Wonderful surprises

Yesterday I posted that I thought my sock blockers were waiting for me at the post office. Today I went to pick them up.

Hefted the package and thought, "man, these are really heavy!" The postperson agreed.

Walked out to the car where my sister, Chaachi and dogboy, Spencer were waiting. I wanted to show the blockers off, so I opened the priority mail box. Immediately realizing that this was not the sock blockers but instead, my Yarn Aboard II package!.

My package is from Gretchen. She had so much goodies for me that they didn’t all fit into the YA box.

My delivery man/explorer is Christopher Columbus. He is looking a bit weary already. But he assures me he has a lot of stamina (his being Italian and all). Here is what he brought:

As you can see, we are early in Christopher’s journey.

Gretchen took my likes to heart. A big pile of sour candies, and some yummy dark chocolate as well. Wow!

The stars of the package are in this photo:

Handmade soap – made by Gretchen herself! Sugared Pink & Yuyu=japanese grapefruit. They both smell wonderful. I am a big fan of handmade soap, and Gretchen chose wonderfully. I am very tempted to take a 2nd shower so I can use them right away.

The little dark grey sheep is so cute!

And the yarn is lovely. Here is a close-up so you can see the colors better:

It is from The Natural Dye Studio – Blue Faced Leicester Sock – each 50 gm., 180 yards. The photo doesn’t do the yarn justice, and you don’t get to feel how soft it is.

I know I will have a great time finding just the right sock pattern for this lovely yarn. Be sure to check out their website, The Natural Dye Studio. I am going back there and to Gretchen’s blog too.

Thanks Gretchen!

Peace!

New sock, and a party

I know some of you probably aren’t really interested in my party pics, so to appease the knitting people (because this is a knitting blog – sheesh!) I will post the sock photo first.

I really wanted to be able to show off my new sock blockers, but alas, they have to be picked up at the post office tomorrow.

My socks aren’t done yet, so it is just as well. Here is what I have so far:

Sockotta, "The Plymouth Italian Collection" – 6674. This yarn is 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool, 15% nylon. I think it looks like Spring Crocus with dirty snow. A friend said, "it looks like Easter!" She didn’t say it in a nice way. No socks for her! *grin*

Onward! My husband turned 58 on Saturday. Man, is he getting old. Not me though, I am still very young and only turning 45 late September. Anyway…. I decided to get a party together for him. Okay, so he hinted but it was a kind of a spur of the moment thing. Semi -potluck in that I had people bring vegetables. I supplied the main dishes, the birthday pie and ice cream, etc. It was fun!

Here are some photos:

The birthday geezer.

Jody knitting. Trained by me; I told her knitters always bring their knitting.

My mom and dad. I say this with a lot of love, it just happens to be true: Mom has a kind of screwy expression, but since her mouth is always moving (really) it is hard to take non-action photos of her.

Diana. She brought her knitting too! Didn’t catch it on a photo though. I didn’t train her; she is just a smart person.

Tim and Nancy

Craig and Andrea

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Nancy and Tim – again. Cute!

I don’t know what was going on here. The women seem spellbound by a sleeping Jeff.
Fannella, Jeff, Jody, Mary looking like a live totem pole with her two dogs piled on her, my mom (Helene).

Spencer and Ronan (hope I spelled that right). Cuties!

Ben.

Peace!

Starting the week out nicely

I finished one brown sock last night and started the 2nd. Here is the finished one:

It fits very nicely. The heel could be deeper, not because it doesn’t fit, but I think I will start plain rows in the heel before doing the short-row heel, just for a better look.

I have a question for all you sock knitters out there. Do you use sock reinforcing nylon or fuzzy nylon in your socks? If you do, how do you match the reinforcement to the color of patterned yarns?

WT and I watched most of the What The Bleep – Down the Rabbit Hole, Quantum Edition last night. We turned off the "dramatic portions" and because it was then talking heads, good to knit to. Great stuff. Makes me want to be a physicist. Okay, so not really because I don’t really enjoy the thought of school (anymore) so I did the next best thing by marrying a physicist. Hee!

Peace!

Nupps and socks

Nupps!

Nupps are kind of a pain in the behind. Nupps are a knitted bobble and there are a fair number of bobbles in the Swallowtail Shawl that I mentioned in the previous post.

But I have found a way to deal with them. If you are knitting this shawl and need some help/hints, just let me know. Yes there are hints all over the internet, but they mostly suggest 2 things, knitting them differently (or purling them differently), or making them smaller. My way is different, but I am too lazy busy to show you now because well, because I am knitting nupps!

Anyway, here is a photo of what I have so far:

I am about half done with the first lily of the valley border. There are 2 wide lily of the valley borders; 2 wide sections of nupps. So this fast shawl has become much less fast. Still like it though and will probably do one to keep. Maybe even the same color – haven’t decided yet.

I finished the 2nd sock of the Welt Fantastic set, but the 2nd looks like the first so I didn’t bother to photo them for you.

Started on another Ridged Feather (Sensational Knitted Socks) in one of the sock yarns I bought half price at Needlework Unlimited Yarn Outlet. I love it so far, here is a photo:

It is Lana Grossa – Meilenweit Multiringel – color 5070. It reminds me of a hazelnut mocha latte or something equally yummy. This time I am doing the 11 stitch pattern on a 77 stitch sock with plans on a 33 stitch heel – shortrow this time. I like the afterthough heel but it is a lot of work. I know I could figure out a neater way of picking up those stitches, but I just want a nice restful sock experience this time.

Peace!

Tried to finish

I really tried to get myself to finish my mother’s vest (promised for last Christmas). I managed to knit up to the 2nd armhole, but then I used the excuse of having to wind more yarn to quit.

I hate this recycled sari silk yarn. It is rude to work with – feels greasy and is murder on my already abused hands. But I will plug away at it, a bit at a time.

Andrea will try on that 1st Welt Fantastic sock tomorrow, so I may be back to socks, with a few rows of the Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall 2006 IK every now and then.

I chose Misti Alpaca Lace (suggested in the pattern even!) in color no. 8105 – from the website it is called periwinkle blue which it is, but it’s very light for periwinkle blue. When I picture that color in my mind’s eye I remember the Crayola crayon version – my favorite color. Now in checking the Crayola site it looks like the yarn is the exact same shade. I remember a darker color – memories are squishy, aren’t they?

Here is the yarn:

Man, that Crayola website is cool! Check out the link and you will see their periwinkle blue. It says there that periwinkle blue was added in 1949, etc. Personality Traits: serene, purity, infinity. Cultural Meanings: In China, blue is associated with immortality. How very Zen.

Here is the shawl. It is very lovely and only uses one skein of this yarn – such a deal!!!

Peace!

Waiting For The Verdict

I finished one of the welt fantastic socks (sensational knitted socks) a few days ago. Now I need to get together with Andrea to see if it fits.

I am thinking I need to invest in those sock blockers so I can photo these easier.

Upclose detail

Down the front of the foot. I chose not to continue the purl ridges on the instep because I thought it would feel weird in a shoe.

I picked up a scarf I was doing in Cherry Tree Hill – the seafoam stitch pattern, will probably finish the ball of yarn up tonight.

It is cooler here in MN now. We can actually open up windows and go back to just fans. Much better sleeping (and living) weather.

Peace!