Great socks.

There are a zillion beautiful sock yarns out there. Many (most?) of them are expensive. Not too expensive considering the work that goes into hand dyeing the yarns but it is nice to find some nice yarns that are affordable.

I love Knit Picks needles in a big way but I am not usually thrilled with their yarns. Some of them are nice for some projects but none of them have delighted me until I ordered some "Imagination" on a whim. This yarn is a blend of wool, alpaca and nylon which means it is comfy, warm and durable. The 25% alpaca content means the socks start to stretch out of shape fairly quickly but they always bounce right back after washing.

One skein gave me this pair of socks - not bad for under $6.00!!!

Here are some pictures of my stash.............inspiring and overwhelming at the same time! Lots to knit, a little bit to try spinning with. Working my way through it has been fun. Ha - I make it sounds like the stash is shrinking as I knit. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) I have found a couple of great new online yarn shops since these pictures were taken.

Yikes - has it really been almost two months??

I am going to have to take some pictures tomorrow and update things here. I have been doing a lot of knitting!

Biggest worry right now is that I have misplaced the binder with all of my loose patterns in it, including several that I have not had a chance to try yet. I have twenty years of collected patterns in there, some of them favourites. I have looked everywhere I can think of but no luck yet. Maybe tomorrow, right?

What is on the needles at the moment?

The purple monstrosity is a few rows longer. Not very impressive but it will be finished before I turn 50, I am sure, even if only because I want to free up the needles.

A Noro Silk Garden striped scarf. It is the second one I have made - such a fun and easy knit. Very satisfying.

A pair of Fleece Garden socks waiting to be frogged - love the yarn, hate the pattern. Not sure I want to put this yarn on my feel after all.

The February Lady Sweater in Denim Malabrigo. Still wondering about this one. I would hate to frog it at this point but I am not sure it is one I will want to wear once it is done. It took three tries to get it going properly which surprised me because it is not a difficult pattern. Knitting this sweater to work through insomnia may have had something to do with the problems, I admit.

And finished since my last post?

Samus in Madelinetosh Eyre, the softest, most beautiful yarn ever. I can't wait until it available in some new colourways again! Not crazy about how the sleeves set in the sweater, but I have worn it around the house a few times.

A wavy prayer shawl for a woman I know who has lost far too much this past year. I will take a picture of it tomorrow before I bring it to her.

I love to knit. For some reason I don't always love the finished objects which is great news for my friends and family but not so great for my own wardrobe. Maybe this will be the year that turns around. I will still be happy to give away much of my knitting, but it would also be nice to be a knitter who occasionally wears hand knit items!

What was I thinking??????

There isn't a picture of this one - not yet anyway. I am calling it the "What was I thinking" sweater. I have been knitting for most of my life. I love colour, pattern, texture, interesting things. Last spring and summer I made lots of socks, cabled items of all sorts, some funky lace gloves and some intricate clourwork mittens. After all that I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to do something simple and straightforward?"

Then I found Debbie Bliss' pattern for a garter stitch coat. It is cozy looking, has a nice shape to it and I thought it was perfect.

Right.

I am the person who when I learned to knit couldn't bring myself to finish the mandatory garter stitch scarf because I got bored after three inches. I looked at those three inches, saw that I had the hang of this knitting thing, and cast it aside and immediately made a fair isle sweater - but that story is ridiculous enough to deserve its own blog post.

I have never knit anything in garter stitch except for the occasional inch of trim on something and even that makes me squirm.

I am not even sure how I feel about the yarn. It is a nice light weight so it won't feel (or look) like I am wearing a blanket and it is a blend of alpaca, merino and silk but I am not thrilled with the feel of it. I hope it gets nicer after its first wash. It is purple, my favourite colour, but the shade doesn't sing to me like some other purple yarns do. I think I have two or three kilometres of this yarn to convert into this jacket - I was hoping to feel a little more affection for it by this point!

Both sleeves are done, both front pieces and now I am s-l-o-w-l-y working my way up the back. A small collar after that, a few hours of seaming and it will be complete - but I still don't know if I will like it. This has been an awful lot of garter stitch - a lot of boring knitting in a colour I am not sure I love. I think I have the whole "wouldn't simple knitting be a treat?" thing out of my system now. Cabled sweater, here I come! How about a Fair Isle with some of that Kauni I have in my stash?

Oh - and I have a feeling it is going to be more of a bathrobe look than a stylish jacket look on me when it is done - tall is one thing I am not and I forgot to take that into consideration.

Too bad the sparkles don't show up better in the picture. I am not normally a sparkle-knits kind of person, but when my ten year old daughter saw turquoise and sparkles in the same yarn, it was a done deal.

The best part?

When she asked me if the alpaca who gave the fleece really was turquoise and sparkly all over.

Here is the proof that I have been a "good" knitter. I made a few swatches until I got one that matched the gauge given in the pattern. I even washed, blocked and dried it before starting to knit. I found a pattern I love (Age of Aquarius sweater from Interweave Knits) and a soft yarn that will show off the cables nicely - on sale, no less. You have to love a sweater that costs less than $20 to make, even with some alpaca and mohair mixed in with the wool and acrylic.

Only trouble is, I am not feeling the love just yet. The ball of yarn is soft, squishy and kind of glow-y, the swatch is lovely and soft with nice stitch definition, my new Knit Picks Harmony needles are doing a nice job - but one full inch into this big sweater full of cables, I am not having fun yet.

I am hoping it is just because the last project off my needles was a pair of turquoise baby alpaca sparkly mittens for my daughter, and sparkles not withstanding, baby alpaca is the softest knit going. Just before that I made a scarf that was 50% mulberry silk and 50% merino wool. Maybe my hands are just having a bit of rebellion after all that luxury yarn and that is why I am finding this knit scratchy and annoying to start.

Here's to hoping it gets better, Most projects usually do - I have to confess that I rarely enjoy knitting anything for the first three inches or so. Here's to hoping that knitting up this loosely plied yarn at a relatively tight gauge will make it lovely and warm and that soon I will stop worrying about splitting every stitch.

It has been a long time since I have posted here. I still quilt but I do much more knitting than quilting these days - it is more portable! I am starting to spin, too, so there fibre of all sorts can be found all over the house!

New pictures will come soon............