Mysteries Over, and Madrona

The last few days have been spent at Madrona along with all the west coast knitters who aren't at Stitches West. (OK, maybe not *all*.)

I've shopped a bit - mostly Gothsocks with a bit of Toots LeBlanc, Rain City Fiber Arts and Abstract Fiber Arts to top off the bag. Overall a small but quality yarn accumulation. The rest of the time was spent knitting, spinning, and chatting with other fiber folks.

I also finished some socks in my newest pattern, Isaz:



Pattern: Isaz
Yarn: Three Fates Yarns Terra Sock in Fenrir
Started: 12/27/10
Finished: 2/18/11

This was the mystery KAL in the Three Fates Yarns group on Ravelry, but it will be available soon.

A little bit of love

And now for my annual pair of (Black)hearted:



Pattern: (Black)hearted - one of mine, free and on Ravelry
Yarn: Macek Designs Sock Yarn in Dark Milky Way
Started: 2/1/11
Finished: 2/9/11

I still haven't made the ones to match MJ's here:



Somehow, even though I don't like colors other than blue, purple, grey and black... I occasionally like pink.

And hearts.



... but I don't really want to wait until next year for the twin ones. Maybe they'll just be late for Valentine's Day.

Sunday Swing

One of my knitting goals for 101 in 1001 was to use 33 new types of sock yarn that I hadn't used before. Thanks to the vastness of my stash, this is a totally reasonable goal. Still, there are some yarns that are my tried and true favorites, and I keep knitting from those. Also, when you have knit as many pairs of socks as I have (I think this is pair #183), you have already used many many kinds of sock yarn.



Pattern: Sunday Swing, from Knitty Summer 2009
Yarn: Catalina Yarns Sol Joy (discontinued)
Started: 1/22/11
Finished: 1/31/11

I'm pretty sure I got this yarn in a swap, but at the moment I can't really remember. I do know that I picked it up because it was a yarn I had never heard of, even though the colors weren't exactly my cup of tea. No matter, because these socks are a gift. In fact, as often happens to me with yarn, I liked the color much better once I started knitting the socks.

Sol Joy is a heavier sock yarn, I knit the socks on 2.5mm needles and got a pretty firm fabric. I'm not sure how it was dyed, because as you can see a bit on the leg of the sock, the colors formed a strange swirling pattern. Overall I liked working with the yarn. It's not super soft, but I think it will probably wear well.

Stay tuned, socks for February are well on their way!