Leaves and strawberries

I found a pattern for that yellow sock yarn that reminded me of daffodils! This skirt pattern is on Knitting Pattern Central (a great resource if you haven't found it already) and I came across it in a search of a pattern for my new Cherry Tree Hill yarn. (I've decided to make a cute springy tweed jacket but more on that later.) I liked the lace leaves running down the skirt when it hit me that the lace pattern is exactly what I was thinking of for the yellow yarn.

The Yarn Harlot just had a post about lace charts vs. lace written directions. It got me thinking that I've used both recently but have never tried to convert written directions to a chart. So I sat down and drew this from the Dayflower lace instructions. I think it is going to be much easier for me to follow than the written directions because the directions had a lot of repeats which can get confusing.

Here is the beginning of one of the socks posing in front of the pattern. (For some reason, I knit my socks on circulars "inside out" but knit the sock normally on DPNs. I've tried to knit "right side out" on circs but it feels funny to me. I never realized I did this until one of the ladies at my LYS said something.) I've decided to just do the lace pattern just on the leg of the sock because it wouldn't work out so well on the instep and bottom of the sock. It will look a lot like the Dublin Bay socks with the lace pattern on the side of the leg.


Mom and I started building a strawberry pyramid on Sunday. We got a lot done in a very short period of time. The top layer still needs to be finished and we will start planting the strawberries soon. The green siding is a flexible fiberglass so it won't fade or rot. It was very easy to shape. The dirt came from topsoil Dad had accumulated for a project which he started last year and hasn't gotten around to finishing. Let me tell you, dirt that has been sitting around for a year, absorbing all of the rain and snow is really, really heavy. But I think all of the heavy lifting was worth it. It is hard to believe that there is the remains of a tree stump in the middle of the pyramid!