The Sprucey Lucy Socks pattern is now available, in pdf format, here. You can also access it from my free patterns page.

And speaking of Lucy, check out these babies:

These are “Lucy” sock blockers from Chappy’s Fiber Arts and Crafts. Aren’t they cute? Lucy thinks so.

You can find more Lucy sock blockers on eBay here.

By the way, Sheri did do a shop update at The Loopy Ewe last night and restocked the Sunflower sock pattern. My two new patterns, Aimee and Ribs and Cables, are both available there now as well.

Last night I did indeed start a new sock from my Claudia Handpainted yarn in the “Pink Cloud” c0lorway.

Not a whole lot of progress yet because I started, knit an inch or so of the pattern, didn’t quite like it, ripped it out, and re-jiggered. This is a simple “cloverleaf” rib pattern and I like the way it is working out. Because the yarn is variegated, I wanted something relatively simple, but still entertaining to knit.

Lucy Sez

For a blog post entitled “All Lucy All the Time” I see very little about me here . . .

I am still sock-knitting. I have finished the Sprucey Lucy socks.

I’ll be writing this pattern up soon — I’ll try to make it available this week. I’m going to St. Louis on Thursday for the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling and I’ve got a lot of random “stuff” to do before I leave, but the pattern is almost done.

Sprucey Lucy will be a freebie, in celebration of my new book and as a thank you to everyone who has said such nice things about it.

Speaking of Freebies

Did you see that Potter Craft is giving away a free copy of Socks From the Toe Up. Go here to enter the drawing!

The Next Sock . . .

. . . will be knit from this:

That’s Claudia Hand Painted Yarn in the “Pink Cloud” colorway. I’ve had this in my stash for ages. I went into the stash room yesterday to root around for a yarn for my next project and realized I hadn’t made anything with Claudia Hand Painted in a long time.

This next project will be a super-easy sock. It will go to the Spring Fling with me and  I want something I don’t have to pay close attention to since there will be lots of socializing going on!

Lucy is clearly worn out from the weekend.

Check out what very clever knitter Emily (emmylou on Ravelry) has done to her new sock books:

I may need to do that to my copy . . .

Speaking of Ravelry, check out this new group: Socks From the Toe Up KAL. It is — you guessed it — a knit-along for the patterns from my new book. Have a look-see — it should be a lot of fun and there will be prizes involved, people! A big thank you to Pam for founding the group and for adding me as a moderator.

Another Great Idea

Reader Bonnie put together a table that lists all the patterns from my book by category along with the yarn and colorway for each. She kindly offered it up to you all. It is available here in pdf format. I’ll put a link to it from the free stuff page in a day or so as well. Thanks, Bonnie!

First Book Appearance

We had the first book event yesterday, at Knit Happens, in Alexandria, VA. L-B came up from Richmond for it, and brought a cake!

Some pix from the event:

(And thanks for the muffins, Karen. They are awesome!)

Meanwhile, back at home:

Have you ever been in this situation: You create something and you feel pretty good about it. You think you’ve done a good job. You think it is more or less worthy.

But of course doubts start creeping in. Is it good enough? Will people laugh at it?

I’ve had approximately a year of those doubts, so of course I am over the moon, deliriously happy that so many of you have told me how much you like Socks From the Toe Up. Thank you again. So. Much.

I’m particularly pleased that so many of you have mentioned how useful you are finding the step-by-step illustration directions for the different techniques. Because that was probably the hardest part of the book to create.

I wrote up the techniques, step-by-step. Then we photographed each step of each technique. I did the knitting, and the KOARC did the photography. You can probably guess what a fiddly time-consuming process this was — multiple photos of each step to make sure we got one perfect photo for each one. Then the photos were sent to an illustrator who created the drawings, which were sent back to me for review. The illustrator did an amazing job — there were very few that needed any tweaking at all.

You are probably a bit tired of hearing me yap about the book, but I made alarmingly little knitting progress since yesterday’s post, so I’ve not much else to yap about. I spent the evening out in the company of good friends and the knitting never came out of my purse.

Still, I’m about to start the heel flap!

I’ll most likely have this sock with me when I go to Knit Happens on Saturday (April 18)  for the first book signing.

Knit Happens
127A N. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 836-0039

It starts at 2pm and will run to 4 or 5pm. Bring your copy of the book to be signed or buy one there. I’ll also have all the socks from the book for you to see up close and personal.

As a special treat, my buddy L-B will be joining me — she was my technical editor for this book so she has a lot to be proud of too. I believe the KOARC will be there too. So be there or be square!

Book Giveaway

The Random Number Generator chose Carol who commented on 4/14/09 at 7:11am: “I would love a copy of this book…Sprucey Lucy looks great!”

Carol receives the copy of One Ball Knits: Purses I offered up as a giveaway earlier this week. Carol, I’ve emailed you!

As always, a big thank you to everyone who left a comment.

Lucy Sez

No, I won’t be at the booksigning. I’m much happier staying home playing with my toys!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and emails about Socks From the Toe Up. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that you like the book so much!

It’s been kind of hard to concentrate on anything for the past couple of days . . . I don’t think that will come as any surprise to you.

I did manage a few rows on the Sprucey Lucy sock . . .

Lookie Here

Check out this cute little bag I purchased from etsy seller MomofTwins2. I love the fabric!

And look inside (sorry the pic is blurry!) — pawprints!

It was this blog post that led me to her shop. How could I not get one of those bags for myself?

Charity Auction for Heifer International

A couple of days ago, I got an email from Elizabeth:

I’m a member of “FluffFactory” – an online group of artisans – mostly moms involved in making items for children and babies. We host 2 charity events each year. This event we have chosen to donate auction proceeds to Heifer International. The auctions are at the end of the month.

It’s early yet – only a few items are previewing but as the time grows near there will be MANY wonderful items for sale, including hand dyed yarns and other knit-related items.

Here’s a link to our website – I hope you will consider helping us out.
http://www.flufffactory.com/

Thanks!

******

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to meet two non-knitting friends who invited me out to celebrate my book!

Lucy sez:

“I don’t care that I wasn’t invited. I didn’t wanna go anyway.”