Friday, March 30, 2007

Buffalo Herding

The Heartland shawl is temporarily on hold as, 4 rows from finishing, I...ran...out...of...yarn. ACK. So that buffalo has been herded...

Finished the first New England sock...very happy with how it turned out...did the leg on US3 and the foot on US1 and it fits POIFECTLY.

Here's a progress pic of the Cable-Down Raglan from Interweave Knits Spring 2007...loving how it's working up in Rowan Calmer, colorway Coral (one of the few more saturated colors Calmer comes in).

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Quick update...

Haven't posted for over a week...been working on a bunch of things...

Currently on the needles is the Heartland Lace Shawl in my precious Buffalo yarn. I'm almost done with the 5th repeat of the main pattern (pattern only calls for 4 repeats but I wanted it larger and didn't want ANY of the precious yarn to go to waste).

Have the New England sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road on the needles in Scarlet Fleece Tubular 2x in Log Cabin colorway...shown on my fancy new XL sock blockers that I ordered from the Loopy Ewe:

For my birthday last week, I treated myself to the yarn kit for the Sugarplum Pullover from Handknit Holidays:

And halfway done with a pair of plain socks out of Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Rooster Rock:

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Is it Spring yet?

They faked us out with 1 day of 70 degree weather. Now it's 40 and pouring. Bummer.

At least the new sock thinks it's Spring...another Monkey sock in Scarlet Fleece It's Tubular 2X in Cottage Garden. I had heard great things about this yarn, so ordered some and initially, I wasn't blown away. It had a sort of stiff, "dry" feeling...very synthetic-like to my hand. I talked to a few folks and that was totally not their experience with it, so I decided to wait and see how it did once washed. Much better. Maybe the dye didn't rinse enough in this colorway but after washing, it's spongy and delightful.

Started the Cable Down Cardigan from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits in Rowan Calmer Coral. So far it's a fun knit...early progress pic...too lazy to take one that's only 1 repeat longer...

And a little stash enhancement to brighten one's day...nothing like a little package of Fleece Artist and Handmaiden...

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Monsoon Madness

Yup, they're done...voila!

2 days of knitting...size 11 feet...but I'm really happy with the yarn and it was fun to blaze through the pair...

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Monsoon Mudslide

Wasn't really feeling the club pattern that came with the STR Monsoon. Interesting looking and some cool ideas but I didn't think it would work well on my feet and, well, frankly, I'm not a huge fan of neverending ribbing on socks, no matter how nice it looks. Just takes too long and I like to be able to knit quickly on socks.

So, I went with Lava Flow from Sockbug. Threw on Lucy Neatby's garter stitch short row heel. I thought the slip-stitch pattern sort of blurred things up a bit, as if you were looking at a forest through windows coated in rain. Ok...too existential for socks, but you know what I mean...

Anyhow, started it last night and finished the first today. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't have picked this yarn out in a crowd but I actually really like it...very different than my usual color choices. Falls somewhere between camouflage and moss growing on rocks. Very organic.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Kewing for the Monsoon Season

Yahoo! The dreary rainy day heralded in a loverly delivery...the first of the 2007 Socks That Rock Club kits...Monsoon. Loving this. Evoked the weather without being dull or flat or boring...and the pattern looks pretty interesting too...and lookie...baby sock yarn! I was hoping they'd send keychains and they did, they did!

And I finished the first of the Kew socks (Colinette Jitterbug, Florentine colorway). This pattern knits up very quickly and I love the base yarn Colinette used...it's almost identical to the Socks That Rock sproingy merino...high twist, nice and cushy. I wish they didn't shortchange the yardage...just under 300 yards in the skein, unlike the STR 380 yards...but there's plenty for a pair of Kews. Reminds me why I really need some sock blockers...the lacy leaf pattern used in Kew doesn't lay flat on its own so photographs all bumpy and scrumpy and weird (oh my).

Bird of Paradise

The second installment of the second Sundara Petals sock club arrived yesterday...didn't open it til evening so wanted to wait until I could look at it again in semi-daylight (semi because it's a grey dreary day from all the rain). It's...okay. I was sorely disappointed in the Lenten Rose first installment...while some people got a true semi-solid with tonal differences, mine was a dull flat dreary depressing grey with a tinge of purple. Now, it's well known that I adore purple...and it really took some doing to find/make a purple that I hated...and boy, I hated it. I've bought yarn from Sundara before joining the club and always loved it...very sophisticated with a lot of depth of color so the last thing I was expecting was flat dead color. And it was especially disappointing after seeing the three installments in the first club...all gorgeous, all yarns I would've bought. So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I opened installment number 2. Sundara had assured me via email that the second and third installments would indeed be multicolored yarns as the club description states...and ok, this is definitely multicolored, but I'm still surprised that the colors are very one-dimensional which is not what I think of when I think of Sundara's yarns...and it's really not a color combo I'd ever buy on my own.

However, it does invoke the flower from which its inspiration is derived. I don't like the pattern (I generally find rib-pattern socks too boring to knit so will probably try something like Blue Moon's Hippy Crunchy pattern. I suspect this yarn will pool alarmingly since it did so even in the pattern included which was intended to break up pooling a bit. At least I don't hate it so will actually be able to stand working with it. Might be a nice colorway for socks for my 10 year old niece.

I'm expecting the first installment of the Socks That Rock Club hopefully today and I'm really hoping I love it. I've loved every bit of STR that I've gotten so far and have never actually seen a colorway of theirs that I didn't like (which always makes it hard to choose only a few) so I'm really crossing my fingers. I will not be rejoining the Sundara club, however, as two of the three so far are yarns I would never buy on my own. Hopefully the final kit will make up for it, but at this point, I'm not holding my breath. Her presentation is beautiful and obviously a lot of effort goes into putting the kits together, but they just aren't up to Calla Lily or Hydrangea from the first club.