Lately, I have definitely felt that at last, it's summer! I've been trying to be outside as much as I can while also trying to avoid the heat and such. I try to watch sunsets often and get to see fireflies out at night. It's really great. I love summer. It kind of makes me sad already that the days are getting slightly shorter, but oh well.
I was watching a sunset on the lake the other day and there were a good number of people around doing the same thing (along with taking pictures and ohhing/ahhing). Of course I love taking pictures of the sunset, but it's also funny to see people's reactions when the sun actually sets. Kids will say things like "BYE SUN! See you tomorrow!" which is adorable. The other day, people started clapping when it set because it was a great sight, but it was kind of humorous on the other hand because the sun sets everyday and we're just now clapping for nature, I guess. Also, we usually aren't able to take the time to appreciate little things like sunsets or other beautiful natural sights. I love sunsets.
In the knitting world, I made a pair of socks for Bundles of Joy. They are trying to collect as many socks and slippers they can for the elders on Pine Ridge Reservation. I made size 11 men's socks out of Fishermen's Wool. I used the Thuja pattern that I've used before, because I LOVE IT! It uses worsted weight yarn (a bigger yarn) and they go much faster than normal sock weight yarn socks.
When I finished these socks, I still had a good amount of wool yarn left. I decided to use some of the Easter egg dye I got on clearance a few months ago to brighten up the "oatmeal" colored yarn! I based it on the June theme of the "Kool Way to Dye" ravelry group which was "Fairy Light". When I thought of fairy-type things, I thought of bluish/purple hues. I liked how this turned out, even if I almost accidently dyed my kitchen in the process!
Additionally, Easter egg dyes use vinegar as the acid and I used the microwave for the heat source.
vinegar + wet wool + microwave = "EWWWWW" smell
Luckily the smell didn't stay around long :)
A recent project has come up and taken a LOT of my time lately. I'm putting together an afghan of blanket squares to give to a young man with leukemia that I graduated high school with. I have a few people from a ravelry group and our local knitting group doing squares. We have already reached the original goal of pledges for squares, so it's going along very well. The blanket size has been increased because so many people have pledged a square for it. I am making a few for it, of course, but I needed to do some improvisation on a few of them.
I wanted to make a University of North Carolina (UNC) blanket square, but oddly enough, there weren't really any patterns for a blanket square with the interlocking NC logo on it. I charted out a picture of the logo onto a grid, and knit a blanket square out of it. Easier said than done, but I decided to take my hard work and put it on ravelry as a dishcloth pattern! I never thought I would submit a pattern because I don't have the creative "designer genes" (see what I did there, haha), but I figured that people would hopefully appreciate an interlocking NC logo.
And here are two more squares I've completed.
University of Texas
University of Michigan
I'm very excited about this blanket. Mainly because I've been meaning to do something like this for a while and it's finally taking shape. People have responded very positively to the idea and I can't wait to put it together. I feel it'll be a great thing for the young man and his family to know that so many people have come together to support him in his battle. I'll post pictures when blanket squares start coming in and things come together for that.
And one of these days, I'll get back to the double vision blanket, I promise! :D
Lastly (on a totally different note), I recently watched a documentary called "Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains". It's intense and about a group of Uruguayan athletes whose plane crashes in the Andes. A group of them are able to survive for TWO MONTHS before they are able to be rescued. It's incredible. The group returns to the area of the crash thirty (I think) years later with their families. I can't imagine going through something like that. If anyone has Netflix, I recommend it! Not for children AT ALL though because some of the subject material is really intense.
Izzy sat behind me while I wrote this, so here's a webcam pic of her (bad quality, sorry!)
That is all :)
