Life is hectic, there is no doubt, as I’m sure it is for you too. I logged into WP and found over 180 comments waiting to be plowed through…mostly spam.
<sigh>
At least I have some new Misti Alpaca in a soft spring color to drool over. This will become the Neruda Shrug soon. If I ever find the time.

Progress on Sleepy Hollow has been swift. See for yourself.

The back of the sock appears to have a “seam” which must be compensating for the stitch pattern in different sizes. I opted to make the socks in size 7/8 even though I normally wear a size 9/10 because of my propensity to knit in the “relaxed” manner. I know that I cannot knit a sock with more than 64 stitches especially if it’s jitterbug. I know my sock knitting self too well. And sure enough, these socks are knitting up nice and big.

But I’m loving socks again. I think my sock knitting mojo is back. Hoo-ray!

So far this year, in just January and February, I have managed to finish six pairs of socks…albeit *baby* socks. The other orange pair has been given to Baby Reece and the other purple pair were not ribbed (a mistake on my part) and therefore not photographed with the group above.

I decided it is now time to start an adult pair.

The “moss” colored Jitterbug (above) waiting patiently in my stash, was just screaming for another leafy stitch pattern so inspired by the Yarn Harlot’s rendition, I downloaded the Sleepy Hollow sock pattern.  I hope I read the instructions as well as Stephanie did (wink wink).

Feels kind of funny to be knitting a sock from the cuff down…it’s been so long.

I realized I have lots of sock yarn stash.

The lovely Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR came from my good friend Liz Plam who attended the Sock Summit last summer and is in fact a special edition created exclusively for SS09.

And here is some heavenly Malabrigo sock which the ADD knitter used with my favorite sock pattern – Embossed Leaves. I’ve made three pairs with the EL pattern already, even in yellow, that’s how much I love it.

In the meantime, people here in the Bay Area have been grousing about the weather. It’s been rather heavy lately this being an “El Niño” year but I think it’s great. Everything is so beautiful green and growing like mad. Spring blossoms are everywhere. Plus it reminds me of the awesome Pacific Northwest which I miss. So the rain makes it feel like home and it’s wonderful weather for knitting. Liz even got out today and did some weeding.

More rain is on the way!

I spent an amazing 48 hours in Ashland and Southern Oregon last weekend and I’m only now getting around to blogging about it. I was felled by a stomach bug the day before last and I’m still not sure if it was the flu or food poisoning but that’s no excuse! Here, now, I’ll tell you what Alice and I did.

First we drove out to Crater Lake which was spectacular but very, very cold. You can’t really tell from the photo above, but it was only 25 degrees and we were not prepared. But the sky was so clear and blue, that I couldn’t resist a drive out to the lake that I’ve only ever visited once before.

Next we did a little touring of the town of Ashland which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places.

Found the local yarn shop, of course!

Here’s a shot of yours truly incognito, trying on masks at the Shakespeare gift shop.

We capped off our Saturday by attending a play and I couldn’t resist snapping a shot of the stage. I thought the staging of this play was extremely clever and unique. You can barely see the bed lit with a yellow light through the curtain which was used to great effect. Anyway I wasn’t supposed to take any photos so I dare not mention the play. You’ll just have to guess.

I spent last Sunday at Limantour Beach, a beach I have wanted to check out ever since I heard about it some six months ago. Jackie and Matt came with. During the afternoon I managed to put the finishing touches on the second sock of the colorful pair I was working on during the Super Bowl. *sigh* Knitting progresses so slowly these days…but progresses nonetheless I suppose.

The day was so warm that Matt dove right into the surf and splashed around as only a carefree 10 year old can.

My explorations of Pt. Reyes continue although tomorrow I’m taking off for Ashland again. Sayonarra until next time!

I finally spent the last of my gift certificate to Webs which I earned for participating in the SPYN project a few months ago. Feast your eyes on the lovely Misti Alpaca Pima Silk Hand Paint (color: Four Elements). So bright and colorful for these dreary winter days, no? This had been intended for the Chevron Scarf but as so often happens with me, like a magpie attracted to shiny objects, I have been attracted to yet another project. *sigh* Suffice it to say that it also involves the use of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint albeit in the worsted weight. Stay tuned.

Thanks to Antwan for taking a few minutes at halftime to model the latest baby sock for me. More to come.

2/8/10: I just learned that Chrissy Gardner has published a book entitled Toe-Up! and you can find out more about the book at its website. I took a class from Chrissy a few years ago in Portland, Oregon and she is a fabulous teacher, sock knitter and designer. So if you’re interested in learning how to knit socks from the toe up, Chrissy’s book would be a good place to start.

Knitting baby socks have been a kind of salvation for me lately. I have managed to finish three pairs in the month of January alone (two pair of these). I have accomplished what I never thought I could way back in 1981: knitting an entire sock from memory – no pattern. The purple socks pictured above are similar to a tree ornament I made several years ago. I actually finished the second sock of the pair in just one day…in between classes.

I might even have enough of the bright yellow yarn used to make the grown up pair to knit a bright yellow mini pair. We shall see.

The latest pair were started from remnants of a colorful yarn that were used for a pair I made Alice about a year ago. The sock sits atop atop my Redhook in progress. That’s five inches of the required k2p2 ribbing knit in Cascade 220 purple heather.

You know I was feeling a little down today because I was stuck home on my first day off and the first dry day in quite sometime. So who should appear to cheer me up but the little Bradster. There is no blue feeling that a five year old can’t cure.

Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly but it will always materialize if we work for it.

I actually unearthed the Liesel Scarf which I had started almost exactly one year ago. According to Ravelry records, it began life on Jan. 27, 2009. Weird, huh? It was so easy and natural getting back to this pattern even after its long hibernation. Who knows when it was last touched? Everything was tucked neatly inside the drawstring Japanese bag that Max had brought me from Japan nearly 5 years ago.

There are other things going on, trust me. But this is all you get for today’s drive by blog. More to come soon!