Use the Good Stuff
At its heart, knitting is just using sticks to tie string into an overly complicated slip knot. It really doesn't take much in the way of tools. You certainly can go out and buy a closet full of supplies and gadgets, but you don't need to. All you really need are needles and yarn. So if that's all you need, why not use the good stuff? That's what I'm doing here. The yarn is Hand Maiden's Casbah Sock in Pewter, and it is a treat to work with. It is a bit more expensive than what I normally buy, but [...]
Gritty and Gray
Gray with a chance of graupel. Yeah that's right graupel. According to Wikipedia, graupel is "precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm ball of rime." Yup, you can guess what the weather is like around here. However, it is an excellent incentive to find some super soft, super warm gray yarn and make something cozy. I'm only an inch or two in but I love these already and I will be naming them Graupel.
Welcome Craft Sanity Listeners!
If you found your way here through the marvelous Craft Sanity podcast, Welcome! If you're a regular reader and haven't yet checked out Craft Sanity, you're in for a treat. Head on over and take a look around. I'm thrilled to be sponsoring the January fifth episode of Craft Sanity. To welcome listeners, I'm having a little giveaway. All you have to do is click on the Patterns link, pick your favorite, and leave a comment with its name. Easy as can be! Please do be sure to use a working email address (no one but me will see it, [...]
Caprice
As promised, pics of the finished socks! Alas, taking pics in the snow is rather challenging. I thought the snow would provide a lovely atmospheric background and bounce lots of light around and make things all easy and pretty. Um. No. Not so much. Instead it was cold, kept falling on the socks and the camera, made the colors look funny, and just generally inconvenienced both the photographer (The Boy) and the model (me). It did, however, demonstrate the astonishing insulative power of wool (in case there was any doubt). My feet were not cold at any point during this [...]
Good Riddance…
To be honest, 2009 had more than its fair share of rough spots. Lets just say that it presented an exciting array of character building experiences. However, I can now say with certainty that 2009 is gone and I am still here. That means I won. To celebrate this victory and to start the new year on a better note, we took a wee jaunt to see one of our favorite bands, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. (If you know them only from that late 90's swing resurgence you're missing a treat. Go hear the rest of their stuff right now. [...]
Done!
The purple socks (they will be called Caprice, which I'll explain in due course) are done and drying on the blockers. I'm quite smitten by them. So smitten, in fact, that I may go ahead and release them earlier than I had originally planned. I'm starting to think early January might be a more fitting date than mid February. What do you think? There is one sad thing about them being done though. Their completion means that I am not currently using my new Signature needles. They went into the socks the day I opened them and haven't been far [...]
Blue Around the Edges
So way back when, I mentioned that I had cast on two socks and a pair of mitts in a fit of unexpected productivity (or is that promiscuity). One of the socks you've seen, and the other has been ruthlessly ripped and is waiting for me to rework it into something that will fit a human foot. The mitts, however, have been hiding in the shadows. No more. Here they are in all their winter-y glory. Now you may recall that I said that I started this project in large part because the yarn (the sadly defunct Sheep Number Three [...]
Yarn Love
All of my suspicions about Happy Feet DK have been proven correct! I am in love. It is just the right thickness for my preferred needle/tension/foot combination. It's just thick enough to feel fast. Now knitting is not and will never be the quickest way to get socks. Speed is not the point. But I'm willing to bet that most of us wouldn't mind too terribly much if the process took just a tiny bit less time. This yarn takes care of it. I need about 10% fewer stitches around the circumference of the sock, which makes quite a lot [...]
Testing Testing One Two Three
Short notice I know, but the most recent socks are up for testing over on ravelry. Hop on over for details. I'm picking testers by December 25, so if you want to try you should go there sooner rather than later.
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