Finished, Finished with, and a Fresh Start

Now that I have finished my dissertation and everything required of me for graduation, it's time to get to work and finish some knitting projects. I have decided my UFO list is entirely too long and must be dealt with one way or another. I started things off by finishing the Lilac Socks. I am *thrilled* with how they turned out! I love both the pattern(Jeanie Townsend)and the yarn(Cherry Tree Hill). I also love how I can actually take a crisp, clear photo of my wonderful new socks with the new digital camera I received as a graduation present. Check out that detail shot taken with the Macro lens--Wow!

And speaking of digital photography, I had to shoot the latest flowers in my garden--a hot pink single peony and Spiderwort (a wonderful shade-loving wildflower/perennial). The spiderwort blooms last just one day, but there are oodles of them. The plant is a great investment too--you buy just one and watch it spread all over the place. I dug out a bunch of divisions early last spring and could have done the same again this year if there had been time. The fascinating part about spiderwort is that the plant completely disappears once It's done with it's late spring/early summer blooming. By August there will be no trace of it visible to the eye.



So, back to the knitting front and finishing things. I finished chart A of the Spring Things Shawl and started knitting on the next lace section on Chart B. I was hoping to like it better, but didn't. That's when I decided it was time to get real with myself. Life is too short to knit lace shawls from patterns you don't love out of yarn you aren't all that crazy about either. I KO'd this project from my list and ma moving on to better things.

While I was at it, I also KO'd the Branching Fern Socks KAL from my list as I never did get around to knitting the socks and am not in the humor to start them right now. I did decided to go back and pick up my first Zephyr project, the Lavender Lace Shawl from Nancie Wiseman's Shawls and Scarves book. I got kind of bored with it and didn't love the yarn, so I put it aside last fall to knit other things. Now that I've resumed work, it's not so bad. The bright coral Zephyr is pretty and the yarn is in much better condition than the white I've been knitting with (which was sort of ratty if you ask me--more like a mill end or second than full-price 1st quality stuff). The LLS pattern is quite intuitive so it's easy to knit with only a rare peek at the charts. I'll use it as my portable project for now. I also found the Ribbed Cuff Socks and finished off the toe of the 1st sock. I'll cast on for the 2nd sock and also tote it for almost brainless knitting.

With all the finished and finishing going on, it's also time to start something new. Yes, it's time to go Bugsy! Mindy posted the 1st clue for the Bugs in Your Garden Mystery Pi KAL. I grabbed some size 4 dpns and the "Screaming Watermelon Pink" ColourMart Cashmere I had in the stash and cast-on for a shawl. The twist in tehis Mystery KAL was the choice to knit a shawl or a top-down sweater. The idea of a sweater intrigues me, but I'm not in the humor to do all the figuring to get a proper fit and I don't have any suitable yarn for a sweater. I will take notes though, and consider knitting one later, but for now I really had my heart set on another Pi shawl so that's what I'm doing. The first clue included ladybird/ladybug lace motifs so I'm already a happy camper!

Ribbit, Ribbit

My mother and father went out shopping yesterday afternoon and came home with things to help "spruce things up" a bit on our favorite summertime living spot--our deck. Apparently this summer will be spent in celebration of frogs, or toads (which really do live on our deck in the summer), or whatever one chooses to call those hippity-hoppity little croaking creatures that knitters all know as Ribbits (aka Rip-its). My mother can bring home some dorky things on occasion, but this time she struck a home run as far as I'm concerned! I now have my own personalized froggy to stand watch over the frog pond.And since I've been spending a fair amount of time at the frog pond with the Spring Things Shawl project, I decided it was only fitting that I take a picture of the Mr. Ribbit with the a few of the cast-offs from the SpringThing (yeah, there were more).


I would like to blame all my problems with the SpringThing on being cognitively compromised by the Big D, but then I would be abdicating all responsibility for its failure and that wouldn't be fair. After all, mature people accept responsibility for their mistakes and imperfections. So I went through 3 needle sizes, four different yarns, and algebraic numbers of swatches/restarts and was about to give up in disgust when I got this bright idea. Not too bright, mind you, as all the other ones seemed pretty bright too, but this one said go back to the White Zephyr and knit the design as written (I had been improvising in my last several rescue attempts) using a 3.25mm needle this time. I'm up to the 5th repeat on chart A and I think I can live with it this time. I won't ever be in love with the lace pattern in chart A, but I'm sufficiently motivated by the $6.50 I shelled out for the pattern and the border lace design to knit on through the first section. It's not difficult to knit, or even remember the pattern sequence, so that helps. I figure in 2-3 days I'll be on to the better part. It better be better or I might lose it >:o(


What *is* better are the Lilac Socks. I've just turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches on the 2nd sock, so it's pretty smooth sailing from here on out. I'll post **great** photos using my **great** new digital camera once the socks are done and on my little tootsies. I'm having a good time tinkering with my camera. I took an amazing close-up photo of my first peony blossom this afternoon and the finished pix was perfectly focused before editing. Just wait till I turn in my last paper on Monday, then I'm headed to the Smokies to capture the spring wildflowers with my new toy. Graduating is a good thing in more ways that one ;-)

The Unexpected

A lot of unexpected things have happened this week, and not just for me. Take for example the horrific shootings by a desperately disturbed young man on the campus of Virginia Tech University. On a seemingly ordinary Monday morning in a small college town just 4 hours from where I live, suddenly 32 innocent lives were taken. You can't anticipate such things ever happening. But they do, and it did, and we are left to mourn, then carry on taking with us fond memories and hopefully lessons learned that will help in the future.

My unexpected events of the week may pale in comparison, but still they are powerful to me. For example, the phone call I answered yesterday that just so happened to be from my best girlfriend, Donna, who lives in Salt Lake. We haven't been together for 5 1/2 years and haven't even talked to each other for 2 or 3 years, that is until I called her on Sunday evening a couple of weeks ago to tell her I was graduating. So she called me yesterday to inform me of her decision to fly out and attend my graduation and spend a few days with me. I was both stunned and elated as I never dreamed she would come, even though I really wanted her to be here for the big event. Donna isn't particularly adept with technology, so I agreed to help look for a cheap airfare. I've always had good success on Travelocity so I went there first and was horrified to find nothing but expensive fares with terrible times and connections. So I headed on to Expedia where I found one, and only one flight with a great price. The catch was 2 layover and a very long flight time, but Donna was OK with it because the price was so cheap and it was a major airline. I know this was just another in a long line of unexpected miracles God has provided me in the last year that has allowed me to be facing graduation. He *does* create pathways to lead me where I could never go alone.

And now I have one last paper that I'm struggling to write. Things have not gone well today or yesterday because I've been having strange, several allergic reactions. What I'm reacting to is only a wild guess, because I really have no idea. All I know is I woke up from a nap yesterday afternoon because the palms of my hands were itching like crazy. I went to the bathroom a discovered that my whole face was swollen and covered with itchy red blotches characteristic of a serious allergic reaction. I was not having difficulty breathing so I didn't feel forced to go to the Emergency Room, but I took a big hit of benedryl instead. I was OK this morning, except for feeling very fuzzy that is, but the rash was gone. By afternoon I was itchy again, but the rash was still gone. I can't write on Benedryl, so I stuck with Allegra today.

On the knitting front,I did manage to get another repeat knit on the cuff on the 2nd lilac sock. I finished the last round of cables, so I'm almost home free. The only fiddly part left is picking up the gusset stitches, but that's not really all the bad. I do adore these socks and suspect they will see a lot of wear. I also knit another repeat on the Spring Things shawl. I still have my doubts about this one. The yarn is really a bit too skinny for my taste. It looks just fine, and it is very light and airy, which is desirable for a summer shawl, but I'm still not feeling the love for this one. I could frog and try knitting with the yarn doubled but I didn't like the doubled yarn when I tried that with the yellow Gentle, so doubling may not be the answer. I think I'll just persevere for now and see if I can get through Chart A. Maybe getting past this first lace pattern, which I don't care for, will help improve the situation. I hope I last that long ;-)

Bugs and Spring Knitting

Is this not the cutest KAL button you've ever seen? The knitty gang over at EZasPi are gearing up for this years' spring KAL which is a sequel to the Pi shawls we knit last year. Last spring the Mystery Pi KAL had a garden theme where folks could choose from flowers, veggies or just green foilage lace motifs to create their own unique circular shawl. Mindy, the wonder designer, has been coordinating these KALs and has done a marvelous, mammoth job of keeping everyone going in circles. The Garden KAL was my 1st pi shawl and after that I started the Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace (which still needs an edging). I went back to triangles and rectangles for awhile, but now I'm ready to knit another pi shawl. This time the group decided to use Bugs in the Garden as the theme since most of us really like ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. I have no idea what Mindy and her helpers have come up with this time, but we're supposed to get our pre-start instructions on yarn selection, etc. sometime in the next week or so. I'm still debating on what yarn to use, but I'm awaiting further instructions from our fearless leader before deciding to knit from my stash or buy something new.


It's a good thing I still have a little time before the Bugs KAL gets under way as I have to finish my Lilac Socks and the Spring Things Shawl first. I still haven't cast-on for the STS for real, but I have ditched several swatches. I'll try again later this week, but right now I'm totally smitten with the Lilac Socks. I'm working on the instep of the 1st sock now, and I swear the thing gets prettier with every row! I *so* love this Cherry Tree Hill yarn! I never thought that I would be happy to see the Knit n Purl close, but with it's absence and the opening of 2 new LYS, I now have ready access to yarns I never would have seen at the KnP. I've learned that each yarn shop has it's personality and each owner buys what they like, or what they and their customers like, but if the owner isn't interested in a line of yarns you are pretty much out of luck. And right now I feel pretty darn lucky!

Be right back...I left something out front

In my last post I gushed all over myself about this amazing sock yarn from Cherry Tree Hill that I *had* to get at my LYS the other day. Well, I didn't let this beauty languish in the stash, no way. I joined in the Lilac Socks KAL and cast on late Wednesday night. I had the cuff done last night and I just finished turning the heel and picking up the gusset stitches this morning. This is the dreamiest sock yarn I've had the pleasure of using to date. I love the way the yarn is plied and twisted so that it is firm, yet soft all at the same time. The stitch definition is crisp and the melange of colors is nothing short of spectacular to my eye. I was a bit concerned about pooling, but things ended up working out OK without needing a cut and splice intervention.

I've learned a few new things in the process of knitting Jeanie's lovely pattern. First was how nice a k2p1 rib looks--better than k1p1 (which I hate) or k2p2. Next was how to knit tiny cables with tiny yarn on a project using 4 tiny dpns. Talk about fine motor control--yikes!! I haven't done much with cables lately and this was my 1st encounter with charted cables. Oh, I've seen them charted, I just haven't knit them from a chart so I needed a way to remember when to hold the stitches on the CN to the front or the back--I never can remember which is what when I'm knitting on a project that calls for both. I came up with the perfect little ditty to help me get it right. To make a right leaning cable the stitches are held to the back of the work and in a left leaning cable the stitches are brought to the front. So right is back and left is front became "Be right back...I left something out front." Ta da! I chanted my mantra and didn't have to tink a single cable for going the wrong way!

Now for the confession--knitting tiny cables on a project using 4 tiny dpns is a big PITA. Yuck, yuck, yuck! I do not like it Sam I am. In fact, I hated it so much I left the cable out of the last pattern repeat on the cuff. I figured it didn't really natter at that point and it was after midnight so...you get my drift ;O) If I'm going to continue to knit cabled socks I need to either master cabling without a cable needle (Grumperina shows how) or learn the "Magic Loop" technique or both! I am not knitting another pair of socks with cables on dpns--nope, no way! I considered leaving the cables out of the Lilac socks but darn it, I liked the swirling effect at the base of each "flower cluster" so I made the sacrifice this time--but never again.

The Lilac socks pattern is really wonderful, as are many of the sock patterns Jeanie has so generously shared for free to members of the Townsend Sock group. It's not a beginners sock, and it's knit cuff down with a traditional heel flap which might not make devoted toe-up sock knitters very happy, but it sure works for me. If you want your own copy, follow the link above or in the sidebar and join the group! It's a busy list, but folks are friendly and you can always lurk as needed (I do). I'm thrilled with how pretty the yarn is and how the sock is turning out. I will definitely be buying more Cherry Tree Hill SuperSock in the future--especially now that Sandy at my LYS across the street is carrying it. All I need is 10, maybe 15 minutes and some moola and I can have a new hank in my hot little hands ready to plop down and cast-on. How's that for instant gratification?