Made in America!!

... but it was close! After grating #2 three times, I finished my pals socks in America. They will be blocked in Germany though. These socks have done a lot of traveling. I think about including a world map with all there travel routes, when I send them off to ... somewhere!
Sorry, but besides Lobby there was no small feeted foot model available at the moment. For the other animal friends: No, I did not threaten him with putting some boiling water on the stove to make him pose for this picture! If I find another human model this afternoon I will post another picture.
I really like the way the pattern came out and I still like the yarn. But when I ripped the toe of the second sock 2x I had the impression that the yarn is already starting to felt a little. But maybe it's only my weird impression, I hope so. The dark stripes that you can see in the picture are not so dark in reality. The yarn did not pool at all and shows off the leaves really nice. Another picture, this time seafood free:Specs:
yarn: Cherry Tree Hill color: green, blue, brown (but there's no brown in the sock)
needles: 2.5mm Bamboo (the old ones) size: 6.5
pattern: Kew heel: Hufeisenferse (horse shoe heel)
alterations: I cast on 60 stitches instead of 70sts => 6 repeats on the leg, 3 repeats on the foot
Note to self: Take the grafting instructions from One Skein or IK, not knitty!!!

I didn't know what to start next. My quilting is already packed and I wanted another small project, that I can knit on the plane and at the airport. So I started another pair of socks, this time for me. I know that my upstream sockpal hasn't yet started the socks she/he's knitting for me. So, maybe it's no good idea to knit myself some socks right now... I don't know. But socks are so practical...
Idea: I am not going to post yarn, pattern and work in progress until the socks are sent off. Just in case she/he picked the same pattern or color. That way I won't destroy any plans she/he already has. (I AM SO CURIOUS!)
And if I get the same pattern there won't be a problem, because I love it and having two pairs would be three times the fun. And: I have to admit, that right now I'm not sure if the pattern may be to complicated for me... It's definitely no TV knitting. So let's wait until I get more than one repeat done.

Adventures of the Green Sock

Sockapalooza Sock Number 2 keeps growing and growing. The socks had an interesting week. On Wednesday both socks tried to convince me to take them to Fenway Park. Number 2 almost convinced me by reminding me of the knitting time I would most probably spent on the T. But I told them the Home of the Red Sox is not a good place for 1 1/2 little Green Socks. They had to stay home, together with my Colorado T-Shirt. When we came home, I told them they had not missed much. Colorado won 12:2. The T-Shirt does no longer talk to me.

Yesterday I took Number 2 with me for an adventure. My husbands work group went on a group trip to Block Island, Rhode Island. We went on a bike tour, spent some time on the beach and later had seafood in Point Judith. I got a good deal of knitting done on the ferry and later on the beach.The sock saw the ocean and then relaxed on the beach (unfortunately it has the same colour as the beach towel).
After a very long but nice day Number 2 came back home and told her finished friend all about it. Now Number 1 does no long talk to me.
I think I have a serious problem here. Maybe I should stop talking to fabric objects...

What do you think Number 2?

Time is running...

Today in exactly two weeks we are going to leave for Germany... At the moment I am pending between 'I don't want to' and 'If I really have to, than make today'. Of course I am looking forward to seeing my family and dear friends again who could not visit us here. But saying good bye now is different from one year ago in Germany. We could be pretty sure, that we would see the people again one year later. Now in some cases this won't be the same.
Okay, enough of this. I finished my last quilting project, before packing my sewing machine and other quilting stuff: 2 place mats as a small gift for a house warming party tonight. They are all machine made. I especially like the asian print with the herons. I found it very cheap in the left over bin at the quilt shop. The fabric in the upper right corner may be a little to light, but if I have a little time this afternoon I will quilt the couples names in there. I think that will highlight this corner.Next is 'Green Gables'. Sorry for this picture, I forgot to ask my husband to take a shot of me before he left this morning. In reality it looks much better. The only thing is, I'm never going to wear it because I like too much. I really enjoyed knitting it. And again: No seams! This time not one. I hate seaming in knits. In my opinion they belong in quilts.
Another picture without content:
Here the colour is much better. You can get an idea of the little shine the yarn has to it. Maybe it's the merino part. 'Green Gable' is not blocked or washed yet. Right now one swatch of the yarn is enjoying a ride in the washing machine and another handwashed swatch is drying pinned to the sofa (Thank you, secret pal!!!!!).
Now back to my 2nd sockapalooza sock! I really would like to finish it this week. If I am really good, I can cast it off tomorrow at my last knitting meeting... sniff...

By the way, someone asked about the Baby Surprise Jacket. The pattern is by Elizabeth Zimmermann. You can get it here. I never worked a pattern that was written with so much humor and whit. I think it is also published in one of her books.

No-Palooza Monkeys and EZ Baby Surprise Jacket

One good thing about a new blog is I can post pictures of some old things:

This BSJ was great fun to knit! Knitted in only one piece, it looked really, really odd while on the needles and there was almost no seaming. It's for my god child and will hopefully fit him in three weeks. It's Lornas Laces Shepherd Sport in Ravenswood. I finished it in 04/07.
His mom got a pair of socks against cold feet in long nights or at early mornings. I knitted some Monkeys for her. That was before they turned out to be the Sockapalooza4-Hit! But people, I really can understand why you all like knitting them. They are great and there will definitely be a second pair of Monkeys for myself one day!
The yarn was Regia Silk in a cream/off-white colourway until I discovered koolaid dying and had to try it. Now they are orange, red and still have a few original spots. The button is a little pewter kitten for my cat loving friend.
The Socka-Kew-Loozas decided to take a little break to make more time for 'Green Gables'. I think on monday there should be some pictures of finished 'Green Gables'. Maybe you can help me out here: How can I block cotton? Can I block cotton? Advice is appreciated.

I finally fulfill my duty...

Okay, a little while ago before I went on my vacation Kate tagged me to tell you 7 facts about myself. Here you go:
1) I do not like my feet.
2) Three days ago I got my first manicure ever.
3) I never knitted a real sweater, but someday I will try it.
4) I'm going to miss the big american Coffee chain with the star. Because I got addicted while living here...
5) But I won't miss the styrofoam and paper coffee mugs! I love to sit in a café or teahouse, look at people passing by and having my tea or coffee in a real nice china mug. There are so nice mugs in this world and you can reuse them. Yes, it works!
6)My poor husband asked during our vacation in New Hampshire what he could do to get me out the bad mood I was in, because I was really frozen, and I said: 'I want a coffee. And I want it in a real mug!' Hard job for him, but he finally managed to get one. Amazing.
7) Last week we had our second anniversary.

Cowboy sock is back from 'Way out West'

I spent my last week doing this:
My final treat for my year in the US was a cowboy vacation at the Colorado Cattle Company. I had so much fun! I spent up to 7hours a day in the saddle, learned how to drive cattle, learned (tried...) to rope, helped branding calves. Oh, I want to go back...
I fell asleep every free minute, because of the fresh air and all the fun I had. Yes, I really enjoyed getting up at 5.50am to catch horses, having sore muscles all over my body and being dirty and totally worn out by 9pm. Only horse people can understand that, I think.
Of course my second Kew went with me, but I did not make as much progress as I had planned. The flights were too bumpy to knit. Since I don't know, if my pal has any allergies and I did not want to ask, I kept it away from horses, cows and dogs. But there is one picture of the cowboy sock:The sock says: Yieeeeh-ha!
On the ranch it really missed its already finished sock companion, that had to stay home. After having seen enough horses, cows, rattle snakes and coyotes it was happy to get back in its knitting tote. Maybe it was a little afraid of being roped and branded...