Monday, February 23, 2009

50 Socks from 50 States!






There is knitting news! Over the past few years some online friends and I have compiled Friendly Socks, two self-published books of sock patterns. Dr. Laura has put in countless hours printing and binding the first two books, but now Crystal Palace Yarns has picked up book three, and it will be coming soon on CD! This book will be called 50 Socks-50 States and will have a brand-new sock design inspired by every state in the Union, plus a few more. You can read more about it here at DrLaura's blog.

The pictures above are two of my designs for the new book-on-CD. They are the Indiana socks, called "Leta's Amish Quilt" and "Susannah's Amish Quilt" in memory of my mother-in-law Lydia (Leta) Yoder and my husband's Aunt Susan, and in honor of their Amish background. The samples were knit by a wondrous knitter named Samantha F. I've designed the pattern to be knit in fingering or DK weight yarns, in bright colors set against a black background in the style of traditional Amish quilts.

My other designs in the book will be "Gulf Shores" for Alabama, "Great Smokey Mountains" for North Carolina, "Sunflower Ripples" for Kansas, and "Everything's Bigger" for Texas, a Christmas stocking. All of the designs in the book will be knit from Crystal Palace yarns. Watch here for pictures and more info.


In other news, winter drags on, and I have a bad case of PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome). We got several inches of new snow over the weekend, and riding season seems to be years away. I know, though, that every day brings us one day closer to spring and time to ride out on the BigYellowBike to meet up with our motorcycling friends. It has been a tough couple of years, including the building of our new home, our son's divorce and long layoff, and my husband's reduced work schedule, but at least we are all still working. We have been through some tough times over the years and this may yet prove to be among the toughest, but we will hang on and get through it.

A dear friend and fellow chatter wrote a post on our Internet motorcycle forum that helps me remember why we ride. You can read it here: All My Heroes Ride Wings. Thank you, John. I hope we'll see you soon!