Livin' La Needle Loca

...because I started another pair of socks! But we'll get to that in a bit. First, here is a picture of our hydrangeas in progress: There are a few flowers on the bush that are fully bloomed. They are all coming in pink this year; last year they were purple and pink. Something has changed in the soil, which has affected the color. At any rate, they are really interesting at this stage with the different shades of green and the pink just starting around the edges. OK, on to the knitting. I started the Eleanor socks by Monkey Toes [ Ravelry ] with the BMFA club yarn for May 2009. I've finished the K1P1 cuffs and just started the pattern section: The yarn is looking a lot darker than I thought it was in the skein. It will be interesting to see how it works in the pattern. Up this weekend: House cleaning! We feel the need to get things in order and get rid of some clutter. In between, I want to finish up the Lisa Sousa batts I've been spinning and, of course, knitting some soc...

...presenting: Fraggled Socks [ Ravelry ]: Yeah, I started another one! What can I say...I loved the pattern and the yarn from this month's Rockin' Sock Club. I wasn't sure how well the pattern would show up in the yarn because the yarn has so many wonderful shades of purple and gray—it would be a shame to hide them in the pattern. I decided to make the pattern in another Socks That Rock Lightweight that I had in my stash...this is Turquoise. So far I love the combination! As for the club yarn, I think I'm going to use Eleanor by Monkey Toes [ Ravelry ]. I've had the pattern in my queue for a while and I think it will work well. I tried a Sundara sock pattern that I had from my Petals Collection club, but like the Rockin' Sock Club pattern, it had too many elements that hid the beauty of the yarn. Going into time out for a little bit are the Stranded Hearts Socks. I need to figure out which way to do the gusset. I tried the double-moss stitch version for a few...

...orange! Ok, not my favorite color, but I do love these two things. First, a tiger lily: I've been trying to get a picture of this flower for a few days, but kept missing it. The other is the blood orange yarn that I finished: and the close up: Specs Started 5/16/90 Finished 5/23/09 BFL top from Sakina Needles Spun and Plied on Lendrum DT wheel Yards : 225+ two ply WPI : 12 I'm happy with the way this yarn turned out. I still need a bit more practice to get my two-ply yarns more even, but I am improving with each attempt, so it's all good. OK, back to knitting and enjoying the rest of my holiday!

...my Rockin' Sock Club installment!! I absolutely adore this color!! It's so "me"! The pattern looks challenging and interesting. I don't know if I have the will power to keep from starting this right away! (HA!) Hmmm, maybe one of my current sock WIPs will have to go on time-out...

...I have a work project that must be finished today, so not a lot of time to blog. Today's picture is a cactus flower. This cactus produces lots of red flowers with thick stalks: Up this weekend: spinning, knitting, resting, and reading...oh, and maybe a few chores thrown in there somewhere. (LOL!) For those who have Monday off for Memorial Day, enjoy the extra day to play!

...just plugging away on the same projects! I've finished the cuffs on the Stranded Hearts socks and have started the heel section. The more I work on this pattern, the more I love it! I finally finished watching Slumdog Millionaire last night. I really enjoyed the movie, but I think I'll have to watch it again so I can see it without interuptions. And a bigger screen might help...those boxes with the English translations were really small on my TV. I'm catching up on some sleep, but I'm still dragging. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend...maybe I'll be able to catch up then! Obligatory sky picture:

...a little insomnia mixed with no electricity yesterday is not a great combination. I'm skipping Knit Night tonight so I can catch up a bit. Except for the insomnia hangover on Saturday, it was a pretty good day. It was really hot, but I still managed to steam my floors and get a few things done. Then I spun this most of the day: Yeah, it's a new project. (told ya!) This is Blood Orange BFL top from Sakina Needles. I'm spinning a little thicker than I usually do, so I finished both bobbins...about 2 ounces of fiber on each. I also finished bobbin #1 of Purr-ple and started bobbin #2. This one's a bit thinner: When my hands got tired of spinning, I did a few rows on the Stranded Hearts socks... ...and a few rows on the Under the Sea sock. Sunday started as a normal day. I went to the grocery store for the week's supplies and planned on making this great hot-weather dinner—Mustard Chicken Waldorf Salad. We had a quick lunch and I starting spinning more of the Blood O...

...I say to-mah-to : The Husband's tomato seedlings are growing fast! While most people might plant two or three tomato plants, he plants like 30. I asked him why he plants so many and he implied it's because I buy him so many seeds. Well, I never said he had to plant them all!! The garden is busy producing fruit, like little apricots: and baby apples: There are a few flowers that are still blooming. Here as a red nasturtium and a bud that are growing in one of our window boxes: On the craft front, I haven't done any spinning since Sunday. I've been pretty much consumed by the Under the Sea socks [ Ravelry ]. I have finished the toe and am working on the first pattern repeat. So far, so good...keep your fingers crossed that it continues to go well! Up this weekend: steam the floors (go, little Shark , go!) and do some general cleanup. Then I can spin, quilt, knit, or do something crafty! A lot will depend on how hot the weather gets...quilting is not a lot of fun in th...

...an uncontrollable need to start a new project even though I already have a multitude of WIPs. (see Yarn Harlot for the real definition) I have it. I started this last night: These are the Under the Sea socks from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club installment for March. I had wound the yarn, but was waiting until I finished Roguish Roses (and we all know how well that went!). I was bored last night and started them anyway. Originally, I wasn't even going to try this pattern because it's a toe-up pattern — my track record with toe-up is not pretty. However, I was talking to someone at Knit Night on Monday about toe-up socks and I thought I'd give it another try. I also decided that since I received the second Loopy Ewe Sock Club installment (see below), I better get my act together because the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock club installment will be right on its heels! (HA!) OK, so maybe one start doesn't qualify as Start-itis, but there are many projects calling out from my various...

...even if it didn't go exactly as I planned it. I just kept getting side-tracked and it was mostly my own doing! First off, since the Husband is busy re-tiling my shower, I've had to use his bathroom. I realized it needed a little freshening, so I bought new rugs and towels for it. The Husband replaced the shower head in there (Thank goodness--it was very weak!) and I did a deep clean. I had recently bought one of those Shark Floor Steamers (Thanks for the tip, Jane!) and it did a bang-up job on the tile floor. His bathroom looks so much nicer now! While I had the steamer out, I did the kitchen, living room, and hall floors. I still need to do the Daughter's room and my sewing room, but I need to shift some stuff around first. Doing the floors and a general pickup, and the trip to Target, took up a good chunk of the weekend. For Mother's Day, the Husband volunteered to do a barbecue lunch for his parents. He decided to do a tri-tip and make Santa Maria-style piquin...

So how about some May flowers? A pink butterfly bush (Guara lindheiri) flower: Plumbago (Leadwort) flowers: and a pink bower vine flower: The garden is blooming away and it's very hard not to take pictures of all the flowers...you can only have so many pictures of the same flower before they all start looking the same! I'm trying to make progress on the Stranded Hearts socks, but I'm finding it hard to concentrate on knitting. I managed to knit 3 rows on the socks before I got bored. Now that I've finished Argosy, I really wanted something different to work on. I spent a little time last night putting away partially-used skeins of yarn and the needles from the last few projects I finished. I looked at a few knitting patterns and at my WIPs, but nothing really grabbed me. I really wanted to do some spinning, but there wasn't enough time last night ot pull out the wheel and get things prepped. Instead, I pulled out my trusty Spindlewood spindle and a 2-ounce bump of...

...the Argosy scarf [ Ravelry ] is finally finished! OK, maybe it still needs to be blocked (details, details!). Here is Bjorn trying to model it: It's 65 inches long, so it sort of overwhelms him! Here is is without Bjorn in the picture: Specs: Started 1/24/09 Finished 5/5/09 Pattern : Argosy by Vyvyan Neel Yarn : Noro Silk Garden Lite, color 2023 Needles : US 6 I love how the colors flowed on this scarf. Once it's blocked, the edges will look a lot crisper. I'm really happy with the way that his turned out! Now I need to turn my attention to the Stranded Hearts socks [ Ravelry ]. The next installment of the Rockin' Sock club arrives at the end of this month and I want to be close to finished with these socks so I can start the club socks (assuming, of course, that I like the sock club pattern!).

...doesn't always work the way you think it should. I thought that the Watermelon Rind yarn was going to look cool with one ply mostly green and the other mostly pink. So I was not happy when I got this: It's OK, but not what I had in mind, The colors are muddied and although I spun the bobbins as randomly as I could, when I started to ply them, some of the greens plied together and some of the pinks plied together...Ha-rumpf! As soon as I saw where this yarn was heading, I stopped plying. I decided that the best (and quickest) thing to do was to ply the two singles with a cream single. In my stash, I still had a large bump of Corriedale top from Woodland Woolworks (they generously gave me a large amount of "practice" fiber when I bought my wheel). I spun up about 3 ounces of the cream and let it sit overnight. On Sunday, I tried plying the yarn again...success! I'm much happier with this yarn: ...and the close-up: Specs: Started 4/22/09 Finished 5/3/09 Falklan...

Finished: 4/26/09 Andromeda Merino-silk top from the Yarn Wench ; 237+yards, Navajo-plied ; 14 WPI [ Ravelry ] 4/18/09 Fuzzy Lamb by Fuzzy Mitten (knitting) [ Ravelry ] IDJ (It's Dead, Jim) Roguish Roses Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Worked on: Argosy scarf (knitting) [ Ravelry ] February Lady Sweater (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started: 4/26 Stranded Hearts Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 4/20 Corrugator Scarf (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 4/11 Fuzzy Lamb (knitting) 4/10 Roguish Roses Socks (knitting) Works In Progress, did not work on: Black leg warmers in Caron Simply Soft yarn (knitting) Morning Surf Scarf (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Sea Foam Wrap (knitting) [ Ravelry ] UFOs: Angora Cottage 70% Merino and 30% Silk 4 oz.roving in purple [ Ravelry ] Cascade Fixation anklets (knitting) Central Air socks (knitting) Chasing Rainbows Heather--one Merino-Bombyx (2 oz) and one Merino wool (2 oz) (spinning) Dogosaurus Rex sweater (knitting) [ Ravelry } Flower Power quilt; top finished, need to sandwic...

...courtesy of a lone raspberry bush: We planted this bush years ago and I amazed it keeps growing back every year. Of course, being planted right next to the water faucet in the front yard might help! I am knitting away on both the Argosy Scarf and the Stranded Hearts Socks. I work on the socks at lunchtime and work on the scarf at night while I watch TV. I'm making progress, it's just slow... I still need to compile my April recap, so that will be posted separately. Up this weekend: it's supposed to rain all weekend. Oh, darn...guess I have to stay inside! (LOL!) I will ply the Watermelon Rind singles to finish that yarn. I may try to do a little quilting, but we'll see how that goes. I really just want to finish something!