The Round Toe

I was reading my 1947 edition of Complete Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting in bed the other night.  Yes, I read knitting books at bedtime.  Don't you?  Anyway, I came across the sock section and read with interest the page on The Toe.  The book suggests two versions of toe knitting.  There's the Flat Toe, which we've all done - decreasing on the sides and Kitchener stitching a flat graft.  Also they illustrate the Round Toe - executing a K2tog over even numbers of stitches, depending on how many you have in total.  Now, I've done this type of evenly spaced decrease, alternating with straight knit rows, on hats and mitts many times, but it's never occurred to me to try it on a sock.
"Why not?", I said to myself.
I don't know if you can properly see the result on the dark blue yarn, but it creates quite a satisfactory and surprisingly comfortable toe.  I just decreased until I had ten or so stitches left and drew the remaining yarn through.  The best part?  No grafting!  I don't think I'll use this method every time but it's certainly nice to have another tool in the bag.

A Sock. Natch.

There's always a sock on the go isn't there?  Once again, I'm using Glenna's 3 x 1 rib pattern.  Such a simple, elegant design.  Also, I am totally digging working with the Kertzer On Your Toes four ply.  I love the way the delicious coloured stripes are irregular and Man!  Can this inexpensive yet sturdy yarn hold a rib!

Feathery Cotton

Don't you just love Feather and Fan?  For ages, I've wanted a cardi with a plain bodice and a feather and fan torso. I've been working from a Drops Designs pattern, (#100-29) but only, it turns out, in the most basic of ways.  The yarn and needle size I'm using have nothing to do with the gauge as written so major modifications are being made. I'm kind of making it up as I go. 

It's hard to believe that my recycled coils are turning into this.

Club Midnight

Are you the sole owner of a seedy nightclub?


Are you its sole customer, sole bartender,
Sole waiter prowling around the empty tables?


Do you put on wee-hour girlie shows
With dead stars of black-and-white films?


Is your office upstairs over the neon lights, 
Or down deep in the dank rat cellar?


Are bearded Russian thinkers your silent partners?
Do you have a doorman by the name of Dostoyevsky?


Is Fu Manchu coming tonight?
Is Miss Emily Dickinson?


Do you happen to have an immortal soul?
Do you have a sneaky suspicion that you have none?


Is that why you throw a white pair of dice, 
In the dark, long after the joint closes?


Charles Simic
Walking The Black Cat
Harcourt Brace & Company 1996

Tallness Being Relative

Finally.  It's cycling weather again.

Evergreen

It was the annual Knitter's Frolic this past Saturday and I was determined not to let dental pain and lingering illness keep me away.  It helped to have a travel buddy as well.  Lisa and I met up for foamy caffeinated beverages and then took the long loopy transit ride out to the site.  I'm so glad I went.  How nice to see all those familiar faces and be surrounded with colour.  Of course I got no photos - just toted my camera around all day without ever getting it out. Doh!


I did manage to pick up some pretties though am proud to say that I showed admirable restraint.  My luxury knit indulgence was two skeins of Fiddlesticks silk/wool in a deep red. That's enough to knit their Peacock Stole.  The sample on display just called to me.  Funnily, the pattern costs more than one skein of yarn.  However, it is beautifully printed with large, colour coded charts and lots of photos.
And of course, there's always one skein of sock yarn.  After doing the floor twice, I finally decided on Black Lamb because of their colour choices, their reasonable prices, and the fact that I'm not likely to get to the store in Port Hope.  I chose this tonal green, named, appropriately enough, Evergreen.  It does remind me of a moist, rich forest, right after a rain.  There are dark cool gullies and beautiful  bright spots where the sun is bursting through the treetops.


I overdid a bit and was exhausted and in pain when I got home. I treated myself to a dinner of ibuprofen and pureed parsnips.  Now, I don't recommend dental crisis to anyone as a weight loss plan but at least it's had one positive effect.  On a liquid diet, in two weeks, I've lost all my winter fat.  Hey.  I'll take it.

On The Bright Side

At least I still live in a world where I can go down the street to Goodwill and get a hit of Pretty for fifty nine cents.  It's going to be a long and difficult four years. I am however, very happy for Elizabeth May.  She would approve of my contribution to the Re-use portion of the Three R's.