MIA ... again.

I keep meaning to blog, but there's really been nothing to blog about since there hasn't been much knitting going on here. October's always a low-knitting month due to the whole Halloween costume thing. I make the kids' costumes most years (basically, the years I can't convince them to wear last years'). So, anyway, they're finally done and I've finally cast on for a new project.

No, really, there's nothing in the unfinished object basket waiting. Okay, maybe a couple of things, but I treated myself to something anyway. Knitpicks has these cool new bag kits using their Palette yarns - East Meets West. Guess which colorway I chose. Yes, of course, the purple. You didn't really have to think all that hard about that one, did you? (Although, honestly, I do like all of the colorways.) Look at all the yarn that came yesterday:


In case anyone is bored enough to actually count, there are only 20 balls in the picture because I've cast on with the other one:

450 stitches I had to cast on! Here's hoping I didn't twist them when I joined. Do you know how hard it is to not twist 450 stitches?

I understand from people on Ravelry that there is a LOT of yarn leftover from this project. I'm looking forward to playing with the leftovers to make some Fair Isle gloves and such.

Socks and swatches

I don't know if I've posted these socks that I started a while back.

They're Bex from Cookie A's book. Well, I discovered that they aren't exactly good social knitting a couple of weeks ago when I found that I'd somehow dropped a stitch and couldn't find it. I ended up frogging about half an inch, which for complicated cable socks is quite a bit. So, I started a nice simple stockinette pair using some Trekking that has been sitting around for a couple of years.

I love Trekking. Out of all the socks I've made, it's definitely the one I've used the most. The colorways are just plain amazing. I love the way the colors shift just a little bit. They make a pair of plain old stockinette socks something really beautiful and unique. And they've always had some really nice purples, always a bonus. (This one actually isn't a purple, though it seems to have a purplish cast in the photo. It's actually "wine twist" and is pretty accurate on the link.

Lastly, I'm on to obsessing about swatch #2.

See how some stitches lean. Ugh. Need to figure that one out. I think it has to do with the fact that whenever I start thinking about my tension, it quickly goes downhill. I'll try relaxing a bit and see if it helps. I'll show swatch #1 as soon as I get it blocked out.

To A Butterfly

How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless; and then,
What joy awaits you when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

part of the poem "To a Butterfly" by William Wordsworth

Last night was terrible; we had an overflowed washer and had a small flood to clean up, but sometimes life sends you a little reminder that everything is all right. This morning, my children found a butterfly in the grass. They thought it was dead and it looked dead when they brought me to look at it. But its wing twitched just a little. It was forty-five this morning and the wings were covered in dew, but the butterfly was alive. It just needed a little warming up. So, I put my finger next to its feet and it took the offer. We put him on the table in the sun.


Slowly, the butterfly started stretching its wings and moving around for better angles on the sun:


Finally, its wings dried out and it warmed up enough to just fly off. A little reminder that life isn't all bad.