A couple of nice sites to visit

And neither of them has anything to do with knitting.

I'm afraid that if you asked me about craft blogs/sites beyond knitting I wouldn't know a thing. Fortunately, sister Ann is familiar with lots of fun and interesting places, and recently she sent me a link to a lovely illustration by Marilyn Scott-Waters, which led me to her website, thetoymaker.com, which is filled with wonderful paper designs you can print out and use - cards, toys, paper dolls, gift bags, an advent calendar..... I'm still exploring all the options. I printed out some charming bookmarks (then realized they would be even nicer if I would get some lightweight card stock and replace the fading color cartridge on the printer).


Click picture to make bigger

Lots of potential for creative play for children of any age, and her pages are sprinkled through with lovely quotations. This site makes me feel happy.

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So does Bill Hess's journal. He is a wonderful photographer, who blogs about his family and what he sees on his walks and bike rides, all in a low key fashion. He has a wry sense of humor. Somehow, reading his posts generally gives me a sense of peace.

Oh, I Forgot to Mention...

(waves to commenters - love you all)

I left out a few details about the new sock book.

It is currently available through Leisure Arts and on Amazon.

It's a collection of designs, rather than a "how to knit socks" book, though it does contain tips on sizing and yarn selection, and basic instructions for knitting techniques used. My aim was to provide a sort of "sampler" of different styles of socks, using different pattern techniques - so there are examples with color work (both stranded and slip stitch), lace, cables and slip stitch texture. Most of the designs are for adult socks, but there are also: a pair of legwarmers, some slippers, some baby socks and two Christmas Stockings.

I've started getting individual items into the Ravelry pattern database. Only two are there at the moment, but eventually a pattern search for "Leisure Arts #4784" will bring them all up.

All of the patterns are written to be worked from the top down.

Here's a picture of one of the Christmas Stockings. It's one of my favorites, and because it's a 64 st sock, I may just try one (or actually two) in sock weight yarn to wear instead of hanging by the mantle.


copyright Leisure Arts

In Print

Last fall and winter, I knits of lot of socks - some big and some small, some in pairs and some singles, some in color patterns and some in textures. I wrote up directions and some general tips and pointers, and packed everything up and put it in the mail.

Late on Friday, another box arrived on the doorstep, with this inside




A real, honest to goodness book.

By upbringing, I'm a Minnesota/Norwegian girl, which means that I'm usually embarrassed by being the center of attention. Which means that I'm not at all good at what is generally known as "shameless self promotion". But I'll admit it. I'm pretty darn excited.

The UPS guy just came by

and dropped off a box of yarn (Yay!).



Notice that it's not blue. This is for a new design of the "I'm sorry I can't really talk about it yet" variety. The timing was perfect, as I had just finished pinning out the lace scarf, and my fingers were itching to cast on for something new.




Remembering that wet lace weight fabric turns into a limp and somewhat confusing wad, I decided to pin first, then wet it down with a spray bottle. Although the color here looks almost black, it is a dark purple with a fair amount of brown in it.



I must say that blue suits these two very well. I would think that Mr S is in danger of losing his chair, except that when he occupies it these two happily settle for his lap. The idea was one cat for each lap.....we'll see.

Bob (the tabby) has already mastered the "stare intently and purr loudly until Cindy wakes up" maneuver.

Just Pictures

I went out walking today. It isn't Fall yet, but traces of it are in the air.








Sometimes the most interesting things only come into view when you look underfoot.

This last one's purely for the "Awwww" factor.

Man, I hate to do this

but I've turned on comment moderation because I was hit by a flurry of spam comments this morning (or really, last night). It's hard to think that this blog gets enough traffic to make it worthwhile for someone to write individual comments just to get in a link for a home security system (if that's where the link really went - I did not click on it).

I hope this does not discourage anyone from leaving legitimate comments, I love getting them. And I will try to stay on top of things so the real stuff gets posted as quickly as possible.