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Sock Party

While I wait for the skein of yarn I need to continue knitting AS's Morning Glory, I've realized that I'm behind in my sock-knitting. How did that happen? I have at least one gift pair that needs to have been knitted last month.

Aren't they colorful? This is about 1/20th of my sock stash. The self-patterning yarns keep getting better and better, so I keep finding it irresistable when I see a new variation in color or stripes. Remember the old Socka and Regia and Kroy, plain and serviceable? Will we ever return to humble handknit socks? My acid-green Opals tell me no (and also urge me to hurry up and finish the second sock). Hmmm. Talking yarn. I'm glad it doesn't shout at me like Geane's shouts at her.

Shelley asked me if my color choices for projects were changing now that I live here in Austin rather than the NE. I answer Yes! My dark wardrobe moves further (farther?) towards the back of the closet.

Garden News

It's cool enough now to keep from bursting into flames when I'm working in the yard. Look what I found under the weeds yesterday:

Doesn't it look like an exploding firework? My mom says its an Oxblood Lily, also known as the September Lily. Cool! And what a treat not to find toads or scary insects.

Pups

It's Friday! Mikey says Wag Your Tail!

Happy Friday, and happy weekend. Good knitting to you all. Oh! Did you know you could print your own Monopoly money? Get rich quick here (via boingboing).

Thursday

More knitting on Morning Glory by Alice Starmore:

I'm enjoying this knitting project the way I enjoy Fair Isle knitting--I love the patterns and the background shading creating such gorgeous stuff. I think it was Elizabeth Zimmermann who remarked that knitting Fair Isle was "painting with wool." That's what it feels like to me. SweaterGirl is working on Aberlemno, and it's looking very painterly. Wendy's Marina is a wooly artwork, right? Fair Isle Knitting rocks!

I'm setting my Fair Isle aside briefly while I wait for a skein of Water Green-substitute to arrive. And that gives me time to work on some birthday socks in Strapaz Multi. It's yard clean-up day today, too, so I don't mind the waiting too much. Today's visitor to my patio is a giant toad and while I know that toads are as beneficial as dragonflies, I am waiting for the sun to be fully out before I start pulling weeds and etc. out of the grass. No toad photo. Too creepy. I wish toads and other creepy critters would stay out of my range of vision and be invisibly beneficial in the yard. Toads! Gack.

Onward toward Friday and the weekend! Mikey says play hard with your favorite squeaky toy!

Wednesday

Yikes! The pups and I overslept, slept right through the alarm clock, in fact. So this blog entry is hurried and caffeine-free.

Morning Glory

So many readers guessed what I was working on when it was still in wooly balls that I neglected to say what it actually was yesterday. It's the Morning Glory Vest from Stillwater (out of print, I think), designed by Alice Starmore. If you have the book, you probably thought it was a rather muted design. In person, it's quite bright...almost glows! I attribute the glowingness to A. Starmore; her use of color is masterful. I'm particularly interested in the very subtle color-changes/contrasts employed in this design. Here's a little more to look at today:

This is about 10 rounds into Chart A; for some unknown reason, I had trouble following this chart yesterday, and had to reknit the first three rounds about three times. Good ol' shetland wool! It's easy easy easy to unknit and re-knit, because the stitches just don't move around that much.

Foxes

Katherine asked about the picot hem on Dale 10706; it is a hem. You dive straight in with stockinette, work one yarnover round (I think I remember that), then some more stockinette rounds. When finished, you fold at the yarnover edge and stitch the beginning of the stockinette rounds down. Makes a nice tidy, slightly decorative, alternative to ribbing. I used the directions in Dale of Norway 6008, Nygard to make this. I realize it's hard to see in black, but:

Let's see...Rachael? BUT OF COURSE!! Meredith? AWESOME! thanks! Thanks to everyone, in fact! Some days, I think your comments are all that keep me going and going.

Late, late, late...the pups wish you plenty of squirrels to bark at today.

And I wish you a very wonderful Wednesday. See you tomorrow!

Morning Glory

Yeah! Lots of eagle-eyed knitters out there! I worked on the ribbing yesterday and am now ready to dive into Chart A--the fun stuff!

Re: Dale 10706, thanks for the heaps-o-comments! I'm very pleased with how this turned out. Meanwhile, Laura graciously braved the heat and sunshine to provide this knutty high-fashion photo for us:

You can see that the picot edge lays perfectly flat! Hooray! I was worried! You can also see what an excellent sister Laura is--am I lucky or what?

What makes a Fair Isle different from a Norwegian knit? I looked it up, but couldn't find a definitive answer. So, I wrote to Meg Swansen, whom I consider Knitting America's Greatest Treasure, and she kindly replied:

"Ah - as it happens I have strong feelings about the mis-use of Fair Isle to describe any two (or more) -color knitting.

Fair Isle is a very specific type of color pattern knitting: never more than two colors at one time; never any huge carries AND the use of color particularly separates Fair isle from Scandinavian knitting... only Fair Isle shades the motif while At The Same Time shading the background colors. Dale sweaters are Scandinavian, or two-color patterns -- but are not Fair Isle."

Isn't she the best? There you have it. My curiousity is satisfied, and this is the definition to which I will adhere just like Shetland yarn does to itself.

Personal

There is a local campaign here to Keep Austin Weird, and I decided to do my part:

Pups

Speaking of weird! I forgot to show you the stepping stones into my back yard. Here's Della, giving you an eyeful from deep in the heart of you-know-where.

Hey! Have a most excellent Tuesday...and as Red Green says, "I'm pullin' for ya; we're all in this together."

I Went To The Animal Fair

No, not really. I went to my mom's house to visit and use her sewing machine. But the birds and the beasts were there--really! Check it out!

My mom's geese:

The cattle that hang around my mom's house:

And the foxes, of course:

It was a bit rainy, so my 10706 photos aren't so great, but I can declare it a Finished Object now. I'm really glad! The unfinished pile of sweaters in my sweater in-box is now down to one, and that one is a mitered square design that I don't mind doing in spurts, since it's too hot to wear here anyway. Dale #10706, the foxes, is a gift, so I wanted to finish it regardless of the inappropriate weather.

Done!

Next! I wound wool for the next project last night, and have sorted my wool per Wendy's clever system.

Can you tell what it's going to be by observing the colors? I'll work on ribbing today and show you tomorrow. You'll probably have to look at another photo of my Foxes sweater, too, if the sun is out. Feel free to admire it profusely in the comments!

Have a quick and easy Monday, everyone. See you tomorrow!