Stoneview

I got such a nice package from Tara who was sadly unable to join us for the potluck and swap. Didn’t she do a great job on those socks? The yarn is Claudia’s and it’s incredibly soft. She also included a lovely little shawl pin of a type I don’t yet have. I can’t wait to try that out and it’s just in time for shawl season. I’m continually loosing my tape measure and I only have the kind you use for sewing, not a wind up one like this much less a cute little sheepie one. Also included is a new to me scarf pattern and some Blue Sky alpaca merino blend. I’ve been meaning to try some of the blue sky yarns for ages so I’m really looking forward to knitting that up. Debbi brought a delicious ham to the potluck and I managed to score the ham bone at the end of the night so last night I made a delicious bean soup with it. Thanks Tara for such a wonderful swap package. You made a great addition to our little group and I definitely hope you’ll join us again!

Last night many socks were swapped. I had to fight to keep my pair but I won in the end by sneaking them onto my feet and not taking them off. A good time was had by all and there was even mention of a next time which made the organizers very happy. I got a wonderful package and it was a real privilege to receive Tara’s second pair of socks knit ever. They deserve their own post tomorrow once I’ve had a chance to take nicer photos of the goodies.

When I found out my downstream pal for the fall Silly Sock Swap would be Rose I really thought I would knit something with Lorna’s Laces rainbow yarn because that just screams Rose. I knew I wanted to do butterflies and I’d thought I would use the chart from Sata for that. The rainbow ribbing looked great but the flower motif was getting a bit lost and I didn’t think my color combo would do at all for the butterflies so it was back to the drawing board. I also realized that the butterfly chart wouldn’t wrap around properly since it’s only intended to be on one side of a mitten so I used only the butterfly and charted out a new background for it. There were a lot of adjustments and changes along the way but I’m quite happy with the result (other than the pink yarn bleeding but we won’t talk about that).

It was fun putting a name up top but also risky because if they don’t fit she can’t very easily pass them on to someone else. There’s also a “seam” along the bottom of the foot where I let blue meet in a heavy stripe. They are full of busy pattern and not socks for the meek of spirit so I think they are quite fitting for such an energetic and creative lady.  The name Liang Zhu refers to a tragic Chinese love story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet.

Yesterday I finished up the last little bit of heel on my second Lucky Diamond sock. This heel turned out much better, no holes! I guess practice really does make perfect.