove and within 10 rounds of beginning the arm steeks and neck shaping. If I apply myself, I imagine I could finish the body on this by the end of the weekend. Here's a progress shot:

This is an enjoyable design to knit; the colors are energizing and the repeating patterns are easy to read in the knitting. And the big huge Plus--No Sleeves! I have four vests lined up after Morning Glory; just a matter of choosing which one to enjoy next. The weather here is still too hot to even think about wooly sleeves. I'm assured that it will get a bit cooler, but I'm having a hard time believing it.

You know what? I love color knitting best of all knitting, yet I find I'm still feeling a little mentally distracted by Unexpected Knitting. I'm interested in hearing what others think of this book. For me, it exerts a real siren's call to try some more new and unexpected knitting. Knitting the "scribble lace" this week was a hoot! So I'm enjoying knitting on Morning Glory, but I keep eyeing my new book from the edge of my Morning Glory chart. I may not be able to resist the temptation to scribble again.

Pups

Della says Dream Big: Reach for the Squirrels.

Are you having a happy Friday yet? Peace, perfect health, and prosperity vibes coming at ya! Have a great weekend.

Scribbling

Remember scribbling with crayons when you were young and simply enjoying the hues and tints and colors, especially if you had the box of 64? That's how I felt knitting the Colinette Point 5 with thread to re-create Debbie New's "Scribble Lace," from my newly arrived book Unexpected Knitting. My skein of Colinette cost 20 bucks (ow!), and it was gratifying to use a new (New!) technique to knit it from start to finish and have a funky finished object--a true one-skein-wonder!

Laura posed wearing "Scribble Lace" as a small-ish stole, which is about what you can expect to get from one skein of Colinette if you try this.

This technique (described in the book) creates a very fluid and stretchy textile.

Because of the nature of its flexible stockinette construction, you can almost shape it to be the shape you want to wear. Just grab it and give it a shake. Laura's wearing it as a stole in her photo above, but she had lots of ideas about how to wear it to best show off the nature of the knitting and her sisterly self.

The book details in photos some of the applications in which New used it. And having now scribbled, I can easily imagine a lot of cool chic stuff to make using this type of knitting. Fun knitting; I had forgotten how it felt to just sit down and knit something fast and frivolous in only a few hours.

Scribbling! I like it. There are more techniques from Unexpected Knitting that I'd like to examine on-the-needles immediately, but my personal blog-vow is to only work on one project at a time (socks don't count), so I'm back on my US 3 ebony needles and into the third repeat of the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore. Fair Isle is also fun knitting, but my! Scribbling with thread and Colinette was a very pleasant diversion, and it was exciting to have something so cool finished so fast. As always, I'm speaking of my knitting. Your knitting is probably very fun to you. At least I hope so! Why else would you do it?

Mikey says it's Thursday--look adorable!

I'm supposed to go get my Texas DL today. Ewww. Wish me luck for an adorable DL photo and a short line at the DMV, okay? See you tomorrow!

More Unexpected Knitting

I am very charmed with my new book by Debbie New. Yesterday, instead of working on the third repeat of the Morning Glory Vest by Alice Starmore, I rushed off to my Local Yarn Store to buy a hank of Colinette Point 5 (Tuscany colorway) so I could do some "scribbling" as described in the book.

Fun! and fast! Never mind the sockpile or the WIP, this technique has given me lots of ideas. The cool thing about this book is that this is only one of the techniques. There are dozens. Teresa says she's made a vow to try at least three of the techniques in this book in the coming knitting year. I want to try 'em all, but I am slightly OC. New writes that "scribbling" will make you feel like "a beginner knitter again," and it's true. And enjoyable, I must say. It's nice to take a break from even stitches once in a while! I'll show you my completed Scribble Lace Stole tomorrow, 'cause it's too dark here for photos this morning.

It's been cooler here in the mornings, and after all the mornings of waking up and finding it was 80 degrees out at 5 a.m., it's pleasant, and reminds me of my home in the NE.

Let's see. New project, cooler weather...I don't think I have anything else to say today. Feel free to offer topics! Oh, and don't miss the start of Nanette's Kashmir. Feel better fast, Snickerdoodle.

Della says Hurry Up! It's Wednesday. Have a good one!