Sunday, February 28, 2010

Garnish

I have a new pattern up on Ravelry - Garnish.

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So this post is a little bit about that, and a lot about my fabulous non-knitting friend Brian...

The idea of this pattern was a bit long in the making, but the final inspiration was a little pop of color in an otherwise dreary winter. And when I saw Brian's grey and white apartment, I knew I wanted to do the photos there. And I was a little surprised when he went along with the idea, and even volunteered to be the photographer for my little photo shoot.

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We had a lot of fun, and he really got into the spirit of it. Some ideas were maybe even a little too crazy. ;)

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I was so glad to be able to get such nice pictures of the socks, but also really impressed that my friend, although he isn't a knitter, didn't think I was totally crazy. He definitely stepped up to the challenge.

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Hopefully everyone else will have just as much fun with these socks. :D

Listening to: My Gift of Silence ~ Blackfield

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Socks vs. Sweaters

Spending the last few days at Madrona has got me thinking about sweaters.

I saw so many beautiful sweaters and shawls, and though I did bring one sweater, most of the handknits that I wore were socks. This shouldn't be surprising to anyone. ;) So I see everyone with their sweaters getting admired and I feel a bit jealous. My socks are certainly less visible (and possibly less impressive) than sweaters. And to be fair, my socks did get a bit of love, and my sweater got plenty.

It just made me wish that I had more sweaters or other obvious knitwear to show off.

I love to knit socks. I love to wear socks. And it's not that I can't knit a sweater or shawl, it's just that I don't really want to. I have knit sweaters, and they're great. I like them. But when I sit down to knit, I want to knit socks. Even when I start sweaters they usually linger for ages. They're not even that much more work! I'd say a sweater is roughly equivalent to two pairs of patterned socks - depending on the socks and the sweater, of course.

I met the beautiful Faery Ring which didn't help the case for socks. Not that I don't have a bunch of other sweaters to knit already... including a couple on the needles. But I've tried to reform my sock-knitting ways before, and it has never worked.

Speaking of socks, here's a pair I finished while I was there:

minimochi

Yarn: Mini Mochi in #108
Started: 12/29/09
Finished: 2/12/10

This yarn was a bit difficult to work with - it's quite splitty and it took me a while to get the feel of how to knit it without splitting stitches. But once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. The one thing that did bother me a bit is the difference in the stripe length. This isn't just a case of me being picky about stuff matching though, the sock with the longer stripes had sections of much thinner yarn than the other sock. Not only did this change the length of the stripes, it also made the width of the sock smaller and larger in some places. The yarn is also quite fuzzy. I'm curious to see how comfortable these socks are and how well they wear. I do have more in one of the rainbow colors, so if I don't like the socks I might have to find another plan for those skeins.

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Madrona

I've had a great first couple of days at Madrona, including finishing a pair of socks and starting some new ones. Sadly I don't have my own laptop so I can't upload any of my pictures. Another time.

Until then I'll tell a little about a more "underground" knitting project. I mentioned that I had been working on Blurple Waves lately, but I didn't show it:

Feb 11

A bit of an artsy shot taken for Project 365, but I think you get the idea. I'm having fun rediscovering a lot of yarn that I got as "souvenir" yarn or received as gifts.

I think the plan of knitting a ball of yarn each month is going to get the blanket well on the way to my goal of finishing it before the end of 2011, and with not too much work at one time. So far I'm really enjoying knitting it - it's a very easy movie-watching kind of project - and really liking how it's coming out.

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Sock Yarn

    A quest to use sock yarns:

    Yarns I've had:
    * means I really liked it

    4-ply Soft
    A Piece of Vermont*
    Alpafina
    Artsygal*
    Artyarns Supermerino*
    Austermann Step
    BMFA Sock Candy*
    Black Bunny Fibers*
    Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport
    Chinese Mystery sock yarn
    Claudia's Handpaints
    Conjoined Creations Flat Feet
    Crystal Palace Maizy
    CTH Supersock
    Dicentra Designs
    Dorchester Farms
    Fabel
    Fearless Fibers
    Fixation*
    Gloss (KP)
    handspun
    Inspinknity*
    Interlacements Beibi Seda
    Interlacements Tiny Toes
    Interlacements Toasty Toes
    Jarbo Raggi
    JKnits*
    Jojoland Melody
    Koigu*
    Kona Superwash
    KP Essential
    KP Merino
    KP Palette
    Limbo
    Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock*
    Macek Designs
    Madelinetosh
    Magic Stripes
    Mega Boots Stretch
    Microspun
    Nature's Palette
    Noro Kureyon Sock
    Opal
    Panda Cotton
    Paton's Kroy*
    Peru DK
    Peruvian Quechua
    Regia Bamboo*
    Regia Cotton
    Regia Strato*
    Ruby Sapphire
    Sockotta
    Socks That Rock*
    Star (Classic Elite)
    Stitch Jones
    Sunshine Yarns*
    Three Fates Cauldron Sock*
    TOFUtsies
    Trekking*
    Wick
    Wildfoote*
    Wollmeise*
    Wool Ease
    Yarn Pirate*

    In Progress:

    Perchance to Knit
    Regia
    Vesper
    Yarns in the stash:

    All Things Heather
    Ancient Threads
    Apple Laine
    Araucania Ranco
    Artyarns Ultramerino
    Autumn House Farm
    Baby Ull
    Ball and Skein
    Baywood Yarns
    Bearfoot (Mountain Colors)
    Briar Rose Fibers
    Brooklyn Handspun
    Cavyshops Handpaint
    C*eye*ber Fiber
    Cervinia Calzetteria
    CTH Superglitz
    Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
    Chewy Spaghetti
    Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
    Colinette Cadenza
    Colinette Jitterbug
    Country Classic Yarn for Sox
    Crash Into Ewe
    Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
    Curious Yarns
    Done Roving
    Dream in Color
    Duet (A Swell Yarn Shop)
    Dye Dreams
    Ellen's Half Pint Farm
    End of the World Farm
    Fashion Trend Sportivo
    The Fiber Denn
    Fleece Artist
    The Flock Bransonas
    Fortissima
    French Hill Farm
    Froehlich Blauband
    Fyberspates
    geeyouknit!
    Gjestal Silja
    Great Adirondack Soxie
    Greenwood Fiberworks
    Jaeger Matchmaker
    Jarbo Mini Raggi
    Jawoll
    Jawoll Cotton
    Just Our Yarn
    Knit Purl Natural Collection
    Kona Superwash
    KP Dancing
    KP Essential Tweed
    Lime & Violet
    Lisa Souza
    Louet Gems Pearl
    Luxe
    Mama Llama
    Merlin the Cat
    Meilenweit Cotton
    Meilenweit Trend
    Mind's Eye Merino/Tencel
    Mirasol Hacho
    Misty Mountain Farm
    The Natural Dye Studio
    Neighborhood Fiber Company
    Over the Rainbow Twinkletoes
    Peterle
    Pigeon Roof Studios
    Pine Woods
    Posh Yarn Lucia
    Prism Saki
    Pucker Brush Farm
    Regia Surf
    Reynolds Swizzle
    Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
    Rio De La Plata
    Royale Hare
    Roz Houseknecht
    Schaefer Anne
    Scout's Swag
    Sheep Shop Wensleydale
    Shelridge Farm
    ShibuiKnits
    Sockenwolle Unipo
    Spirit Trail Fiberworks
    Spunky Eclectic
    Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle
    Sundara Yarn
    Sweetgeorgia
    Tess Designer Yarns
    Twisted
    The Unique Sheep
    Universal Ditto
    Valley Yarns Franklin
    vanCalcar Acres
    White Oak Studio tvyarn
    Wisdom Yarns Marathon
    Wool in the Woods
    The Woolen Rabbit
    Yarn Botanika Radiance
    Yarntini
    Ysolda Yarn
    Zen Yarn Garden


    To check out:

    Pippikneesocks
    Sophie's Toes
    The Spinning Bunny Yarns BFL

WIPs and FOs