Garden shots

I'm always amazed when I can manage to keep plants alive. I try to go with the hearty ones, but since I know very little about plants, I don't always know which are the hearty ones.

Here's what I've got today.

Some azaleas. Even though the deer had many of the leaves as appetizers over the winter, they are coming back and are even flowering.

Some columbines. These are the ones I planted from seed last year. They didn't flower last year, so I didn't remember what color they were.

These are from my Mom's garden.

Even weeds can be pretty if you get up close.

No cat-backriding allowed

There has been very little knitting this week, so I have no good knitting photos to share. There were even a few days this week that I didn't even pick up the needles (gasp!). So instead I will share a funny photo.

Last month we went on a little hike to find a letterbox (that remained unfound). On the way, we saw this sign, and it just made us laugh. I know what it should be--but that just does not look like a horse to me.

Enjoy the weekend!

Bellatrix progress

Bellatrix is coming along nicely. I'm at the point of starting the heel flap on the first sock. I ended up ripping back to the ribbing on Tuesday night and starting the leg on (much) smaller needles. The pattern just opens up too much. So I'm back to using the usual size 1s.

I really like the way each yarn over section is a different blop (that's a technical term) of color. The yarn over sections also make the rest of the straight knitting look a bit wavy.

For those who have it, enjoy the long weekend!

Sweater Procrastination

What do you do to avoid working on a sweater? Start a new sock of course! No picture of the progress just yet, but I have started working on the Bellatrix socks, using the Madeline Tosh yarn I picked up a few months back.

Here is the yarn. I think I've posted this before, but it is pretty enough to post again.

I think these will be pretty cool socks, but we'll see what happens once I start the pattern. I've just finished the cuff, so I'll see how the pattern starts to look tonight.

I just couldn't bring the sweater to knitting group tonight. I need to do some counting and joining of arms to body, and I'm sure to mess it up while chatting with everyone. Anyway, it feels weird not to have socks on the needles (and large needles they are, I'm using US 2 for these, and I always use US 1s, so they feel like they are going quickly already).

Jaywalker FO

The jaywalkers are finally done. Now I have no excuse not to work on my sweater.

I used one ball of Noro Kureyon sock yarn and had a LOT of yarn left over. There is plenty of yarn in the skein to find a repeat to match the first sock. But, the repeat lengths vary, as you can see in the pictures.

I tried as best as I could to start in the same spot, but even accounting for the fact that I might be a bit off in where I started, the repeats are just not the same. Look at the socks. I start off with dark green. What you can't see is there is a touch a yellow in the cast on row in both--so somewhere pretty close. Then look at that blue--the left sock has a very long blue and then periwinkle--the right socks blues are much shorter. But in the end, I think they match enough that I can wear them to work without getting strange looks.

See my mistake in the eye of partridge heel? There was no way I was ripping that back. I don't think it is very noticeable. Anyway, it makes the socks uniquely mine.

Jaywalker by Grumperina

Needle US 1 / 2.25 mm and US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn Noro Kureyon Sock

Although it took me 2 months to finish these socks, that was mostly because my main project was my sweater. I was working on these socks while avoiding the sweater, or travelling.

On other news--my first planted letterbox has been found. Very exciting. Unfortunately, it seems as though it needs some maintenance. I'll have to get to this week.

NH Sheep and Wool

We spent the afternoon at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival and had a very nice time. I was hoping to meet up with some friends, or maybe bump into Grumperina. We got there too late for my early rising friends, and probably for Grumperina too. It wasn't too crowded, which was nice for us. It also was not super huge, so it was not overwhelming. I'd like to make the trip up again next year.

We had fun watching the dogs herd sheep.

We saw cute sheep and goats.

Here is a close up of those two--aren't they the cutest.

We saw that NH still has big piles of snow, if you look in the right place.

And I brought home some loot.

Some girlie pink lace weight from A Touch of Twist, Zephyr in Lady Slipper, merino and silk.

Some more lace weight from Ellen's Half Pint Farm, baby alpaca and silk, in a lovely coral color.

And some sock yarn from Ellen, a nice pinky-mauvey-green, 50% wool/50% Tencel.

All soft and luscious. I don't know why I insist on buying lace weight. It is so lovely, but I haven't made anything with it yet. I've got to get on that.

I also made a stop to try and find the RV NH letterbox--which was conveniently located right along the way I needed to go to the festival. I'm pretty sure I was in the right location, but I did not have time to make a thorough search. Either someone got there before me, or I just didn't look hard enough (or I blew and I just didn't understand the clues). I would have liked to have brought it to the festival. It is unlikely I will be in NH again soon--so I guess I'll have to try and find it once it is made permanent.

Some photos

If you'd like to see what superwashed hair looks like (when been yanked by an infant), have a look here.

My sisters and I have identical hair--so you can imagine what it looked like before she had it done--a bit on the wavy (but not curly) side.

On knitting news--here is the current state of my Fair Isle Cardigan. I have 3 more inches to go before I can attach the sleeves and begin the yoke. That is approximately 5600 stitches--sigh. Getting there though.

I have turned the heel of my second Noro Jaywalker--now to get the gusset going. Sorry no picture for that one.

Also, I've changed my letterboxing trail name to more closely reflect who I am--neknitter (New England knitter, any knitter, or nekkid knitter as one commenter suggested)--and I have carved a new signature stamp. With apologies to whomever I swiped this image from. I found it a while back and saved it because I liked it. This knitter seems to be a bit more fashionable than I am--but I think in general the stamp gets the point across--slightly wavy hair and all.