Some pictures of fence and what I have been working on lately:


This is how our finished fence looks. We will stain it in about a month. We are really enjoying the privacy!


These are my Magic Loop socks - knitted on size 1 needles - proving the theory that you do not have to use 40 " circulars to use this method. Mine are 24", which was the only size I could find locally.


And last, but certainly not least, here is my #1 inspiring project for the month. I cannot say too many good things about Blue Faced Leicester. It is soft, spins easily, has a sort of ethereal luster and knits ups nicely!

Whoo Hoo!! She opened the door a crack, and I stuck my foot in! Elayne mentioned she might "like" to blog, and now I have talked her into it!! Her page is going to be a great addition to the knitting bloggers community. Take a look at ImagiKnit. Be sure to especially note the picture of Miss KnitWise.
This was a piece she did in intarsia on size 0000 needles. Ambitious lady!

While in Augusta, I picked up a copy of Spinning Designer Yarns by Diane Varney. I have resisted this temptation for months, telling myself I did not need it since I have not one, but two videos dealing with creating designer yarns. I am really glad I gave in though, as she covers all aspects of design: color, plying, fiber selection, carding, color blending, specialty yarns, etc.! A small book, but very nice.

We had a nice guild meeting yesterday.

Here is a picture of some of the ladies at work! Two of our members have been out for over 6 months, so it was a lot of fun having a reunion with them. Both are young ladies and they are so much fun. So, a big welcome back to Heather and Jeanine!



What's happening to me lately? Suddenly, I am not liking enough stuff in knitting magazines to actually buy the magazine. Is it me or is it the content? I would say, most likely both, since I love fall/winter things much better than spring/summer things. Finally, my quest for the Summer InKnitters Magazine was rewarded, though. I like that magazine because it seems to have a lot of articles slanted to learning new techniqes or for improving technical proficiency.

Made it my own...

That's what I call it when a technique finally "clicks" without my having to check a reference book. And yes, now I know what I am doing with the Magic Loop, even to the point of arranging stitches after turning the heel. Whoo Hoo! I'm happy about that . Now, if I could just get hold of some decent size 1 circs, I would be extra pleased. The set I have right now is Susan Bates, and while they are okay, they definitely are not my first choice for knitting. I guess next I will have to tackle doing 2 of them at the same time. I have printed directions, but have not studied them yet. For one thing, my cables are only 24 inches, which is working fine for one sock, but I am not so sure it would work well for 2 socks at once.

In spinning news, I two-plied some of my cocoa bluefaced leicester. What wonderful yarn it makes! The kind you want to just hold and stroke! Yum! I am trying to do more 2-ply in order to work on making my singles more consistent and to refine my plying skills. 3-ply hides a multitude of sins that 2 ply will not.

While setting up my Knit-O-Meter, I noticed that all I am knitting right now are socks! I really should be moving on to bigger projects. What to do? I could pick up my almost forgotten top down cabled raglan or start a new vest with my "purple thistle" handspun yarn. Or, I could finish spinning the blue/bronze/green/silver silk that I started a couple of months ago and whip up another scarf. Too many ideas, and well - you know the routine, not enough time.

Yesterday, I actually took a sweater to work. The room where I was working was almost an icebox on Monday, and I suffered all day long. So far, this month, I have yet to work in a building that was the correct temperature. The week before, I sweltered. Haven't any of these places heard about climate CONTROL?

Catherine has directed me to a new blog ring, which I promptly joined this morning. It is , or more formally known as Southern Knit Bloggers. Now, I can find out if I am the only southern knitter who prefers wool! And, thanks to Indigirl for the code for the cool knitting tracker!

BackYard-New-Fence Progress on the new fence.

BackYardFountain Bill cleaned up our fountain, and he and Phillip have been recently mulching.

HerbGarden

Just some yard pictures
I am still getting used to my new camera and also the Photoshop Elements program, which my son gave me. The software program came with a scanner he bought, and he did not need the software. Good for me!! So, here is a picture of my herb and mini vegetable garden. Contents: tomatoes, peppers, lemon balm, chives, rosemary (the huge bush), tarragon, orange mint and purple basil.

Yes! Well, I see that Blogger has fixed whatever was wrong with my edit screen. I have gotten so used to using Safari as a browser, I was really dreading going back to Explorer. I am liking Safari better all the time - for one thing, you don't get any pop up ads.

We had an adventure this afternoon. We went down to Florida to pick up some sections of fence that we had ordered to be built. Since we no longer have a truck, we borrowed our next door neighbor's trailer. We noticed on the way down there that it was squeaking some. Well, after the fence people had loaded 3 panels in the trailer, they noticed the squeak - the wheel bearing had gone out. Luckily, there was a place almost around the corner that was able to repair it. It was not looking good at first, since they did not have the proper part and did not think they would be able to locate one. But, an auto part chain DID have what was needed, so they fixed it and put us along on our way. It was sort of a slow process though, and the repair shop was one of these little "good ole boy" places with a TON of cars sitting around waiting to be fixed, no place to wait, except standing up outside under a little "tentish" affair with a greasy pavement to stand on. On top of that, one of our normal afternoon rainstorms decided to make an appearance about that time, sending swirls of greasy water lapping around our feet. Am I glad to be home? YES And wouldn't you know, this was the one day I did not bring any knitting with me.

If you are seeing strange things going on with my site, there are 2 or 3 reasons:

1. Blogger is not letting me edit when I am using my Safari Browser.

2. I am playing around with sending pictures from my new Flickr account. It is pretty cool for folks like me who do not have the premium Blogger service, and allows you to actually send your blog post directly from the photo site. Pretty nice, at least I think, when I get used to it.

Double Your Pleasure

BlueDream

This morning I sat down in front of the TV with my spinning and watched the next episode of Knitty Gritty. Now that was more like it!!

I really enjoying watching the program on felting and seeing Bev Galeskas in action. I think I may have to try some needle felting soon.

Frou Frou Sleep Mask in progress. I finally figured how to upload photos from my MAC. I have been having problems with it for ages.



It sort of looks like a huge pink amoeba made out of toilet seat cover material! (No reflection on the pattern, which I think is a great one and a cute idea, but on my choice of materials and workmanship on this particular thing)

And the Magic Loop socks. Just a simple pattern, but I wanted to make sure I understood the concept:



Did anyone else see Knitty Gritty today? Guitar straps!??!?

Yeah!yeah! I finished my Magic Loop socks today. They were fun - I am not sure, but I think it takes me a little longer to knit them in this fashion, though. It was nice not to have to worry about dropping all those DPNS in the car though. My family gives me a hard time about that. Now, I will start on the sleep mask from Knitty. My spinning has been on the back burner lately. I am not sure why. Seems like I will spin for just a little while and then get tired. But I really need to get to work. The fiber stash is starting to build up, you know ;)

Here we go Loop de loo, here we go Loop de la!

I thought I was an avowed user of DPNs exclusively for knitting socks. I never investigated knitting socks on 2 circulars. It just did not grab me and sounded like more trouble than it would be worth.
Thursday, I picked up the booklet The Magic Loop and a 40 inch cable for my Denise Needles. Last night I sat down to try it out, and I must confess, I am already totally addicted to it. I have started a pair of Fixation socks, which will work out with the pattern in the book fine and will tolerate the size 5 circ I am working with. I cannot believe what a simple concept it is, and best of all, no dropping one of those DPNs in the car, etc!! So what am I up to this morning? Going to run over to the island to see if the LYS has either size 1 or 2 circs with LONG cables. (Keep your fingers crossed for me, will ya?)

I am still working on the Weaver's Wool socks - I am in the gusset decreases of sock #2.

A few hours later.......
I haven't been able to get into Photobucket to add pictures, but here is a link to the 2 pair of socks in progress. Also, I bought some frou frou yarn. I am like many and did not like the new Knitty, but did like the little sleep mask. I bought some pink Trendsetter Zucca and some EFF Park eyelash to make this project. I rarely ever buy frou frou, but I thought I would love to try this.

See My Photos

Oh no, a senior moment!

First of all, I forgot about Knitty Gritty coming on today. When I finally remembered, the 10 o'clock show was already over with. Aha!! Now I noticed it also would come on at 3 pm. Unfortunately, I had to be somewhere. Well, I dug around in tapes frantically trying to find one that would be suitable for recording over. Then, I could not figure out the stupid VCR. (I only play with one of them about once or twice a year.) I could not program it. Finally, Phillip came to the rescue by just hitting the OTR button (now why didn't I think of that?). We got back, and I was all set to watch the show... and you guessed it... I taped the wrong TV station. Arghhhhh. Well, tomorrow is another day - IF I can remember that it comes on again and IF I don't mess anything up. I know it is supposed to be sort of a beginner type show, but I am interested in seeing all the guest hosts, etc., and I always seem to pick up something I didn't know even with the simplest books, etc.

We took a mini trip, Wednesday and today only, to Florida, and I bagged a couple of knitting items: the much coveted Knittting on the Edge, a 40 inch cable for my Denise Needles and the book about the Magic Loop Method of knitting small diameter objects in the round. No, I did not get any yarn... Thinking about all the stuff I have bought to spin, I just could not do it - not even sock yarn this time!! Also, I have all this handspun I need to make into something. I saw some kits with fabric strips and accessories to make a knitted fabric handbag. Quite interesting concept, although I did not care for any of the fabrics in said kits. It was a short trip, but curiously restful, despite the heat and humidity.

Off the rest of the week, too!!