Eddie and Alex

Here's my version of the Van Halen pattern.

Which one's Eddie and which is Alex?

coupon

The new Tangled is now live.

You don't have to go to Sock Summit to use this coupon!

View my socks here.

Fish

Cole has been wanting a pet all his life. Jeff is allergic to most furry animals, but Cole recently acquired this:

Isn't it nifty?

Port Hudson Organics

Yesterday, Cole and I went to rehearsal and came home with watermelons.

And two eggplants and five tomatoes. What's that? You only see four tomatoes in the picture? Hm . . . something must have happened to the other one. I hope it wasn't something sordid involving scrambled eggs and cheese.

Cole and I meet regularly with Thais Perkins of Port Hudson Organic Farm to rehearse for . . . well, for fun and any other important projects that might arise. We all enjoy it immensely and are looking forward to playing in public once we find a venue.

gecko hat and headband

I'm pleased to announce the availability of my Gecko Hat and Headband pattern for only $3:

Gecko Hat and Headband

tangled

My sock design, Van Halen, is featured on the Tangled Blog in the upper left.

Once I played a movement of one of Bach's partitas for solo violin on a recital, and one of the audience members told me, "You play violin like Eddie Van Halen plays guitar." Later, he asked me to show him some of my riffs.

I wonder whether Tangled was thinking of my approach to colorwork when they named the pattern. I'm choosing to take it as a compliment.

binding off

Here's a way to bind off stitches that really helps your bind off stay loose. I "unvented" it while working through Lynne Barr's mind-opening Reversible Knitting. Captions are beneath the photos.

Here I have one stitch knit.

I put that stitch back onto the needle,

inserted my right needle through the next stitch as if to knit,

wrapped the yarn,

. . . and . . .

pulled the loop through both stitches.

Ta-daa!

This method helps keep the first stitch open. If you want extra insurance, you can hold it open with your thumb. I would use my left thumb to hold it open from the time I put it back onto the needle to the time I pulled the loop through both stitches.

Several stitch patterns in Reversible Knitting call for passing slipped or worked stitches over other stitches. I find this method saves time, but I don't assume that would be the case for everyone. I just fling the stitch back onto the needle when I'm going in for my next stitch. Slick, if I do say so myself.