fall-ing!

Out and about at the pumpkin field down the street: How does one choose?!

Out and about at home:

All the out-ness leads to happy in-the-house-ness: knitting socks, cooking soup, reading books, knitting socks, playing Scrabble, strumming guitar, knitting socks...! Sounds good, doesn't it?

I hope you are well. xoxo

8 out of 10's not bad...

Here are my mini-socks for Socktoberfest as of this morning:

From the top: blue Koigu, pink Lorna's Laces, red Sundara, red/white/blue Sophie's Toes, bright multi Sophie's Toes, muted multi Koigu, orange Koigu, and bright Sophie's Toes again.

Oh, I love them all; they make me smile! Since I took the photo one more has been finished and another started (then I'll be on schedule). The bright Sophie's Toes is called "Christmas Lights". I have two half-skeins from Emily's shop. Since I have more of it than the others, which are leftovers, I'm going to make the "Christmas Lights" minis the ones that tie it all together, so to speak. I think the half-skein will make seven or eight minis, so I won't have to use any of the other half-skein and can continue to covet it happily in it's cute little cake form on my shelf! ;-) (I know you understand.)

My Through The Loops Mystery Socks for 2009 are coming along too. The pattern is great, of course. I've fallen into a groove with the pattern, and I'm liking it. I'm using Madeline Tosh, Tosh Sock in Parchment which I purchased from Amy's Etsy shop. The yarn is a gorgeous, subtle mix of winter white, beige, cocoa, caramel, and grey. No photos because I don't want to spoil the mystery for anyone who reads here and is knitting along too, but trust me, they're purdy!

Are you Socktoberfest-ing? What's your pleasure?

I hope you're having a great weekend! xoxo

gentle reminder

Yesterday, a friend spent the day with Hana and me. Being around her and her gift of friendship reminds me that everyday is...

... a beautiful day.

xoxo

form of fall

Fall has been taking beautiful form here at the woolnest. Daily rhythm of school for the boy, lots of crafting and stories for the girl, dedicated at-home time for me, and the freedom of "school's out" for the dad. All that good routine, plus some novelties in the form of soccer, dance, girls' weekend, and Michigan football games has made us all very content.It seems that we're always crafting something, but to facilitate happier days at home for Hana and me, I try to think out some specific projects to pull out of my hat. A couple of weeks ago, I made appear a felting project that I had been mulling over for a while now. These pumpkins are the result of about a half-hour's worth of wet felting. We wrapped roving around some pinky balls (you know those super bouncy ones that are about the size of a tennis ball?), about five layers, with special attention paid to laying the fibers crosswise to the previous layer. Then we lowered the roving-covered balls into a basin of hot, soapy water, cradling the ball in our palms. Then I instructed Hana to cuddle the ball as gently as she could, as if she were handling a little chick. As I notice her wool starting to felt, I let her know that she can now pet the ball more like she pets the cat. Then, finally I let her knead the ball like bread dough. She really loved the whole process. After a night of drying, I snipped open the tops, and we felted the rims of the lid and the base so they wouldn't look so frayed and loose. Then we carefully needle-felted the stems; first the handle, leaving some loose bits to attach it to the lid. I plan to knit some wee mousies to hide inside the pumpkins for a bit of Halloween anticipation-quelling treat. Do your kids ask you every day, "How many days until Halloween?"?

And speaking of anticipation-quelling, here are the mini socks to-date for the Advent garland that I am knitting for Socktober. No. 6 is on the needles, a dark red one. I'm glad to be making these again, they are so cute and fun! We have also discovered that the sock is just the right size for Charlotte, Hana's newest not-new doll! She and her dad found themselves in the local "treasure store" while I was away, and scored a cute vintage doll! That's my girl! So, Chinese Lanterns and bouquets of basil, pumpkins and black cats, and mini-socks! I love the fall!!!

be well - xo

Happy Socktober!

Have you checked out all the Socktoberfest goings on over at Ravelry?! I'm so grateful to Lauren for getting this yarn ball rolling! I am pretty excited for a mini sock knitalong that I instigated. Plus, Kirsten's knitalong for this year. Not to mention the socks I started last week! It's all so much fun! Just another reason to love fall...

The pattern I'm following for the mini sock knitalong is from Classic Elite Yarns Newsletter last fall. It's a great and quick knit, I had no trouble knitting a whole bunch. It only requires a small ball of left over sock yarn, if you're content with a bunch of different mini socks. Last year during the holidays, I made many bitty socks as gifts and fundraiser items with a small Equal Exchange Organic Chocolate bite inside and tucked in a piece of greenery. They were pretty cute, even if I do say so myself! ;-)

Here is a picture of the few I had left or saved from last year's production. Originally, I was going to make a Advent Garland like Leslie's (isn't that soooo cute?!), but with these mini socks/stockings instead. I ended up making gifts of them instead. I have a tendency to do that, you'll begin to see a pattern (pathology often repeats itself...) Anyway, I'm at it again! This year for Socktoberfest, I plan to knit one mini sock each day of October, and that will be enough for a garland and some gifts!

I'm also going to knitalong Through The Loops Mystery Socks '09! I made 2008's version, and love them, so as I am a joiner and starter of great legend, I decided to knitalong this year too! Tonight, when I'm done packing for a weekend away, I'll forage the stash and pick our some yumminess! Oh, that starting stuff really gets me going! (I am hopeless!)

The outing this weekend is a birthday celebration for a wonderful friend whom I originally met through the good ol' knitting group. Knitting will be expected, so I'm good! Maybe even one or two of them will decide to mini sockalong! One friend is also keen to get her crochet hook out, so I may even ripple a bit...

Have a beautiful weekend, Everyone, wherever you are! xoxo

fall comes...

...every year! My favorite season. The colors, the smells, the food, the sounds, the wool... ahhh! And yes, cozy socks! I finished these on Monday night, at our resuscitated knitting night gathering. :)Now, I must confess, these have been a long time coming; nearly a year! They are from Through The Loop's Mystery Sock Knitalong of Socktober 2008. The plan was that the participants would receive a clue each week in October, knit each clue, and be ready for the next clue when it was revealed. Fun, right?! I was so on-board with the whole project. I even started both socks, I was that into it. Well, clue 1 - the cuff, no problem. Clue 2 - the leg, no problem (oooh, lace!). Clue 3 - the heel flap, stall. I completely stopped. Clues 4 + 5 sat undone for months. I'm not sure why, really. I could not get fired up about these again, until about ten days ago. Something about feeling Soctober 2009 coming around the corner, urged (read: shamed) me to finish these. I'm so glad I did, because they're really nice! They feel great on, and even though they're lace, they feel substantial, not wimpy at all. Yippee!

The yarn is some stashed and highly coveted Sundara Sock Yarn. I drool over the colorways at the site regularly. Sundara has a way with color that really amazes me; layers of gorgeous harmonious shades. The yarn over there sells out fast, so it's kind of a safe place for a sock yarn junkie to hang out and not get into much trouble; I get totally dazed out by the beauty and wait too long to beat out the clear-headed knitters. One day, last summer I stayed alert enough to nab a few skeins including this beauty, Raspberry. When the yarn arrived, I displayed it on the kitchen counter, just so I could look at it all the time. (No comments from the peanut gallery who is familiar with how my kitchen counter looks much of the time!) It is definitely worth the few seconds it takes to get on her emailing list, because it helps one to know when to begin the prowl, if you know what I mean. This yarn is so delicious! Knitting with it was dreamy. I have another color squirreled away, thank goodness!
And, speaking of compulsions, check out these bees, making late-summer rounds. They were so "loud" in the garden this past weekend.

I hope you're enjoying these crisp early days of fall. Wasn't it beautiful today?! XOXO

ugh.

He brings home the bacon.

I fry it up in the pan.

And never, never let him forget he's a man!

He does the laundry. My laundry man!

I mean that "he's a man" in the infuriating sense that he repeatedly manages to man-handle some of the wool items in the house, in the laundry machine! I know that I sound ungrateful. I'm not, really. I'm so glad he helps with the laundry. But I do wish that he would learn not to launder the HANDKNIT woolens. So when I was switching some clothes to the dryer yesterday, I discovered another victim. Internally, I screamed, "Not again!" I marched upstairs and waved the poor littler object before his nose. This last time he said, "That's pretty." He did not recognize that it was the cute hat that I was photographing right in front of him the day before. He didn't notice that it had shrunk to about half the size it was!!! UGH. This is not the first time, it won't be the last, but I do believe we have broken a speed record for Off-the-needles-into-the-washer. I'm really close to uttering, "Only a man!" But instead, I bite my tongue, take a deep breath and go to my yarn corner to mutter to myself.

The cute elf hat.

It's felt now.

It is so sad.

Too sad for pictures.