Brian's new crocheted boots

My sister-in-law Patty is an expert crocheter. Aren't these the cutest slipper boots? Brian always wears boots so she thought to crochet him slipper boots for his birthday.

Last days of summer

We're in Palm Springs, in 120 degree weather. Actually, it's cooler, now--110 or so, now that it's 5:27 p.m. Spent the day at the pool, after, of course, visiting a yarn shop in Palm Desert where I picked up a skein of light purple yarn..

And there's Joseph's Blankie of Many Colors, increasing in scope. What fun to make. Mindless, just like the pattern says. A good one when you don't want to have to concentrate.

Also on zee needles

I'm doing another intarsia embroidered project--this time a pillow. It will be a sun--an original design created by Brian. On Mother's Day, he presented me with the sun design on a gigantic piece of graph paper, which he later revised to accommodate the vertical shrinking that occurs with felting. I bought the wool--Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride--and work on it in fits and starts.

Intarsia can be slow going, what with all the strands you carry. So I definitely need to be in a certain mindset to work on it.

Here you're looking at the bottom of the pillow, the sun's rays of light shooting down.

On zee needles....

...are a few things.

Socks.... I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock yarn and making socks from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. It's the Eight-stitch pattern with the ribbed lace. And yes, after I did one cuff, I began another. These are done using size 0 needles (Brittany, which I like very much and like the company very much, too. www.brittany.com) and I fear that one sock will take so long that I won't make a second. But, if I make one cuff, then the other, then the length, then the other, etcetera, I may end up finishing them.

And also making my son a blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I love this book so much. I'm using the yarn suggested by the pattern, Classic Elite cotton.

A new blog to check out: http://deedeenetblog.blogspot.com/ I love Deborah's photography.

My Noni bag

I used the Noni carpetbag pattern, medium sized. I made icord stripes and voila! I love my Noni, although I must say I wasn't entirely happy with the colors after felting. I thought they'd blend a bit more. Still, it's fun, and I'm satisfied.

Charlie gifted all this!

My friend Charlie called me the other day. She said her husband was moving storage spaces and wanted her to winnow down her yarn stash, Which Is Huge. She used to make these gorgeous hats using the most delectable yarns.

Charlie is one of the most generous women I know. Here is the back of the van before I brought everything inside.

And later that night, I began rolling a ball of Great Andirondack rayon that looked scary on the skein. It took Four Hours Total.

Still, so much gorgeous yarn. Thank you, Charlie!