In the better late than never category. . .

Time flies, fun or not. Yes, I'm still here. Thanks to folks who have written asking about that. Y'all are sweet. I've just been (a) tired, (b) working a lot, (c) lazy about blogging, (b) not producing much knitting to talk about, or (d) all of the above. If you chose (d), you're right!

Oh, there's one more thing that keeps me on my toes, so to speak. The Sockapalooza Fire Socks are still seeking a good time! Even though the sun didn't come out for my car club's annual potluck picnic, the socks insisted on tagging along. Here, you see them eyeing the table of raffle prizes. Although food was plentiful (can you say 'spaghetti cook-off' and 'ice cream sundaes'? I knew that you could!) those darned socks were much more interested in prizes than food. Sadly, they didn't win anything.

True to our Northwest roots, we didn't let a little (okay, at times a lot) of rain deter us from a good water balloon toss. The socks really wanted to get involved, but I had to be firm. After all, it's hard to catch a water balloon when all you have is heels and toes to work with! I hadn't been to a club event for a while, so it was great to see everyone again. Always nice to hang out with folks who are like-minded, be it about knitting or cars. :)

Knitting has been happening here, it's just finishing that's up in the air. So, here you go with some in-progress shots.

First up, here's the progress on the first two socks for Summer of Socks. On the left, we have a sock that's shaping up nicely in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Granite Peak colorway. This yarn is 60% wool, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon, which makes for a very soft, squishy, warm sock. I'm just working my standard pattern in a 2x2 rib on US2 needles, 68 stitches cast on. Love how the colors are moving around on this one. The picture did a good job of capturing the subtle changes.

On the right, is another standard 2x2 rib sock -- although this one is on US1 needles with 72 stitches cast on. This is done in Regia Strato Schiefer #5743, 75% new wool, 25% polyamid. This yarn isn't as thick as the Mountain Colors, so the smaller needles and extra stitches produce a better, more durable fabric. These will be for a friend who recently celebrated a birthday. I hope she will like them!

Finally, I've been working on a test knit project that I can't really talk about yet, but here's a close-up of the stitch pattern. It's working up quickly and looks pretty nice. The challenge for me is that the pattern is more of an old-fashioned narrative than a pattern in the way we think of them nowadays. It gives some particulars, some basics, and then leaves it to the knitter to figure out the rest. Couple that with the fact that I don't have a picture of the finished object, and it's been a bit daunting. My fear of failure has made me procrastinate on it a bit, but I'm almost finished now and it's coming out quite nicely, so I guess I was just being a nervous Nellie.

Tomorrow will bring the first installment of the pattern for Mystery Stole #3. I have my yarn and beads and needles and teeny-tiny crochet hook and even a swatch all done. The next challenge will be finding time to work on the lace, a project that requires much more attention than simple socks. Somehow I expect I won't finish this one 'on schedule,' although there's nothing that says that's a requirement. I'm excited to get started, though, and am anticipating a beautiful end result based on what Melanie has produced in the past.

Okay, back to work for me! Hopefully I'll have some FOs for you soon.

Oh! If you are in the Portland area, there are two yarny things of note this weekend. On Friday, a new store is opening on NE Broadway. It's called Twisted and will have knitting as well as other crafty stuff. Interesting.

Then on Saturday, Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks is having an all-night knitting party to celebrate our short, Northwest summer nights. It sounds like a lot of fun, although I don't know if I could make it all night. Not that you have to. They'll have a room available for being quiet and napping -- bring your own blankie, pillow and (optional) air mattress. :)

That's all for now!

ETA: Oops! I forgot to put my stash enhancement picture. How silly of me!

Okay, here are four new sock yarns that I'm anxious to try (not that I don't already have a ton of others in my stash I'd like to get on the needles). From left to right, these are:

From the Loopy Ewe: Dream in Color super-squishy sock yarn in Cocoa Kiss This is a nice one to pet! I think this will end up as man-socks.

Next up, All Things Heather sock yarn in Royal. Okay, so these are my all-time favorite blues. Couple that with a soft yarn and you've got a winning combination in my book.

Finally, we have two cakes from Extreme Yarn, some wonderful hand-dyed colors here. The top one is simply called "Purple" and it is. The bottom one is called "Go Cubs" and although I' not a Cubs fan, I think the name is uber-cute and I like the red/white/blue combo a lot.

Okay, now I really am done. Really!