May Day! May Day!

May Day! May Day! Procrastination has set in! Apologizes to my dedicated fans as I went amiss for almost two months. Of course, I am fine just knitting up a storm. Woh, wait! T here actually have been very few storms here in the Northwest and I've been out searching for knit spots again.
As you can tell there were mobs of knitters taking over the hill, so we called it a day and took the quick run down. :) hee hee...

No worries we put the knitting needles away before boarding down a few thousand feet! See....
Upon returning home we grabbed more wool, a couple more knitters and ran up another hill. This mountain had an Anniversary recently. :)

As you can tell, there was continued awesome weather for our knitting adventure.

We soon realized this spot might not be good for fumbly knitters. If you drop a needle or a place marker, worse yet your new Cookie A book? It just might be infuriated by the volcano. You want to see our live view?

7 hours of hiking and you could enjoy this view too.......
One of my knitters was a little anxious to start a new sweater, so we all put on our best heavy duty garbage bag and sped down the mountain. Weee!

There were a few other knitting adventures less spectacular, but the results were the all quite similar:

Sock Madness Round Two socks. Some tough stranding work to keep me in the competition. Knitpicks Daffodil and a solid light blue.


Then there was Round Three, with Happy Feet. I opted out on this round due to too many hours at the office. :( Just hate it when work gets in the way.

Third pair here is the Lacey Diamonds in an amazingly cool color, green OF COURSE, from Fancy Images. Nice, eh?

Fourth completed pair was knit with Regia Patch Antik color 5754, this pattern is from the new Cookie A. book, pattern number one, Glynis. We will see if I succeed knitting every patten of the book. Looks good so far!

Sorry to be so long winded, but there should be a little something to satisfy everyone of my fans out there. Hope to see you all soon.

I quit knitting!

Alright, did you really think I gave up knitting socks? April Fool's Day. I was protesting the length of winter and refusing to post until I found さくら cherry blossoms. I was waiting and waiting ... until a week ago! I found one lone cherry tree over on Bainbridge. Yes, I had to risk the chilly ferry ride to seek out the blossoms. Look, here is proof spring is around the corner.

The green snake posing with Cherry Blossom-san are my green pretzel over-knee socks. (Thanks 'K'.) Yes, I spent 3 weeks slaving away on two at a time toe up socks. You see, there is this character I know, K-san, she haD this mass amount of GREEN yarn she decided she was not fond of and wanted to D-stash. K-san picked up on the fact that I tend to knit a lot of green yarn and knit it rather rapidly. Therefore K-san pushed the green yarn on me, divided in evenly wound skeins. What was sockergirl to do? Say no?
The so called "450 yards" of yarn was accepted with a smile and the challenge to maximize the use of the yarn. After 2+ weeks of serious knitting I had to call up K-san and ask her to drop the curse of the endless yarn. K-san quickly got her garlic necklace on and the yarn slowly evaporated. I have never seen 450 yards of yarn make a pair over super hero socks. (When the weather gets better I will get a close up of the pretzel pattern.)

Next up are the amazing Leyburn socks created top down 60 st in the leg and 61stitches in the foot. This was a really fun, quick knit. The best part was how Socks that Rock - Barney Ruble colorway did NOT pool with this pattern. I highly recommend this pattern!

Next up: The March sockamania socks are fresh off the needles. This was the Rollercoaster pattern. The pattern did well with some random stash yarn, which I believe is Lana Cervinia Forever Jacquard yarn.

Have you seen this sock? It is that time again, Sock Madness has begun its third year. While I was not a huge fan of this pattern, yarn colors really makes me want to put these on my feet! What you can not see? There is a Drunken crazy Quilt pattern knit & purled in the socks. This is also the first pair of socks that required an installation of an "afterthought" heel. WHY? ... yes... WHy the heel last? Did I mention the additional 32 kitchner stitches to sew closed? I am mad fast with Kitchner stitch, but the heel really zapped my mojo for more Madness. BUT.... the next pattern is out on Saturday... sometime. Aren't we all a little curious what it will be?
As always a huge shout out to my dwindling fans across the world. I promise to do better for you readers, especially since mountain climbing season is coming soon.... along with spring.

Grass is Greener

Yes, the grass finally IS greener in my backyard. Frosty DID invite himself into my house for Christmas, apparently even frosty was tired of the NW snow fall.
My nephew helped me put frosty outside with the 5 inches of snow that fell during our Christmas dinner.
Ten days later Frosty looked like this:
And I had a new pair of socks while I watched the mass amounts of snow melt. (I still have a slow melting pile of snow in my drive.) The completed socks are made from Fancy Image Yarn with the ZigZag pattern from Cavy designs. I enjoyed both the yarn and pattern. I am bummed that TalkstoStrangers is receiving these socks soon.
I was also able to whip up the Sockamania Scroll pattern. This is made with the very soft Pagewood yarn colorway of Camoflouge. Sooooo.... can you see the pattern through the camo? Can you even see the socks in the picture??? Look closely.
This year I am trying to dive even deeper into the stash with none or uhm... ok ... more realistically, Minimal sock yarn purchases. The sock yarn grew out of control before my travels and it may have grown while I was away. The vast amounts of sock yarn in my treasure chest really seem to be challenging the titanium hinges and air tight seal. I would love to hear the crisp click when I close it up before my next journey. (I will feel better about my wool being safe from zombies.)
Next blog will be exciting, as the current two pairs of socks are very fun for me to knit. I am blowing through them hopefully by this coming weekend.
A big shout out to all my patient fans and groupies all around the world, I hope to be there for you in the Near future!

Unexpected Visitor

Looks like this year we have a couple of unexpected visitors for the holidays. Take a look!
AND
Come on Frosty, wipe that smile off your face while I go shovel some more snow! Give me a break I need to have time to knit.
We have opted to delay Christmas as there is no parking in front of the house, and the potential for one more snow storm... the last one? Today's high was 34 degrees, NO, that is a good temperature! Hopefully, the 4 ft + snowdrifts are not covering our address, so.... IF Santa chooses to come he will recognize we are not Alaska state. It really would be a bummer to get Homer, Alaska - Sally's stocking full of crochet hooks and snowmobile wrench set. It would definitely be better to get Sockergirl's stocking full of sock yarn and size 2.5 needles.
I did manage to get this month's Sockamania pattern completed. It was made from stash yarn, which explains why you might not be able to see the fancy lace and cable pattern. Not really that fond of the Seashore color way, Lorna. Although I still like knitting with Lorna's Lace yarn. Oh, this picture showed the 4 inches of new snow this morning which resulted in 2 hours of shoveling this afternoon and a little neighborhood exploration.
First off, I had to get out my skis to get the newspaper at the paper box half a mile away. Then I discovered that my Neighbor actually had his paper delivered! You bet I hucked that paper at his door in disgust.

Obliviously, the above house does not reside any knitters. This photo will remind you to wrap your pipes in lots of warm knits before you leave home. It would be bummer to return home for a little local ice climbing instead of using the stairs on your house.
Finally, warm wishes to all my fans. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and lots of lumps of wool in your stocking!

Oh BOY!

ふぶき！ is your word of the day. ”Fubuki" is the word for Blizzard.

Sorry, not that kind of blizzard, the kind from Mother Nature.
Yep, it is another day of snow here in the great northwest! As you will see below this is my current mode of transportation.

As you guessed, this method of transport takes a little more work and requires eating more chocolate. But Mother Nature's windchill temperature of 5 degrees Fahrenheit, surprisingly is not a problem. Today's mission involved mailing those last minute Christmas cards. For some reason our mail carrier is not picking up or delivery mail in the 4 ft drifts since Saturday. So I took it upon myself to drop off those final letters to Santa, and collect the mail. There I found out that today's mail did not EVEN make it to the post office. Maybe the truck could not make it up the icy hill through snow drifts?
What do you think? Am I the next van Gogh? Yesterday it snowed 12 inches or so with big drifts. I dug out the house to prevent potential water seeping in the event it warms up to tropical temperatures of say 40 degrees. The hour and half work built up a nice 2 foot tall berm the length of the house. From this shoveling I was able to salvage my ice chunks to have a try at modern art. It is quite pleasant to view through out the day as the snow falls. (The snow has been so dry this past week it is impossible to make a snowman.)

While I felt very accomplished at my art work and shoveling..... the snow started up again at 5pm and dumped all night long until 2pm-ish. You got it. I had to start all over again, another 90 minutes of shoveling with out the umph for modern art. This time the drifts are out of control and my shovel piles are about 4 feet tall. Depending on the weather tomorrow I may go play in the snowdrifts next to the house to build a knitting cave. I have an extra snow shovel and extra hot chocolate if any of you readers wish to join? I am ready for anything!

Let's take a look at a few houses around here. :)

Now let's take a look at the main road through the 'burbs. (3 lane road during rush hour) Really I don't live in the sticks.
The next post should have knitting and... probably some snow, as there IS another snow storm scheduled. Hope everyone is safe and warm. Christmas shopping complete? well, I apologize to all my readers, even my #1 fan, due to the weather I have been unable to shop for your individual gifts.

Knitting up a storm

Now don't be mistaken, I did not knit so hard to cause the horrible storm which has come to the Northwest. The first snow fall was sorta welcome on Sunday to allow me to stay in and knit up some quick washcloth patterns for Christmas gifts. The next 3 or 4 storms I wanted to go away NW style - melt quickly and be done. Anyway, we will start with a little penguin on ice. My little friend is kind of in a penguin phase.

Kawaii, ne! My little friend, she is going to love this one. Then my little dude is going to enjoy a little fishing in his bath time.

Then there was of course the last minute present for a co-worker. I used my left over mohair from my un-sewn sweater combined with a DK weight wool. Multi-direction-diagonal scarf. It is quite a timely gift for our temperatures in the teens. She loved it and almost did not take it off at work.... that was until she broke into a sweat! Seriously, it HAS snowed every day this last week. ARGH!!

Today is a complete blizzard. I tried to get video or pictures for all you fans... but the lens kept getting snowy. In the evening pictures were a bit easier? I didn't mind the 16 degrees and wind chill of 0 degrees Fahrenheit for the sake of my reader(s).

It is so windy I did not think there was much snow accumulation, until I wondered around the house. The above drifts may go up to my knees. (While I may pretend to be, I am not Asian. I am like 6 feet tall.)

This is the eco-girl in me trying to use stash yarn as much as possible. The next pair of socks, Lace & Cables, used my Lorna's Lace Seashore colorway. It came out... uhm quite... uhm not as hoped.... a little on the ... uhm... ugly side. Not really the pattern's fault. I knew this pattern would be better with a solid, instead of the Seashore's horrendous pooling pattern. I love Lorna's lace and just wanted to knit with it. So this time I am not quite sock worthy. :( My secret stash of yarn is in its treasure box in a far away land. Can't wait to go retrieve another handful of fiber from the magic box.
I was able to finally complete my traveling socks, but I will save that posting for another day. Instead I will leave you with a cheery frog I found while I was out and about, enjoy.
And there was this beautiful scene not far from his reflection pond.
Amazing, isn't it? well, stay safe & warm in front or your computers. Oh, And keep reading!

November?

Uhm.... yeah, bye-bye November it's time for December. I am hoping for even lower gas prices and a bit of snow. If the slow retail sales continue, then I may have more leisure time for knitting (from stash) and playing in my snowshoes wearing special handcrafted wool socks, of course.
Again, not sure where November went..... let me see.....

I was not able to visit Obama, but this summer I think there is need for some research and sock investigation. Hey, Maybe there is an Obama Yarn shop?? I won't know unless I go and check it out, right? Of course, all of you fans are now dying to know more about this fabulous fishing village. You must not be let down. So hold your socks on until July for those special travel pictures.

The above picture is just a teaser to our little project.

Yarn! Yes, I have been knitting a little. My sock blanket is now 26.1% that is 117 squares of the planned 448. No repeated squares, yet...... I received the above scraps from a new knit pal. I can't wait to add them in to the master"piece."

These Get Fruity socks from Sockamania are HOT off my size two needles. Sizzle sizzle,eh? If you are a real fan, you would remember this yarn I won from the Sockamania drawing in July. Free socks are great, but free is even better with green!

There is no need to clean your screen, the photo is a little blurry. This is another completed pair of autumn socks with Celtic cabled heels. This means there is one more happy sock wearer in the world. Does this mean we are one STEP closer to world peace?

I will continue to travel with AND neglect my reversai socks, they seem to be in search of a more satisfying knit spot....

Lastly a shout out to my ever so reliable fans in Italy, Turkey and the 12 of you in Boring, Oregon. Keep reading as I will try to be more Boring for you next time!