be sorry before

BROUGHT BACK DOWN TO EARTH ...

OK - I was sailing along and finally got stung!  Last night, while I was in the throes of passionate knitting of the Bee Fields, somewhere along the line I made a booboo - no lifelines for me on this one, unfortunately ...

so most of the day today was spent tinking back to where I could discern the error - found it, only about 2-1/2 rows back (thank the deities).  Phew!

and thanks to the other deities that I had stocked up on stitch markers; I do believe I am now using almost every single one I have (and, for those of you who know me well, that's probably a fib!)







notice how the frog and the hippo are looking on with great glee ...

and now - here's a taste of what arrived in the mail today (personal birthday present to myself):








I daren't open it for fear of starting it - better to let it marinate in the box - should I just wrap it up and put a bow on it?

HONEY - DAHDAH DAHDA DAH da - oH SUGAR SUGAR - DAHDAHD DAHDA DAH da - YOU ARE MY CANDY GIRL ... AND i CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU ...

pardon me for using the "old fart" song tag line for these shots - I really can see the "bees" in the swarm - 3rd pic best of show - don't you see a little stinger in there?

I do -

back to knitting -

I Am Curious ...

did I say in my Ravelry Profile that the only color I didn't like was yellow?

well, I lied:

BUZZIN'

I finally think that I now have a lace project that I WILL finish!  I waited patiently for the arrival of my Bee Fields kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers. 

We had a choice of either 1200 yds of Tupelo Gold or Buckwheat Honey - if you go to "new products" on the left of the website, you will see the options - I picked Buckwheat Honey. 

It arrived yesterday... due to some sleep issues, I found myself winding one skein of it at around 430am:

I forgot how QUIET this city is at that time of day, especially in the summer when no one is in town (at least in my neck of the woods).

Of course, I HAD to start the shawl:







too sweet!  Thank you, Anne!

Life's A Beach

Have been knitting away for the past couple of days on the Twist & Lace pattern in Dream in Color Smooshy; the knitting is slow but terrifically satisfying, and it's beginning to look like something:







one day I'll learn how to take better pictures.  I'm practicing, but my digital camera only has 4.1mp...

After yesterday's pouring rain and the onslaught of the destruction of my dining room wall (no, I didn't take any pictures of that), I think I'll leave the house for a change--the sun is really shining today!

Unless I get sucked into more ravelry ...

IN A FOG ...

While waiting for Number 1 child to arrive safely back from the U.K. after two weeks away from home, I did the only thing a concerned parent could do:  have a short snort of Absolut, and order some yarn (and some more yarn).

I happened upon Deb's website , I discovered her love for this yarn, Smooshy, from this webseller.

And of course, I had to buy something!  Since I don't think I'm going to get the opportunity to go to the beach this summer, for one reason or the other, I got this guy:
















the color is so divine - my pictures just don't do it justice!  There's also no way to describe the hand of this yarn on the blog - scary soft - I think there's no way that it's going to become socks - at this point it's probably going to become this, even though the yardage is a bit short - so it will be a shorter, albeit still luxurious scarf ... (and I've got the pattern memorized!)

Thanks, Deb, and
double thanks to Kris from







for your incredibly quick service and delightfully refreshing addition to the mailbox!







now ... will all of you please think uplifting thoughts to get the boy home from inundated Londontown?

thanks so much ...

ps 20:34 he has landed!

THIS is your brain on SOCKS ...

I was getting bored (read adventurous) and wanted to create a gift for a very special person (my late Mom's friend Renate) who celebrates a birthday 2 days after mine (and a number of years before) - so I trucked down to The Point and got some incredible Noro Silk Garden in what one might call an "albino" colorway -

and found, while trying to decipher what Rebecca created, from a couple/four skeins of Kureyon and some feather & fan,  a pattern that might work for a scarf from Barbara Walker - the "fan shell" pattern in her first book.  It was (a) fun to knit with (b) an incredible hand - especially in Silk Garden!
but bored easily, especially since I only had two skeins and I realized that, to make an actual wearable scarf, might take FOUR ..., I decided to venture into some of my Sea Silk stash,
and try another B Walker pattern, something called Checkerboard Mesh from her Second Treasury ... worked one repeat, and got flummoxed by going into a second one -

make sure that you check out the deep blue and shiny thing that was almost developing in the right hand corner of the shot -



so, it occurred to me, that I should go right back to finishing up the second sock, which I'm planning on doing, since, trust me on this one, a brainless pattern is easier on brain, hands, and eyes than something new and adventurous!!






thanks for listening ...

... HEEL Thyself!...

I'm just about to start the heel of the Opal Cotton Socks:







I'm thinking that the clear-er side should be the toe-top.  Thanks again, Wendy
, for your wonderful toe-up pattern!

Again, too too bad that I'm not somewhere on some beach - it's blisteringly hot here in the Baked Apple!

back to my ice packs, and hope you're all cool as cucumbers (highly doubtful in this summer of global warming ...)

FOR THE BOYS ...

OK - finished the second baby sweater today.  This is the same pattern for the Tulip Baby Sweater but a bit changed for the un-distaff side -

it's getting really hard to do both blogging and ravelry, so I'm at an impasse as to what to really pay attention to -

right now, I'm seriously thinking of casting on a Chevron Scarf from p. 121 in a little bit of my favorite Noro Silk Garden:







I'll let you know ...

O(how I truly love this yarn)PAL COTTON

Yes, it's hot - and gonna get hotter than it was before (prediction of 95 degrees F Monday) - so the Baked Apple starts again and will continue until at least 4 days from now ... socks are probably going to be the knitting option, even though I should probably finish the second Sweet Baby sweater because that little boy is probably going to be born before the end of the month, but, but, but ... when I saw the Opal Hundertwasser collection of sock yarn at Knitty City here in town, I fell in LOVE with this particular cotton sock yarn: (sorry for the slight blur on the shot) - I have always vowed to only knit ONE COTTON PROJECT per summer, since I'm so totally against working with cotton (don't even pretend to look at my hands after a session with it), but this takes the cake - it's soft as silk, smooth as a baby's tuchas, and oh, the patterns it makes! do you see the little landscapes there? (as usual, click on the pic to see it better)





I do, and I don't know whether to make that one the front of the sock or this one:








I have a choice - but it's probably going to be a hard one!

This is a toe-up pattern courtesy of Wendy Johnson, which works for me and my frog feet every single time -

but cotton??? it begs the question:  soft as silk, warm as wool, or cool as cotton?

You decide.