Breakout!....well sorta

When situations never change
Tomorrow looks unsure
Don't leave your destiny to chance
What are you waiting for
The time has come to make your break
Breakout!
~~ Swing Out Sister

I just loved this song when it came out...so positive and powerful about seizing the day and breaking out of the ruts we all fall into, the too comfortable and familiar patterns we fall back on again and again.

Do you find yourself in a knitting rut? Do you need to breakout too?

Of course change is scary so sometimes we fall back on what we know best and pink is most often my fall back color when I knit. Yes, green is my favorite color but not everyone loves it as I do. Orange is my current heartthrob but even more so than green, orange isn't for everyone and often something of an acquired taste.

Pink seems to be universally pleasing...sweet and girly, hot and passionate.

Pink can even be a neutral...pink blends beautifully with browns, blacks, blues, greens, even orange!

Ok even I can see thru all this sugary prose so I'll just come clean....

I knit another pair of pink socks :)

Exhibit A:

Specs:

Basic Garter Rib socks

Toe- up with a Turkish cast-on

My first toe-up mini flap and gusset, yo short row heel (woot!!)

2 skeins Lorna's Laces shepherd sock, Flamingo Stripe colorway (a lovely birthday gift from Jes, thanx hunny!)

Magic loop, size #1 (2.25mm) 32" circ

Tubular bind off (I LOVE this bind off for toe up socks, so stretchy and pretty and easy to do!)

I wasn't sure I would love the stripes of the colorway as I'm not much of a stripe girl but it's such a juicy, lively pink and it looks nice and tweedy in the garter rib. Knitting with the Lorna's Laces was pure pleasure too - so soft yet crisp, tidy stitch definition - just a perfect sock yarn.

Now for the breakout portion of our broadcast. I give you my new sock -

It's Cookie A's Twisted Flower pattern. It's brilliant and it's BROWN!!!

How's that for breaking out? This is the first time I've EVER knit with brown yarn...whoo hoo!!

I must say, if I had to lose my brown virginity, this is the yarn to do it with! It's Dream in Color Smooshy in the Chinatown Apple colorway and it's delicious! (get it? Apple, delicious? yuk yuk yuk) The depth of color of this yarn is a marvel! Brick, warm rusty brown, greenish brown - glorious! A knitter girl could get used to this brown thing.

Of course brown is so scarce around Casa de Fluffy, the P-Man doesn't quite know what to make of it...

I'll be back next week with an update on the Dolce Vita tank. Enjoy your weekend and breakout a little too, ok?

It's raining, it's pouring...still

I'm not complaining mind you, I realize there are lots of places suffering with terrible drought right now and rain is certainly WAY preferable to the big "H"!

During the rainy season, it does rain here every day but it's usually just a brief sprinkle (most often during rush hour traffic, of course!) For the last month we've had torrential rain for a good portion of every day.

While rain can be an inconvenience, it's beauty and it's usefulness is unquestionable.

I love to watch the storms rolling in from my balcony....I can see the thunderheads and watch the rain falling in thick grey curtains in the distance...

Isn't it beautiful?

Onto the knitting...

Since holiday time draws near, thoughts turn to gift knitting and one of my favorite knitted gifts is fingerless mitts or wristers.

To that end I've posted a link on my sidebar that is super easy, super cute, easy to size up or down, unisex and takes less than one skein of koigu! I did post about it once before but it was way at the bottom of a very long post so I thought I'd be a sport and chat it up again :)

In addition, if you're into mitts, there's a great new KAL in town!


It's the Fall Fingerless Mitts KAL and Keri is the lovely hostess!

There's lots of pretty mitt eye candy, lots of free patterns and lots of sharing and companionship - the things knitters do best!

So if you have chilly hands or know anyone that does, come join us and knit some fall mitts!

As for me, I'm still working on my Flamingo Stripe socks but there's nothing exciting to see. It's my "grab and go - hurry up and wait" project so I'm not knitting on it all that much.

I am excited about this new WIP tho, look....

It's a new cotton tank I'm making as a gift...isn't the color yummy? At least something around here is bright and sunny!

I'm only showing this little bit because altho it is a gift and the recipient doesn't read FKD, I'm actually finished with the back and well into the front so I'll have an FO soon and I'll show y'all the whole enchilada then :)

Remember that big, fluffy, luxurious bed the P-Man has been enjoying? Well as we all know, explaining why a cat does what he does is an exercise in futility!

I had my blocking board on my bed to block the Esprit Tank and seems my P-Man likes a firm "mattress" too!

I can't get him off the thing and when I fold it up to put away, he meows and paces until I bring it out again! Silly kitty man!

To those that are off to Rhinebeck this weekend once again, bite me have a wonderful time! To my hapless fellow non-attendees, have a great weekend and knit lots!

Wanna see something REALLY beautiful???

This is my good friend Shawna...WEARING HER NEW ESPRIT TANK!!

Doesn't she look lovely and isn't it a PERFECT fit? I'm so happy :):)

Happy Birthday, My Friend!!

I have so much to show (and tell) you!

The good thing about non-stop rain for over 3 weeks is when the heavens finally decide to shine a little light on this fluffy knitter's lowly existence, I have LOTS of FOs and other good stuff to share so get ready for a picture *fluffy* post, heh!

Since my birthday was 3 weeks ago it's about time I showed you two of my favorite knitting related pressies...

This was hand made for me by the talented and generous Sallee aka Nana Sadie Rose...

needle case front
needle case inside
Isn't this adorable? I LOVE the fabric! In fact, I told Sallee I wish I had jammie bottoms made out of it too cause it's warm cozy flannel!

Now we all know FKD is of the ahem, hoarder persuasion so thinking my DPNs will fit in this beautiful case is laughable BUT my crochet hook collection will fit perfectly and it will be a very welcome improvement over their current residence of a ziploc sandwich bag!

If you want a needle holder of your own or one of Sallee's gorgeous original bags, go click on the link and pay her a visit!

Thanks Sallee, I love my new kitty needle holder!

The reason I don't own one of Sallee's amazing bags is I'm not much of a bag person! Shocking, I know...the one obsession I don't have, right? :)

When I started back to knitting 5 years ago I was desperate to find other knitters so I found a clear vinyl knitting bag, thinking if people could see my knitting while I was out and about, they might ask me about it. And they did!

But despite all the amazing knitting bags out there, I've stuck with my clear vinyl...until now....

Look what I got for my birthday!!

Isn't this a hoot?

It's made by a company called Angry Little Girls and it was a gift from my good bud Laura!
It's such a fun bag in my favorite color! I especially love all the little pockets and compartments for every notion you can think of! I don't think I'll be wearing it to church but it is certainly a conversation piece! Thanks Auntie La!

Now for some knitting...I finally finished the albatross Esprit Tank!!

This project has been on my needles longer than any other since I learned to knit!! Miles and miles of sportweight garter stitch, I thought I'd never get thru it! In fact I came *this close* to abandoning it quite a few times but I'm glad I didn't! Have a look at why...

pretty collar

border close up

the money shot!

folded border

Specs:

Elann Esprit Tank (free pattern from Elann.com)

size #6 addi turbo 32" circular needle

size D crochet hook

10 skeins Elann Esprit cotton/elastic yarn, colorway Capri Blue

2 skeins Elann Sonata for trim, colorway Indigo Gold

Mods: The largest size this pattern was written for was 36". I upsized this to a 56". I continued the drop stitch pattern over the whole tank rather than over just the midriff as the pattern suggested. The crochet border as written was WAY too big and came out like a giant ruffle - not the look I was going for! - So I kinda redneck engineered (a phrase and action coined by Kris!) the crochet motifs and decreased half the stitches in between each motif to have the border lay flat. I also used a smaller crochet hook.

In the end, altho the knitting was quite a slog, I'm very happy with the final product. It's winging it's way to it's recipient as I write this and I think she'll love it too! At least I hope so!

It's an easy, easy knit with some very basic crochet added in and in a "regular" size it would be a fun and fast knit. I'm very glad I made it but I'm sticking to smaller projects for a while...

I took the tank outside to get a decent pic (it's hanging from my porch light in the "money shot" pic, heh) and Pumpkin was bereft that he couldn't join in the fun too!

what a sad, lonely face

But wait! there's more!

I finished my Vog On footies!

Specs:

'Vog On socks by Aleta Fera for Knitty

2 skeins Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, colorway Blueberries and Grapes

Size US#1 (2.25) Knitpicks 32" circular needle, magic loop

Toe up using a Turkish Cast-On

Tubular bind-off

Mods: I made these more of a footie than the anklet the pattern suggests. I changed the eye of partridge heel to a yo short row heel and I eliminated the picot bind off as I didn't think FK Mom would appreciate it so much.

My love of Panda Cotton is well documented, especially this delicious colorway! These socks are so soft plus the pattern is super easy and so pretty. I think FK Mom will love them!

Now you'll note those socks are blue. Guess what color my new socks are? PINK, what else? Sheesh, maybe I do need to knit some brown socks to break this color rut I'm in! Here's the new socks on the block with some Knails thrown in for good measure...

Just a simple toe-up, magic loop, garter rib sock in some pretty Lorna's Laces, another birthday pressie, this time from Jessica. The juicy nails are OPI Brights Collection, Goldilocks Rocks! I went for extreme contrast vs. matching this time - isn't it pretty? :)

As your reward for reading ALL of this, you get a second P-Man pic - cause there's never enough P-Man, right?

The handsome boy makes everything he sits on look comfy, doesn't he?

Have a good week...I'll be back soon with my new WIP, weather/pic taking permitting!

OOPS!! One more thing...I added a new free pattern on my sidebar if you're interested. Just a simple wrister pattern written for koigu or any sock yarn, enjoy!

Remember me?

Oh Hi! Remember me? I used to blog here at FKD pretty regularly!

The good news is I finally finished the Esprit Tank!! Hallelujah!!

The bad news is it's been raining here for 40 days and 40 nights, or at least it feels that way! And you know how long cotton takes to dry when it's rainy and wet! Plus grey, dank and cloudy makes for crappy photo ops.

So...I'll try to get some decent pics soon, plus I have a new WIP and some favorite birthday prezzies to share.

To tide you over til then so you don't forget us, here's another pic of the P-Man enjoying his new giant bed (taken pre-deluge)...

Don't you wish you could relax like that?

Be back soon!!