sun? no wait, rain!—no—sun! no . . .

well, the sun WAS out this morning, but i see now that it was just taunting me! we are having a major rainstorm as i write!
it has been gloomy all week here. for two days it threatened rain, but none came! we took the bikes out last night despite the threatening clouds, and we had the most amazing ride! and we no sooner got back to the house than the sky cracked open and the flood came. so we didn’t even have to water the garden!
again, i LOVE being in sync with the universe!

i have been working away on so many things at once that i’m not sure where to even begin. the Vine Flower Dress sample is done,

and the pattern is available! and not only is this pattern available, but i have moved one step closer to making all the patterns more available! we (meaning david) added a button on the sidebar there where you can download a catalog (i did that part) of knitspot patterns and the instruction for ordering them; so far, this system is working well, but it has inspired my friend melissa to start work on a real store page as well (for which i am deeply indebted)! HOORAY!

i’ve been working on the shawl and have gotten a couple of repeats of the deep edge band done. here is the shawl relaxing where i threw it last night, as i finally sat down after working a really long day.

i didn’t feel like knitting anything difficult at that point, so the shawl got to watch TV last night instead of working as usual. here is another shot of the fabulous light play that i continuously marvel at with this piece

if you look closely, you can see where a breeze started blowing in the door and made the fabric move—that’s how lightweight it is!
i started these sox on sunday, simply out of a perverse need to a) try a new yarn,

and b) try my new knitpicks double points.
i know, the yarn IS pretty. it is a hemp, wool, and mohair blend i bought at wooster from DZined. however, i am having a problem loving it. i am thinking it is not a good yarn for socks. i am going to try it on these other needles before i decide.
which brings me to the needles. ahem.
let me just say that i have hoped, pined, and dreamed for DPNs that are just like addi’s for almost as long as i have loved addi’s. so i was pretty, pretty excited when knitpicks announced their new addi-like-only-better needles
well, heh, i dunno. they are awfully heavy. the points are really nice and i will certainly use the circulars happily for my lace knitting if they will only come out with some bigger sizes!!
but the DPNs—mmm, i’m rather lukwarm. the surface of the needle is indeed, gloriously slippery and quick. the points are pointy and pick up stitches nicely, though they are a tad sharp, but that doesn’t bother me. the weight bothers me a lot. i’ll keep you updated.

in other sock news, these green camoSox are heading now down the homestretch, with one complete and the second past the heel and into the foot.

these are my desk sox now, so you may see little progress for a while and then suddenly, some day when i have a lot of printing or file transfers, you will see the inches pile on!

and then i have class this afternoon and evening, and i know for sure that i will be teaching the short-row heel to debbie and beckie, so i have actually spent some time preparing for class today!

that is, instead of the usual, off-the-cuff lessons i am fond of. these are worksheets about picking up wraps. now i do this a certain way, but that way is difficult to teach, so i grabbed this method off of Wendy Knits!, because it’s easier to demonstrate and explain (even though i still, in private, do it it my own way on my own sox!—it’s hard to break old habits).

anyway, besides printing out these instructions, which is not much prep at all, i also got this sock down to the point where the heel starts

so i can demonstrate it especially well. BTW, this GGH marathon is quite nice. it’s a lot like trekking but softer. the striping feels more random than most self-striping yarns, but as you can see, it DOES have a repeat (but so do some of the trekking ones, i found).

now i am NOT a fan of matching sox, but get this: these are matching exactly, and i did not even try, even a little to make it so!!

again with the syncing of the universe?! what do you think?