Army Socks

I finished these this afternoon! I ended up just making a simple pair of ribbed cuff socks on smaller needles to better use this yarn. They were cast on from the other end of the ball of yarn and worked until I started cannibalizing the original oversized sock. I still have the entire cuff of that sock left over and I think I'll try to get a pair of beaded wrist warmers out of it using the same needles. These will be mailed to a dear friend of mine serving in Iraq, hence they are a bit big on my feet. These felt very soft on my feet! :)

"She really saves her candle nubs."

I remember watching some biography of Queen Elizabeth II and they described her as someone who "really saves her candle nubs," or some such thing. Anyhoo, I am off for just one night and I don't think I have the strength to do any sewing tonight because that will involve taking over the entire kitchen table and surrounding area with the sewing machine and fabric and tools, etc. I work the next three nights and I just finished working the last three so I think I will tidy up a little and just knit tonight. I did get tired of looking at these jars

that I've been saving for candles though. I melted down some pillar candle nubs for the two rounded jars and they are a lovely cinnamon apple spice scent once they all mixed together. I get some lovely 100% beeswax tapers every year at the Civil War re-enactment here in town and I've been saving those runts for a while and melted them down to fill the hexagon jar on the right. I absolutely love beeswax candles! They look and smell like honey when you pour them and cool to a lovely and smooth beige/brown. Whenever you blow out a bees

wax candle, the smell just reminds me of church. The jar on the left is from Windsor Castle and once held organic honey produced on one of Prince Charles' farms. The honey has long since been eaten, but I just loved the jar with the royal crest! It was absolutely crying out to be re-used!

Mrs. Bunting!

This week is the week of our local county fair and they are holding an open textiles show which they have not done in several years. I asked my sister in law to loan me a few of the things I've knit for my nieces to enter in the show. In a way I feel like I'm cheating by entering something I knit some time ago! As a kid, I always remembered the final week leading up to the fair as a frantic time of finishing projects, preparing, selecting and freezing the choicest baked items, and getting the rabbits looking presentable! This was WAY too relaxed! This is the first ever "garment" that I'd knitted (as in NOT a hat or scarf or mitten). It is a corn cob baby bunting that I bought as a kit from the Lion Brand Yarn company and as I recall, I was trying to get it done before she was born! The "corn" is knit in a bobble stitch and the "husk" is stockinette stitch with slipped stitch ridges. The only thing that I lamented at the time and continue to gripe about is the fact that it is designed for and knit with their Micro-Spun 100% acrylic yarn. Those who know me well know that I can't ABIDE acrylic yarn! Whenever I'm FORCED to use it, I'll always say that I knit whatever it was out of plastic!

My mother gave me the Army Sock Knitting Kit from the Red Cross 2 years ago for Christmas and I've finally gotten around to starting work on them. It is a kit that comes in a lovely vintage-esque tin and includes Army green sock weight yarn, a darning needle, a set of 4 double pointed needles sized US 5 and a reproduced copy of a WWII GI sock pattern that civilians would have knit for the cause. This is the only kit that is offered, but there are other vintage WWII patterns posted on the Red Cross website. The proceeds of each kit go to the Red Cross which is great, but I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the needles. I started knitting the sock as directed with the included needles, but with the weight of the yarn and the girth of the needles, I thought the stitches were too loose, the junctures laddered too easily, and the overall work was just "holey". I started over again with size US 2 dpn's and cast on 68 stitches instead of the 60 and just used my basic sock formula because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn with the increased number of stitches in the gauge (the original sock pattern calls for a 11" cuff!). The yarn is also simply labeled "100% wool" and that is it! No gauge is listed nor are there any washing/care instructions. It is still a neat little history lesson though. Had I been alive during WWII, I certainly would have knit for the troops. The yarn is VERY soft and these will be very warm.

O Pioneers!

Today was the annual pork feed/open house out at the Pioneer Museum here in town. I took along my spinning wheel, my niddy noddy, a few drop spindles, my carders, and some different types of fiber to demonstrate spinning to the public. They were VERY busy which is always nice to see, and there were quite a few kids there too. I visited with a lot of people as they walked through the exhibits and lots of people asked several really good questions. It was nice to talk about the different antique wheels/tools they have there on display because the technology has not changed over the years. I think it was good for the public to see a working wheel vs. an antique/nic nac.

I roped Summer into coming with me to work on her drop spindle and to knit. Melissa was going to come too but she worked last night and needed to catch up on sleep. I told both of them that NEXT year when they are spinning like the wind, THEY will be in charge of running the wheel and I'll just knit on something! Summer and I were sitting in kind of a neat spot across from a Victorian bedroom set-up and opposite this mirror. I thought it would make such a neat photo to take a picture of our reflection but I couldn't get a clear shot sitting where I was. Oh well. I still think it's a neat picture! You can see Summer holding her drop spindle and kind of make out my wheel in front of our knees.

This afternoon I labored to produce this skein of silk yarn. It is a two ply fingering/sport weight I'd guess (I never did see how many yards I got!) and is very shiny and smooth. This is the last of the silk from my mom's Elizabethan stockings I knit for her. I have a sister who keeps threatening to reproduce so I need to have some nice baby fiber on hand for booties and hats, etc.! I have the skein sitting on my brand new acquisition--a yard of FABULOUS babushka fabric! This is one of those fabrics that you almost hate to make anything with because that would involve cutting it up! Perish the thought!

Fraggle Socks

These nearly completed socks are for Melissa's husband, Matt. He has recently lost both of his grandmothers in a short span of time and I thought he could use something to keep his feet warm. I really liked this yarn in the yarn shop because of the colors, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by the way they knit up. They are quite busy, to say the very least! I always joke that he will look like he has two dead Muppets on his feet, but then again maybe what that boy needs is to think of Fraggles and frogs every time he looks at his feet. I was so very sorry to hear his news though and I hope he likes them.

Happy Independence Day! I may be working over the Fourth but I will be bringing festive treats both nights! I had some patriotic cupcake papers and flag picks, not to mention a TON of red sugar to use up (it was on sale and I was weak!) so I baked up some more Lemon Bread. I'll dig out my flag scrub and I'll be set for the holiday! Enjoy the day with friends and family and be safe! God bless all our men and women in the armed forces today!