duchessofgravity

i am loving knitting this shawl . the girls at the shop were joking about starting a pool to see how long it takes me to finish it though :) they may have a point. i'm currently 8 or is it 9 repeats into the star chart. i decided to copy knitala she did some fantastic modifications to this pattern and what am i but a copycat right? but that means i'll be knitting on the star chart forever! this photo was taken at 7 repeats in and i think i'm going to shoot for 11 or 13 i haven't decided yet i guess i will see how big it is then :) the yarn is isager and i love love love the color. i couldn't believe it when i found this. it is a single ply of woll and it goes a little thin at spots but seems really storng and the colors...i'm trying to get through this pattern so i can go buy more for another project ! they have the perfect celery colored yarn for this! wheee. yes i have been bitten by the lace bug what can i say?

frankensocks the socks are done ! and i love 'em. super fun to knit but gee i hate twisted stitches... yarn:dale baby ull one ball each needles:knitpicks nickel size 1.5 mods:one extra pattern repeat on the leg, contrasting heel, and a stockinette toe

i'm done. for my friend shirley. pattern: spring pools socks modifications: curved toe, y-shaped short row heel , funny ribbing on cuff yarn: elann sock it to me - esprit needles: knitpicks harmony size 1 circs

so i came across this somewhere and it looked like fun so here goes! Original instructions: 1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. 2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. 3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (i can't figure out how to do strike throughs so i'm putting these in parentheses) i also underlined things that i've never tried that sound particularly interesting or things that I’d just like to know what all the fuss is about. my favorites are italicized ;) 1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head ...

you know how you can be surfing long on the internet for just hours and you're not really sure how you got where you are but you're there. and you found something so super cool. but you have no idea how you got there. but you did. and it is just so super cool that you have to drop everything and try it right away? no no, not that kind of experimentation. knitting. really. you have to go check out this heel it is the coolest thing i ever saw. go. now. i'll wait. see? told ya! it is this "Y" shaped double short rowed heel thingamabob. it's not that hard to do you just have to take notes so your heels will match ;) i'm bad with notes but i'll make an effort. here's what i did: i had 29 stitches on my heel. i short rowed down to 17 stitches. i short rowed back up to 23 stitches. i short rowed back down to 17 stitches. then short rowed all the way back up to 29 stitches. and voila! y shaped heel. i don't have the leg of these done yet so i c...

i finally figured out this pattern . it just didn't make sense for the first 3 pattern repeats and i had to frog the blue sock 3 times...but we're back on track now and i'm having fun. did i ever mention how much i hate knitting two socks separately? well that is what i did til the pattern made sense. on repeat per sock til i got it straight. then getting both socks onto one set of needles, now that's a nightmare. realizing that i'd been using 2 different sizes of needles for the 2 socks...sigh. but now its ok. i did an extra pattern repeat to lengthen the sock leg. which makes me nervous. top down you can run out of yarn. i just didn't want th ebrain damage of trying to turn over this pattern. its just not worth it sometimes . i'm about to start a heel. top down heel flap. can you believe it. i never do that. anyhoo. socking along :)

so i joined the thrifty sock knitters club on ravelry and am having oodles of fun so far. it is a neat group. they don't make you buy yarn. you can just use from your stash or however you want. they just recommend monthly patterns and set up a place to post questions and comments about your progress. neat huh? my march socks are the spring pools socks and i'm having fun knitting them so far. i plan to give them to shirley seeing as she gave me the yarn. it is esprit by elann and i had never knit wit hit before. it's kind of like fixation wtihout as much sheen and it is super sticky (doesn't glide at all) and i'm not sure how much i like it. it should make comfortable socks but i don't like knitting with it at all. I'm also using my knitpicks harmony (wood) circulars for the first time on this project and i don' tknow if it is the yarn or the needles or the combination but i don't klike them much either. they feel like they are gonna br...