Though no kilt was made to accompany these, they’d be perfect for traipsing around the highlands.
These are from Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks, knit with Regia Silk (4-ply).
Virginia says Mustaa villaa is always an inspiration. Her particular choice of yarn for this pattern was too hard to resist and so she down-right copied her. 🙂
While she was wrapping those up, she finished another pair of basic socks (knit using ONline Supersocke).
Virginia, I’m sad to say, is not going to have a finished big project for the month of July. Life, right now, is taking the driver’s seat, and leaving the projects we’d like to be finishing, well, unfinished. But, such is life, with its many ups and downs. We take it all.
However, I wouldn’t just post to the site without leaving you with some actual scratchcrafty goodness. Even though the big projects are on hold, does not mean the smaller projects are not being completed. These two pairs of socks, for instance, were wrapped up in the last week.
This last one is Mountain Colors Bearfoot doubled up. That means twice the squish, and probably twice the warmth.
For my own distraction today, I decided to try my hand at some pickling. I picked up 6 pounds of organic cucumbers, a bunch of dill and some garlic from the farmer’s market today.
After comparing a couple of different recipes from several locations, I decided on a vinegar/water/salt solution, with added dill and dill seeds, peppercorns, and garlic. The solution boiled and then, after pouring it over the stuffed jars, I processed it all in boiling water for 20 minutes. The results:
I think we’ll be ready for a cold, crunchy pickle in a couple of weeks… very exciting.
Like I said before, Virginia has been bitten by the mitten bug. These she finished in a mere week. Perhaps not so astounding if you lived in eastern Europe and had to make multiple pairs of mittens for every major occasion in your life. These are from Nancy Bush’s “Folk Knitting in Estonia.”
These are knit with some beautiful lambswool yarn that she picked up last year at Shepherd’s Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival from Riverwinds Farm.
She knit these using size 3US needles.
I wish I had smaller hands.
Virginia pulled this project out of the “punishing” corner to finish it (I think she was trying to free up the size 6US needles for another project). The reason this project was being punished, I’m told, was that she didn’t realize until after attempting to “fix” the straps that there was an errata published for this pattern… this was after frogging it back and starting again, and, well, you know how it goes.
Obviously, the needles are freed up, and there’s another project down for her big-project-a-month challenge.
The pattern is Audrey from Elsebeth Lavold’s The Sophisticated Lady Collection. The yarn is Silky Wool knit on, like I said, size 6US needles.
This is from Rowan’s Calmer Collection, using, of all things, Rowan’s Calmer yarn. It’s soft, but not one of Virginia’s favorite yarns to work with.