Unripened Hanami Stole beaded cast on, without flash

Unripened Hanami Stole beaded cast on, without flash
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith

Just a little photo evidence that the Hanami exists and did continue past those first torturous few rows. Hoorah!

Fr Deeney

Part One of Fr Deeney's June 11 talk.

Test podcast post

Part one of guest speaker Fr. Deeney's talk from June 11.

LYS Upgrade (I hope)

I'm excited.

I just drove past my Local Yarn Store to see a new sign outside. I popped in and yes, it has changed hands and there is going to be a grand opening next week and all that good stuff.

It has been a constant irritation to me (well, not constant, but...) that I have a yarn store within walking distance of my home, but that it wasn't, well, all that I would have wanted. It was definitely the kind of store that was patronised by your granny and run by, well, your granny.

Not that the lady who ran it wasn't lovely, but nobody could ever have accused her of being remotely hip. And I got the impression that she was just aching to retire. All of this was reflected in the store, which was, as I say, a bit grannyish.

Now that I think about it, of course, the new sign that has gone up is not what I'd call 'hip', either. The store is now called The Knitting Basket (instead of The Knitting Studio) and it has a country-fabrics type picture of a basket full of yarn. But it does say "where knitters gather" underneath, which is promising.

I spoke to one of the ladies and she said it was going to have 'lots of new yarns', which will be great. I think.

So I'm excited, but mutedly so.

Butterflies and Stars from Brendah

Butterflies and Stars from Brendah
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These lovely flowers and star discs are enjoying themselves among my spring flowers. They arrived today from San Francisco, along with a postcard.

Again, I love the fact that they are all different colours. There is also a cute silver heart charm that says "Made with love". Oh, and I got seven markers instead of the regulation five.

Thanks, Ms Flowers!

I think I may be hooked on exchanges now...

Stitch Markers from Celena

Stitch Markers from Celena
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These Happy Hearts arrived today from Florida. Thank, Celena!

They are the perfect size (making me realise mine were a bit big and heavy unless my giftees knit lots of blankets or chunky sweaters) and I like the fact that they are all different colours, since I'm always getting lost in patterns.

Great!

Stitch Markers "Moorish"

Stitch Markers "Moorish"
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

Here's the second set.

Stitch Markers: "Red Wave"

Stitch Markers "Red Wave"
Originally uploaded by jwordsmith.

These stitch markers will be winging their way to somone from the Stitch Marker Exchange, later this month.

I liked them so much I made myself some earrings that differ only in that the big white bead is a reddish/brown bead in the earrings.

I put different coloured seed beads at the top of each, so that someone could, potentially, use them to check quickly where they were in a round (if they knew the yellow one came first and the blue one was the last one...)

Swappy!

I've been feeling a bit isolated out here in knitland, in winter. I read a lot of blogs but I felt like I wanted something to connect me to a community, so I started searching for swaps.

I found this great site, which has a list of links to various knit-a-longs and swaps. The knit-a-longs seem more prevalant and I might get into that, but the thing is, I REALLY enjoyed both sending and receiving my socks during Sock Wars.

So down I scrolled.

I didn't find a knitting swap as such that appealed to me (without scaring the wits out of me in terms of scale or timing) but I did find a stitch marker swap. So I signed up, and made one set while #1 Son did something crafty at the table and #2 slept. Hey, if I can do one set in the time it takes a newly-4 year old to get bored, I can probably complete the second set by the end of the month without freaking out too much.

On with the swap.

I guess I should take a picture of the markers sometime soon. I'll wait to see if it's all totally anonymous (or "anomolous", as my mother likes to say) before I post anything. Can't remember the details now.

Sock Crazy

I've been waiting to post until I had some pictures, but Vista is confounding my ability to share and upload pictures, so I'm posting pic-less for now.

Since my last post I've been working feverishly on warm black socks for the mister, who commented on how cold his feet were and how slightly-too-big his shoes were and how he had a knitting wife who never knitted him any socks, sniff, sniff.

Well, my dear knitters, you know what kind of an invitation that was, so within eight days he had four brand-new homeknitted socks. I've called them "Wool-Ease 44s" because they are knitted out of Wool-Ease worsted, on 44 stitches. I also rib 44 rows for the leg, turn the heel and do 44 rows before decreasing for the toe. Neat!

In the interests of not-going-insane-in-the-dimly-lit-basement-laundry-area I have added a grey stripe to the top of the first pair and a multicoloured strip to the top of the second pair. In all other ways they are interchangeable.

I've slowed down a bit after my sock-every-two-days initial burst. I've got the first sock of the next pair done, though, and now that I have a simple pattern I needed to vary it, of course. The heel and toe of this one are done in a salt and pepper colouring, which reinforces them as well as making them more obvious in the laundry. I'm not sure the toe was completely successful, but luckily the mister is so keen on the home-made socks he's not liable to complain.

Nice to have found something I can make for him. And it's so nice to think of his feet being warm and cuddled all day due to my efforts.

Homemade socks: a portable hug.