Summer Knitting

Not much knitting over a hectic summer. Mostly dealing with many WsIP, UFOs, and small things between gardening, business trips, work, family obligations. A (rare) peaceful half hour knitting a few rows is excellent stress therapy. I am making a bit of progress with the retro washcloths, i decided on the ballband pattern, and I am almost through #4. I will take better photog's once i have a couple more complete. They are pretty vibrant now, but the typical kitchen cotton will fade to the appropiate vintage shades. I'm not sure how many I will make before I lose interest. Also in the queue is a the last 20% on a pair of socks and the sleeves for a sweater that may be complete by the time the weather turns.

Green Apples

This apple tree has been producing for around 30 years. A prairie hardy tree of Siberian lineage planted by my parents. A couple of hundred pounds of tiny sour green apples that ripen in early september. They don't even keep a single day once the apples are off the tree. The deer eat their share, buckets are raked up daily for the compost pile, wasps eat a few, squirrels eat a few. I takes two hours to peel and core a kettle for sauce, almost as long for a couple of pies. The cut fruit oxidizes instantly to bright amber. Stains fingers dark for days.

Hot, crisp potato pancakes from autumn dug russets topped with fresh green apple sauce, cold sour cream, and fresh cracked pepper, flakes of Maldon sea salt. perfect.

Knotty Pines

My favorite sock book is a Thrift Shop score, purchased for 5 cents. The original price when new was 35 cents. I think it's worth every penny. A vintage mid-century pamphlet - Patons & Baldwins, Limited : Toronto - Socks by Beehive Book No. 75. 13 men's sock patterns, each with variations for long or short versions. Plain, textured, slip stitch patterns, colourwork diamonds and spear heads. All knit on 2.25mm needles. Knotty Pines is a textured pattern with lots of YOs. Slightly lace-y but masculine too. I'm pleased with the results, like little sweaters for my feet. Too warm for the summer, but great wool boot socks for the winter. The colour is actually more of a soft sage green, the photos appear more gray. The yarn was a St. Ives wool/nylon sock yarn that I had in the stash. I had to start the third skein to complete them.

Kitchen Cotton

A basket of kitchen cotton, the colours inspired by my midsummer garden. This yarn is intended for some retro washcloths. I chose gardenish shades: rhubarb, lettuce, poppy, herb blossom, weed, berry, pea shoot. I will knit something with random combinations, a fun break from larger projects.

Starting

Starting is the thing. Like entering an icy cold pool of water, you can either jump right in or wade very slowly step by step. A heart stopping instant or excruciating hesitation. I'm not sure which is worse. Either way, it feels pretty good once you exhale that first breath completely submerged, then break the surface of the water.