MUCH better, thank you.

These new socks are coming along a whole lot better than the other ones. I mean, A WHOLE LOT BETTER. The pattern is the Java socks from the Winter 2011 Knitty. I'm sure a big part of why these socks are coming out so well is that I'm actually following a pattern as written, but I think another reason is that these socks have an 84-stitch round. It's only 4 stitches more than the other socks, but there's a world of difference in how the colors are pooling. Like, almost not pooling at all. It's very subtle.

I still have a few more inches to go before I turn the heel, and the pooling will definitely change as I work on the gussets, so there's that to look forward to. I'm not especially worried about it, but I like the way the legs are coming out, and I hope the foot will look as good.

So tonight's post is a short one. I hope I'll have more to tell next time. Until then, Friends.

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.

Progress Report

Well, it seems like an age since I posted actual knitting progress, but before I do, I'll write a little about the porch furniture refinishing adventure. One of my friends at the yarn shop asked me, "How's the stripping going?" That got a few laughs from around the room, since everyone pretty much did a double take, then remembered that, as a matter of fact, I was stripping. Stripping porch furniture, anyway.

Good Friday was a day off work for me, and I had a few errands to run, so by mid-afternoon I was ready to apply the citrus-scented stripper. Once I got the chair completely coated, I did a little test scraping, to see how long I should wait. It revealed two colors: blue just below and orange below the blue (in the stamped areas I found white). Exciting! Since I had another errand to run, I left it for a few more hours and checked again, but it still needed to steep.

The next morning, I went at the chair in earnest, scraping away. After about two hours or so, I was able to break out the steel wool, so I could get in the crevices in the stamped area. Many, many steel sheepies have had to go naked for this project, and many more will in future. I think I'll give it one more shot with the stripper, then start on the repaint.

In knitting news, I have pics of the finished Vesper, which I wore on Easter and which my in-laws were gracious enough to coo over. It made me blush a little, but I still loved it! Really, who doesn't love a compliment? After washing and blocking, the yarn softened up beautifully. This is fast becoming my favorite thing I've knit for myself.

I've also made quite a lot of progress on the Kusha Kusha scarf. Mostly I've been working on it during social knitting, as it's just stockinette and I have something like 30 inches more to do before I can change needles sizes. It looks a little rumpled in the photo because I spent a good part of Easter Sunday scrunching it so that my nieces and nephews could see how the stainless steel yarn behaved. They were duly awestruck. I'm not sure that keeps me from being the strange aunt who takes her knitting everywhere, but at least they're acting like they're interested.

I'm not sure whether I've mentioned that I've cast on for Vacation in the Mountains, a Stephanie van der Linden pattern from her book Around the World in Knitted Socks. It's a pretty straightforward pattern, traveling stitches on a reverse stockinette field. Nothing to it. I made all kinds of progress on it Sunday, as it was at least three hours to get to my husband's parents' house for Easter. I'm nearly halfway through the second repeat of the leg chart, so if all goes well, I could be turning the heel this weekend.

I think that's all I've got for now. It's been raining and raining the last few days, so much so that the Ohio River is about 6 feet above flood stage and will probably continue to rise. As of last night, we hadn't seen the floodgates installed in the wall next to our old house, but if we see much more rain, they could be going in. I hope for sun and a little drying out. Until next time, then.

The deep end of the pool

I really like variegated yarns. They're so beautiful, all twisty in their hanks. They even look good wound into a center-pull ball. Lovely. I keep buying these gorgeous yarns, even though there's a probability that they'll pool. For example, this pretty skein of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox

became this terribly pooled pair of Elfine's Socks:

And these two irresistible skeins of Shibuiknits Staccato

Became this pair of slightly-less-badly-pooled-but-not-as-stripey-as-I-wanted Sunshine socks:

 So, you can imagine my disappointment when, after turning the heel of the Milo socks, I got this on the foot:

It's not terrible, but certainly not as nice as the random bits of color that make the leg of this sock look so attractive. Don't get me wrong, I still love these socks. It's just one of those things. I am very happy at how well they fit the husbeast: just short enough that there's a little bit of stretch and that the heel fits snugly. The leg looks great, and I love the little X's & O's going up the back.

I'm also glad to have finished these socks, as I'm ready to go on to the next ones. I haven't decided on a pattern - I have a few in my Ravelry queue, but Lotus & It's Tea Time are the current favorites.


Progress continues on the Umaro blanket, although I don't have any updated project pics. I've gotten 4 chart repeats completed, with two and a half remaining. I still like the scale of the pattern and I love how the edge stitches are looking - I'm slipping the first stitch of every row. I'll probably have a few balls of the Lana Grande leftover once the project's complete, so I'll be looking for a little project that wants big yarn. What fun! Even though it can be a time-suck sifting through all the pattern pages on Ravelry, it's a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

That's all I've got for now. I have a busy weekend to prepare for, with a bunch of Knit Nookers coming over for craft day. Until next time, then.