good-natured ribbing

It’s starting to get cold at nights, but it’s still too warm in the daytime to wear my newest favorite thing:

This is the Nancy Bush “Ene’s scarf” from ScarfStyle, in Gems Merino. It’s soft, lovely, and was a fun pattern to work through. Plus, my toddler neice says, “I like peeerple, Koosie.”

This week, after Sherry broke the blog-ice, I was very excited to take pictures of my knits and get them up on the blog. I set the camera for “best quality,” took loads of pictures, uploaded them to my relatively-new mac, and…..realized that I didn’t have the software to edit them properly. No problem. I buy Adobe Photoshop Elements, download it —– and flashback to 1994! During library school, I blew hours and hours of time in 1993/94, cropping and stylizing photos for my first (and short-lived) web page. OH, the hours I’ll never have back.

On the plus side, the re-discovery of Photoshop has now enabled me to combine both knitting mini-tragedies and rudimentary graphics skills for this gallery of works-in-progress:

When we told our friend Dan that we were starting up a knitting blog, he said, “You can either knit or blog.” The bigger problem, I think, is the real choices are that you can either knit or work… knit or clean house… knit or read mysteries… knit or acknowledge other people. And so on.

However, in an effort to prove him wrong, and to capture some record of the intense knitting activity going on here in southeast MI, two of us are going to try to do both. I (Sherry) have a husband who, in addition to being the best, has a website and has set up this blog for the knitters surrounding him. Kristen, once she kicks in, will be adding her comments and photos. We are both librarians, by the way, and so are obligated to know all about blogs.

Since this is the first blog entry of substance, I have a bundle of photos. My 13-year-old daughter was kind enough to show me (without grumbling too much) how to use her digital camera to pretty good effect. It is somewhat evident that my photographic skills will need to improve.

Current projects:

Socks: I have knitted (knit?) many socks, but this is my first toe-up sock. I started with the instructions for the “turkish cast on” in the latest VOGUEknitting (Fall 2005) and then switched over to the basic instructions in a cast on magazine (Winter 2004) for clog sock sole instructions. Then, I added some simple cables in the back. It looks as though the heel might be too loose, but when I try it on it fits perfectly, which I guess is the point of toe-up socks.

The yarn I’m using is (I think, the label is confusing) King Australian Merinos,
Rosina, 6-ply sport weight. Australian is the predominant word, although the label is entirely in Italian.

Sock yarn – hooray! I recently decided to purchase sock yarn from Knit Picks, since they advertise “affordable knitting.” The yarn came, and feels fine to my fingers, though I haven’t started knitting with it yet. There will be matching socks for my sister and her husband from this lot, which I can say out loud since they will never find my blog.

I am also knitting a scarf for myself. The pattern, “The Ginger Seamen’s Scarf,” is from Stahman’s Shawls and Scarves, by Myrna Stahman. This book was also a gift from my mother-in-law (see the basket below), who, like Ms. Stahman, lives in Boise, ID. I’m using Optimum wool, which I think is from the Southwest Trading Company, and my size 6 Lantern Moon needles, which I love. I love the yarn, too. It’s very smooth, although I have noticed that it shows every little flaw in the ribbing part.

The entire scarf, a little over half done.

The unfinished end.

Close-up of the lace.

The finished end, before blocking.

My living room, where I do most of my knitting. This was just an extra shot as I continued to practice my digital photography.

The aforementioned 13-year-old is learning to play the bass guitar.

It’s full of sock yarn.