Souvenir Yarn

Yes, there is such a thing, and here is some:

I bought it last week at Williamsburg. It is from a sheep named Meathead (because no one likes him and everyone says he is mean and a pain to work with), and it was hand-spun and hand-dyed---with indigo---on premises.  Meathead is a Leicester Long Wool sheep, which means that the fibers are long and spin up nicely into a strong yarn.

Now there is a rule about souvenir yarn (I just created it) and that is:

*It doesn't have to be bought with any project in mind.  It's a souvenir. It might never be made into anything.  It might just be admired.  

So proclaims Knittergran.

May Day Plus One

In other words, it is May 2nd.

At knit night last night, knitters discussed May Day traditions from their childhoods, but some of us didn't have any. I didn't. These traditions weren't regional at all, which is surprising. North? South? Didn't matter.

My husband arrived home earlier than I did last night, and he found flowers hanging from our front door. No tag from a florist. No note from a friend or neighbor. 

Just these pretty flowers.

This morning while he was checking out new posts on Facebook, my husband saw a photograph of what looked like our front door. It was our front door, complete with the flowers. The poster, a neighbor, wrote that she had revived a May Day tradition from her childhood by presenting flowers to a randomly chosen person. We are random! I plan on doing the same next year because it's a treat and a nice surprise.

At knit night, I almost finished these socks, and I would have if I hadn't thought that I had knitted 20 more rows than I needed for the length of the sock. So I tinked it by a few rows, tucked it back in my bag and came home. Today I discovered that I hadn't knit too many rows; I had counted from the wrong place. So I re-knit the tinked rows, decreased for the toe and kitchnered the toe. Once I soak the pair in SOAK, I will be finished with them. They are a gift for a friend who is a birder, and I think the camouflage colors are appropriate.  I admit, though, that I had no idea that this is what the yarn would look like knitted up.  Kind of an unwelcome surprise, but I guess they will be ok.  

MissBabs Hand-dyed Yarns and Fibers, Cosmic Sock Yarn

I blame my counting error on being distracted by this cute little puppy. She is our new shop dog, Blanche, and she belongs to the shop owner.  5 1/2 weeks old! She plays really hard for a few minutes then sleeps really hard. And she BARKS!!! The tiniest bark I have ever heard.  

I sometimes think it would be fun to have a puppy, but I have Baxter (and Molly) and Baxter is my challenge, although I think I have pretty much given up.

See the runner on the table? When I brought it home and put it on the table the first time, it had creases on it where it had been folded.  I didn't get to it right away, and Baxter paid no attention to it. I finally washed it and ironed it and put it back on the table.  

Baxter loves it. He plays with it, tries to hide under it.   

 I give up.  

My Favorite Socks

This is my favorite pair of socks so far. I've knit quite a few socks from many different yarns, and while this Lorna's Laces (Shepherd Sock, hand-dyed, 80% superwash wool, 20% nylon, color 502-Sassy Stripe) isn't necessarily the softest I've used (I think Paca Ped and Crystal Palace Mini Mochi are the softest) I love them the best-because of the colors! Older daughter and I each bought enough for a pair at Gauge in Austin, Texas and have both made socks. I love them!

On the other hand, there's the Mini-Mochi lace scarf. Grrrr.... The lace fought me for every stitch and I swear I ripped out more rows than I knitted (take my word for it-it is possible). So here it is, finished:

And that's all I'll say about that.