Friday, October 26, 2007

Needles are Flying!

I finished the Zig Zaggy scarf. The Knit Picks yarn I used, Andean Silk, is an extremely soft alpaca, wool and silk blend. It is so soft, in fact, that I thought it might be too nice for my son, who was the intended recipient of this scarf. I thought about gifting it to my stepfather instead, on the assumption that he might appreciate it a bit more than a 10 yo. In the end, I decided to give it to MathBoy after all. The color choices and the zaniness of the stripes seemed more appropriate for a 10 yo than for Bill. Here it is:
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I am pretty happy with it, but not as happy as I was with the Chevron scarf. The whole thing got on my nerves by the time I was done. That often happens with scarves for me--I have a short knitting attention span. The Yarn Harlot said in one of her books that she has the attention span and the discipline of the average 3yo when it comes to knitting projects, and I think I am the same way. I love scarves until I am about halfway through them, then I hate them until they are done. This one in particular became annoying because of the color changes and the endless garter stitch. The striping, which seemed liked such a "fun innovation" when I began the scarf, became especially irritating. I was craving something more subtle.

That (combined with this week's 6 hours of continuing legal education) may be why I made such good progress on these socks:
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Anastasia Socks in Misty Mountain Farm Jubilee sock yarn, the Virginia Creeper colorway. I lovelovelove this yarn! It is so pretty and very soft. The muted colors of this yarn really appeal to me lately, so I have been much more eager to work on these socks than some of my other, more brightly colored projects. I also love the pattern and am very happy with the way the socks are shaping up. These are going to be a Christmas gift, and I do hope I've got the sizing right.

I also started this scarf, which is intended for my brother for Christmas:
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The pattern is the Yarn Harlot's one-row scarf. It is as easy as can be, reversible, and working up super-fast. I am holding together 2 strands of Plymouth Suri Merino (one handpaint, one plain), and using a 10 1/2 needles. This project is perfect mindless TV knitting, and I am really pleased with the heathery result of using the 2 strands of coordinated colors. Of course, I am not quite to the halfway point, which is about when I start to get tired of scarves. We'll see how happy I am with it in a few more days.

Meanwhile, I started another sock (remember that short attention span I mentioned). Here is my version of Charade, done toe-up instead of top down, in the Pueblo colorway of Cider Moon Glacier:
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I like this stitch pattern very much, but, although I like the feel of this yarn, I am not in love with the colorway. It's hard to put my finger on why; it may be the intense contrast between the coppery color as opposed to the blues and the greens. This picture does not depict the colors withe perfect accuracy--the copper is somewhat lighter and brighter IRL. Oh well. Meh. I am making these for my mom for Christmas, but I feel a little bad about the fact that I don't love the color. Hopefully she'll like it.

Next up: I am thinking of doing another Chevron with this color combo:
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Zen String Serendipity Sport in Aubergine and November. I can't wait to give it a try to see if these colors will work together. But I have to finish the Suri Merino scarf and the Anastasia socks first--I have more than enough projects going right now, even with my knitting ADD.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Clematis Needles & Harmony Socks. Oh, oops.

OK, family: this is a 100% knitting entry, so you may want to skip it.

The Fiesta Boomerang socks are almost done. Man, that sportweight knits up fast! I used size 2 needles for the foot and leg of the socks, and size 1.5 for the ribbing at the top. Look at the new needles I got just in time to do the ribbing on these socks:
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The new Knit Picks Harmony dpns. I ordered these because I really needed a set of size 1.5 needles and could not find them anywhere. The very nice ladies at my LYS looked at me like I had two heads when I asked for size 1.5 needles, and they seemed to be pretty scarce online as well. I just happened to stop by the Knit Picks website one day and, lo and behold, the Harmony needles had just been added to their website. These needles are great: very pointy, very smooth, good price. I absolutely love these needles. (In fact, the full sock set would be a great gift for my birthday, if anyone would like to drop a hint in my hubby's ear....) I included the needles in this picture because I thought it was a funny (but unfortunate) coincidence how they match this yarn. I enjoy the pretty and unusual colors of the Harmony needles, but it actually is somewhat of a drawback that the colors are a bizarrely perfect match to the colors of the yarn.

I had a little surprise the other day when I wound up my Misty Mountain Farm yarn in the Virginia Creeper colorway. I had thought it looked quite nice in the skein--obviously, or I would not have bought it--but I was totally unprepared for just how gorgeous the colors would be when it was wound up. Ever since, it has had me under its spell, calling to me with its lovely mauves, grays, blues, browns and greens. I finally gave in yesterday. Look at how pretty it is:
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It's a little splitty, but it's soft and I'm totally in love with the colors.