Sock Marathon 2010

I've made 10 pairs of socks for the Mittens for Akkol sock challenge this year. Hopefully I'll get a couple more pairs done. Recently I've been working on baby stuff for family and friends, but I may go back to knitting socks for awhile. The kids at the orphanage have really been on my mind lately.

Graduation Flowers

An unexpected gift from Mom and Dad. They are still blooming and super fragrant. Thanks :)

Baby Shower

Well, now the baby showers are done, so I can post about knitting for my nephew without ruining any surprises. I made him a Pembroke vest using Dream in Color Classy yarn. I've been wanting to use that yarn forever, so it was a great excuse to buy it. I had enough left over to make a little pair of socks, too. And I could not resist buying him little plaid shoes. I love preppy baby clothes!

I also made him a couple of Cabled Baby Hats using Knit Picks Swish Worsted.

Can't wait to meet the little guy! And see him in his handknits, of course!

Mother Bear Challenge

I am taking part in the Mother Bear Challenge on Ravelry and have knitted three bears. Each week of the challenge has a theme. This week the theme is "bears that represent your profession," so I made Dr. Bear. She is wearing scrubs and a white coat with pockets. I made her a felted stethoscope which has a diaphragm and a bell.






In the next two photos, you can see bears that I made for previous challenges. For alma mater week, I made Carleton Bear, who is wearing the maize and blue to represent Carleton College. I made the bear with the pink and purple sweater for fair isle sweater week.

Yarn Makeover

Awhile back I bought some Plymouth Outback Wool on sale online. It was brightly colored and I figured it would be good for my charity knitting for kids.

Well, I was wrong.

The yarn was just vile! The colors pooled horribly no matter what I tried to knit. It sat in my stash for quite some time and then.... Duh! It occurred to me that I should overdye the yarn!

Below is a sample of the yarn before dyeing. Although bright, it looks innocent enough until it's knit.


I dyed it using blue food color but it wasn't quite dark enough and I ran out of blue food color, so I dyed it again, using blue and purple kool-aid. (I hope the grape kool-aid smell will leave my house soon!)

The next photo shows a swatch that is knit with the original yarn in the top half and the dyed yarn in the bottom half. You have to agree that the dye job is a big improvement. The original yarn was unusable due to weird stripes of ugliness.


And finally, here is a hank of the dyed yarn. I plan to use it to make socks for Mittens for Akkol.

Grad Sweater

I'm in the knitting group, Mittens for Akkol, which makes a set (sweater, hat, scarf, mittens, and 2 pairs of socks) for each child who is graduating from 2 orphanages in Kazakhstan. The kids graduate at age 16 and then do a year of vocational training. I finished this sweater for "my" grad. He requested a set in blue, black, and gray. I have done grad socks in the past, but this is my first grad sweater. I hope he likes it! I decided to do a hoodie pattern because they seem to be popular with the teens. I am pleased with how it turned out.

Palm Springs Vacation

We stayed at a wonderful resort. Pictured above is the view from our balcony. I love the combination of palm trees and mountains.


The next two photos show views from our front door.

This is the side view from our balcony:

Self-Portrait :)

Of course, I did some knitting while on vacation.
These socks look like they are enjoying their vacation, too!

The next four photos were taken at Joshua Tree National Park.
Frankly, the landscape looked like it was from an alien planet!
The photo below shows Joshua trees and Mojave yucca.

Here is a large Joshua tree.

This is the cholla garden.

I love the cloud shadows and sense of vastness in this last photo.

What a great trip! I hope I can go again sometime.