Dragon Sightings

I fell asleep on the Oscars last night. I'm not sure if that says more about me or the show. I like Jon Stewart and I actually found parts of the show amusing but I just couldn't stay up. I think that these shows are just way too long.

I got a lot of fiber play in this past weekend. I finished spinning and plying the Dragonfly fiber which I'll show you just as soon as it's dry. I also worked on my last Sock Madness test sock this weekend. The last one. Yahoo! I can't wait to be done so that I can go back and turn those singles into pairs. Speaking of pairs - look at these.

I finally finished my dragon socks last week and this weekend I took them out for a spin.
I took pictures inside too. I tend to be a detail girl. The broad strokes of a project are nice but I get a little thrill out of the way that the toe of thos sock ends just right. See how that last scale ends perfectly at the tip of the toe with no stitches left at loose ends. To me, that is the sign of a well planned pattern.

The heel is similarly perfect but, try as I might, I couldn't get good pictures of the heels. Do you know how hard it is to take a good picture of your own heel? You'll just have to take my word for it. They are just the way heels ought to be with scales that continue down the heel and end at just the right place.

People often comment on handknit socks and wonder why we make them. Why put so much effore into something that will certainly wear out? I think that patterns like this are exactly the reason. Hand knit socks are different from commercial sock because of the potential. Certainly we have more choice and input in the colors but that's not quite it. I think that it's the control that we have over every single stitch. There are so many opportunities for us to put our individual stamp on a sock. We can manipulate a stitch here and there - even on the heel, an often overlooked spot - and elevate that sock to a unique work of art where nothing is left to chance and everything is intentional. We can demonstrate a consideration for the whole canvas of a sock that machine made socks just won't.



As I wandered outside in my new socks in search of a great shot I spied these sweet yellow flowers in my yard. Proof that spring is just around the corner! Hooray!


I was inspired to see if there was any other evidence if spring around and look what I found - buds on the trees! Now that the huge, leafy, nightmare of a tree has been removed from my yard I can happily look forward to leafiness elsewhere without dreading the raking that will follow in the fall. Bring on the leaves!

Have you seen signs of spring?