A time for finishing

I guess it fits in with the time of year but I spent a lot of the weekend trying to finish things that had been on the needle for quite a while and to do a project I've been meaning to do for a long time.

I've had several socks on the needles and have been wanting to get them finished so I can wear them.  The red pair are made with my favorite sock yarn - Berroco Sox.  I love the colors, I love knitting with it and I love how they wear.

The blue pair was started one night sitting at an auction waiting for a spinning wheel to come up.  I don't remember what the sock yarn is but it was an experiment of cables.  I almost didn't cast on enough stitches but I think it will be better after washing.  There is a large main cable running through and then a smaller, more widely spaced cable running between.  Fortunately I had finished the second cuff before the socks got put away because I don't know if I would ever figure out what I was doing again!

Finally, the purse.  I finished the main section of this purse was competed probably 2 years ago (using Noro Silk Garden).  The plan was to felt it and do a beaded section at the top but I finally decided it looked well with these handles.  I like the size and the blend of colors and the handles fit it.

One of the few blogs I follow is The Yarn Harlot - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  She showed a picture of Fiber Trends felted clogs she'd knitted and how many giggles she got from looking at them pre-felting.  I made a pair of these about 7 years ago and wore them literally until the bottoms wore out and I'd been meaning to make another pair since those were retired.  Here are mine (with a shoe between to show the scale).

Hehehehehe.  I never get tired of it!

Make Your Own

Several people the other night at knit night said they wanted to try the slippers so I've written up the pattern and posted it on my web site. Click here for the pattern page and have a go. It's also available via my designer page on Ravelry. You can get to it from my Ravelry page, my ID is wandagrayson.

Enjoy!

Slippers. Felted Slippers.

Just a quick post to show you my new felted slippers. As mentioned previously, these were done on the same premise as toe-up socks. I really like the way the heel section came out with the ridge that comes a little bit up the heel. The foot part is a little bit big but I put the laces on to adjust the size so if it's really cold, I can wear cozy socks with them. They're much lighter than the other felted slippers but they're going to be just as warm. I have one more thing I want to try then I'll post a "down and dirty" pattern in case you want to try them.

Traveling around

Do you ever know you need to do something but it seems a bit overwhelming so you put it off. Then you’ve got new stuff to do plus the old stuff so now it just gets bigger. Yeah, well that’s sort of what’s been happening with the blog so sorry for the absence. But here’s a wrap up.

I’d been wanting to take a weekend away for a while and finally got the chance last weekend, going on a little jaunt through Galesburg, IL, where I visited a lovely antique shop, to Davenport, IA, where I found a yarn shop (as you do) and my find of the weekend (a whole stack of vintage crafting magazine from the 30’s, 50’s and 70’s for just $5) and finally on to Muscatine, IA, home of the famous shell button factories and home to a Crazy Girl Yarn Shop. Here's a photo of the outside of the shop and one of the inside of the old button factory that's now been refurbished and houses a variety of very cool shops and restaurants.

I stayed at the cutest little bed and breakfast called Strawberry Farm B&B. It was, oddly enough, at one time a strawberry farm. The owners were so kind and did they ever do a great breakfast! Handmade quilts and antiques everywhere, a screened porch and lovely back yard. Charming. Definitely charming.

Muscatine is right on the Mississippi. Here are some shots of the area. As always, you can click a picture for a larger view.

In my treasure trove of vintage pattern books I found the most interesting pattern for a knitted slipper. It’s a most ingenious construction. Here’s the picture from the magazine showing the layout and the finished product.

And here’s after the seams were sewn and on my own personal foot.

What a Trip!

Nothing like a last minute trip over about 1,600 miles to renew, redo and redecorate! What a wonderful trip and what a wonderful time with my parents! I’m so glad I went, we had a great time.

This was the first trip to Texas for Robert the Bear and he enjoyed it as well. Here’s a shot of him relaxing after a long day of driving. I ended up having pretty good weather for most of the time with just a little bit of sprinkling and clouds.

If you want to see what Oklahoma looks like, it's a variation of this all over the place (there are lots of casinos).

Here's the family story about Oklahoma. The story, I'm told, is real but the names have been changed to protect everyone. OK, here goes. Relative A and Relative B are driving through Oklahoma. There are signs along the road that say, "Don't drive into the smoke." (I saw these, too, which are what made me think of this.) Relative B asks Relative A what this means. Relative A says, with a straight face, that this is Native American country. They send smoke signals so if you drive through the smoke, you mess up the message. Relative B thinks for a minute and nods. That makes sense.

I did even have a day of 83 degrees and slept under the fan. Not that I’m rubbing it in or anything but I did. Just what the doctor ordered!

But just because you spend 4 days driving doesn’t mean you can’t knit (not WHILE driving, mind).

I made a pair of slippers (still to be felted) from the Fiber Trends pattern.


I almost finished my ‘body warmer,’ based on a pattern I found in an 1880’s pattern book, made from some Malabrigo that I’ve had in stash forever. It’s sort of a stole but it fits tightly around the body with bands that wrap around the waist. You can see the band at the lower right side. I’ve really only got to finish the bands and decide exactly how I want to do the connection (snaps, buttons, other). The body of it is a brioche stitch (which was extremely popular in the patterns of Godey’s Ladies magazine). The ends and bands are done in seed stitch to make them more stable.

I’ve finished my latest socks (made with Berrocco Sox – color 1425). Just basic sock recipe but I absolutely love the colorway on this sock yarn. In fact, I love it so much, I bought 2 more colorways!

I really thought that I would get up this morning and just be ready to get home but I really just wanted to keep driving and driving. Sigh.... It was a wonderful trip!