Socks and More Socks

I've been working with more patterned socks - just to broaden my sock drawer repertoire.

This is a pattern called Almondine that I found in the book Sock Knitting Master Class by Amy Budd

The books has lots of great tips for knitting socks and so I was inspired to try coming up with my own sock "design" - really just a mix and match of different elements from other sock patterns.

I call this "Scalloped Peas and Celery." You can't really see the pattern well in the photo, but the top edge is scalloped and the pattern on the leg portion reminded me of celery and peas -- sort of!

I think the design still needs work.

I think I need a better sock model. It's hard to get good pictures without trying to twist your leg in ways that it wasn't meant to twist!

Fast Knitting

It's always fun to find a knitting pattern that not only uses bulky yarn for speeding knitting, but also produces something fun to wear!

I started this project on Feb. 1 and was finished on Feb 4th, knitting just a few hours each evening.

I still need to find a nice big button to finish it off, but it doesn't need it.

I've also recently discovered needlepoint! A guest at our inn happened to be the owner of the Needle Nook in LaJolla, CA and we are now friends on Facebook. (She is also a Wee Forest Folk collector.) I happened to mention once on Facebook that I was curious about needlepoint and the next thing I know my Needle Nook friend is sending me a kit, complete with painted canvas, fibers, scissors, needles, and instruction book!

Here is the completed piece.

I'm going to use is for a small pillow for one of the guest rooms. It was fun and relaxing to work on, but now I'm thinking of creating my own designs and painting my own canvases. The ideas are churning. It was my friend who got me thinking of creating my own designs when she saw my squirrel quilt and suggested that I turn it in a needlepoint pattern.

Knitting and Cooking

Winter is always a great time to experiment with new recipes and knit. Here are pics my latest creations.

I found a recipe for yogurt cake and it was suppose to be wonderfully dense and rich.

The recipe was for a vanilla cake but I added chocolate (cocoa) for National Chocolate Cake day!

They look good and, while it is true that they weren't bad, they were not quite up to the Cupcake Royale standard of excellence!

I'm still experimenting with them, so maybe they still have a chance. I have frozen a bunch of them and will later thaw and ice them. I have discovered with other baked goods that I have made that some time they are better after this treatment. We'll see. A good cream cheese icing might help, too.

On a more savory note, I made a pork shoulder roast. The idea with this pork roast was pulled pork leftovers! It was delicious the first night with the roasted carrots and onions, but it was just a yummy the next couple of nights as pulled pork sandwiches slathered in a smoked applewood BBQ sauce (gluten-free, no less).

There are still more leftovers, so tonight I'll try something different. Maybe a pork lo mein.

I finished another knitting project. This is a mini shawl in yarn that I picked up in Seattle when we were visiting Adina before her wedding.

Mark's Fog Sweater

Finally finished the sweater that I "gave" to Mark for his birthday/Christmas in 2010. I started it in March of 2010, after a "required" trip to Webs in Northampton, MA for yarn for this project (and others!), and finished it on Dec. 31, 2011 (only a couple days after his birthday).

The pattern was named the "Fog Sweater" by the designer who patterned it after a sweater worn by someone in the movie "The Fog", which was filmed in Mendocino, CA.

Camo-Socks

Just finished another pair of sock -- FINALLY. I hated making these socks for a number of reasons, but mainly because I was knitting a stitch pattern on the cuffs that was very hard to see both in the knitting of and seeing the pattern. But even though I hated them, I was too stubborn to just give up on them!

So these socks have put me way behind in my sock knitting because I just wasn't very motivated to work on them and didn't want to start a new set on a different set of needles. (If I had done that, I think I would have never finished the camo-socks.) I think it has taken me a year to finish them!!

I was finally motivated to get them done because I wanted to take a fun set of socks to work on while traveling back and forth to Adina's. So now I'm on to a new set of socks using the same pattern but a much lighter/nicer color way! Much softer yarn, too.

Scarves and More Scarves

I've decided to move all of my knitting posts to this blog and keep the Crazy By Design blog just for fabric related stuff!

I finished a couple of more scarves, so yesterday I took them outside with my scarf model to take photos.

My model was really playing to the camera. ;-) Just look at those flirty eyes.

These are all from yarn that I purchased in Carmel when we were there for Adina's wedding. I'm keeping the red one for myself!