Dog Days Knitting

So I've been in a knitting and blogging slump for the past couple of weeks. And we had a great time at the beach in San Diego and I coulda' been knitting under our beach umbrella and didn't.

Oh, yeah, I visited a couple of SoCal knitting stores in the process and that didn't even cure me. And now we're home and I'm still in the slump. And the only way to get out, I think, would be to go buy a new sock book:This is the sock book I want.

And tomorrow, I'm going to Kiwi and see if they have it.

And I already have the yarn I need to knit a new pair, Panda Cotton in color 2342 Sprite Green:
So, I can just sense my knitting slump will come to an end very soon. Wish me luck.

Road Knitting and Yarn Shop Browsing

Here's a baby boy's sock, ready to finish off (yarn from last post):
I was thinking about getting some navy blue ultra suede and sewing some kind of sole on this sock, kinda like the store bought ones they have for babies now.
We made a stop at Webs on our way out of Massachusetts yesterday. Here's the haul!
This really nifty bag from Lantern Moon, it has loads of inside pockets and is soooo soft. The straps are adjustable too.

And:1)Reynolds Soft Sea Wool, destined for some sport weight socks. The color is actually eggplant; 2)Blue Sky Alpacas alpaca/silk, destined (maybe) for my Embossed Leaves Socks from Favorite Socks; and last but not least, 3)Blue Sky Alpacas handspun cotton, DK weight, which I will swatch and hopefully use Favorite Socks' Austrian Socks. I wound the first ball of the handspun and it feels thicker than I thought it would be, so we'll see how the swatch goes.

Oh, and:

The booklet is Puddle Jumpers from Classic Elite. The sweater is the Provence Cable Pullover. The yarn is Classic Elite Provence cotton. For little knitter, this project is classified as HUGE. But I will attempt the bittiest size, 12 months. I originally saw the sweater on the back of Knits magazine and fell in love with it. So, when I saw the booklet at Webs, and then the yarn in the same colorway as shown, I just couldn't resist.

Knitting on the Road...literally

We've been on the road now for almost a week...heading back East in our little motorhome. Lots of knitting time for me in the navigator's seat while the Big Knitter is driving. Actually, we are in Pennsylvania as I write this. We will be in Connecticut tomorrow and will attend a family wedding this weekend.
I did finish my Favorite Socks knitalong Priscilla's Dream Socks socks(made from Duet Sock Yarn):

And my version of Fetching for my granddaughter (from Noro Cashmere Island):
We also visited Boyd's Bear Country: (had to do it)
I got a bunch of little goodies from BBC and I'm giving them away on my bear store blog at www.mostlybears.blogspot.com; if you feel so inclined, stop on over and leave a little comment to be included in the freebee drawings.
It's so very green and lovely here in the East. It is a bit of an adjustment for us desert dwellers to be in the 40-50% relative humidity, but the payoff is that there are loads of wildflowers and trees around.

Patterns, patterns & patterns, oh my!

I'm playing at my teddy bear store today. I am open on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the public. The rest of the time, people have to find me on the web or by appointment. It's a one-woman operation!

Between customers, I am working on organizing all the patterns and other stuff that I've printed from the web lately. I hope to organize these into notebooks, so I'm putting them into transparent sleeves.

There are loads of freebee sock patterns out there, now really, I shouldn't ever have to buy another sock book, EVER.

Here's a pile of what I have so far. The pile on the left is patterns I've bought along the way, on the right are freebees.

Here's a sample of some of the free sock patterns.

And here's a little bear that was keeping me company in the process. This is a prototype for a bear making class we're holding in May, she is holding a felt apple pincushion.

Like I said, I Don't Need Another Sock Knitting Book

Well, maybe just one more, from Interweave knits, how could one go wrong?

This one already has its own KAL.

And its own KAL Button. Cool.

First Little Projects posted

I joined the KOTR Dalarna knitalong, it's the first time I've ever done any knitting-along with anybody on the internet. It seems like there really aren't very many people knitting with me. I joined the KAL on February 8th and there have been less than a half dozen posts on the group since then. Even so, I am coming along nicely with mine and have actually completed one sock. Yay! I made it shorter than the pattern called for, then I had a bunch of yarn left over, so I may do some modifications later to add an inch or two to the cuff. Not too sure how I'll do that, since it was knitted top down. But I'm sure EZ would have figured out a way, I will check in with her first, if I can't find any advice, I will unvent a solution for myself. Now I have to get myself motivated to do the second sock. With so few people knitting along, that may be quite a feat in itself.

I recently purchased the sock blocker from Chappy along with a couple of "kid sized" sock blockers. They're my first sock blockers and I am really enjoying them.

I just discovered 'knitting blogging world' a couple of months ago, so I admit I am a real newbie to this format. But I've been reading Nona for inspiration and I decided to try making some knucks. Here's a photo of my first knucks knuckles.

In real time, I am actually up to the cuffs on knucks (knuck?) number one, but I don't have a picture of that yet. I didn't find the Perfect Yarn for these, so I am not too sure I like them, but I am trying to rehabilitate myself and finish some projects this year, so I will try to endure until they are done. And I will look around for the P.Y. for my next pair.