Sign of More to Come

With a few days of sunshine, things have started greening up around here. Still not what I'd condsider a "lush landscape" but we are on our way. I figured I'd contribute my little bit of green to help things along.

Pattern: Little Child's Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lisa Souza Hardtwist in Bluegrass
Needles: KnitPicks Classic Circulars, #3's
Modifications: I omitted about 10 rows of plain stockinette before the instep texture. Hubby didn't want knee socks. I also used larger yarn and needles than called for but left all the stitch counts the same. Worked like a charm!

Once again, Nancy Bush comes through. After finishing up these last night, I looked at the skein of Shelridge Soft Touch sitting there waiting for a pattern. I'm not sure what triggered it, but all of a sudden a few recent blog posts sprung to mind - Elinor's, Miriam's and Kathy's to be specific. They all made the Canal Du Midi from Knitting on the Road. I have been looking at these socks forever. Why I haven't knit them until now, I have no idea. So, for now the designing is on the back burner (I do have a "meeting" with my sister in a few weeks to plan out her next pair) and Nancy will guide me again. Her patterns are like a big cozy chair and a soft blanket with a cup of cocoa on a cold day. Pure comfort. This sock has both a heel and toe I have not done before, so I am really looking forward to trying them.

After spending most of a beautiful weekend day browsing through all the design and pattern books, I came across a new book on the blogs that just came out - Selbuvotter looks to be an interesting Nancy Bush type conglomeration of both knitting patterns and history. Just look at all those mittens on the cover! This one is going on my short list for sure!

The Only Green I See

With the weather being as it is around these parts, lawns are still brown and there are no leaves on the trees. Pretty blah and ugly. At least I have a little green to look at.

Big Hubby Sock the first is complete. I love this yarn (Lisa Souza Hardtwist)!! The color is amazing, super squishy and fast knitting on #3 needles. I think a good soak and block will only make it better. This is the first time I've done a round type toe. It was pretty interesting and I was skeptical that it would fit hubby's toes.

Instead of k2tog, the pattern has you p2tog for decreases so you get these little bumps that swirl around the toe. Neat design feature. Turns out my fears were for nothing - the toe fits him just fine.

I also managed to finish up the back of the Hoodie.

I was really afraid of letting this one sit too long without working on it. Things that get put aside usually don't end up getting finished and end up on a date with the ball winder. There wasn't much left to knit, so I just pounded it out. Now, I have to really think about what I want to do for the front. Maybe I'll knit the hood next....

It's Back

I thought even though we were having cooler than normal temperatures, we were done with it. But no. It came back this weekend.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you - these pictures were taken yesterday! At the trial site in New York we got a good couple of inches along with sleet, freezing rain, rain and slushy snow. I had about four layers of long underwear on and was still cold. Wet and cold are just not fun in mid April! Where is spring?

On a positive note, Tucker did well this weekend. He got a first, a third and qualifying round (we weren't fast enough against all those speedy Border Collies to place, but we did run our round fault free and under time). We still have some issues with the weave poles to work through. They are the obstacle that takes the longest to learn, and the longest for the dog to feel confident doing at trials in stressful situations. We're getting there, but you can't re-create a trial situation at home, so it will just be training at the trials until we get it. Lots of people came up to me and commented on how well he is doing and not to worry - "the weaves will come". Now, I just have to muster up some patience to believe them!

I didn't get much knitting done in between runs - it was so cold I had my hands inside my 3 pairs of mittens most of the weekend. I was tempted to soak them in my coffee for heat! Last night after we got home I made a bit of progress on the foot.

Funny how these socks, knit on #3 needles, seem to take longer than the colorwork Turkish socks knit on #1's! Must be that colorwork vortex thing.....

Thank You!

First off, I wanted to thank everyone who left comments on the Turkish Stocking. I was a bit overwhelmed by the response on both Flickr and my post! After several false starts and a rocky road, a sock was finally born. It never would have came to fruition without all of you! From inspiration to execution, the knitblog world is knit right into the fabric of these socks. Never fear, no second sock syndrome for these. The second is well into the colorwork pattern. There will be a huge photo shoot when the pair is ready to wear. All the comments mean so much to me - thank you!!

On to a pair of finished socks I think I totally forgot to post about - the Garter Ribs.

They are now happily reunited and living in New Hampshire with their happy new owner. They are also the perfect color combination for the new installment of Project Spectrum. The pink/yellow/green months. Lucky for me, the Turkish Stockings fit right in. (the first effortless thing on that project yet!)

Also (another stroke of luck) fitting right in are the Little Child's Socks. I may re-name them "Big Hubby's Socks" as it sounds funny saying they are for him. Progress on #3 needles is fast with these.

Photographing the color accurately is a challenge. This is a pretty good representation. I love the color, and there is so much yarn on the skein I'm not sure what I'll do with the leftovers. Maybe a pair of anklets for him as well.

Spring seems to have made a brief appearance here. We are under a winter storm watch and are expected to get a few inches of (sigh) snow tonight. Winter took long enough to get here, now it's never going to leave.

50%

I'll let it speak for itself....

The guts ('cause you know you want to see them!)

I'm really happy with how it turned out. The sole I kind of just winged, and went with the striping that carried down the foot. I did know I wanted patterning right to the tip of the toe. The gusset I ended up doing a solid pink. A few other options were explored, but then ripped. The look just competed with the instep. There are a few places where there is a loose stitch, but overall, my tension is pretty even. There will be a modeled shot, but I'm waiting for the pair to be done. More impact that way I think.

The second sock is already cast on and colorwork commences. It should go a bit quicker as I have all the technicalities worked out and written down on copious slips of paper. I guess a little re-organization is in order also!

Wanting to look at colors other than pink and yellow for a bit, I started hubby's next pair. Inspired (once again) by a pair by Terhi. Her green Little Child's Socks shown here made me take a second look at the pattern. Seems like that is the case with a lot of the Nancy Bush patterns - they aren't photographed too well for the book (the case in almost all of the poor socks in Knitting On The Road), but when I see a pair done out in blogland, they come to life and scream to be knit. Hubby liked them (especially the texture on the instep), so I pulled out the Lisa Souza Hardtwist in the beautiful semi-solid Bluegrass color that hubby himself picked out.

It's a thicker, very springy yarn that knits up super fast on #3 needles. The stitch count I'm leaving the same, just going up on yarn and needle size based on previous pairs. I'd say it's about the same gauge as the medium weight Socks that Rock.

Not to leave you without at least a few mouth-watering photos for a cold and rainy Monday morning, I made the Overnight Pizza Dough recipe from A Year in Bread.

It was the best homemade crust we have ever had. Not only was it very easy to make, it came out wonderful. The chew was fantastic, it was crispy outside and really tender inside and tasted great. We chose to top it really simply - fresh tomatoes, basil, minced garlic and red onions with a little basil and fresh mozzarella. Try it. Now.

No dinner this close to Easter would be complete without dessert, right?