Saturday, April 16, 2016

sock interruptus

The latest pair of socks is taking quite a while.
Mostly because there have been entire weeks when I haven't picked up the needles. But now that the cashmere harvest is gradually beginning to wind down, other fiber-based endeavors can get some attention.


The past two days were warm enough that I could sit in the sun for a couple of hours (!) and savor every moment. A little knitting, a little reading, and enjoying the many birds calling and singing and tapping and hammering. They were so busy! Imagine if birds could knit. I'll bet their socks wouldn't sit, unfinished, for weeks. Not very likely.

Toward the end of Winter, when I came up with a possible way to deter squirrels from taking all the birdseed, I added a second birdfeeder outside the porch. It's the one in the picture below. The squirrel deterrent plan has been 90% successful, so this week I added a third feeder; just a little net bag full of thistle seed. With more types of feeder and seed available, there are more birds - and also more kinds of birds - visiting this Spring than I've ever had here before. It is wonderfully exciting!

Yesterday in one hour I saw chickadees, goldfinches, tufted titmice, nuthatches, purple finches, mourning doves, downy woodpeckers, phoebes, and a robin!

This is, I think, a pair of Purple Finches.


Why they are called "purple finches" is a mystery to me.
They are finches. But when the sun hits the male, he seems to light up with the dazzling color of pomegranate seeds.


Beautiful! But purple? They ain't.
Let's think of a more suitable name, shall we?

While you are thinking about it, here's a chickadee:


And here's sunlight making a momentary rainbow on a chickadee's wing:



And here's the heel of the second sock, well underway.
I decided to experiment in picking up the stitches for the gusset.
Sometimes it's tricky (for me) to be sure I'm picking up all the stitches in exactly the same way, because the edges of the heel flap curl in a bit.
So this time I ran a strand of purple yarn (THIS is purple!) through each stitch I would be picking up, before actually picking them up. Like a guideline. A path to follow. I will recommend this little experiment to any sock-knitters who feel uncertain about how to pick up their stitches for the gusset.


It's kind of fun to take a step back from something I've been doing for years, and figure out exactly how I am doing it. And maybe do it more consistently in the future as a result.

Or not! We'll see. These socks already have so many little weirdnesses, I will be forced to keep them for myself.
Heh.
~~~

I hope you are having a perfectly lovely Saturday, and the birds are singing wherever you are!
~~~~~

19 comments:

  1. Might the birds be House Finches?

    Excuse my manners, hello, I am Toni - I don't blog but I like to read them and that way I meet lots of interesting people.

    I like your idea of having a line to follow in the sock gusset, I shall try that myself, thank you.

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    1. Hi Toni - thanks for reading and commenting!
      You may very well be right about the finch - I'll do some looking around on the Cornell Ornithology Lab website and see what I can find. And I will try to get better pictures, which would help! :)

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  2. I'm so glad you were able to sit out in the sunshine and enjoy the nature that surrounds you. I thought I would be doing that today too, but it didn't happen in my backyard (although we did take a lunch to the lakefront to eat ... FREEZING!!).
    That rainbow on the chickadee's wing is magic. The things we would miss without our cameras slowing all life down to one nano second. I'm sorry you didn't show your squirrel proofing device. The squirrels inhale the seeds on my feeder, and it gets a bit annoying. I toss a lot of seed on the ground as well hoping they will just sit down there and forage a little bit.
    Let's enjoy this spring weather, and hope it warms up just a tad more this week too :)
    Wendy

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    1. Wendy, I'll take some pictures soon and write about what I did with the feeders - thanks!

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  3. I'm impressed! Knitting socks! I have several pairs that were made for me by friends, and I love them in the winter. Lots of birds here too, singing their little hearts out, and courting outrageously!

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    1. Won;t be long til the hummingbirds appear! Or are they already at your place?

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  4. I. Will.Never.Knit.Socks!! I'm not nearly that brave--(nor do I have the ability!!) Thats definitely outside my league!! I think you are doing a wonderful job!!

    Loving the bird photo and your feeders. We have to put up with the squirrels too. They can be pesky!!
    Love
    Vicki

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    1. Vicki, if you start knitting socks, I bet you'll never stop! So much fun! I always recommend starting with a toddler-sized sock and sport-weight yarn...you get all the components figured out quickly, and ripping out and starting over is a laugh because you only lose 15 minutes of knitting! :)

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  5. Nice knitting. Chickadee on wing is really neat!

    Knitting socks to my dyslexic brain is like rock climbing, but better because socks are more comfy. lol

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  6. Such incredible birdie pictures - esp. the rainbow wing. I don't think being forced to keep those socks should be a problem - after all the colour is perfect!

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    1. I've taken many, many pictures of chickadees on the wing, but that's the first time I caught a rainbow :)

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  7. That rainbow chickadee is wonderful. And I am rapidly wearing out my hand-knit socks, from pounding about all the time on my feet, so I may have to knit a pair soon. My greatest excitement about this was doing the toe up method, so fun. And I do like dpns.

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    1. What kind of heel do you like with the toe-up method, Boud?

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  8. I love your birds! They are such busy little bodies at this time of year, aren't they? We were hearing singing and tapping all the time before this blizzard. I hope that the ones who just arrived had the good sense to go to lower elevations!!!

    Good luck with those socks! They are super pretty colors. I love purple!

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  9. Sweet little birdies. Great photo of the chickadee in flight. I put cat food out for the stray kitties and the doves come and eat it all up. :) I haven't put bird seed out on my bedroom balcony lately because I was afraid the birds would eat the blooms on my tomatoes plant (they were eating any bloom in sight). But now that I've harvested the tomatoes, I can put seed out again. Glad to see you are enjoying some nice weather. My son and a friend drove to Denver for an outdoor concert yesterday that was cancelled due to snow -- some were predicting up to a foot. Hope they didn't actually get that much. Happy knitting! Have a good Sunday.

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  10. Beautiful shot of the chickadee in flight! I need to figure out if my camera can do that. I also have to mention that your sock colors are some of my favorites. :)

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  11. I'm enjoying all your bird photos. Good to see you knitting, your socks remind me that it's been a while since I knit them.

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    1. Do you knit socks as quickly and beautifully as you knit sweaters? I have often been amazed at your sweater-knitting!

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