(this is at 1 pm today, ugh)
though the bitter cold of the pre-christmas week is gone, there’s still a definite chill in the house almost constantly right now. we’ve had plenty of damp and rain this week, with intermittent flurries, but no real snow yet (though all the surrounding regions are struggling to get out from under the brutal winter weather)
maybe today is the day. seems like when we have this in-between weather, the house just can’t stay as warm inside—i feel cold almost all the time. we do have a few defenses
mmm, soup for dinner—or any time—i feel warmer just thinking about it. we keep a good-sized bucket of it in the fridge that can be heated at a moment’s notice. hot vitamins in a bowl just can’t be bad.
and then of course, we are headed to sunny, southern california next week, so we will have our day in the sun.
yep—winter TNNA is once again in san diego this year, so we’re taking full advantage of the opportunity to visit my good friend kim and her family for some fun and relaxation and SUN. she tells me it’s going to be in the 70s next week out there.
bring. it. on.
i’m still being very loyal to my one big (secret) project this week but i can tell you that it won’t be for much longer—i am honing in on finishing it in the next couple of days, yay. interesting that so many people told me it reminds them of a food—it is named after a vegetable. and the yarn color constantly makes me think of lettuce.
after that, i’ll be free for a while to work on public projects without restrictions, so i’m thinking now about what to get on the needles to travel with and what lies beyond. besides the poppy socks (which are three-quarters complete now) and the wiggle scarf (about halfway there or a little more), i’m playing around with a new sock yarn from mona and stephanie at dye dreams
this is a lovely merino/nylon sock yarn called dream sox (ravelry link; the yarn isn’t in their shop yet, but you can see a description on ravelry)
it’s the same weight as lorna’s laces and araucania ranco, but it has an extremely silky texture and a little more twist, so i’m finding it’s a bit more responsive and springy on the needles with a beautiful hand.
i’m working out a sock design for the first installment of their new four seasons sock club.
i chose to work with this lovely rose tonal blend because we are aiming for a february release time; what better way to brighten up february than with a little rose? i’ve been swatching away and i think i found a motif i want to work with
it’s a rather large panel of twining leaves that i’m hoping will look spectacular traveling down the leg of a sock. i’m considering scaling down the size of the leaves by a couple of sts, but i’m not sure yet—maybe, maybe not. at any rate, it’s one of those patterns that promise not to let me pout it down once i get started (we love that!).
that’s definitely going on the needles today so i can really dig into it when my big secret project is done.
speaking of socks, you know how i normally abhor mending or salvaging socks, right? and how i’ve often made fun of david for sewing up sock holes and adding (shudder) patches to his beloved handknit ones?
well it seems my day has come
i’ve only worn these socks once or twice—see how brand-new they look? they’re my warmest, bestest defense against especially cold days, so i reserve them for that. but when i went to pull them on last week, i not only found a hole in an odd spot in the center top of the foot
i discovered it went right through to the bottom as well. what??
i knew almost immediately what the culprit was—not a moth, not a mouse, not wear and tear.
it was the laundry chute.
david adores the laundry chute—it’s just one of those old-house gadgets that he’s smitten with. the chute does not love me or my clothes, however—countless t-shirts, knickers, and lounge pants that belong to me get mysteriously snagged in the chute (this has never happened to david’s clothes).
so far, nothing truly important has been ripped, though i hate it when it happens to an old, soft t-shirt. this however, is different—this is my knitting and it’s new and it’s a favorite. plus, the yarn is handspun—i just can’t throw it out when it’s hardly been used. it must be fixed. luckily, i have some leftover yarn
while i’m at it, i’m also going to fix another nearly-new pair of handspun sox in which the heels inexplicably blew out after only a few wearings
this bugs me too, but i have a feeling that though the yarn is cozy-warm, it just wasn’t right for heel wear. in this case i’m going to nip out the heels completely and replace them with an alpaca/border leicester blend that should wear a lot better.
it means i’ll have to do both heels even though just one of them is worn, but it’s worth the trouble.
this is a good project for TV knitting, maybe tonight. i think i can take care of both pair in one sitting and put these back into circulation again quickly.
alright, now, i’m going to go knit soon. but first i want to show off an FO that janet brought to class on monday—she’s been working on her honeybee stole off and on for about a year, but really picked up steam with it in the fall
doesn’t she look pretty in it? janet bought the kit from wooly wonka fibers when it was released in august, 2007. we are all excited that she’s finally going to wear it—the question is, what will she knit next?
35 thoughts on “midweek medley”
I have been cooking lots of soup as well. Nothing better for cold gloomy days!
Perhaps David could line his beloved laundry chute with new panelling? Then you both could be happy. He seems to love projects….
So jealous you are going to TNNA. It is only a hour south of me, wish it was open to the public!
Bad David! he should lovingly carry your hand spun socks down to the laundry room and hand wash them with care. 😉 Men.
My laundry chute is like the Bermuda Triangle! I can sympathize!!!
We used to have a laundry chute when I was a kid. I always thought it was pretty cool. Our current laundry room is upstairs with the bedrooms, which is a wonderful thing. If you can reach the snaggy parts in your chute, perhaps some well-placed duct tape would smooth them out and save your clothing. If that doesn’t work, I think I’d put precious handknits in a pillowcase to send down the chute. Have fun in San Diego–I am so jealous! I hope you’ll take lots of pics and tell us all about it so we can be warm and play with yarn vicariously through you!
Hmmm… I wonder what kind of sacrifice would satisfy the laundry chute gods enough for them to leave your precious handspun socks alone?
I’ve never subscribed to a sock club, but this one looks really tempting! When I went to the Vermont S&W festival, I only bought fibre – except for one skein of sock yarn, and it was from Dye Dreams: I simply couldn’t resist the gorgeousness of their BFL sock yarn and their lovely dyeing. Why, oh why did you have to mention the sock club?!?
David should line your laundry shoot with stainless steel…nice and slippery 🙂 LOLOL – Stainless steel can’t be beat! I can’t wait to see how you will repair your socks!!! I’m hopeful that you can snip the bad portion and redo it-it makes me tremble. Maybe knitting the portion a whole different way? I hope you will show us. Lovely pictures of socks and the stole..WTG 🙂
Whatever that mystery thingy is, it looks like a scrunchy salad at the moment. Can’t wait.
Sorry about the socks. I had a pair that had a mystery hole in the middle of the top before I ever wore them. I debated mending, then decided just to frog back and reknit. Please do show us how you go about the mend. I procured a lovely old cedar sock egg, just in case.
wow, i didn’t realize that TNNA happened so close by; i’m in orange county! apparently last year’s was in long beach, which is even closer. next year i need to get on this! this year i’m going on a meditation retreat from the 18th to the 21st & probably can’t manage a trip on the 17th in addition to taking all that time off. 🙁
Are you not just sick to death of the gray out there? If we’d get some real snow I wouldn’t mind, but we’ve had very little.
Your soup looks yummy. I am planning a pot of bean soup in the very near future. Or maybe split pea. Mmm.
I have a sock awaiting mending. It’s my son’s…I fixed the first one last year after he wore a hole in the bottom, now he’s done the same to the other. He loves these socks, so not doing it is not an option. :}
The rose socks are beautiful! Have fun in San Diego — the one time I was there, it was May, rainy and about 55 degrees the entire time. Luckily, I was there for a conference, not a vacation, but it was still disappointing…
That soup looks fabulous!
We have an old house, too (1926) that has a laundry chute. For some unfathomable reason, someone put a nail into the wall of the chute so once in a while an item gets caught on the nail and hangs there until we rescue it. I could see that ending very poorly with a hand-knit item.
How long is your chute? Can you reach up/down into it to fix any catching places?
I think that those socks are fixing worthy too…they are lovely. What a bummer to have them snag up like that.
Bee…….every time I see her I swoon. 🙂
Wow! Go Janet! Her stole is beautiful!
Have a safe trip. It sounds nice and warm there….
I imagine that fixing socks is no fun. I’ve only successfully knit one pair and had a hole at one toe after a few wearings (bad kitchener I think). They are still sitting in my room, waiting and waiting…
Oh, it’s too bad about the sock. Yes, you have to fix it. The soup looks so good! I know it was. I can’t wait to see your newest secret project. Enjoy San Diego!
Anne- I want you to feel no guilt whatsoever about the people left behind in the snow and cold.
The Bee has been on my priority list, along with Irtf’a, Icicle, Autumn Arbor, Gnarled Oakwoods……
Sorry about the socks. I have two pair that are not being worn due to holes (but our laundry chute is a simple hole in the floor so no snags there).
Your photography is beautiful.
Okay, I’m going back home to Ohio in February for a few days, and it had better snow a ton. I have a Hot Waffles set here that needs to be worn and a new wool sweater, almost off the needles. South Georgia weather is not conducive to wool wearing, so I’ve got my fingers crossed. Now go outside and do a snow dance!!
My mother is the last person living who darns her socks. (The big, thick, store-bought, wool ski socks, that is; she doesn’t bother with the flimsy $5/5 pair kind.) I remember her coming home when I was a child with bags of darning cotton, purchased at estate and yard sales of thrifty Depression-era women. I laughed at her then, but that was before I started to knit–you bet your sweet bippy I’d darn my handknits now.
I ramble, but you may tell David that there’s at least one other person out there who shares his devotion to preserving quality footwear.
I love your new sock motif! And you’re right — combined with that yarn, it’s just perfect for February. Good luck staying warm (fixed socks should help a lot with that, plus the soup); soon for sunny weather!
Boo for having to mend socks, and for clothes-eating laundry chutes!
I will think of you in sunny California. I am on the northern end of the west coast splashing around in rainy Oregon. I hope you have a wonderful time.
I would be interested in seeing your sock repair. I have a precious pair of hand-knit socks that are waiting for a little darning.
I can’t wait for your visit. Compare to last week, it will be warm next week. Janet’s Honey Bee Stole is very pretty. Mine is still half way done and waiting for me to pick it back up.
That soup looks YUMMY! But, you are right, you will definitely warm up in California.
ANd go Jane, with her styling Honeybee! Looks fab…always great to finally get a UFO off the needles!
Love the new motif, btw =)
Oh yeah baby. 75 Freakin’ Degrees. And a big yellow blob in the sky. Bring your sunglasses; ditch the coat. WooHOO!!!!!
Have a wonderful time in San Diego! Up here near Sacramento, we will be near 60, so down south on the coast it should be even warmer and sunnier.
I love that rosy pink yarn and the leaf motif.
And congratulations to Janet; her Honeybee stole is beautiful.
I recently found a hole in my first ever pair of knit socks…a couple of years old but I can’t remember the exact date. I don’t have the same yarn anymore but I plan to try to repair them all the same. There may end up being a small bit of color on the bottom of one sock, but I can’t bare the thought of throwing them out!
Enjoy sunny San Diego! When I was there last we took a tour of the USS Midway Museum; I’m not normally into such things, but it was fascinating.
Oooh what a bright fun shade of pink! And I love that motif too. I have not had to repair socks yet, and don’t look forward to it.
congratulations to jan! very nice. i’ve had my bee fields kit about as long as she’s had her kit, and i’m just now approaching the end (almost. poor, neglected bee…)
i think i may be jealous of your upcoming trip. i’m starting to get tired of being cold. and not seeing the sun. i keep pulling out whispering pines to add some color to life. and speaking of color, that is quite a lovely little sock yarn. looks fun! (and i’m not much of a sock knitter…maybe it just takes the right yarn…)
Have a great trip!
I had a laundry chute in the house I grew up in. I used to swear it ate clothes! I can relate!
Lovely motif!
I CANNOT believe I’m over a month behind on your blog! How did I let this happen? Love the leafy/rose motif for the February sock! Should be about done now, right? Off to the next post I go…
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