One Scheme of Happiness

FO: Tern Diagonal Socks

I have been chasing daylight to show you my new socks.

These were the fastest, most fun to knit socks for me ever.  I think I am getting the hang of this!  The yarn is a dream.  The pattern - exactly what I needed it to be, for where I was.  I suspect that a version of these will go with me down to Belize in a few weeks for portable knitting in the jungle!  I just need to track down some more sock yarn.

They took me two weeks only to complete, primarily via NJ bus knitting (with a bit of couch sloth time thrown in as well - I should be knitting blanket squares but I can't convince my knitting-brain of that).  Their details are here.

I'm already off and running on another sock adventure.  Remember this?

 

It now looks more like this:

Please welcome the Edwardian Boating Koigu Socks into being!  The yarn is bargain-bin Koigu from Purl (only $8 per skein!)  While the pattern looks tricky, it's terribly easy to follow by sight and all you need to do is count to six otherwise, so I'm on a roll already.  I appear to achieve three pattern repeats on my morning bus ride.

24 DAYS UNTIL BELIZE

Preparation Status: MINIMAL

The countdown is on!  And I have so much to do before we leave!  And I haven't done a thing!

Okay, I bought a travel book for Belize, but I haven't started reading it yet (oops).  However, I have done a tiny bit of online digging about our upcoming adventure.  For example, our first stop will be at the Hickatee Cottagesin Punta Gorda.

I think we can handle that. 

This place is a jungle retreat near the Fallen Stones Butterfly Farm.  Our group will be taking over the entire facility (there are about a dozen of us).  The food on-site is supposed to be divine.  We have been promised monkeys and maybe a jaguar.  I guess it's good that Doolin won't be with us! 

I think I heard that we will begin our adventure on a zipline before we even get to the cottages!  Anyone else out there like a good zipline?  I've braved them in Mexico, Ecuador and Honduras - where have YOU ziplined?

FO: Socks!

I have a new commute these days...and it's all about the socks.  These are the Jekyll and Hyde pattern, in Madeline Tosh sock (Ravelry link here).

I'll share more about all of that soon, but in the meantime, let's take a look at Doolin's new haircut!

I think he likes it.

FO: Ben's Cloisonee Mittens

On a chilly day not long ago, Ben sprang it on me.

"I need some mittens.  Will you make me some mittens?"

It's  knitter's dream come true!  A real request for mittens!  In the dead of winter!  From someone who will actually wear handknits!!

So I knit mittens.

I checked my colors with Ben - he asked for all black, but that's beyond me.  I had to add a glintof silver at least.    And the stylish and adaptable Cloisonee had just been released, so what a natural thing for me to just knit right into it.

They were quick.  Easy.  I had some trouble getting gauge with my needles, but otherwise these were a breeze. 

I was so excited to hand them to Ben.

"Oh."

He said.

"I thought they'd be more like gloves."

FO: Mom's Beaumont

The pitty-pit-pat of rain, that rap and tap and window slap that usually sends me straight off to sleep is keeping me alert and awake tonight.  As I listen to the knock of drops on the panes and watch the never-quiet night of the city streak by in the puddles below my window, let me tell you about my Mom's Beaumont.

This little number was a whirl-wind.  My Mom chose her yarn colors when she visited me in Chicago, way back in late July. We used the prescribed yarn and everything!  I finally situated myself with it and cast on in early November and finished this on December 6, just before we left for our Hawaii/Utah expedition. 

I couldn't tell you about it sooner because I dropped the ball and didn't get it in the mail until returned, and I didn't want to spoil the surprize of the finished product until my mom held it in her hands (and she lurks here these days, Hi Mommy!)

I had to overcome some major trust issues with this hat.  The needles seemed all wrong to me, far too big for this fine thread.  But I closed my eyes (not really) and knit on in spite of my doubts (really).  For once, that tactic worked out for me.  Imagine that.  

Somewhere between Chicago and New York, I finished up my first colorwork hat and shipped it finally to Kentucky, where it apparently arrived just in time - while we listen to rain bounce from the windowsills  (and thunder rumbles over the skyscrapers), Kentucky is wallowing in flurries (and can I tell you how glad I am to be rid of Chicago, just in time for the snow?)

More information about my Mom's Beaumont can be found here on Ravelry.   Maybe if we ask Mom nicely she will send us a picture of herself sporting her dandy little hat.

Something Else I Did in Hawaii

I knit!  A baby sweater, in fact.  See how happy little Doo is to model this for you?

Okay so maybe not so pleased.  But what a good sport!

This is the "Baby's First Christmas" pullover, in a hand-dyed, worsted mystery yarn! 

For details (not that there are many) see the Ravelry page here.  And this is what it looks like, sans pup:

Sick and Knitting

....which has nothing to do with being sick OF knitting (if there is such a thing!)  In fact, knitting (and my puppy)(and my Boy) are much of what got me though the last week of sniffling and coughing and general misery (and, yes, traveling for work...that again).

So while I canceled most of my plans to meet with friends and frolic and such, I created a Baby Sophisticate jacket.

This was supposed to be the larger size, but it seems terribly small to me.  It's too small for a puppy to model (yes, I tried).

Click here for project details on Ravelry.

Lorenzo's Granny Smith Apple Moss Blanket

I can't believe I didn't tell you about Lorenzo's blanket!  But I looked back over the summer and fall and there's just nothing there about a certain baby blanket I've been hauling around with me.

I guess that in a sea of cotton, yet another cotton blanket blends right into to woodwork.

First of all, meet Lorenzo.

Isn't he just the wee-ist scrunched up little man you've ever seen?  He lives right here in the suburbs of Chicago where I'm traveling these days.  The dude-ling weighs less than 6 pounds and he's three weeks old.  It's been a while since I saw a baby in such dire need of a handknit blanket.

Luckily, his mom told me about him early on during her pregnancy, so I had plenty of knitting time.  Since she didn't find out in advance whether she was having a Lorenzo or a Lorraine, a green scheme rules her nursery. 

There's just one problem.

Yes, all of the skeins were the same color, same dye lot, bought on the same day in the same store.  I'm sure I'm not the only one fixating on that streak.  I washed it twice hoping to blend it in some, but all I succeeded in during to turning the white edging yellow.

It's pretty edging, though.  Perhaps it will distract from the color inconsistency.

Once you stick that precious little wriggling bundle of a baby into it, who's going to notice a little streaking anyway?

Lorenzo's blanket is on Ravely, if you want to peek.  It's made from 100% cotton in a basic moss stitch, with an I-cord edging.

I Knit. Therefore, I Exist

Sorry I've  been en absentia.  I didn't make it home for three weeks.  I'm catching up on life right now, and heading back to Chicago again for work on the 6am shuttle.

But I survive.  I knit sometimes too.

 

This is Elijah the elephant, created our newest (human) addition to the dog park, named Lukas.  I didn't have time to whip up a blanket for the little guy, but Elijah will do just fine. 

Click here for details.

FO: Basic Blue Basketweave

 

While on vacation in Utah, we finished another baby blanket!  Good thing too, as the baby boy was born just three days before we knit the last stitch.  Now to get this little treat out in the mail.

(The blanket, I mean - the puppy stays with me.)

This one is all natural slubby cotton, soft and machine wash and dry. 

FO: Modern Baby Blanket #11

This one - baby Modern Log Cabin #11 -  has been allllmost finished for a long time now.

Those ends...they bogged me down and hid the loveliness of this blanket under a tangle of string.  But the call of a friend's upcoming girl baby (due in early October) compelled the colorful puddle of almost-a-blanket back into my arms.

 

One more done and none too soon, since I need to cast on for yet another baby blanket project (with lots of blue this time around) due any old day now. 

 

My overstock of Elann.com cotton is down to the very dregs and those dregs are unforgivingly pink.  I'm switching over to a different cotton for a while, and at a larger gauge!  Oh my!

 

I tried to knit some in the park with Doolin, but he's far too compelling to watch as he wiggles into his sunbeam.