Orange is usually associated with halloween, hippie, harvest or highway (you know the weather proof vests worn by highway workers, I salute them).  I never see orange-colored clothing at a trendy boutique or squished onto a rack at the local outlet store.  This color seems to have built quite a bad rep for itself.  But tone it down or mix it up and it turns from a fashion nay to a fashion yea.  Enter the cousins – pumpkin, peach, rust,amber. 

I chose another close relative – terracotta – to be fashioned into my Mystery Socks.  This was a part of Socktoberfest and offered every week as a clue.  First clue was the cuff, second the leg, third the heel and so on.  Designed by the ingenious Kirsten Kapur, this was a fun sock to knit and breaking the pattern into bits made it a breeze. 

This was the end result and I have to say that I love the pattern, the yarn, the color.

TTL Mystery Socks

Pattern: Mystery Socks 09 by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in colorway “Terracotta”
Needles: Size US 1.5/2.5 mm
Started 10/1 – Finished 10/30

Ravelled here

Nope, it’s not my blogiversary.

Kirtana turned two years old today and the exciting journey continues as we watch her grow each day in so many ways - mind and body and spirit. 

May this phase of the widely proclaimed “Terrible Two’s” pass mildly for us.  All the same, with kids - the good will always outweigh the not so good.

Happy Birthday, KiKi-Bee!

Today is the last day of October and the last day for Socktoberfest.  I started off this month saying that I was going to try to knit 3 pairs of socks and I actually cast on for all 3 on the first day of this month.  Two are done (yay!)  The third pair didn’t quite make the finish line and remain in a state of unravel.  Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Knitting along with so many others made this fun and extra special showing me that the knitting community is a great place to be.  New friendships have blossomed and old ones reinforced with you can do it encouragement that has been passed around.  Having a deadline helped a great deal too, sticking with these projects and getting them done – fantastic feeling!

There are no modeled sock pictures in this post because right now they are damp and blocking and I didn’t want to put on a damp pair of socks even if it was for a few minutes of camera time because…. well because, eeew!!  I might just give the socks some blow dryer action later because I want to wear them already!  Anyways, pictures of my socks coming soon.

Socktoberfest was fun!

I never meant to blog so sporadically but this month has been filled with bursts of activity followed by periods of sheer exhaustion.  It’s nothing really different from every other month of the year but just seems like I have a bit less energy and I can’t seem to figure out why.

While I’ve been keeping up with the sock knitting this month, Prithvi’s school has a project called Fall Foto Frenzy where students and their families are encouraged to take pictures and share what this season means to them. 

At the end of the month each student will have a chance to display what their family discovered together and talk about their Fall memories.  I think that this is a great project to help the kids learn and discover all they can about this planet with its perfect life supporting tilt away from the sun.  What better season than now before all the leaves are shed and the silent beauty of yet another change comes to be.

Since this is a family project, we’ve used every opportunity to haul the camera out for picture-taking.  Prithvi is done with his collage and I marvelled at all the work he’s done and the sweet touches he’s added to his piece.  Without much parental prodding, his memories have been preserved and he’s learned so much along the way.  It’s wrapped and ready to be taken to school tomorrow, but I’m sure that when he gets it back it will hang on his wall for a long time to come just to remember this vibrant earth.

Giving thanks for family, friends, blessings unimagined and love.

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

It’s not the pattern, it’s not the technique, it’s not the yarn or any of the other things that I could blame. 

My Sock#2 for Socktoberfest were meant to be Leyburn Socks.  This is my first time doing toe-up socks and everything was going along swimmingly.  I followed the instructions and all the helpful Ravelry tips.  I turned the heel and then I tried it on for size.  SNAP!!!  My yarn actually snapped because the heel was so tight and there was no way to salvage anything after that.  

All I could do was F-R-O-G

Someday, I will knit these socks and I will learn how to knit toe-up!

Watching lumberjacks can be fun

Watching lumberjacks do this can be funner….

Taken this weekend on Grouse Mountain

A month of all things sock begins today.  Yee-haw!  

Some fantastic knitters I know will be pushing the limits of sock knitting – trying to master new techniques, knit the most number of socks, finish unfinished socks or empty their sock queue on Ravelry by casting on for every sock project they intend to knit.  It’s all about the fun of knitting socks.

I’ve set myself a wimpy target of finishing at least three pairs of socks this month.  The best way to accomplish this is pressure and this time it is in the form of knitting alongside other knitters, albeit virtually.

First up, I am a part of on the Fans of Through The Loops Group on Ravelry.  Kirsten has written some amazing patterns and like last year has decided to run another Mystery Sock KAL this year.  Clue #1 came up this morning which is for the cuff.  Really interesting twist to plain 2×2 ribbing.  Can’t wait for next week’s clue

I’ve always had a head full of thick, curly, crazy, unmanageable hair.  Some may say lovely, but I say *&??&%*??$#% 

A couple years ago, I sat in a salon chair for over 5 hours to have it straightened and I had 3 stylists (I kid you not) painstakingly working what smelled like a combination of bleach and chlorine and rotten apples into my hair to make it all glossy and straight.  I walked out of the salon that day a great deal poorer but still feeling like a million bucks because I could actually swish my hair and not have it give me whiplash. 

That lasted a whole 2 weeks and then of course, the roots grew in, wiry, curly, unmanageable.  Ack!!!

Now that my roots have all grown out and I’m back to the way things were unruly and wild, I’m finally cool with it…I think…maybe.  But the downside to having all this hair is that I can’t wear hats, even the lovely handknit kind that I love knitting.  Baseball caps during a bad hair day – big no, no!

Enter the beret for us curly-wurlies, yay!!  I bought some Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn for exactly this purpose and in the perfect colorway that reminded me of wintry skies.  My first attempt at knitting this type headgear, turned out to be this…

Cloudy Skies Beret

Pattern: Spring Beret by Natalie Larson
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in colorway “Cloudy Sky”
Needles: Size US 10/6 mm
Started 9/21 – Finished 9/25

as always, more pictures on my Ravelry Projects Page

Onto the Sock crazies, fun, fun, fun!!

The socks I was talking about last time are done.  The wavy patterning of the stitches makes this a one-size-fits-all kinda socks and lends to what can only be called a ”sproingyness” to the fabric.

Deets..

Spring Forward Socks

Pattern: Spring Forward Socks by Linda Welch
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in colorway “Happy Forest”
Needles: Size US 1/2.25 mm
Started 5/27 – Finished 9/21

more pics on my Ravelry Projects Page

No more socks until next month which is just a few days away when many, many, many knitters are going to be knitting socks.  Socktoberfest season is about to begin and this year, I’m joining the pack!