The Golden Iris

Well gee. Look who went and fell off the face of the earth blog again. It's me! How many times have I come back to the blog and dusted it off? Let's not count. As some of you know and some of you may have guessed, the stoppage in blogging was caused by me getting a job. It's taken a little while to adjust back to being on a regular schedule (ya know, getting my butt out of bed in the morning), but it's a good thing and I'm happy. Enough for now about the job. We're here for the yarn. As always, I'm knitting away like crazy, maybe a little slower than before, but that's OK. Most of it is even knitting I can share - for the moment, I'm between sample knitting projects. Those chartreuse socks in the post below are long gone. I never got further than the photo shows... I keep trying and trying, but toe-up socks aren't for me. Rrrrrip! Currently I think I have 4 other pair on the needles, so I'm not depriving myself of socky goodness. A...

Time to share some meagre progress. I've knit a toe. I don't always knit the mystery sock for Sock Knitters Anonymous. I wait and make sure that I like the concept (allover 1x1 twisted ribbing? No thank you) and that, in the case of it being a toe-up sock, I can handle the construction (I haven't made as many toe-up socks and getting the heel to fit properly continues to be a challenge). This one, called Watercress , has lace (yay) and modifications built into the pattern for high insteps (double yay).  I took the additional step of overdyeing the chartreuse yarn I showed off the other day with a bit of yellow, in the hopes of making it even more chartreuse. It's a little more saturated than I would really like, but I'm generally happy with the color. I also like the way the pattern wiggles back and forth.  Right now it's nothing too complex to knit, but it's interesting. Certainly more interesting than the seemingly never-ending topdown stocki...

Some ideas seem to take a while to come to fruition. Sometimes it's about the math, or a stitch pattern that just won't behave itself. This time it was about color. With all the colors out there in the world, I was having trouble finding just the right one. I know, it's silly. But it had to be just the right shade of yellow. It's Malabrigo Merino Worsted. The color is - very appropriately - called Pollen. Between that and the books I'll bet you can see where I'm headed next... but I'm still working on it. My days are getting a little busier and most of my knitting remains a secret, but I'm going to try to keep up with the blog as best I can.

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.