You breathe,
Frosting mountains white,
Exciting trees to verdant flame,
Dancing sparrows on your wing,
Swirling waves into long sighs
You breathe….
Deng Ming~Dao
Well, winter arrived here Monday with a bang! 14 inches of freshly fallen snow for the dogs to romp in. No easing into winter this year for us…but that’s ok by me for I LOVE winter!
It is the perfect time to curl up on the sofa with a mug of steaming eggnog coffee, a good book, a crackling fire and some knitting of course.
As this has been a week full of knitting….perhaps I can convince Ken to load up the fireplace tonight so that I can finish these projects :-)…mmmm
Belvedere……
Over the last few nights, I have been working on a few test projects. One to see if my yarn will work for the pattern and the other to make sure the pattern is free of bugs for my good friend Anne.
This seagreen sock is the Belvedere sock that I test knit a few weeks ago for Kirsten. Oh my.. the lace…..the swirls….I just fell in love with the pattern!
So much so that I asked Kirsten if she wanted to work a kit into this pattern with some new merino/nylon sock yarn I had picked up. The pattern works beautifully with the yarn, so I am excited to offer this kit in 2 new colorways.
Marie Antoinettes…….
Bee still my beating heart, for Anne asked me to test knit this incredible sock pattern for her along with Jocelyn, who is an amazing test knitter!
What can I say that has not already been said about Anne’s talents? She is simply amazing!
I am truly enjoying each and every stitch,even if this queen bee has shown us that she can be a bit fussy and demands attention…but in the end, she works her magic and gives us some honey!
I am hoping to finish up with this sock tomorrow, which may make the pattern and kit ready for the weekend! This sock is relatively easy to knit and moves along quickly….and is fun!
I am hoping to finish both pair (yes you read that right…these girls WILL have mates) over the weekend…as I have another test knit that I am excited about.
Go take a peak at Susan’s Morocco…….oh.my! It is absolutely beautiful!!! I have to admit, that I was not sure that my bee colored yarn was going to work with what Susan had in mind, but I have to admit again, she has magically turned that honey into Moroccan spice! Now I need to come up with an Arabian Night to balance those Moroccan Days 🙂
So that is what has been happening here in my little corner 🙂
As I close this post, I encourage you to go read Margene’s post today. Margene said what I was trying to say the other day…only much more eloquently.
Sometimes as we move forward not only with our knitting, but in life, we have to take a few steps backwards in order to move forward. I had this exact conversation, almost verbatim with my son last week, who is walking thru some difficult pathways right now. I told him even if he had to take a few steps backwards, as long as he keeps his toes pointing in the right direction, he can take babysteps forward……..one step at a time.
….and isn’t that what life is all about……..moving forward…one day at a time 🙂
The Woolen Rabbit 
Saw the weather report and wondered if you had been “buried” up there. I remember one PA weekend when we had 31 inches by the time the storm was done! I do love winter as well, miss it in fact. It gets cold here and on occasion we do have a bit of snow but there is nothing like a good blizzard! You look like you have made good progress. Love both of the socks, and know that now that it is in writing they both will have mates!! 🙂
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Love all the socks and all your beautiful sock yarns, too. We’re hoping for a largish amount of snow but it may be awhile.
Life is all about that forward, backward motion, eh? 😉
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KIM – I love your new sock yarns-was one of them going to be your alternate moraccan shawl colour – its beautiful – can’t believe how you are whipping off those socks, but I guess beautiful yarn plus pattern inspires
pat j
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Both socks are beautiful and will be wonderful kits. Moving forward – ugh, it can be so hard sometimes.
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Pretty socks! I’m with you – I love winter and snow!
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Both socks are so beautiful! I was just thinking that I had enough sock yarn to last me a long, long time. But seeing the Belvedere pattern with the Marina yarn is weakening my resolve. Does the pattern come in multiple sizes?
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Eggnog coffee – oh yes! And eggnog French Toast, and eggnog with brandy, and eggnog straight. Mmmm Mmmm. The socks are beautiful!
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oooh i love kirsten’s sock in your new colorway! it looks like eddying water.
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Wow! You are one busy knitter! The socks look gorgeous in your yarn! That Moroccan shawl is beautiful, I love the beads!
Good luck digging out of all that snow!!
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That golden honey sock is so lovely…like a ray of sunshine! The green one is beautiful too. Thank you for your words of wisdom. 🙂
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I have to tell you, I love the Marina! I thought I would like the other better, but now, I don’t know. They’re both beautiful! I love the quote, as well. I like how you begin with a quote, and end your post in a circular pattern. Very peaceful!
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Gorgeous socks on your needles! Stay warm. It’s a good thing you love winter.
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Beautiful knitting and dyeing, Kim. I know it’s cliche but it’s true… it’s not how many times we fall down but how many we get back up. I was just talking about this with Jeremy the other night too. He was being really hard on himself about past mistakes he’d made and I pointed out to him how well he came out of it and moved on.
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OMG!! Is that the bee sock??
It’s BEE-UTIFUL!! WOW!
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You are BUSY. The socks, wow. Such productivity!
This is the perfect blog milieu to be starting colorwork…knit, rip, knit, rip, knit, rip. And then not worry about it.
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When I’m going through difficult pathways I try to set small goals that I can achieve daily so I feel like I’m making progress. Like right now, my goal is to power through every day so I can go back to bed. And I’m successful! Every day is a success! Yay me!
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beautiful socks – and I the belvedere kit is lovely too… Eggnog coffee, a big snowstorm and knitting by a fire sound perfect to me. I’ll be right over.
I can add my ‘amen’ to what you said to your son… he will remember your wisdom for a long time I am sure.
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Oh my goodness what lovely socks, and such a lovely sentiment too – what a nice way to start the day! =)
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Beautiful socks …
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