(not really, it is Monday, June 1, 2009) More Dragonfly

Luscious, isn’t it? It is Dragonfly Fiber’s sock yarn in the Rocky Top color way. It makes me think of the warm, fragrant rich coffee I drink when I’m in the mountains. I watch the sunrise each morning; so at peace.

I just watched the movie Mrs. Brown. It was filled with hill scenery of Scotland and brought back some beautiful memories. I wonder if we have an inherited memory of home from our people. I’ve never felt as alive as when I was in Scotland or in my own mountains. Apparently others have felt the same way. My corner of the universe is home to many descendants from Scotland.

Anyway, this lovely yarn has the blue promise of daybreak peaking through. My photography will never show it to its best advantage, so you will just have to come visit me and see the real mountainside. Maybe I’ll have these Rocky Top Socks on the needles by then. Maybe they will be finished!

Dragonfly Designs Yarn

Look what I bought from LOOPY EWE . Another unborn pair of socks. This is Dragonfly Fibers' Robin's Egg. The Loopy Ewe link above goes right to the page with this colorway so you can have some socks like mine, too. Here is a quote from Loopy's site about Kate from Maryland's sock yarn:

Hand-dyed in small batches by Kate in MD. You'll love how the colors mix from one to another in each skein. Great for socks, shawls, mitts, gloves, cowls and scarves.

100% Superwash Merino Approx. 390 yds, 4 oz. 8 st/in on US 1 (2.25 mm)


If I did the linking correctly, the photos will take you to Kate's Etsy site where you can find more than just sock yarn. Maybe tomorrow I'll show you Rocky Top...

My Cedar Chest

When I was growing up, I used to look at the pictures of cedar chests in the Lane advertisements. I remember for awhile, they used to have an ad that must have shown 12 or more styles. I would mentally decorate my room around each different chest. After that, I would rank them in order of which I would select as my first choice. Then Lane came out with the enticement of a matching mini chest to go with the full-sized one. It was just about the right size to go on a dresser. Oh, how I wanted THAT!

My great-aunt had a chest at the foot of her bed. She kept linens that were hand-made, and photo albums where the pages were black, the writing was white, and the photos were put in with little corner pockets. I don't remember what else she kept in her chest. My grandmother (her sister) had one, too. I think she painted hers yellow and had a forest green cushion on it. Inside were all kinds of outdoor summer toys like badminton rackets and birdies.

Here is a picture of my cedar chest. My father made if for my mother and they gave it to me last summer. It is under the bedroom window in this picture but we moved to to be on the wall opposite the bed. It is lovely, isn't it? It has a lot of hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn in it that it held while it was in my mother's studio.

More From What I Meant to Post in January

Here is a dachshund sweater I knit last week. Lily really needed it a couple of days. I had it all bound off two times before I was satisfied with the fit. It has a unique dart system under her chest and a V-shaped gusset of ribbing that narrows and continues around the edge. When it gets to the saddle shape over the rear, I had to make stitches for the ribbing to lie flat. Although I would have liked to have had it go longer, I really wanted her to wear it at least once while we were InTheMountains and I had already ripped it back twice. She seemed to enjoy it. I used Lamb’s Pride with a strand of some kind of Jojoland long repeat. It photographs much bluer than it its. It is really a grapey purple. It has a fairly stiff hand because I thought if the stitches were closer together, it might not felt as easily.

I Enjoy Sewing (sometimes)And This is One of Those Times

I have been very fortunate to be allowed to take part in several drama presentations at my area middle school. The Drama department lets me run wild with costuming and I have had the pleasure of making costumes for several plays. Here are some pictures from the recent production of "Is There a Doctor in the House?"

Those are pictures of the Corn girls. There were a total of 12 of them but they were hard to round up! They played the gossipy biddies in the play.

Below are the Cow Belles. I had fun making the cow substitutes for the poodles one would usually expect. The girls were very appreciative of the tiny bells the cows had around their necks and seemed to like the googly eyes. The Belles themselves had huge bows on their heads made of the same material as the cow applique but of course I can't show you their faces. The girls found the skirts to be REALLY HOT to wear. Did you know when you go to buy craft felt anymore it is sometimes made of recycled bottles? Yep, this was as uncomfortable as wearing a slightly flexible quarter-inch thick plastic bottle. They were so sweet to put up with it.

Then there was the mayor. The picture just does not do the outfit justice. This was a young man with the broadest shoulders you have ever seen and a 46 inch chest. The pattern the drama teacher wanted me to use was three sizes smaller than this man-child. I rigged up something that worked out. He had a satin fest (faux vest) that had lovely sparkles on it. I chose little flag buttons for it even though I knew they would not "read" from the audience. Then I made the tails. He is holding one out but the jacket is not really settled on him like it should be. He truly looked like a pompous politician, which was his role. He wore a sequined tie and a ridiculous red, white, and blue top hat. He was sublime.

More News From the Past

I’ve made lots of socks for my mother including this almost knee sock style. The purple toe and heel are a nice firm yarn and the stripe is a kitten soft slightly fuzzy yarn. I have also made her a pair from Mountain Colors yarn and I used the Blueberry Waffle pattern but I have no picture of those. These are the first pair I made with EZ's Forgotten Heel formula. I like the ease of a heel made that way, but I do not like the fit.

More From the Past

More of my BFF HMHC...

I made her red socks once; in a worsted weight (cheapo wool/acrylic blend) with weird fringey/furry stripes in pinks and oranges from “fun” type yarn that was popular for scarves awhile back, when knitting was just getting its rebirth. She loved them and even learned to knit some socks on her own. We don’t live near enough to each other to knit together everyday, but when I came to visit after sending her the red pair; she had several pair of socks for me to finish the toes on! I don’t hate Kitchener stitch, but I can see why she let me do it. Soon after that, I started using various toe-up methods. She went on to make sweaters and afghans.

The next pair I made for HMHC weren’t really socks but slippers from that cute little Pocketbook sock pattern that looks like ballet slippers once you put them on. They are a very bright red and I made them in a wonderful worsted weight merino superwash by Berroco. It took 2 balls. They yarn is luscious and springy. The color is not at all subtle but it WAS on sale.

If you would like to see how these slippers look when worn, click the picture above. This will also take you to a web page with the directions.

Old News

Finally have world enough and time.

From this past New Years:

My resolutions:

Finish the five pair of socks I have started.

That is a reasonable goal and one I think I can accomplish. Setting unreasonable goals gives room for a lot of negative thinking.

Here are the first pair I’ve decided to finish. Ironically, they are the last pair I started. They are of the Berroco sparkly sock yarn that makes me think of blue jeans. They stripe a little, in an interesting pattern. I used the toe up method and after the increases, added a little bit of ribbing on either side, just a simple k1p1 to accommodate a curvy foot. When I saw this yarn, I knew they would make perfect socks for my friend HMHC. The plan is to get them to the cuff and mail them back to her so she can put the cuffs on. The wooden needles are two sets I got her to lend me so I can leave them on the needles when I send them up. I hope these socks won’t be too loose and floppy. If they are, she might wear them as socks with slippers or around the house socks.

Looking For a New Home

This lovely pair of unborn socks is looking for a new home. I just don't love it and I would be glad to send it to you. It is Noro sock yarn in a kind of woods looking colorway. It is complete as purchased, I haven't even done a gauge swatch. Want it? Contact me.

Purl

There she is! Press the triangle button on Purl's player and hear what she has to say. If you want a Voki, too, follow the Get a Voki now link.

Purl

Get a Voki now!

Getting Into The Blogging Thing

I have a follower! Hello, Mem. I don't have a cat but I have had several. I usually had tuxedo kitties. Hello to you, also, Grand Purl Baa. I can't figure out how to respond to comments yet, but I'll work on it.

I finished a pair of socks! It is the second of 3 pair I promised myself to finish as my New Year's project list. It is the picture above--the unfinished work in progress.

I designed these myself and I am not happy with the heel at the ankle. I used the EZ's forgotten heel method. You will never see a picture of what I did to that. I love the colorway, Bittersweet. I think it could be Cherry Tree Hill. I'm already on 2 other pair, one with a similar toe but following the Sunrise pattern by Wendy Johnson. I will be practicing my own heel when I get there. I hope to make my OWN pattern soon! I'll give you yarn particulars and a photo another time. Don't hold your breath, the labor for these was three years. I'll put up some unborn sock pictures later this week.

In the meantime, my mother has become a sock monster. She has really come a long way in a couple of weeks. I know she has crossed over to the dark side because she says she dreams she is knitting and hasn't done much reading lately because it cuts into her knitting time. I'm so proud.

This is amusing

A Book Review

Today's review will be on the book Toilet Roll Covers by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer.

I found the pig on the cover to be too cute to resist. I never thought I would knit a toilet roll cover, I do not particularly like pigs, I do not like pink very much but I have to admit the pig made me pick up the book.

It has 30 designs in knit and crochet although most are knit. It has the ubiquitous Techniques section and also has general instructions on the different ways to construct: bottom up, top down, sideways. What I particularly liked about the instructions section was the different ways to get the circle as part of the design without it looking clumsy. That made me carry the book to the checkout counter.

My favorite design: The sheep (Woolly Winner), even though I do not really crochet much.

Most likely to actually make: The pig (Perfect Piggy), who could resist?

Least favorite: the graduate (Degree of Success). I'm not fond of the parka man (Chilly Charlie), either. I do like Humpty Dumpty, which makes me laugh for some reason.

Other features that makes me pleased with this book: The Table of Contents pages have the pictures of the designs labeled to go with the "chapters". Also, just above where you would put your thumb to thumb through the pages, that is where the page numbers are. Genius.

You can buy it HERE, HERE, and HERE, as well as at your local book store.

It has been awhile. Last summer I moved half of my things 10 driving hours away from the home I have known for more than a long time. This took a lot of organizing and sorting, packing, unpacking, rescuing, repacking, loading, unloading, unpacking, and organizing. Not to mention the hours I spent looking for something I was sure I brought with me but could not find.

Amid all this, I decided I would start a blog, if I ever found my sanity again. Well, in the winter there was a lull in my activity; I was back at my accustomed home and I set up and made my first and only entry.

I had an idea to do book reviews since one of my hobbies is reading books about my hobbies. I thought I would have to find a library in my new location but I was wrong.

I didn’t realize how many books I have devoted to my interests. Here they are in order:

Crochet: 4 and a How-to CD

Rugs and Braiding: 4

Paper Arts/Painting: 5

Spinning: 8

Dollhouse:15

Jewelry/Beading: 21

Dollmaking: 21

Basketry: 26

Quilting/Sewing/Embroidery: 38

Knitting/Felting/Dying:83

Yeah. That is 225 books.

I set a goal of a book review a month. I selected my first book and I am waiting to hear from the authors if I may post a picture of its cover. Now I am off to do what I call "triage". That is, I sort pending projects and organize a queue. Immediate projects are ones with deadlines. Next in importance are those which will leave me the most space when they are finished. I guess that means I will not be knitting socks this summer.

A Beginning

Where I wish I was right now.

Instead, I am home, thinking about unfinished knitting, spinning that I should be doing, and thinking also about reviewing my favorite knitting books. Any of those things might be fun, but I'm also beginning this new form of organizing my thoughts.

This blog is something that grew from my membership on Ravelry. I haven't organized my projects, listed my yarns, counted my needles, or any of that stuff. I got sidetracked by the part of the set up that said something about linking to a blog. A blog?

This is my second blog in two days. No, not second entry, but second blog. I trashed the first one when {it doesn't matter, really does it? And by the way, I can't figure out how to draw strike-out lines through what I want to not say yet I want to type the way the Yarn Harlot does. You know, those strike-out lines compel me to read what she has crossed through. I think she KNOWS that and is toying with me.}