Snap Judgement

While browsing my stash this weekend I decided to put two yarns together in a combination that had never occurred to me before. One was a pink that is so bright it seems harsh, and the other is a graduated grey that seems perfect for men's socks, but deadly dull to knit. Together, they are making this:

And the moral of the story is, that it is always worth while to buy yarn on sale. Even when it is an oddly colored sock yarn.

Like Nasty Medicine

I'm well over my cold and I found that missing project. It was tucked into a cloth bag hanging in my stash closet, nice and neat, where I'd never find it. I put it back though. Today the weather is just glorious and I've spent the entire day outside.

I did manage to finish yet another project that's been lingering on the needles. It was such a chore, I just made myself do it, the same way you just plug your nose and down that Buckley's.

Jim's Boot Socks
Yarn: Philosopher's Wool
Needles: 4mm

These are toe up, with a heel flap and a tubular, sewn bind-off. They're 40sts around. The gauge is so snug, it hurts my hands to work them, plus him likes them long! But I know he'll really appreciate them on the coldest winter days. Thankfully we can put them away for a good long while.

The Return of My Favourite Sock

Sometimes, a pair of hand knit socks mean so much more than warm feet. For me, this pair is about love.

About 4 years ago, I bought myself some Regia Silk Yarn and knit myself this pair of Gothic Lace Socks.

They've been my favourite pair of socks all this time. I loved the pattern, which I found through my friend Holly and I loved the yarn, in part because I splurged on myself. But as you can see, these socks are wore through. They deserve to be honourably retired.

So when Doug's beautiful merino/tencel yarn came to me last year, I knew just what I wanted to make from it. To me, they are the ultimate Gothic lace socks because of the color. I'm just thrilled to have my favourite socks back!


I haven't written is so long, in part because I've been sick. It's just a cold, but being sick over the long Victoria Day weekend isn't much fun. I had to miss out on two really great trips. No one wants to go for a car ride with a sickie! But it did give me an opportunity to devote myself to my knitting though, since I wasn't good for much else. Aside from finishing my socks, I did an inventory of my WIPs. Some needed to get over a hump, and some needed to get ripped. One got lost. But I think it may be in the stash under the bed. I forgot about that spot.

From my Thirteen year old Son, on Mother's Day

I don't often write poems
It's easily true,
But this one I wrote
All just for you.

My poems aren't the best
And they don't seem that hard,
But I guess in this case,
They sure beat a card.

So let's celebrate you
On this Mother's Day,
I hope you'll enjoy it
In your own special way.

Happy Mother's Day!

My grandmother, my mother, warmed and graced by my knitting. I find this picture utterly beautiful.

Still Having Fun

I'm having fun with my knitting these days. I've abandoned a lot of my "shoulds", and a few WIPs at the same time. I have this thought in the back of my head that one day I'll come back to them, but right now, I'm really enjoying my carefree knitting.

I did return to finish off the second sock of my first Noro experiment, even though these socks will never fit me.

Someone will be getting a lovely present though.

And I'm having a load of fun with this guy:

Yep, Barnacle Bill is in the works! I'm using fingering weight stash yarns and everything seems pretty good so far. I've got some plans to work around some of the details in the original and I hope they work as well as I'm envisioning.

My mom gave me some patterns last weekend, including a cool vintage Paton's sock book. Here's the cover:

Don't you just love those molded feet? I'll bet you could find them on E-bay. (Sure can!)
A nice feature of this book is the visual table of contents on the inside cover. I wish more knitting pattern books were designed this way.

There's a few patterns in this book I'd like to try, but just now I've cast on for with my merino/tencel yarn from Doug to make some Gothic lace socks. It looks lovely, but I've got horrible ladders. The yarn is very slick, so I'm thinking it might be typical of merino/tencel yarns. But I'm wondering if the pattern is exacerbating (that is a horribly difficult word to spell correctly!) the problem, since it has a ribbing to it.

I'm pulling as snugly as I can at the join and it's not helping at all. Will it wash out? Any advice?