Moving Blog

All future posts that formerly fit into this catagory will be posted at my Otterwise blog

CLick HeRe

the OTHER ocean socks

I realized I never posted the OTHER ocean socks I made for Ysabeau

Lucy Neatby Triangles

I used some yarn gifted to me by Lynn and made a lined hat and scarf for one of my best friends, Sherri. I like how they turned out, and she LOVES them :-}

Lois in her new hat!

A few weeks ago I posted about designing a hat for my friend Lois. Here she is modeling it at dinner.

frogging

Until I started knitting, I wouldn't have guessed I was a perfectionist in any area of my life. The first pair of ocean socks was within 1/2 of a sock of being done, and they were just toooo big, and too loosely knitted to be useful (in my opinion) so I frogged them. I made them large around and medium in length, but my foot fit inside with room all around, and an extra inch and a half in the heel section when my foot wasn't even all the way to the toes. Not certian what the problem was as my swatch matched the guage ok but I'm redoing them in small. I've gotten past the toe section on the new start and stretched them slightly to check the size, and I think they will fit fine. Evidently the sizes listed were unstretched sizes. They would have done well for socks to wear OVER other socks, or as slippers, but would not have fit snugly to even my chunky feet. Since my friend lives in southern California, the over socks wouldn't have gotten a lot of use :-} And you know what? Re-doing them is so much less painful than finishing them and sending them on as they were, would have been.

Mo' Hair SHawl

Man this was fuzzy stuff. (Colinette's mohair in Kingfisher) Here's a preview pic of the fabric of shawl when it was in progress. I have more photos I've yet to unload from the camera, and I'll ask Oscar to take a photo of me wearing it. It ended up LOOOOOOONG! Almost knee length! Its off to Threadbear's yarn shop in Lansing on Tuesday.
Near as I can figure, it took me more than twice as long to knit the mohair, because of its fuzziness :-} But it was LUSCIOUS knitting. I am finishing up a task for Rae, then I will begin making long overdue quilt blocks for a swap I committed ot a while back.

Turkish Socks!

I spent some time a few weeks ago working with one of Lynn's (Colorjoy) patterns. It's based on a traditional Turkish sock. In fact, if you delete the intriging slip stitch pattern she has running up the center front, it is a traditional pattern. She has some museum-quality samples that she talks about HERE . Fascinating stuff, and gorgeous examples of colorwork and texture. Me? I decided to make a pair for a friend in California, out of Jaeger Baby Merino in a blue-green-yellow hand dyed colorway. (image below) I've heard these are very comfortable socks to wear, but I am worried about the seam where I pick up the heel flap rubbing inside a shoe. They would be perfect for wear with sandals or Birkenstocks, though. I have another pair planned using a more current sock pattern (toe up or toe down? that is the question), usinga DK weight Blue Moon/Socks That Rock Turqouise that I picked up at Rae's Yarn Boutique. I want to make a second pair for my California Pal, that she can wear inside shoes :-}. Bonus: There will be enough left over to make a pair of socks for me alternating stripes of each yarn :-}
The socks are my part of an exchange of gifts. She designed and made a GLORIOUS Ocean-themed bag that is perfect for me to wear in front of me when I'm using the wheelchair. Becasue of my 'widow's hump' it is awkward and almost impossible for me to reach around and get a bag hanging from the handles behind my back. As the pool opens again next week, It will get its first outing. I can hardly wait! I'll have Oscar take a photo for a later entry. This bag is so beautiful, and has so many cunning pockets to put my stuff in!