Looky! We have pictures today! I don't know what gives here but sometimes dear Blogger just isn't cooperating and sometimes it works just fine. Oh well. For my buddy Mel who asked: yes, the pics always come in at the top of your blog editing window. You just have to drag the darn things to where you want them to be. Works better than Hello from Picasa though, even if you can't see thumbnails of the images you're sending. Assuming Blogger decides that today the picture insert feature is actually working!
Back to the pictures. Today I'm concentrating on the knitting I got done mostly while we were driving but also, as you can see, while sitting on the beach. I also knit while reading if I could get the darn book to stay open. You should have seen all the various things I used for weights: my teacup, more books, the camera, anything. I couldn't read my fantasy pocketbooks that way at all and knit at the same time since they refuse to stay open and you can't weight the page without covering up the type. I think somebody needs to invent a book holder that makes it easy to insert any size book and easy to turn the pages with one hand (the one not holding the knitting at the time). Now I know why knitters and other crafty people are big on books on tape.
Below is the pair of socks I knit for my lovely daughter-in-law's birthday prezzie. The in-progress sock is sitting on the lush seaweed that grows on the rocks at the south end of the beach at Cape Lookout. Yes, I removed the poor thing before the tide came in! The finished pair is sitting on one of the interestingly sculptured shore pines in the Nehalem state park campsite.
The next pair of socks is for Thom (even though I'm supposed to be doing my daughter's promised pair) because I really needed to try knitting up the Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch yarn that I got at the Wool Company in Bandon. Of course I had to see what it looks and knits like! Since it comes in one big ball and the repeats are very long (half a sock!) there's very little chance of making two socks that match so I'm not worrying about it. Thom says he's okay with fraternal twins. As usual, the recommended needle size and gauge for this yarn is way too big so I'm using my Susan Bates Silvalume sock needles in the 2mm size. Did I mention that I got another package of these needles at a Jo-Ann's fabric and craft store in Lincoln City? I've found I need 2 sets of needles for because I like to knit socks by alternating a little on this one and a little on that one to avoid SSS and to make them match more closely.
Thom's unfinished sock is hanging from the rack on the back of our trusty 1989 Volkswagen Westphalia, Fraulein Blau. (That's "Mrs. Blue" in case your German is rusty. We've had her since she was a brand new baby van. She's our home-sweet-home on the road and transporter for things that are too big for Velvet, the MINI Cooper.) We were in the campsite at Nehalem there. Notice I resisted hanging the poor sock off the Deception Pass Bridge (between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands in northern Washington State) on the way home, though the thought did cross my mind! It was really windy and pretty damp though not actually raining at the time so I was afraid I'd lose the sock over the side. Actually I was afraid I'd lose me over the side.
This yarn is interesting to work with. It's a bit splitty because it's quite loosely spun so I have to watch a bit more carefully than with regular sock yarn. It also tends to knit up a tiny bit narrower than you expect because of the stretchy Elite' in it. I'm getting about 9 st per inch. But of course it stretches easily to fit nicely on your foot and still feels nice and soft. I'm currently up to the heel turn on sock number 2 so the durability hasn't been tested yet — even though Thom wore the first sock the minute it was off the needles and went for a walk for about an hour with it on! Guess he likes handknit socks now. Maybe it's just this yarn? He's not having my second ball with the brown instead of black in it. That one is mine!
I actually have a couple of blog readers and they actually missed me while I was gone! That's so sweet.
1 comment:
It's super to have you back. I love the part of the world you toured through. I did a sail boat cruise along the Washington coast line ( and under the bridge at Deception Pass!) many years ago.
I'm nursing a cold and it's got me too woozy to concentrate on my weaving... so I'm catching up on my reading of old Handwovens and getting inspired
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