Saturday Sky, More Red Socks, and a Goldfinch

This week I waited until later in the day to take the Saturday Sky picture to see if the sky would lighten up a bit. You can see how well that plan worked.

This picture was taken about 1 pm as SW Michiganders wait for the next weather installment. All the weather forecasters are predicting a "winter mix" (freezing rain, sleet, snow) to start about 1 am. The National Weather Service says not more than a half inch of ice. Accuweather says not more than an inch of ice.

It's easy to mispredict ice. Just a degree or two in temperature can make a big difference in how it all works out.

I predict no ice because we've had our quota for this winter and do not need anymore.


This weather just invites bright, warm sock knitting. These are for me and I plan to have them on my feet before the 1 am storm begins.

Pattern: Winging Worsted Weight Socks with a 40 stitch cuff and 38 stitch foot. k3, p1 ribbing on cuff and instep.

Yarn: Red Patternworks Bretton (70% superwash wool, 25% nylon, and 5% alpaca) with leftover Opal Rose Hips fingering weight yarn from this project.

The heels are knit with Bretton and red Opal UNI-solid.

Needles: Pony Pearl #5 double points

Gauge: 5 stitches/inch (approximate, I didn't measure)


Inspiration: Desire to alleviate the winter blahs.

I wanted a pair of red Bretton socks for my cold feet. Then I dug into the left-over ball stash and picked out the brightest yarn I could find to string along with with it.

The result looks like it might glow in the dark, but it doesn't.


The goldfinches are small birds, smaller than a sparrow. They turn olive green in the winter and return to gold in the spring.

Some milder climate blogs are starting to show pictures of crocus and daffodils in bloom. We're still about six weeks away from that, but I do detect a little yellow on this female goldfinch.