Stuck on Socks

Blurry Photo Day

I've got another whole pattern repeat on CeCe and I promise this is the last photo until I've got some more substantial progress.

The reason for the blur is I tried a little different lighting and lack of flash. It's dark, I think this is the best I can manage at midnight.  The colors aren't too bad though.

The other blurry photo is new yarn.  This is KnitPicks' Gloss (70%/30% wool-silk) in burgundy.  I got this for the Seraphim shawl, but I haven't got a clue when I'll get it started. 

I've tried another lighting experiment here.  The color is actually somewhere between the two but I love how you can see a little bit of glittery sheen from the silk.  Someday...

Progress and Unexpected Sock Yarn (also fried green tomatoes)

Progress on CeCe – one more row and I’ll have 3 lace repeats completed. I’m a slow knitter – you knew that ahead of time so this lack of progress can’t be a huge surprise.

I’ve tried very hard to make this a brighter photo than the last one and didn’t succeed very well.  I will make the background white for the next progress report. That should help.

And new sock yarn! 

Ooohhh Ahhhhh Cherry Tree Hill
This was a gift from Bob who’s currently out of the country, hopping from Greek Isles to Italian seasides.  Why can’t I be doing that?

And now for a bit of food.
It would be an understatement to say I don’t cook much.  I cook a couple times a year. Only when I absolutely have to.  It’s not that I can’t cook – I can.  And I can cook a whole lot of different things, I just don’t like to clean up afterwards.  And I dislike that enough to keep me from cooking. 

But summertime is here and August brings us green tomatoes on the vine!  One of my all-time favorite foods is Fried Green Tomatoes.  Whenever I mention this, people tilt their heads to one side and ask things like, “what do they taste like?” and “how do you cook them?” So here's how I cook them, not to be confused with the official version.

Choose your tomatoes. The darker green the better. When they start turning white, it’s too late!  Wash them and slice them up not too thick.   Just look at this plate full of green tomatoey goodness. Wouldn’t this be a fabulous inspiration for a handpainted yarn colorway???

You’ll need to preheat the oil in your skillet now so it will be hot when you add the first one.  Break a couple eggs and add a touch of milk – mix ‘em up.  Prepare some flour with salt and pepper.  I’ll be working from right to left in this photo. Dredge in the egg then coat with flour. (Yes, I know the official version uses cornmeal or batter – I'm just making them the way I had them growing up.)

Fry them in the oil until they’re golden brown and tender. If the center is firm, they’re not done yet.  Go for darker brown if necessary to get them tender.

If you really want a treat, fry up some bacon and use the bacon grease in the skillet.  Then make a sandwich from the fried tomatoes with American cheese and bacon on toast.  I don’t have bread on hand and my bacon is the pre-cooked microwave sort, but here you go: my nirvana.

Can you feel your arteries hardening just looking at the pictures?

**I’ve attempted to crop away all evidence of my circa 1970 countertops but I see I haven’t been completely successful. If I’ve blinded anyone trying to forget the ‘70s, sorry ‘bout that.

Jumping the gun

I went to a yarn market a couple weeks ago and met up with some of my favorite SnB folks. (Blogless) Karen and I purchased yarn from Yarnsmith's. It was a great deal - buy one, get one free. We decided we'd have a mini KAL together and we've discussed a number of potential patterns. Then I saw Paula's finished CeCe, and remembering how wonderful Margene's looked in a multi-color yarn, my heart was won. Officially, Karen hasn't even actually agreed that this will be our pattern. So slap my hands, I needed to cast on:

In light of my past (and very recent) gauge fiascos, there's no promise that this will work out, but so far it looks promising.

Found in blogland (specifically at Leslie's blog):
Ryan Terry's portrait machine

Saturday Sky

Nothing exciting in the sky this morning for photos. It's going to be hot and humid - a good day to stay indoors in the AC. That's why I'll be out and about running errands (with humorously frizzy hair and a trickle of sweat running between my boobs).

This is the Tiger sock I've started. It's Susan's Moc Croc pattern and in real life is much more fun than this photo implies. The yarn has a slight stripiness and the colors are great. I believe this will work out. I know I'm jumping the gun by starting these before the regular season begins, but if socks go as planned, these won't be my only Tiger socks this year.

Still in pre-season

The regular football season is almost here. What better time to join a Fantasy Football league? If you're interested, email Vera. Be sure to see her recent post for all the info (including prizes!) I even made a button that you could use if you join our league. Space is limited - better hurry! When we're full, we're full.

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You want knitting too? OK, I finished the first Claudia sock:

I also cast on for sock #2 and there's a few rows of ribbing done. Not picture-worthy yet.

Still thinking about my next pair of Tiger socks. Gotta show the Who Dey spirit. I could have croaked this evening when I pulled into Pearl's agility class. I parked right next to a Steelermobile. Maybe I'll take the camera along next week.

Look! Up in the sky

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ReMax balloon.

A little disappointing, I know. In the 12 years I've lived here, this is the first hot air balloon I've seen over Milford. Yeah, the air is probably crowded with them on the weekends I'm off doing flyball.

Here's the progress on the first Claudia Handpaint sock:

Just a little more foot then I'll be doing the toe. Short, fat feet have their advantages. OK, they have one advantage - less knitting.

I'm already thinking of my next sock - what yarn, what pattern. Probably the Tiger yarn from Sunshine yarns and I'm looking through my stockpile of patterns not yet used for something to call out to me.

And then Natalie posts the link to this pattern (the one at the top of the page) and now I'm hunting around for my odd skeins of Kureyon with felted bags on the brain.

And unless you've been under a rock for the past few days, you've heard about Anne's Wing of the Moth pattern. It's beautiful but just makes me want to re-start my Seraphim shawl. I was thinking that Knit Picks' new yarn, Gloss would be perfect. So much to knit, so little time away from work.

Butter Sculptures

The Ohio State Fair is home to the Butter Cow. Every year a new one is carved along with additional figures that feature a theme of some sort. The last time I was at the fair, the cow was accompanied by Orville and Wilbur Wright. This year the NFL was sponsoring the exhibit.

BTW, high speed internet is NICE. I used to have time to knit a round on a sock while I waited for a picture to load. Not anymore. I barely have time to take a bite of dinner.

The Singleton Report

Here they are – Singletons of the moment. OK, Singletons of a few days ago. (It’s taken me a while to post)

Consider this an update. Very recently there were six, but with the completion of the Trekking #28 socks, I’m left with five. Allow me to introduce you.

Left to right:
Trekking #110 – Miriam’s free Trekking pattern
Knit Picks Parade
Sunshine Yarns’ Ravenclaw
Heritage Spinning and Weaving's Go Fly a Kite
Trekking #101 (?) – Feather and Fan

You’ve seen most of these before but the orange Trekking may be new to you – it was just finished a week or so ago. A couple of these can now be crossed off the list:

Ravenclaw

Feather and Fan

If you happen to still have some of this yarn marinating in your stash after this Trekking summer, F&F is the pattern to use.

One more of the Singleton group needs a little discussion. This is a bright sock:

And you know how I love bright colors! Soooo easily distracted by them. Here’s a couple close-ups – the top is an easy slip-stitch rib that shows off this yarn to its very best.

I even got fancy on the foot. I carried the innermost purl stitch and the center slipped stitch down to toward the toe area. Isn’t it the most adorable sock you’ve ever seen? (humor me)

Now explain to me why I cannot bring myself to knit another one. I just can’t do it. I’m thinking about ripping it out. I need comfort knitting and this just isn’t helping. Rip? No? Now? Later? Maybe I should just let it sit for a while in Singleton status. I’m having trouble making decisions and huge ones like this are not to be made lightly.

So I needed something to knit. I was good and cleared out 2 (count ‘em! TWO! – three if you count Trekking #28 a few days ago) Singletons so I’ve decided I can start new stuff again. I wound some yarn into balls and these are the contenders:

Tiger from Sunshine Yarns, Ingrid’s Blues (a Claudia Handpaint), and Opal Hagebutte. I do have another skein of I.B. – but they’re such small skeins. I suffer from anxiety about running out of yarn every time I start a sock from this size ball. I have never actually had a problem running out of yarn, but I knit in fear of it anyway. So I thought: toe-up! Yes! That will fix everything.

Here’s my progress as of noonish today:

And I immediately began to dread the heel and the whole second sock. Short row toes and heels are not for me. The heel doesn’t fit me well, I hate picking up wraps, I resent having to refer to directions every step of the way. I know this, and yet I gave it another shot. Notice the past tense.

I should have had the frog pose in this picture instead of the duck.

Ahhh… this is better.

Plain ol’ 2x2 rib cuff and plain ol’ st.st. leg. This is the comfort knitting I needed. If I run out of yarn, coordinating toe yarn will be used. I'm fine with that. Really, I am. Pretty much.

And just to really overdose you on my finished objets d’knitting, I knit another dishcloth.

This time the Garterlac dishcloth – very fun! If you’ve got some stripey cotton, this is sooo cute.

Dog news:
Introducing Karma.

No, she’s not mine. But damn, she’s cute!

Elvis just wanted her to leave him alone. He’s officially an old fogey.

I've done it now...

I promised my dear readers a FO and a FO you will get.

Trekking #28 socks posing on an embarrassingly girly sheet. Also with bonus Labrador foot and tail, 'cause you can't go anywhere without 'em!

This is all you get for this post even though I have a whole series of cool pictures of a character guy on stilts getting dressed at the Ohio State Fair to show you. Also new yarn purchases and knitting ideas floating around. And why is this all you get? Because dial-up sucks. Ah, but you knew this already. Well, dear readers, it may not suck for me forever. With some luck, on Monday night it will quit sucking as that's the day I get to connect my new Zoomtown box and pray it works.

I could put some extra effort into the dial-up post but since I've bathed 2 dogs tonight, and vacuumed, and run all my errands (after 6 p.m. to help fight smog), I'm just going to promise you great things next week.

Wonder what kind of funky search hits I'll get with all the sucking going on in that paragraph up there? What can I say? I'm easily amused.

Saturday Sky 2nd ed.

As you can see, the full moon from this week is definitely past and there should be no lingering craziness. Do you hear me? I said, No Craziness! Thanks, I really appreciate it. Some full moons come and go just innocently minding the tides, but others seem to make everyone go off the deep end.

Elvis and Pearl just want me to take them out for their morning potty walk.

For photo buffs: the sky photos are untouched other than resizing. And check out the zoom to get that moon! (you can always click on my photos to make them bigger) The dogs have had their pupils drawn in - eyeshine isn't pretty - and a little bit of couch cropped out. Now to figure out a foolproof way to get Elvis to put his ears forward like Pearl's. That's asking too much and I know it.

Next post.. another FO!