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.