Tuesday, July 20, 2010

When you are seventy...

...you are allowed to wear wildly colored socks without having to explain why.

50 grams of Regia Cotton Surf Color
2.5 mm needles
OK, so don't look at the mess on the floor. Our two cats were playing their favorite game, racing through the house and knocking things off the shelves.
Knit on merrily!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Another Knit-Along

A lazy summer knit-along, just like the days of summer. This sampler shawl/scarf is from Andrea at Bad Cat Designs. With each weekly sampler pattern Andrea provides another one, such as fingerless mitts, hats, scarves, etc. featuring the sampler pattern. I am using Regia Silk sock yarn which is a joy to knit with. I have made a pair of fingerless gloves and a hat with the third design. Photos will have to wait until I wash and block them.

Knit Along, Merrily!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

My first Christmas stocking....




...ever! I did not grow up with the tradition of a Christmas stocking hanging by an open fire. First, we didn't have fireplaces. Second the Christchild brought Christmas gifts and Santa was relegated to December 6, St. Niklaus Day. Instead of stockings, we put our shoes by the front door and St. Niklaus and his helper would place a piece of fruit into one shoe and a stick in the other. In retrospect, an excellent lesson of the fact that children, and as an extension, all humans are both good and bad. In some areas of Germany the stick was replaced by a piece of coal. At the time we were too poor for such a luxury.

Thanks to Terry Morris and the Yahoo Group "holidaymysterygifts" this deficit in my education has been corrected. Terry designed three Christmas stockings, a stranded, an Intarsia, and a Gansey-style version. Since I found two very old skeins of Simply Soft by Caron in a beautiful Christmas green in our stash of yarns, I used it. Needle size used was 3.25 mm. The pattern suggested US 7, but the 3.25 mm needles gave me just the right texture. Now I suppose I'll have to make a second one. The question is which to make: the stranded version or the Intarsia version?

Knit on merrily!