Knitting Flowers

A few days ago I started the Peerie Flooers mittens, an amazing colorwork pattern that's fun to knit.  The cuffs are done in corrugated ribbing which leaves strands of yarn across the back, so they're lined with soft merino.  The cuff edge will be covered in I-cord, a 3st tube.

I'd started the second flower repeat, they're in dark green and red, but didn't like my thumb gusset so ripped back.  I then found a cool way to increase, the tutorial is here.

Mitten so far

Lining

I knit "inside out" in the round, which has the benefit of keeping the floats (strands of unused yarn) loose.

Mitten in progress

I have a new header in honor of spring :)  North of Seattle are amazing tulip fields started by Dutch immigrants who found the area very similar to their homeland.  It's a beautiful place to visit this time of year.

Anniversaries

I got married eight years ago today.  The wedding was great, a party and family reunion all in one.  But it was downhill from there.

I've been single now for five years and much happier now than then.  It's hard to believe how much has changed and how many years have passed since those events.  I'm still hoping to find a lifelong partner, but I've made wonderful lifelong friends which is something I never thought I'd have.  I live in my dream neighborhood and have productive creative outlets in knitting and sewing.  Life is good :)

This also marks my 220th post!  Thank you for reading.

Her Royal Sockness

A pair of socks for Mother's Day in regal purples:

What's better than new socks and spring out the window?

The stripes match up pretty well.

There wasn't enough of the striped yarn for two socks so I added purple toes, 

and knit the second sock with a purple cuff.  She loves it!

Note my almost-famous sturdy heel ;)

I'm always fascinated by the way striped yarns act based on stitch count.  Sometimes you get stripes, other times you get pooling like the grey blob at bottom right.  Thankfully it doesn't extend across the instep.

Gah, Google!

First they mess with Blogger, removed a couple of my favorite features.  Then today I noticed that absentmindedly moving photos in Picasa deleted them from my blog, so I skimmed through and replaced photos in my entire blog.  I've written a lot!  A few weird issues popped up, of course, but everything should be working again.

I had a date last night and am trying to stay positive.  It wasn't a bad date, it just wasn't easy or fun.  Part of me knows I'm looking for a man I'm comfortable with, that just being together isn't work.  The other part of me wonders whether he exists, or I'll ever find him, and doesn't know what to do about that.  Then I see happy couples doing Spring-type stuff and it sucks.

Comments and Replies

I generally like Blogger but missed the ability to reply to comments via email.  Now I can.  The catch is it requires the reader to do a few minute's work.  Here's how, if you're so inclined:

If you have the older Blogger interface please follow these excellent directions.

In the new Blogger interface, click your icon in the top right corner.  A box pops out, click "Blogger Profile", and you'll be navigated to a new page.
Scroll down to User Profile and check the box "Show my email address".  Then under Identity make sure that your desired email address is entered.  Click Save Profile at the bottom and bob's your uncle!  Now Blogger bloggers can reply to your comments.

I've passed the 200 posts mark and a huge thanks to everyone who reads my blog, and especially to those saintly few who comment.  I love each and every one of you!  Readers give me so much motivation to keep trying.