Girlfriend Ripple is Complete!

Details:

Pattern: Soft Waves from Jan Eaton's Book 200 Ripple Patterns

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Brights and Regular Colors~~12 skeins

Hook: Size H

Start Date: May 2007

Finish Date: August 12, 2007

For: The Girlfriend~~just in time for her to take it to college the week of the 25th

I'm very pleased with the outcome, and apparently, so is The Teen, who is now requesting her own version. Nevermind the sweater I am planning for her for Christmas. Sigh. I'm rippled out for the time being, so hers will have to wait. I'm looking forward to knitting some lace, as well as starting some sweaters (plus finishing my dad's.)

Birthday Sky

View from the Frisco Woods Campground in Frisco, NC (Outer Banks, near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse) looking across the Pamlico Sound on my birthday last weekend. Shows the change of the sky over a 1-2 hour time frame. It was a beautiful evening.

Sock Monkey Socks

Another pair of socks off-the-needles and gracing my feet. Well, they will in the fall, as the thermometer is expected to rise into the 100s today. Yuck! So far this summer we've been blessed with fairly mild weather--upper 80s to low 90s, but the bill came due for all that the last few days.

Sock details:

Pattern: Sock Monkey Socks by Socks-for-Mom, aka Rebecca
Yarn: Baby Ull in grey, cream, and red (2 balls of the grey, although I didn't use all of either ball, still, I think it would have taken 1+ balls for these.)
Needles: Addi Turbos #1--knit two at a time after the gusset decreases.
Mods: Only one, shocking, I know. I used red for the toe instead of cream. I just liked the way the red went with the grey and cream, and wanted more of it. Also, the red will show less dirt than the cream.
Thoughts:

• Love the yarn! So soft. I thought this yarn would be more economical than the luxury sock yarns, and I suppose it is if you are doing a solid color pair of socks and only need a couple of balls, but with the necessity of purchasing 4 balls of yarn, these socks ran me what two skeins of Sock Hop would. Granted, there is enough of the cream and red to do another pair. I'm seriously thinking of making The Terror a pair with what is leftover.
• Cuff down socks. See, there's a reason I prefer toe up. The socks fit me perfectly, perfectly until I put in the toe. They are just a smidge too short. I never know where to start the decreases for a cuff down sock to get the toe to end in the right place. Sigh. As much as I LOVE them they may wind up as a gift for a shorter footed friend or family member.
• Great little pattern. Since the fit of these is less than optimal for me, I hope to make another pair for myself down the road. Downsized, I think they're ideal for the little handknit sock wearers, and upsized, they'd make a good mansock.
  

Spectacular Sky

These were taken about a week ago. The sky took my breath away when I went out in the yard. Scrambled for my camera before it changed. Just so you know, these are totally unretouched. No photoshopping here~~that's all God's handiwork.