Barefoot Shepherdess

The Next Big Thing

Yes, it's been sort of quiet around here lately.  A combination of a sick child and a visiting mother-in-law has drawn my attention to things other than knitting.  As a result, Alex's cardigan still languishes unfinished, waiting for a good toggle-shopping day.  And though we've been having a warm-today, cold-tomorrow weather pattern, I've pretty much reconciled myself to the fact that he won't be wearing it until next fall.

To fill in the few moments in between tasks and activities (because, you know, a girl can’t live entirely without knitting), I started the Friday Harbor socks from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush, using Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn from stash...

...only to realize ::once again:: that variegated yarn is just not my thing.  The photo above makes it look better than it does in person.  To me, the variegation of the yarn causes the sock to look terribly muddled, obscuring the lacy design.  And even considering the colors alone, this mix of greens and browns reminds me too much of camouflage gear.  Ick!  It's such a shame as the yarn itself is so nice, but I just don't like it well enough to continue.  In fact, if anyone is interested in trading some solid or semi-solid color lace or sock yarn for this skein, do drop me an email.

When this project failed to work, I decided to go ahead and jump into my next big project:

It’s the Thanksgiving Shawl by Sharon Miller that I was eyeing a couple of months ago.  I purchased it as a kit from Renaissance Dyeing, thinking that it would be a great way to try out their yarn.  And in such a lovely gradation of blues!  I'm a little hesitant to start on such a demanding project, as I can seem myself getting bogged down and discouraged with the amount of time it will take to complete this.  But if I take it a little at a time, I think it will be manageable, and sooner or later, I'll get it done.

Baby steps...

...for Alex and I both.

Whatever Happened...? [Part II]

Perhaps it's the leftover influence of school days long past or maybe it's just the refreshing cool temperatures, but fall for me always brings with it a sense of new beginnings.  This year was no exception.  When fall finally arrived here several weeks ago, I felt compelled to do a little housecleaning, so to speak and go through my WIPs to reassess them afresh.

So: Whatever happened to those WIPs?

First, there's Rita's Stockings from Folk Knitting in Estonia.

It was fun to begin, but after all the exciting details were over, my enthusiasm for this project fizzled out.  By the time I reached the heel, it had become a chore and stagnated at the bottom of the knitting pile for months.  But no longer!

It's ripped and gone.  I decided not to bother with the colorwork part as the yarn in this part is in short pieces.  If I ever need the odd bit to finish a project, I'll rip this part then.

Then there's the Flower Basket Shawl.

Or rather, was.  It's been ripped too.  The FBS was my experiment in knitting lace using thicker yarn, but in the end, I decided that it looked too ropey and inelegant.  At least I know now that I prefer laceweight for lace knitting.  Onward.

As for the Blue Ridge Stole and the Trellis Stitch Scarf: they're still around, waiting patiently for their turn.  But I think that they'll have to wait a bit longer...

Now that's better.  With a couple of WIPs out of the way, I can start new projects.  Guilt-free.

On Holiday

And it looks like my mind was too.  What I intended to be a simple & mindless vacation project is turning out to be anything but that.  After all, what could be easier than basic stockinette socks?  But more on that later.  Right now, I've got to figure out what exactly went wrong...

Two

Two sleeves,

two fronts,

and two socks!

Because there was a lot of stop-and-go knitting with these, one sock is a tiny bit bigger than the other.  I think it had to do with my hopping from one project to another within a single sitting of knitting too.  But no matter-- I'll just wear the bigger sock on the bigger foot!

Change of Plans

Eager to get started on the baby cardigan, I set to work swatching a couple of nights ago.  But several swatches later using different needle sizes, I had to admit to myself that I wasn't going to achieve the given gauge.  Rather than going through the tedious process of adjusting the pattern to fit my gauge, I decided to make things simple for myself and choose a new design-- Buster, from Rowan Babies:

I had forgotten how quickly baby garments knit up!  I'm almost done with one sleeve.  In my usual manner, I started with the sleeves instead of the body to prevent myself from turning this sleeved garment into a sleeveless one.  And I'll be omitting the stars-- mine will be a single-color version.

The socks are growing too, albeit slowly:

And there's a new kind of stash developing over here...

This could be dangerous! (Because, you know, this isn’t all of it…)

Weekend Crafting

Perhaps it's the sun, perhaps it's the heat, but every summer, I find myself in a mood to sew.  Of course, this summer is no exception.  With my sewing machine now sitting out instead of stored away behind a pile of books in the closet (thanks to a larger apartment!), I walk past it every day, just dreaming about all of the projects I could do once I had the chance.  And the perfect opportunity came along on Saturday afternoon-- while the father and baby took a nap, I decided to do a little gift sewing:

Just a peek for now!  The completed photos will come a bit later.

But this doesn't mean that I've abandoned my knitting-- I've made good progress on my socks too:

The first one is done and the second has been started.  But lo!  What's that lurking in the background?

It's a ball of Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, waiting (impatiently!) its turn to be knitted into beautiful socks.  And how could it not be, with lovely colors like that?  Despite my hesitation towards variegated yarn, I simply could not resist this lovely colorway.

This, too, is waiting in the wings:

I realized that August is just around the corner already, and I've yet to get started on Alex's fall/winter wardrobe.  To remedy that, I purchased some Rowan Wool Cotton to make him a simple cardigan from this book (third sweater down).  It should be a nice, easy knit-- and a great excuse to go hunt for some pretty buttons.

Picking Up Pace

Maybe I'll finish a whole pair of socks in a month this time instead of a single one...

Back

I'm back!  The move went smoothly, and we're settled in our new place, more or less.  Though there are still boxes stacked about, the days have slowly returned to a familiar routine.  And in between the cleaning, unpacking, and organizing, I finally did it.  I finished the New England Socks:

This popular pattern is from the book, Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush.  I made no alternations except to use five needles instead of four.  As always, the details of the project can be found in the 'Completed Projects' section.

While I enjoyed knitting this pattern, after three months in the works, I was ready to move on to something new.  So as soon as the final end was woven in, I started another Nancy Bush pattern:

This is the beginning of Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks.  The bright coral shade is a departure from my usual palette of blues/teals and plums/lilacs/burgundies and in truth, the result of my misjudgement of the yarn color online, an unfortunate pitfall of Internet shopping.  To ensure that it won’t sit unused in my stash for eons, I decided to have it over with, so to speak.

But now that I’m working with it and see it in a textural form, I rather like the summery & cheerful color.  Had I seen it in person, it certainly would not have been one that I'd have chosen.  So perhaps I should see this as a benefit instead of a pitfall-- one that allowed me to explore beyond my usual color range.

In May

-I celebrated my first Mother's Day.

-I celebrated my birthday.  This year, I turned twenty-nine.

-We found a new apartment.  We'll be moving in mid-June.

-I crocheted my son a little hat.

-I finished the first of my New England Socks and started the second:

April Update

A month has passed, and this is what I have to show for it:

I'd like to say that this is the second sock, but it's not.  It's still only the first.  Maybe by the end of May, this one will be complete...  Here's hoping!