i confess—i couldn’t keep my hands off the mediterreanean sock yarn—and can you blame me? just look at those juicy blues and greens. so i caved, wound it up, and began swatching.
i started a sock with it last night which i won’t show you just yet; i want to get to a certain point with it to show off the full effect of the yarn and stitches together.
but i’ll give you this; it’s a great yarn to work with. the twist and texture are a lot like koigu, and it has lots of bounce, with great stitch definition. and the coloration is simply gorgeous; i keep stopping to look at how the colors are coming together and floating apart; it looks just like water.
i’m not sure if this qualifies for eye candy, but it certainly brought our house project to the next level for me. i dunno why, but i found the need to use one of these sort-of impressive. i thought seriously about asking one of them to take my sock up there and hold it for a photo (you know, for the inexplicable knitter behavior), because the guy who ran the job is married to a knitter i know and he might have understood this—i’m an optimist—but i decided the guys looked WAY too busy to deal with my shenanigans.
and now, of course, as i write this, i regret it.
at any rate, i’m glad the workmen decided that ladders were just too dangerous for the high areas of the house; i was more than a little squeamish about that.
and it made the job go a lot faster—they are gone, all done.
just in time, too; an hour after they finished last evening, it started raining.
the last few gloriously sunny days, warm temps, and now rain, have combined to orchestrate some major changes in our yard.
the bleeding hearts are up (oak leaves included for scale, and because well, they were there). this floors me; it seems like just a few months back back when they were growing last, and i was designing a stole for IK as a reflection on these tender little guys. was that really a year ago? wow.
looks like we’ll have a bumper crop of tulips this year
they are popping up everywhere. which is nice because last year we had precious few (that could’ve been due to a late snowstorm/freeze which killed a bunch of our plants in april). it could also be that david overcompensated for last year’s lack of them by planting lots and LOTS this year; i dunno. (tulips are a real favorite of mine, so he is insistent that we have waves of them in large quantities. hey—i’m not arguing)
i’ve been working out a new shawl design (and that sock i talked about) so i haven’t been knitting full force. i’ve spent a lot of time with my face buried in the knitting books, looking for the right edging or swatching (lots of swatching).
i like to get this kind of work out of the way during the week so i can knit a lot over the weekend.
however, i did start that sock, and i’ve been working on my two new scarves late at night. i have to promise the responsible side of myself that i will keep the impulsive side of myself away from them until i get a certain amount of other work done, because once i start, i can’t stop
i’m afraid though, that the progress isn’t that noticeable—i mean i knit and knit, but it doesn’t seem to amount to much. i can see it, but it doesn’t make for great blog fodder.
good thing it’s fun—i’m constantly saying to myself “i’ll go to bed after i finish this repeat”. but that’s a lie and i know it before the sentence is even out of my (imaginary) mouth i don’t. this one, in particular, really sucks me in
and i know you’d fall prey to the same syndrome. luckily, it is so tiny and light i can stick in in my pocket or purse and work on it it anywhere.
not that i go anywhere. but i could, and then i’d get more done on it, probably.
ok, now i’m sounding stupid; maybe i better go knit.
17 thoughts on “see the sea”
I am so happy to see those little tulip shoots in your garden! It gives me hope that spring will indeed come even here someday.
The new sock yarn is pretty….but I really LOVE that brick colored scarf!
Good timing for the gutters. And such a dramatic change in your yard! That’s what March/April are like (even here in Oakland, in a different way. Suddenly our grape went from dry sticks to leafy).
I have a skein of Sea Silk in apparently the exact colours of your sock yarn. I think mine will be a wavy (ocean) stole, or maybe rivery (should I say riparian to show off instead?) or…
oooh, those yarns really are luscious.
That sock yarn is wonderful.
I can’t wait until I can live in a place where I can grow bulbs. It’s too hot here in the winter.
Oh, I hate to disagree with the great and powerful Anne, but I think what you think are bleeding hearts are actually columbine. Both wonderful and lovely in the spring garden. I couldn’t pick one over the other as I love them both. As I love all your designs. Excuse the interruption.
I’m glad I’m not the only one having “I’ll go to bed after this” row, repeat, section, whatever conversations with myself! I’m trying to figure out the exact ration of need for sleep, work and knitting time that will still allow interaction with others and a clean home and laundry and somehow still get me more knitting time. So far the only rationale explanation is cloning and somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen…
I really wish there was pet-o-vision for yarns and swatches, but then I’d have to factor in time for that too I guess!
I still owe you a tulip story; I haven’t forgotten about it, but I’ve been (and still am) a bit overwhelmed, so I unfortunately got behind on a lot of things. I’m sorry about that. I’ll get to it as soon as possible. In the meantime, you at least have your tulips to enjoy! (It’s snowing here right now!)
What a beautiful, quiet street you live on. Makes this Californian just a little bit nostalgic for Cincinnati, Chicago, and Omaha.
Your lace is beautiful. I am really into blue yarns at the moment, it must be spring!
I love the red(dish)one.
Your photos of the gareden really bring home just how dramatic the arrival of Spring is over there. It seems like 5 minutes ago you were half-buried in snow and icicles, and now you’re looking at tulips.
Over here Spring arrives with a gradual increase of temperature, blossoms on the cherry trees, daffodils, daisies and less rain. Not nearly as noticeable.
The new scarves look great! But what really got my attention–how great a guy is David to plant tulips for you!
Ann I am freakin’ crazy about those new little something scarves and you know I will be doomed like the rest of us who are at the mercy of the yarn-pleasure goddesses when you release those patterns.
Hey I sure know the “oh just one more repeat” routine. Something about morning just gets in the way, the night is WAY too short and really fries me when I realize I actually HAVE to put down my knitting. Harumph. Maybe I just came from the wrong planet, but meantime I will persevere and keep knitting when I can, as you will.
I love the preview of what’s to come in the flower department. Nothing like that here, yet. Sigh. . . .
Hurry, hurry and finish the scarves and the sock! Love the sock color. Yea!
The bleeding hearts are lovely. (Which reminds me, I should hurry up and knit more lace so I can get to the bleeding heart stole.)
The yarns and scarves are stunning!!
I just love seeing those little green leaves peeking out of the mud and leaves – such encouragement to us all.
Your bleeding hearts look suspiciously like my columbine (or maybe mine is truly bleeding hearts and I am going to be surprised!)
I am sooning over that mediterriean (cannot spell it tonight) sock yarn – sigh. It’s divine. Reminds me of the water near Greece.
It actually snowed all day here yesterday. Grrrrr…. Going to cast on with some wildly colourful handpainted to try to compensate.
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