On the Sticks, In the Sticks

Beekeeper's Quilt

Okay, now I know some of you are going to call me certifiable. I've gone completely over the edge. (At least I'm in good company! There are at least 3,487 of us doing this project.)

So what is it that bit me with the crazy bug? The Beekeeper's Quilt from Tiny Owl Knits!

I came across this pattern last year when it first came out. It was so gorgeous I thought "Oooh,I want to make that!" Then I looked closer and thought, " No way! Too many little puffs to knit. And THEN you have to see them all together! " Nope, not for me. I like my projects short and sweet ...that's why I like socks. Skinny yarn and tiny needles don't bother me. There's always some little change to keep me entertained in sock making.

Then yesterday I was poking around Ravelry and came across the pattern again. I couldn't help myself; I started checking it out again. I started reading things like, make the little "puffs" one at at time, in your "in-between" times, carry it with you. I read how she had set a goal for herself of doing her quilt over the coarse of a year... a piece a day.

That floated around in my brain all afternoon while I was at work. And it kind of s juggled itself neatly into this new philosophy I seem to be growing into recently which has me taking on bigger projects. I think it's the influence of working at the yarn shop. There, people are always coming in for yarn, patterns, help with sweaters they're working on.ate this winter I found myself looking at more and more sweater patterns that I liked. Gradually I found my mind changing from protests of "I just don't have time...or patience... or the perseverence to take on a big project!" to really opening to the possibilities. It's been YEARS since I last knit my self a sweater. But there are so many that I found myself wanting to knit , that a few weeks ago I cast on for this gorgeous Vitamin D Sweater. My new philosophy is that I'll work on it a little at a time. If I keep at it, a little bit every day (8 rounds equals an inch, you know! I can do 8 rounds toda!) or every other day, or whatever...if I just keep at it, I'm going to have this gorgeous sweater I love!

So...last night after work, I bit the bullet and bought the pattern. I had to find out how to make them... These little hexagonal pieces. I cast on after the boys went to bed, and stayed up till I finished one. They are absolutely quick, easy and fun! And I was up again this morning starting a second one...briefly interrupting myself to report my own craziness here! Happy knitting everyone...I'm off to finish another puff before our household gets going for the day...vacation week, everyone's sleeping in!

I Bought Myself a Foot on EBay

A foot display that is!

I've been wanting to get a foot mannequin for a while now, so that I can display my sock designs and take photos to include in my patterns.

So finally the other day I went looking around. I was disappointed by how few choices I found out there. Most places were selling the same clear plastic upside-down foot mannequin. I wanted one that is flesh colored and could stand up, right side up.

I found what I wanted on EBay and within a few days it arrived. I had a carload of kids with me, when I pulled up to the mailbox and saw the box. "Oh, I wonder if this is my foot!"

You should have heard the kids...."Your foot?!"

"Yeah, I ordered myself a new foot in the mail!"

I had their full attention as tore open the box and ripped open the packaging. Sure enough, it was my new foot. I think a few of the kids were relieved to see this come out of the package...

 

 

 

I'm so psyched to finally have this...the only bummer is that this foot is 8 inches long and mine is almost 10. So the socks I make for myself are just a little long for Footsie here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my Herringbone Gansey Sock...a free pattern download on Ravelry.

Morning Walk to No Bottom Pond

Zach and took a walk up to No Bottom Pond this morning. It was a beautiful morning for it. Cool and comfortable. The only discomfort was if I stopped walking for more than 5 seconds, ie to take a picture...I was swarmed by hordes of voracious mosquitoes! I first discovered this when I stopped to take a picture of this little guy...

I'm having some trouble with my camera, where , after I take a picture, the screen becomes blurry, so that if I take another picture, it comes out blurry. I found that if I turn off the camera, then on again, it clears up, but even then, a lot of the pics I took seem blurry.

 

 

 

 

 

This next one is a moose track. It's very hard to tell from the picture, but trust me on this one. It's a cloven hoof...verrrry large, probably 5-6 inches. And I've seen the moose that is attached to this hoofprint, though not in about 2 years. Glad to see he's still around here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Beaver pond just below No Bottom Pond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Bottom Pond, first thing in the morning.

 

 

 

 

Just behind me, there stands a chimney, remaining from the house of a man who reportedly used to live up here. The chimney is all that remains now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some knitting almost happened up there...  but there was too much to see and hear.

So, here's the view from my office at home...

 

Morgan Rides

Shane was inspired to teach Morgan to ride his bike without training wheels the other day. Morgan was ready to learn! When I left for work, they were trying to get the training wheels off, when I got home...

 

Morning walk and new knitting

Most mornings the dog and I go out for a walk. I love walking on our road at this time of day. it's always so quiet and even with the campground open for the season, there's rarely anybody out yet, just an occasional runner or dogwalker, but they're few and far between. The birds are singing and calling to each other, new flowers and wild plants are blooming all the time. I often wish I had either brought along clippers, to cut bouquets, or a camera to take pictures.

Well, this morning I remembered to bring along the camera, so here are a few of the things I saw on this morning's walk:    

 

 

 

 

Spring phlox...I love the sweet spicy scent of this  flower.

 

 

 

 

 

Deep purple columbine...I think this beauty is a volunteer from the yard nearby. I know to look for it every spring in the same spot along the side of the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was a kid, my mom showed us what Jack-in-the-pulpit looked like down by the stream that ran near our house. It's such a cool looking plant, I love to find it every spring. But I'd never seen ones that grow so huge until we moved up here. I've found both small ones and big ones growing in the woods around here. you can't really see Jack so well in this pic, but the next one shows him much better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I noticed this tree last year or the year before...or not really the tree per se, but the pile of deep red sawdust at the base of it. Wow! What is making that?!

 

 

This image is alittle blurry, but it's the pile of sawdust made at the base of this wild cherry tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you click on this picture for the full-size version, you should be able to see the ants that do all this handiwork. I was looking up at the tree this morning wondering how long it would be  before it falls over from being hollowed out on the inside!

 

 

 

 

This beautiful, cobalt-blue dragonfly was held still long enough for me to snap a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, last, but not least, new knitting. I started an ankle sock yesterday with Patons Stretch Socks.

I've done enough socks to have a basic sock recipe in my head. I wanted a folded over cuff rather than a ribbed one, so I tried Cat Bordhi's "Hansel's Cuff" from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Really cool way of starting the top of the sock. You use Judy's Magic Cast On (with double the stitches needed for the cuff of your sock(,which creates a seamless cast-on. You knit this for several rows, then join the two sets of stitches together with p2tog. Very easy! Then you join for knitting in the round and continue with the sock. The only part i don't like so much and want to fiddle with, is that you have to later weave together the small part of the cuff at the top there. I want to find a way to use this same or similar technique, but have it in one piece rather than joining it later. Do. not. like. to. sew. my. knitting. much.

My other question is, this being my first ankle sock...will this cuff be tight enough to stay on?

I'll let you know!

 

 

 

 

 

New Designs

I've recently finished two new sock designs...

The first is Twisted Ribs Socks, knit it Louet Gems fine/sportweight yarn, color "Cherry Red" on size 2US circulars. I love how this came out, just like I pictured it. It's funny how designs happen. The idea for this sock actually started out as part of another sock design I was thinking of. The design on the front here was to be the back of another sock. It seemed too busy, though, when I worked up a swatch, and a friend suggested I had two sock ideas there. She was right. The "other" sock idea is still waiting to be worked up.

And this little lovely is a Gansey Sock I've just finished. It's knit up in Patons Kroy Sock, color "Flax", on size 1US circs. I hadn't knit with this before and it was a pleasure to work with , not splitty at all, it's got a woolly feel to it, but not itchy/scratchy next to the skin.

This too had more design on it on paper, but when I got to the bottom of the herringbone panel, I knew the rest of the sock just wanted to be plain. I love working with details and contrast in my knitting - twisted stitches, cables, knit/purl combos - anything with contrast definitions, twists and turns - Mmmmmm!

 

 

First Pics of the Second Big Snow

It's snowing here again! (I do love the snow!) It's not nearly done and already it looks bigger than the last one (Dec 26-27)! The snow started around 11pm last night, just before I headed off to bed. It's 8:30am nowand here are some first pics.

The view out our front door - I know it's hard to tell, but there's a foot of snow on top of the steps, and the snow beside the steps reaches almost to the top of the steps as well!

The view out the back door. You can see where the birds have perched on the railing looking for food.

 
I pushed open the back door and propped a ruler up against the snow. Yes, that is over 12 inches. And...the snow is actually taller than that further out on the deck....but I was in sock feet, so I wasn't about to go out there yet!

But honestly, I can't wait to suit up and get out there. I love being out in the snow.

Before I go, here's a few pics of one of my most recent FO's (finished objects). I knit this cute Rhino up for my son for his birthday. It's knit in Mission Falls Superwash, which, by the way, I really liked knitting with. This was the first time I'd knit with it. it knits up really well and is very soft to the touch. The pattern I found in Knitted Wild Animals: 15 adorable, easy to knit toys by Sarah Keen. I couldn't find it in our library system, so I bought it through Barnes and Noble. I'm glad I did. The patterns are simple and easy to follow. The animals are knit in pieces, which I don't usually like to do (all that sewing up, you know), but this gave me plenty of good practice on the mattress stitch, which is not a bad thing. In fact, I'm really glad for the practice, because I found that it wasn't so hard after all, it looks really cool when you tug the yarn tight, and I'm not so bad at it after all.

If I didn't have so many other projects I wanted to do, I'd be knitting more of these wild things in a heartbeat.

I've just had bowl of hot oatmeal with maple syrup, now it's off to shovel and play in the snow.

Wow! Can't believe how long it's been since i actually posted something here! Don't worry...I'll be back in the swing shortly!

Girly Camping

A few weeks ago, I went on a wonderful campout on the grounds of Powell House, in Old Chatham, NY. It's not too far from here. How cool it was to go camping with new friends and old, a really diverse bunch of women, so close to home. The campout was put on by a women's group here called Wellspring Haven -" a haven for women's creativity, spirituality, leadership and vision".  You can find out more by emailing info@wellspringhaven.org .

The great thing that made this possible for me was that it was so close by. This was actually the FIRST time I have been away overnight from my family BY MYSELF since we had kids. It was great! It was great to have that whole 24 hours to myself where I could indulge in whatever was going on without worrying about anyone else! We called it Girly Camping, because it's not quite roughing it. It's a combination actually of rough and not so rough. There are all these little camping spots tucked away in the woods, a big fire circle, outhouses, a pond to swim in, etc. Then there's an open pavilion with ELECTRICITY :), so we had a small plugged in refridge as well as a shower with hot and cold running water.

I wish I had pictures to show you. I brought the camera, but didn't end up taking any pictures...having so much fun!

There is a Labyrinth at Powell House, that we walked together that first afternoon. I had never walked a labyrinth before and this was such an amazing experience. The labyrinth at Powell House was constructed using bricks to outline the shape of the paths in the grass. At first I was just really concentrating on finding the way the path went - it was a little overgrown - and worrying a little that I wouldn't find my way to the center, but just keep wandering on the same paths! But then I saw that people ahead of me had made it to the center and I knew I'd get there too. That's when I was able to let go of any anxiety and just focus on the walk. It was a really cool feeling to be walking, head down, focused on the path, and be able to hear the whisper of other people's feet all around me walking the same path. I didn't want to look up and actually see everybody - I was in my own experience - but at the same time I knew I wasn't alone...and the parallel to life was definitely not lost on me. I knew that just like in life, where I must walk my own path, I am surrounded and supported all the time by lots of caring people, some i know, some I don't. I am never alone.

Even though I love the outdoors, I wondered as I made my way down to my tent by myself that night by flashlight if I'd be a little nervous to be alone out in the woods in my tent. Not a chance! I got in my tent, with my flashlight on, zipped up, laid down, read, but not for long. The full moon rising in the back window of the tent was too enchanting. I turned off my light and soon fell fast asleep, feeling safe in my little dome.

In the morning I rose knowing I wanted to go down to the pond and take a swim. I knew if I didn't do it then, I might not get the chance, as we would be leaving at noon. I thought I might encounter people down there, walking or meditating, but there was no one. I had the whole place to myself. The sun was shining, the water was amazingly warm. I made my way in and swam with delight for nearly twenty minutes. I was in heaven!

I could go on about so much more, but I'll save it for now. The last special thing I'll share is about our closing circle. We stood together in a circle...I think there were about 17 of us...and first shared anything we wanted to about the weekend, what was special to us. Then we held hands. From one person to the next,one at a time we passed a blessing. We took our right hand,together with that of the person to our right, touched our heart and said "From my heart, to yours". And so it went, around the circle. I don't think there was a dry eye there. It felt very special.

Red Rock Road Socks

I'm happy to announce that my Red Rock Road Socks pattern is now for sale both on Ravelry (my ravelry name is sunrisewalker) and in my etsy shop, Mountain Knits .

I'm really thankful to my intrepid test knitters, MK, Eva, Jennifer, Emily, Heathar, and Lisa for all their help on getting this pattern out there into the world! It's been such a great learning experience to go from start to finish on this. I'm really looking forward to doing it again in the near future. I've got lots of ideas kicking around in my head, and waiting in my sketchbook.