In No Particular Order...

Yesterday, Katy, one of the SnB member, had a garden potluck party. I was originally gonna make the Chocolate and Zucchini Cake, but Mick got sick so we ended up at the Vet instead. But I made it up by going to Julia's Bakery and bought a Peach Pie for the party. I met quite a few people there, and Archiknist and Soozies were there as well. Archiknist came with her new toy and I told David that I want one too!!! :)

Today was slow and relaxing. I went to SnB and got to talk with Costumechick. I haven't seen her for awhile so it was great seeing her again. And speaking of someone I haven't seen for awhile, Lilith came too! And she brought WIP Clessidra with her! I think I'm gonna either make that or Monkey next. And I get to cast on as early as now, if I want to, because I finally finished my first pair of socks for Summer of Sock 2007:

Pattern - Falling Leaves by Jessica Landers on Knitty.com
Yarn Called For - 2 Skeins Koigu Painters Palette Merino in #823
Yarn Used - 2 Balls Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in #0650
Needles - 2 Addi Turbo size 2 circular
Gauge - 7.5 sts per inch
Knit - July 05, 2007 to August 12, 2007
Modifications - Universal formula sizing, Magic cast-on, 2x2 Ribs

This pattern was an easy knit and a great introduction to lace. I love the way it came out and I really like the yarn I chose - I think solid yarn show case the pattern much better than the variegated version. I knitted both socks at once and I think it's a great choice and from now on, I might just do both at the same time! I actually didn't use 2 balls and I think I might actually have enough left to make a pair of ankle socks. We'll see what comes out of it.

Right before I went to SnB today, I found out a local Farmer's Market that happens on Sundays - I am so excited because usually they have it during Wednesday on mid-day and Saturday mornings, which both are bad for me. They had been expanding it and added Thursday late afternoon/early evening and Sunday during the day. I stopped by before going to SnB and bought some fresh peaches and a blueberry lemonade - yum!

Not much progress was made for MS3... only 20 rows into the Clue 4...

After SnB, I decided to use the giant zucchini my brother brought home:

I tried the recipe "Sweet Potato & Zucchini Frittata" from Moosewood Restaurant New Classic. Besides sweet potato and zucchini, it calls for onions, eggs, cream cheese, garlic, milk, smoke cheddar, marjoram, salt and pepper. I love Moosewood cookbooks - although it is vegetarian, I think anyone can find something in there that they like! My friend introduced me to Moosewood back when we were in college and now I have almost all of their cookbooks!

YUM!

Falling Leaves and Butterfly

So I finally made some progress on my socks... Yes, I admit, I am such a bad SoS member! So without further ado:

Falling Leaves with Heels!!!

I since made a little more progress, but not enough to take another picture. The most important thing is that I now have TWO heels :)

And I've spotted this yesterday coming home from SnB in our garden:

Beautiful Butterfly!

I haven't seen butterfly this big in real life in the US. Isn't it beautiful?

Quick Update on SoS

I have WAAAAY too many things to blog about, but not enough time, so I'll just post the quick update on Summer of Socks.

While I was at 1000 islands vacationing and planning my wedding, I had some down time to start my first pair of socks for Summer of Socks 2007. I decided that the first pair would be Falling Leaves, using Reynold Soft Sea Wool in Dark Green.

Instead of doing the toe up specified in the pattern with the crochet cast on, I used the Magic Cast-On by Judy Becker. I modified the size of the socks using the Universal toe-up formula. Unfortunately my feet are way too small for standard size socks pattern hence I needed to learn toe up so I can make my own. On top of using the two new techniques, I also made the socks with two circular needles, and both socks at once! Not bad for a new sock knitter, eh? :)

The start of the Falling Leaves

My progress by the end of my trip

The New Addition

No, we didn't acquire anymore animals... Well, kinda. You'll see at the end of this post. Right now, I'm talking about new addition to the SoS 2007 stash!!!

1 skein Alpaca with a Twist Fino in Light Blue, 2 skeins Reynold Soft Sea Wool in Dark Green, 3 skeins of Plymouth Sockotta in pink/orange/yellow, white/pink/orange/yellow, and white/brown/blue/green/yellow, 2 skeins of Regia silk color in white/black/brown, a bottle of Wool Mix in Lavender scent, and a size 2 Addi Turbo

After my business training, I went to Southbury and visited Selma's Yarn and Needlepoint. Selma was there when I got there. There are a lot more yarn than the website mentioned. I got an email from the SnB group, also from a friend from work, that Selma was closing the store and everything was on sale. It's actually a very good sale - everything 35% off! Need I say more? Next Saturday is their last day, unfortunately, I'll be out of town, but I think I stock up enough :).

When I got home, I found this in the mailbox:

A sample of Cash-Silk 2/36 in Tussah from ColourMart

I actually ordered the sample card, but I haven't gotten it yet, but this little sample was mailed the same time and arrived first. Must have something to do with the size. I was considering using this as my Mystery Stole 3 KAL, but I changed my mind. More on MS3 later on.

When I got to the door, I found this in my hanging flower basket:

Little baby bird!!!

Yeah, my plant died because we had a frost after I put them out... grrr... But at least it provided home for other creatures :) I couldn't tell if there are one or more baby birds, because I couldn't actually see them - one of the disadvantage of being only 5'2-1/4" tall. David was nice enough to take the picture so I can see it without tipping and falling over the railing.

We actually have another nest next to the side of the house, on top of the climbing vines, but that was way too high for anyone to see. We are also hoping we don't have any bird nest on top of our chimney... oy...

I was planning on going to Renegade Craft Fair at Brooklyn, but I doubt I'll be going now... Lots to do around the house...

I'm gonna go play around with the new sock yarn now...

Summer of Socks 2007

I've been so busy working on my business that I haven't had a chance to swatch for my Summer of Socks 2007 KAL, which officially started 06.21.2007!!! This knit along was put together by Zarzuela and this is the second year she had put this together. I missed out all the fun last year so when I saw it on her blog that she was doing it again, I jump the gun and joined it immediately.

I think in my entire knitting life (a whopping 3.5 years), I've only knitted one pair of socks. But due to my 'Nilla (Vanilla) liking to have socks as toys, one of the socks had been chewed, thrown around, stretched, slobbered, and licked. So there is only one lonely sock sitting in the sock drawer right now. Luckily, I have a lot of the yarn left and one of the goals for me is knit another one so I have a pair and would be able to wear it again.

Speaking of goals, here is what I have in mind:

1. Complete my one sock so I will have one full pair of socks.
2. Learn how to knit socks toe-up with magic cast-on for toe-up socks
   
3. Learn how to knit sock with two circulars
4. Knit the following socks:
• Falling leaves
• Hedera
• Baudelaire
• Clessidra
• Universal toe-up

Now, I know that's an ambitious list as I am also doing Mystery Stole 3, 2 vests for my dad, a skirt for myself, and possibly more test/sample knitting for Farmhouse Yarns. So we'll see how far I go with this list.

As far as yarn and needles go, these are what I have so far...

My needles and yarn stash...

I know I don't have a lot compare to a lot of you out there for socks, but I do have a lot of yarn for the many scarfs I want to make... That's why I'm busting my butt to get into contest to win me some more sock yarn! YEAH! I already entered my first Weekly Link contest, and I might even attempt to do a design contest if I ever get to it... Although I have never design anything before, but it does sound fun though.

Now, I should probably get going to swatch my first sock for the official Summer of Socks 2007!
SOCK ON!

Update: I swatched with Regia Color with US2/2.75mm Crystal Palace Bamboo circular. I'm going to do the universal toe-up first. The the cool thing, I was right on the dot with the suggested gauge size from the ball band :) But then I realized I only have one circular that size - DOH! So to fix that, I went here and bought some more needles and sock yarn, enough to make Clessidra :)

First Swatch!!!