Short Row Heels

…and the woman who loves them.

I originally tried short row heels because I was looking for a heel that really looked good in self patterning yarn. Once I knitted my first one I fell head over heels for them. (Sorry – I just couldn’t resist that one.) <grin> I love the “bullseye” pattern you get.



These are the Spirit Trail socks I’m working on now. The weird looking spot where the heel meets the foot is a marker (contrasting color yarn.) I never write anything down so markers are my best hope of making a second sock that’s even close to the same size as the first. <big grin>

Opal Brasil Socks Done!

Remember the socks I started back in February? Here they are, all done:





Yarn: Opal Brasil
Pattern: My own generic toe up pattern with a chevron patterned cuff. The chevron pattern was adapted from a stitch in Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

This was my first time knitting socks on two circular needles and I am totally sold. I did the toes on double points (I knit my socks from the toe up) but as soon as I had finished the increases I switched to the circular needles. I bought a new size 2 Addi Turbo at Maryland Sheep and Wool – boy are they expensive. But they’re my favorite kind of needle so I just try not to think about it too hard.

I’ve already started my next pair of socks (I always have at least one on the needles) in some Spirit Trail sock yarn I got at Maryland. It’s yummy!

It's The Little Things

What is this, you ask? And why would anyone bother knitting it? Well, the answer is – it’s a water bottle cozy. I work at Girl Scout day camp during the summer. It gets very hot and water bottles are an absolutely necessity. The woman I work with always complains (good naturedly) that my water bottle sweats all over her paperwork. I had some leftover Fixation (stretchy sock yarn) in my stash so I decided to knit a water bottle cozy. I played around with different methods of knitting a circle (EZ’s pi method, Yarn Harlot’s multiple of 5 method) but I had a hard time getting it to lie flat. Don’t ask me how many times I ripped it out and re-did it but, hey, it gave me something to do during the Survivor finale. I probably should have made it a little taller but I finished a ball of yarn and was too lazy to start another. I’ll let you know after camp how it works. I know you’ll all be waiting with bated breath. <very big grin>

The Process Knitter

I am definitely a process knitter. Which is a good thing, since I start a lot more projects than I actually finish. <grin> I have one ongoing project that will take me years to knit, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. It’s my Sock Yarn Afghan. I started it in the summer of 2004. I needed an interesting project to work on during a week long family reunion. I knit a lot of socks, and I’ve always wondered what to do with the little bit of yarn that’s left over. When my daughter was younger I used them to make Barbie clothes, but those days have now passed by. Since most socks I knit use hand dyed or self-patterning yarns they don’t readily lend themselves to being used together. My friend Joan knit an afghan using mitered squares (which I love) but what made it really special was that each block was bordered in black, which really tied it all together and kept it from having that patchwork look.


I made a full size afghan which turned out really well.


So I decided to start another one, using sock yarn.

As you can see, after almost two years it still isn’t all that big (that's a 12 inch ruler at the top), but I’ve gotten hours of entertainment from it already. I love finishing a square and getting out all of the colors to decide what to use next. I love remembering the original pairs of socks. It makes me feel like a pioneer woman making a quilt out of scraps of her kids’ outgrown clothes. And now my friends bring me their leftovers too, so I can look at squares and say, “My friend Joan gave me that yarn.” Or my friend Rosie, or my friend LynnM who mailed me hers from Minnesota, or my friend Cindy who brought me a bag at Maryland Sheep & Wool last weekend. It’s like a knitting scrapbook. If I ever do finish it I think I’ll have to immediately start a new one. But I don’t need to worry about that for quite a while. <grin>

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2006

Another year, another great sheep and wool festival. For me, every year it becomes less about the buying and more about enjoying the chance to see friends I only get to see once a year. By 11 AM (it opened at 9) the vendor areas were too crowded for me. A bunch of my knitting buddies set up camp near the entrance in what little shade we could find.

Here we are:


Knitting buddies


More buddies


Buddy Meta working hard on replacing the yarn that Katrina took away.




And here’s Cindy Park in her Spring Forward Cardigan. It’s absolutely gorgeous!

It’s amazing how much shopping I got done in less than two hours. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t stay in the vendor area any longer.


Books and patterns:
Dyeing to Knit (autographed by the author at the fair) by Elaine Eskesen of Pine Tree Yarns

Big Girl Knits by Jilian Moreno & Amy Singer of knitty.com

Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot)

Cable Needle Freedom by Carole Wulster of Knitting Software Inc.

Sam the Ram & Sue the Ewe by Rita O’Connell of Earth Heart Designs

Stradivarius Stole & Mobius Capelet by Candace Eisner Strick of Strickwear (impulse bought while standing in line at The Mannings)



Yarn:
Kit for Blueberry Jam cardigan from Shelridge Farms (not pictured - they’re mailing it to me so I could substitute Mulberry for Spanish Moss)

Sock yarn from Spirit Trail

1. Fuchsia/blue/purple colorway


2. Shades of blue/purple colorway

Sock yarn from Socks That Rock

1. Two Can Rock


2. Hearthstone


3. Lapis

Opal sock yarn, colorway Traumfanger (Dreamcatcher) - pink/blue/yellow

Trekking XXL sock yarn - bright primaries/natural

Fixation sock yarn – shades of purple

Etc.
Size 2 24 inch Addi Turbo

Spirit Trail bumper sticker

Now I'm trying to finish my socks-in-progress so I can start some with my new yarn. I think the Spirit Trail pink and blue will be first in the queue....

Its All Done!

FLAK facts: Elann Peruvian Collection Highland Wool, color Alpine Violet



My FLAK is done! I finished it Sunday night, then washed and blocked it. Our cat Ravenclaw enjoyed the blocking process immensely. <grin>



Look for me wearing it this weekend at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. The forecast is currently calling for low 70’s so hopefully I won’t be dying of heat prostration (like the year it was in the 90’s.) I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday. I can’t wait! Now that I’m done my FLAK it’s the perfect time to buy some new projects. I have Sam the Ram and Sue the Ewe patterns on hold already. I figured they’d be good summer knitting. Not that there’s really such a thing as a bad knitting project…

See you at the Festival!