Stash Queen

Long Time No Blog

This summer has been too darn nice to sit inside with a computer! 

I do sit outside and knit in the gazebo on more temperate sunny days.  But you know you might be too addicted to your knitting when you find yourself wondering if you could knit in the pool on your air mattress lounger without either your yarn or you falling in the water.  Or puncturing the inflatable with your needles.  I have considered trying it, maybe with plastic needles.

A few little things are coming along.

I used a 40% off coupon at Michael's to purchase these:

 

There is a pattern for Comfy Suede-soled Slippers in Lorna Mizer's Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting, which I used instead of the leaflet that came in the package.  I chose a different slip stitch pattern for the leg from Melissa Leapman's Color Knitting the Easy Way. 

 

But I've been procrastinating and haven't sewn them onto the slipper soles yet.  One pattern photo seems to show a backstitch and the other says to use whipstitch.  I remember a kind of V-stitch join on the ones I loved as a child.  Blanket stitch might be another possibility.  What do you think?

One other day I just felt like knitting a mitt for a change.  Why, you say, on a hot August day?  Who knows!  But this single mitt is the result of that whim.  It's the cover mitt for 60 Quick Knits.  I didn't use corrugated ribbing for the cuffs because I was afraid of running out of the multicolored yarn, the last bits of Bernat Mosaic in the Psychedelic colorway that I used for the earflap hat last winter.  Then I decided to make another small change and use K2 P1 ribbing because I really like the way it takes in.

 

 

These are the best fitting peasant thumb mittens that I have made.  The mitten body is 52 stitches which also happens to be the number after the thumb increases on my old favorite Patons plain pattern (it starts with and goes back to 40 stitches).  The two yarns of the stranded pattern make a thick enough fabric so that the upper part of the mitt doesn't seem too floppy at that width.  Also, for the first time with a traditionally pointed mitt, the length was right for my row gauge and I didn't have to shorten the pattern.  I'd like to use the numbers from this mitten to play around with other stranded designs.  But first I really should knit this one's mate.  

 

  

Sick of Socks Yet?

This is a pair of socks that I took down south as a little present for my friend Jude.  I think they have enough orange in them to fit in her wardrobe.  For their photo shoot they are posing with the little yellow rose plant that my friends Anne Marie and Pat gave me when they took me out for lunch on my birthday.  Yellow roses stand for friendship, and I am certainly lucky to have so many loyal girlfriends.

 

Trying to use up yarn as I go, I got one stay-on bootie knit from the end of one ball, as this next still life shows:

 

But then I got distracted by a couple of almost complete single balls of Kroy. Twice I've had to buy a third ball just for a little bit to finish up a pair of socks - so be warned if you're doing a pattern with a lot of ribbing or cables.  I knit one little, two little pairs of socks for the boys from the Bernat Sox pattern booklet. 

 
When  I had Bub try on the first one, he liked it so much that he wore the single wool sock and one bare foot with his shorts and muscle shirt for over an hour while he played with his Thomas trains, and only took it off to put on his swim suit and jump in the pool.  I think he likes Nana's socks.

Then there's another little sock, "little" as in short.

 
Again this is the Cat Bordhi Blossom Top sock without the blossom frill.  I don't really enjoy knitting with the Patons Stretch, but I think it makes nice summer socks because of the cotton content.  Because  I don't really like knitting with it, I strayed again.  God forgive me, I will never be a monogamous knitter.

 
 

Knitting this perked me up.  It's a new yarn for me, purchased at a ridiculously low sale price at JoAnn's in Arizona, with some bamboo content.  The pink and green are stronger than the photo shows, but still a delicate colorway, suitable for girly socks.  The pattern is from Stephanie van der Linden's earlier book, which I had also brought home from Arizona.  From it I learned a new short row heel technique, reinforced double stitches, which turned out to be easy but something I never would have thought up myself.  The garter lace pattern is very regular and easy, and now that I've turned the heel, it can go to the park with me tonight for the Wednesday concert.

If you're still with me after all these socks, I'll show you some sock yarn that never even made it into the stash room.  On our recent trip to Prince Edward County, I bought two skeins of Araucania Ranco Multi, one predominantly turquoise and one lime, but very matched in intensity.  I had recently unraveled my purple Aestlight shawl because it had got snagged in the zipper of my suitcase and pulled beyond readjusting the tension (fortunately the yarn did not break though).  I decided to keep the Estelle Cadenza for something larger rather than reknit it in the same pattern.  When I saw these bright Jelly Belly colors, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them!

 
 
 
This little shawl just shouts "Happy Summer!"