“Holey socks, Batman!”

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bluesocks

Even in their “no holes yet” state you can see that these old wool socks had seen better days. I knit them many years ago and got tons of wear out of them. Soon after these photos were taken, the heels and even the toes sort of disintegrated. I wore them in boots not made for walkin,’ apparently.

The cuffs went everywhere the heels and toes went but, of course, they showed almost no wear. So I took scissors to the socks, hemmed the raw edge, and…

Wristers. More upcycled wristers. They also make pretty good cup cozies.

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4cuffsopen

Raw Honey

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This is Raw Honey, a fingerless mitt design by Alicia Plummer of Two Little Plums. Plummer writes on her website that she designs because “she wears her heart on her sleeve” and “designing is a perfect outlet for self-expression.” Wearing your heart on your hands works too. This is a nifty fingerless mitt design for worsted weight. Very cozy.

I knit a size medium in Harrisville Design’s WATERshed, a 10-ply worsted. The pair needed 74 grams.The Barn Door reddish-brown colorway and this rustic yarn seemed perfect for the design.The pattern was error-free and easily understood. A great quick knit.

I’m not sure where the “raw honey” fits in, but inspired by the title, I gifted this pair to my local beekeeper.

The 2014 loon chick flies

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This is Long Lake’s only 2014 loon chick, in about mid-September. Its parents had either recently departed for places south or were about to. We saw the adolescent spending a lot more time alone as fall approached. The adolescent loon regularly came quite close to our kayaks. This one has seemed a bit more independent a little earlier than most of the chicks we’ve met before on the lake.

By late September, we still weren’t seeing the loon fly. But, as shown in this sequence, we got the feeling the young one was feeling his (or her) oats in the flying department. The loon wasn’t going anywhere, but there was an awful lot of wing flapping and stretching going on.

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We were definitely rooting for flight. The nights are pretty cold. The little guy is all alone with only the lethargic black ducks for company. The goofy buffleheads will be here soon. This loon needed to get moving south.

Then, on October 8th, Steve saw the young loon dive in the southern smaller part of the lake. It surfaced and then started doing the wing flapping thing. Pretty soon the loon was kind of skipping across the surface of the water, doing one of those very ungraceful takeoffs that loons do that make you wonder if they’ll ever get airborne.

Then, suddenly, this year’s chick was in full flight. It headed north eventually up about 50 feet and has not been seen since.

babyloon_flies1_lowresNot the clearest of photos on this last one. But it’s definitely the adolescent loon. Hopefully this one makes it safely south to its wintering grounds.

Cam’s Jacobus

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Yep, another Jacobus. This time it’s for a young neighbor of mine who tells me monkeys are just about his favorite animal. You’ve met my Jacobi before, actually Jacobus and his buddy Saar. They are the best knitted monkeys out there, and I’ve knit some cute ones before this. Jacobus is the creation of Annita Wilschut, the very talented Dutch designer who specializes in stuffies, like Vera the bear, Karel the bunny, and Joris the…the…dragon (I think).

Jacobus is knit all in one piece. No seaming. None. For those of you who are used to knitting Alan Dart or Debbie Bliss toy patterns (which are also cute as bugs’ ears), you are used to ending your knitting and bracing for a sewing session that takes just as long as the knitting. Not with a Wilschut pattern. Off the needles. Stuff the creature. Finished. OK, Jacobus’s overalls need just a bit of seaming–but it’s easy peasy.

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Jacobus is sitting next to me begging me not to put him on the internet without his overalls. But I do want you to see him in his skin, so here goes.

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By the way, Jacobus is knit in Ella Rae Cozy Soft, a DK 75% acrylic, 25% wool mix. I’m afraid I have nothing good to say about working with this yarn. The colors are quite nice. That’s the best I can say.

Long Story Short Scarf

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This is Amy E. Anderson’s Long Story Short Scarf, a versatile pattern that’s more a recipe than a specific pattern. It’s available for download on Ravelry. I purchased mine from Blackberry Ridge, kitted with their worsted weight yarn.

This pattern includes directions for scarves, shawls, baby blankets and afghans in your choice of 3 stitches. It is intended as a way to use up your leftovers. If you like, you can choose a new yarn at the beginning of every row and cut it at the end of every row.

The Blackberry Ridge kit directs the knitter to use the “baffled” stitch from Anderson’s pattern. The direction for “baffled,” which is one of three choices on how to work the stitches, baffled me for a good long while. The directions say to “knit 3 right side rows, knit 3 wrong side rows.” Hmm. Pretty much us knitters alternate between right side and wrong side rows unless we are working on circulars, in which case we knit only on right side rounds.

Here’s the deal: you must use circular needles. Anderson tells you that but doesn’t explain the why of it, at least I didn’t find the why anywhere. You knit one row, cut the yarn. Do NOT turn the needles around. Go back and join the new yarn starting at the same stitch you started with in the first row. And then do that for a third time. On the 4th row, turn the needles. Now you are working what Anderson calls a “wrong” side row (though there’s really no difference between the right and the wrong side). Do that same thing for 3 rows and start the next set of six rows. Easy peasy.

I braided the fringe. I think it will hold up better that way and look a bit neater. It works out really well because there are 3 strands of each color on each end, so you end up with a fringe of one braid of each color–at least in my version that changed yarn color every three rows.

Here’s a look at the Blackberry Ridge kit, which includes the pattern and sells for only $17.00. I purchased the kit from the Blackberry Ridge booth at Fiberfest in Allegan, Michigan.

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