Glanalaw - delighting in pure song

As promised, I've been working on the UFOs and the first is finished! These are the IronMan2 Socks by Laura Jenkins, worked in KnitPicks Stroll in "Dandelion". They were an interesting and rather challenging project, requiring a lot of attention to the charts.  I started them on a petsitting weekend back in 2015, then finished the first sock on a road trip to New Jersey last June.  Then they sat around for over 6 months until I finally finished the second one over the weekend at the end of February. These are not perfect - I misread some of the chart symbols when I picked them up last June, and worked most of the leg doing the twists wrong, so the first sock is not as smooth inside as it ought to be, though the difference is not terribly obvious on a quick look.  It wasn't enough to make me re-knit the sock, but it still bothers me that I did it wrong! Conrad was my constant companion during the weekend of the second sock.  (I did a photo follow-...

Oh look, I took another 6-month break from blogging.  I keep saying I won't do that again... and then I do that again.  So much else is going on that sometimes blogging takes a backseat!  Things like knitting 9 pairs of Dobby Socks since October, for instance. And to be honest, since I finally caved and signed up for Instagram, it's easier to let the blogging slide. But a new year, and a new post, and a new project!  I've been feeling increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of STUFF in my life.  A year in a 550-square-foot apartment with very little closet space will do that to a girl.  I'm also hampered by a dread of throwing away anything that might someday be useful, or worth something!  But I've got to start somewhere, so here it is: finish all the UFOs. No, I don't have alien spaceships crammed in here too.  UFO in the crafting world stands for UnFinished Object, and friends? I have LOTS.  Even just scrolling through my Ravelry...

The world has been a pretty hurt-filled place lately, hasn't it?  Hurricanes and wildfires and political unrest at home and abroad. My resources are stretched thin, and I've already donated my personal limit to disaster relief funds both here and in our Caribbean territories.  But I can't get the thought of people hurting, afraid, without food or shelter, out of my head.  So from now until the end of October, I will donate 20% of the proceeds from any sale made through my Etsy shop to relief funds for the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  (I know these aren't the only places hurting, but I have a friend from St. Thomas who is a good source for reliable donation funds, and I want to make sure the money's going where it needs to go!) So make a purchase through Somewhen Designs , and know that a portion of that will go directly to help hurricane-battered families get food, water, and the ability to rebuild their lives. If you'd rather just donate,...

When I found out my best friend was expecting her first baby, I immediately knew which sweater I'd make for the new little one.  Shannon loves owls, so  Owlet  by Kate Davis was the obvious choice! Well, as we all know by now, I am chronically late with gifts.  So instead of knitting a tiny sweater for a new baby born last February, I ended up knitting a toddler-sized sweater for a one-year-old - which will probably fit her better next winter than this. I used a KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted, though the pattern calls for Aran weight.  Had I actually been knitting a small sweater this would have been fine, but since I sized up I ended up having to rework the pattern to produce the size I wanted with the yarn I had. The pattern is very clear, and had I not changed all the stitch counts it would have been extremely simple.  As it was, it was still mostly simple!  I did choose not to stitch on buttons for eyes on all those owls...

Citrus and succulents, hanging out together at the office. Until I eat the grapefruit for lunch.

At last I have finished these mittens - started a year and a half ago as my dad's Christmas gift, December 2015. Just in time for the warm weather! Pattern is "NHM #3" from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea.  The yarn is a luscious merino wool/silk blend, and I added some length and width for my father's large hands.  I'm pleased to say that after washing and blocking, the line where I started knitting again after more than a year is no longer noticeable.

This weekend we were in Ohio for a surprise birthday party, and Stephen took me to the arboretum. It's prime time for the peonies And the daisies were impeccable.