Little Things

On Saturday, Yvonne had a group of us over to her house for lunch and some knitting. I didn't want to take anything too big or complicated, knowing that we'd be talking and I'd be easily distracted, so I took some sock yarn scraps. A couple hours there, along with a couple hours last night, and I had a pair of bootees.

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees (pdf link) by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: scraps of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorways Lenore and Flower Power
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm) dpns
Started/Completed: November 15/November 16
Mods: none

These are for a friend to give to her newborn niece, by her request. They were on the needles such a short amount of time, I'm not even sure they counted as a WIP. They were fun as always, even with all the ends to weave in.

Speaking of small things, I've been knitting with some very skinny sock yarn. It's actually some rather special yarn -- recognize it?

I'm discovering that I love knitting with handspun sock yarn almost more than I love knitting with any other sock yarn. I especially love the subtle color changes. These are, unfortunately, going to be some very delicate socks because the fiber was superfine merino; the knit fabric is extremely soft but also rather flimsy. I don't think reserving them for bed socks is such a bad thing, though, because I'd hate to spend all that time prepping the fiber, spinning the yarn, and knitting the socks only to have them wear out right away.

Thanks again for all your opinions and words of advice regarding the swatch and my vest. I still have to do a few calculations to be sure, but I think I'm going to go with the smaller needle and the fabric I like. I can't see spending all that time on something only to have it come out fitting me but with poor stitch definition.