Great Minds Thing Alike .... plus some finished object show & tell

Hi Mom,

Reading back through your earlier posts, I was struck by how in sync we sometimes are despite the geographic distances! Not only am I also flipping through my very own new copy of Victorian Lace Today (which I ordered, finally, from KnitPicks along with my very own new set of blocking wires, both in honor of the close of MS3), but I also just completed a sock heel just like the one you describe on a pair I'm working on for Nathan. I believe it's called Eye of the Partridge, but that could be wrong. I just like the way it looks.

Narrow heel on Nathan's new socks, plus a view of the cable pattern just because I knew you'd want to see:

The socks are the Boyfriend Sock (now the Husband Sock) pattern, knit up in some rich chocolate brown Koigu KPPM that I picked up at Imagiknits when I was there with Susan, Ellen & Meredith to celebrate the sale of our former Chicago home. I can't get these done fast enough for Nathan - he's so looking forward to his brand new homemade socks that I'm asked when they will be done several times a week!

By the way, don't forget to check out the errata page for Victorian Lace Today - apparently it's quite extensive.

As for thinking along a single train of though, how about this?

Kenneth Cole Reaction 'Magic Shuffle', L to R: brown '06, black '07, brown '07

Yes, that is the exact same pair of shoes, 3x over. At left are the originals, which I picked up last year and loved to death. Out shoe shopping last week, I was looking for another pair that were just as comfortable, only in black. Imagine how happy I was to see that the same shoe had come back for fall '07, this time with a small heel to perk things up a bit. After snatching up a pair in black, contemplating the sorry state of my old brown pair, then realizing there was only a single pair my size left in brown, I couldn't resist adding those to my bag too. So now I am the proud owner of 3 essentially identical pairs of shoes. Maybe I need to get out more.

Aside from shoe shopping I have also been busy getting things off the needles (and hook) as a round of summer knitting seems to be coming to a close. The big news was the end of MS3 and the blocking of my new blue Swan Lake Shawl (note the new fancy blocking wires! So nice to have, even if they are a bit clumsy to use).

Pattern: MS3 knit-a-long, aka Swan Lake from pinklemontwist
Yarn: Jaegger Zephyr in blueberry, knit on US3 addi lace needles

I really enjoyed participating in the knit-a-long and the whole mystery aspect. I don't think I would have picked this pattern out as one to knit on my own but I'm really happy with the result and to have this as an addition to my wardrobe. I was worried that it wouldn't be long enough, particularly in blocking when I realized it was only going to be about 17" wide x 72" long. Once on, though, it drapes really well and is even pretty warm for such a light knit. (I used just over 2oz of wool in the end).


Please ignore the strange expression, this was an early weekend morning photo shoot!

While I was showing off my new shawl, I also had to grab my new sweater which I finished up earlier this month, my crocheted Joy from the summer Rowan.

Pattern: Joy, Rowan Summer '07
Yarn: Rowan 4ply Cotton in Provence (just as photographed for the magazine),
worked with a US D 3.00 mm crochet hook.
As I could only get enough yarn by combining two different dyelots, the primary yarn is used for the main body and the second color for the sleeves & collar. Can you tell the difference?

This pattern reminded me, once again, how important it is to BASTE the pieces of a pattern together before I go ahead and sew in the many many ends, burying them so deeply that they can never be recovered. I was actually so worried that the body pieces were too small, that I ended up working in extra panels on the back section for width. In the end, of course, the back ended up too wide, pushing the sleeves down towards my elbows and bagging out all over the place. And of course I figured this out only once the whole sweater was sewn together, and I COULD NOT get the ends out to re-set the sleeves and try to address this mess. So in the end I had to CUT THEM OUT, reposition them, then secure them in by re-burying all the individual side pieces of yarn that I had cut. (They are still a little lumpy, but much more liveable.) What can I say, not the best of summer afternoons overall!

Even my long-patient, often set-aside Eveleen is off the needles, blocked and waiting to be assembled (after I finally finished sewing in all 200+ ends from the intarsia panel - there will be no close-up shots of this as it is far from my best work! It seems intarsia & I still have not reached a positive understanding between us...)



Of course, so many projects off the needles mean a new host of projects to cast on. Not only I am working socks for Nathan but I also have a pair for myself in the works, a child's sweater for the next (and possibly last, at least for this year) campaign for afghans for Afghans, and of course Hanami (whose knit-a-long starts on Friday - hopefully I'll be ready for it.) I've even found a use for all those balls of palette that I bought for Eveleen's intarsia panel, which required only a few yards of each leaving me with almost-complete balls: I've been inspired by the Mason & Dixon mitered square obsession to use the extra yarn to make square after square after square. I even bought more yarn (of course!) so that I could have a wider variety of colors to play with. What they will be, I still don't know, but they're fun to make for now.


What with that whole list, plus of host of things on my knitting wish list, I can't imagine having the time to knit to sell too. How good it must feel to have your work up in the shops! And congratulations on your first sale! Hopefully there will be many more to follow. I think you'll do okay with your new 'job' too - sounds like more fun than work overall!

I'm glad to hear that you had such a great adventure on your kayak trip and are now enjoying the late summer weather. Our warm days seem to be coming now - the sun is actually out today. So far, though, the most active I have been is playing mini-golf with Matt & Nathan on a Saturday afternoon and even that was followed up with a trip to a local wine bar. Hopefully with the fall and some warmer days (finally!) we'll be out there adventuring too.

Here's to enjoying the last days of August,

Megan