FLAK and More Crabs

Two of my FLAK swatches, before and after washing. Cascade 220, size 5 US. The purl ditches between the cables relaxed a lot and the double seed improved. The upper swatch is a sketch, the lower the probable pattern (substitute seed for moss). I'm still iffy on whether to cant the 2-stitch cables the same as the 4-stitch cables or the opposite. The lower swatch has them done the same.

A crab party

A crablet watching the tide come in

The other day I was rinsing a few hanks of Cascade and didn't feel like adding figure-8 ties, so I grabbed the monzo hair clips by the bathroom sink. Perfect!

Anemones near Mendocino

Trekking socks, catching up

Tide pools near Mendocino, CA

Mr. Hermit Crab

My daughter, whose nickname *was*
Smallness, wearing her size 10 1/2
Trekking socks.

For Jason, the answer is I mark every ten rows with a contrasting strand of leftover sock yarn so I don't have to count the rows over and over again. It also makes it easier when altering a garment to see at which row I need to add or subtract width, or whether I need to decrease the length by ten or twenty rows.

And yes, I've been knitting. I just frogged half the sweater I knit on vacation (the proportions were off -- the recipient's proportions are off, too, but I'd like to make something that softens the effect instead of intensifying it). There's a looming birthday deadline so it won't be perfect but I would like it to be a little less ugly!

I have finally gotten my eyesight to the point where I was able to finish my FLAK swatches before vacation and will soon cast it on for real. DD found some lovely laceweight yarn at the Mendocino Yarn Shop (lovely place), Yarn Place Gentle SY181 in a soft aqua (not a light blue as pictured on the website!). I finally found a copy of Stephanie's first book at a real bookstore and read it aloud to the family in the evenings, making them chortle and exclaim, "You're just like that!"

I have another eye exam this next week so might disappear for a while again. Sorry about that, but blogging and vision are rather dependent.

Odd bits

I'm sorry it's been a while between posts. I've been afk (3400 posts behind in Bloglines!). Here are a few shots of the much wider sleeve. I still haven't stitched Ribby together, though I do have the correct zipper. Soon!




Another pair of staggered baby cable ribbing socks in the works. Patons Kroy, which works up with a tighter row gauge than Regia, for me anyway. Sturdy socks.







A tin sock tube from Woolworks in Connecticut. Along with my ESK from Cassie, this is portable knitting at its best.




One of the colourways of Regia recently from elann.com. It's even nicer in person.






DD has been doing kumihimo lately (instead of spindle spinning). These foam core disks from LACIS are splendid. She's especially fond of the clip-on fishing weight she got from her grandfather.