if i had blogged in the last two days i would have shown you the progress i made on my wooly bear sock. as it happens, i got all caught up in negotiating a lot of non-knitting stuff (which is never good for my mood or my blog mojo), and ended up each day too late and not having anything blog-worthy.

i mean i knitted, but mostly on the big secret thing i can’t show you right now.

however late night knitting was somewhat fruitful

and now i have two completed caterpillar socks, one in each colorway. i know adam is nearly done dyeing yarn for the kits (only a few left last time we talked!), so it looks like we will both be ready at the same time. i really wanted to post the pattern last night but we ran into some trouble during the photoshoot.

there we were out in our yard at sunset, each of us with one pant leg pulled up, and one crazy (but wrinkle-free) sock on one foot, bending and twisting every which way to get some great caterpillar sock photos, while keeping our feet in attractive sock poses (heel up! foot arched! it’s really not easy to get a guy to do that).

yeah, we ended up with a couple blurry ones. and we reinforced our neighbors puzzlement about what exactly is these people’s fascination with their woolies about, that they need to take so many darn pictures of them, and what’s with the weird poses? is it something obscene, maybe? (to their credit, they were desperately trying to ignore us but it was futile). and why don’t they ever seem to be going off to work?
we just happened to hit prime time for spying on the neighbors yard maintenance and they were out in droves.

worse though, the light was a little strong for the yellow in the yarn and we got some too-strange results overall. the two colorways don’t seem to want to play nice when photographed together. back to the “studio” we go this afternoon and hopefully, i’ll have that pattern to post this evening.

or earlier if i can, because these arrived in the mail today

the rest of my eggplant and pepper starts; i’ll need to get those in the ground this evening too. and i really should do some cleaning of the beds while i’m out there. if there’s time.

ok, a word about my mail carrier. as you know, i adore her, but here’s another reason we should all love her.

the other day she was delivering yet another box of yarn, this time from michelle at the sweet sheep (i’ll show you in a sec), and marveling at how much more mail comes and goes and how thrilled she is about my business. she starts to head back to her mail van, and then turns.

“hey”, she says, “you didn’t by any chance get broken into last week did you?”
“no!” i said, “and i hope i never do.”
“oh good”, she said, “i was driving through the area on my rounds the other day and i saw a pickup truck with a spinning wheel in the back and i know you have a couple, so i got concerned.”
“oh well,” i said, “our local fiber show was this weekend and it was probably someone headed there.”
(here, my mind began to form images of a wily thief sneaking out my front door on tip-toe with my merlin tree wheel clutched to his chest—nonchalantly of course—trying not to raise any suspicions)
“and,” i added (trying not to smile), “it’s not the kind of thing most people would steal; hardly anyone actually knows how to use one.”
“you’re probably right,” she laughs, “but if you do hear of any stolen ones, i have the license plate of that truck.”
“wow, krystal, that is so great of you, thanks!”, i said.

seriously, how can we not love her?

so anyway, right now i have myriad small projects on the needles and one big project. most of the smaller ones are second socks that i’m working on in class, and whenever i go out (i hardly ever go out). and i pick them up here and there for late night knitting. but really, nothing new and interesting.

so last night i decided to fix that situation. i opened the box from the sweet sheep, which i knew held a bunch of sample of michelle’s new sock yarn, sweet socks

and wound off a couple of colors to experiment with for the fine-yarn version of the leaflet mitts (which i knit last week in catherine’s worsted weight yarn).

michele offers two put-ups of this squishy, soft, lovely sock yarn—regular sock skeins and humongous 750-yard skeins for shawls and bigger projects. you know, because sometimes, more IS more.

i started with that melon pink, which is awesome, but i really had my eye on the shamrock, which fairly glows with inner light and has been flirting outrageously with me since the first time i glimpsed its online photo (i’m serious).

so i decided to save the pink for another project and knit with the green. i worked out the mitt pattern for two yarn weights yesterday, so i can test the pattern as i go, and send it off to jocelyn, who is anxiously waiting to use it with her newly-plied handspun (and if you click on her link and go to her blog, she has a tale of two test knits there, featuring two very special knitters).

i got through some swatching for needle size and knit the cuff before calling it a night. so for those of you who really wanted to see this mitt in a nearly-solid colorway, here you go

i think i can finish one of these tonight (after the garden and after working on my big project).

you know, i didn’t think i had anything to say today and no knitting content. hehe. just goes to show how well i can go on about nothing.

ok, one last picture. sorry it’s a little dim; david took it through the window

this little fella lives in our back yard. we see very few bunnies here; there are too many cats, skunks, and possums, i think. but this baby appeared last week and has been hanging out. he loves our weeds, especially the clover that grows in the lawn. he doesn’t even flinch when i bang in and out the back door. we can sit there for half an hour together, but always when i don’t have the camera out with me (natch; he’s no dummy). but if i cough or clear my throat he takes off. i like him a lot.

but hear this: the minute he decides that my garden is a feast for him alone, he’s history.

UPDATED TO ADD:
just a quick note to say that i was in a pretty crappy mood last night and this morning and i absolutely did NOT feel the bloggy spirit. but now that i did, i feel SO much better and happy. i think that writing helps bring to mind all the humorous notes of the day, helps put things in perspective, and brings me face to face with the fact that things really do balance out . . . . thank you for bringing such a lot of fun and peace to my life!