The Long Road

The long, long Lucky sleeve, the first of two, and the only part of this project I've completed. I had this fantasy of finishing this cardi and wearing it on my birthday, but that, my friends, is less than a month away. I'm thinking maybe by the birthday after that....

Speaking of long and winding roads, I've embarked on a yarn diet, my first since I took up knitting and took to yarn buying like a good little out-of-control consumer. The skinny (or is it "to get to the skinny"?): I've got to knit up 30 skeins of yarn before I let my fingers type elann into my browser. So far, I've knit four skeins. In return, I have a lovely scarf I hope to sell at a craftfest this Christmas and a pair of baby socks I wove the sweet little ends into approximately 20 minutes before the baby shower started. Frankly, I'm a little frightened. I've never been one to have much willpower....

....which leads me to the Western Idaho Fair, the corndog and curly fries with feta I ate and the long road to being able to fit into my favorite pair of jeans. Okay, so I can't blame this blip of end-of-summer weight gain completely on my five hours pigging out on fried Snickers bars and fried fat and sugar in general. There was also the shower cake and the super sugary frosting, of which I licked every. last. drop.

It's fall, a season to shed yarn and bad habits. But wait, all this sugar/fiber withdrawal is making my fingers especially twitchy. And I really should check out the Elann link before I publish it in this post....

 

Branching Out has done all the growing it's going to do. I felt a few pangs of sadness as I bound off this morning. I'll miss this little lace pattern. But certainly not enough to knit another. So many lace patterns. So little time. On deck: Clapotis and the Flower Basket Shawl from knits. And I suppose that my continual work on Lucky the cardigan (as opposed to the one-eyed dog or cat) counts as lace, too. 

The Socks Off His Feet

Okay, so I couldn't pry the socks off D's feet. So I took the picture with his feet in them. The details: I used Elann's Sock It To Me yarn and size 1 addis. Note the stealth stripes toward the end of the socks. No one but me and D know they are there (unless, of course, he's got them out of the shoes and propped up on the coffee table as shown here).

I haven't made socks for awhile, not since I helped the junior high knitters with theirs. One pair and I'm sock crazy again, stocking up on sock yarn, flipping through old issues of Knits looking for sock patterns, itching to cast on, even though Lucky is enough of a small needle project for any one knitter at any one time. But, as D says when he's wearing his new socks: "It's like little hugs on my feet." You can't beat that.

In other stitch marker news, I went to post the pictures of the markers I had made, but they make you think you've got the wrong glasses on or you're a little bit drunk. I can't take new pictures as they've all been shipped. Sigh. The never ending struggle to outwit the digital camera.  

It's been awhile since I blogged, but excuses have I. I've just returned from a two week journey through Idaho with my hubby, the Boler and Lucky. During our journey we saw many sights. Here's one of my favorites (hence the hugging). The tree being hugged is a 2000-year-old cedar tree in an ancient grove at the Idaho/Washington border just miles from Canada. Before we found the tree, we did a bit of the Lewis and Clark trail thing (including visiting the only known latrine sight on the trail) and camped at Priest Lake. We're happy to say we encountered no nutty Northern Idahoans (there've been a rash recently) and the knitting didn't get too dirty. Stay tuned for pictures of the Lucky sleeve I finished....and the pair of socks I knit during the car ride for the hubby (if I can pry them off his feet). All in all, a good, much needed, much knitted upon, vacation.

Non-knitting side note: We checked out "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke on CD from the library for the trip. At 26 discs, it's a doozy, but I highly recommend it. Just think of all the knitting that can be accomplished as you listen to this part Jane Austen/part Harry Potter tale filled with social satire and magic.
 

But, of course, this is what the trip really was about: Meeting Miss Olivia Anne, my brand new baby niece. Here she is in full stretch. Isn't she a sweetie? 

And what should I find upon my return home? More stitch markers! These lovelies are from Erin. Thank you! (I sent out my batch of markers last Friday, so hopefully they will be reaching their new homes soon...). 

And markers from Bente in Germany! Viel dank!