I've had this entry from Sew Liberated sitting on my desktop all weekend because it makes me laugh. I know I've read that quote before but at the moment I can't remember where. I've felt a general lack of crafty energy this weekend. I don't know why; it just wasn't there. I'd think of something I  thought I should work on and walk over to where it was and look at it and walk away again. My biggest crafty accomplishment of the weekend was sewing down about ten inches of placket on my blouse.

Rob spent the weekend working with his dad to rearrange our decks and I think I just wanted to be more involved with the house. I got groceries, ran errands, cooked dinner and raked the lawn so it's not as though I didn't do stuff - it's just that it wasn't crafty stuff.

Now it's the end of the weekend and I feel the need to be more crafty but can't decide what to do with the limited amount of time I've got left: The rest of my blouse hem? Scrapbook the pictures that have been on my desk since Tuesday? Swatch my sock yarn? Sit down with my spinning wheel?

What crafty things are you guys up to? Or what do you wish you could be doing?

Abby and I just got back from our walk. I wish I'd taken my camera with me. We were kind of late heading out and the path around the lake had that nice quiet feel to it - except it wasn't quiet ... I could hear all sorts of springtime birds chatting back and forth between the trees. A sure sign that summer is on the way. I even saw a pair of mallards on the edge of the lake ice near the weeds.

In lieu of pictures of our walk here are my pictures from last week.



An old building in our downtown was pulled down on the weekend. The huge machines always remind me of dinosaurs. This one seemed to be looking for a bit of lunch.


It was so warm on Tuesday I changed into my summer jacket at lunch time. By the end of the day I was carrying it instead. We reached 18 or 20 degrees Celsius! Very warm weather for April here.


I love this little teapot. It's the everyday pot for the two of us and is used just about everyday for breakfast or afternoon or evening tea. I've had it since I moved out; it was one of those items a relative was willing to part with to help me set up (in this case I think it was my Aunt Marg). It says Nabob on the other side which always makes me laugh because I only ever associate Nabob with coffee.


My sunflowers have their first set of true leaves and it was time to thin them. I'm amazed these things grew from those little seeds I planted only a few weeks ago. I'd never really imagined they'd have so much root.


Happiness is having your chin scratched.


A new batch of granola was made on Saturday night, all ready for Sunday morning. I know that I could add anything I wanted to this granola but I love the mini chocolate chips. They make my breakfast fun and whimsical (and not too sweet).


It felt like it should have rained on Sunday. It didn't but we were chilly and had hot cocoa anyway. Mine came our of the microwave with a perfect swirl on top. I had to fit my mug in among the scrapbooking supplies taking over my desk. I've finally got the first page of 2003 stuff into my book ... only three to go.

Pattern: basic toe-up sock plus a bit of colourwork - see below
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks 4 Ply
Size: To fit me
Yardage: about 2 skein total
Needles: 2.00 mm and 2.50 mm dpns


I love these socks; I'm wearing them right now. They have a nice slightly rustic look to them with their contrast toes and heather grey yarn. I thought the yarn felt kind of rustic while I was knitting but it softened up incredibly when they went through the wash; now these are soft and cozy socks. They involved a lot of froggingthough. Between me forgetting to change needle sizes, changing my mind and just making mistakes the tops of these socks have been knit at least three times each.

I think my colourwork looks better than it did the first time. I used smaller needles and held the blue in my left hand; the stitches are a little more even and the blue more noticeable. It gets kind of stretched out of shape when I pull my socks all the way up but evens out again when they slide back down to my ankles. My picot border also turned out much better; I made it a bit deeper to discourage the flipping over. Looking at it now I think it could even be a few rounds deeper but I'm not doing any more frogging on these socks.

Slouching their way down my leg is a bit of a problem (though it does make the colourwork look better) because I bound off a little tightly when I sewed the border down. I was stretching the cuffs as I went along but I guess it was not enough.

I thought I'd share my pattern, such as it is, for these socks. The colourwork panel is a 15 stitch repeat and could, of course, be used in all sorts of things that aren't socks. The pattern is for toe-up socks but if you like top-down better you can just work everything in the other direction and get pretty much the same result.



Fingering (sock) weight yarn in two colours:
250 - 350 yards/metres MC
80 - 100 yards/metres CC

Tools:
2.00 mm (US 0) needles (dpns or circulars - whichever you prefer)
2.50 mm (US 1 - 1.5) needles (for colourwork)
Darning needle

Gauge:
aprox. 8 sts per inch on smaller needles

Using your preferred method and CC, cast on and knit toe. I like to use Judy's Magic Cast-on. For a 60 stitch sock (to fit a foot 8 - 9 inches around the ball) cast on 24 stitches and increase every other round until you have 60 stitches.

Change to MC and knit until foot measures 2" (5 cm) less than desired length.

Work short-row heel in CC over half your stitches. For a 60 stitch sock work cross 30 stitches down to 12 and back up to 30.

Change back to MC and work until leg measures 2" (5 cm) less than desired length.

Work colourwork band as follows:
Work 2 rounds CC.
Work 2 rounds MC.
Switch to larger needles and work chart (see below).
Work 2 rounds MC.
Work 2 rounds CC.
Work 2 Rounds MC, break yarn.

Work picot cuff in CC as follows:
Work 5 rounds.
Work eyelet round (*YO, K2Tog* repeat around).
Work 5 rounds.
Sew down last round in inside of cuff using last row of purl bumps from MC (this is a handy tutorial).

Colourwork Chart:


Work the chart beginning at the bottom right corner. Work right to left (repeating around your sock) and top to bottom.


Kind of minimalist instructions, I know, but there are so many detailed sock patterns out there I didn't think I really needed to rewrite the whole thing when others have done it better.