I Feel It Coming On

A raging bout of startitis. I finished my Muted Stripes Ankle Sock last night...















and I'm seriously disenchanted with the Sea Foam Scarf...












the Sun Visor cap looks waaaay too big...






the Khaki Cardi's in timeout (just because it's too hot to sit with it on my lap while I knit the endless sleeves)...















I haul the Sudoku Afghan squares bag back and forth to work in my backpack and never take it out (I'm on the Stone color squares, the middle one--so boooring!)...










I've been buying yarn and stealing it (okay, not really, I yoinked [rescued might be a better word] a bag of 3 skeins of Mini Mochi that Dusty doesn't like from her stash box but I paid her for it) and mooning over a hoodie pattern and shawl patterns (that's Dusty's fault there but I'm not resisting) and I'm itching to cast on a bazillion different things. I have lots of sets of needles in all kinds of sizes and varieties and materials. I could just cast on and cast on until I'm blue in the face or pass out. Heh, if I do that I'll go even further nuts than I already am, agreed?

Okay, so I have to decide on a reasonable number of things to cast on. Let's see... I definitely am going to cast on the second Cartoons sock because I like to have a sock OTN, I'm going to cast on that red hoodie so I can maybe have it in October when I go to The Clearing for my writing workshop (notice that it's not too hot to knit a RED sweater in the summer, only a khaki one), and I'm going to cast on a shawl on Friday night or Saturday because Dusty and I are going to do a knit-along (Ravelry link) to try and learn to make sort of lacy shawls.

What else? That should do me for starters.

Sorry For The Silence

We were off visiting friends in Goshen, IN for a long weekend and wi-fi at the Super 8 was spotty, to say the least. I'm not going to subject you to endless pictures, I'll just post a few that encapsulate our experiences.

There was a yarn shop. I bought 2 skeins of Fixation for ankle socks and a shawl pattern.

We saw the most amazing trees, Copper Beech, at the cemetary where Ad works. Their bark looks like elephant skin.

Lots of Amish live around Goshen so I was endlessly entertained seeing buggies. Next time Durwood said he'd take me on the buggy tour. When we were driving to our motel, passing a Walmart, a horse and buggy came zipping out of the Wally World parking lot and crossed the highway. I'm convinced that the driver was a young guy who had just "floored it."

We stopped at a cheese factory where they give lots of samples. After a trip to the bakery, no lunch was needed.

We visited a quilt store that had a street rod car show in its parking lot. I could have taken any number of those beauties home. Oh, and the quilts were pretty too.

I drove through Chicago, in the rain, on the way home, mostly
because I was feeling afraid of doing it, so having my darling Durwood beside me to help me stay calm and brave made it the perfect time to stiffen my spine. I hate being afraid of things. I drove us to the outlet mall in Pleasant Prairie before giving up the driver's seat. After a fruitful shop and gyros for lunch Durwood drove the rest of the way through Milwaukee and home by late afternoon.

















The lilies are still blooming like crazy, new ones are opening every day.

And I did knit a little on my latest sock, mostly in the van on the drives but a tiny bit sitting by the pool. I cast on a Sun Visor hat a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure I'll keep going. I need to consult with The Yarn Whisperer at Friday Night Knitting Circle before I decide to forge ahead or frog it and use the yarn for something else. I'm thinking I'll cast on a sweater tomorrow too. I've got enough yarn to knit a red hoodie that I might be able to finish before my week at The Clearing in October if I get it on the needles soon. Besides I'm bored with my scarf and not sure I like it anymore anyway. Would it be so wrong to frog it--for the fourth time?

Ankle Socks, Anyone?

I think I'm on a jag, an ankle sock jag. I combed all the local yarn shops and got a ball of each color I remotely liked. Lots of variegateds with pink out there, lots of pink. DD tells me most women like pink. I don't see the attraction myself. I don't feel bad buying a bunch of it because I can knit a pair of ankle socks from one of the little balls of yarn that cost just over $5 bucks each. It's economical! Patti's has lots of solid colors too, but I only bought one, a red one, of course, along with the 4 variegateds.



And here's the next one I cast on, on Thursday I think, maybe Wednesday night, yeah, Wednesday night. I call it Muted Stripes. The colors are medium gray, sage green, and beige. I like it. I'm quite surprised since I usually gravitate toward the brights.


This is going to be excellent car knitting. I'm taking an extra ball in case I finish this one so I can cast on the next one. I didn't knit one stitch at work today. I find that disturbing. I wonder if there's a yarn shop in Goshen, IN. I feel a google coming on.

Nothing to See Here, Move Along

I haven't done much knitting this week. Sorry.


But I do have some yard and garden photos to share, and also a couple of Durwood with his new ride. His old van was just about kaput so he found a Chevy Uplander (sounds like a scifi show, doesn't it?) in our budget and picked it up yesterday. He's pretty happy with it as you can see.












The garden's growing nicely. I've got incipient blueberries on my three little bushes.






And a teeny-tiny green pepper on one of the plants. I have an unholy lust for bell peppers lately and am counting on these plants to slake my need. Maybe I should have planted more.











Durwood's hand-me-up raspberries from DS are making raspberries like crazy and the canes are spreading.











In fact they're crowding out a lily I planted near them last year, so once it's done blooming I'll transplant it to a more welcoming spot.












He's also keeping an eye on his tomato plants. This one is Early Girl and she's living up to her name. He can't wait. He bought tomatoes at the Farmer's Market today and is showing one to the Early Girl so she knows what's expected of her. He is truly Tomato Boy.











The dearth of knitting is due to the fact that 2 high school friends were in town yesterday so we did lunch and then David and Abby came over and made Durwood supper for Father's Day. Mmm, pork chops with a bit of mustard pan sauce, baked potatoes with chives, grated cheddar, and sour cream, fresh asparagus, and coffee chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. Delicious! After supper we played Oh Hell!, a favorite card game of Durwood's family and laughed and talked. It was great fun. Thanks for the lovely evening, kids.

Fast Sock

I finished the first Coral Ankle Sock last night. See? And it only took half of one of those tiny balls of Cascade Fixation. I'm going to cast on the next sock in a different color so that I'll have four socks, one pair and two mismatched. We're driving to visit friends in northern Indiana next week so an ankle sock will be a good car project.




One of the new-late-last-summer lilies is blooming. I think it's called Lipstick, but isn't it pretty? I've discovered that I really like lilies. Can't wait until the Stargazers bloom. They are big and showy with a very strong fragrance. They're under the living room windows so if I can have them open the whole house smells wonderful.











And last Sunday I went to the World Wide Knit in Public event downtown in Jackson Square Park. When I arrived there were only a few people there, but eventually we swelled to 17. Next year I'll call the newspaper and TV stations and maybe we'll get some coverage to draw out even more knitters.

Confession

Remember in the previous post I said I was at the yarn store on Tuesday "looking" at some cotton and elastic sock yarn for ankle socks? Well, "looking" might be a euphemism for buying. Almost certainly is, actually. I even had my DIL along as a monitor so that I didn't fall down with my credit card in my hand and walk out with a bale of yarn. Besides, I had to keep enough money in my wallet so I could take the girl out to lunch. It was the day after her birthday after all, plus a girl's got to eat. Right?


Okay. In the interest of full disclosure, here's pictures of what I bought and my lameass reasons why.



I got one each of each of the colors of Cascade Fixation that Shana had in stock. She didn't have much selection left and I can make a pair (two socks, a whole PAIR, people, ) of ankle socks out of each tiny ball. Plus they were 20% off.






I almost made it out with just the 5 skeins of Fixation but then Shana showed me the Happy Feet DK and I was sunk. There were only 2 colors that I liked (whew) and they too were 20% off. What's not to love?





Here's the progress I've made on the first Coral Ankle Sock. Two more inches and I'm at the toe. Woohoo! Maybe I'll even get to the toe at the WWKIP event today. These go fast.

Okay, I Admit It, I Went (More Than) A Little Nuts

Last night at Friday Night Knitting, Donna brought in a couple of Knitting Calendars that she was going to throw away because she's moving (boo). Instead of tossing them, she told us to go through and pick out any patterns we wanted (she already had taken out the ones she wanted), so we did. Here's what I picked out--mostly bags, hats and socks, with a few scarves/shawls for good measure. One of the hats, a cotton wide-visor hat, really intrigued me so I toodled on over to Loops after lunch (and after my chores were done) to see if I could find some yarn to make one--or three. I did. In spades.



I found Plymouth Fantasy Naturale (they're the variegated ones), Berroco Weekend (acrylic & cotton in buttery yellow), and Tahki Stacy Charles Cotton Classic (that's the khaki one, just in case I want to blend in). There was enough of the Cotton Classic and the red & yellow Fantasy Naturale to make a hat but not enough of the autumn color Fantasy Naturale so I thought I'd pair it with the Weekend, I'll decide later which one gets to be the hat and which the visor/brim.

















Before I went to Loops and Links, I counted the money I had stashed after working a couple of full weeks and had a tidy sum to play with, so I anticipated going a little nuts in the yarn shop. After all, Loops is closing soon (but I found out today she's going to put a shopping cart on her website and still be able to sell yarn--yay!) and as of Friday all stock is 25% off. Who can resist that? Turns out I can't, but then no one's really surprised are they?



Last Tuesday when I was in there looking at (and buying) one of each color of Cascade Fixation to knit some ankle socks, I saw a skein (just one) of Dream In Color Smooshy sock yarn in the Lipstick Lava colorway. Lo and behold, it was still there. It's mine now.





The other yarn I couldn't forget was a chunky red (of course) Berroco 50/50 alpaca and wool called Cuzco. It felt so soft and squishy I fell in lust with it. It was still there too, all 10 skeins of it. 10! Enough to make me a sweater, maybe even a hoodie. I so need a chunky red alpaca hoodie. (Ravelry link) Who doesn't?




I've been wanting to try Magic Loop so I figured now was the time to invest in an Addi Turbo needle. Zoe, the Yarn Whisperer, said she'll help me figure out how to knit a cap with Magic Loop so then I can be like the cool knitter girls.









Tomorrow our local knitting guild is sponsoring a World Wide Knit In Public event in a downtown park so I plan to take along my Addis and cotton yarn and cast on a hat, with Zoe's help. Should be fun. I'll take pictures.