First Knit Project

The edging for the Diamond Stole is determined to drive me quite mad. I've gotten very little done on it, not for lack of trying. I've had to restart the edging about 5 times for various reasons - not liking the way it was joined, ending up with the wrong number of stitches. So instead of showing you progress on that, I thought I'd show you one of my first big knit projects that I did around junior high or so.

It's an afghan I made for my mother. It shows I've never been afraid of lace. Since my mother didn't knit, no one was able to tell you that I couldn't do this particular pattern because it was too difficult. I remember it being a bit challenging, but nothing beyond my capabilities.

Hopefully, Monday I'll have progress to show on the edging. Until then, have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday

I have exactly this much of the edging done:

It's going to take forever, isn't it?

As for the color, well, it's cloudy, so I'm having a worse time than usual getting the color. It really is a vibrant purple with lots more red in it than this picture. Sort of like the purple in the percentage bars in the sidebar. If I ever finish, I'll just keep taking pictures until I can get the color better. Who knew that particular shade of purple could be so difficult?!

Stole and sock progress

First of all, I finished Book 7 and I refuse to give away anything because that's why I read it so very fast, so I wouldn't find out what happened from anyone else. So I will request that no one give away anything in the comments either, but if you want to discuss feel free to email me at either the addy in the sidebar or my verizon email if you have it. I will say only that several of my guesses about what was going to happen were right, but I've never made the guesses on the blog.

As for pictures, progress of the stole:

I can't seem to get a decent picture of the stole. It's just two diamond patterns away from the edging and I hope to get to that this week. Meanwhile, sock progress has slowed. I only have the cuff and beginnings of a heel for one sock since the last pair:

The yarn is Sockotta. Maybe now that I'm back and I've finished Harry Potter, I'll get back to my regular knitting. Oh, yeah, there is Oblivion which I've finally got my hands on...

Back!

Hi, bet you thought I'd disappeared, huh? (Thanks to everyone who asked if I was okay.) Well, I'm still here. I just took a trip down to Georgia to visit family for a week and just got back yesterday. It was a fun trip overall, but there were a couple of downers. First of all, the drive was terrible. There was construction all over I-85. Whoever thought it was a good idea to take two or three lanes and merge them into one on an interstate was an idiot. A lot of the construction was to actually widen the roads. Okay, so you're creating a huge traffic problem for the next few months (or maybe years) to supposedly lessen congestion in the future. Am I the only one who questions the wisdom?

And then there's my toe. I'm a klutz. I freely admit it and I freely admit when I do something stupid to hurt myself. But I did not do anything to nearly break my toe. On Friday the 13th (which usually isn't a bad day for me), I opened my mom's refrigerator to put the milk up and a can of soda somehow fell onto my poor toe, the one beside the big toe, and split the toenail right down the middle and nearly broke the toe. To my credit, I did not let any curse words slip past my lips to shock my poor grandmother who was sitting there in the kitchen at the time. And that took a bit of effort seeing as how quite a few flashed through my brain. My mother does not know how the can even got in the refrigerator. She didn't see it when she had gone in there earlier. If I had knocked it out, I would freely admit to being an idiot, but it really just fell. Luckily, the toe's better now. I've been keeping something on it to keep the nail glued together and I think maybe I won't lose the nail.

Other than that, it was a good trip. I saw most of the relatives and stayed busy all the time. I probably gained 5 pounds from all the good food (my mom made chicken pot pie and also biscuits, my grandmother made chicken and dumplins - not dumplings, mind you).

I got a little bit of knitting done. I'm nearly ready for the edging on the Diamond Stole and I'm to the heel of a sock. (I've slowed down on the sock knitting.) I'll show you those on Monday. I'll also show you a picture of my first big knitting project that I made years ago - it was a lace afghan. I've never had any fear of lace.

Here's a bit of amusement. I laugh every time I go through Gaffney, SC on I-85 because of this huge water tower:

Years ago, this water tower didn't have the red shading and there was no leaf. I can't help it, it's always looked like a giant bum to me.

And I leave you with the reminder (as if anyone needs a reminder) that I will be nowhere to be found tomorrow and into the wee hours of Sunday because I'll be reading. If you don't know what I'll be reading, then you've obviously been living in a cave for the past few months. I promise Monday I won't give spoilers, but I will be open for discussions of the book!

As I Said...

Socks make boring blogging, except when you actually have a finished pair to show off:

And the close-up of the pattern:


Pattern: Stansfield 14 from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Sonatina
Needles: 0s

So, this is my second pair for Summer of Socks. I'm just a wee bit behind on my pair a week goal, but that's okay. I'm using up some sock yarn, so I won't feel quite so guilty next time I purchase more. I do plan to make a few more pair before succumbing to the desire to buy more. If I was really good, I'd even wait until I go on another yarn crawl in September up to Knitter's Day Out, but that is September. And I will be a Groupie with my next Loopy Ewe order. Too tempting.

Socks Make Boring Blogging

I've discovered making socks is somewhat boring for blogging. I mean, you finish one sock and then you have to make another identical one. So what's the point of showing the first sock, really? Because if you show the first one, you just show an identical one a few days later. Anyway, my first sock is done, but I'm not going to show it to you just yet. Instead, just a couple shots of fireworks:


Happy belated Fourth!

Finished Summer of Socks and a New Pair

One pair down:

Specs:
Pattern: My own plain old stockinette sock pattern
Needles: size 0s
Yarn: Austermann Step

I really enjoyed working with this yarn. I love the wild, girly colors!

And more girly colors:

I'm using a pattern called Stansfield 14 from More Sensational Socks. I think it gives this yarn just enough texture to be interesting. I really like how it's turning out.

I guess my goal for Summer of Socks is one pair a week for the duration of the summer. I think I can manage that. (I most certainly have enough yarn in the stash:-)