I've Strayed, but Knitting Again

August and September were a wash as far as knitting went. I just couldn't bring myself to knit.
Mac was in the hospital twice this past Summer and had a toe removed after an infection in September. His foot has to be bandaged twice a day and that's one of my jobs. The medicine messed with his diabetes and now that's back in control. He still has lots of pain and that seems to be getting worse despite the pain killers.

Thursday night I finally finished his boring charcoal gray socks and he put them on immediately and was very pleased. I did part of a row on my shawl, but my concentration is definitely off. Friday we went into town and I bought the other hank of Malibrigo for my shawl and a Cookie A sock pattern at Hanks Yarn. I have plenty of sock yarn to be used up so despite the temptation of their wonderful stock of sock yarn, I didn't buy any. Not that I had the money anyway.

I wnt through my yarn and needles and settled on Socka Disco color by Schoeller & Stahl that I've had for a couple of years. It's aqua with gray and some metallic silver. Got the first sock started last night. I'm knitting with size #2 Addi circular. My #1 just aren't very good and I'm not buying more needles right now.

At an antique show last weekend I found a big cone of rag yarn, wool and cotton. Not too clean, but might make a great sweater for my brother or nephew or niece. Might even try out the knitting frame that I've had for more than 20 years and never used. My old knitting machine spoiled me. It's long gone, but I could make most anything with it and expect more than speed with the Bond frame.
I promise not to neglect this blog, but you can find me on Twitter under floridayankee if you really want a day to day, stitch by bitch look at my life.

Dry Spell - Do You Have them Too?

For almost a month I couldn't knit. Well okay, I would pick up one of the socks that I was working on and knit a row or two and put it aside next to my chair and pick up a crossword or Sudoku to work on. didn't do them very well either. It was just a matter of stress. Knitting usually relieves the stress, but the stress was so bad, I didn't feel like doing anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. Laundry, cooking and vacuuming got done as well as grocery shopping. But no knitting.
Mac got worse and worse and when he could no longer stand up I took him to his doctor and she put him in the hospital. Liver failure we were told. Well, we knew that his liver is getting worse, but after five days and a couple of transfusions, he could walk, or at least shuffle a bit. His heart doctor sent him home and didn't tell his internist. Two days later he was back there taking another blood test and the day after that seeing a third doctor. He is still bleeding slowly internally and no one knows why.
anyway, he is feeling a bit better and is puttering around and I'm knitting again. I finished the blue socks and started on another shawl. Nice Malabrigo yarn in a taupe shade and I will add some beads. The pattern is a freebie on Ravelry called Percy Shawl.

I Dyed Again

I finished knitting my green shawl a week ago and finally figured why I really didn't like the color that much. That varigated green reminded me of the Girl Scout uniforms that I wore for years. Loved the scouts, but not so much the uniforms.
So I bought some blue dye and turned it deep greenish blue and then blocked it. It really turned out pretty and I'm looking forward to some cool weather. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is called Vernal Equinox. Less than two hanks of Malibrigo Lace yarn.
Next time I'll think more about the color, maybe something fuchsia, and make a shawl with beads.

Summer Knitting

Knitting gets tough for me this time of year. I live in a house in North Florida with no air conditioner except for in my computer room. The doors and windows are all open and I knit in the living room in front of the TV at night. A current project always goes in the car with me so I knit when Mac drives or in Hanks in Gainesville.

My hands are sweaty in this heat and humidity and the yarn sticks to my fingers a bit. Okay, I should be knitting with something other than wool, but it is my favorite. The Vernal Equinox shawl is almost finished. Knitting with Malabrigo lace is fun and one hank can keep me busy for two weeks, so it's very economical.
The circular needle is too short to spread it out, but here it is so far. It will be dyed a dark blue green before it gets blocked. This green is nice, but won't work somehow.

Guest VLOG Today, Toni Andrews

Today it is my pleasure to host Toni Andrews’ video blog. I'm a huge fan (as well as her older sister). The third book in her Mercy series, Cry Mercy, just amazed me. The book goes from Balboa Island to the gang-controlled streets of Santa Ana. The characters in this urban fantasy series have more depth with each book, and there are surprises with the twists and turns of the story.

Mercy Hollings has a fascinating group of friends around her and I can’t wait to see what happens to Sukey, Sam, Tino, Hilda and Grant.

There is a contest today too. Everyone who leaves a comment has a chance to win a signed copy of Cry Mercy.

Toni got so caught up talking about Melrose, answering questions from her Twitter followers, and doing her Tarot reading, she forgot to plug her book. So, here's the book trailer. It really evokes the mood of Cry Mercy, I think.

If you'd like to take a look at my Vintage Jewelry website, like Toni suggested, here's a link: Sue's Jewels

Here are all of Toni's web sites:

Personal Website Blog BookRx So Many Books (TV Show)

Some places to buy the book:

Amazon Amazon UK Barnes & Noble Indigo(Canada) Rendezvous(Australia)

This is the Summer for Lace

Finished my pineapple top and have already worn it twice. Cotton lace makes for comfortable Summer tops.

So, back to knitting. I was hunting through lace shawl patterns on Ravelry and came up with the Vernal Equinox shawl and went right to Hanks Yarn in Gainesville, FL and bought some Malabrigo Lace yarn and got started. I'm on about row 120 now, but my circular needle is too short to show off the pattern. Love the yarn and the pattern.

Sometimes I Actually Crochet

Around 1982 I crocheted a pineapple pattern tunic from (I think) Ladies Home Journal Needlework. Three days ago I found an old photo from the magazine and the instructions.
I outgrew the original years ago. It was made from Knit Cro-Sheen and I went looking for that. Ended up with Royal Fashion Crochet thread size 3, but only bought one ball while I tried it out. I wasn't sure about crochet hook sizes either. I only have about 3 dozen hooks seldom used.

so far so good, but it has been raining for three days and I finished off the ball and it's a 70 mile round trip to get more.

So I pulled out some boring charcoal gray wool/acrylic DK yarn and started a pair of basic socks for Mac.

Happy Socks vs. Boring Socks & Vogue

My husband Mac and I have very different ideas about socks. Mine tend to be very colorful and his very utilitarian. He is wearing the striped socks that I made, but he really wanted some thick, tough, solid color ones. So I'm knitting two pair. I don't even have to look at his as I work. When I get totally bored, I switch off.

His are a wool acrylic combo and mine are Panda Bamboo. His are basic and mine are the Spring Forward pattern from Ravelry.

I love the piece on the cover of the new Vogue Knitting, just don't have the correct yarn. Looking through my stash, I found a couple of cones of French pearl cotton left over from my machine knitting days. I figured the yellow would be easy to dye. I knit the circular motif and it was fun, but I didn't like the looks or feel of that hard cotton. I will just have to wait until I find the yarn that's right for the project and I have the money to pay for it.

Lace Shawl and Yarn Overs Conquered

I managed to knit the Laminaria shawl in less than three weeks, mostly knitting at night while watching TV. My consistant problem was missing yarn overs and I finally figured out a solution.

After knitting a row, it was fairly quick to go back and check the stitches. Then I hooked in a stitch marker where the missing YO's should have been. On the purl row it was easy to drop the marker and pick up the yarn with the left needle and purl it. This saved quite a bit of frogging. I guess I just can't concentrate like I used to.


It weighs less than 3 1/2 ounces, 60" wide, 28" tall.

Spring, At Last

First Day of Spring and here's one of my Formosa Azaleas. All around it are the oak leaves that I still have to rake. Our funny Turkey Oaks are just starting to leaf out and everything should look good by next week.

I finally finished the reknit on Mac's socks. They have dark blue toes, but he doesn't wear sandals, so it's just a secret between you and me. Big money saver!

Last week I started a Laminaria shawl and it is coming along nicely. It takes more concentration than normal for me and repented with some frogging. The color doesn't look just right with my computer or monitor, it's Bobby Blue Malabrigo Lace, a delicate, clear aqua. I'm knitting it on my Knit Picks wooden needles and just ordered a longer cable since I'm planning on doing a full size shawl.