Finally Some FOs...and a Start

I started out 2018's Secret Sock Society run by the talented Helen Stewart with great enthusiasm, but I've gotten distracted by embroidery and quilting. Still, I completed a second pair of the Winter Rose socks. 

This pair is gray and is for me. This is a great pattern than I highly recommend. It does require you to knit 3 stitches together occasionally, but you get used to it.

Don't faint from surprise, but I have a second FO. This is a Sockhead Slouch Hat. 

It takes some time because it's knit in fingering weight, but it is perfect for a gorgeous gradient skein. I used yarn from Knit Circus. Truly perfect mindless knitting!

As for my start, I have to thank Kathy B! I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner that my father needs a Twiddle Muff. 

He does indeed have restless hands, so I'm hoping this will keep him happy once I add some texture, bobbles, and i-cords.

If he likes it, I may knit up a few more for other residents in the Memory Unit.

Chipping Away

 In the whirl of school and the holidays, I haven't had much time for crafting or blogging or blog reading -- though I've squeezed in a bit of that. I have chipped away at a few projects during my morning coffee.

I'm almost to the heel flap of my Winter Rose socks.

My unnamed embroidery is getting more filled in.

I made my sketch group for the first time in months at a cafe in Verona, a Madison suburb.

The cafe where we sketched had this sign:

I have to mention that there's a yarn store in Verona. My friend wanted to go in, so we did...and I came out empty-handed. No yarn was acquired!

This weekend I'll be cooking for the Yom Kippur break fast that I host every year. It's always fun, but it's a big event and it's a relief when it's over.

It's THAT Time of Year

Well, it is if you're a teacher. Today was freshman-only day, and I'm exhausted! I did stay late for an IEP meeting, so that doesn't help. But I'm excited for tomorrow when the rest of my students show up. I want to hear how their summers were.

 There hasn't been a lot of time for crafting. My weekend was busy with driving to a family gathering in Chicago and working. But I did finish a Winter Rose sock and get a start on the second one.

 And I assembled another mini-quilt. I want to go through the whole process soon -- before I forget everything I learned at the workshop in August.

And along with the start of school, the High Holy Days start at sundown on Sunday. I took this photo of our communal granddaughter at services this past weekend. I told her that we stored all the good girls on this shelf, and she climbed right in!

I'm hoping to get back to work on my Vodka Lemonade sweater this week. Do you have any projects that you've been neglecting?

On Socks

What is it about socks that grabs so many knitters? After all, as my husband never gets tired of pointing out: "You can buy three pairs for $9.99 at Farm and Fleet." And yet, many of us would rather pay $20 or more for yarn and then devote dozens of hours to produce a single pair.

A pair of plan vanilla socks pops with KnitCircus yarn.

I know what got me started: a skein of Opal sock yarn with specks of bright colors against a background of white. It became my first pair of socks (which I think my mother still wears) or, more accurately, my first pair of fingering-weight socks. Before taking on fingering-weight and size 1 needles, I practiced by knitting a handful of pairs in worsted weight -- a method I highly recommend.

These are Keith's Hanukkah socks. He rarely wears them because they are "too pretty" to wear, he says.

Once I knit up that Opal yarn, I was never again without at least one pair of socks on the needles. I swear I could knit a pair of plain stockinette socks in my sleep. They've become my go-to project for meetings and other settings that require simple knitting.

My Winter Rose socks in Great Lakes Tweed yarn.

But my favorite pairs tend to incorporate lace, and one of the best lace socks I've knit are these orange ones, Winter Rose by Helen Stewart. This pattern is downright meditative. I know I'll knit these again.

I am quite rigid about how I knit socks, though I'd like to branch out. At this point, I only knit cuff-down and I always use a heel flap/gusset construction. And I like DPNs. This summer I really want to learn toe-up on one long circular needle.

These are my current "meetings" socks. I bought the yarn on clearance, not realizing that it would knit up so well. They are Hermoine's Everyday Socks, which is beginning to be my plain vanilla. I just love the texture of this pattern.

The only bad thing I can say about sock knitting is that it tends to lead to sock-yarn stash explosion. It's so easy to buy "just one skein." It's amazing how fast those skeins accumulate. I suspect they multiply in the dark of a Rubbermaid bin because there is no way that I bought that much sock yarn.

I have quite a few pairs in my sock drawer, and I love giving socks as gifts. But at the rate I'm knitting them, I may need to make more friends to expand my sock-giving!

When the Going Gets Tough, Knit

It's been more than a week since I blogged, though I have tried to read many of your posts. I've hit another bump on the health road and am doing a treatment that makes me super tired. I've been reaching for my easiest projects as a result, and lately that means my Winter Rose socks. They are practically knitting themselves.

I've only done one sketch this month: this drawing of our Hoosier Cabinet. Keith  bought it long before he met me, but I really like it.

These have been lazy winter days. My priority is getting through work. Then I come home and collapse in the window seat. Kind of like a cat.

I can't sign off without saying something about the latest school shooting. I am so heartened by the efforts coming from the Florida teens. Maybe they can do what adults have been unable to do -- sensible gun laws! I will never understand why anyone thinks their right to own a weapon outweighs a child's right to be alive. 
If you haven't listened to Emma Gonzalez's speech, you must! You can find it here. She gives me hope for the future!