Visiting Moab

Mesa Arch, Canyon Lands National Park

Back from a quick trip to Moab, Utah.  We love it there.  We hiked, we ate, and we slept!  I had a serious case of "Kodak Fever" there and had a difficult time selecting some photos to share so I just am attaching some of my favorites to share.

Trail markers leading the way called "carins"... hiking at Whale Rock, Canyon Lands National Park.

Another view of Mesa Arch

Zach at Mesa Arch

Canyon Lands National Park... from Island in the Sky, looking toward The Needles.



Landscape Arch, Arches National Monument

Can you believe the spine of this rock was the "trail"? 

 Double Arch, Arches National Monument

 Finally, the clouds are clearing and the sky is turning blue. Loving these clouds!

 Beautiful panoramic view of Arches National Monument... sunset is coming in an hour or so...

 Balanced Rock, Arches National Monument

 Balanced Rock again...

 Arches National Monument

Where's Zach!? So good of him to wear a bright hoodie so I could find him easily.

Finally... I am so in love with the photos of Mesa Arch, that I can't decide which one I like best, so just for giggles, I am posting all of them. I am too tired to decide which picture I like the best. 

Posting of photos? Done.
Tomorrow... laundry!

More Socks: Patriot Socks

I am calling these my "Patriot Socks".  The colors are more red, white, and grey than red, white, and blue.  Also looks as if a person working for the United States Postal Service could wear these socks with their official uniform.  The yarn is from Plymouth Yarns and is called "Diversity"; it is the hottest thing flying off the shelves at my yarn shop, Grandma's Beads and Yarn.  They just got in a bunch of new colors and all of them are awesome. I wanted to finish this pair to see how I liked the feel of the socks before I bought more.

These socks are super warm and comfy.  The yarn is 93% acrylic and 7% polyester (elasthane).  The label also refers to the yarn as "Memory Yarn".  I used my friend Marilyn's sock pattern which calls for casting on 52 stitches on US Size 2 (2.75 mm) needles.  This pattern works well for plumper sock yarns such as this yarn.  The only thing I did not like about this yarn was that I found a few knots in the ball of yarn I got.  Did not keep me from making matchy, matchy socks though.  Although you can't see it in the photos very well, there are some spots in the white bands where it appears some of the red dye made contact and speckled some of the white yarn.  I kind of wish the speckles weren't in there but, at the yarn shop, folks commented about the speckles and they mentioned that they really liked them.   I love how it worked out that my socks started and stopped with in the same part of the color repeat.  I am knitting my matchy, matchy socks on two pairs of double pointed needles so I can work on both socks simultaneously.  No Second Sock Syndrome for me! :)

Bow Tie Cloche (smaller version)

Bow Tie Cloche (smaller version)

 

 

Smaller and larger version pictured together.

I had so much fun making the yellow and blue Bow Tie Cloche that I decided to cast on another (Click HERE for the pattern link on Ravelry).  This time, I used three yarns from my stash. The brim is Cascade Fixation (Spray Dyed Effects) which is a variegated yarn with white, light and dark pink, and lavender.  I paired this with some white cotton/acrylic blend yarn. The lavender portion is knit in Berroco Comfort DK.  I re-sized the hat a bit hoping it would fit a little girl (3 years old). I think the downsized version has good proportions.  My pattern notes for making this smaller hat can be found on my Ravelry project page HERE.  The crochet flower pattern can be found on Ravelry HERE.

Considering these color combinations for future Bow Tie Cloches.  What do think?

Spring is Coming! Bow Tie Cloche

Bow Tie Cloche

Perhaps this hat looks familiar... I made it once before in pink and white.
It's Debbie Fring's "Bow Tie Cloche"; it's just about the cutest hat pattern EVER!

This time, I used Cascade Fixation (in pale blue); this yarn contains elastic and makes the hat's striped band nice and stretchy.  The pale yellow yarn is Cascade Sunseeker, which I believe is a new yarn. My local yarn shop has been carrying it for a few months now.  The yarn comes in lots of beautiful colors and contains little glittery flecks throughout.  I wish you could see the "bling" in the photos.  Look for this yarn at your local yarn shop; I love it!
 

Candy Corn Socks

Candy Corn Socks

 
Yet another a pair of socks. I think back in October 2012, I cast on a number of pairs of socks. Slowly, I am finishing them up. For these socks, I used this great looking Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids and Quatros, which is a sock weight yarn. The shades of orange and yellow-ish orange remind me of candy corn. I used a pattern by Susan B. Anderson called "Ribbed Socks for Bigger Feet" (a grown up version of her child's sock pattern). I've used this pattern a number of times, always with good results. The ribbing is knit 3, purl 1. The result is a stretchy, nicely fitting sock. I completed 60 rounds of ribbing for the leg portion. After the heel turn and the gusset decreases, I completed another 60 rounds for the foot before starting the deceases for the toe. I keep telling myself if my feet were not so big, socks would not take me so long to knit!

Shoes for a Knitter

 

I did a little shoe shopping about a week ago. I needed new black shoes for work.  I had hoped to find some shoes that might  showcase my hand knit socks.  At the store, I found some Danskos I had been eyeing on the Internet for quite some time. These clog-type shoes have what appears to be photo imagery of chunky, colorful yarn knit in stockinette stitch.  Non-knitters, I have heard, don't see "knitting"; instead, they see jellybeans. What ever the case may be, I LOVE my new shoes.  For work, I got these plain "Mary Jane" style shoes by Alegria and I love how you can see my hand knit socks when I wear these shoes.  After all that hard work knitting socks, it's a shame to cover them up with shoes.  When I wear my new shoes, I definitely have HAPPY FEET!