Thursday Tab- Golden Books Tammy and Pepper Playbook, 1963-64

As long as we're on a Tammy and Pepper kick, I thought I'd upload this one (it wasn't part of the antique store find).

This is a fun coloring/paper doll book, with a story included. I remember very well when coloring books regularly featured a couple of pages of paper dolls along with the usual coloring pages. This one was published by Golden in 63-64, and it features the older style Tammy and Pepper (before they underwent their Glamorization). I'm going to post the scans over two weeks.

There must be a slit in Pepper's neck for these outfits to stay on. And holes at the bottoms of the capris and tops of the shoes.

and in Tammy's as well

More FOs

I finished the waffle texture hat, which goes with the waffle texture mittens (which coordinate with, but do not go with the waffle texture socks, because I'm keeping them). The hat is generously sized- not terribly big, but it could have been 8 sts smaller (I used 104 sts with size 8 needles). It would be perfect for someone with lots of curly hair.

I think the waffle texture looks really good with this thick 'n thin yarn, and it plays off the color variations really well. This yarn, in case you forgot (which is not likely, since I've been talking about it for a month), is handspun, from a  Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll. I still have a largish ball of the yarn left- certainly enough for a pair of fingerless mittens, but maybe enough for regular mittens (and I can always stripe it with other yarns). I feel the need to use up all of this yarn right away, I guess.

I won't be knitting this yarn up right away. It's 3.6 ozs, 215 yards of natural colored Shetland wool. It came out so uniformly (the 3 or 4 spots with slightly thicker plies notwithstanding), that I'm going to enter it in the skein competition at NCFF next month.

I've been spinning a loooong time, and very rarely does my yarn come out this pretty. I'm happy just to look at it for awhile (though eventually it'll become gloves. Or maybe a lace scarf). It won't win a prize, but at least it's worthy of entering.

(side note: the *centered text under images* glitch seems to have fixed itself. This morning, my text is justified left again)

From the mouths of babes...

So, I'm in the car with 9 year old Frog Girl with the Zune on shuffle. Hotel California comes up, and as it plays, I tell her that the song resonated with me so strongly, that I took an entire year, and wrote a whole book, around it.

She looks at me for a moment. "Wow, Grandma, that's a lot of work," she says. "Wouldn't they let you use a good song?"

FO, and then some

I finished the August Sockalong Socks

I love how they came out- thick and warm and cushy

With just enough texture to highlight the color variations in the yarn, and to hide the thick 'n thin nature, plus it kept the knitting interesting, but not so much that I couldn't work on them in the car, or while watching Grandgirls splash in the pool.

And since I had more of the same yarn, and a big ball wound

I continued on with it. You can't tell from this picture, but these mittens have the same waffle texture as the socks. I used Size 8 needles for the mittens (as opposed to the size 5's on the socks), and only 36 sts, which made for a very quick knit.

I really do love how the colors came out (and I'm thrilled that the sock striping lined up sorta). Since there is still more yarn left, I'm working on a matching hat. All in the name of stashbusting, dontchaknow- make the yarn, use the yarn, fill up the Christmas Gift Tub (though the socks are mine, all mine).

The Zucchini Solution

Tired of sneaking excess zucchinis into your friends' cars? Try this instead.

Errata- The Big Book of Socks, Page 115 Diamond Rib Lace Socks

Diamond Rib Lace Sock


-page 115

Rnd 5 of the lace pattern should read:

Rnd 5: YO, SL 1, K1, PSSO, K 2, YO, SL 1, K 1, PSSO, K 2 , K 2 tog, YO, K 2


The Chart on page 116 is correct, though the Legend should read :YO, SL 1, K1, PSSO

___

Thanks to the sharp-eyed Raveler who found the mistake. My abject apologies to anyone who has been flummoxed by my inability to proofread.

...whoa... knitting...

In between all the spinning, and swimming, and complaining about the heat, and writing (!), and the Farmer-y things I've been doing lately (picking and stuffing peppers, sun-drying tomatoes, keeping the flower beds marginally neat), I actually found some time to knit. You know, with yarn and pointy sticks... I haven't done a lot of that in the last month, and it was nice to get back to it.

And what am I knitting? Take a wild guess...

Did you guess right?

This is a cold-weather clog/boot sock, knit from the Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll that I finished spinning a couple of weeks ago. I'm using a very simple waffle texture (4 rnds K, 2 rnds K2 P2) which showcases the color variations in the yarn nicely. Now whether the mate will have the same sort of spacing between the "stripes" is anyone's guess. (My guess: no, it won't, in part because I'll have to wind and use another hank of yarn to finish Sock #2, and it's bound to have a different sort of rhythm in the colorway). I'm using my general worsted weight sock pattern: 48 sts, size 5 needles. I decided to do a flap and gusset heel in order to run the texture down to the foot. I rather like the effect (the yarn is too heavy for the normal slip stitch heel flap construction), especially for clogs (which I wear most of the winter).

These are the socks that I am knititng for Mary's Ravelry August Sock Knit-Along. In the old days (say, a month ago), I could have whipped a pair of socks out in 2 days, max. But these days, what with all the grandkids around and splashing and other distractions (not to mention the Fearless Fair Isle galley pages that are waiting for my attention), I will be lucky to finish these in time, which means I might just want to shut the computer down and go knit.