Stitches of Violet

The little, smaller than most sparrows, Chickadee darts into the feeder, grabs a sunflower seed, and takes it back to a tree branch to crack it and eat it.


People who take the time to train wild birds to eat out of their hand usually pick the Chickadee because they are super friendly.

If I go outdoors and the feeder is empty, they fly close and scold me in a cute way. It always works.


When the sun came up this morning the world was white with frost.

No snow yet. Everyday without snow means the winter is one day shorter. I'm liking that.

Labels: Birds, Seasons

Do young people know about Murphy's Law, or is bringing it up a blast from the past?

Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.

That sounds rather grim, but many of the extensions and corollaries are worthy of a chuckle. I especially like this one because it reminds me of my days working as a computer programmer:

If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

Corollary: It will be impossible to fix the fifth fault, without breaking the fix on one or more of the others.

Murphy's Law on Gutters: When a gutter develops a large hole, the hole will appear directly over the most used door of the building.

Which is why we replaced 33 feet of gutter on the west side of the house today. Or, to be more precise, we watched two nice looking young men replace 33 feet of gutter on the west side of the house today.


Let it rain.

Labels: House and Home

I love knitting Christmas socks for Brother Dave and his partner Karen because otherwise I have no idea what to give them for Christmas. A pair of knitted socks is one way to show my love for them.

The socks are useful where they live in the mountains of Oregon, and they seem to enjoy getting them.

Karen requested via Dave: Dark socks - gray or black or combo or something
dark. She wears brown and black pants a lot, plus jeans.

It's not easy to find sock yarn matching her specs, so I was delighted to see this Cascade Heritage dark yarn at the yarn store.


I love how this stitch pattern shows off the colors. Hope Karen loves it as well.

Pattern: Basketweave Ribbing Sock

Yarn: Cascade Heritage Handpainted Sock Yarn

Needles: Options 2.50mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette.

Labels: On the Needles

Answering questions from comments and email.

Cindy W. asked . . .

Of the four books from Barbara Walker Stitch Treasury,which do you recommend?

1, 2, and 3.

If I didn't own these books, they would be at the very top of my list of knitting books to acquire and I would get them in numerical order for lack of any other way to decide.

1 and 2 contain a wealth of stitch patterns in written form. In order to use them in the round, I chart them out.

3 has less patterns (still a lot), but they're charted. It also has a reference section for converting right side stitches to wrong side stitches and wrong side stitches to right side stitches. So valuable when changing flat patterns to be knit in the round, or round patterns to be knit flat.

For example, the pattern calls for a purl right twist on the wrong side, but you're knitting in the round so you need to make the equivalent stitch on the right side. Looking it up in Walker's chart, you see the right side equivalent is a right twist. She also gives detailed instructions in how to execute the purl right twist and the right twist.

Book 3 also has a thorough lesson in twist stitches. This spider, both charted and written out line by line, is used as an example.

Notice I didn't mention Book 4. In my option it is full of ugly, mostly useless stuff. If you think you might want it, try to look inside first to make sure you want to spend the money on it.

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Kathy B wrote . . .

We call them wild teenagers, those Jays. They are loud and steal things and hang out in groups!

All true. But they also do community service.

The jays are the first and loudest to give warning when danger like a hawk or cat enters the area.

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Dani (from the other side of Michigan) asked . . .

Hey, would you say the leaves are pretty much all fallen out on your side of MI?

In my neighborhood all the tree leaves are down except the dry brown oak leaves that hang on most of the winter.

In Kalamazoo yesterday, I saw some trees that still had a few leaves, but not many.

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Dorothy asked . . .

I do like your rule of 3 (maximum number of knitting projects in process). I think I will start that myself. Now is a good time as I don't think I have that many active projects anyway. Do hibernating projects count??

If I intend to finish a project "someday", it counts. If I don't intent to finish it someday, it gets frogged.

I have an uncounted exception packed away, but we won't talk about that today.

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Susan asked . . .

So, I have to know, how long does it take you to figure out which sock is the right and which one is the left when you're putting them on in the morning?

Zero seconds. The patterns on the Kristi cuffs are mirror images of each other, but there's no foot shaping so it doesn't matter which goes on which foot.

It only matters that I keep track of which is which while I'm knitting them. The left Kristi sock has a double marker hooked into the ribbing so I can keep them straight.

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Jean wrote . . .

I really like the way Kristi looks, you'll have to share if it fits well, if so, then I will move it up my list of must knits.

Kristi is one of those patterns without much elasticity to the fabric. I'm trying it on often while I knit to make sure I can still get it on my leg.

Without some kind of ribbing in the stitch pattern, I doubt they're ever going to fit the way I like my socks to fit, but they sure are fun to knit and I love the way they look. They may just hang on my closet door as pieces of art instead of getting worn.

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Did anyone notice I blogged everyday in October? It was an enjoyable experience and I was surprised to find that even on days when I didn't have anything to say, something appeared once I sat down and started keying.

Now I'm back to the goal of blogging five days a week.

Thanks for the questions. They help me so much in having something to blog about when I don't have anything to blog about.

For the past two evenings I've been working a little on all three of my projects. For blogging purposes that's an unsatisfactory way to work. Not enough has been done on any of the three to be blogworthy, so here's an unimpressive update on all three of them.

Kristi
As previously mentioned, this is not a fast knit. I'm still enjoying the process, the pattern, and the yarn.

The cuffs are mirror images of each other. Left foot and right foot are different.

Pattern: Kristi from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

Yarn: Stalwart Sock from Slackford Studio. 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon 4 Ply Fingering Weight Sock Yarn.

Color: Wisteria.

Needles: Options 2.50mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette.

Red X Sweater
Almost nine inches done. It's time to make some design plans for the top part of the sweater before going on.

The darkish red doesn't show the stitch definition as much as I imagined it would.

Pattern: Winging it for now. Unofficially naming it the Red X Sweater.

Yarn: Knitpicks Cotlin. 70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen. DK weight.

Color: Moroccan Red.

Needles: Options #3.

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch, 8.5 rows/inch in pattern.

Lighthouse Gansey
The knitting has been done for weeks. Every day this week I've picked it up to weave in a few ends. There can't be many more ends to weave in. I have to finish it soon, maybe tonight. There are new projects waiting in the wings.

A few years ago I decided to limit myself to three knitting projects at a time with swatching not counted. At first it was difficult, but I enjoyed the feeling of not being overwhelmed by too many projects in process and persevered.

Now it's a habit and the number three seems to be just right. If I get some new yarn I just have to caston, there's the swatching exemption. With swatching I often learn new things about what the yarn wants to be and, even more important what the yarn doesn't want to be.

This morning after getting a haircut, I stopped in Stitching Memories to pick up some yarn for Christmas knitting.

The dark cake is Cascade Heritage Handpainted Sock Yarn. Much prettier than it looks in the picture with shades of gray, brown, blue, and some purple. I hope to get a better picture once the knitting begins.

Labels: Cookie A. Socks, Knitting Babble, New Yarn, On the Needles

The loud, agressive Blue Jays rank high in the pecking order. When they land on the feeding board, the other birds scurry to get out of their way.

They're a large bird, a little bigger than a robin. The male and female look alike.


Many years ago when we lived in town, one of our animals was trying to mouth a newly fledged jay in the back yard grass. The parents' noise bought DH and me to the rescue.

After pulling off the dog and getting it in the house, I went back out to see if the young jay was OK. When I bent over to look, one of the parents flew down and pecked my butt. A memory that still makes DH laugh while I pretend it wasn't funny.


Today's sky.

Labels: Birds

First I have to say thank you for all the kind comments on the Blogiversary Contest entries. I wish I could take each of you to lunch, get to know you better, and maybe sit and knit a while.


The prizes are Stalwart Sock from Slackford Studio. 75% Merino, 25% Nylon Superwash Fingering in three lovely colors.

That's a new URL for Slackford Studio. Susan opened her own online shop November 1. Check it out if you want to drool over some beautiful colors and nice yarn.

Meadow
Pretty spring greens.

Won by Jan in Australia who blogs at Pass the Slipped Stitch Over.


Fallen Leaves
See the socks I knit with Fallen Leaves here.

Won by Brenda who blogs at Mamere Knits Too Much.


Brilliant
The blues are steely and smoky, not bright, but very beautiful.

Won by Lynn who blogs at Never A Dull Moment.


I have emailed the three winners for their shipping address. If I haven't heard back by Friday, November 6 another winner will be selected even though I'd love to keep the yarn for myself.

These writing prompts are available from Simple Woman's Daybook where each Monday we're invited to join in celebrating the beauty of everyday moments around us.

FOR TODAY November 2, 2009...

Outside my window...
It looks like this.

The empty hook is where the hummingbird feeder was hanging. Suet will be hanging there soon.


Just twelve days ago, outside my window looked like this.

Autumn is beautiful but so short.


I am thinking...
The days are short and getting shorter. For today: Sunrise: 7:17am, Sunset: 5:36pm.

October/November Daylight Savings time is ridiculous in Michigan. Maybe a few golfers can get in an autumn game and that's nice, but before the time change Sunday kids were walking to school in the dark. There's a lot more kids than golfers.


I am thankful for...
Granddaughter Kimmy, a freshman in high school who has grown up to be a talented, kind young woman with a great sense of humor.

We celebrated her 14th birthday on Halloween.


From the kitchen...
Not much is going on there. I gain weight if I spend too much time in the kitchen.

I am wearing...
Caught me! I'm wearing jeans and a gray textured insulated underwear shirt. The shirt clings to my body so I stay warm and cozy when I take the dogs out for their walks with a coat on to be presentable. Obviously I'm not expecting any company today.

I am creating...
I've been reading instead of knitting, so nothing is new in creation land. Have plans to knit this evening.

I am going...
To update this blog layout. I think I've mentioned that before. If things stay calm and healthy for a while around here, it will happen soon.

I am reading...
Just finished A Place to Call Home by Deborah Smith. A sweet story written with a great sense of humor about a rich little girl and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who bond while children and get together again later in life.

I am hoping...
That the illness I had last week was a mild version of the H1N1 virus. It would be so nice to know that I don't have to worry about getting that flu.

I am hearing...
Dogs snoring. It's nap time. Bob's sleeping, one little dog on each side of me is sleeping. Glory is sleeping in the back room on the sofa she's not supposed to be sleeping on.

I gave up year ago, threw a washable blanket on it, and let her think she's getting away with something.

Around the house...
There are leaves everywhere.


One of my favorite things...
My desktop picture taken by Granddaughter Kimmy at her uncle's funeral.


A few plans for the rest of the week:
Get a haircut.
Visit yarn store to buy Opal/Regia type yarn for three pair of Christmas socks.
Finish weaving in the ends on the Lighthouse Gansey so I can call it done.
Drive to Paw Paw to mail out contest prizes.
Catch up on housework.
Do a final fall mow if weather permits. Rain is forecast until Thursday, so not holding my breath for that one.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This is from last week and is probably my last pretty autumn picture for this year. There isn't much pretty left.