So today Miss Lucy is officially 9 years old. Here is what she looked like at a bit over 2 years old on her first day in my home:

And here she is today:

As you can see, she was not fully matured when I first adopted her. Her points were chocolate brown, but her body was pure cream-colored. She developed her cafe au lait shading over the next year.

She has a new bowl to celebrate her special day:

Here’s the inside:

And she is getting lots of hugs and kisses today. Between her naps, of course.

And because it is also Valentine’s Day, the KOARC has been presented with a new pair of socks:

These are the “Manly Aran” socks from my upcoming book, Toe-Up Socks for Every Body. The book comes out on March 23.

And the red blob I showed on my blog last week? I ripped it out completely and started over.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Don’t forget — if you are in the area, I’ll be at fibre space in Alexandria, Virginia tomorrow from noon to 2pm. Fibre space will have copies of my one-skein shawlette patterns for sale (Argus, Seaside, and Miss Woodhouse), and I’ll be there with the original shawls for you to see, fondle, and try on. I hope I’ll see a bunch of you there!

And the five winners in the Crazy Aunt Purl book contest will be announced in tomorrow’s blog.

Now excuse me because I want to go play with my precious little birthday girl.

ETA: Doh! winners in the contest will be announced on Tuesday Feb 16, since y’all have til midnight Feb 15 to enter. Sorry!

I took a picture of the KOARC’s foot the other night, as he was wearing a pair of socks I had made for him.

I noticed what remarkable good shape they are in. This is the sole of the foot:

If you click to enlarge the pic, you’ll see there’s absolutely no sign of wear.

I went back through my blog, and found the project page for this pair, here. The yarn is Regia sock yarn (wool/nylon blend). I made this pair of socks for him in July 2003 — six and a half years ago! Since that time they have been worn regularly, machine washed in hot water, and dried on high heat. That Regia yarn wears pretty darn well, doesn’t it? Can’t ask for much better than that!

The second sock tale . . .

Remember these socks?

I finished them back in November — the Heather and Thistle Socks. They are knit from MacKintosh Yarns lovely lovely Iona fingering weight yarn — it’s 80% superwash merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon. The pattern is now available for sale, at MacKintosh Yarns, here.

The third sock tale . . .

My new sock-in-progress.

This is a design from my upcoming book, Toe-Up Socks for Every Body. They are called “Manly Aran Socks” and I designed them specifically for guys. The socks pictured in the book are knit from Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the “denim” colorway, lighter than the colorway I’m using. I showed the pic to the KOARC and asked him if he’d like the sample socks knit for the book (he’s the same foot size as the model). He said he’d like them, but he can’t have them until after they go on tour with me this year. (Alternatively, the KOARC could come on tour with me and wear those socks at every event, but then who would take care of Lucy while I’m away from home?)

Anyhow, I figured I’d knit him a pair right now. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, in the “Cookie’s Deep Dark Secret” colorway.

I’m actually a lot further along than the above picture shows.

This colorway is great to knit during daylight, but at night it turns into a dark navy, so I’m knitting blind most of the time.

Another thing . . .

The Argus Shawl pattern is up for sale in my Ravelry store, here (Ravelry link).

This shawlette can be knit from one 100-gram skein of sock yarn and when blocked measures approximately 54” across the top (wingspan) and 25” down the center back.

This pattern is perfect for a beginner knitter who wants to knit lace. The pattern is written in great detail and spells out everything you need to know. The lace is charted in 4 relatively simple charts that are easy to follow.

It is knit from fingering rather than laceweight yarn, which is much easier for a lace newbie to execute. The stitches used are knit and purl, and a few simple lace techniques – yarnover, knit 2 together, and ssk, and sl1 k2tog, psso (which are explained in the pattern).

Like the rest of my Ravelry patterns, I’m donating 50% of my profits through January 31, 2010 to Doctors Without Borders. Thanks to all of you who’ve bought patterns so far!

Lucy sez . . .

“When you go on the road, Daddy stays home with me. This is non-negotiable.”

Then last Friday night in Richmond, L-B casually waved a skein of Madeline Tosh sock yarn she had acquired under my nose . . . in the Malachite colorway. I might have drooled. I’m fairly certain I whimpered.

But happy day! The Yarn Lounge had some mmmmmmmTosh sock yarn and ever greedy, I snagged three skeins of it, in Malachite, Iceberg, and Nutmeg.

Hey, Cut Me Some Slack — This Yarn’s Made From Yak!

Another purchase from The Yarn Lounge: a skein of Tibetan Dream sock yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch. This yarn is 85% pure Yak combined with 15% nylon. The skein is 4 ounces, with 440 yards. I’m working on dreaming up the perfect pattern for a pair of socks using this yummy yarn!

Lucy Sez:

“This rhyming thing is getting annoying.”