Moving along

Mystery Sock
I seem to have missed posting about the SKA Mystery sock challenge for this month. It is a Chrissy Gardiner pattern, which at the moment is called Progressive Sock Party. The name may change now that all the clues are out.

This is how clue #1 looked with all the yarn. Most of it is left overs from other sock projects. Clue #4 came out this morning. Since this month the clues come out on my day off work, I can get right on them. One sock finished!

Cotton Jacket
Another knitting blog started a dog days of summer challenge to finish unfinished projects. This jacket was started over a year ago. That may not be long for some knitters, but it is one of the few works in progress for me. I'm doing lace now. We have a collar and one sleeve cuff. I may need to shorten the sleeves, but I'm going to wash and dry it first. It still needs the other sleeve cuff, bottom band and front bands. It won't be done by the August 5 deadline, but I can wear it when the weather changes.

Baseball All-Star
A certain grandson is a 7 yr old all-star in his 7 & 8 yr old baseball league. Grandpa and I watched his game. They play 5 innings with the coach pitching and the kids doing all the fielding. MB got a hit!

Birthday
His younger brother is 3 and had a birthday party last Sunday. PJ pants have been a big hit as gifts, so I made him a pair with trucks on them. He put them right on. I guess I'll have to keep sewing pj pants. I have a Butterick pattern in all sizes.

Guild scarf project
The goal is to have the scarf finished by the August meeting, August 9. The pattern is called Swiss Cheese Scarf. I decided how long I want it, trying to allow for stretching, and marked the middle. Now all I have to do is count the side bumps. When I get close, I'll try it on. Current figuring has it 65% complete.

Fiesta Feet
Lucy Neatby wrote this complex pattern a few years ago, and I put it on my wish list and in my cache on Ravelry. One of the options for Ravelry's SKA group this month was stranded color work. The time had come. The thinking was to work on these4 socks while waiting for mystery clues. Reality said that I had a few other things to work on, but I've made some progress. The deadline for prizes for both pairs of socks is August 31. My chances of winning are slim, but I should finish both in time.

Misc. Catching Up

July 5 was family day. The gang gathered at our son's house for the holiday. There were fewer than last year, but we got everyone who was available. We have more family out of town now, and there was a death in the last year.

Tuesday morning my employee showed up for work. Unexpected, but she helped me catch up on the backlog. She usually works on an as needed basis and has only been working a couple of days a month recently. I actually had a little time to sew for the family. I need to do some more of that this week, We have two more birthdays to celebrate and another party to attend. Flannel pj pants have been a big hit, and the flannel stash is being used up.

The knitting project list had 7 projects on it. The orange socks are now finished. The pattern is a vintage one from 1944. It was designed for a man, but I downsized it. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Arizona knit with US #1/2.25mm needles. The color goes with a lot of my clothes.
Only 6 projects left to knit, 3 of them are pairs of socks!

Happy Holiday

I've been working too hard. I have one employee, and she has been ill, so I have to do everything myself. Good news/bad news I had a lot of work come in for delivery in early July. Today is the 4th and I'm NOT working.

Thursday was yard day. I had pulled out some Tiger Lilies and wanted to fill in the space. We now have another iris and some cone flowers. Our son wants Tiger Lilies when more get pulled out. We just have too many! Variety is the spice of life and I'm slowly getting some in our yard.

This jacket was started last summer. It's 3 color seed stitch from dishcloth cotton. It will have lace borders. The pattern is adapted from a Vogue sewing pattern. The variegated yarn was bought about 20 years ago. Finally most of it is gone. The rest will become part of a baby sweater.

The orange socks are nearing completion. Translating the pattern from 1944 has proved interesting. It's a fairly simple pattern with cabled "clocks" down each side of the leg. The cable pattern was written out; Rnd 1, rnd 2, rnd 3, rnd 4 like rnd 2, rnd 5 like rnd 1... for 12 rounds. I charted it so that I could see how many rounds between cable crossings. There are no ssk decreases, but the gusset does have skp decreases, so the same thing essentially. The heel flap is short for all sizes. Did I say that the pattern was for men? I downsized it, shortening the ribbing from 5" to 1 1/2". I needed to do more cables that written to make them the length I like. The toes are a typical wedge toe, but all decreases are k2tog. The yarn is from Lana Grossa.

When I went to TNNA in Columbus, OH, I made contact with Cascade Yarn Co. They want me to design a shawl and sent me some yarn. They have a new sport yarn coming out and was the shawl from sport weight.

First I have to finish some socks for Plymouth. They also want a shawl. More stealth knitting for money.

Our knitting guild has a Knit Along of a scarf. The chosen pattern is a free one called the Swiss Cheese Scarf. Mine looks like this, but now it is twice as long. The pattern consists of garter stitch and buttonholes, lots of buttonholes. I'm using cone yarn. which has a gray base and the second ply has lots of other colors.