Summertime Sock knitting

Summer is finally here in the Pacific Northwest.  While much of the nation has endured (and continues to endure) record heat, here our entire Spring and the first part of the summer was cooler and cloudier than normal.  We finally have had several sunny days and temperatures in the 70's.  Today was a perfect day for a glass of my extra special iced tea and some outdoor knitting:

I finished up my Ocean Waves Summer Socks yesterday (which was also a beautiful day!):

The pattern is Niagara Falls by Janel Laidman and the yarn is my Bamboo Bliss in the Ocean Waves colorway.  These were a very quick knit (I knit the second sock in 2 days) and I'm very happy with them.

Now I am working on a test knit for Karen Lauger (aka Lykkefanten).  The pattern is called Slippery Slope and it's looking fabulous:

The yarn is also Bamboo Bliss, this one in the Winter Evergreens colorway.  I'm looking forward to trying this pattern out with a yarn that has more color variations.  It uses twisted stitches for the ribbing and then uses slipped stitches, so I think that it'll look great in a handpainted yarn.

Here's the recipe for my sun tea.    In a 1 gallon jar, I place:
2 Celestial Seasonings Tangerine Orange Zinger
2 Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger
2 black tea (Irish Breakfast, Ahmad English tea #1, English Breakfast, or your choice)
Then fill up with cold water and set in the sun for a few hours.  Mmmmm.  Enjoy!

Sock Summit!

A great time was had at Sock Summit in Portland.  My friend Heather and I drove down together (I drove, she knitted.  Hmmm, may have to work on that for next time!) and stayed with my brother and sis-in-law.  Our first day at SS was on Friday and for a long time I looked, but didn't buy.  But my resolve faded when I entered the Hazel Knits booth and ended up with 5 skeins of yummy sock yarn:

We hooked up with a Ravelry friend, Carolyn (catmomnw), who designed the beautiful Acanthus shawl that Heather knit for me.  I was even wearing the shawl on Friday!  But, we failed to get a picture.  Ooops.

On Sunday, we went back, I was taking the Designing Socks with Handpainted Yarn class taught by Chrissy Gardiner.  We had time for more shopping before my class and went to visit Liz at MacKintosh Yarns.  Heather is a member of her sock club, for which Karen Lauger (Lykkefanten) designed the socks.  Heather's Lindesfarne socks are simply gorgeous!

Liz also greatly admired Heather's knitting prowess and asked her if she'd be willing/interested in knitting her some sample socks for other Lykkefanten patterns.  Did I raise my hand too quickly?  I mean, she wasn't asking me, she was asking Heather....   Heather and I walked away, much, much later with patterns and yarn to knit up 4 pairs of socks.  Each.  8 pairs total.  We will be sock knitting fools.  And it will be so much fun!!

I'll be knitting Loki, using Sex Kitten:

Marlinspike, using Belle:

Valkyries, using Cadet and Creme:

and Bed Knots, using Robin's Egg:

More to come as I get busy knitting these up!