The good and the ugly...

I started the Black Tie Optional socks as an antidote for the stockinette knitting of the long underwear. The Black Tie Optional socks were knit with the same yarn as the long johns, i.e. from a partial cone of Webs sock yarn. The beads if you can see them in the photos are black. The top of the insole is my "adaptation" (I mean mistake) of the designer's pattern. I was unwilling to unravel the foot of the sock when I discovered that I somehow used a non-existing chart. Don't ask how this is possible; I have no idea how I managed to conjure up a chart that is not there. The pattern is by Adrienne Fomg from Belly Button Knits Designs and can be found in the Ravelry group Sock Knitters Anonymous.

The beads are best visible on the heel.

The ugly socks were knit for my "nephew" Nick. Nick adopted me. He chose the yarn. It is of unknown character a little thicker than usual and has been in my stash forever.

These make sixteenth pair of socks for the year.

Progress Report on the long johns: I have knit half of one leg.

Knit on Merrily!

Fall in Northern Michigan

On the way to Hoxeyville, Michigan, an unincorporated area in Northern Michigan with no main street and 300 or so souls. The landscape, however, makes up for non-existing amenities.

Near Hoxeyville, Michigan

Sassafras leaves at Minnie Pond near White Cloud, Mich. in Manistee National Forest. The camping area is named after Minnie Pond, the wife of one of the founders of the area.

Maple leaves, Minnie Pond.

Oak trees, Minnie Pond.

Oak tree at the side of our driveway.

View from the mailbox and now we are home again.

I must be crazy...

...no I am crazy. I am going to knit long underwear for my daughter A. It all started with A. buying three 3-pound cones of sock yarn from Webs. She was going to skein the yarn, dye it, and then sell the skeins. Then she decided that skeining was a hassle and she'd rather buy skeins in bulk. So this old German kept staring at these cones and asking herself "what to do, what to do?".

And then in her October 3rd post, Tichiro -knits and cats (in German) presented patterns from an old German knitting magazines which included long underwear. You may want to click on the link and scroll down to October 3 and take a look at the photos. They really are a hoot, particularly the men's knit jockey shorts.

As my eyes fell on those cones of off-white sock yarn, I knew what to do with at least part of one of the cones: Knit A. underwear. Of course! what else would one do. A good project for evening knitting for these older eyes. Now, realize that the instruction for the ski underwear is only a paragraph long. That includes both top and bottom. So much is left to the imagination or the assumption that grandmother or mother knows how to knit and can help you. The commercial yarn is no longer manufactured, I think; no thickness is given; no needle size; no amount of yarn indicated; only the instructions of casting on 80 stitches for the waist and eventually increasing to 220 stitches. Mine is not a family of hour glass waists, so to the drawing board I went. A swatch was knit, washed, blocked and measured and, cast on accordingly on US 2 (2.75 mm) needles.

Oops, the beginning was big enough for a 60"+ waist which, of course, was followed by visiting the frog pond and casting on again. I am on my way now and will keep you updated about this adventure.

As an aside, after the end of WWII, my mother and friends knit undershirts for us children. After all, human beings needed to wear undershirts since God unlike the animals hadn't equipped us with fur. (In fact when I visited my mother in Germany with two small children in 1966, my mother immediately commented on the children not having under shirts.) In order to save yarn, the shirts were always knit in a drop stitch pattern. This long underwear won't be knit in a drop stitch pattern. I have plenty of yarn.

Knit on Merrily!

I am resting today...

...because I overdid it yesterday. I decided me and my little pain machine could tackle the outside area around the house, do Fall clean-up and lug it all to the end of the driveway for the garbage man who comes early Monday morning. Well I did six bags and the muscles in my body let me know. But, there is always knitting.

This sock has shown up a lot lately on German knitting groups. Since it was free, I downloaded it and started knitting with 100 grams Regia - Kaffe Fasset. The pattern was in German and rather cumbersome, unlike other knitting patterns found on German sites. As I tried to wade through it, I finally scrolled down to the end and found that it was by Lucy Neatby from her book Cool Socks - Warm Feet. Only I could happen on a pattern that was translated word by word from English to another language.

Off to the Internet I went, looking for the book. It's out of print, but Amazon had several copies, some for as much as $103.64 used. The good news is that there was a vendor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that was selling it new at the original price. The book was originally published in 2003 and had three editions, the last in 2006. In my opinion, the book is quite wordy, but would have been a good primer for beginning sock knitters. Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Socks are a much better bargain with many more patterns. I am sure there have been other beginning sock knitting books published that are just as good. I certainly wouldn't pay $100 for it.

I have also finished a "shawlette" by Monika Eckert in bright fingering weight turquoise. It was originally designed for a lace weight yarn by Atelier Zitron called Filigrano. I cannot find the yarn in the US as yet and am unwilling to pay for the postage from Germany. On top of it, it's always more fun to experiment with other yarns. I had a partial cone of Jagger Spun Maine Line yarn left, and it did just fine. The shawlette is a little bigger than originally intended, but it's getting winter around here, and I am going to keep this one for myself. Pictures as soon as I can block it.

So that's it folks. Knit on Merrily!

Simple things

I delight in simple things and thanks to my new TENS (transsubcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit, I can take walks again. They are short; I am up to 1/3 of a mile. But I hope that I can take longer walks as my strength starts to return. Fall came quickly to this part of Michigan. The days have been on the cool side and the nights are crisp. Just the right kind of weather.

This photo was taken just beyond the mail box. I love the bronze colors of the Fall grasses on the side of the road.

Even the oak trees are already starting to turn.

And this tree is full of red berries. I can't believe that the cedar waxwings have missed these berries. It looks like a flowering dogwood tree. I'll have to keep an eye on it next summer.

The milk weed is ready to burst, soon showing its silken fluff after the seeds have blown away. I wonder if you could spin with the down of this plant? The Monarch butterfly larvae feed exclusively on the leaves of the milk weed.

And here is a closer look at the grasses.

While most of the ferns seem to have dried up overnight, this one is still in the process.

And tomorrow it's back to knitting photos.

All in white

The Bad Cat Designs Summer Swatch Me sampler is finished. It used just under 200 gr. of Regia Wool/Silk/Nylon sock yarn on US 7 (4.5 mm) needles. As you can see, the edging has beads in it; I used 6/0 matte iridescent seed beads.

Other projects in the works are a pair of socks and finishing the Shetland Pi shawl.

Knit on merrily!

Eye Candy, I hope

Well, it's a bit late, but I've finally blocked the Kalendar Scarf I knit from December 1 through December 25, 2009. For those who have short memories like me, this was the annual Advent Calendar Knit-Along from the Swedish web site http://www.kalender2009.slojdohantverk.se. The scarf was originally knit with Musk Ox yarn. The pattern is no longer free, but if you wait until December 1, you can always download the daily patterns for the 2010 sampler. I knit this scarf with one skein of Wisdom's Poems Sock yarn. I would suggest never to knit anything with this yarn if you have either a short-haired cat or dog in the house. We, of course, have both. The yarn, a single ply yarn, attracts short stubby hair from a mile away, yet alone the critters running around in the house. Also I think the name "sock yarn" is a misnomer. I would not knit socks with it since the thickness is slightly inconsistent. So here are finally the photos. Thanks to my physical therapy and my TENS unit it is easier to do blocking and taking photos.

Knit on merrily!