just in time for sandal season

well, not exactly. it has been a bit cooler here, and i am wearing socks right now. but, i have noticed that there have been fewer and fewer socks in the laundry lately.

i have finished my pretty green socks, "snow petal socks" designed by lisa stichweh. they were a test knit. all that was required for the test knitting was to knit one sock. that's perfect for me, as i often lose steam on the second sock.


but, i wanted to finish these before the end of this month so they could qualify for the march ska challenge. i actually finished these yesterday morning, but the pictures i took yesterday were mostly out of focus (i tried to take pictures in the day's fading light, and couldn't manage to hold the camera still enough).

i'm glad to have finally used one of my "precious" yarns. this is Knitting Notions Classic Merino Superwash Sock in colorway green apple. i got it at SAFF awhile back. sometimes these "special" yarns tend to sit in stash for too long. but, i've told myself that i just need to knit it up anyways. instead of having a precious stash, i can have fabulous socks.

now, i'm knitting on my brigdewater shawl. i have finally gotten to the point where i can begin the decreases of the giant square. i will start another pair of socks this saturday, as it's the 1st, and the 1st day of skamay10.

happy monday :)

happy because it's a vacation day!

and i've started a new sock. i didn't think i would for this month's challenge on ska, but i stopped by a lys the other day before leaving town, and got suckered by a skein of berroco's metallic sox yarn.


it's not the nicest yarn in the world, but it does have a metallic thread running through it that gives it a nice sparkle. there were lots of pretty colorways to choose from, and i picked one with mom in mind, but she kinda wrinkled her face at the sparkles (which, i'm glad for, because i wanted them!). so, these will be for me.


the pattern is twisted from the new knitty. i had problems with knitting the twisted stitches as the designer has written the stitch pattern, so i'm doing it my way. that means, when i am on round 2 and slipping the stitch, i'm slipping purlwise. and on round 1, i am knitting the slipped stitch through the back loop. i found that much easier than how she has it written.

i am eager to get to the fun part ... which is the biasing on the foot, ... alas i'm still on the leg. and the knitting isn't as fast as i'd like it to be as i'm hopping between other projects (the 2nd snow petals sock, and i started bridgewater from _made in brooklyn_, and want to cast on ari from berroco too).

and now there's 2 (socks)

yay! i finished the pair yesterday. i'm very pleased with these socks. i love the pattern, and i've grown to love the yarn (pagewood farms's "chugiak"). i put them on for my photo shoot, and didn't want to take them off. it's not that they're crazy soft like cashmere, but they're just pretty ....


with these off the needles, i am back to knitting on my green snow petal socks. i am partway through the leg, and i'm eager to finish so i can focus on other knitting projects.

funny thing is, i only finish things if i stay project-monogamous. kinda makes it hard to knit sweaters and shawls when i want to knit socks for my kal's. sigh. such is a knitter's life ....

and a finished sock ...

i couldn't sleep last night/this morning. so i got up in the super-wee hours (3:30 am) and finished my tea and scandal sock. i also finished watching Australia on my netflix dvd. i didn't really know much about the movie, but somehow it ended up on my queue. and, i really liked it. i liked the cinematography the best.

oh, and i did take a nap today (duh !).

back to the sock! yay! a finished sock! this pattern is called tea and scandal and it's a free download on ravelry ... here's the pattern page. the yarn i am using is pagewood farms chugiak. apparently, this yarn is suppose to be overtwisted, and it wears like iron. i thought it was a defect of the yarn. but, now i've been "educated". and now, i really like it. and it's PRETTY! the purple has so many shades of purple in it. it has a bit of pale violet, some raspberry, and other violets and aubergine.

i would had taken a "naked" shot (ie: w/o shoes) but we're still in the midst of the yellow haze and didn't want all that pollen on my socks.

so, now i have two orphans, one green, the other purple. eeks. i better cast on either next.

but, i kinda have the sweater bug (not that i've finished one in the last year) (i think). i found this pattern called Ari today. and it's a simple bolero/cardi. and i think i might want to knit it. i even went out and about today looking at yarn, but didn't find anything that seemed right for it. so, i'll have to let this infatuation pass for now. i did print out the pattern though. maybe i should go stash diving instead.

happy post-easter!

it's not that i'm still in holiday-mode, but i am coming off that "ride".

many thanks for the easter wishes ... stuart did find an egg!


actually, as my "dependent", stuart too is "eligible" for my "benefit".(that's my work geek-speak).

anyhoo ... easter was GOOD. i have this "golden egg". mom made the mistake years ago of providing a golden egg .... so, each year, i pull out my golden egg, and sit it out waiting like a christmas stocking. so far, it has not failed to "give", but, it IS a plastic egg ... which means anything you put inside would rule. so far, the gifts have been 'good'.

in my knitting world, life is good too!

i finished my first snow petal sock :)


it's lovely! i am carefully trying to balance on the porch, in the midst of our yellow haze ('tis pollen time). now, i am eager to cast on the mate. i will do that tomorrow.

but, of course, this is not the only sock on needles. i too have this sock ...


i am way too tired tonight to post my details on this one ... but, if you're a member of ravelry, click on this link to read up on this pretty sock.

it's 9:03 pm EST, and i'm just fading ....

happy easter !

snow petals

i'm having some real fun right now test knitting a pattern for lisa stichwel. she's in one of my ravelry groups, and she knitted the prettist pair of socks, and i sent her a message saying, "i'd love to test the pattern for you!"

and here's my progress thus far ...


the pattern is from a japanese lace stitch resource. i love how these kinds of patterns keep the knitter engauged. often times in lace knitting, we get "rest" rows/rounds (where all you do is knit the knits and purl the purls, but no yo's or k2togs or ssk's). with these japanese stitch patterns, i've noticed, there's a mix of rest rows/rounds and sections where you pattern every round.


and i love how when this stitch pattern is inverted, it looks even more floral. or even, like an artichoke !

i am still on the leg of this sock. i cast on wednesay night, so i can still count this towards my skamar10 challenge. i've yet to cast on a sock for the month of april. i'm not sure if i'll get around to that this month.

as a test knit, the first sock needs to be completed by friday, which is totally doable. but i had also cast on another design for march as well ... inwhich i knitted to cuff last night.

the yarn is by knitting notions. i picked it up a couple years ago at SAFF.


sometimes these pretty yarns marinate in the stash for awhile awaiting the "perfect project". well, this pair of socks had green apple merino written all over it!

oh, after a little investigating, i also discovered that the pillars socks i knitted are also her design. no wonder i was drawn to this new pattern!