Well, finally I’m caught up on my knitting photos. This is a photo of pair #118, finished last Saturday night. For me, again.

I knit these on Brittany Birch #0 US/2 mm needles, toe up with Afterthought heel. Heel is a wedge shape with kitchener stitch (thanks to Sheila and Gilda who helped me understand grafting on 2 needles better than ever before).

The yarn is Opal Handpaint. OK, I’ve told the story maybe too much… but I really am delighted with this yarn. When I got home from Africa, the first time I went to Threadbear I chatted with Rob as he was considering making this yarn into a ball. He told me that when the yarn came in, it had been assigned only color numbers by the manufacturer, but not names. His computer/inventory program has a spot for color names, though. The folks in the store named this one LynnH. Well, how could I be anything but tickled with that?

And then he tossed me the yarn and said it was a welcome back gift. Cool! I like Opal a lot. I’m not sure it feels as good as some while knitting, but it really fluffs up and feels great after going through the wash.

It seems these took forever. Actually, on the first one I put in waste yarn for an afterthought heel… then for the other one I made the heel for my First-Time Toe-Up socks, because I was teaching a class on that and this sock was handy when I needed a demo.

At that point I had one sock with a waste yarn marker for afterthought heel, and one with a toe-up flap heel. I had to decide which one I wanted it to be. I ripped back the heel flap, put in waste yarn on the 2nd sock, and proceeded. I like both of the heels as far as fit, but afterthought is easier to execute while knitting in public, and for me it’s easier to get the fit just as perfect as it can get. They are my fave heels these days.

I considered a different top/bind off treatment on these. I had just taken the Lucy Neatby advanced sock workshop and she had shown us all sorts of decorative sock tops. But I like a sort of sleek look, I’m not much into decoration. So I gave all possibilities a chance in my mind, and then made a roll top again. I really, really like them this way!

Status of Knitting Projects
At this point I’m not knitting any sock pairs. I’m doing single Fast Florida Footies (FFF) again, for store samples. This time Yarn Garden in Charlotte (Michigan) gets a baby sock in Fixation and an adult sock in a wool/acrylic DK yarn (Encore) that she carries, just to have a non-cotton sock option. They already have one sample in Fixation that is a ladies’ XS sock, but I’m preparing to teach there on July 9, and she is having a sale on July 4 for half a day, so I want several samples in her store when people come for the sale.

By the way, I’m teaching the same sox (FFF) on July 16 at Threadbear in Lansing. Both of these classes can be seen in more detail on my Classes page. Both stores are wonderful, and the sock a lot of fun without a lot of time invested. I’d love to fill both classes, please join me.

My other knitting is the baby blanket. I got a lot done on it last night, I need one more good knitting day or three crummy knitting days and I should have it done. Then I need to write a pattern. Sigh.

I have swatches ready to go for my Colinette Tagliatelli wool tape, which will be a shrug. I need to plan out that design before I can dive in and knit it, though.

I also am eager to get started on the Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest, with 6 triangles already done… they were my gauge swatch, but will be the center back of the vest. I guess you could say I started it, then!

Weekend Plans
And I have yarn for Arial waiting for me to overdye it this weekend. That should not be a big deal if I can just get started. The biggest deal will be making hanks out of the center-pull balls… a single-color overdye should be no big deal.

And who knows, I may get out the knitting machine I bought right before I went to Africa. It’s a Singer 700 with a ribber, something I’ve never had before. Until now I’ve worked with simple hobby machines with one knitting bed and no ribber, no way to purl, only flat pieces of fabric. This new machine is exciting because eventually I may learn how to knit in the round using the ribber! Way cool.

I found an email list for owners of similar machines (Singer/Studio 360 and 700 punchcard machines). There is almost no talk on the list, but today (the first of the month) they sent out an automatic notice that there are files on the Yahoo group site with hints and patterns.

I’ll hope to check some of those files out this weekend even if I don’t actually get the machine out. After all, it’s a 3 day weekend… but for 2 of those days it looks like we will be social, at music parties, and it’s hard to use a knitting machine when playing and singing at someone else’s house! Knitting machines are not work-related for me at all, so I need to work on them when I truly have some time off. It can wait a bit more if need be!

Holiday Wishes
I hope everyone in the USA and Canada has a good holiday weekend (Independence Day and Canada Day, July 4 and July 1). It has cooled off so much (down to 59F, cold enough that in winter I’d turn on the heat) that I may have to get out some wool sweaters to go to the outdoor parties this weekend! After 99.7F just last Saturday. Go figure.