Chat Back for October 10

Answering questions from comments and email.

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Susan asked . . .

How did you get the socks to match so well? They're lovely!

Thanks. I enjoy the challenge of getting socks to match. It adds a bit of challenge and sometimes frustration to a simple sock knit.

Getting Socks to Match

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Linda wrote . . .

I also have a Super Surgilator that wasn't surging. the repair was relatively easy, quick, and cheap. I hope yours is as well.

Exactly! It was easy, quick, and cheap.

Dan, the repair guy, told me the old washers without electronics are the easiest and cheapest to repair. He uses a 40 year old Maytag at his house.

Guess I called the right guy picking randomly from the Yellow Pages. I've saved his number for next time. There's a nineteen year old dryer sitting next to the washer, so chances are I'll be calling him again someday.

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Judy S. asked . . .

I meant to ask you earlier whether you knit that orange sweater you were wearing when you met up with your Whidbey Is. friend? I love it.

Thanks for the kind words on the orange sweater.

Yes, I knit it. I love it and wear it often when the weather is warm – as opposed to some other sweaters I’ve knit that sit in the closet and never get worn.

I also wore it when I met Wynton Marsalis.

If you’re interested in seeing more of the finished project with detail pictures and knitting specs the link is here.

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Judy S. asked . . .

Yikes! I'm not ready for this! (Early Morning Frost) How cold was it?

It got down to about 30F/-1C for three nights in a row.

It takes 28F/-2.2C for a killing frost.

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Kathy wrote . . .

A lovely picture indeed. (See it here.) So so green for fall! I would imagine spring had I not known better!

Leaves were still mostly green at the beginning of last week, but by the end of the week the pretty fall colors started showing.

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Lynn asked . . .

Three strands of sock yarn makes like a heavy worsted weight??

It does.

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Judy S. asked . . .

We saw one of these little critters (Woolly Bear Caterpillar) on our walk around Green Lake the other day. What's it mean if it's all orange?

According to Esther Lutz, Naturalist at the University of Illinois Extension:

The longer the larva has been feeding and the bigger it has grown, the more the orange band will grow towards the ends of the body, with the black bands on the ends decreasing in size as the larva matures. So the width of the banding is more an indicator of the current or past year's growth than it is a harbinger of the severity of the upcoming winter.

Very scientific, but not nearly as much fun as all the myths.