Froggy went a courting

We went for a drive yesterday, exploring some of the many lakes in the Manistee National Forest. Lake County, our county, alone has 115 official inland lakes. The county south of us has 170 some official lakes. But in looking at the official lists, I can only say "there are a few missing." We visited Nichols Lake; it's representative of the many inland lakes: surrounded by woods, small cottages, no wake. For the landlubbers this means no big boats, water skiing, etc., but lots of fishing in boats with electric motors and the occasional Pontoon boat.

And what did we see as we went down to the boat ramp? A froggie! It's bigger partner was grass green, but kept leaping into the underbrush so that I was unable to get its photo. But here is the little one in all his(?) glory.

And then I found these wildflowers as we drove down one of the many dirt roads. I am not sure which particular species of the pea family this is, but it looked pretty, particularly when paired with Goldenrod and the Jack Pine.


And finally a picture of Nichols Lake whose look is representative of many of our lakes around this area of Michigan.


I promise more knitting pics in a couple of days.

Another Pi Shawl started

Well, I've joined another knit-along. This one is by Wendy Johnson, the sock book author, who decided to design her own, after knitting the Ravelry Elizabeth Zimmermann 100th birthday Pi shawl. I like knitting Pi shawls, the advantage being that you always have a place in which to carry your ball of yarn. I am using a 3 lb. cone of off-white sock yarn which we bought from Webs ages ago. The label on the inside of the cone states "Regina" and "Italy." The yarn seems to be "oiled" since after washing the yarn blooms and is a lighter off-white. I am using US size 7 (4.5 mm) needles.

Knit on merrily.

Another pair of socks finished

I am such a sucker for someone drooling over the socks I wear. I immediately offer to make them a pair. And that's how this pair of socks came about. My daughter's sister-in-law saw my 70th birthday socks I had knit for myself and said "I wish someone would knit me a pair of socks." She lamented that her mother had taught her how to darn and mend, but not how to knit. And thus Sandy's socks came about. They were knit with an old hank of hand-dyed yarn (thanks to my daughter) and US 1-1/2 (2.50 mm) needles.


Knit on merrily.

I'm in a sock knitting rut

I am on a sock knitting jag. These are patterned after the "Reverse Pod Socks" of Bad Cat Designs Summer Swatch Me Knit-Along. Knit with dear daughter's hand-dyed commercial yarn. The colors remind me of violets one can find growing in the woods. The yarn is a wee bit thicker than the average commercial sock yarn. Since the pattern used 64 stitches and I needed only 60 stitches for a snug fitting sock, I decreased each pattern repeat by 1 stitch. This change made the pattern look more asymmetrical. Now I need to knit the second sock.

The other pair of socks were also knit with daughter's hand-dyed yarn. The pattern came from a 99 page downloaded book called "The Sole Solution 2003/2004 Collection." The patterns will pop up in PDF form if you google the title. It's an easy pattern to remember. The pattern is knit with a multiple of seven stitches. I cast on 64, knit the cuff, and then decreased one stitch. First row: Knit, Second row: k1, y/o, p1, p3tog., p1, y/0, k1. Third and Fourth row: Knit. Repeat ad finitum. You can decide on your own cuff, heel and toe.

Knit on merrily!

Memories while knitting socks

One of the patterns in the "Summer Swatch Me Knit-Along" by Bad Cat Designs is Trails. As I knit the socks designed by Andrea, I was reminded of my beloved Black Forest and the many trails I used to haunt as a child, some times alone and some times with my cousin. We spent hours in the woods with no one ever having to worry whether or not we were save. When we weren't goofing around, we would pick blueberries or bring the wagon and collect pine cones which were used as fire starter in the winter.

Thanks to Google mixed in with the photos of the socks just finished are photos of the old haunts around the spa Bad Teinach.

Bad Teinach

And here are the socks. Knit from Opal Uni, Forest Green on US 1-1/2 (2.25 mm) needles. This is closest to the actual color of the yarn, with the yarn having a slightly less blue tinge.

The Teinach brook

A better look at the pattern and the heel.

Forest path

Oh how I wish these were my legs. The truth is it's a plastic one. It does, however, show the pattern well.

And another spot I knew well. Here gnomes and trolls dwell.

Continue to knit on, merrily.