mother earth

The earth. That is the element for April and May for Project Spectrum - the colors representative of earth are brown, green and metallics. This could not be more accurate in the midwest - as the moist earth has inhaled all of the snow, snow, snow - leaving mucky, dank grass with occasional peeps of green - (the only downside of disappearing snow might be the dog poop that is uncovers - blech, another sh*tty project, hee hee.)

I raked my flowerbeds today and was stunned to see so many little sprouts hiding the heads -today they squinched their eyes shut against the sun (okay, not really) and rejoiced the coming of Spring with me. I hope they were ready to have their blanket of compost ripped away...we'll see. The fresh air seems to make my productivity quotient go up. I have been out walking every day this week and now I turn longingly towards my bicycle, hidden in the garage rafters for an eternity. After I hurt my back last summer the bike went up - now I am hoping to hit the trail - soon.



I have the first sock of my first earth project finished. It a simple rib design from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush - it's specifically the Madder Ribbed Sock which has a horshoe heel - like a little cup for my foot, with a purl row up the back of the heel flap - I love it. The toe is decreased to 4 stitches which are pulled together - I think ultimately I prefer the kitchener toe but this was a nice variation to try. This sock has been a great grab and go sock. I started it on the train to Chicago last week and had it done in 7 days of on and off knitting - knitting by the bathtub while my 2-year-old splashes, over lunch conversation on a rainy day, in the car on the way to the grocery store - as a working mom, I do try to grab up on the weirdest little bits of knit time wherever I can.

The sock feels tailor made - a great fit. The yarn in Scout's Swag in Tyrolean Mankitten in Lederhosen (read about the story behind the yarn here)- the deep brown represents earth but to me the colorway also emulates the sky, and a golden tan. It's plain delicious.



Lastly, the finale of the Fire element - the unfinished finale - the Estonian Sock from The Ultimate Sock Book. I'm using Wollmeise sockenwoll in the La Digitessa colorway. I love the interesting cuff and complicated-ish patterning - but the stockinette back is what pulled me in - heavy charting meets simplicity. It means I can relax for two needles worth of knitting on each round *giggle*...I hope to keep working on these but these do not qualify for any kind of grab-n-go, so it may be next Spring before these babies are done. I'll consider it an aspiration. For now I need to kick up my heels and worship the mild temperature and here-today-gone-tomorrow sunshine.

btw - loved people's responses to "words" from the last post - glad a few people also giggle over *bozo* - I enjoyed hearing what words made people involuntarily respond. Others for me include *mope* and *curmudgeon* - words that sound like their definition as noted by Chicken Knits. Maybe we need a "word of the week"...hmmm, like the 52 Books in a Year goal - yup, no button on that yet - never enough time in the day. Enjoy yours and thank you for stopping by! (how did this post get so long - thank you if you made it this far:)