Success :-)

Last week I finished not one, but two pairs of socks :-) My patchwork Cakewalk yarn socks are amazing. I had so much fun making stripe after stripe. I had an insane amount of ends to weave in, but if only took an episode and a half of Veronica Mars.

I also finished my Clandestine socks! Finally! These have been on the needles forever. I was worried I was going to run out of yarn, but then several knitters recommended I buy a scale and weigh the yarn to see if I had enough. It was a brilliant plan and gave me the push I needed to finally finish these! I only had 9 yards of yarn left! Holy smoke.

I really loved knitting this pattern. I love reading lace charts and watching the motif come to life. This pattern is challenging, but also addicting. So addicting in fact....

I bought Cookie A's book knit.sock.love. I found it at a LYS and snatched it up along with two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn. I was really excited about the yarn plus the patterns, but after reading reviews on Malabrigo, I returned the yarn. Everything I read said the socks wear out super fast, and that just doesn't work for me. I knit socks to wear them -- I want them to last more than a few months.
So now I have credit at the LYS, and their sock yarn is just not doing it for me :-( A lot of self striping and variegated yarns, but I really want some semi solids for Cookie A socks.

I did buy some sock yarn at Stash in Corvallis. I love love going into Stash. It is by far my favorite yarn shop. They are so super nice in there! And they were having their spring sale :-) I cannot resist a sale. I bought some Baah! yarn in their La Jolla base, colorway Pink Tourmaline. I've already cast on some socks! Details soon :-)

At Stash I also bought a copy of the Spring issue of Pom Pom magazine! I want to knit everything in this magazine, but first of course will be Rachel Coopey's Calla socks. I think I even have the perfect yarn for them :-) Stay tuned.

And last but not least, I want to mention the Ricefield Collective Kickstarter, just in case you haven't checked it out yet. It makes my heart so happy to think about how knitting is literally changing people lives. The project is funded, but it's not too late to be a part of it! They have lovely rewards, including a hat pattern, as well as hand knit items. Give it a looksee.

Alrighty everyone! Happy Monday -- keep knitting!

It's WIP Wednesday!

Wednesday is here again, and I am so happy to see it. I love middles. The middle of a book, the middle of an Oreo cookie, the middle of a sock, aka, the heel turn. I love the turn of a heel so much. It makes me feel so smart and accomplish and halfway there! The heel flap itself is such a brief moment in the knitting of the sock, but it is so very special. 

I turned the heel of this sock today:

These socks have been zipping along! The stripes are so motivating, and I love love the Cakewalk yarn. I love seeing the same colors in all the different colorways. I loved knitting these yarns the first time, but knitting them all together is absolutely fascinating. The orange in Podcast Junkie is the same orange in Caged Wisdom, Sincerest, and Maeby. The purples, the teals, the pinks! I love these socks so much, I can almost forget about the ends I will have to weave in :-) Almost.

I started a new sock this week. It is another striped Vanilla sock and is also in Cakewalk, but in the Walk base. I had these leftovers from Christmas presents -- the green is Pickle, and the peach is Swell. I bought a second set of Addis this week! Now my sock knitting is really going to take off: my plan is for one set to have vanilla socks or simple repeat patterns, and then the second set will be for my daring socks! You know, like Cookie A socks, which are not purse knitting.

That is why these socks got cast on; I went to see a movie with some friends the other night, and I had no "in the dark" knitting. I can't sit for two hours without knitting. I love the way they are turning out, and I'm thinking they will be a Mother's Day present for my mom.

I haven't made any progress on my Clandestine socks, so no new pictures.

Spring is coming! I am so excited. I missed the spring last year because I was working Noc shift. So I am soaking up these sunny days and longboarding whenever I get the chance. I know that as flip flop season approaches that means that my socks won't get as much wear, but I won't stop knitting them :-)

Happy knitting!

My socks will live!

I bought a scale! And I measure my yarn, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it! The finished sock weighs exactly 50 grams, so I should have exactly enough yarn to finish the pair. And I do have some other blue yarn that is not exactly the same, but if I need it to finish the toe, I won't cry.

I just wanted to let you all know! Thank you for the advice :-) Happy weekend knitting!

FO Friday!

I have a finished object! This is the first pair of socks I finished in a long time, and I am in love with them! The pattern is Business Casual and it is a free pattern. It is a very well written, easy to follow pattern and I recommend it highly.

I used some Cakewalk yarn I had in my stash. It is the Walk base, in the colorway Grantia. This colorway has been discontinued.

I have not knit a pair of socks with the Walk base before, but it will not be the last. It is a delightful two ply and they are so squishy! I never want to take them off :-)

For as simple as this pattern is, I did have some trouble with it. It was my fault -- I get over excited sometimes and stop using my brain. But I fixed it, and my flubs don't show, much :-) I used this technique to work the traveling stitches. It is super easy and so fast! Much faster than working the stitch like a cable. Twisted stitches are a great skill to have.  The socks on my banner, my Farmer McGregor socks, also use twisted stitches.

Have a great weekend! Happy knitting :-)

Linking up with Tamis Amis 

WIP Wednesday take 3

I have two things this week, but I fear one of them will never reach their finished object state: my lovely Clandestine socks. These are so beautiful and so consuming... in more ways than one. I cast on the second sock with trepidation. Would I have enough yarn? Of course I will! I always have gobs leftover from socks. It will be fine. 

Famous last words.

My second sock still has two repeats of the lace pattern to go before the heel, and I really don't think it's going to make it to there. I contacted the dyer of Gynx Yarn, Laura, to see if she magically had a half a skein, but she didn't. She does have another skein if I want it, which brings me to my next conundrum.
How much is too much for a single pair of socks? I love sock yarn, quality sock yarn, and it's not cheap. It's not super expensive and I have no trouble with the fact that most of my socks contain $20 or so worth of yarn. But $40? For a single pair of gorgeous socks? I just don't know.

And there might be enough yarn here, but with a pattern this labor intensive, it's hard for me to want to knit them with the thought of running out of yarn looming in my mind.  So I put them on a spare pair of DPNs, and they will sit for a while, until I decide what to do.

But what cures the "I've run out of yarn" blues? Stripey socks! Stripy socks out of my Cakewalk yarn leftovers. I have been dying to knit these up long before I even had the scraps. The amazing Susan B. Anderson knit some patchwork socks ages ago and I remember I wanted to participate in the KAL she was hosting so bad! But I had only knit two pairs of socks, so I didn't have all the lovely leftover bits. But now, a year later. I have six pairs of socks out of Cakewalk Footsie alone, and my stripey patchwork socks are looking amazing!

Can you believe I started these this morning? I'm already to the heel on the first sock! This is the perfect palette cleansing knit. I have a feeling that when I am done with these, I will be ready to take on my Clandestine sock once again :-)

Happy knitting!

Linking up with Tamis Amis for WIP Wednesday.