Photo collage

Playing with Picasa!
A collage of the month of July... playing golf on July 1st (my first time); the Current River runs next to the golf course; the front of Sizzle; Rock & Weave socks; a blue-tailed lizard that got in the house; baby bunny; swimming in Current River (the big splash was a rock the kids were trying to "skip"); Big Spring; a big brown bat (that's really the species name) that got into the house. 

Big Foot lives here

These are the finished Rock and Weave socks, in Socks that Rock mediumweight sock yarn; the color is Fairgrounds. This was the May club kit -- the new one is here, already -- arrived Saturday.
The sock blockers are new, too. They're made by Chappy, and sold through her ebay site, CHAPPYS-FIBER-ARTS-AND-CRAFTS. There are several other designs available, and 3 sizes. 

Nothing to see here, folks...

Aw, dadgummit, the Mars thing is 3 years old. My apologies for not checking it out. It never occurred to me that I needed to. Our eagle-eyed correspondant, Becky, pointed out the error. Thank you!
For more info, please check this link: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Mars Spectacular

And another thing...

There has been knitting, in a rather haphazard, short-attention-span style.

The color blox sox are done, and I made a little friend to go with them. Mini sock blocker from Felt-up designs.

I finished the front of Sizzle, and started the back. I chickened out on the deep V, and started it about the same time I started the armholes. See the hourglass shaping?


The yarn I ordered for the Bazaar Socks arrived, so I started those. They are kicking my backside. They start toe-up, with a short-row toe. No problem. But they also have a vertical stripe: 1 stitch of color A, 1 stitch of color B, repeat to end of row. I spent about 3 days knitting the toe, ripping it out, knitting it again, and finally just decided to go with the 7th or 8th version, and continue with the next band of pattern. It's not pretty.

In frustration, I started an easier sock, the Rock & Weave pattern from the Socks that Rock club's May shipment. They start with a sideways cuff in linen stitch, which is easy. I like the "wrong side" (picture on right) better than the "right side" (picture on left).










As long as I was winding the yarn for the Rock & Weave socks, I decided I might as well wind the yarn for Mystery Stole 2. It's dark brown laceweight from Handpaintedyarn.com. I haven't cast on yet, but at the rate I'm going, that'll happen soon.

Happy birthday, Mom!

We will never see this again in our lifetime...

...nor will the people of the next 50-to-1,000 Life Times!
Mars, the Red Planet, is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification...
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.


NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN


This was an email I got from my dad, which came with some pictures that apparently only exist in the email. But I thought it was cool, and the 2 people who actually read my blog might want to know about it!

Starting to Sizzle!

OK, I went ahead and started Sizzle. I found some Tahki Cotton Classic in my stash, started with the front instead of the back, and I'm almost up to where I have to decide when to split for the deep V-neck. I really like the hourglass shaping on the piece; the back gets similar shaping. This yarn is on it's second go-round. It was once the Ripples Top from Cabin Fever , but after I wore it a couple of times, I decided it was too wide & too short, so it became yarn again.

I'm really tempted to go stash-diving again and come up with something to start Mystery Stole 2 . The first pattern was posted yesterday, and it looks gorgeous! Hurry and join if you're interested -- the group is closing next Friday, the 14th!

Not that I need to start yet another project... I count 5 projects within arm's reach of my chair, and there are several others stuffed behind the couch.

Ticker reset

I had to reset my "days since I bought yarn" ticker. Yesterday, in my fit of boredom, I purchased a ball of size 10 crochet cotton, to use in the creation of the Dutch sampler being recreated on the KnitalongSamplerM group.

And today, I got tired of waiting for an order I placed on May 29th and ordered some more Brown Sheep Cotton Fine to make some Bazaar Socks. But I still can't start the socks until I get some Cavern (black) or some other dark color. Apparently, there are a lot of people making these socks.

I did download a pattern today that I'm hoping will help use up stash: Sizzle, by Wendy Bernard.

I'm still here...

I have 2 finished items! The never-ending socks for my husband, from the Red Cross Kit , are finally done.

To the left is a big Booga Bag. Using Wendy's modifications, I enlarged the original pattern. I'm trying to decide whether to sew a lining for it. I didn't make an outside pocket, and the whole thing used just a bit more than 4 skeins of Noro Kureyon (color 92).

Current projects include the Mystery Shawl 4, which is a circular shawl, based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi shawl, Leda's Dream for my mother (it's not going to be done for your birthday, Mom -- sorry!), and the Color Blox socks from the Six Sox KAL. I had developed a case of knitting ennui, and was working my way through it by alternating a round on the Mystery Shawl with 4 rows of Mom's stole, 10 rounds on the olive drab socks, 10 rounds on the Color Blox socks. Now that the olive socks are done and I am up to the gussets on the (toe-up) Color Blox, things are a bit more interesting. I actually considered either starting something new yesterday, or cramming all of the current projects behind the couch and digging out some other UFO (well, digging first and cramming second). I may not have to resort to such drastic measures after all.