Color Choice & The Rescue Chair

Last fall, I found a chair for $15 at an antique store. It was in rough shape. After working on it for hours, I've come to the realization that I'll never get it down to the bare wood to stain it. So, after a little more sanding, I'm going to paint it. Here's where I need help. What color? The chair is pictured here. It's for spinning. So, I may be taking it with me to retreats. I tend to lean towards the original eight colors in the crayon box. I went to Ace today and looked at glossy enamel. I liked the black, the white, the International red (bright red to those of you who are not in to large machinery) and school bus yellow. All of those colors would also work in my house. Please leave a comment below with the color you think would be best. Thanks!

OFF THE WHEEL: Earlier this month I purchased eight ounces of CJKopec Creations corriedale batts for the April spin-along on her site on Ravelry. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do the color justice. The batts were a luscious blend of purple, lavender, black and everything in between. I ended up with 660 yards of 2-ply sport weight. While I cursed the corriedale the fleece came from the whole time I was spinning, it come out to be as rich a yarn as the batt it came from.
OFF THE NEEDLES: I finished the Veil of Leaves socks from Cat Bordhi's book I talked about last time. I loved the stitch pattern and the fact I had to size the pattern down was not much of problem. I don't think I'll use this particular sock architecture again as I felt it is a little baggier around the ankles than I like. This sock has increases for the ankle and instep, but no side gussets to decrease those stitches, the decreases for the foot are handled in the heel. I'd like to try one of the other, more fitted architectures from Pathways, next time.

These socks were my third pair for the month of April so I didn't list them on the Great Sock Off of 2009. I will be adding them to the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon. These, like most of my socks, took 288 yards. This brings my total mileage since February 1 to 2.62 miles.

ON THE NEEDLES: I have a stealth sweater on one long circular needle and a pair of socks on another. The socks are test knitting for another designer, so I'll wait to get her permission before posting them.

52 BOOKS IN 52 WEEKS: I've been traveling quite a bit this week so both my entries are audiobooks. (While I'd like to be able to knit and read - I just have never had a desire to drive and read at the same time. Maybe, it's because I've never seen anyone do it successfully.)

BOOK 20: The Ya-Yas in Bloom, by Rebecca Wells. This is a sequel to the first Ya-Ya Sisterhood Book and gives the reader/listener a little more insight in to the women who make up the Ya-Yas and their children and the others in the community. Very enjoyable.

BOOK 21: The Fallen Man, by Tony Hillerman. Another great story. This time a missing person from eleven years earlier is found and unravels a web of deceit that goes back generations.

Strip Tease

Hopefully, the title caught your attention! If not, the socks should! This pair is from the Strip Tease colorway from Tempted at 3am. The pattern is also from Tempted and both were part of the April Sock Club. Try as I might, I've had problems getting in on sock clubs, but I signed up just in time on this one. While the photo doesn't do the yarn justice, you should know that they have some sparkly and that sparkly is silver spun into the yarn. Again, I had to do some significant alterations so that these would fit me. I am truly beginning to realize just how small my feet are! It is difficult to see the stitch pattern on these, but it is a simple lace pattern that zigs back and forth like it was . . . going up a pole. Really.

These socks used 288 yards, which brings me to a total of 4318 yards since February 1 or 2.45 miles for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon. These socks are also my April entry for The Great Sock Off of 2009.

ON MY NEEDLES: In another attempt to expand my knitting horizons, I'm working on a pair of socks from the pattern "Veil of Leaves" from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One, by Cat Borhdi. Rather than the usual ribbed cuff that I usually do, these has an invisible cast-on that ends up as a tube. I did mine the Lucy Neatby way, rather than the way described in the book.

Again, I had to size down. I went to talk by Cat Borhdi at Stitches West. I made a point of looking at her feet - they aren't that big! That's when I realized, my feet are just that small.

I'm using one my favorite commercial sock yarns - Trekking. The colorway is called "Fog", but there's just too much of a gold color mixed in the tweed to look like fog does around here in the Dakotas.

ON THE MACHINE: I've had this delightful quilt on the long-arm machine for quite awhile. I also have others to finish quilting. I thought if I added an "On the Machine" feature to the blog, I might feel guilty enough to finish these quilts - remember I said "might." Tessellating Kitties is designed by Jinny Beyer and is paper-pieced, using Jinny Beyer-designed fiber. Did I mention I'm a Jinny Beyer fan?

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 19: Cat Pay the Devil, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Thanks to this mystery, I've got my reading mojo back. I've read others in the series and really wish I would have read these in order, but I didn't. The saga of the talking cats and their ability to solve mysteries and rescue their furless counterparts never ceases to entertain me. It's not so far fetched that it seems like fantasy or science fiction, but just different enough to intrigue me. This time the human roommate of Dulcie, one of the cats, is kidnapped by a former parolee Wilma supervised. Fast-paced, excellent characterisations, this Joe Grey Mystery does not disappoint.

Cabled Socks

After using the patterns of others and finding them way too big, even though my gauge is correct, I went back to using my own patterns. This is a cabled sock that I've made a number of times before, but this time I knit it toe-up. I'm very pleased with the fit. Also, it's made of Trekking XXL fingering-weight yarn, which is one of my favorites. This pair counted as my April socks for the Great Sock Off of 2009, as well as for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon. I'm now up to 2.29 miles of sock yarn used since February 1.

I haven't finished a book this week for 52 Books in 52 Weeks, although I'm close!

I'm continuing to work on the Pokey fluff, the alpaca fleece I purchased at North Country Fiber Fair. It's like linguine - the more I card, the more there seems to be in the bag!

Right now, I'm working on a pair of socks in the Strip Tease colorway from Tempted at 3AM yarns. I am using the pattern that came with the sock yarn, but I've made some significant revisions so that the socks won't end up too big.

The Dimetapp Sweater Is Done

It's done, finished, kaput! I love knitting with thin yarn and tiny needles, but there is something a bit masochistic about doing a whole sweater like that, even for a small person, like myself. There is a small shift in the sweater, so the yarn was not completely balanced. That is a little disappointing for a commercial yarn. But still, it's a gorgeous color, fits well and completely suits the use for which it was intended.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 18: Sugar Cookie Murder, by Joanne Fluke. Despite the fact that someone gets murdered, this book, like all the other ones in this series, makes me smile. I'm not sure if it's that Fluke has the characters and the location down pat or what. Since I spent most of my childhood in Minnesota, I feel like I know each and every one of her characters personally and that I for sure have visited Lake Eden. I was a little surprised to finished this book so quickly, given it's size. Half of it are recipes for the dishes mentioned in the book. The big plus - there was one for Jello cake that replaces the one I lost three moves ago!