Frog pond

My Euclid sock is no more. I completed the first tier and tried it on to admire my progress and I hated it! Not the pattern  -it's a great pattern and I found it interesting to knit. The yarn and pattern combo, though, was terrible IMHO.

I fully intend to knit this pattern but I will find a yarn that is either a light solid or has long color sections. This yarn, which I like, will probably become a vanilla sock or maybe just a simple rib pattern. I did save the cuff. 

I am about half way finished with the hood of the Chic Knits Hoodie and have completed another stripe on the On the Beach pullover. That's about waist length, maybe. I am on the 6th of 9 stripes. Then I have to re-knit the sleeves. Those do go fast, though. I have almost finished the gusset decreases on the Zigzagular sock and since I frogged the Euclid socks I can put one of the Tour de Sock UFOs back into rotation. 

I did some spinning yesterday and hope to do more today. This Polwarth I am spinning is so soft! I love the fiber and the colors. 

Once spun, this will be plied with the braid I spun previously and hopefully used to knit the Age of Brass and Steam scarf.  This is the singles it will be plied with.  

And this is the braid that I am spinning now. 

Well, that's all for now. I am heading outside to spread straw on the grass seed we just put down and then plant the mums DH bought for me. Have a wonderful day. 

Football!

I love my football! It's only pre season but I am enjoying having football back in my life. The Ravens played on Saturday night but we were out on the boat. I set the DVR to record the game because I am interested in seeing how the players, new and old, are performing this year. I have high hopes for a good season. I predict a 12/4 season this year. I sat and watched most of the game this afternoon while knitting away (and doing laundry). I knitted on the sleeve of my Chic Knits Hoodie and got as far as starting the ribbing. I knit on a sample (I won't keep this) of the Robin shawl for a friend who bought the pattern but was puzzled by the construction. I'll show her what I did and shell probably start hers up again. I also knit on the Euclid sock that I started last week. It took quite a while to get the construction but now that I have the first triangle started, I am good to go and think I will really enjoy this pattern. I'm not sure who the recipient is yet. 

Yesterday I had an MRI, went bead shopping with Melanie and then we went out on the boat. It was a gorgeous day! I didn't have my camera with me but the sunset was just as pretty as last week. I didn't do any fishing this time, though. I just sat and enjoyed the day. I had minor surgery for an ingrown toe mail and needed to keep the foot clean and dry and not stepped on. :-). I knitted on Viajante before we got on the boat (on the drive to the marina) and on the Os scarf and the hoodie while on the boat. 

ETA  It's now Friday night and I have just started another weekend. No boating planned this week. :-(
We'll stay around the house and do yard work and house work. It has to be done some time and the weather isn't supposed to be all that great so I suppose it's OK. 

The Euclid sock has a cuff and 3 triangles. I hope to get the 4th triangle done tomorrow and be ready to start the second tier. The Chic Knits Hoodie has the start of a hood. I picked up the stitches and knitted about an inch last night. This baby will be finished soon. :-)  The On the Beach pullover gets some attention (like tonight) but not as much as the hoodie. That's because the hoodie is closer to being finished and I really need the satisfaction of finishing something. The Zigzagular socks have also had some attention. 

One of eldest son's cats died a few days ago. She was an older cat that he adopted from the humane society and had been battling an infection for quite a while. I am happy that we gave her a happy home for the time we had her, though it wasn't long enough. We'll miss her. 

I hope to fit in some spinning this weekend, and I'd love to finish the hood of the hoodie. All that would be left would be button bands at that point. I'll try to rotate in some of my other UFOs as I finish things, but nothing else is really close to being finished right now. Knit, knit, knit.

Have a good weekend and Go Ravens!!!!!

Nautical fun

We had a wonderful day on the water yesterday. I didn't feel well all morning but not sick enough to stay home, so we went. After a while on the water I put on my suit, jumped into the Chesapeake Bay and cooled off nicely. Thank goodness! After that I felt a lot better and enjoyed the rest of the day.
As you can see, Bob enjoyed a dip to cool off also.

We shared the water with many other personal fishing boats, charter boats and a few of these large ships. 

The wake that one left behind was quite amazing. I think the waves from the wake were 4 feet high!

Crab pot buoys dot the bay and can be a menace to those of us out there to enjoy a ride, but they are pretty, actually, and I enjoy looking at the various colors. 

We stayed out on a very calm bay until about 7-7:30, then returned to the dock just in time for sunset. 

I did very little knitting, much more fishing, and some sitting and relaxing, just enjoying the day. 

I hope you had a good day. 

Miscellaneous

BbBBob's I'll start out with knitting content. I recently did a test knit for melanie for her new color work socks called Heddwyn. I loved knitting them, though I did have problems getting the floats loose enough. Once I switched to knitting the sock inside out, the tension was fine. The second sock will be knit entirely inside out. the first sock is a bit snug going over the heel. Check out the pattern on Ravelery. The second sock will be cast on very soon.

The next item is yarn. I was packing to go to NY to help my mother move out of her house of 56 years into a 2 bedroom apartment. Bob and I were going to help move, along with eldest son and his girlfirend, and then Bob and I planned to stay for a week to help her get unpacked and find things in her new neighborhood. I thought I would get some knitting n and wanted simple knitting so I could chat. As it turned out, we were pretty much too tired to do any chatting or knitting in the evening, so I didn't need this extra project. I cast on before we left and only knitted a few rows, so i am actually not counting it as a WIP. I plan to knit Viajante with it. Since I didn't get far, I will put it away and work on my "real" WIPs. ;-)

Next up is the Zigzagular sock I am kitting for eldest son. None of the patterns from the tour de sock were good options to knit for him and I love the feel of this yarn. It feels strong and cushiony and the colors are conservative enough for him. I saw this pattern and decided it was just right. It is ready for the heel flap now. 

While we were in NY, we took a day off and went out to our favorite place - Montauk - for just a day. We went to the lighthouse, were drove on the beach, we waded in the ocean (I forgot to bring shorts or a swim suit, so that's all we did in the water) and bob went surf fishing. He caught a very nice bluefish, which we brought home and ate a few days later. Yum!!!

The beach

Beach rocks

Beach roses.

Our shadow while swinging on a swing at the light house. 

Montauk Lighthouse.

The Altantic ocean from the lighthouse parking lot.

Bob's bluefish.

I totally failed at the tour de sock. I didn't finish 1 pair on time. I loved several of the patterns and plan to finish the socks I started over the next few months. I failed at the tour de Fleece, too. Work and life got in the way. I plan to get back to regular spinning now, though. I will finish spinning the first braid of fiber I plan to use for my Age of Brass and Steam scarf (seen below) and start the second one.

I finally found out how to get pictures from the I phone onto the computer so Blogger will find and accept them. 

This is Whippoorwill, a pattern given to me by Melanie. I added beads and love the shawl. It took way longer than it should have to finish and then it took me forever to block it but here it is!

I hope to blog more often now that the picture problem is solved. Have a great day, all, and savor the summer. It ffeels like it has flown by. I am not ready for fall this year and it's not far away.