The Quilt

No time to knit - dealing with a car-full of Okanagan produce, so I leave you with these!

Progress Report

I finished the first sock of a pair I'm knitting for a seven-year-old friend.  I think they look like big boy socks.  I started these once I finished the blue-striped ones so that I'd have something that I could knit in the car or while carrying on a conversation.  Since we then traveled to Nelson, where I spent a lot of time catching up with a knitting buddy, the sock got done quickly!  The yarn is some Regia Stretch that I got at Dressew in Vancouver in their amazing $1.99 a ball sale.

I'm also making progress on what I'm now calling the Bubblegum socks.  I'm about halfway up the leg on the first sock.  This is the one I'm knitting using a 32 inch ChiaoGoo RED circular (scroll down to see the right needles) and the Magic Loop technique.  These are great needles, with excellent tips and joins, and today I went to the LYS here in Vernon where I got the first one so that I could stock up on more.  Unfortunately she is all out of them, and so I will have to go without for now (sigh!).  I'm enjoying this yarn and pattern.  I haven't used Tofutsies before, but it's very nice to work with, and I like the way the striping is working with the Lacy Ribs pattern.

Nothing to report on the shawl-knitting front.  I haven't had the kind of focused knitting time that it requires.  I have finished the quilt I've been working on, though, so I'll have more time (except that I've discovered P. D. James and she is cutting into my knitting time!).  I'll post photos once I've finished the last pressing.

New Project

Here is the Brandywine Shawl, which I finally got a good start on last night.  It's the pattern I downloaded back in June, with the designer, Romi, donating five dollars from the purchase of each pattern to relief in Haiti.  As of the beginning of August Romi has donated $14 000 from the sale of this design to Doctors Without Borders for their work in Haiti!

I like the way this pattern is written.  Romi has provided both charts and written instructions.  I tend to prefer the charts, but I'm finding that it's occasionally useful to have the line-by-line instructions available for cross-reference or to make sure I'm on the right track.  You start knitting from the bottom point, and the scalloped edges are created by a series of bound-off stitches at the beginnings of selected rows.  I've never seen this done - it's simple but effective.

The yarn I'm using is Mini Maiden from Handmaiden (daughter of Fleece Artist).  It's 50% silk and 50% wool, and is just gorgeous, and extremely soft.

Last night I was able to just about finish the second blue-striped sock while we watched Season 4 of Doc Martin on dvd.  I can't work lace and watch tv, so simple socks come in handy!

Sock List

Dave and I had to start writing down a 'sock list' while we were on our California trip.  We have so many people in line waiting for us to knit socks for them that it seemed safest to write them down to keep track.  At the moment there are nine people on the list, but we have each recently finished a pair so that brought the list down a couple.  Also, there are three pairs currently on the needles.  Dave just started the second sock in one pair, and I have half a sock to go for one pair, and half a sock finished for another.  I don't often have two pairs of socks on the needles, but the blue striped ones are very simple so I'm saving them for knitting on the road and at appointments.

Here are my Sand and Surf socks, finished, and having to settle for their final photo being on coastal vegetation rather than by the sea.  They're on their way to their new home in Oakland, where they may occasionally be taken on a trip to a beach!

Here is a picture of my latest sock-in-progress.  The yarn is Tofutsies, which I bought in Carmel at Knitting by the Sea.  My niece chose this one after much deliberation - the pink stripes are very pretty.  I'm using a pattern out of Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up - the Lacy Ribs socks.  It's a simple little lace pattern that makes the sock knitting go quickly.


There has actually not been a whole lot of knitting going on around here the last few days.  I've been working on a lap quilt for a friend - I'll post photos when I'm finished - and Dave and I have been on a major reorganization kick.  There's always time for some knitting though - there just has to be!

Home again

Here is the purse I knit for my niece, based on the ones we saw at Knitting By the Sea in Carmel.  I made up the pattern based on the picture I took at the yarn shop.  I changed it a bit - I did a mitered square bottom rather than a round one, and I like the way the corners peek up just a little at the bottom.  The yarn is Noro Kochoran, which is 30% angora and has a lovely halo. 

I started the bag when I got home, so that I would have the right needles at hand, so it has to settle for a photo shoot here, rather than on a California beach, or in a lemon tree!  I'd say the grass looks rather Californian, though, after the dry spell we've had.

Now I can continue my sand and surf socks.  We were caught for several hours behind a complete closure of the I-5 on our way home on Friday, and so I made quite a bit of progress.  I am halfway along the foot of the second sock, so it shouldn't take too much longer.

I also want to sew in the ends and sew the buttons onto my hemp cardi, since I got so very close before we left!  As it turned out, the weather in San Francisco was gorgeous and sunny, and I wouldn't have needed the wooly cardi, so it was okay that I hadn't finished it before we left.  Good thing I didn't stay up into the wee hours trying to get it done!