Chickenlips Knitting

Thought you might like to see a picture of Toki at 4 months old. He's growing really fast! Long legs--or at least it seems so because I'm used to dachshunds. It's hard to get a good picture of him unless he's sleeping, so I sneaked up on him while he was gnawing a rawhide bone. Other than my occasionally leaving knitting where he can get at it, we aren't having too many problems with wanton destruction of property. I now have a bag or basket for all WIP's and am careful not to leave anything out within puppy jaws range. His chewies are strewn all over the house, too, so there's usually something to distract him or keep him busy.

I am continually captivated by the work of other indie dyers, especially when I see something radically different from my own repertoire. This is wool/bamboo/nylon Panda Sock in "Fall In", dyed by Susan of Susan's Kitchen. We were booth neighbors at Sock Summit. I love the short splashes of color, the interplay of colors she chose, and of course the yarn! Soft and shiny.

Decided to keep it plain stockinette to show off her dye work. I'm on the heel flap of the second sock.

Guilty pleasure #247: I shop at Jo-Ann's. A lot. I'm a die hard coupon clipper, plus I'm on the mailing list for weekly flyers. Being in the store almost often enough to warrant a cot in the back, I saw this new yarn called "Stitch Nation", of Debbie Stoller's Stitch & Bitch fame of course. I was intrigued by the natural fibers. The best color selection is in the single ply 100% wool. There's also an alpaca/wool blend. I used a coupon and scored a trial skein of the wool/bamboo blend for $2.99. At 177 yards, I'll be able to get a hat or mitts out of it. That way, I can see if it would be a good choice for sweater knitting. Speaking of sweaters--I was in the Ravelry forums this morning and saw that Patons has this slick booklet of sweater patterns which I had to have. Not that I don't have sweater yarn galore in my stash, but I'm of the opinion that a knitter can't have too many yarn options!