Colors of Nature

When I was leaving my house the other day I saw this beautiful moth by my front door. I wish I could have gotten a better photograph but he was fluttering his wings and I didn't have time to get my tripod. Aren't its colors gorgeous? I'm not letting it in my house because it would surely devour my yarn.

My Iro Scarf is coming along quickly. It is such a nice mindless project to work on as I listen to audio lectures.

I am crazy in love with my new needles. I thought this needle end might be a little heavy in the hand but it is not.

The needle points are ever so sharp and would be excellent for finicky knitting manuevers.

.And the Noro Iro yarn? Yummy! Wouldn't you agree that the colors are manly-man colors? Colors of nature.

Exquisite Woods

A new pair of knitting needles from Costa Rica called Maderas Exquisitas.

(Exquisite Woods)

Add two skeins of exquisite yarn, Noro Iro in shade #47.

The end result will be an exquisite garter stitch scarf for an exquisite young man who is about to become part of our family on August 2nd. He really needs to be initiated into the family properly, you know?

My inspiration? You're My Iro , another beautiful scarf knit by Jared (Brooklyntweed).

Must Have Cardi Progress

I have decided that it is time to finish my Must Have Cardigan so she has been receiving some special attention the last couple weeks. I've planned out a knitting schedule and am bound and determined to get this project off my needles soon!
The reason this sweater has not been finished is because I've had to do some frogging. I decided the size I had been knitting was going to be too large. My Central Park Hoodie sits unworn because I knit it too big. My indecisiveness on sizes was met with procrastination but a couple of weeks ago I decided enough was enough and the frogging commenced..........

I have now finished the two fronts and have started the back. BTW, I am blocking them on a plastic padding for treadmills. The package came with eight pieces and when I was putting them together to put under my treadmill I realized they would be ideal for blocking! They are compact and can be put together in whatever size you need for blocking your project. Since they come apart they can easily be stored. $18 at Walmart, ladies.......

Sunrise Over Sardinia

Sunrise at 6:32 a.m. over the second biggest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia. And like its larger cousin, Sicily, Sardinia has seen an amazing variety of cultural interchange from the earliest times.

Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia and we will be spending nine hours here. The site of this lovely port city is well placed to give shelter from storms. It's hard to say who actually made the first colony here, since both Minoans and Phoenicians had sailed these waters in the 7th century B.C., and probably earlier. It boggles my mind to imagine how many ships have sailed into this beautiful port!

I have my Italian yarn in hand and have already knit three inches of ribbed cuff as we wait to disembark. Have I mentioned that socks WERE the perfect thing to take on this cruise? They are nice and compact. We always had to wait for the pre-arrival checks to be completed in each port and then the local pilot to board the ship so there were plenty of moments here and there to knit.

We watched the ship approach port from our balcony and then on one of the outside decks as we ate breakfast. Then, after the Emerald Princess was docked, Don and I went down to the Piazza and waited to go ashore. Don had his Mickey Mouse hat and I have my yarn. We are ready to go.....................and I will take you along with me in the next post........

My So Called Tuscan Scarf

When I got home from my Mediterranean vacation I promptly sought out some yarn to commemorate my favorite country, Italy. I was unable to find any yarn shops on my travels -- and believe me, my eyes were really peeled looking for yarn shops! Back home I found some lovely Lorna's Laces yarn dyed in the colorway 'Tuscany'. The colors are perfect and really do remind me of Tuscany. I bought some worsted weight for a scarf and some fingering weight for some matching socks.

I have known for a while that I wanted to knit a popular Ravelry scarf called My So Called Scarf, so I had no problem assigning the worsted weight yarn to that project. The pattern is almost a no-brainer. I say 'almost' because I have had to rip back a couple rows more than once due to daydreaming. It is an easy enough pattern and looks interesting.

Lorna's Laces Worsted is amazingly soft! I love it! In fact, it may replace Malabrigo as my all-time favorite worsted weight yarn. I will definitely be purchasing more.

I'm still searching for the perfect sock pattern to match this scarf. I'm thinking that a slipped stitch pattern would complement it best. I think that Cat Borhdi has one that might work in her Knitting Pathways book. Do any of you have any ideas for me??

From the Hip

My photography lesson this week at Digital Photography school was to take a picture from the hip. From the hip?

I was to see if I could come up with a fantastic shot without composing my picture carefully through the viewfinder / LCD. It didn't necessarily have to be shot from the hip - mine were taken about over my head, by extending my arm out full range and from down on the ground.

I pushed myself outside of my dependency on my viewfinder and I was surprised at what came up! These were taking after a rainfall yesterday afternoon. And, I might add, we REALLY needed some rainfall because everything is very dry right now. These are not 'fantastic' shots but they were fun and I found the assignment quite enjoyable.

These flowers are in a flower pot on my front porch. I would love to be able to grow something like this in the ground but they are too delectible for the deer that feed in my yard.

The aspens have just budded out. In a few weeks these little aspen leaves will be quaking aspen leaves.

Pretty cool shots for not looking through the viewfinder and composing , eh?

The next assignment is entitled Clashing Colors so I am eager to see what it will involve!