Stuck on Socks

Gratuitous dog picture day

* Someplace within earshot had fireworks this evening. I can hear the Grand Finale as I type this.
* Just for the record, my dogs are never outside unattended so the wistful looking through the gate there couldn't ever escalate beyond that.
* I have a slight error with my Zetor shawl and I have a plan to fix it, but it might have to wait a couple days til I find the nerve.
* SnB this week will have some spinning.
* Don't forget Hoosier Hills Fiber Fest is this coming weekend. I'm heading there on Saturday so I'm trying NOT to buy any fiber stuff before then. I'm not really succeeding.
* The IRS makes me very sad. No, I'm not in trouble but they're very slow. I've been thinking that I might receive money any day now. But no. Mid-August and early September are the dates for me. So excuse me while I go pout.

Muddy / Cranberry / Socks (in no particular order)

I only seem to be able to post on weekends. Still no photos of Rogue. Eventually. Honest.

So how about Cranberry first?

This is an interesting fiber. Romney and Angora from White Creek Wool that I purchased back at the Upper Valley Fiber Fest. When was that? April? May? It's been in the stash for a while. This color is called Cranberry Frost - a very delicate color; not quite pink, not quite red. And the fiber itself is soft but almost rustic. Fuzzy on the bobbin which is surely the effect of the angora. I only have 4 oz of this so it shouldn't take much longer to spin up. (famous last words...)

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Next word: Socks

In spite of the name on the photo, this is not a Charade sock (pdf link):

Apparently I'm too stupid at the moment to follow a pattern. I have no idea what pattern this is, but it's kind of pretty so I'll keep it. Fun how it spirals around too.

The real story here is the yarn. I may be spinning from my stash but this yarn is brand new. It decided to come visit Ohio from St. Louis during the last sneak up. This is Hand Maiden Casbah sock yarn in the color Blackberry. Why yes, it is insanely soft and the colors are perfect. There were still 4 colors left when I looked last. They could be yours...

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Our last word is Muddy. It's pretty damp and dreary here and that tends to make for lots of mud where I walk the hooligans. You know you love puppy feet, so do I. Even with a bit of mud.

How can I not snap a pic when he's resting his head on his Scooby Doo pillow?

I want you all to know that I made a valiant effort to work with the Claudia Hand Painted Strawberry Latte. I tried many different patterns (at least 2" worth each!) before giving up last night and grabbing something else entirely. (sorry about those 2 Ravelry links - it was easier than finding others on the net)

Pattern: Dublin Bay Socks (pdf)
Yarn: Woolly Boully in Lunamoth

Nancy and I had been waxing poetic on the joys of stockinette and I wondered if that was what I needed in a sock pattern. This is my most promising start since I finished the Galaxy socks last month so it just might be.

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Today was another long one for my aunt so I trekked out to her place to give her pup, Gabby, a potty break. Since we're back to heat and humidity, I let Elvis stay home in the AC (can't believe I had to turn it back on!) and Pearl rode along.

You can see that the back of my station wagon is a canine palace. With the windows down, Pearl is in the perfect spot to sniff the breeze. They also have beds there in the foreground and there's more toys down on the floor. I tell ya, they want for nothing.

With the return to summer temps, it didn't take long for Pearl's tongue to get too big for her mouth.

Big-Tongue Dog _________________________________________________________

And last is some Saturday Sky. Fewer power lines out in the country...

Back to the summer heat

It's 93 degrees right now so it must be a good day to finish a wool scarf.

Pattern: Corrugator (pdf) by Paula Smith
Yarn: Dandy Lion yarn handspun from Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club

I didn't have a lot of yarn to work with so this is more of an accent scarf at 40" long. The pattern is fun to knit - perfect for TV knitting (and the fall season is about to get underway!). Will I knit it again? Yeah, I think so. :)

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My new sock project is some new Regia Galaxy in autumn colors that just arrrived.

I'm using 64 stitches on a 2.5 mm KP circ and a quick measurement looks like 8 spi. Just in case you're trying to get the pretty design to work out too. It only took me a couple tries which surprises the hell out of me. I've got some Opal Parrot that I might get bold and attempt again after this taste of success. :)

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This beautiful girl is Gabby, my aunt's boxer. She's only a year older than Elvis but considerably grayer in the face. She enjoyed me stopping in today for a quick walk and potty break that I turned into a bit of quality knitting time. She looks at Elvis & Pearl running around like hooligans and just shakes her head in disbelief. Can't they tell it's hot out here?

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One last picture - a mum in one of my aunt's flower beds. Pretty pink!

Dogs on Thursday

This photo came out pretty nice. It's Miss Pearlicue, wishing I'd get my butt off the computer chair and throw the ball. Or the squeaky. Or tug on a rope. Or give her kissypoos. Anything but sitting at the keyboard.

Nothing else today. I was hoping for a quiet week but I still feel like I'm running around in circles. Next post I'll show you a new project - and it's not even socks! OK, I cast on a new sock too, but I had to let you know I'm not a one-trick pony.

LOL Dog

St. Patrick's Day Sky... and spinning and green stuff

While the east coast gets a snow storm, in the midwest we're enjoying some sun. It's quite cool but the sunshine makes up for it.

I started the purple/turquoise bobbin:

A few picture of green things in honor of the holiday..

Today's socks, a little bit of green in the woods - marsh marigolds just now trying to bloom, plus a Labrador Leprechaun

Happy Birthday to (Still) Blogless Jackie

See you this weekend!

Post-holiday recovery

I have one gift to gush about - if you need a special gift for someone, consider a custom illustration by Nikki Shoemaker. This amazing picture of Pearl and Elvis was given to me by Angela and there's no way a photo can do it justice.

It's 3-dimensional and captures so much personality - I can't adequately say how much I love this.

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After 4 days at my mom's house, you might think I've got lots of progress on some UFOs to crow about but nothing could be farther from the truth. The cuff of the 2nd Anemoi mitten is done, not nearly as much as I'd hoped. You know deep down I was thinking 'wouldn't it be cool to finish?' Not one stitch was put onto the Peace Fleece Cardi, and Ribby Cardi still needs its zipper.

Blogless Jackie did spend Christmas at the zoo with my family, and she's got a finished sock to show for it. And doubtless she's got horrifying stories to tell for years to come. We attempted to knit Korknisse. They didn't quite work out - I'm blaming my craft-store corks. They just weren't quite right somehow. I'll hit the bottle a bit before I try them again.

I did finish a bit of spinning - this is alpaca/merino/silk blend from Susan's Spinning Bunny in her Chocolate Covered Cherries color. There are 345 yards here in what might be my first fingering weight yarn. All while I spun these singles, I worried that I was ruining the fiber, but it turns out to be soft and airy - and just what I hoped for.

The color in the skein photo is truer - it's darker than this coin-shot. BTW, you can find my first bit of spinning from this shop's fiber on the customer creations page - it was Targhee that I spun for Angela's Christmas gift.

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Inexplicably, Jackie and I ended up baking 15 dozen ginger cookies. I don't like gingerbread or ginger snaps so I tried one just to see. Nope, still don't like 'em. We also baked rolled sugar cookies. These weren't from a box or tube.

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The dogs had a great holiday. For them, it's all about the wrapping paper. Elvis was briefly alarmed by the tiger-striped squeeky that he opened. And one last photo - proving it was all about the paper.

Last Saturday

Who would have thought the last Saturday of November would be this pretty? Near 70 with more sunshine than you can shake a stick at. And believe me, we tried.

First though, the knitting:
I've finished the back of the Peace Fleece cardigan and started the first front. I was toying with the idea of putting a cable along each button band but decided to make it plain instead. I'll reserve the right to gussy up the button band (or not) when I get there.

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And the spinning:
This is some hairy alpaca with merino and silk in the Chocolate Covered Cherries colorway from the Spinning Bunny. Why yes, these are remarkably similar colors to the yarn I spun at the beginning of the month. Why do you ask?

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Saturday Sky

OK, those were actually pretty easy shots to get. I didn't even have to crouch down much.

The weather was so beautiful I was completely determined to take the dogs on a walk today. We do walk quite a bit but I really wanted to hit a different walking path somewhere. Unfortunately, there was an aggressive, loose dog at Miami Meadows. (Many thanks to the dachshund walker who warned me!) Then we tried a nearby nature preserve but it was still muddy. So I gave up and we walked our usual trail in the woods next door.
It's not like they had a bad time, right? As a bonus, I thought I'd show you my favorite tree in the woods here. In a purely unscientific manner, I've determined that this is the biggest tree. It happens to be near the edge of the playground so is easy to get to for photos. I really should have taken a measuring tape to see just how big the trunk is. I can't even guess. There's no virgin forest here at all so how old could it really be? Dogs are posed for scale. Can you see how Elvis is totally obsessed with the squirrels in the trees behind me? And yet he stayed put. Whatta good boy. And one last bit of Saturday sky for you.