I only took yarn and instructions for the Lindsay sock on vacation this last week. We had family with us so I didn’t think there would be much time for knitting. The airplane trips to and from Mexico provided lots of focused time. While we were in Mexico I became quite fond of the Quiver I bought at the Aurora Fiber Festival the weekend before we left. I could easily knit and watch grandson, Fritz, crawl around.
During the flight from San Diego to Portland I began the garter stitch short row heel. I love the stitch design so much that I decided to make the socks knee high. That means a bit more knitting but it is worth it. It took just a few rounds for me to memorize the lace pattern and feel comfortable toting the sock around with me. As usual, it came along when we went out …

I had a lovely chat with Cookie that will be my podcast on April 29th. To prepare for the interview I carefully read through Sock Innovation and it is such a fantastic contribution to the knitting world.
Just looking at the photos of Cookie’s intricate socks can be intimidating. I know because that was exactly my reaction. “Why in the world would I knit socks with that much textural detail?”
Well, I read Cookie’s book and did a complete 180! Then I talked with her for the podcast and I’ve not only decided to join the Sock Innovation Knit-A-Long but I am going to knit the Lindsay socks with Gloss Parsley using Harmony DPNs. I love the beauty of the Harmony needles and I don’t think I want to have two of Cookie’s socks on a Magic Loop at the same time. A bit too mind-boggling since her designs often mirror each …

Just in case my monologue on Short Rows in Episode 134 of my podcast caught your interest, here are a couple of videos that I think will make Short Rows even more understandable.

You’ve probably heard the podcast of the spring yarn preview, so I thought I would give a little more background into the Stroll and Shadow Tonals. When Tina asked me to design the colorways of these yarns, I thought it was a great idea. Because the Tonals are hand painted, we have exact control over just how variegated the yarn is–something that we could never quite achieve with the old kettle dyed yarn. My goal was to take what we loved about the kettle dyed colors and make them even better–adding more variation of shade and hue, and coming up with completely new colorways as well. The name “tonal” is one I brought in from my fabric background. In the quilting world, a tonal fabric is one that has a similar color printed on a background color, so that the over all effect is more interesting than just a solid. …