The Usual Summer Knitting Funk

Every July I go through the same thing. I stop knitting and assume it is permanent and that I should quit blogging. I no longer even have the concentration for stranded work. Amazingly even the thought of buying yarn turns me off! Of course the problem is just the New Mexico desert heat and by the end of August I'm passionate about stranded color knitting again.

Until my knitting funk goes away I'll just knit the boring plain part of the first Dale of Norway Whistler sleeve. In case you feel the same way this time of year I have a few inspiring links for you:

Check out MariannAn's incredible colorwork on Ravelry! Especially the breathtaking socks based on the pattern from Tudor Roses - that may be my favorite Ravelry project of the year.

I am always a fan of Robyn's patterns at Red Bird Knits but the design of this Nordic sock inspired by Robert Frost turns me on even more than her other patterns. At Patternfish I also found the pattern for this incredible sweater To Knit for the Sun from Kristin Nicholas. I may make it for myself in Cascade 220 in neutrals. (I do prefer the original colors but I tend to look best in more subdued stuff.) I love, love, love that the sleeves are different.

Finally, Homespun Handknit is returning in October! Actually it looks like a completely different book with the same premise and lots of stranded projects. If I use it 10% as much as the original it will be worth the purchase. Also here is an upcoming book about Norwegian style knits with lots of small patterns.

If you have any colorwork inspiration to add, PLEASE post it in the comments! I need all the knitting inspiration I can find at this time of year.

Here's my final pair of red Easy Scrunchie socks done in Wool of the Andes in tomato red. I'm still sad they discontinued the color (I'd started my Great American Aran Afghan with it which will now be turned into pillows.)

Spanish Market in Santa Fe

Yesterday we went to Spanish Market in Santa Fe and I thought you'd like to see some examples of New Mexican Colcha embroidery from the young people's section of the market. The colcha stitch is kind of a long stitch with a diagonal stitch running through it and it is done in wool (usually churro) on wool, often hand-dyed.


Here are a few links to learn more:

Spanish Colonial Embroidery: An Endangered Art Form
Las Colchas de New Mexico
Spanish Colonial Arts Society: Colcha



I realized that although I've had a zillion photos of the outside of St. Francis Cathedral in SF over the years, I've never shown the inside. Isn't it beautiful?

More Easy Scrunchie Socks

Here's another pair of easy scrunchie socks in Peruvian Highland wool (a bluish-gray heather) - I did fewer purl rows to make sure I wouldn't run out of yarn.

Duh! I just realized I could link to all the worsted weight sock knitting patterns via Ravelry HERE. 535 patterns come up (you can also limit the search to just free patterns) but there are only a few that are stranded and I think I've already knit them all. I'm finishing a red pair and then I'm going to have to find some other socks to try.

Lavender in the Village Festival

I'm finishing up a freelance assignment and then I'll get right to work on the list of worsted weight sock links. Also, I hope to have an actual pair of socks to show soon but I know that July is always my worst month for completed FOs.

Today we attended the Lavender in the Village festival in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Most of it took place at Los Poblanos which includes an inn and one of the farms for our CSA Los Poblanos Organics. In the distance you can see folks picking their own bunches of lavender. It smelled wonderful! We also managed to get to another festival location, Casa Rondena Winery, for some lavender sangria.



In the center is Farmer Monte, the mastermind for our wonderful year-round CSA. I was late to his farm tour but I believe he said that we now have 1800 members and that he employs 15-18 farmers.



One of the most popular attractions at Los Poblanos was this beautiful display of water lilies.




The local House Rabbit rescuers manned a booth at the festival also. Thank you Criss, Cathy, and Clara and all the other volunteers for all your hard work this summer capturing rabbits, fostering rabbits, driving rabbits across the country, fundraising, etc.

The Colors Around Me

Like most knitters I'm influenced by the colors around me. It has been unusually wet this summer and my yard as seen below is unusually green for this time of year. I often dream of living somewhere really wet and green and I imagine myself knitting projects in all sorts of lovely grayish heathers.




This sort of red is not common around here but I think it would be a fun color combo for a project along with some light blue and gray. I really love the section in Alice Starmore's Fair Isle book where she shows colorwork projects based on photos. I love that idea but I suspect it would be much easier to do if you had a huge yarn color palette selection like she does with her Shetland yarns.



This photo shows the colors I associate with New Mexico. Our skies really are this brilliant blue (there is a local paint shade called Taos blue that is close to this color) and the intense sun washes out everything but the sandy browns. This is the newly renovated and sandblasted St. Francis church in Santa Fe.