hand-knit socks

are a good thing. Although wearing wool socks on a hot Summer day - not so much. These really pretty, simple summer socks were made especially for Miss VeeDogKnits. She brought her Army Hubby and came to visit our coast (remember we went to visit theirs last year). Anyway - for my birthday a couple of years ago, she sent me the lovely red Koigu that the main portion of the socks is made from. At the time, I asked if it was in bad taste to make socks for someone using yarn they had gifted to you. I decided it probably was and finally set about knitting my own socks. For some reason though, it didn't look like there would be enough yarn to make my pair, so I ripped them and added contrasting toes, heels and cuffs. Well - duh! Of course there was enough yarn - so much so that I had enough left over to make a similar pair for Miss VDK. But I'm just lame enough that I never got her birthday box in the mail.

As a reminder here's my pair, they are different, they are taller and have a cable running up the side of the foot. But thanks to the same yarns being used they are very similar. Thanks VDK - I love my handknit socks I hope you enjoy yours too. Remember it's Koigu so handwash and dry flat :)

some sewing

I meant to get this done before the VeeDogKnits family arrived to hang on the deck, drink beer, and stay long enough to BBQ burgers and have rhubarb. But I couldn't bring myself to head downstairs. However, now that I've got the back-up machine out of the cupboard and programed the remote to work the dvd player attached to the studio tv, it's all good. I know several of you probably caught the reference to the back-up machine and remember that I just bought a new Designer 1. Well, the embroidery unit wasn't calibrated right and the arm wasn't moving properly - so it's spending this week in the shop and will be back in the studio come Monday.

Anyway - I've been working on making some triangle bags. They aren't hard, but getting the dimensions right wasn't as easy at it sounds. Of course I didn't write anything down so who knows if I can recreate the bag this size. It's 9" from one end to the other along the bottom and about 7" at the back seam. Right now I have to balls of Shepherd Classic Wool stuffed inside to show you how large the bag is.

It felt good to get to sewing. I'm about ready to tackle clothing again, soon.

Built for her Pleasure

After JB finished the deck, he wouldn't allow me to put the fire pit on the deck. So, just off the edge of the deck he put two pieces of marble that we had been given and had used as a bench in another part of our yard. The original spot of the marble bench was in a spot where nobody could get to. This time the bench is right in the middle of everything and if you are a short dog it puts you in the perfect position to see everything that's going on. Abby has now decided that this bench was built strictly for her pleasure and she does enjoy it. Make sure you check out the other dogs on thursday .