Lifting the scale

I've been a very busy bee of late. Quite unintentionally these activities fall into three categories - let me tell you all about them one at a time!

First the knitting. (it's my favourite so why not start with the sauce?)

There's a line from the film Persuasion that comes to mind about my knitting habit. Mrs. Musgrove says about Anne: 'Oh, Lord bless me, how those fingers of hers can fly about!' Really, with all humility it feels like that right now.

First off the sticks were the Herringbone Socks. Check out these colourful beauties! I started off trying to make the eponymous socks from an Interweave download. Frankly, it was a horrible pattern. No matter what I did, they wouldn't fit nicely or look fetching. I tried 3 times...that is some serious frogging let me tell you. So...using the stitch alone, I made up an entirely new pattern. I'm testing it out now and I'll post it here for one and all. Free of course, just like the pattern I tried to use but couldn't make work. It features a garter stitch sole and columns to break up the herringbone. The heel is also unique to me so far as I know. For you history types, I know it dates to pre-WWII France for sure and I'm adding it to my stack of knitting research so there may be an addendum.

The yarn is pretty and plush and was a gift from Rita. (Thanks Rita!) No tags so I can't share who made it but it appealed to me with it's bright, happy colours.

I worked on these on my breaks at work so it took a while, but still under 2 months. Fantastic!

All the while, I've been working on the Dragon Scale Socks for the Pern Yarn club from Castle Fibers. The pattern has gone through beta-testing and I'm so happy with them!

So as not to spoil the treat for the club members, I'll just give you a snap of in-progress socks.

Here is a shot of the heel and the scales in their wild and untamed state. It doesn't look like it here but there are 99 scales in each sock. Yes. 198 scales total for us bi-pedal types. When they have been tamed, it really does look spectacular. You'll just have to be patient and see them when the pattern has been released. The idea is to gather the series into a book so if you know of a publisher, send them my way. I'd love to talk with them.

Since the scale socks weren't really travel-friendly (2 sets of dpns, ends, ends and more ends) I started in on the companion socks to the Frosts of Assabu wrisites for my on-the-go project, mostly at lunch since the H-bones were being blocked. The wristies pattern could easily be converted into a mitten, particularly using the toe (variation 1) from the socks as a guide. I'll be packaging those two into one pattern download later this week and posting it to Ravelry.

Here's a peek:

For those of you who aren't Rav-folk and haven't read up on the story of the wristies, I'll sum up.

A dear friend has de-camped to Japan. Last year was her first winter on the island and while she's a good mid-western gal and fully acquainted with the concept of winter, she had been somewhat misinformed of the true nature of the climate on the island she now calls home.

The autumn was quite crisp and our correspondences brought up cold fingers on a few occasions. I use my own fingerless mitts pretty frequently during those transitional seasons so I set about constructing some especially for her. Since they were to combat the frosts in Assabu, it seemed a very appropriate name to give the pattern. After I shipped those off, I had fully intended to construct the socks as companions (but for me) but somehow other exciting knitting adventures got in the way. (Like the Dragon Wing Shawl, the Mansfield Park Shawl and other odds and ends...) Since I was on a roll of making socks pour moi, these seemed like the best idea ever. Of course they were!

In between times in the last 2 weeks I've also begun knitting the Voyageur tuque for La Compagnie de La Verendrye. Re-creationists after my own heart (purists!). The initial hat has been fulled and is being adored by the 16-man company. The plan is to knit 16 hats in the end, but research is ongoing and I'm working hard to get an audience with the find that is the only known extant tuque of the period. More on that in future.

So...not bad for a month or so of knitting! Looking at it all, makes me wonder when I had time to do all the other stuff I want to tell you about.

Next week: Pottery.