Everything's better at the lake.

Five hundred year-old book with really long sentences? Better at the lake. Yep, I'm in Michigan, enjoying the water, the sun and tonight, a magnificent storm. I'm also enjoying that I don't have good cell phone reception up here, which adds to my feeling of peaceful solitude. My phone did go off while I was on a bike ride this afternoon - I was so surprised to hear my phone ring, I actually answered it! It was work-related, but it was an easy call. Yay, easy.

Since I had a good 7 hours or so in the car as part of this trip, I've made a fair bit of progress on my husband's Gentleman's Sock. These socks actually started out as a different Kristi Schueler pattern, but I didn't like how the colors in my gorgeous Knitivity yarn (color: Cat's Paw Nebula) were pooling. I ended up ripping them out and starting over. There's still pooling, but it's softened a little by the stitch patterning. There's a sort of mock cable going on with the top of the foot and the sole of the foot is knit with the "eye of partridge" patterning, which is sort of pixelating the pooling. Of course, I'm not following the pattern exactly: I'm doing them toe-up, and I'll use my favorite heel as well. I'm only really working on these while I'm in the car, so I'm not sure when I'll get around to turning the heel, but once I do, the cuffs will practically knit themselves.

I've also done a little yarn shopping, with a little more yet to do. Our route to the lake cottage always takes us through the little village of Suttons Bay, Michigan, which is home to the Thistledown Yarn Shoppe. Every year we come up, I stop in and buy yarn. This year (same as last year) I picked up a couple skeins of Shibui Sock yarn to use on the Zirkel pattern. This is the pattern I'd tried once already, the one that didn't work with the yarn I had in my stash. It's hard to believe, I know. Anyway, that problem's been fixed, so once I can finish the Gentleman's Socks, I'll get going on this one. I also picked up a skein of my favorite worsted sock yarn, Jarbo Garn Raggi. I love it because it's super wash and has some nylon in it too. I made boot socks for my husband a couple years ago (I think) and have been coveting them ever since. Now I'll get to have a pair for myself. Whee! The last pair of worsted-weight socks I had for my own were accidentally machine washed. As they weren't superwash, they felted down to child's size. It was sad. Ah, well. At least I like knitting.

Tomorrow it looks like we're going to make a trip out to Stonehedge Fiber Mill, where they make the lovely Shepherd's Wool yarn. I'm probably going to get a sweater's worth of the worsted-weight yarn so I can make the Rafters cardigan, by Stephanie Tallent, which is in the most recent issue of Twist Collective. I'm hoping for a nice, heathery purple, but I could go for a green as well. I'll just have to see what strikes my fancy. So that's it for tonight, Friends. Until next time.

And once again, I'm knitting socks.

Yep. I finished my Alhambra scarf. It was so nice to have a project that had no deadline - just being able to pick it up or put it aside without the pressure to finish it has been really helpful with my work being so stressful the last couple of months. The scarf is just the right length, but I won't know its finished length until I block it, which probably won't happen until Christmastime. I'm sure this will end up as a gift for someone, but I haven't yet decided whose it will be.

Once I'd finished the scarf, I was casting about for my next project. After having done so many green projects lately (the Team Flora hats, the Alhambra scarf, the Portico shawl), I was feeling like a pink project might be the way to go. I had two skeins of a pink variegated Shibuiknits Staccato sock yarn in my stash, so all I needed to do was find a pattern that was right for it.

The first thing I did was look through all my books - I have seven books with sock patterns in them, and there was really only one pattern I wanted to knit. Sadly, it was a pattern that really needed a solid yarn, so I had to keep looking. After a Ravelry search, I thought I'd try Zirkel, by Stephanie van der Linden. It's a cute stranded pattern that turned out not to work with my chosen yarn, as the yarn had too much variation and obscured the colorwork. It was back to the drawing board.

After another look through the pattern books, I decided that I would knit Hummingbird again. It's been about a year and a half since I knit that pattern, and I remember that it knit up quickly. I thought that this time, just for kicks, I'd knit the socks toe-up with gussets and a heel flap, rather than cuff-down with a short row heel. I started a little more than a week ago, and I'm already doing the gusset increases. I'm sure it won't be long before these socks are finished.

Well, that's all I've got for today. Until next time, Friends.