A long, boring, personal post

Sorry I have been absent for the last few weeks.  I've wanted to write a post and there has been so much going on in my personal life, that I just didn't know what to say and I felt like I had a bit of writers block.  Just before we left for our beach vacation, the company that Andy had been working at for the past ten years was abruptly sold.  We were very grateful that Andy would keep his job, but things were still in a state of flux.  After much thought and discussion, he decided to accept an offer from a new company that is coming to our area.  We are both really excited about his new position and I'm very relieved that some of the stress that has been in our lives will hopefully be lessened.

Around the same time of the job upheaval, we found out that a family member has skin cancer.  Since this person didn't want other family members to know, I'm not going to say who they are.  It's been a battle to get them to agree to see the doctor, and then to let the doctor do a full examination. Fortunately, the first biopsy revealed that the area is not melanoma and is a more successfully treatable form of sarcoma.  Please, get your skin checked every year by a dermatologist. Your skin is the largest organ on your body and if anything is found early, it is much more treatable.

I haven't been doing as much designing as I normally do this summer.  I have knitted several pairs of stockinette socks, which are one of my favorite things to knit. These are from a Gales Art stenciled sock black that I picked up at MDSW this year.  The color is "The Big O".  I love how they turned out and they colors are nice and cheerful.

My current stockinette sock project is with yarn from Neely's Knits. The colorway is "Thing 1 and Thing 2". I had to make a bag just for these socks!  I love the Cat in the Hat and the Things.

I also cast on for the Solitude Jacket that is in the Knitscene Fall 2015 issue.  I'm using Malabrigo Worsted in the Apple Green colorway.  It's quite a bit brighter than the picture is showing and looks just like a Granny Smith apple.  I haven't knitted a sweater in over a year, and I'm really enjoying the process.

What do you have on your needles this summer?

Shark Bite

Use coupon code: Amity for $2.00 off until July 5th. Don’t get caught with your socks in the water and have a Happy 4th of July!

Introducing Shark Bite! I cannot describe how much fun these socks were to design and knit!  JAWS is one of my all time favorite movies.  Just hearing the first note from the theme makes the hair raise up on the back of my neck.  I've been fascinated with sharks, particularly Great Whites, since I was kid.  When Shark Week starts, you are most likely to find me glued to the tv with my knitting.   

The Shark Bite socks were inspired by one of my all time favorite movies, JAWS. It’s a tradition for my husband and I to have a JAWS movie marathon over the 4th of July weekend every year. We hunker down in our den and watch the movies from beginning to end. 2015 is the 40th Anniversary of the original JAWS movie and I thought it was an appropriate time to design a pattern in homage to the movie.

Shark Bite is written from the cuff down. The cuff and leg portion of the socks are worked in the flat, and the joined at the ankle. The heel, foot and toe are worked in the round.

If you aren’t familiar with knitting colorwork, links to tutorials are provided in the pattern. While the colorwork details might look difficult to knit, they are really only over a small portion of the sock and some of them, like the swimmer and sharks teeth can be done in duplicate stitch once you are finished knitting.

The sample was was worked using KnitPicks Stroll unless otherwise noted. This is a perfect project to use mini skeins and left over yarn for the smaller details.

Color A: White 15 yards 
Color B: Blue Yonder 150 yards 
Color C: Black 50 yards 
Color D: Unplanned Peacock Peacock Sock, in Sun 5 yards 
Color E: Cork 10 yards, 
Color F: Thunderhead 345 yards

A very special thank you goes to Margi, whose help with test knitting and finding the links to the tutorials is so much appreciated!