Anybody home????

Well I certainly have not been home much this week, run run run... and I don't have much to show for all that running around except for these....

another pair of Frankensocks!

These are mostly Opal leftovers with some Fabel  scraps here and there... I am particularly fond of the stripe-y parts that are checkerboard-y... like the red part on the foot of the right sock. I love when Opal sock yarn knits up that way.

It was a week for getting guilt projects moved on... I took 3 quilt tops to  Terry yesterday and picked up two quilts... a very good exchange...now to get them bound. I finished up the triplicate paper work for my younger son's disability request... finally got some stuff returned that has been sitting in my bedroom for week... fixed two pairs of cargo pants...and got some cross stitching done... I 'll show that tomorrow.

I'm hoping that next week has more time at home. Like I said I have 2 BIG quilts that need to be bound and I'm still dragging my feet to spread mulch on the front side of the house... I've been waiting for the weather to cool down and when it has been cooler it has been pouring down rain. And speaking of rain...since I don't have much else to say right now... the rain beat the carp out of my rose bushes. My pretty peach one is just about bare... it does have the signs of new growth and buds but it it is a sad little rose bush at the moment... and the yellow leaves, black spot and Japanese beetles didn't help either. I think I've sprayed that poor bush with something almost every day... ok not every day ... but every other day. And I had another visit from the local deer herd... this time they found my daylilies  and the tall phlox to be the tasty.... damn deer!  I'm still happy playing with my flowers. I picked up a $2.49 marked down coneflower plant in the most lovely shade of orange the other day and it seems to be doing nicely. But one of the pots by  my garage got super waterlogged and the orange petunias are looking puny. I went out and turned the pot on it's side to let some water drain out of it. It is a tall pot and I had put in one of those flat circles that make the depth less so you don't have to use as much potting soil. I think at the end of the season I'll drill a hole in the bottom ... can't hurt.

And I will stop rambling... sorry... this is what happens when I don't have a lot of pictures... tomorrow should be better... I do have cross stitch to show.

happy knitting and  stitching-
carol fun

Showing my socks on another snowy day

The snow is still on the ground and the temperature is a chilly 32 degrees so socks, warm socks are required for today.

These are a pair I made back in October or Socktober as it was referred to. And in keeping with a theme - and I LOVE a theme- I was knitting along with the Patchwork Times blog and only using Opal yarn. Now this it not your typical Opal yarn. It was called Antonia Hand Dyed and it has a picture of some young gal on the band. I assume she is some star in Europe but I haven't a clue. Anyway this yarn comes in a skein not a ball like the all the rest of the Opal I have, but it is definitely the same quality and it totally machine wash and dry. I snagged about 4 skeins of this when it was on sale at Simply Socks for about $10 a skein. What a bargain! I did a little search of the web and it appears this yarn is pretty much gone. Darn it! (ha-ha bad knitting pun) I did see a skein or two on WEBS site but I have both of those colorways.

I was pleasantly surprised by the flashing and pooling of this yarn. It is the antithesis of Opal's regularly patterned stripes - which I like too. This is another skein I'll keep in mind when I get around to dyeing yarn this Spring.

And speaking of socks, check back tomorrow to see what's on my needles. I realized that I have been knitting nothing but socks for the last month or two and now have another lovely collection of single solitary socks. Gotta buckle down and finish a second sock for a least one pair - right? Probably not - LOL! I'm too crafty ADD. They will sit for a while and age and when I discover them again the yarn will seem new and then I'll finish them up.... I hope.

Stay warm - happy stitching!
carol fun

On and off the Needles

Soctoberfest is off to a great start. I've already completed one sock and I've started its mate. The yarn is Opal's Antonia Handyed color 3173. I got it at here at Simply Socks Yarn. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the first sock knit up. Just look at the pooling...

Profile facing left....

Profile facing right...

And this is the beginning of the second sock. Hmmmm... I don't think this one is going to pool like the first one. I think it will be more of a irregular stripe which was the effect I got on the foot of the first sock. Darn... I really want it to pool, but I don't know that there is anything I can do to make it happen. Now I ordered 2 other colorways of this yarn and I'm seriously considering buying more. I also saw it yesterday here at Yarn.com. They have a colorway that SSYC doesn't. Oh very tempting!

Hope your Soctoberfest is woolly and warm!

carol fun

This and that on Tuesday

Well yesterday the temperature hit 80 degrees for the first time this year and I celebrated by finishing a pair of socks. Now if you are scratching your head and trying to figure out what one thing has to do with the other, just stop, cause I really don't have a clue. Its 80 degrees, I don't need a pair of socks, what I need is a pedicure but socks is what I got.

This is the Pyroclastic pattern. I just looked at it on Ravelry and I swear when I first downloaded this is was a free pattern. Wait I just looked on Knitty.com and it is a free pattern here. Knitty like Ravelry has lots of free patterns.

The yarn is Cascade Heritage sock yarn and the color is Citron. I love this yarn because is it machine washable and dryable and it has about 25% nylon which keeps my socks from falling down... and that's a good thing. Here is a close up - its looks like a cable but it isn't - just ssk and yarnovers - easy stuff.

Have you been over to Sinta'sand Sherri's blogs today? Go now and look, I'll wait. Aren't there some wonderful quilts in this month's parade of Schnibbles? I didn't get one done this month but I already went and downloaded the pattern for next month. Its called Doc -and you will recognize it as a card trick block. Carrie is offering Schnibbles as pdf's here so you can have instant gratification. I like that a lot! So now that I have the freshly printed pattern staring up from my cutting table I'll probably ignore it until about 48 hours before it is due, cause that's just the way I seem to do things. Oh well, there is nothing like a deadline to make me productive! LOL

Happy stitching-
carol fun

It has been a woolly week

It has been a woolly week here. Not in the "woolly" way of harried or crazy, but in the "woolly" way of sock yarn.I haven't felt like sewing this week -haven't even turned on my sewing machine. All I've felt like working on is simple mindless projects, so woolly sock yarn has been occupying my time. Now I didn't knit both of the socks in the following pairs this week. What I did was finish up the 2nd sock which in every case was pretty close to being done.

These first socks are done with Cascade sock yarn. It has a lovely feel. The pattern is Firefly from The Knitter's Book of Socks. It was hard to get a good pic of these socks. The color is correct in this pic.



And this pic shows the pattern more clearly.



I had 3 pairs of plain vanilla stockinette socks which were soooo close to being finished but somehow I had lost the mojo and put them aside. This was their week to be completed. This first pair is a Paton Kroy Jacquard yarn- nice and squishy and machine wash, tumble dry.



This pair is done with an Opal yarn. I love Opal sock yarn. Nice to knit with and wears like iron.



And this last pair is Red Heart Heart and Sole. Now this pair shows why I like to knit socks that don't match. Look closely, I tried to make these match and they do until you get down to the middle of the foot - what?? Somehow there is an extra pattern of stripe on the one that doesn't appear on the other. Both of these socks were knit straight from the skein, and the fact that the difference didn't appear until I was almost done with the second sock, drives me crazy!!



So I will return to my habit of rewinding the second skein of yarn so the stripe repeat is reversed. That's what I did on the Paton and Opal socks. They kinda match but they don't. I think it makes them more interesting and I don't have to obsess over making the pair exact.

Hope you are having a nice weekend. I'm knitting a new shawl and finishing up some cross stitch and I think I'll even turn on my sewing machine and do a couple of easy blocks.

Happy stitching!
carol fun

Did you know Honey Badgers can climb trees?

Well the actual honey badger can't (this nugget of useless information brought to you by Wikipedia),but my Honey Badger socks can perch in a tree with assistance. This is a free pattern on Ravelry.com.


The yarn is a honey colored Lorna's Laces called Butterscotch. I love the color and the feel of this yarn. The pattern has a lacy look and when you put them on...



it takes on a cabled appearance. (Side note: It is hard taking pictures of your own feet. particularly when you don't want to reveal that you should have shaved your legs.)



Knitting these socks spurred a couple of nights cruising Ravelry where I downloaded a bunch of new sock patterns. After studying the sock patterns I realized that most of them looked best is solid or semi-solid yarns. So that necessitated some online shopping, and these darlings arrived on Monday.



The ones on the left are Cascade Heritage. I got 3 of them wound into cakes last night. The two skeins on the right are more Lorna's Laces and the ball in the middle was a pain in the rear. This is a skein of The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga yarn in the Oleander Nymph colorway. It has 20% cashmere and it the most expensive skein of yarn I have ever bought. I seen lots of reviews of people raving about this yarn and I expect it to knit up beautifully but getting it from its skein configuration to a cake or in this case a ball took over an hour. As soon as I put it on my swift I could see it was going to be a problem. I ended up winding it by hand from the swift and I has 2/3 of it wound before it would come off the swift without major maneuvering. I was too tired after fighting this one to wind the rest of them - a project for another evening.

Now I just have to decide what pattern and what yarn to knit up next. A decision I much prefer to the daily "what are we having for dinner?" decision.

Hope you are having a good day - mine just got better because I've decided we are going out for dinner.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Wicked Monkey Socks

Ta-dah!
A knitting finish!! My wrist is feeling a little better each day and I am so happy to be able to knit again. These Monkey socks are for my friend, Stephie.(Sorry these pics are kinda dark - it is a cloudy rainy day today.)



Stephie dyed this yarn with the musical Wicked in mind. It is her favorite musical and when I think of Oz, flying monkeys always come to mind.



In celebration of finishing this pair of socks I did the only thing I could and started a new pair-- yippee! There is nothing like starting a new project to put a smile on my face.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Being a "horrible warning" continued

Oh you came up with some wonderful suggestions for using my single solitary socks - sock puppets, very clever, or just pick two and wear them as a "pair" very cutting edge. Now I have no problem wearing mismatched socks as long as they are both the same weight yarn, but if they aren't I have this "princess and the pea" sensory thing going and I feel like I'm leaning to one side if one sock is thicker than another -- I know this makes no sense but I've never been called the most rational of people. The sock puppet idea is just the ticket for some of the butt ugly ones. You can improve almost anything with googly eyes - LOL!

But the cold hard facts are I really don't need to wear mismatched pairs of socks at all because I have lots of hand knit socks -- LOTS AND LOTS of hand knit socks. And here is the shameful evidence.....



this drawer is huge and it holds about 50 pairs of hand knit socks at the moment. The drawer is about 22 inches wide and even deeper than it is wide. It is an vintage dresser I rescued from my sainted grandmother's attic about 22 years ago. It is huge and made of solid wood and weighs at least a ton. Moving men hate this dresser and every time it has been moved it has involved a long flight of stairs.

Anyway as you can see I have lots of socks, and as the picture tells the tale I'm very fond of striped socks. All of these socks and a bunch more I've given away have been knit in the last 3 years or so. Can you tell I really took to sock knitting? I love socks because they are portable. I never leave the house without a sock project in my bag. And sock yarn is always so reasonable in price. I've paid anywhere from $5 for yarn for a pair to my most decadent purchase of cashmere sock yarn which was about $26. But oh the fun you can have for that price! I obviously don't need anymore socks but what does that have to do with it? I will continue to knit socks forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

It is a good thing that my vices are not illegal, or immoral, however they aren't always inexpensive - but hey, two out of three ain't bad.(credit to Meatloaf). So remember if you can't be a good example, you will have to serve as a horrible warning. And that is your reminder for today.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead of you. I'm planning on sewing and stitching and knitting!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A public service announcement...

If you can't be a good example, you'll have to serve as a horrible warning. This message is brought to you by the "horrible warning". On Saturday I was at Sock Club at Lambikins Hideaway when one person (and you know who you are) expressed concern that she had 6 socks going at the same time. Mind you this is only 3 pairs as she is knitting 2 at a time. Now I assured her that this was not a cause for worry because socks are small and that lots of sock knitters start multiple pairs. So I went home and dug through my basket of partially finished projects, each one hermetically sealed in a ziploc bag, and found the chorus line of solitary socks shown below.




I knew I had a lot of pairs started but I didn't realize exactly how many it was. I believe a bad memory can be a good thing in certain instances and this is one of them. To be honest this doesn't include ALL the pairs I have started since a couple are so butt ugly I know I'll never finish them (and I wonder why I ever started them and persevered to finish one sock). And one solitary sock is out in the car and I'm too lazy to go out and get it.

Also I thought more of them were just plain vanilla stockinette socks, when in fact more are patterned socks.



Here are some close ups - Feather & Fan with a primarily green hand dyed yarn and Charade with Gale's Art Crayon Box yarn. I like the colors of this yarn in the skein but knitted up I think it is looking like clown barf - sorry for that mental picture.



Carolina with yellow/white hand dyed yarn, No Purl Monkey with Lorna's Laces in Carol Green, and I have no clue what this pattern is in Regia Crazy Color. Now there is a cryptic post it note in the bag with this sock giving me a repeat of the pattern and I assume that every other row is just plain knit. What I do remember is that the color was called Crazy Chris and since that is one of my sons' names, that is the reason I bought it. Wouldn't you buy it for that reason? Oh well, maybe you wouldn't. I like that bargello pattern the stripe makes but this sock may be a bit much even for me - and that is saying a lot since my favorite colors are brights. It may never find a mate-I apologize to you lonely little sock!



Okay, the plain vanilla socks -

From left to right, Deborah Norville Serenity yarn, Red Heart Heart & Sole (I think this is correct but there isn't any post it note in the bag), Paton Kroy Jacquards, and finally Regia Design Line "Random Stripe" by Kaffe Fasset.



It is the last sock that started this whole chain of events. This yarn had just arrived at the shop and I had to find out what it looked like knit up, so I bought the yarn and another pair of 2.75 mm 40" circular needles (my favorite size and I have a bajillion of these already residing in a comatose state in partially knitted socks). I like this yarn. Regia is easy to knit and washes and wears with no special attention. I think the sock looks like it has been knit up with odds and ends left over from other projects - kinda funky but it works. Now this is the only color(it is called Snappy) in this series that looks like this- check these out. I think I'll do a pair in another colorway too, because you can never knit too many socks.

Well, I hope this post has made someone out there feel better about the number of solitary socks languishing in their homes and to reiterate "if you can't be a good example, you'll have to serve as a horrible warning." This "horrible warning" embraces her position in the knitting cosmos.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

New socks for Easter

I've been in a knitting mood the last couple of evenings and I finished two different pairs of lacy socks. I always think of new socks when I think of Easter. Why this strange association you ask? Well when I was a child my German grandma, God rest her soul, always gave me new socks to wear to Mass on Easter. They were always beautiful socks most with a lacy, ruffly edge that poofed out from tbe ankle. Do you remember little girl socks like that? And when she would give me the socks on the Saturday before Easter there would be a silver dollar in the toe of each sock. Yes a real silver dollar! I have no idea where these went, but I wish I did. As I got older and silver dollar were harder to come by she switched to Kennedy dollar coins. So here are my new socks I made for me for Easter, but no silver dollar in the toe. (insert sad face).




This pair is the Spring Forward pattern and the yarn is Sophie by Loops and Threads, Micheal's store brand. The color is Ocean and this yarn is 50% merino and 50% nylon.

The second pair is the Serendipity from the book Sock Club by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrot. The yarn is a Regia in a yellow. I don't have the ball band anymore so I don't know the details but I'm sure its mostly wool with some nylon.




Sorry for the dark shots, I had to take these pictures inside since it is raining again, enough with the rain. I am in a real mood to do more lacy socks. I spent some time on Ravelry last night and went through a lot of my books and have a ton of ideas and of course I have oodles of sock yarn, but I may have to purchase another skein or two. You know, you need the perfect yarn to match the pattern, right? Shake your head up and down, up and down. - LOL!

Off to do some meal prep for tomorrow. Hope you have a wonderful Easter!

carol fun