flip-flop weather

well, it's gotten hot fast here in southern california!  i am no longer interested in holding a hot blanket in my lap in the sun at little league games or swim practice.  i need a new outdoor project, one that would qualify as "stoplight knitting", or knitting i can do without paying much attention.

enter the flip-flop sock (ravlink)! 

i cast on yesterday with some frogged project sock yarn, sensations bamboo and ewe from joanns.  it is very soft, but bit splitty to work with.  the socks are knit from the toe(s) up, as you can see, and start with the interesting turkish cast-on.  it is always fun to learn a new technique!

i am still working away on my hip to be square quilt!  indoors only ツ

evolution, revolution

this is SO much fun.  i've started seaming so that i don't have to keep guessing about how the blocks go together.  (i've laid them out about 5 times, trying to remember each time what i did the time before.)  i'm seaming strips, and once the strips are complete, i'll seam them together.  it's taking a bit more time, because i'm planning colors, selecting from different balls and colorways in order to define the squares effectively.  my new ball-winder has been a big help in making it a tidy operation to get to the color i'm seeking in my noro.  i've got little balls and big ones, using them as i'd like.  it's like being able to walk through a yarn store and pick colors!

i'm labeling to make the crochet go faster...

marinade. a still life.

yesterday i started marinating the lamb for today's easter dinner. 

oh yes.  it's important to taste the wine before, during and after you use it for the marinade. ツ

happy easter!

hip to be square

i recently learned how to miter a square in tunisian crochet.  it is fun, easy, and goes really quickly, like most tunisian projects.  then, kay of mason-dixon knitting published a blanket pattern, knit from mitered squares, with a neutral corner on each square, and surrounded with the neutral in a log cabin fashion.  GORGEOUS!  and supports aid for japan!  go buy the pattern! (link goes to mdk blog, "buy now" button in upper righthand corner of page)

i mention all this because, from this confluence of knowledge and ideas, i was inspired to crochet a blanket using mitered squares, a relatively non-neutral neutral, and eliminating the log cabin surrounding portion.  a natural evolution of thought, no?  シ

i've never knit a blanket.  too much boring work.  but noro, dear noro, with its crazy ever-changing colors, keeps it interesting.  i'm using noro aya, primarily cotton and silk, as the exciting colorful part.  i selected three main colorways, because i want a lot of variety and fun in this blanket, and frankly, i just don't care about having perfectly color-matched squares.  i'm hoping to have it not look too random, so after crocheting the first 10 or 11 squares as they came out of the ball, i'm now doing a minimum of planning and selecting the colors as i place the squares. 

i believe i'll do 36 squares.  i've already completed 13-3/4.  i'd like to use that bluish green as a border all around.  that yarn is rowan wool cotton, soft and produces about the same gauge as the noro aya for me.  part of what has made this project fun is that, in order to produce a square containing four squares, i had to figure out an appropriate method for casting on after i picked up stitches along an edge.  woooooo!  shivers of problem-solving delight! シ if you are familiar with the modified crochet cast-on in knitting, you will know how i decided to proceed.

finally, if you've been reading here for a while, you may remember the tirelessly blooming orchid my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday 1-1/2 years ago.  apparently, it thrives on neglect (the only way to thrive at my house!), and is now blooming again!  here she is:

happy spring!  happy easter!  a blessed passover!

and of course, happy knitting.