Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Finished Leaflings


Finished Leaflings
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ
Well, I finally finished the Leafling socks. Started April 9, finished on April 28--not too bad. I like them, I like the colorway. I finished with a "star" toe because I hate the way toes finish with Kitchener stitch. In my experience Kitchener always spreads and the space gets too big. The star toe ends with six stitches that you run the yarn through. You get a tight circle and a nice look on the toe too.

I've started some socks with a bright orange and yellow yarn that is called "Florida Sunshine" if memory serves (and when does it these days.) Very cheery, but I'm not sure about the pattern, and I was going to do them on one circular needle but seem to be all bollixed up on that front. Right now one sock is on a single circular needle and one is on two circulars of the same size. I'm not sure about the pattern, and the whole project my wind up in the frog pond. The process was not improved by young Nora who chomped into the yarn and broke it on one sock. Grrr...

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Spring


Spring Blue
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ
You gotta love spring. The little flowers--the crocuses, the grape hyacinths, the miniatrure daffodils--are beginning to pop. The leaves on the trees, at least in the Litchfield Hills, are for the most part a thing of the future. So the little bits of color are a real joy. The snow is gone--has been for a few weeks--but the lawns are mostly brown.

This is the time of year when you don't feel so bad about the labor, sweat and tennis elbow you experienced last fall when the bulbs were planted. Truth to tell, these were planted a couple of years back.

Soon the forsythia will be in bloom, looking like this:

Forsythia III

Even though it's only yellow for a couple of weeks and then grows at a prodigious rate and has to be hacked back with a machete, even though...ya gotta love it.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

World's Loudest Mitten


World's Loundest Mitten
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ
This is my finished mitten from the Magnificent Mitten class. It's all done. I've even knitted the lining and started the second mitten. They actually knit up fairly fast if you work on it, but I have 5 projects that are currently on needles. The Yarn Harlot calls this "startitis", the desire (and act of) starting a new project even though you have plenty of other works in progress. (See "Second Sock Syndrome".)

Let's see. WIPs of the day: mitten #2; sock #2 from the Rockin' Sock Club's first offering of 2008 (note my restraint at not having started the sock from the second offering although I admit to having wound the yarn into two neat balls); Liz's scarf; the Latvian Mitten; the Central Park Hoodie. I also knit the toe of a sock in the most amazing yellows and oranges, but I have restrained myself and put that aside. I don't even really consider that project a work in progress. After all, a to isn't much more of a commitment than winding the yarn, right?

If I weren't writing this silly post, I could get some good knitting accomplished! Bye.