Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

I love the picot edge on these socks. In fact, I'm knitting a plain old stockinette pair of socks right now and I decided to use the picot edge on those, too, instead of ribbing. It's very easy to do. The bumps are made by doing one row of YO, K2tog and then folding on that line.


These are made from Lang Jawoll sock yarn. I love this yarn! It's nice and soft, but still feels sturdy. Great solid colors, too (which can be hard to find). My new LYS, Twist, carries it, too!

I can see these socks making their way into my regular rotation in the winter. I'll have to buy a shirt that will go with them.

Breeze Socks

These are from the Summer 2007 Knitty. I knit mine with Rowan 4-ply cotton. I love the yarn! Soft, with a bit of a sheen, but not shiny.

I love the socks, too, they're so pretty! They have little cables on the heels and an interesting ribbed toe. I don't know if I will ever wear them, though. I don't wear socks in the summer unless I'm working out. These are not appropriate workout socks. I haven't worn them once.

They were a lot of fun to knit and very fast! I had them done in less than a day. I had to watch the measurements carefully while knitting. Their gauge and repeats in the pattern don't add up to the measurements they say. But, I usually knit socks by measurement anyway. My feet seem to be smaller than average.

Please ignore my bug-bitten ankles. Too much yard work, not enough bug repellant.

Entrelac knee socks!

I love the rhythm of "Entrelac Knee Socks." Say it three times fast!

I have no fewer than six completed pairs of socks that I haven't shown you in the time I've been away. I'm going to blog them one at a time. Perhaps by the time they're all posted I'll get over myself and show you some completed tops, too. I wear them all the time!

The entrelac socks pattern is in the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I knitted mine with KnitPicks Palette yarn. I didn't need nearly the amount I bought. I have enough leftover to make some interesting gloves or something. And then some. I don't think I would recommend it as sock yarn. It's spun too loose for a sock yarn, in my opinion, and it isn't very soft. It's not marketed as sock yarn, but it's the right weight and it was a bargain. I'm still glad I used it for these. I'll wear them when it's cold out, for sure!

For you Ravelers, here's a link to my project page on these.

Mystery Stole, part 3

I joined the Mystery Stole 3 KAL the week before it closed to new members. I thought I must be insane at the time, because I knew I wouldn't have time to knit it, especially since I was already a few parts behind. But, then all my moving plans fell through and my brain thought, "A little mystery lace would be a nice distraction about now." Luckily, when I packed up everything I owned (including all but a weeks' worth of clothes) my laceweight yarn was still accessible, in the top of a basket which is too large to further pack into a box. So I pulled out some black Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino, bought some silver lined clear glass beads at Hobby Lobby, and off I went!

Here it is thorough part three. Like my quick and dirty blocking job? I pinned it to the blanket on my bed with size 1 DPNs. Hee. I was trying to measure about how long it is so I can decide whether to lengthen the next part. It's currently 1/3 of the finished length, as written. Part five and the theme are to be revealed tomorrow. I'm only one part behind. Not bad for just starting a little less than two weeks ago. I'm finding that the "deadline" of a new part coming out is spurring me on to knit this faster than I typically do with lace. I won't have part four done in time, but I will be close.

(Like my bee tape measure? It's made by Lantern moon. I have wanted one for a long time, but when I was ordering some yarn and the cost of the tape measure would put me over the free shipping amount . . . Well, how could I resist? It would have been wasteful to pay for shipping when I could just buy a tape measure instead, right?)

Great Mail Day!

Don't you love a great mail day?

Today I had no junk mail, no bills. Just a little cross stitch catalog, the new Vogue Knitting magazine, and a box from KnitPicks! Containing four books. I think I've been in withdrawal from my knitting books with them all being packed up. It's so sad!

But new books are happy. And new books at 40% off are even happier.

Itty Bitty Hats
50 Baby Bootees to Knit
Favorite Socks
The Opinionated Knitter

Good choices, eh?

Plus, one of my very best pals in the world just got into Ravelry. Loads of fun! I guess I better go add my new books to my Ravelry book list. :)

(The two baby knitting books are in hopes that my brother and sister-in-law's IVF next month goes very well. You all know I can't resist knitting things for babies, but this baby will be extra special.)

Basements are yucky. (And interesting.)

I swear I have a basement phobia. I even googled that to see if there's a formal name for basement phobia. I couldn't find anything, so I guess we'll just call it basementaphobia. Or maybe subter supter humus campester phobia. (Which is what an online translator tells me "below ground level phobia" would be in latin.) yeah, basementaphobia is easier.

Anyway, I don't like basements. So naturally, I decided to spend today working in our basement. So far, it has officially been my husband's job to deal with the basement. I am not pleased with his progress. I'm emptying it out and throwing stuff out. I'm also painting the walls and floor of the storage rooms. My 10 year old daughter and I did the walls already and I'm in the process of throwing away almost all the contents of the storage rooms. My rule is that if I have to deal with it when it's not mine, I can do whatever I want with it. If you want to have a say, deal with it yourself.

In the closet under the stairs I found a typewriter. Not an electric typewriter, just a regular old typewriter. I have no idea where it came from. (I should really stop wondering that. I was cleaning out the shed one time and I found a wheelchair in there. The neighborhood kids wanted to take turns riding it around the yard. Whatever.) My kids are now obsessed with the typewriter. They think it is so fun. My six year old said, "It's like a computer! Only not really." They are patiently taking turns typing. It is just cracking me up.

So, that's one less thing in the basement. Do you think I'll be able to get rid of it? Maybe I should keep it and have them practice their spelling words on it, since it's so fun. Anyone know where to buy typewriter ribbon these days? Maybe the same store as the record player needles. Ha.

I'm on Ravelry!

It is a great site! They're still working out the bugs, but I think it is just amazing. So if you see this picture.


And the name BzzLaraBzz. That's me. :)