Socks Saturday: Halfway there.

After a sustained effort on Thursday, powering through the last of the toe decreases, I've finally finished the first of Amy's long-promised socks.

It's taken longer than I care to admit to find both the right pattern for this yarn and the right sizing to use as much of it up without going over. Slide by Cookie A manages to hit the right balance of interest and simplicity.

Best of all, the pattern doesn't eat up yarn the way cables or fussier patterns do. I managed to finish the sock with just a little bobbin to spare!

Now I just have to get through the second one...

The other stash.

I've been at Bandit's place for a few days now, resting and recuperating from my last semester. Aside from catching up on sleep and food, I've also been catching up with the portion of my stash that lives at his apartment.

Here's a shot of the commercial yarn that I keep stashed here. Bandit's apartment is also where I keep my yarn for home dyeing, but that isn't nearly as interesting to look at.

Right to left: laceweight merino from Rhino Fluff; Shibui mohair; Madeline Tosh Merino Light; Greenwood Fiberworks alpaca laceweight.

Top: Malabrigo worsted. Peeking out the bottom: Cascade laceweight.

Right: Two skeins of Artyarns sock yarn. Left: Cascade Heritage sock.

Do you ever take time to reconnect with forgotten stash?

Socks Saturday: Yardage chicken.

I started knitting this sock with 48 grams of yarn. This is where I've knit up to:

I now have 12 grams of yarn left.

Do you think I'm going to make it?

Socks Saturday: The definition of insanity.

In all of my sock-knitting endeavors, I've succeeded in knitting one pair of socks for myself, and two pairs of socks for Bandit. I've also started in on socks for Pickle and Amy multiple times, and frogged every single attempt.

If the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then what does this say about me?

(Pattern is Slide, by Cookie A. It doesn't look like much now, but give me another few inches and it will look awesome.)

Canadian yarn.

"Oh, oh," I told Bandit yesterday evening, over GTalk. "I have yarn!"

"Yarn?" he typed back. "Where did you get yarn from? Is it purple yarn?"

"It is purple yarn," I replied, "and it's from Canada."

"Oh no."

"Oh no?"

"That is why it snowed."

Oops.

Blown in yesterday along with the (really unreasonable amounts of) snow, was this much-anticipated package from Canada. (Addresses obviously smudged out.) What did it contain, you ask?

Not two days after posting the aubergine poll, I realized that in fact I already had the perfect yarn to knit this shawl.

Several years ago, when I was a beginning knitter still just dipping my toes into the world of nice yarn, a very generous knitter in Canada took my facetious request to take some of her stash off her hands seriously. She sent me some lovely variegated red-purple laceweight. A little abashed, I asked her how I should repay her, or should I maybe trade her something from my stash. She told me not to worry about paying her back. She said I should pay it forward instead.

I knew I wanted to make something lovely and meaningful out of that yarn. It's waited patiently in my stash for almost two and a half years. Now it's reemerged, and I'm thinking, how fitting it would be to take the kindness-gift that was given to me and work it into the kindness-gift that benefits a charity.

The problem was, that skein only had half the yardage I needed. So I scoured online yarn stores for more, and found none. Then I searched the yarn tabs on Ravelry until I found the single listing that was for sale or trade. I contacted its owner, and we quickly came to an arrangement that resulted in another skein of yarn being sent to me by another very kind lady from Canada.

And now I have yarn. Sufficient yarn, even! It's a little darker in real life than shown in this photo, but still, I'll probably overdye it with a little bit of dark gray and blue to get it to the perfect shade. As soon as I can get all my dyeing stuff in the same place (half of it is in Utah!) I can cast on. I'm beading the very outer edge, so I can knit most of the shawl before addressing the matter of choosing the right beads - perhaps a transparent pale gold, or a muted lilac?

Oh yes, I should mention. The pattern that the recipient chose is Vostok by Beth Kling.

I am really excited to get this started.

Wishful.

Suddenly, everything is craziness. It's finals week, I have to write a paper in two days, the yarn for Francie is not cooperating, my gauge for Ink was perfect for row gauge but way, way too tight for column gauge so I had to rip it out and reknit it in a larger size if I ever wanted to actually wear it...

Oh, and it's snowing outside. Again. Yes, on the first of May.

So instead of dwelling on the mess of what's going on right now, I've begun to dream about what elaborate striking things I want to knit when I have the time and leisure. Things that I know are within my capabilities, but maybe just within them, projects that I'd have to dedicate big chunks of time and concentrate on. Finished pieces that are iconic and amazing. More Nouveau Beaded Capelets, essentially.

Here are some of the things that are sitting on this list (pictures link to pattern pages on Ravelry):

 

Girasole by Jared Flood

I have to admit, I don't really know what to do with circular shawls. How do you wear one? But it doesn't really matter. I want to have knitted this, even if it's only destined to be draped over a sofa afterwards.

 

Artemis by MMario

See above.

 

Old Forge by Stephen West

The fact that this is listed as a blanket and not a shawl does much to reconcile me to knitting a Large Circular Thing. In the midst of so many delicate airy lacy things, this pattern speaks surprisingly strongly to my hearty Norse/Dwarven/metalworking/runic soft spot.

 

Raven-shawl by Gari Lynn

Speaking of Norse, here's another thing I don't usually go for - a shawl knitted up in worsted weight. Named after the two raven companions of Odin, this shawl won me over by its construction that actually looks like feathered wings.

 

Horus by Utlinde

Shawls with unique constructions that look like feathers or wings are a fairly surefire way to ensure my approval.

 

Pretty As A Peacock by Jae Koscierzynski

Yes.