Where did July go?

It's late. The almost full moon is a glowing orange tonight and I'm sitting here wondering what happened to this month. I swear it was the 4th of July holiday just the other day. I guess watching the Tour de France every day helped the month fly by (and what an exciting finish to the Tour this year?!?!) I guess I'll have to find something else to pace my morning knitting now that the Tour is over.

I'm knitting away on my Victorian Lace Socks so they will be done by tomorrow's deadline. The next Six Sox design is scheduled for release on Wednesday and I'm curious to see what the group will be knitting next. I frogged the oversized Jaywalker sock and wound the yarn back into a ball ready for a new, better-suited-for-me sock pattern to show up. I may frog the 1st sock tomorrow too. As for the MS3, I spent yesterday knitting on the blue version. I guess I have some serious knitting to do if I'm going to caught up and ready for the 5th clue on Friday. I'm trying very hard to finish my WIPs--a challenge indeed when my fingers are just itching to dive into a new project. I'm seriously considering giving a go at a sweater--one that really fits (gasp)...but then again, maybe I'll stick with lace knitting after all :-)


Since I haven't taken any new pictures on my current knitting projects, today's visuals are of my niece, Victoria's 8th birthday party. the festivities were held last night and included the ever-present pink balloons and chocolate birthday cake. Victoria is in to art and animals, so we gave her several "how to draw" animals books along with a sketch book for her to practice in. I recently introduced her to scrapbooking, which went over with a big bang, but she still isn't all that interested in needlework or fiber arts...maybe next year :o)

The Good and Bad of being Cold

It's been cold here in East TN lately, really cold, like <20 F cold which is cold around here. My space at home is downstairs where it tends to be much colder than the upstairs (one of those thermodynamic principles, you know) and I sleep late and stay up into the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is in bed and the thermostat has been turned way down. In short, it's cold, esp. at my computer. So I decided I really needed to get with it and knit some fingerless gloves for myself. I started in on another pair of Fetching mitts out of the same dark gray yarn I used for my sister's Christmas present. This is good, but gray is dark and not very inspiring and aran wt. yarn makes for thick mitts, which isn't necessarily bad--just thick. So I dropped in on Jinka and Piper at Loopsville on Wednesday to find something cheery to knit my Fetching mitts out of. Does yummy merino yarn have to be in dark colors just because it's winter? I am rebelling! No, I settled for a medium shade of denim blue that will work for me and my sister (although I really wanted pink).

So all this is leading me up to the point of my post which is that I decided to design my own fingerless mitts out of yarn that is pretty and soft and not so well, fat. I surfed the net and found one pattern that I liked but it cost money, which was OK, but the ordering process to get the pattern was exceedingly cumbersome and the shipping policy was, well, a bit much for one simple pattern. So forget that, I can figure this one out myself. And there is that lovely ColourMart cashmerino dk sitting on my shelf which I bought with mitts in mind.... So I have the first mitt almost done--and it looks way cool! I'm taking careful notes so I can write out the pattern and share it with my friends. I might even become famous and get listed in Knitting Pattern Central and have lots of people come and visit my blog and well, gosh! So here's a pix or two. Oh and a pix of my niece dressing up like a rich, chic "French lady" (scarf and chignon) for all my pals on EZasPi (sorry the pix is a bit blurry but it was early for me). Knit on!

Passing on the tradition

Surely there can be no greater joy for a knitter than to pass on the tradition to the next generation. Since I have no children and my brother managed to produce nothing but boys who are interested in sports and music, my only true hope to pass on my fiber fanaticism is my sister's youngest child--my only niece. When school closings necessitated a desperate need for child care 2 weeks ago, Victoria expressed her first interest in wanting to knit. Of course her Aunt Kristina was elated beyond words. The lesson was brief however, so I wasn't sure just how much Victoria liked it. So when she and Mark Thomas came back again this week to spend another couple of days I wasn't sure what to expect. But sure enough, the passion has been kindled and Victoria was ready for more.

Yesterday morning she crawled up in bed with me and intently watched as I was knitting. I was awake at that point but hadn't arrived on the planet yet, if you know what I mean, and was playing around with an idea for some fingerless mitts in a fine gauge yarn. That's when Victoria looked at me with her big cow brown eyes and sighed "I wish you would knit me something." I had made her mother the Fetching mitts for Christmas and they have seen heavy use since then. Plus, grandmother has been knitting on a baby blanket for my nephew Tyler and his wife who are expecting their first baby in June. So of course Victoria is taking this all in like a sponge. I make no commitments but ask her if she wants to practice her knitting. The enthusiasm swallowed up the whole room! I pointed to the yarn and needles she used previously and she was off like a rocket.
I used the little jingle "in through the front door, around the back; out through the window, off jumps Jack" to help her remember the sequence of the knit stitch. In the second picture Victoria is almost cross-eyed trying to get Jack to jump off without the neighbors coming off too! It was just too cute for my big mushy heart to stand. But this time she was able to knit all by herself and completed almost an entire row before the frustration of stitches sliding off the needle when they weren't supposed took over. For a seven year old I thought she did very well. I can't wait for the next lesson :-)