Summer

Summer is officially here and I have two indicators for me: summer fun and crochet, not that they are mutually exclusive. However, they are in this post.

Sweetie Boy had the chance to head out to Lake Havasu this past weekend with friends, and had his first taste of wakeboarding. He didn’t make it to his feet but seemed to do just fine on his knees.

I love this next picture of him, relaxed and chill on the boat. Ahhhh, this is what summer is all about.

Now, what does crochet have to do with summer? Everything for our knitting group and online rav group, because it’s our Summer of Crochet group crochet-along! I’ve been practicing for this and love the quickness of the granny square. So fast! So easy! So simple!

These squares are going to become a scarf. Now, I just have to arrange them in the order I want for the scarf and then sew them up. Here they are for their individual pics. In the original pattern, there are three different granny square motifs with different colors for each row. I decided to mix things up a bit by using three different variegated yarns and two solids .

That meant, I needed another granny motif and decided on this one from Attic24. She makes hers in beautiful different solid colors, and although my finished square might not be the intended result as hers, I think it’s still cheery.

This week’s goal is to figure out how to sew them up nicely. And when this one is done, granny square love is not over. Nicole and I are splitting yarn to make one like the pattern, using solid colors and alternating different colors with each row.

Un-Progress

The Serpentine Socks have been in time out for the past week for misbehaving. Well, to be more accurate, I goofed and the socks had to pay the price. Before I show you the un-progress, I’ll first show you an overdue picture of last week’s KIP day.

This is my friend, Thalia, and I at Palm Desert. Thalia learned to knit last year and has done a great job on her knits. I’m so proud of her! I am indeed working on the Serpentine Socks, before I discovered the mistake.  Are you ready for the scary pictures?

First, here’s a picture of the goof up in the pattern.

Can you find it? If not, there’s a closer-up picture.

It looks like a miscrossed cable, but this deceptively simple pattern doesn’t feature cables. These are accomplished through yo’s and decreases. Time to rip it back…

I didn’t want to rip back all the way to where the mistake was because it was on the same row as the heel shaping. If I ripped part of that out, I didn’t think I could pick it up where I left off. Instead, I opted to ladder down 6 rows and reknit those sections. There were 6 sections in all that needed to be fixed.

Both socks all done (even though it’s just a picture of one)!

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! Here’s what a slice of our afternoon looks like.

Serpentine Progress

It fits! It fits! I’ve been making these socks for Madgik, based on her foot measurements. Yesterday, we finally got together for our usual Wednesday knit group, and she tried on her sock in progress. We’re both pleased as punch that the socks fit. I’ve been taking WIP photos of the sock, meaning to post them, but I’d get distracted easily by other topics. So, here’s the Serpentine evolution so far.

Toes and pattern emerging.

Gusset

Heel turned!

Perfect fit! This picture shows the closest representation of the true color. Nice and green!

Although we’ve got June gloom going on here (which I much prefer over 100+ degree temps), it’s definitely spring as evidenced by the nesting birds in our rafters.  Although the grasses all hang down and look a mess, I can’t bear to take down any pre-nests, in fear that there might be eggs in there. Usually after a few weeks, we see one momma bird sitting on her nest and we start checking daily for the chicks. This year, we have two!

This is the view from my kitchen window, taken through the glass. This is the momma bird who leaves occasionally but always comes back. No little chick heads peeping out yet.

This is the corner rafter so it’s a bit harder to get a good picture but got lucky with this shot. This is the chick, I think. She looks quite big but not as big as the momma bird. I haven’t heard any chicks tweeting or peeping yet so maybe she is? I’m in bird watch so hopefully we’ll know soon!

Buttercup

 

This is Buttercup, the newest member of our family.  We adopted her from a rescue, and everybody is pretty darn happy. She’s a 6 month old terripoo, and the kids have been jumping around for a week until we could bring her home. She’s here now and will probably be the center of the household forevermore. I might have to knit her  a sweater, if she gets cold. And no, I won’t be saving her hair or fur to spin into yarn to make into my own sweater. shudder

To actually prove that this is indeed a knitting blog, here is proof of said activity. A recent FO and my two current projects.

Project: Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet by Julia Allen

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in Shrimp, 2 skeins 

Needles: Knit Picks Options in US size 9

Start: May 15, 2009

Finish: May 20, 2009

Thoughts: This was my recover-from-knitting-a-sweater-on-lace-weight-yarn-with-small-needles project. It was a ton of fun zipping through it and being done in under a week. Since my gauge was smaller than the bulky weight yarn used in the pattern, I copied the cast on number and number of stitches between markers from another raveler. Sorry, don’t remember whom. If I were to do it again with this yarn, i’d cast on more stitches because I think the sweater is a little small. You’ve actually seen this before in my recent post with the scarves. I just gotta spread out those FO pics, right? It looks too small IMHO but it’s a very practical wardrobe piece, so I will be Cleopatra-Queen of Denial and wear it in the summer over the spaghetti straps. 

  

These are the Serpentine Socks from Wendy Johnson’s Socks from the Toe Up. It’s a great pattern with an easy to memorize repeat. That’s Melanie Lotus Yarns‘ Chakra in the Hydroponic colorway. Love (1,000) because the yarn is super soft and squishy. Guess what?! It has cashmere in it. Now you have an idea of how soft this yarn is. She doesn’t have any listed in her shop right now but it will be sold at Sock Summit. Very exciting stuff.

 

  

This is the Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig in Elann’s Lino Chic limited edition yarn. It’s going slowly but it’s my mindless project that gets a little bit done here and there. Crispy, definitely crispy, since it’s linen and rayon. I’m sure it’ll soften up and drape nicely and I hope the softening up is on the extreme side. Crispy and sweater don’t go so well together in my book.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Edited to fix the Buttercup pic.