I'm home sick today, day 4 of a nasty, nasty virus that my darling daughter decided to share with me, so I thought I may as well update the blog between naps, sniffling, coughing and doses of elderberry tincture.
Well, where were we?
Since we last spoke the weather has been glorious and nasty about three or four times, in alternating sequence. I'm only illustrating this phenomenon so that when you hear that Canadians talk a lot about the weather well, THIS IS WHY:
I spent part of one enjoyable day cleaning up the garden in just my sweater, soaking up the sun... and then the next day, this:
And then the next day, this:
It was so warm and humid that you could see the snow evaporate.
Then on the weekend, we actually barbecued and ate out in The Porch. Heaven.
So while this was schizophrenic weather that we call spring was happening outside, inside I was planting seeds and knitting socks (seeds for the optimistic warm days, socks for the cold ones) I'll skip the dirt photos and go right to:
Mum's birthday socks. Called ' Cabled Sweat socks" in Socks, A Spin Off Special Publication for Knitters and Spinners and my only actual sock book because really there are so many sock patterns floating around on the WWW I can't count my bookmarks.
I have made thes once before
in very different yarn, Koigu Painter's Palette for a sock swap in 2004. Goodness, I've been at this for a while. The new pair was made in the much revered "old' Kroy, picked up ages ago at a thrift store. It is deliciously soft but also a bit splitty so I'm not so sure what all the fuss is about. I finished these just under the wire for the birthday party, with fifteen minutes to spare.
Man Socks. In suitable man-approved colours. These are worsted weight, based on the pattern here. I had bought this yarn for a Boy Hat, only to learn the weight was entirely wrong and I had run out of time just before Christmas. It was then earmarked for slippers right up until the cast-on, when I changed my mind. My husband has chronically cold feet and I took pity on him. These babies are warm.
Lastly, for me:
I must admit to scrambling around last minute for the ball band for these. I love this yarn. So soft, so warm, so nice and stretchy. It is possibly the best sock yarn I have ever knit with and enjoyed wearing. I used a generic pattern for these and I confess I found the first sock half-knit when searching through the Breeding Box o' Yarn.
And that concludes the sock parade for the foreseeable future. The sock muse only strikes randomly around here and this was a hefty dose. It worked better than my cold medication. That said, I think it's time for a little lay down.
I'm going to bake you a wonderful seasonal treat for next time.
And hey, another random shot of the stripy blanket.