picture perfect

ok, i know we all missed having pictures last time—at least, i did. i love the pictures! i love taking them, getting them ready to post, and then writing through them.
they help me to keep the writing moving along, and add punctuation to the page. or maybe they are a crutch, i don’t know; i am simply taken with the format of using pictures and writing together. it’s one way that blogging can be very different from printed books.

“okay,” you’re saying, “quit yakking and start with the pictures already!”

well, if you’re going to be that way about it, then HERE:

i think everyone can guess how excited i was when this arrived in yesterday’s mail! and can you help but notice how the calendar celebrated its arrival?! i have volume one and now the second. i don’t know how many books they intend to include in this series, but i am definitely getting them all, if not for practical reasons, then just to have the complete set for aesthetic reasons—they are, quite simply, gorgeous in their visual simplicity and clarity.

although many, many stitches in these books are already familiar to me, there ARE a bunch of new ones (particularly in this cables volume) to explore, and i very much appreciate the detailed photographs that these books offer—very well done. i will NOT use them as the guide that sits on my lap as i knit; unfortunately they are much too awkwardly bound for that . . . you almost HAVE to be knitting at a table to use these books. and somehow they seem more suited to the category of dress-up books, to be kept “for good”, and not used for everyday. but as books to dream on and use for reference, they get three thumbs up!

now, some of you might remember that i posted a picture of my sox stock a couple of weeks back and it was shamefully in favor of me and not the people who need them most, in terms of the number of completed socks i had on hand. and you know i’ve had four pair on the needles over the last month in various states of completion. well, i’m happy to report that things are looking up on the boy’s side (to the right) of the sock shelf:

i know i’m cheating by putting that one finished brown tweed on the top, but the other one is well on its way to joining the pile, so i figured it would be OK.
i know mark is anxious to see these lorna’s laces pinstripe sox done!

in fact, everyone seems to be especially taken with these socks; i wonder what it is about them? for me they have a vintage-y quality that reminds me of the old men in my brooklyn neighborhood park, who played bocce half the day. what about you? i want to know so i can add the same mojo to future pairs if possible! i also finished these blue two-tones out of handspun

the blue did not photograph as vividly as it actually is, but you get the idea. and while i was at it, i realized that i never showed a final photo of those cute stripey trekking sox i made last month

on which i experimented with persnickety knitter’s Anatomically Correct Sock Toes. sadly, those toes did not work so well for my exceptionally pointy foot, and that may be why i did not photograph the finished sox right away; i might have been hiding the fact that i ripped out those toes and reknit them in my usual, even-more-pointy, way! sorry. but everyone else should check out the anatomical toes at least once.

and the reason i’m blabbering on and on about the sox that are done, is to justify the fact that, even though i have several other pressing projects on my needles, and even though one little munchkin’s birthday is zooming toward me like a runaway train, yesterday i started two more pairs of socks. well, we need socks! and i need simple things to work on during classes this week (“oh brother,” i hear you groaning, “can’t you do better that that??”).

ok, i really just wanted to dip into the pile of handyed yarn i made last month . . . this is the white romney that i dyed in a combination of pale camo colors for david’s sox. it’s actually more pretty than military when knitted up; he’ll like it.

i also was itching to try another new-to-me commercial yarn i bought a while ago.

this is called marathon by GGH. it’s a lot like the trekking, though so far, it feels just a little softer, if am remembering the the trekking right (that is after only a few inches and not in a side-by-side comparison). anyway, this is the green/kiwi colorway and these sox are for me (can’t let the boy’s pile get too much higher than mine . . .)

now, i actually have a bunch more pictures of the birthday projects and such, but i think i am going to save those for tomorrow (don’t throw things!).
i KNOW everyone is anxious, especially about seeing the shrug!! but by tomorrow, i will have it off the circular needle and divided at the underarm onto the various sleeve and body sections, where you can see the whole thing a LOT better. trust me, it’s worth the wait. i tried to photograph it this morning and it’s just TOO bunched up on the one needle to see properly.

i can probably show a little more sundress action by tomorrow as well. and possible, maybe, i can even show the start of the second feather stole, which will become a shop sample (that first one was a gift). i am making the new one in this

and the other reason i am cheating you out of the shrug stopping early and saving the rest til tomorrow are these

we bought these last weekend with plans to get them in this past week. well tuesday, work completely ran away with the whole day. and then, the rest of the week it has rained in torrents. so the vegetable patch still looks like this

which is totally unacceptable. and though today started out gray, the sun is trying like crazy to come out, and i feel i must make the most of it, or we will not have tomatoes and peppers this year. plus, i have yet to get my basil plants bought!! and, i have a pile of work i should get done before tomorrow as well. yikes, i better get moving.