Politics are Killing my Blog

No this is not a political post. Just lettin' you know that instead of spending my on-line time reading mostly knitting blogs and forums I seem to be spending my on-line time surfing and reading mostly political blogs. It's addicting! At least I can still knit and read.

It's amazing how your feelings about a piece of knitting can change when you fix a problem. I mentioned in my last post about how I frogged several rows because I'd figured out that I'd crossed a cable wrong. It should have been a left cross (hold the cable needle behind the work) instead of a right cross (hold the cable needle in front of the work) [I think]. Whatever, it's fixed now and my notes have been updated.

Anyway, I set the piece down with the cabled crossed wrong just discouraged with it. I didn't want to knit on it any more even though I'd just started it. I didn't like how it looked and at the time, didn't realized that I'd screwed up the cable cross. I went to bed and spent most of that day convincing myself that I should really pick it up again and just get the damn thing knit since I'd obviously fallen out of love with it.

Well, now that I fixed the cable cross and am several rounds and cables crosses past that, as you can see, I like my hat again. The cables still don't show up all they well but I know they're there and I like 'em. Every time I take my hat off or put it on I can take a few moments and admire my lovely cables.

The hat's about just under five inches long now with six cable crosses. I've got about four more inches to go before the top of hat decreases. I'm even liking the oranges. I think that's because it's all different oranges. It kind of reminds me of the bands of colors you see in rocks. Since Sweetie's not likin' the colors for himself I'll be able to do a pair of lovely matching socks for myself.


Things are also rolling along on the third Four of a Kind Socks. The leg is done as is the heel flap in (light pearl gray) and I'm almost done with the fuchsia heel turn. It seems like once I'm knitting on the foot, the sock is done in no time. I suppose I should be figuring out what the final sock will look like. What ribbing and what stripe.

When we were in Kansas City the other day, I picked up two small bottles of the citrus Soak Wash. I'm going to take a few more photos of the Fern Lace Wrap in the next day or so and send it off to the recipient with a bottle of Soak, a ball band from the yarn and some care instructions.

blogging to: Rush Limbaugh

reading: Desert Cut by Betty Webb (a Lena Jones mystery)

Parting Shot:

Desiderata

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste
and remember what peace there may be in silence
As far as possible without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others;
even the dull and ignorant, for they too have their story
Avoid loud and aggressive persons for they are vexatious to the spirit

If you compare yourself with others you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble,
for it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time

Exercise caution in your business life for everywhere there is trickery
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism

Be yourself

Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings;
many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars.

You have a right to be here

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be
And whatever your labours and aspirations, keep peace in your soul
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world

Be cheerful

Strive to be happy.

Guess What?? More Knitting!!!!

All the ends are woven in and tacked down on the Fern Lace Wrap. I happened to have some matching lilac thread from a tablecloth project. I soaked the scarf in a sink full of Euclaan Wool Wash suds then pinned it out on my DIY pink foam-core boards. I need to get at least one more container of T pins. I always seem to run out and end up having to finish up with smaller and smaller bead-headed pins. It's not too bad with the lighter wools but one of these days I'm gonna need some serious holding power and those nice little pins with a bead head aren't going to cut it.

Project Stats
Pattern: Fern Lace Wrap from The Little Box of Scarves (this pattern has lots of errata so beware)
Yarn: Punch in the lilac colorway from Alpaca With a Twist
Fiber Content: 46% alpaca, 46% tencel, 8% nylon
Unblocked: 69" long (5'9") & 12" wide
Blocked: 88" long (7'4") & 11" wide
Weight: 225 grams 7.9 oz
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm Addi Turbo Lace circs
Amount of yarn used: almost 5 50 gram skeins (I have 24½ yards left, 9 grams)

The off fern leaf is skewed. Another piece of pattern errata that I didn't really pay attention to and then just decided to leave it. It's the same all the way through and doesn't really detract from the design.

This makes the 11th FO this year. Here's the count so far for 2008:
4 pairs socks
3 watch caps
2 lace scarves
1 baby blanket
1 baby jacket


I've been knitting a bit on My Hunting Hat, take two. I like this second version. It's mindless knitting that I can sit and read blogs and forums by. Well, except for the cable round, then I have to stop and concentrate. But it's only one round out of eight so I think I can manage. I was several rounds past the second cable cross when I realized I'd done it wrong so I ripped back 5 rounds and I'm in process of doing the second cable cross correctly now . . . I hope. The two I've done look right. After I get a couple of rounds past them it's easier to see. My other hat is also cabled. I must have a thing for cabled hats. When I get a bit beyond this cable I'll take a photo of it.

You'll be able to see that the cables aren't all that apparent with this variegated yarn but it's OK. The cables are mostly there to give me something to look forward to. Funny how when I'm doing some kind of simple ribbing in socks, it doesn't seem to bother me but stick ribbing on a hat with larger needles and I get bored. Go figure. (throws hands in the air and looks bewildered)


We are lovin' this long, long fall with no air conditioning and no heating. It seems like it's been a long, long time since we had a fall like this.

blogging to: night sounds outside the open windows

reading: Shadows at the Fair by Lea Wait (a Maggie Summer mystery)

Parting Shot: ""I love the fall. I love it because of the smells that you speak of; and also because things are dying, things that you don't have to take care of anymore, and the grass stops growing." ~ Mark Van Doren

Quote Source

A Cabling We Go

I've cast on for MY hunting hat with the lovely cantaloupe Koigu yarn. If that isn't a mouthful — cantaloupe Koigu. I'm not holding the yarn doubled. Instead, I've opted for cables which will draw the fabric in like ribbing and give it a thickness similar to a double thickness of yarn — close enough anyway. I started with a pattern chosen is from Charlene Schurch's book Sensational Socks, the 3x3 Cable with Moss Stitch on page 68. I did check for errata as this book has a lot and this one has no published errata. We'll see.

I've cast on 100 stitches with my usual larger needle size, 5 mm in this case and I'm going to knit it with 4 mm dpns. That may make the hat too open and not as warm but we'll see. If it's that cold out there I probably don't want to be out walkin' around in it anyway. To start I've got my trusty, black O-ring markers staked out for every pattern repeat. I may not need them but we'll see. It's easier to take them off rather than to sort out, too late, where they're supposed to go.

One thing I noticed as I was casting on with the yarn doubled, before I changed my mind and the pattern was that one hank is noticeably lighter than the other two. And they're the same dye lot. Oh, well. I'll start with the two brighter, oranger ones and go from there. If I'm running low on my hat, I'll do the top of the hat decreases in the slightly lighter one. It'll look like it was planned, or something.

And it's interesting about cables. Until you do that first cable, it's just ribbing. When you do that first cross, THEN those wide lines of knit stitches are cable legs. Cool.

Anyway, I said that I started with the pattern from the book. I got two repeats into it, a little over an inch and decided I didn't like the moss stitch between the cables. I liked the overall cable design so I'm keeping the same number of stitches and the same cable except I think I'll alternate front and back cables which will make them right and left cables. I decided to do two purl stitches on either side of the cable to set it off a bit and a knit stitch between the purl stitches to break them up. I think the cables will stand out more than they do on the moss stitch background. It will make it a more boring knit with every round the same except for the cable round but sometimes that's what it takes.

Before I fogged it I did try it on and it did fit my head.

The yard signs (yes I got a spare) and bumper stickers for my presidential choice came today. In the 2004 election someone the stole first sign. When I put the replacement out (I'd bought two) I took it in every every night and it stayed until the election. This year the sign is also further into the yard instead of right out by the curb. We'll see how long it stays. I have my trusty camera sitting by the front door so if someone tries to grab it and I see it I'm going to try to get a photo of the perp (yeah, I know, too many reality cop shows) and the car and hopefully license plate.

The sash or whatever it is that keeps the windows up is broken on one of our fancy low e double glazed and something else windows. I called the company and they said they may be able to get someone out today but it could be Monday. After I made the call I realized how cluttered and dusty things were and we had shooting paraphernalia scattered all over. You know, a stack of empty ammunition boxes (for future reloading) on the floor in a corner of the office (where the window is), a couple of NRA magazines on the coffee table, a stack of small paper targets on the console table (by the front door) and a couple of handfuls of ammunition of different calibers next to Sweetie's keyboard in the office (where the window is). This didn't count the box of brass (for future reloading) on the floor of the office next to the shredder. It's in a plain brown box well out of the way of the window. Whomever they send over, I don't want him or her to freak out, be afraid or heaven help me, call the police if they saw any of this.

Sweetie was gone most of the day on a service call so after I took care of all that, I put all the clutter away, dusted and even ran the vacuum. When a cleaning frenzy happens and he comes home to a neater abode he always asks, "What got into you, today?" I always answer, "I don't know but I hope it's gone now." And yesterday I mowed, so there.

blogging to: the evening sounds outside the open window (the one that works)

reading: Moonbird Boy by Abigail Padgett (a Bo Bradley mystery)

Parting Shot: "The first step toward greatness is to be honest." ~ unknown

Quote Source

An FO! and Other Progressions

The Fern Lace Wrap is done. The knitting part, anyway. There's still the tacking down of the ends and the blocking but the knitting is done. I bound off Tuesday night. It was knit on US 9 / 5.5 mm Addi Turbo Lace circs and I ended up having to bind off with a US 11 / 8 mm to get the bind- off loose enough. Unblocked and laid out loosely on the living room floor, it's 69" long. When Sweetie, whose 6' tall drapes it around his neck it looks like it's a proper length, maybe even a bit short. The receipt is about 5'9", as long as the scarf. And the scarf is wide, unblocked, about 12" wide. With the alpaca and tencel content of the yarn it's also lofty and soft. There will be enough blocked or unblocked to warp around her neck and/or head and tuck in her coat or leave the ends hanging.

I've started today to sort, photograph and catalog the yarns and needles I got when K, my SIL's teacher friend died last month (August 2008). I've just started and what I've learned is keep the tags with your unused yarn. You may know what it is but the next person probably won't. I may not get around to photographing it today. It's just yarn but all the same it's depressing. I'm putting into my Raverly stash but I don't know if I'll put it into my home stash list. I don't know how much I will end up keeping. I'm not going to move any of it to the trade/sell area on Raverly until I've had it at least a year. It's not much so it's no hardship to keep it.

As to K's half finished sock, I've counted the sections on the finished sock (more than once) and recorded them today. What made this job easier was the self-striping yarn. The yarn is Knit Picks Sock Garden in the Hydrangea colorway. There was no ball band with the yarn but from the other banded sock yarn in her stash it is Sock Garden. The colorway I deduced from looking through other Raveler's stashes using Raverly's yarn search function Sock Garden has been discontinued but several Ravelers had this colorway in their stash. She's using the Sock Recipe found in the Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's (aka the Yarn Harlot) book Knitting Rules. Thank goodness I remembered an off the cuff comment she made the previous Easter (2007) about liking the the sock recipe in that book. She followed the pattern absolutely to a T. As I said in a previous post, these socks fit me to a T and I'm sure they fit her, too. I think these are supposed to be for her brother or brother-in-law. I'm going to finish the mate as the first one was knit and give them to my SIL to pass along then go from there.

In other news, I finished the leg on the third Four of a Kind sock today. I've started the heel flap. It's going to be a solid light pearl gray and the heel turn will be fuchsia. Then it'll be back to the narrow stripes.

As I mentioned in my last post, my next project, aside from finishing K's sock, will be two hats in Hunterish Orange. I wound two of the three hanks of cantaloupe Koigu this evening and put them in a small zip bag with yarn from the middle of each yarn cake coming out opposite sides of the bottom of the bag. I haven't decided on a pattern or needle size. I'll troll through some of my stitch dictionaries later or tomorrow. I'm thinking some kind of ribbing, maybe different for each hat. I don't know if I'll have his and hers. If they're both ribbing, probably not.

In the meantime, if I have to knit on something easy, I can start on K's socks, pick up the third Four of a Kind sock or the Romancing the Sock sock. Once I get the first three projects out of the way, including finishing up the details on the Fern Lace Wrap, I'll be all set for my Monkey Socks.

blogging to: sounds of the night through an opened window

reading: Moonbird Boy by Abigail Padgett (a Bo Bradley mystery)

Parting Shot: "No, no, yes, no. I tried that. Yes, both ways. No, I don't know. No, again. Are there any more questions? Good." ~ Xena in Been There Done That

The Final Countdown

I'm on the final skein on the Fern Lace Wrap. If I sit and knit on it this evening while reading blogs and forums or watching TV it will probably be done. I have 36 grams left in that 50 gram skein. I'm 5'1" and holding the scarf up it's just a few inches short of being as tall as I am. So I would say "slightly stretched" it's just under five feet long. But that's still a LOT of knitting to be done it those 36 grams. The last four rows of the scarf are garter stitch and I want to end it on either the halfway point in the the pattern or at the end.

It's always exciting to be thisclose to being done, even if I still have to deal with the ends and blocking. It's at around this stage that I turn from a mostly process knitter to a Product Knitter. must. keep. knitting. must. keep. knitting.

And before I send it off to the recipient, I want to get a bottle of that fancy Soak to send along with it. My local LYS doesn't carry it, or at least they didn't a while back but my other LYS does, or at least did. Even if I finish the scarf this evening, it'll be at least a week or so before I'll be ready to pack it up and send it on it's way. Just having it done, will be a relief, even if she has no idea she's getting it.

And then I can move on and finish K's sock and send that pair out. It's in stockinette and it's a small sock so I should be done with that in less than a week. I'll get some Soak for it, too even though the yarn is superwash. It's just a nice touch.

After that . . . I'm going to delay my Monkey socks, yet again. I've been on the look-out for some cashmere yarn in HUNTER ORANGE. Y'all know how I LOVE the orange — NOT!! It's right down there with BROWN. But, as we're going out into the wild this winter and hunt the treacherous hedge apple we need hats. A Pinky-gray cabled hat would probably be OK but a black or gray one, not so much. I've not had any luck with the orange cashmere and to be honest I haven't looked all that hard. Nor have I requested any indie dyers to make me some. Not worth it. I do have three hanks of Koigu in a cantaloupe that I got a year ago. I was going to make a pair of sock for my SIL but now I'm going to hold it double (probably) and make two watch caps. I thought about knitting up a couple of vests, too, but I think not. At least not this year. And the good thing about hats, is that for some reason, although I'll be doing two, they don't seem to take as long as socks. And I can make the patterns different on each one.

blogging to: the sound of cicadas through the open window

reading: Road Kill by Marianne Macdonald (a Dido Hoare mystery)

Parting Shot: 'There is nothing like lying flat on your back on the deck, alone except for the helmsman aft at the wheel, silence except for the lapping of the sea against the side of the ship. At that time you can be equal to Ulysses and brother to him." ~ Errol Flynn

Quote Source

Piling Up The Rounds

The knits and the purls just keep on coming. I'm down to the last half of the fourth of five skeins on the Fern Lace Wrap. I am liking this knit. The yarn is so very soft and I like the lilac color. I'm hoping I'll have it done, at least the knitting part by the end of the coming week.

And I'm within striking distance of the heel flap on the third of the Four of a Kind socks. I've got only seven rounds to go. All that driving back and forth between the shooting range in Topeka and Cabela's in Kansas City, KS is racking up the rounds, in more than one respect. As far as yarn, I've got 135 grams (71grams of the light pearl gray and 64 grams of the fuchsia left). The first two socks weight 128 grams so I won't be able to get five socks outta six skeins. It'll just go into my used sock yarn stash. One of these days, I really will have a couple of pairs of truly one of a kind socks!

We've really been enjoying shooting, mostly at the indoor range in Topeka, KS. We don't really have "his" guns and "my" guns but there are some that I enjoy shooting and shoot better than Sweetie does and visa- versa. We have two small .357 / .38 revolvers. One was loosely "mine" and the other was "his". Saturday we switched. My "new" gun cocks easier and therefore is easier for me to shoot. It's a heavier frame which means that the gun absorbs more of the kick and my hand less. My "old" gun was only five ounces lighter but that five ounces evidently makes a difference. But when the whole thing (no ammunition) weighs only 28.3 ounces (my new one) five ounces is a big deal.

It's cool today, a high of 66°F / 18.8°C and very windy, 25-35 mph / 40.2-56.3 kph and mostly overcast so it would be cold on the water and not much fun. Plus it looks like it could rain any second, despite there being only a 30% chance for it. We've had almost seven inches of rain these past few days and coupled with the low day (65-75° F / 18.3-23.8° C) and nighttime temperatures (mid 50's F / low teens C) the water's a lot cooler that it was a few weeks ago. I think our swimming is over for the year. The rest of the week will be warmed and a lot less wind so even if we don't go sailing, we can sit in the cockpit and just enjoy being at the lake and on the boat.

blogging to: the sound of the wind outside

reading: Road Kill by Marianne Macdonald (a Dido Hoare mystery)

Parting Shot: "Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss." ~ Robert A Heinlein

Quote Source

Bi-Polar Knitting

Sometimes it seems like my projects just zoom by. I knit on them for ten minutes or ten days and BAM!! they're done. At least that's what it seems like. Other times and other projects just seem to take for.e.ver to get one stinking row or inch done. Plod. Plod. Plod. And then there are the bi-polar projects. Sometimes the knitted fabric just flows and it's so easy and then the next time I pick it up, every single stitch and every single row is a struggle and I knit for seemingly hours and hours and there is little or no progress.

Most of my projects seem to be bi-polar. It's amazing how often a plodding session where little progress seems to be made is followed by a zoom-zoom one. (chuckle)

I'm well into the fourth of five skeins on the Fern Lace Wrap. Since it's now long enough to pool in my lap the progress is not so obvious until I lift it so it can untwist. Unblocked and unstretched it's now four feet long — smoothed and slightly stretched it's five feet long. If this were my scarf I would have stopped at three skeins. My SIL's curmudgeonly pal is more like 5'9" to my 5' so a longer scarf is appropriate. I'd rather have a scarf that's a bit too long so you can wrap it and maybe even put it over your head and wrap than too short.

As you may have noticed (or not) I've chosen to finish this scarf before I pick up K's unfinished sock or deal with any of her yarn. It's all still sitting in the basket and the tote.

The third Four (maybe Five) of a Kind sock is slowing growing in length. And the leg is Still about half done. A couple of rounds here and a handful of rounds there. It's doggedly making it's way down to the heel flap. I am so glad I'm only doing one sock with this narrow stripe. I have only four choices as I knit this leg and then the foot and toe — a fuchsia or gray round or two rounds of gray or fuchsia. Again, I'm happy I'm only doing the ONE sock in these narrow stripes.

blogging to: the sound of rain though the open windows

reading: Road Kill by Marianne Macdonald (a Dido Hoare mystery)

Parting Shot:
"Tell me how many beads there are
In a silver chain
Of evening rain,
Unravelled from the tumbling main..."
~ Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Quote Source

Two Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Six

R E M E M B E R

Free to Be You and Me

I'm going to keep this blog politics-free during this election cycle. The only exceptions will be my annual September 11 post and a hopefully celebratory post when my candidates win in November.

That being said, I do find myself rather caught up in things. I seem to be spending much of my on-line time reading my favorite political blogs and those ladies on Raverly are sure talkative. That's why these past few weeks, instead of a post almost every day there's been only one or two a week.

I'm still here and still knitting up a storm. With all the reading and no typing even more knitting should be getting done, right?

The Fern Lace Wrap is zooming along. It's now a whopping 40" long unstretched. I'm almost at the end of the third of five skeins.

And the third Four (maybe Five) of a Kind sock is also going well. If this leg is as long as the leg on the other two socks, it's about half done. I say it that way because the foot on the second sock was ten rounds longer than the foot on the first sock. I still don't know why. The socks feel the same and measure out the same. (shrugs). When I get down to 65 rounds on the leg of this sock I'll hold it against the legs on the other two and if they match, I'll do the heel flap. I'm excited to hopefully, have the leg half done. The narrow stripes are a bit of a hassle to knit, changing yarn colors every or other other round.

The heel flap on this third sock will be light pearl gray and the heel turn will be fuchsia, just the opposite of the first two socks. And I'll keep the narrow stripe thing going all the way down to the end of the toes.

And yes, I am beginning to contemplate what stripe and rib patterns I want for the fourth sock. As I didn't decide on the rib pattern until I was almost done with the cuff this may take a while, too. All I know is that the stripes on the fourth sock will not all be narrow!!!

blogging to: a quiet house (too damn cold to have the windows open. It's to get down to 46°F / 7.7° C tonight)

reading: Lone Creek by Neil McMahon (a Hugh Davoren mystery)

Parting Shot: "Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh."
~ Try to Remember, lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

Quote Source

Knit Knit Knit All the Way Home

Still workin' along on the Fern Lace Wrap. Ever notice that when you have plenty of yarn that last bit in the skein seems to go on and on and on. When that's all the yarn you have and you need just a bit more it's Gone in Sixty Seconds. Luckily I have plenty but that last bit of each skein is like the five minutes left on the clock in the last quarter or half of a basketball or football game. I've less than half of the third skein left now. Unblocked and scrunchy it's just under 31" long. It looks like it's just over 12" per skein, unblocked and scrunchy. I'm glad I sprung for the extra two skeins. If the scarf was for me three would have been fine. Stretched, the scarf is just under four feet long.

On the Four (maybe Five) of a Kind socks, I've decided that the narrow stripes are OK. And as all the other socks will be a combination of wide and narrow and will mostly be wide stripes this one will be OK. I like the wider stripes better but this is only one sock. Wide stripes are also quicker to knit.

As you can see, I've finished the 20 round cuff in 2x2 ribbing and started on the leg. The ribbing for the leg is k4, p1, k2, p1. The narrow striping looks better with more knit stitches than purl stitches. The knitting's certainly going faster with that k4 in there.

I wore the first two Four of a Kind socks last weekend day. They're comfortable and will make a great addition to my cotton sock line-up

And I am making slow progress on the first Romancing the Socks sock. I've got 3½" complete on the leg. It only gets knit on when I'm by myself and driving. Stop lights and waiting in line where having a project with two balls of yarn like the Four (maybe Five) of a Kind socks would be difficult. I keep a crochet hook in my purse now and just toss the yarn and SIP in the unzippered top of my purse. It works a treat when I'm waiting in line at the grocery store. I don't care how long the person in front of me takes!

The last several days have been cool here. One rainy day last week we barely broke 60°F / 15.5°C. During the coming week we may not even break 80°F / 26.7° C. As the lake was almost too cool to swim in a week ago our swimming in the lake days may be over for this year. It could warm up again. It wouldn't take very many days of temperatures over 90° F / 33° C to bring it back up.

blogging to: the sound of cicadas through the open windows

reading: Lone Creek by Neil McMahon (a Hugh Davoren mystery)

Parting Shot: "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." ~ Sir Winston Churchill

Quote Source

Yarn and an Incomplete Sock

I've been knitting along on the Fern Lace Wrap. I'm about halfway through the second skein. The scarf doesn't look any longer, but it must be. Otherwise, where's the yarn going? And when I took the scarf to show my SIL the other day I told her it was for her curmudgeonly pal. She thinks she'll love it. We both joked how one of the first comments about the scarf she'll make will be something along the lines of, "How do you expect this scarf to keep me warm when it full of holes!" We both had a good chuckle about that.

And speaking . . . er . . . typing about seeing my SIL, I got all the yarn from her friend K that recently died of cancer. Most of it is dual matching hanks of Knit Picks merino with a few skeins of Plymouth Socketta. The Socketta I've knit with several times and it's OK. I have several skeins in my sock yarn stash. The Knit Picks, I've never seen. Some of the colors I like and could live with but a few just aren't me but they could be socks for my SIL. I think she would like a pair of socks knit with K's yarn.

If K's husband's feet are as large as I hear they are, there isn't enough yarn in any of the skeins or hanks to make him a pair of socks. She promised him a pair of socks and it could be that when that time came she was going to buy yarn for that purpose. It's gonna take a lotta yarn to make socks for a size 13 foot. There are a couple of variegated colorways (shades or gray or dark blue) that even Sweetie would wear. What I'll probably do, is knit the leg and foot from those hanks in her stash and do the cuffs, heels and toes with a complimentary solid color. That should stretch the hanks quite a bit. If it turns out that I have to have a third hank I'll try Ravelry again to see if I can get the same dye lot.

It's interesting to get a sock being knit by another knitter with no chance to communicate with the knitter. The sock in progress is being knit in stockinette according to the Yarn Harlot’s Sock Recipe. This is also in her book Knitting Rules. I lent K this book (along with all the others) and that's what she's using for a pattern. It's on the same size needles I use 2.5mm and she's using the very short dpns. One sock is done and the leg is about three quarters done on the second one. K kept no notes that I can find. I'm thankful that I am a good enough knitter than I can figure out from the first sock how to finish the second one and make the second one the same way. I'll be able to figure out how many rounds in each section (leg, heel flap, foot, toe and figure out how many rounds have already been completed on the second sock leg.

Some folks keep notes some don't. Both ways are right. You knit how it suits your individual style.

This sock which is supposedly for her brother or brother-in-law fits me PERFECTLY. I'm wondering if she just knit it and didn't think about sizes or having him try it on. K was a short person and these socks would have probably fit her. Well, I'm going to finish the second sock to match the first one in size. I'll give it over to my SIL to pass on to whomever it was for. If it doesn't fit them and they want it to fit, I'll decide what to do then. They might just want to keep it as a keepsake. Meanwhile, I'll figure out how she did the sock, write some notes, post some pictures and finish it.

And as I sort through, catalog and incorporate her yarn and small stash of needles into my stash I'll reflect on K every time I see her yarn or use her needles. It's not yarn or needles that I would have bought but they are the yarn that needles that she used. My SIL knows other many more knitters that I do. I do feel honored to have been gifted with another knitter's WIP and stash. Her knitting legacy will live on.

My SIL needlepoints. I have several little baggies of yards of left-over scarf yarn. Some ribbon yarn, eyelash, a partial cone of some sparkly stuff. My SIL buys her fiber in 10 yard lengths. As a needle pointer she doesn't need 300 yards of yarn for a project. And my BIL ties flies. PERFECT!! I gave her about a dozen bags of leftover scarf yarn. The largest bit by far was 43 yards of a lilac fuzzy yarn from a scarf. She's happy with some cool needlepoint fiber for her / fly tying yarn for him and I'm happy it's out of my stash. I love it when everybody wins.

blogging to: a quiet house

reading: The Leper’s Bell by Peter Treymayne (a Sister Fidelma mystery)

Parting Shot: "To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another." ~ Katherine Paterson

Quote Source