Flowers blooming and Cool Socks!

Ok, so I goes out in the backyard and discover that the star hibiscus is blooming it's head off. I love this plant because once it starts blooming, it blooms one, two, three, five or more blooms a day, every day for the next month. It just started about 3 days ago, so it's late this year, but it's so covered with buds that it might never stop . . . . .

And, of course the passion flowers are blooming too. Lady Margaret goes pretty much year round with a few small breaks here and there. The bud is the first bud on violacea and it's just sitting there teasing me. It's big enough that it should have opened, but you can see that it hasn't. There are half a dozen more with buds, including some others that I haven't seen bloom yet . . . .

And this is the new sock yarn! I took care of a friend's cats while she was on vacation and this was a lovely little gift she brought back for me. I can't wait to knit with it cuz it's such a wild idea. I've finally got the austermann socks going with a Charlene Schurch toe up pattern and they seem to be working. Miss M wants another hedgehog and since they take so little time, and I have almost enough yarn leftover, I said I'd do it.

But I also have enough sock yarn to keep an army in siberia warm and must get going on it. . . .

Aaarrrgghhhhh!!!!

Ok - so I have this lovely yarn that I've been wanting to knit for a long time. And I have this great book that I've been wanting to make some socks from for a long time. So I knit up a lovely swatch - a big one to make sure that when my guage changes as I relax my knitting, I'll end up with the correct guage. And after much knitting of said swatch, I have a steady guage that I'm happy with. Stage one complete.

So we get out the book (Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch), and find a sock pattern that will work with this guage and pick out a stitch pattern. Stage two complete.

Time to cast on! Which I do, and begin knitting. Knit about an inch and think "Hmm? Is this looking too large?" Decide to continue on because when I check, guage is still spot on. Continue (on two socks, mind you) for another inch. Guage is still good and maybe it's just them being flat. Try them on and they don't seem to be too big - hard to tell tho with them being so short. Keep knitting. Off into meditation mode and when I look up I have several more inches done. The pattern is lovely and the knitting is easy and fun.

Check guage and try them on. Guage is perfect, but the stupid socks are gigantic. Ripped them out and rewound the balls . . . . . Went back to stage one and reknit the guage swatch (came up with the same guage) but picking a different sock pattern and a different stitch pattern. Will let you know what I start doing. Tempted to dump the yarn and pick a different yarn.

Also found a pattern to make for me using the Elan Yarn that Mom sent.

Umm, I just discovered that there are a metric TON of corrections for this book!!! Go to this page http://www.martingale-pub.com/store/pages.php?pID=56&CDpath=2 before you try to knit anything from this book. I haven't looked to see what page the pattern I was trying to knit was on, so I don't know what effect this had on my mess, but next time I'll be more careful!!!

Road Kill

I finished the Hedgehog I was making for Miss M - it's felted and drying. I'll take it along when I drive up to get her tomorrow, but I can't sew up the bottom because it's still pretty wet. I'll have to replace the fiberfill with dry stuff before I sew it up too.

This is a very clever pattern. First, you knit the front of the body flat and in garter stitch. It's got a bit of short row shaping, lots of increases and decreases. The legs are knit out from the body and there is one little seam on each of them - took all of 5 minutes to sew them all up. You pick up stitches all the way around this oddly shaped front. Then you knit around this body, but still knitting flat (to leave an opening on the bottom. After a few rows with just a couple of increases, you begin lots and lots of short rows to shape the back.

It's a very quick knit. I started it on Tuesday and I finished it last night (Wednesday). I felted it this morning it'll be done when dry.

A couple more pig pics

It's not done yet, but it is felted and turned out pretty good. Still needs a zipper, maybe a lining, and a handle.

Passionate Kisses

Road Kill for the Divine Miss M

My latest project . . . . at the request (demand?) of the Divine one. Must finish it before I drive up to get her on Friday.

Cat or Bear? You decide.

This is the little cat/bear I knit from my leftover Numma Numma Toasty yarn. I made several little tiny socks for my keychain sockblocker and while I was doing that, I kept looking at them and thinking they'd make great feet for a stuffed animal. Since we were coming home from Florida and had a 6 hour drive, I knit two more and just kept going.

This is what I came up with. It was supposed to be a bear, but the ears ended up looking more like a cat, so it's one or the other. Then I thought it looked naked, so I made it a little vest to cover it's little butt and belly.

It's about 6 or 7 inches tall and the arms (little mittens) are about 5" across. Goofy, I know, but that's what happens when I'm stuck riding in the car without a big project to work on.

Twice Knit Knitting

So, I tried the Twice-knit knitting from the book. (Notice I used those fancy glass knitting needles I got as a gift from Joyce.) The first photo is the front and the second is the back. You really can take the knitting off the needles and stretch it and pull it and do whatever you want to and it won't ravel or unknit itself. You can unknit it, if you pull the thread, but unlike regular knitting, you cannot drop a stitch in this. It's also very thick material when knit. It would be great for a blanket.

For England

So here is the adipose - from start to finish. It's a well done pattern with some very interesting techniques. It's quick and fun to knit.

The final product is shown here stuffed but not closed and without a face. That's because that is how I was supposed to mail it to Mazzmatazz in the UK. It's done and gone.

Present for me!

Drove up to Tennessee to pick up Miss S and bring her home today. She had a really great time at the conference and seemed to really love being on her own. She handled everything beautifully.

While she was there, she found the "Hospitality Shop" where they sell used clothes, dishes, books, etc. She had a lot of fun there and apparently made several trips. She brought home presents for everyone and this is what she brought me. It's actually pretty cool - a technique I'd never heard of before. Twice knit knitting is pretty easy to do and makes a very thick fabric - great for blankets. I think I might want to make a nice afghan using this technique.