Bob’s youngest son, Jonathon, is a new officer in the Marine Corps. He spent a week in Portland before reporting to his base in California. Walter certainly enjoyed the rides on Jon’s shoulders.
And, Xena was pleased to see him as well.

Having Jon visit gave me a renewed sense of urgency for my Socks for Soldiers knitting. Just to give you a quick update – the military has changed their color guidelines. Unfortunately, the Marines are sticking to black, but the other services are using Drab Green (Sarge – Essential) or a Dusty Tan (Buckskin – Essential).
Right now I am working my way up the legs of socks in Sarge. Yep, “up”. I’m trying out Tina’s free knitting pattern for Two At Once, Toe Up, Magic Loop Socks. I haven’t gotten Kim’s approval for this pattern so stick to …

After three false starts, I’ve finally settled in with a Log Cabin pattern from the first Mason Dixon Knitting book. I am going to get to projects in the new book but not until I’ve finished knitting my last three baby blankets.
For some reason, I struggled with the color blends for the Moderne Baby Blanket that I’ve made for several babies. By the time I had gathered yarn for three versions I was completely frustrated and had a huge pile of yarns!
I had seen the log cabin design in the book before but I’d always been so happy with the results of my previous Moderne Baby Blanket projects that I never thought about a change. With the Mason Dixon Knitting book laid out on the floor, I played around with my pile of yarn and finally came up with the plan you see here. …

I used to go crazy casting-on and knitting the very center of a circular shawl. But, now I start with Emily Ocker’s cast on and then use the Magic Loop method rather than struggle with a set of double pointed needles and a very small number of stitches. I use the Magic Loop as if I were working in a tiny sock leg. Half the stitches on each cable section that are increased at regular intervals. After awhile I will have enough stitches to fit around a 24″ circular needle. From then on, things are relatively easy. I’ll even move onto a 32″ circular needle eventually.
I’m not sure when I will pick up the shawl again. November and December seem to flash by and I’m not sure I will have time to continue before the new year. But, I haven’t finished planning my travel …

Xena’s breeder, Lora, has been waiting for her Suri Dream shawl much longer than I care to admit. The greatest obstacle to my getting started was finding a pattern that would work well for Lora. The pattern I choose for another friend’s Prayer Shawl turned out to be my answer. As soon as I finished Elizabeth’s shawl, I cast on the Black Forest version.
Lora travels a lot and prefers to wear black, grey and white for simplicity’s sake. I love my long, narrow Suri Dream shawl that I use as a blanket when I’m sitting in an airplane seat. It also works well as a pillow or even as a true shawl.
Lora is the first non-knitting person to whom I’ve given a shawl. It dawned on me that “blocking” was not something she would appreciate having to do whenever she washed her shawl. Handwashing …

Last Sunday I laid out clothes for our trip. Having gotten the “boring” task out of the way, I enthusiastically contemplated what fiber-related projects to take with me. I knew I wanted to take my Spinsanity spindle and my Golding Aromatherapy spindle. I have bright, colorful rovings for each spindle.
I also wanted a very low-key knitting project. A Moderne Baby Blanket fits the “easy” requirement but the yarn takes up a lot of room and, once the blanket gets going, it isn’t really portable. Then I remembered my long-neglected Stonington Shawl from Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I had made a good start but then was sidetracked with Prayer shawls and baby blankets. The yarn is Shimmer – Bayou.

What a perfect travel project! Lots and lots of plain garter stitch with a lacy edge to entertain me on …