Tuesday, February 19, 2008

More Wool Sox!

Dear Alice,

First I overslept this morning (though it was a good morning for that!) I had really wanted to finish this pair of socks since DH and I are going to LA this weekend, and I will need layers of wool! After all the little morning chores to be done, and preparation of my tea to steep, I got busy, persevered, and finished the last 2.5 inches of Nancy Bush's Spey Valley socks from Knitting on the Road.

I started these last August on the deck at the edge of Ann Lake.
The decorative rib at the top was the fun part. From there on, it was mindless, but also nit-picky, since I had to keep track of the fact that I continued the rib all the way down to the toe. On sock #2 I had a bit of ripping to do since I picked it up after several months (and knitting other socks) and began knitting merrily on my way to the heel. Imagine my shock when I went to show someone sock #1 and found that the darn rib was still going! Sigh. Mary has taught me that ripping is a good thing.

They are a lovely taupe color, and when you look at the yarn in sunlight, it is filled with reds and blues and yellows, a beautiful warm, glowing mix. The yarn is Patons Kroy, 85% washable wool, 15% nylon, 262 yards/240 metres. Fawn is the color; it may have been discontinued years ago. I want to see how they hold up, especially since I went through the heels on two pairs of socks this month. It may be time to take care of Nancy's feet for a change. ;)

It is very hard to see the interesting rib at the top, and then the Vickel braid (that might be better in a contrasting color in order to appreciate it fully). Nonetheless, here they are so that you will truly believe I have finished yet another UFO.



I started putting yarns on spools this afternoon for the next weaving project, a fabric for a spring jacket. One step at a time.

I hope your basement has been cleared of the flooding. Keep your spirits up!

Nancy

3 comments:

Lirianna said...

Hello! You are the first person ever to comment on my blog! Thank you so much!

Your blog is in a cool format... makes me wonder who "Alice" is.

Yes, I have listened to all but the first three episodes of WeaveCast and heard of "Magic in the Water". I, unfortunately, cannot afford that expense right now. Someday I will...

And you weave for *yardage*!!! ::swoon:: I can't even IMAGINE combining those two loves!! And talk about worrying that you will cut and sew it right!! Wow!! I'm not sure I could handle the stress!!

Mary
http://inspiredbyfiber.blogspot.com

Nancy JC said...

Hi Mary,

Alice is my 96-yr.-old weaving teacher (pictured in the previous post). She has been weaving for abut 50 years. At some point (about 1999) I was lucky enough to be invited to study w/ Ellen & Mary, and Pat was also asked to make the monthly trek to E. Lansing, MI, about an hour away. At some point, Alice asked us to all accompany her on a trip to the Handweaving Museum in Clayton, NY, and I think it was there that we were dubbed "The Hen and Chicks". You can see a short piece about us all in an issue of Handwoven magazine on mentors, written by Karen Donde.

If you join a guild, they may have Magic in their library for you to borrow.

Keep us posted!
Nancy

DollyDumpling said...

Hi Nancy

Thanks for your kind comments on my blog.I hope to add to it tomorrow (Monday)

As for the sweater, you have definitely made faster progress with your fabulous socks than I have!! They look great.
As for knitting too much ribbing, I'm glad someonelse has concentration problems.
The sweater is nearly finished, but I'm finding concentration hard due to my meds. I've just got the collar to do and that's me. If it looks ok I'll send a photo. Catherine and I had a bit of a disaster, we found the last page of both our patterns was missing, so we couldn't do the collar. She had to go away into the Southside (of Glasgow) to get the final page.
However, I don't know how to tell her that last night I found the missing part on my scanner! Oh dear! My brain is truly mush.
I hope to finish it tonight, all being well.
However, my husband has just borrowed my car, and come back with a cracked windscreen. So I 'll need to deal with that, first. It's lucky I'm not allowed to drive at present and won't be needing it.
I love reading about your crafting, so keep up! It's only 2 weeks to our big crafting day out, so I hope I'm well enough to go. As long as Catherine drives, I should be ok.
Take care,
hope your weekend went well,
Mary H.