Backside
I mean, I always want to see the back of everyone else's embroidery, so it seems only fair to show you mine. It's...let's go with free form. Not exactly scandalously scattered. But I for sure do not bother with making the back perfect, so it's rather more untidy than I'm actually comfortable with. But at least in theory, no one sees it. You know...assuming you don't go posting it on the internet. Oops. Picture of the front (and a point to the nifty Camden Public Library class I made it in...which just so happens to be going on tomorrow...in case [...]
Libraries rock
Pssst, libraries are awesome! The Camden Public Library is doing an embroidery class and it's been so much fun. There are two more sessions, and you can totally come even if you haven't been to the other classes. I'm going next Saturday (May 25) and the one after (June 1), and you totally can too! That's Molly Girl Yarn's gorgeous silk embroidery floss and felt from @fiddleheadartisansupply. Wanna see the back...or is that too much like showing someone your underwear drawer?
Show off
Here's the full progression from blocked and shiny, back to one blocked one not for contrast, then back to fresh off the needles. Now...do I normally block socks like this every time I pull them out of the washing machine? No I very much do not. I do this (with the sock blockers and the carefully making sure the leg and foot are lined up straight and the gentle tugging to keep the top of the cuff straight) happens the first time and for photos or for gifting. After a regular wash, I just smooth them out flat (or flatish, [...]
Arbitrary
See, this is where the difficulty arises. The buddy on the needles had been intended to be the final friend. But he's not quite the right color for the beads (and I would have wanted to start adding beads a little earlier in the knitting process anyway). So now he can't be the last one, because clearly I need one with beads. But this dude was to have been the seventh urchin. And seven is a lovely number. Eight...less so. For whatever reason, eight of something will be harder to arrange in photos than seven (and will not be as chill [...]
Good news/bad news
So the good news is I found some beads. And the bad news is I found some beads. (At Fiddlehead, for anyone local!) So clearly I need to make at least one more little urchin buddy with beads on. To do otherwise would be just foolish. But it does mean I need to get a little more knitting time in before I can take these to the seashore for their photos. The real question here is...gray urchin with purple beads? purple urchin with purple beads? pink urchin with purple bead? which way are we taking this...
Missing
I am missing socks! Ask me your sock questions so I can think about socks without knitting socks! Socks were my first knitting love and the only thing I designed for a long time (I've written more than 100 sock patterns). And I miss them! But knitting at a good sock gauge hurts my shoulder these days, so I enlist the services of amazing sample knitters when I need them. But oh, oh I wanna think about them for a while. So send me your sock questions and I'll answer the most frequent/most interesting ones in this month's Q&A post. [...]
Nom nom
I long, in my very deepest soul, to hold this up in front of you and go 'nom nom nom' while waggling it around and showing you how very delightfully satisfying a shape it is. The limitations of still photography make this...challenging. But this might help, should you be so inclined.
Clasped
Clasped is out, and I should probably warn you away. I should probably tell you not to make one of these. In fact, yes, let me just go ahead and officially warn you against making them right at the start. Because once you make one, you're almost certainly going to want to make another. And once you show someone else what you've made, you're almost certainly going find yourself getting all sorts of longing looks or hints or outright requests to make more. Now to be fair, these are easy requests to say yes to (the knitting is simple and [...]
Crossover
I mean...it seemed like a sensible plan at the time. Because we all know blocking things is about sensible plans. Not at all some sort of Martha Stewart / MacGyver crossover act that would really benefit from a dramatic soundtrack and some creative special effects work. Now fess up, what's the weirdest thing you've ever pressed into service for blocking (or knitting in general if that's easier...but I wanna hear about stunt blocking)?
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