Foxfire

yesterday I took an idealic trip to Massachusetts for the Deerfield Craft/Quilt/Fiber Fair. The drive was beautiful because the maple trees are beginning to be that deep gorgeous crimson, and the other trees along the way were varying shades of pink, yellow, orange, and purple. I wasn't doing the driving, so I could gaze out the wondow at the scenery! We saw lots of wild turkeys, including some baby ones.

One of my favorite booths was the handmade baskets. I love baskets for my knitting projects and saw a couple that I wanted. Unfortunately, someone else also had their eye on them, and I missed out.

I did get some yarn, from Foxfire farm. The woman at the table recognized me! I guess that means I've been stalking the fiber festivals a bit too regularly these last couple of years!

I got one skein of the lavender yarn on the left (they only had one skein) and a couple skeins of the coral. I hope to make a short coral shrug/capelet for myself for the fall.

Lunch was a definite high spot at the fair. Food was provided by the local Ukranian Church and I had potato and cheese perogies with sour cream and some sweet bread with apricot filling. So good! During lunch, some children put on a play of the Phantom Tollbooth. The singing voices of these 12-year-olds was unbelievable...

not too much except socks...

its a quiet early fall day here in the northeast, with sunshine and shadows. I don't have too much to report except that my sister had a birthday, and - among other things - I made her some lacy socks:

This yarn came from Nadine in Germany and was a dream to work with! I loved the dark blue colour and the self-patterning yarn leant itself well to a horizontal lace stitch... These were knit with size 1.5 DPNs and were my own pattern. I did them toe-up with gussett heels, which is all I do these days!

I also sent the Professor's socks, and here is photo of me trying them on before they were washed and blocked to make sure they turned out okay:

You can't see it very well, but they have a lace pattern of entwined leaves down the front. I call them "Dark Garden". The yarn is silk and merino from STR lightweight and I made them on size 1.5 needles.

They all ask me where my money goes....

Unraveling Sophia

HOORAY!!!

I got my invite to Ravelry tonight!! I don't have anything posted yet but I'll be filling it up soon... my Ravelry name is UnravelingSophia....

I've also captured Unraveling for Etsy, so I'l have someplace to highlight my original patterns...and I've started this purely knitting blog, Unraveling Sophia, as a place to muse about designs that are percolating inside and slowing appearing from my needles!

The entries here, up to this point, are re-posts from my original Lj (Livejournal - another blogging system). I didnt want to lose the history of some designs and also wanted new readers to be able to get to know me by reading back through the posts... It looks like no one has ever replied to my blog, but thats only because all the replies are over on the old journal...only the posts themselves were tranfered over to here. Hopefully, friends will follow over here!

Broccoli

This week, circumstances have lent themselves to much knitting, primarily because I had to go to a conference for work. I had helped organize for it beforehand, but on the day, didn't have to present or anything. So as I was sitting in the audience, I rummaged in my bag and found a take-along project that I usually knit on in waiting rooms, etc., like when I'm getting an oil change (something else that happened this week). So I finished! And here they are:

Broccoli Driving Mitts

1 skein of Kuigo (a discontinued green)
size 4 DPNs and one tiny clover plastic circular sz 4
suede mitten palms (from Fiber Trends)
This is my One Skein of Koigu Gloves pattern...





and the palms:


Now, a mystery shot of something I'm working on, because I want you to see my pretty Japanese tulip blocking pins! I got these from Knitpixie.com...

DNA-ish

Here is a picture of the latest sock:

DNA-ish, from 1.5 skeins Knitpicks Sock memories yarn in the Cape Cod colourway on size 1.5 Bamboo DPNs



I used two different DNA-ish cables for these socks. The leg has a cable that stands out more than the one on the foot and is more stretchy. But they're both vaguely DNA-ish as befits the scientist that they were designed for!

Sadly, one of my knits has gone to the frog pond ("rip-it! rip-it!"). A blood red scarf I was knitting out of Mountain Colours Ruby River sock yarn:


I was knitting it with a double strand, and when I got to the end, I realized that it looked like one of those heavy, clunky hand-knits that you find abandoned at the thrift store. So now I am re-doing it single-stranded, using the Chevron Scarf pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. (Actually there's nothing last-minute about the patterns in that book...they all take me much longer than the patterns say)

At the bookstore yesterday, I looked through the new Romantic Hand Knits by Annie Modesitt and put it on my 'to buy' list. These are gorgeous, versatile designs - kimono sweaters, lacey pull-overs, long dresses... It also includes a hat that I am crazy about!

My friend Dee, from the LYS, is moving to Vermont at the end of the month. Thats so sad. She and I were the ones who did both knit and crochet and got excited about vintage pattern books and bone crochet hooks. When she goes, it will be back again with the 'rolling eyes response' when I show a picture of a new 1940's pattern book from the thrift store. While they see something with huge shoulders that is hopelessly out of style with its high waist, I see a beautiful body-conscious knit that can be redesigned and easily updated. Dee is also worried about finding new friends who share her interests. She is thinking of leaving the knitting world and going into teaching. Tomorrow is her going-away party. I'm going to go through my stack of vintage books and see if I can find some crochet ones that she'd like as a going away gift. Maybe I can find one about teaching kids to crochet!

the roses that bloom in late summer....

I am a late bloomer. There is no way around it, it takes me longer to step out and open up than most people. Still, I think late summer blossoms are just as nice, don't you?

Nadine sent me a Big Red Box yesterday! Oh, the exotic and beautiful things that were inside, that had traveled across the ocean.... so many, including a CD I have playing right now: "Schokolade" Its all about chocolate but its instrumental and the music and is incredibly soft and soothing! I love it.

And Snake Poison sock yarn! (I think I will have to use Nadine's own pattern that I meantioned before - she created such a perfect one for this particular colour combination).

And more sock yarn! soft blue, soft green.....I will find a "little flowers" pattern for that I think. The pretty subtle colours remind me of forget-me-nots.

and Tea, and Stitch markers, and Gryffindor yarn(!), and Podcasts (oh my!), and, and, Oh...all the things that make a knitter go "yes, this is a wonderful world, isn't it?"

But best of all...and so wonderful that I actually just held this skein for the longest time, just looking and gazing at all the blending of colours... was another skein of Tausendschon (http://www.strickstduschon.de/) sock yarn called Black Rose. It looked exactly like this:

Absolutely the truth! All the colours are there: deep red, blood purple, burgundy, a subtle flash of darkest purplish peach, more red and goldish red.... This colour combination (hand dyed) is pure inspiration! The skein I have doesn't look like the skein on the webpage, which appears more multi-coloured. Mine is all variations on the dark red theme, just like the rose above.

I've alread decided that I'm going to design a special sock for this yarn, perhaps using some of the elements of this image, which I've made into a knitting graph:


They will be knee socks, and the knitted roses won't neglect to show their thorns...When I wear these socks, I'll feel beautiful and blooming, no matter if summer has passed.