WIP: On The Road

I started the "28's Cousin 53" yesterday on my trip from Madison to Washington, D.C. You don't start with a little tab, so, as you can see, it doesn't look like much yet.

I love, love, love the yarn. I bought it years ago at the Madison Knitting Guild's Knit-In, and have been waiting for the right pattern to come along. I bought it fro a local dyer, htNevele, who I haven't seen around for ages. The good news is that she has a Etsy Shop. I highly encourage you to visit. Her yarn is beautiful

It's a beautiful if chilly day here in Washington so I took a glorious walk to my favorite bookstore in the whole world, Politics and Prose. I feel obligated to help keep this indie bookseller going (it's a heavy load, but I persevere) so I was happy to find that I book I've been waiting come out in paper is on sale.

Yes, I know. Art geek stuff. What can I say?

It is so nice to be here with my brother, sister-in-law and niece, and, of course, my daughter. I'm thinking I'll take everyone out for dinner tonight. There is an awesome pizza place in their neighborhood.

Don't forget to check out other WIPs with Tami Amis.

Spring Is The Time for Stitching

This weekend, a powerful desire to embroider something totally free-form hit me. Next stop: Goodwill. If I'm going to be daring, I have to feel like I'm not ruining a perfectly good shirt!

Next stop: Picking colors -- the most fun of all. A few months ago, I ordered a whole bunch of embroidery floss from Sublime Stitching. I wound up a bunch of it this morning:

Are these colors not luscious? See why I could not resist?

I've long been an admirer of Jenny Hart, who founded Sublime Stitching in 2001. I discovered one of her books, Embroidered Effects, in San Francisco a few years ago, and she inspired me to pick up the hoop and floss after a gap of a couple of decades. She pioneered a style of designs that are inspired by tattoo art. She has brought embroidery into the world of fine art, with her works appearing in Vogue, Rolling Stone, Juxtapoz and many others. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has even acquired one of her works!

In addition to being a successful artist, she possesses mad marketing skills. Her beautiful flosses have the most inspiring and adorable names and slogans. To wit: A pink called Honeysuckle has the slogan of "Flowers droop and sigh ..." A light green called Sprout carries the slogan of "Hello, world! I'm thirsty." A baby blue called Blue Fondant is paired with "Can you really eat this part?" One more: A yellow called Solar Flare says "I got sunny style."

So here is where my new adventure begins:

You Gotta Love Ravelry!

 In a couple of days, I'll be heading off to Washington, D.C. Both my brother (and his family) and my daughter live there so it's a family trip rather than a tourism venture. Between the flights and hanging around with family, I expect to have lots of knitting time.

I don't think I'm the only knitter geeky enough to waste spend hours planning my travel knitting. I have a pair of Hermoine's Everyday Socks that is about 10% done, so I'm taking that project. But it doesn't feel like enough for a full week! So, I'm also taking supplies for 28's Cousin, 53 (pictured above). It's one of those amazingly easy patterns that gives you a fabulous result.

I was about to swift up a ball of brightly colored variagated yarn, when something made me pause and look through Ravelry. It quickly became obvious to me that I would hate this shawl in the yarn I'd chosen.

So, I'm heading back down to the basement for another stash dive.

Another Rescue

So my first rescue -- the toe-up sock -- isn't going so well. Instead, I'm working at this one:

I must have started these baby socks 5 or more years ago. I have no idea where the pattern came from, but I'm pretty sure the yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. It's kind of a strange stitch pattern and it hurts my hands if I work on it for too long. Still, I SO want to finish something!

I haven't been knitting much this past week because I've put in some long days at work. A student's father died unexpectedly, so I went to the funeral that evening. And I was talked into being on the advisory panel that is helping to pick a new principal for next year. I'm actually very nervous about this. I don't want everyone to hate me if we end up with a poor choice! I have to keep reminding myself that the superintendent will make the decision.

This afternoon marks the beginning of spring break and I am sitting in my back yard to blog, even though it isn't really warm enough. Being outside is just too awesome to pass up!

I'll leave you with some signs of spring in my own back yard:

Signs of Spring

On my walk today, I spied the first crocuses of the year:

Finally all the snow has melted and spring has come to southern Wisconsin. I've been longing for spring, as you can see from my latest beading project:

It is freeform fringe over a basic peyote-stitch band. I love making these. There is something very zen about the process.

This nice weather inspires me to clean, which my house definitely needs! Not to mention my car.  I broke my leg last April, so there was no spring or summer cleaning. I have my work cut out for me now.

FO Friday: A Simple Cowl

It's another Present Cowl.

I think I'm done with this pattern for awhile. It can't be beat for showing off a beautiful worsted yarn. And speaking of yarn, I have no idea what this is -- but I love it!

I have a quiet weekend ahead of me, so I'm hoping to make some progress on the toe-up sock. It was nice to learn from the comments that I'm not the only one who just doesn't get toe-up. It's too bad because I love Wendy Johnson sock patterns. But there are plenty of awesome cuff-down patterns, too.

Keith just got home with a very woozy cat. Weeko has major dental problems. She's so skittish and hard to handle that they really drugged her up at the vet. She looks, well, drunk. But it's more sad than funny. The poor baby is going to need major dental surgery, so we're lucky to live a mile from the UW Veterinary School -- where Seth will be a student in the fall!

We hope they can get her in soon. She is in so much pain that she's barely eating or drinking and she's losing weight. If I'm not worried about my children, then it's the cats!

Don't forget to check in with Tami Amis for more FOs.

WIP Wednesday: Old and New

It feels like a slog, but I am forcing myself to work on my troubled toe-up sock. My accomplishment so far this week was to get it back onto some needles (after frogging much of it).

I took a good look at sock No. 1 and realized that it has some pretty sloppy work, especially around the short rows because I can't really master picking up wraps. So, I've decided I'll keep this pair for me. I just don't think they are gift quality. And I'm not sure I'll ever try toe-up again!

Spring has still not arrived here. It's been cold and windy and gray. Perhaps that is why I felt compelled to cast on a new project in pink:

It's the Downtown Cowl, free on Ravelry, by Christy Becker. It is designed for variegated wool (to avoid pooling), but I scrolled through the projects on Rav and it looks good in one color, too. I have the urge for a spring/summer cowl, and this seems to fit the bill.

Check out other Works In Progress with Tami Amis here.

Sunday Sketch

I Spoke Too Soon

I got a little a lot ahead of myself in my last post:

This toe-up sock technique just doesn't come easily to me! As you can see, I've frogged out quite a lot, including the heal flap and heel turn. There were just too many mistakes. I kept making dumb mistakes in the easy lace section. And my heel turn wasn't centered.

I promised myself I would get it restarted this weekend, but I'm not sure that will happen. I am just exhausted. This year, my district scheduled spring break for mid-April, meaning that we have 14 solid weeks of school between the winter and spring breaks. It's just too long! The kids always get squirrely before spring break, but this year the teachers seem to be struggling even more than the kids.

I almost hate to say that because I know that from the outside, it looks like teachers get plenty of breaks. The flip side is that our work has an intensity that few jobs have. And I don't think many people would argue that 8th-graders are an especially demanding bunch. Still, they are at a fascinating age and they make me smile.

WIP Wednesday: From the Bottom of the Basket

This is embarrassing: I started this pair of socks in 2010. Yes, 2010!

They are my first -- and only (so far, at least) -- attempt at toe-up socks, the Diagonal Lace pattern from Wendy Johnson's first book, Socks from the Toe Up.

If you knit toe-up, you can see that I got stuck while making the gusset.  I pulled these socks out this weekend and sat down with Wendy's book. Strangely, the mistakes that had inspired me to abandon the project were in the lace, which is pretty simple. I ripped back a few rows and got going again. I think I'm actually going to finish this sock!

I'd like to think that my knitting skills have improved since 2010 :)

See what other knitters are working on with Tami Amis.