Sock yarn = Love

Knitting socks at riding lessons.

My new friend.

sea turtle
Originally uploaded by zenren

Here he is, my new life partner. A beautiful sea turtle who will, from now on, live on my right shoulder and use his reiki symbol'd shell to release me from negative energy. I drew up the design, and then Beth, my tattoo artist made it tattoo-friendly. My father and I both have him on our arms. It was a gift for my thirtieth birthday (coming up the end of Sept). There's alot of meaning in this little guy, and Im glad to have him along for the journey

Completed the Geisha

I finished my embroidered geisha girl. I now want to add the lanterns to either side of her. I played around with stitches and colors with this one, and Im fairly happy with it. Bug wants me to frame it for her, but I dont think its up to framing standards, personally.

I was lucky enough to score some sKnitches yarn during her last update. I got the Big Tryst in Tapestry and it arrived today. I love it. Its so soft and squishy. I might make a beret with it. Ive seen a few cute patterns on Ravelry made with sock yarn and I really like them. And an oversized beret would be nice in the winter, to keep the head warm but not smoosh the spikey hair. I started a beret at the request of my cousin for her upcoming birthday and have discovered the versatility of the them and now have a feeling I will be knitting a couple more.

Horses, Geisha and Flat Feet

Its been busy around here over the last couple weeks, and I havent been getting as much knitting or stitching time as I had been. Bug started horseback riding lessons, and she does that every Friday evening. She LOVES it and I cant believe how quickly she has caught on. Its really fun to watch her. Here she is with her first go at trotting!

She looks so small on that horse, and its only a pony! I can see her wanting to continue lessons for a long time. Its English style riding and her big goal is to learn how to jump. My goal is not to have a heart attack.

Im working on stitching a tea towel with this geisha design from doe-c-doe and Im loving it. There are so many fantastic vintage patterns in this flickr group, and I have saved many of them. I just want to be more creative with what I embroider. Tea towels and pillow cases are great, but I really liked how the vital organs hoodie came out:

Thats my husband modeling there, but its actually a hoodie for me. It looks best zippered up, because when its open the front kind of flips out and you can see the underside of the embroidery a little, but I kept it neat so Im trying not to let that bother me. I think I might add a hypo needle on the sleeve or something as well.

As far as knitting goes, Im plugging away at my Flat Feet socks so I have an excuse to buy more of that fun yarn. I dont mind the kinkiness as I unravel the flat to knit, and I like all the neat patterns and colors they come in. Im using size two needles rather then the threes the yarn suggests, but I tend to knit a bit loose so the fabric is perfect - not too dense at all. I like how the colors arent pooling or striping, just sort of all over the place. So far they are pretty cool socks.