Crisp
As promised, actual socks on the needles. This is the first cast on with some of the Sock Summit yarn. It's Plucky Knitter's MCN Primo in the color Barely Birch. This is a nice thick yarn, and the socks are going to be perfect for wearing around the house when it gets cooler. Assuming it ever does...it's unseasonably warm at the moment. For now we'll just have to pretend the pumpkins make it feel fall-like (please ignore the whirr of the ceiling fan in the background).
Lest You Fear I’d Forgotten
I did actually do some knitting on the trip. Not much mind you. Between the classes, the beach stomping, the rampaging up and down the coast I didn't have much time for knitting. But I did finish up the first sock and start on the second. And even more important, I totally took advantage of the biggest tree stump I've ever seen (easily twice as tall as I am and plenty big enough for you and three of your closest friends to climb inside) to snap a quick picture. See? All swoopy and soothing and sanity-protecting. They are likely to [...]
Look, Knitting!
See, look at that. A post with actual knitting content. You thought I'd strayed from the true path and it was going to be all exams/kittens/books around here, didn't you? I'm not saying your concerns were unjustified, but I can at least put your mind to rest for the moment. I have made many many tiny sock stitches. These are the sanity socks, started during the project from hell, picked up again when the neighbor kids showed up with an unexpected kitten, and continued on the flight to the woods (in between restorative naps). They're in the Casbah sock by [...]
The Mysteries of Gauge
On a lot of my recent patterns, I've included a wee little chart like this. The shaded column on the left is gauge (in stitches per inch). The shaded row on the top lists the various sizes the pattern is written in. The cells in the middle tell you what size finished object you'll get if you make a given size at a given gauge. So with this chart, if you were working at a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch, and you make the size medium, you'll get a hat with a finished size of 20 inches. This demonstrates [...]
Eeeexcellent
Well it would appear I have license to blab away. You guys are awesome for letting me know what you prefer. And I'm somehow unreasonably pleased you want to hear about it. Keeping quiet goes against my natural tendencies (or else why exactly would I have a website in the first place). It also means I'll be able to keep posting with some regularity, despite being focused on book knitting rather than personal knitting. Of course I haven't abandoned personal knitting all together. I did take a little break after the weekend of epic frustration. To keep from going into [...]
Slowest Sock Ever
You know what takes me forever to knit? Ribbing. All of that moving the yarn back and forth. It really slows me down. I haven't quite decided if 1x1 ribbing is the worst, or if that honor belongs to k1, p2 ribbing (purling is slower than knitting). I could time it, but that is way more obsessive than I'm willing to admit to. I have, however, found a way to make either sort of ribbing even slower. Throw a bunch of tiny fiddly cables in there. The more the better. And if you can ensure that the cable pattern's repeat [...]
Home Safe
As I mentioned the other day, I've been off on another marvelous little knitting trip. This one was to work with the inimitable Cat Bordhi for a week on my next book. It was an amazing experience. I left knowing that there will be more books and feeling that I have the skills and tools necessary to make them fabulous. Alas, I'm not really ready to discuss the specifics of either the class or the upcoming books. I'm still thinking it all over myself. In the meantime, I will leave you with this picture. Do you see those socks? Those [...]
That’s Better
So it seems I've not completely forgotten how to make socks. I know, it seemed for a while there as though I'd lost my way, but I'm now back on track. See? An actual, fresh off the needles, still damp on the blocker, sock. And to speak in my own defense, I haven't really ignored socks for the last two months. I actually have (yet another) super secret sock on the needles. These socks are awesome. Alas, they will have to remain secret for a while yet. You'll have to content yourself with these guys in the meantime. Now that [...]
Winners!
Thanks to everyone who entered. It seems that you guys are as taken with Dream in Colors marvelous work as I am. I'm happy to announce that Ariel and Andrea were the lucky commenters (as chosen by random.org). I've sent off emails asking for their mailing addresses and will mail out the yarn as soon as I hear back (which is good, as I might fall too deeply in love with it if I keep it around any longer...sending yarn away is hard). Meanwhile, in actual knitting news, anyone remember these guys? The sock I cast on in Nova Scotia? [...]
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