Summer in the City

                                                                                                                          

Got an unexpected day off this week so I should be basking in the sunshine, working on my tan - right??? Well, nooooooooo .  .  .  .  it's raining out there. It rained on my LAST day off too. It must've been 105 in the little tin box office out in the paved parking lot on Saturday when I went to work, it rained yesterday but did improve & today, it's back to rain, when I'm off!  Not complaining too much mind you, I'm safe & dry in my basement apartment.  I, too, have been watching the news about all the flooding to the east & across the prairies in the past few days. So shocking to see downtown Calgary under water!  I'm counting my blessings even in the rain.

Not a lot of knitting going on around here other than sock knitting. I have two pairs on the go at the moment but one resides in the car for those moments when I'm waiting for a train - more often that you'd expect when you take the Industrial back road to & from work!, waiting at the school crosswalk - I go through at least FOUR in the morning unless I leave an hour early, waiting at the drive thru - Tim Horton's has got to be the SLOWEST ever but the steeped tea is the best or waiting for trucks to back up - I take the Industrial back road. The last two FLAGS series Regia sock yarn in blue, turquoise, yellow, orange, purple & red are being used in the current house sock. I do NOT know what possessed me to buy 10 balls of the same color! Maybe I had a plan at the time but I forgot what it was. I managed to give away three pairs of socks & two balls of yarn in the end which leaves me with leftovers & two big balls.  I should've made short summer socks but they ended up as extra longs instead. They're top down, the gussets knit on either side of the flap as you go heel and a three needle bind-off at the toe. Car socks are now being knit on TWO CIRCS so the stitches stay on  even if I cram the sock into a purse.

The other pair are thick Kroy socks for Fall when my floors freeze - I have a cement floor with tiles stuck to it so it's COLD most of the year - and I love thick, warm socks!! They're actually past the heel & almost to the toe but I forgot to take a new picture!! My pal Karen scrounged around & found me several balls of Kroy in her stash - thank gawd for friends who like to circulate their finds - I never buy any because I can't go into the store that sells it! They keep all the Perfumed Items at the door so I can't go in. Maybe it's a good thing. I really, really like Kroy yarn & Kroy socks. This is the latest in the series of pink, orange & brown patterned socks & now, the colors I missed, all in one sock.

 Lately, these days, I've been working my spinning muscles. Suzie Pro now sits in front of my TV chair in all her glory with a sample bag of a new blended color product from Sunrise Fibers. The owner has her fibre pin drafted in two or mo

re colors that blend softly as you spin. Or you can separate them to spin if you like. I'm experimenting with doing both & will see what happens when I knit it into a swatch at the end. I'm just warming up for the Tour de Fleece coming up rapidly in July. Anyone else thinking about it yet???

Just a Sucker for Socks

Summer has arrived, it's time to spin on the Patio & what, pray tell, am I doing??? Knitting winter socks!! Winter Socks! I guess I'm just a sucker for socks .  .  .  they knit up quickly - we aren't going to talk about black, dress socks here are we??? - and it's quite the fashion statement to wear two different wild socks at the same time!  Although I'm not that crazy, I do wear Fraternal socks - same colors, same balls but no attention paid to the starting point. There's so many wild color combinations on the shelves these days that I haven't even made more than a couple pairs of patterned socks. I kind of like the looks I get when I'm in my conservative urban granny costume of navy pants & pink top with these wild red/orange/yellow/pink socks in my sneakers!!

Red Hat

I will admit to a teensie weensie bit of spinning on my SuziePro wheel. I got a bag of a new line of fibre from Linda @ Sunset Fibres ooops Fibers to you Americans!! She has a group on Ravelry called Sunset Fiber Addicts & dyes all kinds of interesting things. I found  a cowl in a Knitter's magazine, sent the picture to Linda & she dyed up some fibre for me in a similar colorway!! She called it Red Hat. I think it's going to be a real favorite of mine!!

Pink Elephant

Sunset Fibers is also the home of Pink Elephant which I love. It looks quite dull & grey but when it's spun up there's just enough peach & pink to lighten it a little & it does remind me of elephants. I really liked it's subtle prettiness once it was in the skein & bought two more braids!

Galaxie

The current fibre is called Galaxie. Linda has taken narrow strands of several colors & twisted them together so they spin up as blended colors that naturally spiral together. My sample has very muted mauve/green/peach/grey/pink in it which seems very plain to me but I've only spun a very small amount so far. I'm going to reserve my opinion until I can knit a swatch with this one.

Trying to De Clutter

I've been crabby lately. My house is still a mess even though I keep throwing stuff out & taking more bags to the recycling bin. Hell, I'm even giving books away these days! I swear the junk just grows in the dark of night. The kitchen counter keeps accumulating dishes even though I wash some every night. I'm not sure what this means other than the fact that I have too much stuff. For instance, I bought myself a new ceramic mug & a car mug that actually fit in the  holes in my car organizer. That leaves two sets of Starbucks mugs & a couple of strays on the shelves in my cupboard. And then there's at least a dozen mugs of various sizes & shapes - each with a history. I have to keep my Big Red Mug because I love it but what about all the others??? If I toss them & company comes, what then??? But, who actually needs 19 cups & mugs?? Maybe that should be the first job - I know mugs don't reproduce in the dark.

And there's that pile of plastic shoes. Yep, I love those stupid things. I have them in bubblegum pink, hot pink, purple, navy &  even have two pairs of winter ones with felt linings. Bad for the feet they are. Like thongs. You don't walk properly, there's no support & you throw your pelvis into an odd position & then it gets your back. Last winter, my feet froze in them - even with socks & felt liners. I live on concrete floors & they're COLD. So why do they stay??? It's the colors. Sigh. But, no one needs 6 pairs of useless plastic shoes - they're next on the list. It's going to be an interesting bag of stuff.

I did accomplish something this week though. I finished the Pink Kroy socks at last. Even with a rough jointed circ & a couple of breaks in the yarn, I finished another pair of deliciously warm & snug Kroy socks! Something to be uncrabby about!