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Friday, Plus A Closeup!

Can my happiness be any fuller? :-P

Yesterday I had an unaccounted-for hour, and so I happily managed a few more rows on Laura's vest. Here's the progress:

And here's a close-up:

Yo ho! and Yar! It'll be time to set arm steeks in no time! By the way, in case you're wondering, this chart from Ruzicka also comes with a great charted pirate.

I'm off to work, on the Parkway, in the rain...lucky for me I know I'll be coming home to this:

and this:

and this:

Ahhh!

Happy Friday to all! And to all a good Woof! Thank you all for your comments; you've made my first week of blogging very exciting! See you on Monday. . .

Let's Talk about Sox

The skull vest languished while Wednesday kicked me into Thursday; what a hectic week. So to keep my fingers limbered up for skulls, I worked on a sock with yarn from Fortissima Colori. Here's a picture, down to the heelflap:

Festive, isn't it! Every time I think I'm beginning to tire of self-patterning sock yarn, it does something noisy and cheerful like this, and I'm happy all over again!

You'll note, perhaps, that it's knit from the top down, and since it's for me, I'm using Sande Francis' sock top edge. She's right, if you just cast on and start knitting your sock, you have a cute little rolled edge that stays up and that is comfy all day long.

In other sox-talk, I've recently switched back to using dps instead of two circulars. For me, the dps of bamboo are somehow more satisfying than having those two circular needles flapping around. It's a good method, and I converted for a while, but for now I'm glad to be back on bamboo.

On another front

Here's an article in the March newsletter of the NY/NJ Metro branch of the Society of Technical Communicators, and it's all about blogs. Who is this gifted yet unemployed writer, hmmmm?

Dog news

It's still rather gray here. This is Mike, complaining about the weather.

Happy Thursday, everyone! Just a little bit longer to the weekend!

Yo ho, Buccaneers!

Only two more pattern rows before there are three full repeats on the skull vest for Laura. Here's a photo:

I like this Ruzica yarn; it's great for stranded knitting.

I wish I was a faster knitter! It seems to take about 15 minutes to get around the entire 300+ stitches.

Tonight I have a late class, though, so I wanted to get as much done as possible. I anticipate minimal progress on this vest from now to the weekend, but then, Yar! I'll be a knittin' on it.

Jack, Get Out of the Chair.

My chilly-dogs are unhappy with the cold drizzly rain. So they tend to seek out the least dry-cleanable of the furniture covers. Smart dogs! What instinct makes them know which is the least cleanable?

Have a good Wednesday, everyone. Here in the NE, it's a great day for the Bucket-o-Chic hat! Mine's a nice hopeful spring-green. Bonne Marie, it's my favorite hat!

More about Laura's Skull Vest

I'm still trying to get a good photo of the biker-fair isle Skull Vest, and hope to post it later today. In the meantime, the wool, which I got from the nice women at Sommerfuglen, is Marl & Knops 100% wool. Shetlands-tweed. I was not familiar with this wool, but I have to say it's wonderful for stranded knitting. It's stickier than J&S shetland, which is a confidence-builder for a new-to-two-color-knitter like me.

The skulls are charted by one of Ruzicka's designers. When Laura said she wanted a vest with skulls on it, I looked a long time for charted skulls. I liked this chart best. For those of you who want tractors, ghosts, pigs, or cars on your sweaters, the children's patterns can be seen at Sommerflugen under Knitting, then under Designers, then Ruzicka. Very cute.

About Dias de las Muertas, it's the Days of the Dead, and a very happy holiday in Mexico and South Texas. It's a skull-filled festival, and you can learn a little more about it here.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. The dogs were disappointed about the five inches of snow we received yesterday, so they've gone back to bed.

Knitdogs goes live!

Hello world, here's my new blog. This entry is dedicated to Wendy of wendyknits, who helped me over my fear of fair isle and steeking, and who provides daily inspiration for my knitting. Thanks, Wendy! You rock!

Today's entry also marks the public debut of the vest I'm knitting for my sister Laura. It's stranded lightweight wool, and will be very appropriate wear for the Dias de las Muertes festivities in Austin, TX.

Skull-y, isn't it? I'm working it with steeks for a v-neck vest. This image shows two full repeats of the pattern.

Dogs? you ask.

Sure! I say.

My cute dogs: