This May Remain a Surprise

One of the consequences of having written nearly 150 posts is that some readers, once they've determined what you're writing about, how your writing about it, and understand your overall tone of writing, will lose interest. It is to be expected, there are only so many ideas, projects, insights, comments one writer (in particular this writer) can make. And for me after about 150 posts, I've done almost all of that already. Having said that I will not be giving this up any time soon since the writing offers me a degree of personal satisfaction. I am, nonetheless, realistic about the draw or attraction to this blog.

All this leads me to feel pretty confident I can share with you what I hope will be a surprise knitted pair of socks for Paul's birthday. I think I've lost him as a reader. Really, how much knitting minutia can one man be expected to tolerate? He lives with me which mean he has to live with knitting paraphernalia in our family room and must tolerate my ongoing chatter about knitting. It would be a lot to expect that in addition he should enjoy taking time to read about it. He hung in there for a few months, which makes him a pretty good trooper in my book. And if he does tune in now, well that's fine too, surprises might be overrated anyway.

Remember my first Gramps Sweater? If not, here's another look at it with Mike, the cat, actually posing for the photo.

It's deja vu; note the colours of the sweater, not of the cat.

Paul commented how much he liked the gray and green colour combination. For those of you who know Paul personally, you also know when he actually states an opinion about something like a colour combination it should be noted. Paul is a man of few words about such things, and I did indeed note it as well as acted upon it. While visiting Little Knits in West Seattle earlier this year, I purchased enough of a lovely gray coloured Plymouth washable sock yarn called "Happy Feet DK" to knit a pair of socks. There was leftover green washable merino wool yarn from the Gramps project, enough to knit the heels, toes and a green highlight at the tops of the socks, so I have all the makings for a gray/green present. Paul's away on a short trip making now my time to get these socks done.

I started knitting them last night and find the yarn is a very soft (sans scratchiness) wool, the type of yarn I love to knit. The pattern is a free one from Debbie Stoller, who you might know as the Stitch and Bitch knitter. (Click here to see her pattern.) I chose it because the start of the toe and heel are quite identifiable making it easy for me to know when to change colours. So far so good.

Ribbed Socks in Process

It is my hope to complete both socks before the end of the month, well really before the end of this upcoming week if they are to remain a surprise. Having a three day weekend in front of me with little else to do except rake a few leaves and the usual weekly chores, should allow me to be able to power through and finish while he's away. Or at least that's the current plan.

So Paul if you're reading this SURPRISE. (If not, I'm holding that surprise thought for his birthday.)

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms. (BTW

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while. But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf . I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you? It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank. (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo. Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left. Easy to find, right! Sure but what about the remaining 4

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