Month: April 2011

Turkey Tracks: April 1st Blizzard

Turkey Tracks:  April 1, 2011

April 1st Blizzard

 

It’s no April Fool’s Joke.

We got over a foot of snow up here on Howe Hill today.

It’s very wet, very dense, and our power went out mid-morning.  Hooray!!!! for the generator we installed a few summers ago.   All in all, it’s been a very peaceful day, and most people stayed at home.  I am making notebook covers to decorate in a class I’m taking next week.  I use those old-fashioned composition books–which have come back and are quite popular now. 

 

 We had a flock of finches at the feeders all morning.  The males are turning yellow, so their breasts are now pale yellow–a sure sign of spring.  They will be neon yellow by summer.  I tried to take a picture of all of the flock–at least a dozen birds–but they kept spooking when I pointed the camera at them–except for this brave, or hungry, fellow:

 The chickens are lonely today.  They were so happy to see me when I checked on them mid-afternoon.  Three eggs!

Turkey Tracks: Cookie A’s Pomatomus Socks

Turkey Tracks:  April 1, 2011

Cookie A’s Pomatomus Socks

I reconnected with my fried Jane Williams a few months ago.  When we came to Maine, Jane and her family went to London and on to Indonesia.  Jane’s back in Northern Virginia now, and I’m looking forward to a visit with her in April when she comes north to visit her mother.  In London, Jane went to the Royal Needlework school where she learned to be even more awesome fiber arts skills.  While I was learning quilting, she was already well into knitting.

Jane mentioned Cookie A’s work, and I went searching for examples.  I just completed Cookie A’s FAMOUS SOCKS–the very first pattern she put on knitty.com and which thousands of people have made now.  I’ve also bought BOTH her books, and I can’t wait to start another pair of her socks.  Only, most of my current yarn is variegated in nature, and Cookie A’s socks are spectacular in solid yards.  I’ll do what I can…

Let me just tell you that these socks were more than a notch above my current skills.  I tore out the first cuff and leg SEVEN TIMES before I finally “saw” the pattern.  Once that happened though, I was off and running and having a spectacular time–even though Cookie A knits on 4 double-pointed needles and not the 5 I use–which I use because I tend to “ladder” socks at the joins of the needles.  Maybe I got over that with this pair.

Here’s what the look like finished:

When you put them on. the little scales open up into a lacy pattern:

THANK YOU JANE AND COOKIE A!!!

Here’s the pattern and more information.  You can search to see more of Cookie A’s patterns.  The first book has detailed instructions of how to do yarn overs, increase, and the like.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTpomatomus.html