The Golden Iris

After the death of Rosa Parks in 2005, a great deal of memorabilia from her life was collected to be auctioned as a single lot by Guernsey's Auctioneers . Among the items - virtually anything you can think of - are ephemera from Mrs. Parks herself. There is, of course, a great deal of serious material, but something more lighthearted has floated its way onto the internet. It is a recipe , handwritten on the back of an envelope from the 1st National Bank of Detroit, for "Featherlite Pancakes". It reads: Featherlite pancakes sift together 1 C flour 2 T B. Powder 1/2 t salt 2 T sugar mix 1 egg - 1 1/4 C milk 1/3 C peanut butter melted 1 T shortening or oil combine with dry ingredients cook at 275 on griddle Anyone who cooks will instantly be alarmed at the amount of baking powder. But it works. Perhaps a little too well. Approximately this amount of flour and milk goes into my ordinary pancake recipe (with much less leavening), and the batter fits in...

So, if somehow you haven't noticed by now, I like knitting socks. I also like the color green (gee, really?). I like knitting socks so much that I am a member of Sock Knitters Anonymous , a huge Ravelry group whose members have a monthly themed sock knit along with raffle prizes. I've even won a prize a couple times. September's theme (like other Septembers past) is "All knit in one color" and that color is Chartreuse. Imagine my delight! Of course, there is much discussion as to what color "chartreuse" actually is. I'm pretty sure it's not fluorescent, screaming highlighter green. I'm pretty sure the color is named after the liqueur ... the only liqueur so good, they named a color after it! Even though I had to procure new yarn (shhh!)... I got to take this photo. (Oh, and if you're the type that just needs to know, it's Socks that Rock Lightweight in Jade. Thanks, Carol!) I am immensely amused. Now to wait until ...

The latest in my series of sample knitting and/or Miss Babs projects was the Vermont Shawl by Hanna Breetz. It's leafy. And green. Two of my favorite things! I don't always enjoy deadline projects, but this one was lovely. Great yarn and a well written pattern (even though I did have to knit with my row counter close by, something I almost never do) all added up to a really nice FO. The yarn is Miss Babs Yet , a wool and silk blend that is not quite fingering weight. The color is called Verdigris. It's great for knitting lace - it's not super tiny. (All the rest of the relevant stats are on my Ravelry page here .) Now it is on its way to live with Miss Babs. You can see it in a booth near you soon at the Michigan Fiber Fest and Stitches Midwest!

Or, the sweater that wasn't. I haven't worked on my Sophia cardigan since last March. I'm struggling to find a nice way to say this, but I think about the only version of this sweater that looks good is the one on the cover of French Girl Knits . And between the cotton content of the yarn (ouch my wrists!) and the annoying stitch pattern, there was no way I was going back and working on it any more. It's looked like this since March, forlorn at the bottom of a knitting basket, taking up space and occupying a nice project bag. So now it looks like this instead! Much better. Freed up needles and a project bag, and if for some reason you want this yarn... look here . Back to super secret socks and hats.

I've been back from Sock Summit for a while now, but haven't gotten myself together enough to blog. First of all, I was able to finish my Kira sweater - with enough time left over to wet-block it before I left for Portland. It was a hit in the booth. (I'll have photos soon). And because I had a day to spare... what else to do but finish my Leaflet ? That one wasn't dry before I left and I didn't get photos until today. It's super cute and was such a fast knit. I think I added a couple extra rows of ribbing everywhere, but made no other real modifications to the pattern. Knit in the new Berroco Voyage on US #10 needles. I mostly liked knitting with the Voyage - it's a very springy tube of alpaca and polyester. I'm not sure if there was extra spinning oil or dye in the yarn, but I could feel some kind of residue when I knit it. It took three washes for the water to rinse clear when I blocked it - and it's soft and lovely now. It...