Air Conditioning is Great!

It has been so ghastly hot in St. Louis (103 degrees today) that I've just stayed in. No grocery store, no yarn shop, haven't even stuck my nose outside! It is 9:30 p.m., and still 87 out there. Nope - have stash, will knit.

So, I've been working on the first Koigu sock on and off all day - and am almost finished! I think this is beautiful yarn and works up great! I have to thank Wendy for getting it for me at the Sheep and Wool Festival and Jeff and Alicia for helping her dig through the mill ends to find these!

Just a few more toe rows and it will be finished. All I can do is hope and pray there's enough yarn left to make another one just like this one! Keep your fingers crossed!

Good Grief!!

Look what I found in my aunt's knitting stuff:















Even for 1967, this is the most awful thing I've seen in years and years! The picture of the second page is included, so you can see the directions for shaping the "cap" with some kind of material over a basketball, of all things!!!

I managed to turn the heel on my first pair of koigu socks today, and am thrilled with the outcome. Pictures of those to come soon!

Let the Knitting Begin!!!

If you've come from visiting my original blog (see link at right) you know that today was my last day working a temp job held for the last nine and a half months and that I've come to love a great deal.

Ok - so now I'll be home, unemployed, for a while. If you're on MSN Messenger and have me added as BlueLady486, you will see my personal message "Will Work for Money."

So - I bought this 4,500 yards of 5-ply Guernsey wool from Frangipani in Cornwall, England (I've truly lost my mind). It is a beautiful teal color named "Deep Ocean" and I'm planning to start knitting the Grace's Cardigan (link below) during this period of unemployment. I am also working on a pair of socks now, and may start another pair.


















This from the lady who tries mainly to knit one thing at a time and complete that project before I begin another. I know - I know - My niece is a bad influence on me! So, I will begin the sweater once I get the required needles and figure out exactly what a "welt" is!














This is the beginning of the Koigu socks. Bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival by my niece last May, is kind of mill ends and neither color is enough for a pair, so I will knit this band at the tops, the heels and toes out of this nice periwinkle. Think they will be stunning!

Ok - St. Louis has officially been declared a disaster area - and my house is part of it. Have been without power for 63.5 hours, and still counting (posting thanks to the generous use of my sister-in-law's computer).

Anyway, wanted to show you what my life's been like since the beginning of the storm last Wednesday night:














And here's a lovely picture of my yard and all the limbs and branches (and wires) down:















And here's one - a GREAT SHOT, I think - of me knitting while waiting for the power to come back on. See? I've finished the striped sock and started a new Koigu one!


Seriously, I will post some pictures of that AND my new yarn that's just arrived from Cornwall, England for a Gansey sweater I plan to try soon. Hopefully, we'll all survive and have power back soon!

Better - the Second Time Around!

Yes, fellow stick wielders! I have managed to finish the Pomatomus Socks at last! I must admit that the second one went much quicker than the first - due in no SMALL way to the fact that I didn't have to rip out even one row! I'm so jazzed about this!

Please also note that I didn't embarrass myself further by posting these socks on my feet - thereby showing off my "pasty white legs," as my niece told me after the last pic.

So, onto sock #2 of what I'm lovingly calling my "clown socks." Regia's Nations Fun colors. What a trip! Sad, tho, that the ONLY red shows up on the heels! Perhaps another pair . . . .


Also, I have found three beautiful, ample-sized sweaters that I can't wait to try. They are the Elegant Shirt Yolk, the Two-Sided Square, and one called Grace's Cardigan (no, unfortunately, I'm not going to make this for my sister-in-law, Grace just because it's her name!) from Blackberry Ridge. All beautiful, all patterns ordered, and me sitting here waiting . . . .

Hopefully that means I'll be posting some pictures of half-finished sweaters soon! hehehe