A Fail, A Finish, A Feline & Flowers

Have you ever dropped a Size 1 DPN on an airplane and found yourself crawling around on the floor to find it? Well, I have -- and more than once. Since I've got some travels planned for this summer, I determined to learn the Magic Loop method.

I spent (wasted?) an hour trying to get a pair of socks started. I couldn't even get the first sock going. At first, I spit out a few bad words in the direction of the book. But I know a lot of people have used this book. I think we may be talking user error here. Maybe some You Tube videos would help me more.

This failure was balanced by the finish of my mindless knitting project, a pair of self-striping socks in the Hermoine's Everyday Socks pattern. 

I bought this yarn at 50% off and it worked out be much prettier than I expected. Into the gift box they go.

 I have to throw in this photo of Kola. I love making their heads look too big for their bodies. Makes me laugh every
time. If that seems odd, remember that I work with teen-agers.

And last, but not least, we finally have flowers around here. I love spring flowers, especially the early ones like lilacs.

Wishing you a productive week!

Back to Knitting

Despite all the graduation excitement, there has been knitting. This gorgeous cake of yarn is turning into a Field of Wildflowers hat.

It is a Joji Locatelli pattern, so of course it is well-written and easy to follow. It has quite a few cables, pushing me to take time out to start learning how to cable without a cable needle. 

Thanks to Internet tutorials, I can cable without a needle -- but only when the crossed stitches are held to the front. The yarn is local -- Four Crows Yarn Hand-Dyed Worsted.

With all the company, I needed a mindless project. My go-to is always self-striping Opal. I can't find the ballband, but I am enjoying watching this sock emerge.

Our hummingbirds are back! If you look closely, you can see a female sipping at the left side of the feeder.

It's Wednesday evening, and I am still pretty darn tired.  Not that I'm complaining! It's a blessing to have events and people to celebrate.

Once there was a little boy...

who thought he wanted to be a rock star ... 

or a police officer.

But it turned out that what he really wanted to be was a veterinarian... and now he is!

Tears leaked from my eyes through the entire graduation ceremony on Saturday. This young man and I have been through the best of times and the worst of times. For a long time, he had no intentions of going to college, let alone graduate school. He put a lot of effort into being a death-metal guitarist in his late teens. No one was expecting him to put that aside and go to college.

Of course I am proud -- and pleased that he found a way to make a living doing something he loves. In a couple of weeks he'll take the next step and move to Hollywood, Florida, to start an internship.

He'll be near his sister, who is in grad school at the University of Miami. Guess where I'm going for winter break next year?

It's been a hectic week with family from out of town and a big party. I was so crazed that I didn't take any other photos. But the experiences and memories are more important, right?

Great Mail

My new friend Laura from Pennsylvania sent me an awesome batch of goodies as part of swap organized by Andi of My Sister's Knitter.

I know! Can you believe it?

So there are two yummy yarns in my favorite color range of pink. The skein is Ella Rae Lace Merino DK, which is butter soft.  The caked yarn is ModeSock in a gorgeous raspberry pink.  I think both are destined to be things that go around the neck.

I love the notions bag. It's very ethnic-like, one of my favorite styles. Post-Its are a such a great gift for a knitter. I use them constantly. I'm saving the packets of Soak for handwashing clothes on my travels this summer.

 And then there is the yummy stuff: I'm saving the cupcake for the weekend, but I can already tell you that the Peanut Chews are delicious! I'm looking forward to savoring the teas -- especially chocolate mint oolong. 

Does the art on the card look familiar? It will if you are a Taproot fan. Isn't it gorgeous?

Thank you so much, Laura! You made my week!

Magnolia Season: Plants and Knits

Spring has finally come to Wisconsin. I love these early days of spring because that's when the Magnolia trees blossom. I always think of Magnolias as Southern so they feel a bit exotic here. We had a glorious weekend. I took knitting breaks but mostly I'm getting ready for Seth's graduation next weekend.

I'm absorbing the news that the four-months of treatment I went through this past winter didn't completely work and I'll be going on medical leave to have surgery and recover at the end of May.

So it was cheerful to sit in the sun and work on my Magnolia socks. This is sock number 2, and it is coming along nicely. Knitting is very calming at times like this.

I'm trying to do some real spring cleaning. Luckily for me, I have a great helper:

It was so interesting to read how you deal with mistakes in your knitting. I admire those of you who have high standards and fix your mistakes, but I'm glad to know that I am not the only "fudger".

Sort Of Spring

It was 36 degrees when I set out on my bike for Urban Sketching this morning. That seems awfully cold for the very end of April. At least I'd remembered to cover my ears, and the cold air turned out to be quite pleasant.

We sketched at a cafe along one of Madison's four lakes, and most of us drew the folksinger who was providing live music. Not my favorite drawing, but not bad for practicing. I told him we were competing to do his next album cover.

It's always fun to see what everyone else has drawn.

Work is getting busy as the end of the year approaches, so there hasn't been a lot of knitting. I did finish the first Magnolia sock.

Here is a close-up so you can see the pattern a little better.

There are crosses (cables involving only two stitches) and cables with four stitches. I do fine on the cables, but a good number of the crosses are in the wrong direction. I will confess to being a fudgy knitter. I think the color changes hide the errors. Besides, these are for me. I'm going to live with the mistakes.

Do you fix ALL your mistakes?

Starts

At long last, spring has arrived here. After all, it's only late April! I was able to take a spin on my favorite vehicle this weekend:

I have to say that it was a bit rough and I need to build up some strength -- but it felt good to be out riding in the sunshine.

I've gotten a good start on the second pattern in the Secret Sock Society run by Helen Stewart. Magnolia is a beautiful pattern:

Once again, I'm using a yarn from Great Lakes Tweed and I love it. However, it's a little busy for such a detailed pattern:

Even so, it's very pretty and I'm going to keep going on this pair. I can always knit a second pair in a different yarn!

I hope you have a wonderful week. Mine is starting out with jury duty!