Kicked in the Ass Again

Woke up on Friday with the second half of this neverending virus. This time it's the headcold part. Felt like a brick building fell on me squeezing all the fluid to pressurize my head. The old eyeballs felt like they were popping out & the lower body just kind of wobbled. Took drugs & went back from whence I came. Slept when I wasn't upright & dazed in front of the Home & Garden channel with a big cup of hot lemonade. Did the same on Saturday. Today I'm wondering if I'll be able to pay the credit card at this rate . . . Bryan, I hate your kid!!!

Even though I was dazed, snuffling & wheezing, I am incapable of sitting in front of the tube without doing something other than zoning out - even when I'm semi-conscious. So I knit. I can't help myself. That orangey brown Kroy was sitting there staring at me. As if I don't have at least 30 balls of Other Sock Yarn laying about & at least one other sock on the needles! But I love the bright & wild stuff. It knits up faster. Yeah, I know it's all in my head but I think it's the excitement of finding out what the colors turn into that makes it go faster. And I wondered if this sock would turn out well. It was dark & muddy in the beginning with the colors blending together but I kept on knitting. Then that bright orange showed up & got in the mix and WOW. This sock doesn't seem to have the clear pattern the pink socks have, the colors tend to blend more but that shot of orange in there reminds me of a Southwestern Sunset. Aren't they grand??!! They'll probably go into my Donation Basket for Loving Spoonful but I sure enjoyed making them. And I wish I had 100 more balls of KROY.

Some Fun on a Gloomy Day in October


The sun was out & the sky was blue all week & part of last weekend so I guess I can't really whine about the change in the weather too much but geeze, Weather Gods, ya didn't give us as much sunshine as we normally get in August & September after that cool summer so the least you could do is throw a few more sunny scraps our way. I mean, what did we DO to deserve all this doom & gloom??? So, in order to brighten up my somewhat gloomy life - that damned virus my little buddy Bryan shared with me is STILL hanging in there - I had to knit something wild & crazy. TA DA


Yes, that's my messy desk in the background. I spend a good part of every day pounding on that keyboard & sorting through all that paper in order to afford my addictions! But, to hell with work at the moment. Aren't those socks glorious?? And FUN? They're made from the 79 cent a ball Patons Kroy that Karen found. Kroy is a little thicker than most sock yarns today so I knit it up on my 2.5mm bamboo skewer needles that I made!! After the first few inches, I wondered if I'd have enough yarn to finish them & compromised by making them a little shorter than my usual winter sock, they're about 4 inches to the start of the heel including the 2 inches of ribbing. So, I guess that makes them officially Ankle Socks. Since I wear pants all winter - fleece lined ones when it gets really chilly!! - they'll be hidden away unless I take my shoes off. When I look at these I wish I had a pair of those see thru plastic boots everyone was buying a few years back to show off their socks.


And how much yarn did I end up using?? You can see I made it through to the toe but THIS is what's left. Not a lot. Not even enough to do a toe in another pair of socks. Good thing I didn't want a regular pair of Winter Socks. I wear an 8 to 9 women's shoe & would need 3 balls of Kroy to make a pair any longer or use my usual 2mm sock needles. But at 79 cents a ball?? Well . . . . who cares! I'm wishing I'd bought a few more balls of this color but when it comes to sock yarn I'm a bit of a slut. I can fall in love with almost anything if there's pink or purple in it!

I'm Gonna Sound Like a Commercial


I am so in LOVE with the new Knitters magazine! I don't think I've seen one in a long time where I've wanted to knit so many things in the issue. Round yoke sweaters seem to have made a comeback this year - either top down as in the Ribbon-o-Round sweater or bottom up as in the Artichoke Twist! I think both of them are Up Sizable - especially the Ribbon-o-Round which you can try on as you go. I think Round yoke sweaters are very forgiving of a few more stitches & quite simple to make. Knitters has put several into the new issue which really excite me. I also love the silk lace Top Down jackets & Harvest Jewels, a Fair Isle inspired sweater!! There's even a sideways knitted Kimono style jacket!! I'm not impressed with the cover sweaters - they look silly to me & a fringed(not sure who would wear that!) skirt but all in all, a great issue!! The best part of all is that the price is the same whether you buy in the US or Canada. Yeah . . . Knitters!! I no longer buy the competition because of the blatant difference in price EVEN WHEN OUR DOLLAR IS AT PAR OR MORE!!

I really want to make the Ribbon-o-Round & the Artichoke Twist. I think someone on Ravelry is organizing or at least talking about a KAL for the Artichoke Twist. I have some Eton in a Robin Egg blue & Navy - I had planned on knitting Jared Flood's Round Neck men's sweater published in Interweave Knitting several years ago for the BT. But I think the Eton would work well for Ribbon-o-Round. Mind you, I have tons of Briggs & Little Anniversary yarn - a worsted two shade barber-pole of blue - too. I could make a true WINTER sweater out of the Artichoke Twist if I knit it up in the B&G!! Or, come to think of it, I have some Fuchsia Dalesman's Wool from New Zealand in the stash . . . Sooooo many patterns & soooooo little time!

Baby It's COLD in Here!!


I love the blue sky & sunny days but geeze, it sure got COLD allova sudden!! And damp. And I've been hacking & wheezing with SOMETHING that doesn't quite make you sick enough to stay in bed but keeps you feeling achey, sneezy, wheezy, congested & sleepy. No ambition at all. And I keep seeking warm places like my car in the sunshine. Definitely WOOL Weather.


In self defense, I cast on another pair of socks. I shared in a Patons Kroy sock yarn windfall. We only had two colorways, but at 79 cents a 50gm ball??? Hey, where do I pay?? Kroy, if you haven't used it, is thicker than the usual sock yarn & it has about 30% less yardage in a 50 gm ball. I haven't used it in some time so I'm not sure if there will be enough in a ball to finish my sock - I'm using 2.5mm needles. If there isn't, it'll be close & I can easily knit the toe out of anything else. These aren't quite as long as my usual winter socks but they're still well above the ankle. They'll fit size 8 - 9 easily - just MY size - and I'll appreciate the nice thick sock when it really gets cold! When I bought the yarn, I was going to make socks for Christmas baskets but I'm keeping these ones because they're my colors!!!

This week it was warm & sunny enough on my patio one afternoon so I hauled out the old Indian Spinner & spent a couple of nice hours spinning up some more of the Brown Sheep mill ends that never seem to end. Every time I think I've spun up the last bit - well - I find another bag with a couple of 'bumps' in it. And that doesn't include all the wool/mohair blend mill ends that came in the same bag about 6 years ago. I have plans for this wool if I ever get the rest of it spun up. I want to dye all the skeins at the same time so they'll WORK together. You know how awkward things look when you have to work in a couple of skeins at the end that aren't quite right??? Well, I AM determined to do all the dyeing at the same time so they'll at least be related enough to work in the same pattern. Still slobbering over Knitted Kimonos & unless I find something so totally wondrous that I have to drop all else to make it, this wool will be a Kimono style sweater.

Has anyone seen the Fall Knitter's?? There's a terrific sweater called Artichoke Twist in there which is knitted from the bottom up, the sleeves are knitted & added to the body & then everything is knitted in one piece to make the yoke. I like sweaters like this because there's minimal sewing & it can be mostly done on a circular needle.

Progress Report


Haven't been doing much since my eyes close when I sit down these days! It's either a virus or the change in the weather - depending on who you talk to. But, I have finished a few touques!!

My little 50 gm balls of sport weight wool knitted up to snug caps that will keep heads warm. I just cast on 100 stitches & knit in K2P2 ribbing until it was almost used up. I did a row of P2 tog, then 2 rows of K2, P1. Then a row of K2tog, P1 & two rows of K1 P1. Finally, a row of K2tog & sewed it into a ring at the top. Simple. Neat. And they fit an adult head.

On the circs - a simple ankle sock. I have one pair in the basket & this one on the needles. If time permits, I'll add a couple more pairs to the Donations. Or maybe some simple mittens from the pattern Karen shared with me. She found a top down FREE pattern that lets you knit mittens to fit any size from any yarn