Short-rows, short-rows everywhere

I found a German sock pattern booklet on Amazon called "Twist-Socken stricken" by Ulrike Brueggemann, or in English "Knitting short-row socks." The booklet contains 15 patterns and the instructions can only be described as "pithy" which is probably true for most German patterns.  Instructions for each pattern are contained on one page with the second page containing a photograph.  I can only say I've been smitten although I dislike knitting short-rows.  Short-row patterns do not lend themselves to charts and I am a chart-person. For some reason, I get addled with written out instructions, but I am plowing through them come what may.  It's a good thing I am not obsessive-compulsive, or I would never get any of these socks finished.  The other problem with short-row patterns is that I have difficulty adapting these patterns to various sizes, so all of the socks I am knitting from this booklet will go to the Motherless Child Foundation which provides children in three Kazakhstan orphanages with warm hand-knitted clothing. 

Here is the first pair of socks knit from these patterns.  The name of the socks is "Leichter Einstieg" or "Simple Beginnings." Each pair is knit with a multi-colored and a solid yarn.

 



 Knit on, merrily!

Opossum playing "possum"

Look what we found by the back door last night.  We've long suspected that we had an opposum living under the back stoop.  I think we now have proof.  Poor thing played dead when we opened the door to let the dog out.  Of course once we saw it, the dog was told to "tie a knot in it" until the poor creature disappeared about a half hour later. That's really wet snow falling on him.

Obligatory Annual Snow Photos

We didn't really have much snow to speak of until the beginning of February in this part of Michigan, but the bills for snow plowing the driveway have made up for it this month.  We  have also not spied any deer this winter; they usually hide in the woods during these months, and I'm not going to trample through the hip deep snow to find them.  The wild bunnies, however, have been active having decided that our old rabbit shed was the perfect winter hide out. So without further ado, be bored with my winter photographs.

   

And we have sun!

 

As far as knitting content is concerned, I have been busy with knitting short-row socks after finding and, of course buying, a German knitting booklet on-line.  I am finishing up the third pair today; so hopefully, I can take photos tomorrow and then do show-and-tell.

 

Knit on Merrily!





It's going to get colder again...

...and I'll be ready. This has been a strange winter in these parts of Michigan.  Little snow and unusually warm temperatures.  Well, warm for these parts.  It's 45 degrees Fahrenheit today and the sun is shining.  But the weather forecasters call for temperatures in the 20s once more starting tomorrow.  So, I finally knit myself a hat.  It was knit with worsted weight Wool of the Andes and a discontinued brushed Alpaca, both from Knit Picks.  The pattern is called Gehry and can be found free of charge on Ravelry .

All I have to do now is knit a pair of mittens for myself.  No problem.

Knit on, merrily!

What else could anyone want?

 



It's all there:  a comfortable chair, my doggie and most of my circular knitting needles hanging from my lamp.  Oh, and there is the remote control!

The old doggie has had a tough time lately.  He scratched his right cornea and then there appeared a big red spot on his eye.  The blood vessels in his eye had apparently coagulated.  The vet gave him some salve and he is now on the mend, being his usual fidgety self and yapping and being demanding again.  Talk about being spoilt, the dog not me.

Still more socks

I think I've mentioned before that I am on a serious stash busting binge, particularly coned yarns.  I was able to knit two more pairs of socks from the cone of fingering weight Brown Sheep Nature Spun yarn and still have enough left for a pair of two-colored socks.  I can't even remember how long ago I purchased that particular cone of yarn. 

The first pair is called Moody Stockings from the Yahoo group Sock Knitters Anonymous.  The pattern was designed by Erica Lueder and can be found on Ravelry for free. The Nature Spun was perfect for stitch definition and, of course, since it is 100% wool it keeps the feet dry and warm.  What more could one ask for.

 



The pattern for the second pair came from Stephanie Van Der Linden and is called Escherwuerfel (Escher Cubes).  I've wanted to knit this pattern for a long time and finally decided to give it a try with the Nature Spun yarn.  The pair turned out much better than the photo suggests.  My aching back decided to scream "I want to sit down" and I decided to better listen to it.  The pattern can be found here .  While the pattern is in German, do not despair.  It is only a chart and an explanation of how the designer came up with it.  There are only two symbols in the chart -- one for the knit stitch which is represented by "0" and the purl stitch is represented by a "-".  I decided on 60 stitches since each repeat is 10 stitches long.
 

Same yarn as the first pair of socks, but taken on a different day.

Knit on, Merrily!

More Socks

Many sock knitters understand the phenomenon of collecting sock patterns.  There is always at least one more pattern that tickles our fancy and before we know it, we have collected more sock patterns than we can knit in a life time.  Particularly since we collect more as we knit from the list we already have.  I am trying to remedy this malady without much success.  Along with amassing patterns, we, of course, also amass yarn.  Recently, I found three balls of Brown Sheep Nature Spun, fingering weight, in oatmeal that came from a long ago bought cone of yarn. I assume I bought it at Paradise Fibers, but how many years ago is a mystery.  Also a mystery is what else I knit with this particular yarn.  This pattern comes from the German Yahoo group "Krea Socks" and was designed by Gudrun Neumann-Mack.  The design is called "Late Summer Blues." They were knit with 2.00 mm needles and were gifted to my in-house spinner, aka youngest daughter.  (I have to keep her happy so I can get more hand-spun yarn.)

Knit on Merrily.