A  message from L-B:

I’ve read each and every thoughtful word that each and every one of you wrote to me and realized that, together, you were all my anchor to keep me from slipping away too far in my grief.

p.s.
I hope Heidi will fall for Ria’s pets’ snowballs!

Thank YOU L-B !

On to knitting . . .

I’ve Never Met a Sock Yarn I Didn’t Like

Debi commented:

I have a question…you seen pretty easygoing as far as the sock yarns you like . . . have there been any you would never use again?

I’ve been thinking about that all weekend. It took me a long time to come up with an answer, because there are very few sock yarns I don’t like. I think I’d have to say that I’m not particularly fond of cotton blend sock yarns, so I won’t go out of my way to use them. I’ve only knit a couple of pairs of socks from cotton blend yarns, but they were enough.

I think I’m happiest with an all wool sock yarn, though the wool/silk and wool/bamboo blends are awfully nice. I like the wool/nylon blends for guy socks, though the yarn isn’t quite as yummy to knit.

Garden Path Sock

I’m so pleased that so many of you have mentioned how much you like this sock. Here’s the first sock completed.

Garden Path Sock 091607

Garden Path Sock A 091607

The second sock is coming along nicely.

Several of you asked if it will be available for sale — you betcha! You can expect to see the pattern at The Loopy Ewe soon.

We’re having a lazy Sunday here. Lucy is too sleepy to say anything just now.

Lucy 091607

You guys know my dear friend L-B — she’s the one for whom I designed and knitted the L-Bee Socks. I’m giving my blog to her for this entry, because she’s lost her beloved dog Heidi today. Keep her in your thoughts, please.

The following are her words. 

Heidi
November 1992 – September 13, 2007

Heidi 1

My beloved Heidi died today in my arms under one of her favorite trees and surrounded by the people who cared so lovingly for her through the many illnesses of her life.

She was my constant companion since I adopted her from the SPCA on February 25, 1993, at 3 months of age.

I brought her home as the snow began to fall. It snowed all through the night. When I took her out the next day, she disappeared in the drifts,but hopped out like a rabbit, and repeated the hide and seek in puppy delight.

And every winter, we looked forward to the first snowball. I would toss it like a ball, Heidi would jump to catch it, and get a muzzle full of snow, shaking her head in disbelief that she fell for that trick again!

Heidi loved her walks through the woods and visits to Meadow Farm and Williamsburg where she’d pretend to use her instinct from the border collie genes she must have had.

She was a very shy dog, maybe due to the seizures she had throughout her life, but people were always attracted to her and she responded to their caring touch. She completed her first two levels of Obedience training, as well as the Canine Good Citizen program, where her individual “trick” was to ring a bell at the backdoor when she needed to go out.

I think she passed that on to Molly cat who tweaked it to mean “Feed me, now.”.

I’m convinced that Heidi gained an extra year with us after Clancy came to us. She wasn’t going to let a beagle take her place. It gave her a reason to live over a year after her cancer diagnosis.

She continued to attempt to chase the wild rabbits in our yard and though she couldn’t run and jump in her favorite game of catch, she devised her own new game of bopping her favorite ball back to me with her nose when I rolled it across the floor to her.

Now, even with Clancy and Molly and Lucky to carry on, the house is far too quiet without Heidi. I don’t know how to get used to that, so, in these far too quiet moments,
I’m writing this tribute to Heidi to share with those of you who knew her “in the fur” or in my stories of her.

My heart is broken but that can only be because of all the love she filled it with for nearly 15 years.

Heidi 2

Thank you for all of the healing vibes and prayers you shared with us. Heidi is at peace now over the Rainbow Bridge.

Love,
Lindsey-Brooke

—————————–

Lucy sez:

Lucy 091307
I’m sending my Auntie L-B extra love! 

That’s where I’m leading you.

Here’s the latest sock:

Garden Path Sock 091207

I’m calling the design “Garden Path Socks.” Hence the blog post title. I think it sorta looks like a garden path . . .

Garden Path Sock A 091207

Oh, Smooshy Sock yarn, how I love thee! Just knitting with this stuff makes me so . . . freaking . . . happy . . .

Actually, I should shut up about this. The more people who know of the glory that is Smooshy Sock, the more people who will be buying it. And that leaves less for me. Hmmmmmm . . .

Forget what I said up there. This sock yarn blows.

WendyKnits Sock Patterns

Well, they are almost sold out again at The Loopy Ewe. But fear not — I’m sending Sheri another huge pattern order at the end of the week!

And lemme just say again — a huge thank you to all of you who are buying them. I’m so pleased you like them. I promise to keep cranking them out as long as you keep buying them.

I’m in an in-between situation here — my operation is still too small to have them printed professionally (I’ve priced it and it’s really not feasible right now — don’t wanna fork out thousands of bucks up front). Color copying at some place like Kinko$ is ridiculously expensive. I outlined my reasons for not wanting to go the pdf route last week. So I’m printing them on a good color printer, collating, and putting them in page protectors. It’s a time-consuming process, but I’m doing as many copies as I can. For this week’s sneak-up I sent Sheri 340 patterns. On Friday I will be shipping her 450 patterns, so those will be available soon (and that includes the pattern for Tangled Vines).

And I can’t say it enough: a huge thank you to you all who have bought my patterns and are eager to buy my patterns.

Lucy’s Toys

A comment reminded me of another of Lucy’s favorite toys:

Lucy Toys 091207

Those are regular plastic drinking straws that her daddy has bent into triangles for her. She loves them.

Lucy 091207

“So what? Everyone likes bendy straws!”

 (Psssst! Sheri put up more of my patterns for sale at The Loopy Ewe — as of this posting there are still some of most of the designs available. But if you don’t get some today, no worries — I’m working on another order to ship to her.)

Last night I sat down and just powered my way through the remainder of my poor uncompleted sock. So I have now completed my 17th pair of socks for the Summer of Socks. And here they are:

Tangled Vines 091107

I’ve named the pattern Tangled Vines. They are knit from Shibuiknits sock yarn in the Seaweed colorway on 2mm needles.

The Shibuiknits sock yarn is quite nice, I must say. It’s entirely possible that I have purchased more of it for future reference.

However, after completing these socks, I returned to my One True Sock-Yarn Love: Dream in Color Smooshy Sock. I do think that by fondling this sock yarn I got my sock knitting mojo back. It’s got magical powers, I swear.

Smooshy! 091107

This is the “Spring Tickle” colorway. Perhaps not the most appropriate seasonal choice for me to be using right now, but there you have it. I gotta be me.

Here is the sock it is becoming:

New Sock 091107

In the interests of truth and honesty, I gotta tell you that’s not the sock it started out to be. I started a textured design, but after an inch of pattern, I could see that it was not meant to be. I thought the yarn was gonna be monochrome-y enough for the texture to show, but not so much. The texture is delicate and the subtle variations in this colorway masked it too much. So rippy-rippy. I’ll save the texture pattern (which in my oh-so-humble opinion is pretty darn cute) for a solid color sock yarn.

Many of my socks in the Summer of Socks have started this way. And I will confess to you here and now that I have three abandoned sock toes sitting around looking lonely. The patterns I tried on them were not just quite right, so I just yanked the needles out. I didn’t rip them out completely, because I’m sure I’ll find the right pattern for each at some point and I can just pick up where I left off.

There. Now you know my dirty little secret.

Lucy’s New Toy

Lucy’s little blue toy pictured yesterday is indeed the tear strip from a gallon jug. Yesterday, my friend Mary stopped by my office with several of these for me to give to Lucy. A gift from her kitties, Jake and Elwood.

Last night, Lucy woke me up eleventy-billion times: “Come on, Momma! Throw my toy for me!”

Lucy 091107

“Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! Wake up! Throw my toy! ”

Um . . . thanks, Mary.

It has probably not escaped your notice how blah my blog has been lately. I do seem to have lost my blogging mojo lately.

I do go through these phases of bloggy malaise from time to time. I went through a phase of knitty malaise this past weekend as well.

The KOARC looked on in mild astonishment as I threw down my poor sock-in-progress and said (for no good reason) “Stupid worthless %$*&-# sock!” (I did pick it up and apologize to it later.)

I have absolutely no excuse for not having this pair of socks complete at this point. But I am close to completion.

Tangled Vines Sock 091007

Hopefully my mojo will return soon. There are more socks I have that I want to knit before I move on to something else. (I have even less mojo for things other than socks).

Maybe I’ll just blame it on the weather. It’s still hot and humid and I am so ready for it to be autumnal!!

In the meantime, here is a Lucy story. If you don’t like cats, just click away now.

We always have chicken for dinner on Friday night. Approximately 15-20 minutes before it comes to the table, Lucy positions herself beside the KOARC‘s chair — she’s no dummy. She knows he’s a soft touch when it comes to treats.

So we’re having dinner, and the KOARC is saving the choicest tidbits to offer to Lucy, one at a time. Lucy indicates her readiness for another tidbit of chicken, so the KOARC tosses a bit down to her. Somehow, it ends up caught in her tail.

Lucy spends some time circling around: “Huh? I smell the chicken? Where is it?”

In the meantime, the KOARC is parting the fur on her tail, looking for the chicken. Lucy is giving him the over-the-shoulder grimace: “Why are you messing with my tail, Daddy? Don’t you know that we have an emergency? There is a piece of chicken missing!”

I catch sight of the chicken stuck in her tail. “Look! there it is!” I exclaim helpfully.

The KOARC gets Lucy’s Zoom Groom and starts combing her tail. Lucy is further nonplussed. “Daddy, focus! No time for grooming! Find my chicken!”

Finally, the piece of chicken is retrieved from the deepest darkest jungle that is Lucy’s tail fur.

We spend the rest of the evening calling Lucy “Chicken Tail.” She pretends not to notice.

Lucy Sez:

You see what I put up with here? It’s a good thing there are nice people who give me new toys!

Lucy 091007