Dolores and more

I thought I posted my last Tour de Sock pair.  Here they are.  The toes are supposed to be that way.

Dolores needed a new pal since she didn’t have Jasmine the cat anymore.  I knit her a Harry.  He’s dressed for Poetry Appreciation night.  Dolores is dressed for Martini Appreciation night.  I liked the olive and martini glass pattern on her dress and tote.

My current project is a national park blanket/throw.  It has all the national park theme yarns in it.  It is a very long term project.

Tour de Sock, stages 2-5

Stage 2, Diversion

Stage 3,  Ancient Path

Stage 4, MondKristall

Stage 5, Prism

Haleakala National Park

One of the many parks that will stay on my imaginary trip list is Haleakala.  I have managed to visit all of the 48 states.  The last two never worked into my plans.  I wonder what volcanoes must be like.  I imagine that there are exotic flowers everywhere and that the air is full of their scent.  I even want to taste that uniquely Hawaiian treat, shave ice.  Alas, I expect I will be limited to this souvenir yarn from Knitted Wit.

Beyond Enhancement

The self striping yarn from Must Stash showed up today.  Anything that comes into stash now is officially beyond stash enhancement.  The color with a lot of brown in it is Woodstock 50.  The one with a lot of gray is Ready Player One.

Shop Therapy

I’ve been sick.  I miss my cat and have been wondering if I should get a new one.  The country has reached a new level of stupid and it makes my head hurt.

To offset some of this nastiness, I have been following some dog people on Twitter.  I think they may show up other places, but that’s where I see them.  If you need some sweetness and happy, I recommend them.  I’ve Pet That Dog is 10 year old Gideon from Iowa.  His goal is to pet all the dogs.  He posts pictures daily of the dogs he pets along with a charming story about the dog.  We Rate Dogs is Matt the dogfather whose daily posts include a rating (never less than 11 out of a possible 10) for that day’s dog.  Once a week, a dog is featured whose caregivers are overwhelmed by medical costs.  It gives you a little faith in humanity when you see how fast each goal is met.  The Golden Ratio is a group of mostly rescue golden retrievers.  I think there are six at the moment.  They are all cuties with distinctive personalities.  Their caretakers do not hesitate to give love and care to even the oldest and sickest puppers.  It is very positive and I enjoy their adventures.  Go find them and discover the importance of waffles, carrots, a rock in Florida, and a shark.

This should be enough, even for a yarn junkie who suspects she may have achieved SABLE (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy).  It wasn’t.  I changed my National Park project. The new project requires 3 more skeins.  When I ordered one from Miss Babs, I saw this and decided to get it.

Then there were emails from Must Stash.  They do the best self striping yarns.  Ready Player One is a rainbow on a gray background.  I liked it and having read the book recently, the yarn kept calling.  I was good until a well-timed email caused me to give in.  I also got a 50th anniversary of Woodstock skein.  It has a zillion stripes with each one representing a band that was there.

That was more than enough until the train wreck/dumpster fire was last week.  I saw the newest Dolores kit on the WEBS site.  It is a cute sundress with a martini glass fair isle border.  Clickety click, I’ll have that.  And since Dolores no longer has a cat companion, I got the Harry kit too.  He’s a  ball of yarn that features in many of her adventures.

Yeah, I have been here before.  I may be here again.  In the meantime, I’ll be working on Tour de Sock stage 4.  Ever hear of first sock syndrome?  I think I just invented it.  I want to do anything but finish one stupid toe.

Socks

I decided to behave myself and work on my Tour de Sock pair instead of the patchwork queue jumpers.

The TDS sock is called Ancient Path.  It has fancy colorwork cables on it.

Judging by my credit card bill, I have been doing much better with not indulging in yarn.  The exception is this Shiver of Socks kit.  It is for celebrating Shark Week, so it was a necessary purchase.  Also I had a credit at Jimmy Beans.

Pillows

I finally got a pillow form for the Shadow Magic pillow.  The colors are from the yarn advent calendar I got last year.

I completed a Franklin Habit KAL for a counterpane pillow.  I weighed the leftover yarn and there should have been enough for a second pillow.  I knit it, but needed 10 grams of another color to finish the back.  Not only do swatches lie, scales do too.

I learned a new knitting phrase this week:  queue jumper.  I saw a pattern I really liked, discovered it was already in my Library, and found a ball of the recommended yarn in my stash.  And when I say found, I mean it wasn’t where it should have been.  The minute I realized it wasn’t in the proper bin, I glanced up and spotted it on top of a mixed up pile across the room.  I considered this to be a sign from the universe that I was supposed to drop everything and knit these socks.  These socks are a queue jumper.  I am behind two squares on an afghan KAL and the next stage of Tour de Sock starts today.  I am still knitting merrily away on these socks.

Tour de Sock 2019 Round 1

The socks are a pattern called Fledermaus.  I don't think I care for twisted stitches anymore.

Yellowstone and Banff National Parks

I visited both of these parks on a single trip.  Most of my memories are not the best, due to car troubles and relationship troubles.  The car continued to be a royal pain for the next 3 years.  I continued to be a royal pain for about a year.  Some people should never be married and I would put myself high on that list.

As usual, I digress.  I would put both parks on the wish I could visit again list.  Banff is in the Canadian Rockies and is beautiful.  I remember thinking that they were even nicer than the Rockies in Colorado.  This is especially sacrilegious because that was where I was living at the time.  Even if you’ve never heard of Banff, you have probably seen pictures of gorgeous Lake Louise.  I remember seeing wildlife including moose and bighorn sheep.  There was a bear visiting one of the campgrounds we stayed at but there was no way I was going to go wandering around looking for it.

My souvenir yarn Yellowstone came from Knitted Wit:

The Banff yarn is a substitute for the yarn I really wanted.  It has some of the colors.  It is Malabrigo Mechita:

I have yet to settle on a project for the souvenirs.  There are a lot more parks and yarns to share in the meantime.

I have started on the annual Tour de Sock, which should keep me busy into September.  This year’s event is not competitive because the organizer is taking a year off to do family stuff.  Every 10 days we pick a pattern from a list of free patterns and we whip them up.  I have a major case of second sock syndrome which is why I am posting this instead of knitting.  The pair I am doing have more twisted stitches than I thought would appear on any sock.

Riding Mountain National Park

There’s a third category on my National Parks list:  almost visited.    Riding Mountain is a Canadian park in Manitoba.  My mother’s parents came from Manitoba. When I was young, they wanted to take me with them on a trip there.  I decided for some weird reason that I didn’t want to go.  It was more than 35 years before I got a chance to visit the province.  Unfortunately I did not get to Riding Mountain.  If I had gone on the first trip, I could hardly have missed it.  The closest town to the park is Dauphin, where my grandparents are from.

I managed to miss the US National Parks 100th anniversary in 2016 and Canadian National Parks 150th anniversary in 2017.  If I had started this project earlier, more souvenir yarns would’ve been available.  Fleece Artist did a whole series covering the Canadian parks.  They are pretty, unique, and no longer available.  I used pictures of their Riding Mountain yarn to select a souvenir.

This skein from Hedgehog Fibres is a pretty good consolation prize.

Dry Tortugas National Park

I visited the Dry Tortugas  just before it was officially a national park.  I still count it as a park I actually visited.  It is a group of tiny islands about 70 miles from Key West.  It is the southernmost place I have been on the planet and the most exotic. My traveling companion showed me how to go snorkeling.  The water was so clear.  I enjoyed swimming with the fishes.

My souvenir yarn came from Knitted Wit.  I think the colors captured the Dry Tortugas very well.

National Parks project

I knit a log cabin blanket to go in my imaginary camper for the imaginary part of my parks trip.

It is made from 13 colors of Lion Brand Heartland.  Each color is inspired by a different US National Park.

I have been collecting souvenir yarn to represent both my real trips and the ones I wish I could take.  Stories and pictures should follow pretty soon.

RIP Jasmine

My little furry pal Jasmine is gone.  The vet found a tumor before Christmas and said she wouldn’t be around much longer.  In true cat fashion she proved him wrong.  Six months was more than I expected.

Dolores is not known for her patience with other critters.  Jasmine liked to snuggle up with her.  The sheep tolerated it and did it without being bribed with martinis.

Actually Finished Hats

Das Homin

Thrift Hat

Crofthoose Hat

Roadside Beanie

There are a couple more that are in the redo or toss categories so I didn’t include them.  I thought I was done with this Shetland hat binge.  Then I spotted a pattern whose profits go for some medical equipment in the Shetlands.  That one and the reknit of the Welsh dragon hat will show up here eventually.

Actually Finished Socks

Ta da!  Pizza Party socks:

Cinco de Mulder Socks:

The colored yarn is UV reactive.  It is very bright under a black light.  The picture was taken with a small portable light.  It was the best I could do with my tablet in one hand and the light in the other.

The original pattern, Mulder, is a cowl with little green men on it. 

Real Soon Now, actually finished hats.

Still More Yarn

It wasn’t all self indulgence.  The two skeins on the left are from A Hundred Ravens.  Their trailer was stolen at a yarn festival last month.  I like their yarn and wanted to do a little something toward their recovery.

The other three skeins were from a Jimmy Beans grab bag.  It included a pattern, some wooden buttons, and an accessory bag.  You had a choice of weight and color.  The yarns were otherwise a surprise.  The one in the middle is from Madelinetosh, which I like.  The next one is more peachy pink in real life.  It is Lorna’s Laces Sportmate, which I like and wanted to use again.  The pink on the end is Cobasi by HiKoo.  This is cotton, bamboo, elastic nylon, and silk.  Cotton and bamboo are two of my least favorite fibers.  Maybe nylon and silk will temper the scratchy feeling the others give.  I am willing to give them a try.  The yarns alone would’ve cost about 40% more than the grab bag did.  I am trying to not go back for more.

Socks!

I have managed to cut back on the number of sock projects.   It is inevitable that they would eventually call to me again and today’s the day.

I spotted Pizza Party Socks in my Ravelry recommendations.  They are simple socks with a cute band of pepperoni slices around the foot.  If you happen upon this post in May 2019, you can go get the pattern for free.

Speaking of free, Spillyjane has a buy 3 get 2 free deal on through May 15.  I am a big fan of her sock and mitten patterns, so I jumped right on this.  I was worried that I might make duplicate purchases.  No worries because Ravelry tells you if a pattern is already in your library.

Speaking of Spillyjane, she’s got two new sock patterns in the Summer issue of Interweave Knits.  I have been avoiding that publication after hearing that their financial troubles have left some designers without payments.  I don’t know the details of this so I am not throwing rocks at anyone.  I just hope all the designers get the payments they deserve.  Back to the point, I got the digital edition and there were a number of things I would like to do.  There are some fun lobster socks that have joined two Spillyjane pair in my queue.  There are some pretty sweaters and the patterns could fit large old ladies despite being shown on teeny young models.

Sock yarn continues to successfully tempt me.  I love yarn that does things other than just sit there and look nice.  I got some UV reactive yarn that glows under a black light.  No, I don’t usually have black lights around.  It was probably a silly purchase, but I like it.

I also like yarns that relate to other things I like.  The yarns I have on the way from A Hundred Ravens are Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who) and Neuromancer (a favorite science fiction book).

If you like these sorts of things and you’re a Star Wars fan, head over to Must Stash tomorrow.  May the Fourth be with you!

Experiments and Notre Dame

I’ve been goofing around and experimenting with yarn ideas lately.  I spun some of the Bohemian Breeze fibers and of course got bored after not too long.  It occurred to me that the yarn could be used in a project currently in time out.  It is the Rose Window Beanie from Knitty.  I was sad about the Notre Dame fire and wanted to do a project related to Notre Dame.  Long story a bit shorter, hat came out okay but not exactly as I imagined.  I tossed it on the small mountain of completed but unblocked hats.

I remembered a little rose window necklace I brought back from Paris.

The new experiment is a hat based on this.  I suspect it cannot be done with yarn in my stash.  There are many problems worse than this.  

Here are my latest indulgences.  There’s an extremely long and boring story behind this.  The only interesting part was a flattened post office mailing box with a tire track across it.  When opening a box like that, do not expect any needles inside to be in the correct number of pieces.  I got these yarns with the third try for the needles.

Hedgehog Fibers Skinny Singles in Piggy Bank

Lorna’s Laces in Virginia Islands 

Of course I don’t have plans for them.   Look, Hedgehog Fibers in multicolored speckles!   It does not need to be associated with a project to make me happy.  The Lorna’s Laces are like a whole basket of Easter eggs.  They both helped protect the needles that traveled successfully from Nevada to Georgia.  Yay and thank you Jimmy Beans.

Bohemian Breeze

I haven’t purchased a Phat Fiber box in a long time.  I always forget when they go on sale and they used to sell out in minutes when I did remember.   A few days ago I got an email reporting that there were still a few left this month, so I indulged myself.

The theme was Bohemian Breeze.  All but one of the samples were fiber, which was good.  The colors varied but they all had at least one other sample of the same color.  I think I will spin a skein blending them.  The fibers range from alpaca to yak and a bunch of different blends in between.

Blankets

I’ve decided to do blankets/afghans for my National Parks project.  Yup, plural.  I went through my Favorites on Ravelry and found two fingering weight designs that I liked.  One requires 13 colors, the other 18.  This will give me lots of time to acquire yarn.  It also gives me permission to buy things on a whim.  I preordered a Cuyahoga colorway this week.  It is good to have a reason beyond just wanting it.

The second blanket will be a knitted log cabin design.  The yarn is Lion Brand Heartland in 15 solids inspired by National Parks.  I am not a fan of acrylic yarn, but it does mean I can donate it to charity once I have the fun of making it.  Between the online discounts from JoAnn and the cash I just got back on a credit card it is basically free.  Yay for a free project!

I still haven’t blocked my hats.  Here’s the one I just finished. It used leftovers from other hats.  The background color didn’t quite make it to the end, but I think it still looks okay