For a change a pair of non-short row socks

Happiness is finding two skeins of hand-spun yarn that you didn't realize you had.  Spun by my youngest daughter from Corriedale roving.  The color is a light gray with a tinge of perriwinkle and I mean a tinge. The yarn is spun in a heavy sock weight and tightly twisted, so it should wear well.  I think I found just the right pattern for it.  The pattern is by Sonja Koehler and can be found on Ravelry under Sonja's Sockenland .  While the pattern is written both in English and German, the group  is almost all in German.  It's a good thing I can still read German; however, my writing abilities have deteriorated over the years.  At times, I have difficulty remembering which words are masculine, feminine or neutral, particularly with words that have been adopted from American English.

The name of the pattern is "Pfaffenwinkel" or Priests' Corner.  I was hesitant to use the name since the word "Pfaffen" was a slightly or not so slightly derogatory word for "priests," depending on the region you lived in,  and I definitely lived in an area where few people were catholic.  While most Catholic children went to a Catholic school, there were a few that attended the local village grade school. We certainly had our "priests' corner" on the school yard and more than one fight broke out on the line of separation. Of course, when I was a child, girls didn't fight. Once I started 5th grade, I went to a secondary school for bratty and precocious girls.  I have no idea what today's school system in Germany looks like, but in my time those kids who were smart went to a different school starting with 5th or 6th grade.  There seemed to be none of the sectarian separation I experienced in grade school. 

But back to "Priests' Corner."  I did what most of us do when we want to find out something:  I googled.   And here is what I found and it's in English.  I also found out the name was given to this part of Bavaria in the 18th century due to the large number of abbeys and pilgrim churches.  It's only taken 73 years to learn that this area of Bavaria had a nickname. While it is a beautiful area, in my opinion the Black Forest and the rest of Swabia are even more beautiful.  Old regional rivalries are hard to bury.  For those in Michigan think of football:  UofM vs. Ohio State. 

And there is enough yarn left to knit another pair of socks.  Yeah!

Knit on Merrily.

It's that time of the year...

...when once again it becomes fun to just go for a drive on the back roads of our area of Michigan.  Each year Spring brings new discoveries.  For example this tree burl:  we've driven through this area a number of times, but never saw it before. Nature truly is a marvel.

We also made a drive to Ludington, Mich. State Park and look what we saw?  Have you ever seen a salmon net pen?  Well now you have. We were there just at the right time.  According to information posted by State park staff "about 250,000 salmon are delivered to the Big Sable River net pens.  The fish are fed in the pens by battery-operated feeders.  The pens are covered with chicken wire to prevent predation by raccoons, herons and gulls.  Fish are in the pens for about three weeks, or until they smolt and lose their parr marks (vertical bars on the body).  The net rearing also helps the fish to imprint on the site, enabling them to return as adults in three years."

 

Now back to knitting. 



 



 





In the pink...

...socks that is.  A quick pair of short-row socks knit with 6-ply ONLine Wellness II.  This pair is also going into the Kazakhstan orphanage bin.

 



Knit on, merrily!

Easter Memories

I can't remember when exactly this happened, but I know it was before 1946 when I informed mother that she could color the Easter eggs before I went to sleep because I didn't believe in the Easter Bunny (Osterhase) any longer.  So this must have occurred before the French and Americans came through the neighborhood.  It most likely happened on Easter Monday of 1943 or 1944.

One of my mother's sisters, my cousin who was 10 years older than I, and my mother took me on an Easter egg hunt.  There was only one rule:  If I found an egg, I had to show it to them and then put it back so other children could find it also.  I would be able to keep the last egg for myself.  Off we went into the Forest for a walk and Easter egg hunt.  I eagerly ran back and forth searching for eggs, finding one, showing it to my aunt Agnes and mother and then putting it back for another child to find and, then, on to finding the next one.  The afternoon went by quickly and when I was tired from looking for all the eggs, I was able to keep the last one.  I never questioned the fact that all the eggs I found were the same color and that my cousin was not to be seen anywhere.  I had too much fun.  It only occurred to me later in life that there were no other children and that my cousin hid the same egg over and over again so I could look for it.

Some years later, when food was more plentiful, another cousin and I colored several eggs with various colors with the last one dipped into every color we had used.  This work of "art" was for my uncle.  That year we hid it in the kitchen lamp shade.  My uncle being a good sport went through every room in the apartment looking hither and yon until he "found" it. 

Now this was fun.

A happy Easter Holiday to everyone. 

More short-row socks

And another pair has gone into the donation box.  This one was knit on 2.75mm needles with 6 ply ONLine Supersocke Wellness II Color.  I really like this colorway, but the eyes didn't like it all that much.  The leg is knit back and forth sideways and closed with a 3 needle bind-off on the outside of the sock.  Then stitches are picked up for both the heel and the foot and the cuff.  The cuff is different from the pattern shown in the booklet since I needed to make the leg longer.  I added the stockinette and garter stitch sections.  I also made the 2x2 cuff longer.  The pattern is again by Ulrike Brueggemann from "Twist-Socken stricken" or translated "Knitting Short Row Socks."

 Oops, I just noticed the little gap.  Will have to fix that.

 



By the way, that dirty white stuff is snow piled up from plowing.  It's not quite as high now as when I took the photos. 

Knit on, merrily!

More socks

I have always a car project going; these are usually socks.  It keeps me from being too much of a backseat driver.  These are called "Voeges Indische Rauten" or "Voege's Indian Diamonds."  Somehow I came across it on the Internet.  A search shows that the pattern has been knit multiple times, but no one seems to know who Voege is.  The pattern exists of a chart only.  Each pattern repeat is conveniently 15 stitches, so a 60 stitch sock is easily knit. If you don't like yarn overs, you can knit the yarn overs through the back loop on the next row, but be warned:  it will most likely take another repeat to make it fit the average foot.  The pattern is easily memorized, so it's ideal for knitting in places where charts are not convenient.  As the chart symbols are in German, here is a translation for those who would like to download the chart. 

1/2 = purl 2 tog.
1/3= purl 3 tog.
U = Yarn over
O =  purl
-  = knit

I used hand-dyed sock yarn in an antique gold color.  Dyer, as always, is my daughter Angela.  Needle size was 2.25 mm.  Recipient will be a youngsternin one of the two Kazakhstan orphanages to which the founder of Motherless Child Foundation delivers each December about 500 pairs of socks. Face Book link is here .

Cuff, heel and toe to your liking. 

Knit on Merrily!

Third pair of short-row socks

 

This pattern is called Criss-Cross (Kreuz & Quer).

Yarn: ONLine Supersocke 100 Flower Color and some deep purple hand-dyed by daughter.

Needles: 2.25 mm

Recipient:  All three pairs are designated for the Kazakhstan orphanages.



 

 

 

Knit on, Merrily!