Work Goes Slowly When You Start More Projects

I have made progress and am past the halfway point on my Alpine Lace shawl. I still like the pattern, the yarn, the stitchmarkers, and the Julip bag. Very much.

The shawl is bit more red-purple than it is coming across in this picture, but I like it anyway.  My clematis came back this year too, so I had to pose the shawl with it.  I’m terribly excited, waiting for it to blossom.  I already have buds.

Just to show you what has kept me occupied instead of finishing my shawl, here is a picture of the first NHM #9 mitten from Terri Shea’s Selbuvotter.  It’s a lovely pattern and working up fantastically in the Apple Laine Apple Pie in dark chocolate and cornflower blue that I bought from the Loopy Ewe a while back.

I did royally screw up the back of the thumb (palm side), but I decided that I didn’t care, because it gave it character.  I’m not even sure that I’ll wear these mittens.  I’m not much of a mitten person really, but I wanted to knit this pair.  The pattern was just too pretty to pass by.

Finally, a new picture of the bleeding hearts so that you can see how much they’ve changed in three days. I took the original photos on Monday and these today.  Amazing isn’t it?

Bleeding Hearts

This one is my favorite.

This one shows the hearts really well.

But this one, this one captures me because of the blurry bunny in the background.

A Little Stash Enhancement

Via the lovely Loopy Ewe. I only bought a teeny bit. Some Numma Numma Toasty in Blackberry Jam.

Some Loopy Legends in Theresa’s Italian Vineyards.

Some Araucania Ranco Semi-solid in Brick and Lime.

I’ve already planned socks for the AR in Lime. Sad isn’t it? lol

Um, Wow.

So, apparently, I caused a little furor of contest entering. lol  Who knew that a little STR would get you all up in arms. ;)  Thank you for entering my little contest.  I’ve had quite a bit of fun reading through blogs and checking out the commenters.

I used random.org to generate the random number for the commenters for prize #1 and it told me that comment #53 (out of 53, how odd is that?), Sarah Lou, is the winner of the STR, so Sarah Lou please email me your address so that I can send it off to you.  I don’t gaurantee that you will receive it quickly, but I’ll try to send it before the end of the month.

 

Prize #2 was a bit trickier as I had to read through and then number who sent extra comments my way.  In the end, there were 15 entries that stated they were sent by ___someone_____. Using the random number generator again, Hanna of WiKnits became the winner of prize #2.  Again with the address and blah, blah, blah.

Now prize #3, that one is seriously amusing.  First here are the answers to the questions.

1.  This is Beau, my wonderful mutt puppy, who occassionally graces my blog pages.

2.  This is Misstress Stash Olivia Licking.  She of the bare toes fetish that garnered her the last name of Licking. ( I gave credit for any of her names, although sometimes I call her fumble butt when she gets under my feet.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned that on the blog though.)

3.  There are six recognized varieties of Dutch rabbits in the U.S., black, blue, chocolate, gray, steel, and tortoise.  Of those six, I currently raise three varieties: blue, tortoise, and black (as per the pictures). Don’t you want to squish their little noses?

4. I have finished 14 pairs of socks since the start of the year, although one pair was started before the new year and finished within the first few days of 2008.  So, if you guessed 13 or 14, I still gave you the benefit of a doubt. :)  Sometimes I’m tricky and I didn’t want to exclude someone because they second guessed the answer.

5.  Episode 1 of the Sock Hunter premiered on Mar. 27, 2007 and featured the first of a pair of Go With the Flow socks by Evelyn Clark.   I couldn’t wait until I finished the pair to try out my idea for the Sock Hunter episodes, so the first two episodes actually feature one pair of socks. :) 

Now, to the winner of prize #3.  Nicole (ikkinlala) you nailed every question.  You absolutely got them all, right down to the third color of Dutch.  Prize #3 is yours, so measure your feet and email me to discuss pattern/color/yarn.

AND, seeing as I’m a softhearted person, I’m going to send some consolation prizes to Kelly and Dana.  You see, those two were barely wrong, missing one variety of Dutch each. I don’t know what they will be yet, but I will send you each a little something. So, ladies, I’m emailing you.

ETA: Aija of Sock Pron has graciously allowed me to purchase $10 gift certificates for Kelly and Dana to her etsy shop, one of my absolute favorites, Zero Markers. Go, shop, enjoy.

Thanks for playing along with my contest. This was a blast!

To Pass The Time

Head on over to Cynthia’s and wish her a Happy 2 year Blogiversary, she’s having a contest to celebrate.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the winners of my contest.

Why Look, Bunnies!

All bunnies today.  Enjoy.

 

Hello.  I am cute.  Watch me wiggle my nose.

This one amuses me because it’s focused on the grass in front of the bunny.

Aw, look at that little eye just barely open!

Squeak, squeak, we’re five days old.

Time for a little contest

I’ve been thinking over ways to make this contest fun and fair. lol So I’m giving you three chances to win a prize.

Prize #1: STR Lightweight in Flower Power, one of the 2007 club offerings.

To win this, you must leave a comment on this post before noon EST Monday, April 14, 2008. Easy enough. Yes?

Prize #2: Grignasco Merino Silk Laceweight

To win this, you must leave a comment on this post before noon EST Monday April 14, 2008 AND have someone else leave a comment on the post mentioning your name/blog name (so I know who to attribute it to). Multiple entries are possible on this one.

Prize #3: a pair of socks handknit for you by me, the Knitter Bunny. (Examples below)

It may be out of stash yarn (and I’ve got some good yarn socked away, ha ha, get it?) or it may be out of yarn that hasn’t made it to the blog yet. To win this you must work a bit harder. Answer all five of the questions to follow and send it in an email to me by noon EST, Monday, April 14, 2008 to knitterbunny AT gmail DOT com. Replacing the appropriate symbols. Please note that this is different than my regular email address and is to help me keep contest entries straight. The person who answers all five questions correctly will win this prize. If there is more than one person who answers all five questions correctly, I will draw a winner randomly. If no one answers all five questions correctly, I will draw from all of the entrants in this portion.

Question 1: Who is this?

Question 2: Who is this?

Question 3: Name the varieties (colors) of Dutch represented by these pictures. (It’s perfectly legal to snoop around my blog and the internet to find the answers.)

Question 4: How many pairs of socks have I finished in 2008? Please note this is not started, only finished, and I have reported all of them on the blog.

Question 5: On what date did the Sock Hunter premier and what pair of socks were featured?

Whew! I hope you enjoy my contest, whether you just leave a comment, or you want the “big” prize.

Sock Hunter Episode 28: Twisted Socks

Sock hunters are an interesting subset of hunters.  One the one hand, we are thrilled with the chase and the possibility of shooting our trophy, and on the other hand, we firmly believe in photographing, not capturing our prey.  Finding our objective in the wild, observing its natural habitat, learning its behaviors, and finally, employing our skills to the capture of an image that will forever remain an homage to the wild handknit sock makes our blood run like mustangs in our veins. 

There are always socks to be found somewhere.  At times it does take some artistic tracking and specialized skills to ensure the safety of the hunter and the sock.  This pair, I had been tracking for a particularly long time, three weeks I believe, when they finally chose to show themselves. 

Originally transplanted from their native *Bavaria and left to fend for themselves, this particular species of sock has adapted quite well to the midwest and even gained a foothold on non-native soil.

The lively pattern and its extension onto the toe make it a favorite amongst younger sock hunters, who learn the ropes of sock hunting (and quite a bit of patience!) by stalking this specie.

Still, an experienced sock hunter, can enjoy the intricacies of the stitching as much as his or her younger cohorts.

Sometimes, we even become quite fond of a pair and invite it to nest nearby with offerings of warm sock baths and fiber filled sock feeders. 

 

I enjoyed the challenge of this pair of socks, but I must return to my pursuit of the wild handknit socks.  This is your Sock Hunter, signing off.

*Bavarian Socks pattern by Candace Eisner Strick, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid in Loden, US 0 Steel Hiya Hiya DPNs, no modifications

Hello and Good Bye!

Hello to this new shawl. Lacey Lamb, size US 3 Addi Turbo Lace needles, Zero stitchmarkers, a Julip Bag, and the Alpine Lace Scarf pattern from Victorian Lace Today (pg. 36) are all conspiring to make this a fantastic knit. It’s soothing to my senses and challenging to my brain.

And a close up.

And now . . .

Good bye to this permutation of the Sunflower Shawl. It just didn’t quite make the cut. There is nothing inherently wrong with the design, it just doesn’t look as good as it should. Have no fear though, my faithful readers, Gabrielle is rescuing me with the timely suggestion, and shopping for, beads. It shall be a truly special shawl once I decide on the particulars. Though I am thinking more of a stole this time instead of a triangle, and definitely some lozenge motifs for the center panel. We’ll see how it turns out.

And a close up.

And another close up.

Why, yes, that is dental floss in my shawl. In case you were wondering. I find it to be particularly helpful when I’m knitting a shawl. It slides in and out easily and assits in picking up stitches. I also use it for gloves, mittens, and permutations of both when I’m picking up stitches that are to be “moved to a stitch holder.” It’s cheap and easy and I can make varying lengths or reuse the strands. I’m sure Bezzie would approve.

Whoa! What? Wait a Minute.

It’s been way too long since we had a bunny post around here. So I thought that I would start off with the out takes. I’m not sure how many rabbit pictures I have taken over the years. It’s somewhere in the hundreds for certain. However, I have never managed to capture bunny tongues on camera. That is, until I was taking pictures for the blog while it was lovely and sunny out. Then I caught not one, but two bunny tongues out of three bunnies bouncing around the yard. Seriously, take a good look, blow the picture up if you need to, but both of them are mid-lick. lol

 

More Sock Hunter, more bunnies, more WIP photos, and a couple of critters we haven’t seen for a while are coming soon!