Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Mississippi and Guam Socks are Finished

My socks are on their way to Crystal Palace Yarns via UPS as of yesterday! Woohoo! Today, I am finishing up edits on the written patterns and a short bio. Several pictures of both pair are below. First is the sock for Mississippi. Guam sock pictures follow. (blogger turned some of my pics again)
Leg of Mississippi sock
Heel of Mississippi Sock
Tiny beaded rib of Mississippi sock
Pictures of Guam Socks This pair of socks are siblings but not twins; meaning they are not identical. It is their differences that make them interesting.
The colors are reversed for the socks plus one sock has one more row of edging than the other. I liked them that way so didn't change it. Knitters can do their socks however they want them. Flowers are positioned on the outside of the socks slightly above the ankle. The inside of the socks have small lazy daisy flowers with beaded centers.
Closeup of sock with red flower, orange edging and orange lazy daisy flowers.
Closeup of the sock with the orange flower.
On to the next big thing!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Bluebonnets of Texas

Joe and I decided to drive to Brenham (home of Bluebell ice cream) and have lunch. It is about an hour away from us and a nice, scenic drive. It's one of the favorite routes to see Texas Bluebonnets in abundance. We had lunch at Must Be Heaven! Halving a sandwich; we saved room for a large piece of coconut pie that we also shared. It was delicious! Brenham is a wonderful little town with a center court house square. There are many many quaint little shops of antiques, flea market finds and crafts. It's a wonderful place to spend the day. Below, a field of bluebonnets that seems to go on forever.
A herd of cows grazing in a field of bluebonnets.
There were many cars stopped with people out in the fields taking pictures of their spouses, children, grandmothers and pets! It's neat to see dogs having their pictures made out in a field of flowers.
It was a bit overcast as you can see, but we had a great time.
Next weekend, Joe's kids and grandkids are coming. We are all planning to go to Chappel Hill for the Bluebonnet Festival. There will be more bluebonnet pictues, I am sure.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Still Working on Guam

I have been playing with the embellishment of Guam for several days now. I like the way it looks this morning; so I am going to make the other sock match but reversing the colors. The flower is located just above the ankle facing out on the sock. It does look very similar to what I had envisioned this sock to be. I have stayed very simple with any crocheted embellishment so that even a beginner crocheter could achieve the same results. A simple crocheted edging can give any knitted piece a look of additional refinement. IMHO.
This photo shows the center of the flower and the daisy stitch with beaded centers up close.
Another closeup of edging and flower.
I am hoping to finish the embellishment of the second sock today so that I can block them. I want to take them to Market Street DayKnitters tomorrow. Then, in the mail on Friday! Woohoo!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Guam Socks - Embellishing in Progress

To say I have been knitting like someone crazily obsessed is an understatement! I am proud to say the knitting is finished! At this point, I am working on the embellishment of the Guam socks. I thought I would post the process. For me, it is probably craziness at it's best! Actually, this is the FUN part - the creative part. I want these socks to be floral and very colorful yet something anyone can easily achieve. I want something "out of the box" for these socks. A look for socks that I haven't seen before. First, let me say that my intention with this sock was intarsia in the round but I became concerned about not having enough time to complete the socks since I have never done intarsia in the round. It would have been a learning process for me. (it is on my shortlist though) So, the next best thing would be the charted design in duplicate stitch. I have found that I really don't like duplicate stitch that much. I need a tiny embroidery hoop to make my stitches neater. I have been to two different craft stores looking for that damned little hoop. I had to settle for one last evening; I hope it works the way I want it to! While waiting to find the hoop, I wondered about satin stitching some flowers on the sock. Below is the result of some quick little satin stitches. Pretty neat, actually. Still going to do the duplicate stitch to see which I like best. It may turn out to be some combination of both. There is also a planned edging around the large flower. I hope the picture in my head translates well onto the sock! The socks are going to have different colored edging on the ribbing. One has two rows of that edging and the other has one row. I am leaning toward the one row. Already tried beading the edging and didn't care for it. This is about the 4th edging I have tried; deciding I like the simpler edging best since the socks will have flowers on them. I really like the little lazy daisy flowers hoping to scatter a few of those with a bead in the center.
Just playing around waiting to find a little hoop that will fit inside my sock.
I love these beads! They are glass and square. Not to mention the EXACT colors of my yarn. Hoping they wind up on the socks somewhere.
Don't know why Blogger turned these pictures sideways. Jeez.
I love the simplicity of this little lazy daisy flower!
Today, I will be in the yard with Joe. It is one of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday or Sunday. He has our raised veggie garden ready to plant. (he does the work and I get to do the fun part) I have a flat of red verbenas and a flat of marigold to plant. The marigold go between the tomatoes and bell pepper plants to help keep the bugs off of them. Bugs don't like the smell of marigolds. Boy, I do! I had forgotten what tomato plants smell like! Nothing like it in the whole world! One of those simple pleasures in life. I will be posting gardening pictures along with knitting thru the Summer.