be sorry before

IN A FOG ...

While waiting for Number 1 child to arrive safely back from the U.K. after two weeks away from home, I did the only thing a concerned parent could do:  have a short snort of Absolut, and order some yarn (and some more yarn).

I happened upon Deb's website , I discovered her love for this yarn, Smooshy, from this webseller.

And of course, I had to buy something!  Since I don't think I'm going to get the opportunity to go to the beach this summer, for one reason or the other, I got this guy:
















the color is so divine - my pictures just don't do it justice!  There's also no way to describe the hand of this yarn on the blog - scary soft - I think there's no way that it's going to become socks - at this point it's probably going to become this, even though the yardage is a bit short - so it will be a shorter, albeit still luxurious scarf ... (and I've got the pattern memorized!)

Thanks, Deb, and
double thanks to Kris from







for your incredibly quick service and delightfully refreshing addition to the mailbox!







now ... will all of you please think uplifting thoughts to get the boy home from inundated Londontown?

thanks so much ...

ps 20:34 he has landed!

THIS is your brain on SOCKS ...

I was getting bored (read adventurous) and wanted to create a gift for a very special person (my late Mom's friend Renate) who celebrates a birthday 2 days after mine (and a number of years before) - so I trucked down to The Point and got some incredible Noro Silk Garden in what one might call an "albino" colorway -

and found, while trying to decipher what Rebecca created, from a couple/four skeins of Kureyon and some feather & fan,  a pattern that might work for a scarf from Barbara Walker - the "fan shell" pattern in her first book.  It was (a) fun to knit with (b) an incredible hand - especially in Silk Garden!
but bored easily, especially since I only had two skeins and I realized that, to make an actual wearable scarf, might take FOUR ..., I decided to venture into some of my Sea Silk stash,
and try another B Walker pattern, something called Checkerboard Mesh from her Second Treasury ... worked one repeat, and got flummoxed by going into a second one -

make sure that you check out the deep blue and shiny thing that was almost developing in the right hand corner of the shot -



so, it occurred to me, that I should go right back to finishing up the second sock, which I'm planning on doing, since, trust me on this one, a brainless pattern is easier on brain, hands, and eyes than something new and adventurous!!






thanks for listening ...

... HEEL Thyself!...

I'm just about to start the heel of the Opal Cotton Socks:







I'm thinking that the clear-er side should be the toe-top.  Thanks again, Wendy
, for your wonderful toe-up pattern!

Again, too too bad that I'm not somewhere on some beach - it's blisteringly hot here in the Baked Apple!

back to my ice packs, and hope you're all cool as cucumbers (highly doubtful in this summer of global warming ...)

FOR THE BOYS ...

OK - finished the second baby sweater today.  This is the same pattern for the Tulip Baby Sweater but a bit changed for the un-distaff side -

it's getting really hard to do both blogging and ravelry, so I'm at an impasse as to what to really pay attention to -

right now, I'm seriously thinking of casting on a Chevron Scarf from p. 121 in a little bit of my favorite Noro Silk Garden:







I'll let you know ...

O(how I truly love this yarn)PAL COTTON

Yes, it's hot - and gonna get hotter than it was before (prediction of 95 degrees F Monday) - so the Baked Apple starts again and will continue until at least 4 days from now ... socks are probably going to be the knitting option, even though I should probably finish the second Sweet Baby sweater because that little boy is probably going to be born before the end of the month, but, but, but ... when I saw the Opal Hundertwasser collection of sock yarn at Knitty City here in town, I fell in LOVE with this particular cotton sock yarn: (sorry for the slight blur on the shot) - I have always vowed to only knit ONE COTTON PROJECT per summer, since I'm so totally against working with cotton (don't even pretend to look at my hands after a session with it), but this takes the cake - it's soft as silk, smooth as a baby's tuchas, and oh, the patterns it makes! do you see the little landscapes there? (as usual, click on the pic to see it better)





I do, and I don't know whether to make that one the front of the sock or this one:








I have a choice - but it's probably going to be a hard one!

This is a toe-up pattern courtesy of Wendy Johnson, which works for me and my frog feet every single time -

but cotton??? it begs the question:  soft as silk, warm as wool, or cool as cotton?

You decide.
 

Now, Mark This Down ...

When last we spoke, I left you with a teaser - and here's the answer!






I think I'm set with markers for the rest of my knitting life!
They could easily be the best pieces of knitting "jewelry" that I've ever owned...
Happy Independence Day to all who are independent!

The Sopranos

I got a haircut today ... not my normal "shorn to the short hairs for summer", because Froggy and a few other people said to leave it long on top - I did it for him and them, and now seriously feel like I'm channeling Paulie:








and, seriously again, after the command performance party I have to attend Tuesday night, I'm going back and getting my "real" haircut - this one will be too hard to handle (as well as an attempt to take pix of one's hair without looking in a mirror...) 
and stay tuned for an explanation of this pic:

THE BANDWAGON...

has been jumped on - when I saw the precious Tulip Sweater on Stephanie's blog, I (while humming "oh we like sheep") searched the web and found the kit here.  Ordering occurred, and a few e-mails with the lovely Carri later, the adorable little package arrived... I got the "girl" kit first, and lo and behold there's a little baby girl born about 3 months ago to whom I owe a sweater.

Just too cute, dontcha think?  So I went back to Coldwater Yarns and got the "boy" bunch of Dream in Color yarns, since there's a baby boy being born any minute to whom I also owe a sweater ... OK - back to the Notting Hill Vest by Kathy Zimmerman, that I owe to my OWN baby boy.

Happy Canada Day today to all who celebrate, and Happy Independence Day on Wednesday to all who celebrate!

ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE ...

Herewith a pair of socks.

Designed by Cookie A
Made with:  Zitron Lifestyle, color #1860, 155 m/50g
Knit on:  Pony Pearl 2mm dpns








as always, click to get a closer look at the "not quite identical" twins ...

one caveat - they did, in fact, eat into a third ball of the fabulous yarn (thank the deity that I bought 3 of them!) 

but boy, do they fit like a dream!!!

CASHMERE ... OH. MY. GOD.

Thanks to Little Knits, this arrived AS PROMISED about half an hour ago: 







1280 yds (approx.) of the most luscious laceweight cashmere yarn I've seen and/or felt in a long time - what, pray tell, should I make from it?

I'm open to suggestions - please advise ...

ps - it's "Ruby Slippers" from Jade Sapphire Special Edition, colorway #11, in case anyone is interested!