Mr. Rodgers sweater, spitting snow and hot pink

If you ever wear an Angora sweater while turning wood on a lathe, that sweater will never be used for anything else, as it will be impregnated with a thousand little slivers and curls of wood. I usually start out with my denim "turning coat" over my sweater, get into the moment, get warm, and take the denim coat off...

So, having ruined two (already worn out) sweaters in the shop (slow learner?) I have adopted a new "Mr. Rodgers" technique. I leave the "turning sweaters" in the shop on a nice coat hook. I wear my normal farm sweater out to the shop, and upon arriving, I take off my farm sweater, neatly hang it on the hook, put on my turning sweater, my turning hat and my dust mask...for some reason, all this clothes changing at the beginning of the task makes me a bit like Mr. Rodgers.....all tidy and kind .

I can not say it has been a hard winter, no terrible cold waves, no mounds of snow, but it has been a dreary winter, lots of bitter winds and overcast days. We finally had a "real" snow recently...well, it stuck on surfaces anyway, first of the winter and not till March.

I took a walk to enjoy it and my little flock followed me around the pasture.

Here they are up the lane behind the wood shop, which you can see in the background.

And again, on up in the pasture, enjoying the view.

Finally! a little while back I finished the hot pink socks and have had plenty of opportunity to wear them this very cold late winter (not yet spring, though it aughta be)
These were completely spun and plied on the spindolyn (navajo three plied as I went, aka "ply on the fly") The fleece was pretty neppy, so are the socks, but that's all good, they are not for competition They are also a bit strange, as they are toe up, and I forgot which pattern I used for the first one, and so the heel is completely different on the second one, and sadly, I can't find the "recipe" for the first one, which I really liked better, as the heel was a bit rounder, and I can't even remember the how of it. Oh well, another thing to relearn, and learning is fun. ; )

The shoemakers wife~the sockmakers husband

       As an old school feminist, the terms "husband and wife" leave me a little uneasy, but hey, when you are searching for a title, sometimes you have to stretch.
      But the point is still valid, even if convoluted. In this household, we are experiencing a serious sock deficit. ( insert horrified soap opera music here)
       Some winters in sunny Tennessee, just a few pairs of warm wool "home knit" (hand or machine) socks will get you through...this winter has been a frigid exception. Need---more---socks! feet are cold, socks are dirty.
        Will get on to that, as soon as I get these current spindolyn orders done, locate some more hay for the sheep and goats, find some dry firewood,etc, but in the meantime, will share some photos of socks that were kindly forwarded to me from a customer, Kay, (EarthKat) Thanks Kay for sharing!



Great job! her first Machine knit socks. The colors really move me.
She knit them using the pattern in my book Sock Options for Machine Knitters, and wrote some nice and head swelling stuff about trying other patterns and really liking the book but (blushing) I wont go in to that, other than to say it really makes me happy to think of happy feet,and inspires me to get cracking on some socks for my poor cold feet.

rustica-cata sock

I am a dog person, so cat lives here only because I try to be compassionate and fair minded towards all creatures. She does have an uncanny knack for being right where I planned on being next....she lays on the computer desk, my spot on the couch (note Southern Exposure Seed Catalogue, one of my identifying placemarkers this time of year) and even on the needle beds of the knitting (gasp!) machines. I have found that aggravating her is the most entertaining way of removing her from where I want to place my derriere next and "draping" something upon her person is a good cat aggravating technique. Here we find exhibit "A" one sock of the rustica pair, in need of washing to settle the color repeat and soften the stiff romney wool.

I might be using cat as a sidetrack from the real issue. The chart on the sock did not turn out like I wanted..the tree rides right up into the chickens butt, and the chickens beak is snorting the evergreen. Back to the charting board.

rustica sock chart

I hear tell they are giving cold and snow after the weekend...still have some windows to put plastic on, but me and the monkey

are working on these socks for my cold feet (priorities) I'm a fixin' to put the chart in the free charts portion of my website..it is not what I would call "classic content" (a chicken and two trees) but it is for me, so....!

or the black and white version

you know...seeing it shrunk down like this make me think maybe I need to reverse the trees, like this....
yea, that's more balanced...guess blogs are good for something.

Socks on my feet

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Yea! the turkey time yarn socks are done and were on my feet (till last night, when I spilled a glass of wine on them, which is ok, because today it is 70' out (how odd is that for december) and I wanted to wash them anyway....
So, the final update on the socks...knit on LK 150 T 1.5, with merino sock weight yarn from painted tiger in the colorway "turkey time" the pattern is the standard toe with round heel from the book"Sock Options for Machine Knitters"
Next...I need some boot weight socks, so stash diving is in the plans for this evening...

unborn socks are not a pretty thing

unborn socks are not necessarily pretty thing, This is the turkeytime, knit on the LK 150 T 1.5 with the round knit heel pattern from "Sock Options for Machine Knitters"

They are at the place of seaming and doing the ipso facto ribbing...but I keep dropping the dpn..need more coffee..