dark grey is hard to photograph

I finished the socks I was making for Bill.
I got bored with the plain stockinette and decided to add a cable running up the sides.

it looks really cool, but it's really hard to photograph well.

I learned that Bill's feet are quite different than mine, while my feet are chubby and very, very flat. Bill's feet are wiry and have the instep of DOOM.

next time I make socks for him I'm going to have to give in and do a heel flap and gusset.

I tried adding a little mini gusset in after I realized how badly the short row heel was going to fit.
I don't think it was enough.
ah well.



Stats:
Yarn: Brown Sheep nature spun sport
Needles: Addi turbo size 2 (3mm) for the main portion and size 1(2.5mm) for the ribbing.
Pattern: the usual tow up two at once short row heel pattern, with last ditch increases to fit instep of doom.

Saurday Sky

this one was taken as I stepped out my front door on the way to work this morning.
I was struck by the beauty of the clouds in the perfect blue sky.

the picture doesn't do justice to what it was really like, but it's still pretty.



Saturday Sky, taken Saturday, July 21, 2007, 6:30am, out front of the platypus nest.

bad bloger, no cookie

so I have been a horrible blogger this summer. work has been so crazy, and when I'm not working, I'm to busy knitting to blog about it.

I've started a new pair of socks for Bill, I've turned the heel and am deciding what kind of pattern I want to put on the ankle.

progress on the feather and fan shawl is going nicely, but it's still pretty small, i have reached the actual feather and fan patterned part now.

maybe by Thursday I'll have pictures to post, and y'all can have an interesting post instead of somethings lame like this one.

Saturday Sky

Bill took this picture last week.
there's a place in Alexandria bay that will take people up in hot air balloons and give them tours of the 1000 islands, I'm bettign this balloon was from there.

although I can't help but think of Lee Scorsby whenever I see a balloon. (Warning, the link contains spoilers for the His Dark Materials books by Phillip Pullman)





Saturday Sky, Taken Thursday July 3 2007. out front of the Platypus Nest.

Saturday Sky

it's been a very busy week at work with the fourth* and all, and I'm beat, and there's still two more days until I can have a day off. :(

where I live we had the celebratory fire works on the Sunday before the fourth, we are lucky, because we can see the fireworks from our back yard. I took quite a few pictures, but only these four turned out decent.

the squiggly are from the delayed shutter time combined with my shaky hands.
the first is my favorite.









Saturday Sky, taken Sunday July 1, 2007, out back of the Platypus Nest.

* Fourth of July, Independence Day In the U.S.

Saturday Sky

well not really.

I've been rather remiss in my Saturday skys lately, Saturday is a very busy day at work, and I usually forget or am too tired to take a picture afterwards.

to make up for it, here is a rainbow picture that Bill took Sunday. it was a full arch, but he couldn't fit the full rainbow in the frame,you can just barely see the secondary rainbow in the upper right hand corner.






Sunday Saturday Sky substitute.
Taken Sunday July 1, 2007. looking out from the front door of the Platypus nest.

socks!

I have been a bad blogger.

but I have been knitting!
see?



yarn: Knit Picks Memories in Morning Glory
needles: Size 1 (2.5mm) Addi Turbos 40"
Magic loop two at once.
pattern: my usual toe up sock pattern with a simple little slip stitch pattern for interest.

I really liked knitting with yarn, and it was pretty even without the pattern. it's too bad Knit Picks is discontinuing the Memories line.

tatter tale, tatter tale, neah neah!

that butterfly reminded me how much fun I had tatting, and I've found myself doing a little more.



a practice bookmark I made for Bill.
there are a lot of problems with it, but it was just to get my fingers used to the motions, and he said his books don't care.

and another practice piece:



pattern from here

the little leaves look like crap, because I had forgotten how to make a Self Closing Mock Ring and was feeling too gimpy to get to the computer to look it up. then I ran out of the variegated, so I figured that was enough practice. I'm working on a longer version now. but I really should get back to the knitting eventually.

flower

progress on the slip stitch socks is going good.

but I've been distracted.
by this:



look familiar? here, have a hint:



it's the Feather and Fan Shawl by Eugen Beugler from A Gathering of Lace.

progress is going well, but once I finish the leaves and start the feather and fan portion, I think I may return to the socks.

Saturday Sky

a beautiful day!




Saturday Sky taken Saturday June 16, 2007, 3:40pm, from the end of the docks out back of the platypus nest.


Bonus!
Lilly Pads!

A butterfly, and more socks.

Tatted butterfly.

I was talking to one of the ladies in my summer knitting group (a lot less formal that the group that meets during the winter) and she mentioned how she had always wanted to learn how to tat.
So yesterday I took my stuff along and set to teaching her. But before I did that I had to remember how to do it myself. It's been about a year and a half since I did any tatting, so I whipped up this little guy to get my brain and fingers working again. He's tatted using size 10 crochet cotton.

***

Not much progress on Tasha's socks, so you don't get a picture of those, but here's a picture of what has been distracting me from them:



Slip stitch pattern of my own design (although is stupidly simple, kind of like Crusoe from kitty, but not)

Knit in Knit Picks Memories, Morning Glory, on size 1 (2.5mm) Addi Turbos

I'm far to amused by the way the stripes connect from one sock to the other. And I'm in love with the pattern. Here is how the bottom of the foot looks:

Saturday Sky

just a little late :p

Saturday after Bill got out of work we wandered around down town.

this is the view of Calumet Island from the town docks.



Saturday Sky, taken Saturday, June 9th 6:30pm, Clayton Town Docks.

teaser and excuses.

I have a neat Saturday Sky, and a update post about socks, but my right thumb hurts, and weekends at work are killer and I'm feeling far too lazy to write an actual coherent post, so I'm making you all wait until Tuesday.

Answers

To Abigail (hee, your comment gave me a double take for a moment, I'm not used to seeing other people with my name!):
The pattern for Tasha's socks is a variation on the "scrolls" pattern (page 95) in Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks. But I misread the directions, and made every other row a patterned row instead of every row. (I knit a chart row, then knit a row plain, then knit the next chart row etc.)

It's almost the same as the plain version of Ripple Weave (p 26) from Barbara Walker's third treasury of knitting patterns, but with yo instead of a double increase, and no decreases on plain rounds.


To catsmum:
Work is going wonderfully, things are picking up at the restaurant, our new cook is doing awesome, and loves working, which makes my life easier. We just lost our intern to summer vacation, but we may have a new person coming in after the 16th to be our cook's helper so that Anna (the new cook) and I can have days off once summer gets into full swing. (we need at least two cooks on at all times over the summer)

I've been able to make more knitting time, including starting another pair of socks for myself, but I've been too lazy to actually take pictures, so you'll all have to wait a little longer to see them. (no I haven't finished Tasha's socks, but they are coming along nicely as well.)

Saturday Sky

I never realized that my posting would drop off so dramatically once I started back to work, I apologize for that.

today I was feeling a little more lively after work and Bill and I went for a walk downtown.

this is the Veteran's Memorial Lighthouse in Downtown Clayton, the gaping hole in the middle is where a time capsuel and plaque used to be. they just recently finished some major renovations to the monument. I'm not sure if they will be replacing the capsule or not.



Saturday Sky, taken, Saturday June 2, 2007 4:45pm, Downtown Clayton, NY.