Blizzard, New Yarn, and Gail's Socks

The weather chatter all agrees this is one of the earliest blizzards in several decades.

Where we live there are bands of Lake Effect Snow along with high winds and regular storm snow. Hard to measure depth because of the drifting. I'm guessing about a foot and it's still coming down in heavy, measurable amounts.

To make things more interesting, the after lunch temperature is 9 F/-13C. The wind chill is -8 F/-22 C. The dogs are not begging to go out. Neither am I.


This came along with the purple yarn shipment from Slackford Studio. The colorway name is Woodland.


I've started the first pair of purple socks and am looking forward to sharing the pretty little stitch pattern I'm using on the cuffs. It's the perfect day for knitting. I'm so happy I don't have to go anywhere today, even if I did miss my much needed haircut appointment.

I'm also happy to have Gail's socks done so I can knit on something more interesting.

Dog trainer Gail's socks, finished in plenty of time for the doggy school party on Sunday.

Hopefully we'll be able to get out of the driveway by then.

Pattern: Basic cuff down sock pattern on 64 stitches. k7p1 ribbing on cuff and instep.

Yarn: Regia.

Color: Kaffe Fassett 4251.

Needles: Options #1, 2.5mm

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

March Birthday Socks Done, John and Gail

The extra skein of yarn arrived from Harmony Yarn in Idaho and the socks are done and ready to be mailed out for Son John's March 18th birthday.


Pattern: Basic cuff down sock on 70 stitches around.

Stitch pattern is Boxed Cables from Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 2 - Cables, Pattern 141.

I like that it has cables but still has plenty of stretch and give like socks should have because each cable ends after three crosses. It's manly and something about the looks of it pleases my eyes. Plus it was really fun to knit.


Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet, 90% wool, 25% Nylon.

Color: 01

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

Dog Trainer Gail also has a birthday on March 18.

She wears my socks almost exclusively now that she's built up a collection. A few months ago she mentioned a green pair she once noticed on my feet and was hoping I was knitting her a pair from the same yarn.

Next doggy school evening, I took every pair of socks I own with green in them so she could show me the desired yarn. Rainforest II Raupe, a retired Opal pattern.

At the time I told her the yarn was no longer available. Then I came home and found/bought a skein on eBay. She will be surprised to see them.


Pattern: Plain wide ribbing, k7, p1, on 64 stitches. When I knit this colorway for myself, I tried several stitch patterns and frogged them. It begs to be by itself and show its caterpillar colors. Also, Gail likes her socks plain and snug.

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Rainforest II, Raupe. Raupe is German for caterpillar.

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

Gail's Christmas Socks Finished

Seven years ago I signed Sunny up for puppy class with dog trainer Gail. My intention was to get her Canine Good Citizen certificate and visit nursing homes with my sweet little dog.

As Sunny matured it was obvious she didn't have the personality for visiting nursing homes. Strange objects freak her out and she doesn't like to be petted by people she doesn't know.

Dog trainer Gail describes Sunny's personality as "Queen Bee". Sunny is bossy and opinionated. Without the guidance and wise teaching of Gail, Sunny would be a very obnoxious little dog.

Sunny loves obedience class. After puppy class we went on to intermediate class and ended up in a class called "Hobby Advanced". We do some obedience, some agility, some tricks and games, all to have fun with our dogs, not serious stuff for competition.


When abused and rescued Pappy joined our family six years ago, we gave him a month to adjust a little and then started him in the beginner class.

Gail coached us in turning a nervous, traumatized dog into a loving, happy family member. Pappy has been in a "Hobby Advanced" class for five years now. His favorite part is the agility.


The dogs go to doggy school on separate nights. It's their night out with Mom's sole attention and they love it. That's 4 hours a week I spend in doggy school and the reason dog trainer Gail gets hand knit socks at Christmas and on her birthday.

I'm so pleased that there is something I can do for her that she appreciates and wears. Hope she likes the colors in this pair.


Pattern: Basic sock on 64 stitches. k1p1 ribbing for 20 rows, then k7p1 ribbing down rest of cuff and instep.

Yarn: Opal, 75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon.

Color: Petticoat 1293

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

Gail's Birthday Socks Finished

Done.


Who is Gail?

Pattern: Basic 64 stitch sock with k7p1 wide ribbing on cuff and instep

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Hundertwasser 956 Seeschlange

Needles: Options 2.5mm

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Time to get back to thinking about the She Said sleeves. This is a busy time of year and I find myself looking for easy knitting when I sit down in the evening, so the sleeves have been on hold.

I lack confidence in doing the cables top down with short rows. How difficult can it be? I think it will work, but I'm tempted to just cast on at the cuff and do them the way the pattern is written. Do I hear chickens clucking? I really want to try the top down approach, but need some quiet knitting hours to figure it out.

Gail's Socks and Greaser Dog

There isn't much to be said about these socks except that they're done.

They will be given to dog trainer Gail at the doggy school Christmas party. She's looking forward to getting another pair of hand knit socks to add to her collection.


Pattern: Basic socks on 64 stitches with k1p1 cuff and k7p1 leg.

Yarn: ON-line Supersocke, 75% wool 25% polyamide, fingering weight.

Color: Afrika, 992

Needles: 2.50mm circulars

Gauge: 8 stitches/10 rows per inch

Last Sunday Pappy started holding his head funny and acting like his ear hurt - because his ear hurt. Poor boy.

First thing Monday he was in the vets office getting diagnosed with a yeast infection in his inner and outer ear. The cure? Ten days of oily ear drops.

His beautiful fur is getting greasier and greasier. The yeast has a tendency to reoccur, so he needs the drops twice a week for a month after his ear heals.

Then, to make sure he never looks fluffy and beautiful again, the vet said I should give him a couple doses after every visit to the groomer.

If he just gets better, I'll happily grease him up. Tomorrow it will be a week since he started treatment. His ear still hurts enough so that sometimes he cries out in pain even when I give him pain medication.

I think we're going to end up at the vet's office again.

Gail's Socks Done and A Touch of Spring

Pattern: Rainbow Ripple by Linda Dziubala

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Petticoat 1291

Needles: Addi Turbo #1

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Inspiration: These are birthday present socks for dog trainer Gail and they were knit to please. She gets them tomorrow evening.

The pattern was modified to have plain wide ribbing in the ankle and down the instep. Gail likes to wear an ankle bracelet which I hope will fall in the smooth ribbing part of the sock instead of the bumpier lace upper cuff.


Michigan daffodils are stubborn and tough, but I was amazed to see that they have been growing under the thick covering of ice and snow.

Yesterday it hit 70 F/21 C, resulting in much thawing. I heard the radio weatherman call our warm March day "bizarre" weather for SW Michigan. Well, we've had nothing but bizarre weather lately. We were overdue for some good bizarre.

It's cooler today - 59 F/15 C, but still very pleasant.

There is snow in the five day forecast starting tonight, but we won't talk about that. It's only a temporary setback. Spring is here!


The male bluebird has been seen sitting on the nest box, but only when I have three dogs with me to make picture taking a challenge.

Therefore, this is not the best picture. It was taken from across the field and is a bit fuzzy. Still, there is no mistaking this bird for anything but a male bluebird getting in the mood to start a family.

Ribbing, Ribbing, and More Ribbing

Pattern: Basic boring sock with heel flap, k7p1 ribbing in cuff and down instep

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Blue Magic

Needles: Addi Turbo #1

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette

First of three Christmas gift projects - Done!

These are for Gail the dog trainer.

I started Gail's socks in Idaho and finished them while getting over a cold this past week.

All three Christmas gifts I'm knitting are not the kind of project that will keep me up at night wanting to knit one more row. It's a good thing I have some fun audio books on CD to entertain me while I rib away on them.


Christmas gift number two is a pair of socks for DH Bob in the brown tweed. He likes simple, ribbed socks. Yawn.

I am excited about trying this yarn, Raggi by Jarbo Garn. It's a worsted weight, 70% wool 30% nylon from Sweden and available (kind of) at Patternworks. They are no longer selling the red, one of the colors I wanted. I don't think I've ever ordered from Patternworks without something I wanted being unavailable or on backorder.

I've Googled and looked on eBay for an alternate source for Raggi. Nothing right now. Jarbo Garn does have a website, all in Swedish. In the skein, the yarn is plump and soft. I'm looking forward to knitting with it.

The two skeins of blue/brown are for socks for me. If I'm going to test out new sock yarn, I need a pair for myself. Right?


Christmas gift number three was supposed to be a hat for Bob out of the red Raggi I couldn't buy. So, I bought some Patternworks Bretton: 70% superwash wool, 25% nylon, and 5% alpaca.

This is going to be a third Christmas gift done in ribbing, because that's what he wants. At least the color is bright and cheery.


I was so excited to find out that Threadbear sold a special Lorna's Laces sock yarn in Central Michigan University colors, gold and burgundy - just like the Washington Redskin socks Son John wants for his birthday.

The yarn arrived the day before I left for Idaho, and yuck. The burgundy is a light, washed out looking burgundy. It's almost brown looking and just about as ugly as can be. Even worse, it's nothing like the bright burgundy color used by the Redskins.

I took a skein to Idaho and asked John's opinion. He's a smart boy with good taste. His opinion was the same as mine. Yuck. He said he'd rather have solid burgundy than the Lorna's Laces stripes.

So, I'm still looking. There is still a few months before I need to knit his socks, so hopefully I'll find something just right.

Doggy School Lollipops

Pattern: Basic Sock - see below for details

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Lollipop 1010

Needles: Addi Turbo #1

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Sometimes, like now, I like to knit self-patterning socks in a basic pattern with an attempt to have some ribbing for good fit and some wide stockinette bands to show off the yarn stripes.

These socks are a Christmas gift for Gail the dog trainer. All I know is her shoe size, so I wanted to knit in as much fudge factor/ribbing as possible and still have them a little prettier than just plain ribbing all the way down the cuff.

Here is the ribbing formula I used:

• Cast on 64.
  
• k2p2 ribbing for 20 rows - starting with p, k2, p2 .... p so the ribbing matches up with the pattern to follow.
  
• Instep: p,k3,p,k3,p,k14,p,k3,p,k3,p (32 stitches)
  
• Heel side: k3,p,k3,p,k3,p,k8,p,k3,p,k3,p,k3 (32 stitches)
  
• Carry the instep pattern down the foot.

The **TOPIC TUESDAY** question on Opal Chatters List is:

Have any of you used socks as an extra gift by using the SOCK as the container for some other little goodies?

If so, how have you used your socks as "gift wrap".

What a great idea and so obvious once I read it. Now I can have fun finding little somethings to stick in Gail's Christmas socks. One sock can be from Sunny and the other from Pappy.

Sunny and Pappy have their doggy school Christmas parties four days apart.

Maybe I'll give her one sock per party and let her wonder what to do with the first one for four days before she gets the second one. Or would that be dangerous? She might throw the first sock out before knowing there's a second sock.

Maybe the socks need to stay together?

What do you think?