This N That

I've got to get more organized at this. Any respectable blogger has some sort of system. Right? But then, do I really want to be respectable? Well, yes, I guess so but I certainly wouldn't want to be ordinary or part of the norm. In that case I'll keep up my Slog Blogging.

So, baby socks. After that last post, I want to redeem myself. I really can knit a bootie/sock that will fit a human baby. Here's the proof.

Baby alpaca, spun commercially from my very own baby alpaca, dyed using Cushings dye in Red Grape and a very crowded crockpot (hence the very variegated grapiness). The pattern is Side Step Socks and I am very pleased to report that I knit it with a magic loop not the dpns the pattern was written for. Seeing as how these are my second official finished pair of socks, I just might break my arm patting myself on the back!

Then, I got bit by the ball band dishcloth bug. I've been reading Mason-Dixon Knitting and since I'm rather new to the cyber knit world, had no idea what they were talking about when referring to the ball band dishcloth. Grandma's favorite I'm familiar with but what's this ball band thing? Then I read a bit further...OohhhH! The ball band! So I dug in my cotton stash and found a ball band with the pattern. Here's my first one.
Since then, I've been dealing with the result of spring's busy ness. I've gotten tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cukes, and even an eggplant, or as we real fancy people say, Aubergine. I've canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, pepper jelly, pickles.... And all this for a family who has trouble getting themselves around a vegetable. I'm afraid the aubergines went to friends but they certainly added a flash of color and a bit of a gourmet flavor to our rather plain jane garden. And they make a pretty picture.

I'm a Knitting Scout

Looking through the Scout Badges on Cast On, I've found one that fits me truly. Early on in my return to knitting, I thought that it'd be easy to adapt my handspun alpaca into a simple garter stitch baby bootie. I tried it as written but because my yarn was HUGE compared to the delicate sport weight recommended the booties would have fit a baby giant. Being relatively smart, I thought, and moderately ballsy, in the knitting world anyway, I thought I could adjust the gauge to fit my yarn.

I knit, finished and BEHOLD, when I looked at these, my first baby booties out of my first handspun, I saw not booties for baby humans but booties for baby herons.














I keep them as decoration on a shelf in my living room to remind me of my rebellion against the gods of gauge.