Friday, February 15, 2008

Listen, Bambi: Actions have Consequences.

I forgot to show you guys the socks I cast on instead of fixing my lace mistake (which is currently in the corner having a time out). I went for the Marina Piccola socks again - hoping to break the Sockapalooooza hex.

This counts towards stash reduction - and frugality, too. I got the yarn from Shelley at Fun Knits, when the Group was over there for the afternoon last year. Judy Maclean, the Sweatermaker dyer, had given several tangled skeins of merino/nylon sock yarn to Shelley. These skeins had apparently become partially unbound in the dyeing process and were a snarled mess. Judy told Shelley that if anybody wanted to go to the trouble of untangling the yarn, they could have it for free.

OF COURSE I took it. I spent two days untangling my skein and winding it into a beautiful, perfectly symmetrical, centre-pull ball. After having given away my first, aqua-coloured pair of Marina Piccolas, I was determined to have some of my own, and these are them. They. Those. here they are.



Again, I'm happy with this pattern: it's easy to memorise. I also like how the colour is knitting up. I'm getting about 10 stitches to the inch, magic-looping on 2.5 mm Addi Turbos.

Oh yeah: and progress on the log cabin afghan. It's now too big to take with me anywhere, so growth has slowed considerably. It's about 4.5 feet across at the moment.


It isn't easy to get good pictures these days, by the way. It's so dark here....I went out to take some garden photos and the camera saw fit to use the flash. Outside. At 10.30 AM.

Anyway, I was poking around looking for signs of spring. And I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but white-tail deer don't like crocus. Or bamboo. And yet?

Exhibit A

There were 100 crocus bulbs in here, evenly distributed and all about 1.5" high. It's hard to tell in this photo, but the deer have pawed (or pulled with their teeth) half the bulbs out and cropped the tops off of the remaining shoots.

Exhibit B

My poor bamboo. THE NERVE. What do they think they are, freakin' pandas?

Luckily, I am a member of a superior race. These opposable thumbs come in really handy for delicate work, and taxidermy requires some dexterity.


Exhibit C



Just kidding.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wasn't sure last night if that was the yarn -- and I meant to ask you if it had nylon in it. Thanks for answering my question!

Our island deer are a breed unto themselves, you know. Herbivore Urbanus. Eating rules don't apply to these city-dwellers.

Anonymous said...

PS Gorgeous sock, of course!

Annalea said...

These are it? ;o)

I believe in highly-powered hot pepper to deter hungry deer. The local whitetails here ate all of the buds off of my rhododenrons--which are notoriously poisonous! I hope they had one doozy of a deer tummy ache after trying those.

Just like other animals, though (and people), deer tend to eat anything when they're really, really hungry. I just hate it, though, when they pull things up and destroy them without eating any of it. Insult on top of injury.

Way to go on the socks . . . and the gauge is amazing. I don't think I could bear to knit socks at anything more than 8st/in. At least not until I'm an empty nester and have a quiet house with hours to call my own. Such pretty yarn!

Ames said...

I think you should "plant" lots of treats for the deer among your flowers and shrubbery; treats that would have a severe laxative effect. Ex-lax is the first thing that comes to mind, but I am sure that with the aid of Google you could find something more affective.

Shan said...

Ames, you comin' over with a shovel and a bucket?

Ames said...

Fertilizer, dear girl.

You know it would be worth it.

Ames said...

Besides, by the time the gut-wrenching cramps hit'em, they would be elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Lovely socks, and even lovelier sense of humor. That last pic is priceless.