Unraveled, Week 32/2024

It's Wednesday again (already?), and that means it's time to join in with Kat and the Unravelers -- with an FO!

Apologies for the terrible photo, but we had a couple of thunderstorms yesterday and more rain overnight and this morning, so it's a bit gloomy outside (and let's be honest, dark gray socks are always going to be hard to photograph). These were finished up just before I went to bed last night -- I was determined to finish them, even though it meant weaving in ends at an hour at which my eyesight was not at its best! There's not too much to say about these because they're not terribly exciting. I used my stockinette sock recipe over 72 stitches on size 0/2.0 mm needles. The yarn is probably the most exciting thing about these in that it's from deep stash. This yarn was so old that I can't even find a record of it in my Knit Picks order history, which means I bought it prior to 2010, which is as far back as my order history goes. The editing history on the yarn's Ravelry page indicates that it was marked discontinued in September 2009, and I likely bought it on clearance around then (I suspect to add enough to my cart to get free shipping). That means the yarn had been in my stash likely since before Mo was born! These are for my father-in-law for a holiday gift for this year, and I suspect he'll be more enthusiastic about the colorful nepps than I was.

I now have zero projects on the needles, so this morning I'll have to start something new to keep me awake during two work meetings today. I think a charity hat will be up first, but I'm contemplating my next big project (another sweater, maybe?).

I've been trying to get to my reading in the past week but have been thwarted by a lot of work, so I've only finished one book.

My brother gave me a copy of Persepolis for my birthday this year, which was a nice surprise because it's a book I'd been wanting to read. This is a graphic novel (part of a series) about the author's childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It was interesting to read about her understanding (and frequent misunderstanding) of what was going on around her, though I'll admit that I often felt confused -- though perhaps that was the intention -- about the politics surrounding the events. I know that my knowledge of the history of Iran is limited, so maybe I just need to read a bit more to get a little more context to fully appreciate this book. I gave it 3 stars.

This week I am focused on reading A Suitable Boy because I somehow got a week behind -- but I am past page 1000! I still have nearly 500 pages left to read, but at least I feel like I'm in the home stretch.

What are you making and reading this week?

In Which I Start to Lose My Mind

Friends, the way I can tell that it's Rhinebeck week and I am not at all prepared is by how crazy I have gotten with the knitting. But first, for anyone who was concerned about my finishing in time, let me ease your mind with this photo:

Sorry for scarring your retinas this early in the day; I snapped this just as I was about to wrap them. These, obviously, are my father's birthday socks, finished over breakfast yesterday morning and then quickly treated to a citric acid treatment and a block. I worked on them as much as I could over the weekend, but there were enough errands and chores to do that I only managed to get to halfway through the toe by the time I was off to bed on Sunday evening. Thankfully I had a bit of extra time yesterday morning because Rainbow was off from school for an in-service day and spent the day at the office with me, so we didn't need to leave the house quite as early as normal. I did give myself a bit of a heart attack when I managed to somehow yank all the stitches off the needles as I was in the process of grafting the toe of that second sock, but I got everything mostly back in place and thankfully black yarn hides all manner of goofs (not to mention that my father will never know the difference if the graft isn't perfect). So they are done and blocked and ready to be presented to my father at dinner tonight. I used 87 g of my skein of Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce for these, leaving me some leftovers to add to my crochet blanket.

After finishing the socks, I got to that point where I felt like I had to cast on all the things -- I mean, I do have a lot of hours in the car coming up later this week, and I'll need some variety while I'm away! Yesterday at lunch I started a new hat for my nephew:

Despite the fact that the darker color looks blue here (bad early morning light, sorry), it's actually black, the same black as in the socks. I'm using two half skeins of FDW Traveler (sport weight) that were in my grab back to make a Halloween-ish hat. I used a new-to-me cast on for the brim, and once I get through the twisted ribbing, I'll be doing stripes with the two colors with some slipped stitches for interest.

I also started another little project last night, and this one I'm hoping to wrap up before I leave on Thursday. Remember that cute hat with the leaf on it? I'm making a pair of mittens to match.

I'm using the Snow Day Mittens pattern, with the leftover green from the hat for the cuffs and non-superwash blue yarn for the hands. I knit this entire mitten, including weaving in the ends, last night, so I think I can reasonably expect to finish the pair before I leave Thursday morning.

There will be more new projects cast on while I'm on the trip. Yarn has been wound and just needs to be put in project bags with appropriate needles.

The two skeins on the left are the latest shipment from the FDW Just Desserts club that I'm using for socks for Rainbow (toe up, which is why I've already divided it in half so I can knit until I basically run out of yarn). The mini skein in the center will be used for contrasting heels and toes. The blue and copper-y skeins on the right are from Dusty Tree Dyeworks and will be used for a new shawl design. (Rebecca also makes amazing soap and wool wash, by the way!)

As if all the knitting isn't scatterbrained enough, reading has also been less than focused. I'm nearly finished with Just Mercy and hope to get through the last 25 or so pages tonight. I also got notice over the weekend that my hold was up on The Nickel Boys from the library, so I started that yesterday as well. At least I should get some good reading time this weekend when I need a break from knitting!

Finished and Finishing

Having a holiday and a day off in the middle of the week really throws off my schedule, but I'm pretty sure today is Thursday and one of my regular blogging days.

Yesterday went fairly well; I find that it's easier to fast as I get older, and I think I sufficiently hydrated on Tuesday so I didn't get the horrible dehydration headache I usually get. My only side effects, as it were, from fasting were that I was really cold and really tired. I was actually too tired to knit at the end of the day, if you can believe it!

Yom Kippur, like all Jewish holidays, begins in the evening, at sundown, and there's a really beautiful service that opens it that begins with a prayer called Kol Nidre (here's a video if you'd like to hear it). The service my parents and brother went to started at 6 p.m., so we were in a rush to eat our big pre-fast meal so they could get there on time. We stayed at their house to clean up the dinner for them and then headed home, where we were able to watch the service at our synagogue online. While we watched, I was able to finish up this sweet little project:

Pattern: Little Worsted Sock Arms by Stephanie Lotven, size 6-12 months
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Mountain Tweed DK (85% wool/15% nylon) in a OOAK green and Bona Fide (100% superwash merino) in Pizza Pi(e)
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)
Started/Completed: September 29/October 8

This was a fun knit, though I'll readily admit it was rather fiddly because there are a lot of ends to weave in and not much space in which to weave them. I also substituted a DK yarn, which worked okay, but the fabric is a little loose for my taste. It works fine for a little sweater, but I'm planning to knit one of these for Rainbow eventually and will be sure to use a true worsted for hers.

My favorite part about this sweater is the sleeves. The yarn is dyed so that the stripes follow the digits of pi, so it's completely non-repeating and thus I didn't need to worry about trying to get them to match. The colors in this version are meant to represent common pizza toppings: red/brown for pepperoni or sausage, taupe for mushrooms, white for onions, green for green peppers, and black for black olives. There's a significant amount of yarn left, so I'll likely use it to make a hat, either for my nephew or to add to the charity pile.

Now that this is off the needles, I've turned all my attention to finishing up my father's birthday socks, and it's getting down to the wire. I've only just finished the first sock.

Ideally I will finish the second by the end of the weekend, because the black dye has been coming off on my fingers as I knit (pretty common for very saturated colors), so I want to give the finished socks a citric acid soak before I gift them and will need to allow time for them to dry after they're washed.

In my reading, I am very close to finishing up the Inspector Gamache I've been listening to and should be able to put it on my "read" shelf by the end of the day. I'm about a third of the way through Just Mercy and enjoying it quite a lot; I hope to make serious headway on it this weekend when I can stay up a little later to read. I've also been keeping an eye on my holds from the library, and it looks like I'll be getting The Nickel Boys in the next few days. At least that one I'll be able to read while I knit!

This weekend is my 20th high school reunion -- crazy! Because it's a small school, there's not a big to-do, but there are activities at the school on Friday and Saturday, so Rainbow and I are attending a few on Saturday. It is her school now, too, so it should be fun to go together!

Also on tap for the weekend? Going through the photos from last weekend's sweater pattern photo shoot and getting the pattern ready to launch next week!

Wool Weather

Botanically printed sidewalk on the way to work

Though I first noticed it over the weekend, the beginning of the new week has formally announced the arrival of autumn. Yesterday was cool and rainy, and all day I felt like I couldn't get warm and my nose wouldn't stop running. I was thankful for the knit shawl I brought with me to work!

I am nearly done with my nephew's sweater; tonight should see the completion of the second sleeve and the final weaving in of ends. Then all I will need to do is find and sew on a button for it to be finished!

As soon as the sweater is done, I will turn all my focus to my father's socks, as I now have only a week until his birthday. While I'm sure he wouldn't mind an IOU, I'd like to give him a completed pair, and realistically if I focus I shouldn't have much trouble doing it.

I'm currently at five inches for the foot and need to get to eight before I start the toe.

Tonight marks the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. That means I will be fasting from after dinner tonight until dinnertime tomorrow. Fasting always makes me cold, so I expect that when we get home from services, I'll be curled up under a blanket for the rest of the day. I might manage a little knitting or spinning, but really it's a day for rest and reflection (and then, once the fast is over, for some serious rehydration -- I can manage just fine with the not eating, but it's the lack of water that really gets to me!). See you back here on Thursday!

WIP Wrangling

After a beautiful, warm weekend, we've been plunged back into winter here in Western Pennsylvania. I walked to work in a snow squall this morning, and while it's nice to have another excuse to wear my woolies, it feels a bit like torture after Mother Nature has teased us with some truly lovely weather (not to mention that it's really depressing to see all the spring flowers drooping under the weight of snow).

At least with this cold snap it no longer feels so ridiculous to be knitting a colorwork sweater! After neglecting my Humulus for several days to work on the baby sweater (and then doing a lot of spinning over the weekend), I picked it up again Sunday night and am now extremely close to starting the ribbing at the bottom of the body.

When I started this project, I'd hoped to get it done by the end of April, but I'm not sure if that'll actually happen. I'm sure the sleeves will go quickly, but there is still the baby sweater to finish -- and as the baby is due in less than two weeks, I really do need to get a move on!

Late last week, I finished the yoke and put the sleeve stitches on holders, so I'm on to the fast part of the body. I know it won't take long to finish this, but it's so tempting to keep knitting on my sweater instead. If I can be really focused and productive and get both sweaters done by the end of next week, I'll be very happy.

I'm also still working on the Mister's socks, which really haven't been any sort of priority and have only seen action during my lunch break knitting. But I'm in the home stretch now, having just turned the heel of the second sock. I have reached the boredom stage with them at this point, so they're a bit of a slog. At least they require a minimum level of attention!

The Theme Is Stockinette

I am in a very stockinette place right now. Considering how busy life has been the past several weeks, it's not entirely a bad place to be. For me, stockinette is soothing because it is mindless and repetitive. I know that last week, after very long and very mentally arduous days at work, it was such a balm to be able to sit down with my knitting and just knit in the round for an hour or two.

The main stockinette project at the moment is my Humulus. Though I'll be the first to admit that the body isn't as stimulating as the colorwork yoke, I am still very much enjoying knitting this, and I like seeing the small variations in color and fabric density in the fabric I am creating.

I believe I'm about halfway down the body at this point, if not a little more, and I can get a couple of inches knit in a good evening of knitting, so I expect that body will be finished before too long. I'm now alternating my second and third skeins of the main color and have enough remaining on both that I'm confident I will finish the body before they run out. That could mean that I will end up with an extra skein of yarn -- and that means more Buoy to play with once the sweater is done!

The other stockinette project is the socks I've been knitting for the Mister. Even though his feet are only about an inch longer than mine, they seem so much longer, so there's a lot of stockinette. I finished the first one last night and weighed it and the leftover yarn, and it looks like I should just barely be able to squeak out the second sock from what I have left. I'm glad I decided on a shorter leg!

Office still life with giant man sock

Soon I'll be knitting something other than stockinette in the round, as it's just hit me that we're already a third of the way through the month of April and I have some baby gift knitting to do -- our neighbors are expecting a little girl, and I believe she's due to arrive later this month. I've had this bright watermelon pink Knit Picks Shine Worsted in my stash for years (I only used three skeins of it for another baby gift several years ago) and think it will be perfect for a spring/summer baby.

I'm planning to knit another Hyphen, this time in the smallest size, as I know it knits up quickly and adorably. It will be the first of several additional sweaters from the pattern, as Rainbow's next sweater will be one in the largest size and I'll also be making a miniature one for her American Girl doll. And all of these will be some shade of pink. If I get sick of it halfway through the second one, I have only myself to blame.

Huge Sigh of Relief

Friends, I have good news: The man socks are officially done. I did not knit fast enough to deliver my dad's socks to him on Friday night, but I did finish them up over the weekend and they will be handed over very soon.

Pattern: Improvised simple waffle rib (two rounds of 2x2 ribbing, two rounds of knit) with a heel flap and gusset and wedge toe, worked over 68 stitches
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll (75% superwash merino/25% nylon) in Fedora, two skeins
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: February 16/March 6

There's not much to say about these socks. They weren't nearly as boring as the black ribbed socks, but it was close. I had to turn on all the lights in my bedroom to Kitchener the toe because of the dark yarn and my aging eyes, too. I am pleased with how they came out, though, and when my dad tried on the completed sock on Friday night, it was a perfect fit, so that makes me happy. I will be happier, though, if I don't have knit dark man socks again for quite a while!

Because I finished this pair up on Sunday night, I had to pick something quickly to pack in my work bag for my lunchtime knitting. I decided on a skein of handspun that went with me to Florida in December but wasn't touched -- it has been waiting patiently, after all. The yarn was superwash merino from Into the Whirled that I spun last year as part of the Mega SAL; the colorway is called Death (quite cheerful, don't you think?). I cast on yesterday and already have the cuff and about an inch of leg done.

I'm knitting these on my more usual US 0/2.0 mm needles for a denser fabric, and the ribbing is definitely quite dense. I have a feeling that after all the ribbing I've worked on the last two pairs of socks, these stockinette ones are going to fly off the needles.

My First Point of Libra has been getting regular attention, and I'm quickly approaching the end. I finished the first border last night, so tonight I will bind that side off and begin on the final border.

For a while there I really thought I was going to have a ton of the handspun left, but the ball of yarn has gotten noticeably smaller in the last couple of days. I have small amount of the gradient set colors leftover as well, perhaps enough for another square for Rainbow's long-neglected log cabin blanket. Hmm, perhaps when the shawl is done I should dig that WIP out of hibernation. So many ideas, so little time!

Interruption

Last night I was supposed to go to knit night. I finally had a Wednesday when the Mister was in town/home to be with Rainbow -- the first one this year, actually -- and I was all excited. And then no one else could come. So I spent the evening having a quiet dinner by myself, knitting a swatch for a design submission, and then curling up under a blanket to watch old episodes of Gilmore Girls and work on my shawl. I am now officially on the border, with two garter ridges down and 13 more to go on this side.

I think I am going to put this project on hold for the time being, though, in the interest of finishing up my father's socks. I finished the heel on the second today, and I think if I can buckle down and work on it tonight and tomorrow, I might just finish it in time to present him with the finished pair when we have dinner with my parents tomorrow night.

This weekend I am headed to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival for the first time in many years (I think the last time I went was 2008). I'm taking a class on Saturday morning and then might stroll through the marketplace a bit, though I'm not really planning on buying anything (shocking, right?). I'm planning to wear my Zeccola Cowl -- the original sample -- so if you're there and you see me, please do say hi!

Garter Party

As I had intended, I have been working steadily on my First Point of Libra in an effort to get it wrapped up as quickly as possible. I'm feeling pretty good about the progress I've made, and I can definitely see the end in sight. I'm nearly finished with the penultimate stripe in the gradient, and if I can get Rainbow to bed quickly enough this evening, I might even finish the last one. Then all that will remain is the borders of the main color.

One thing that I have been doing with this shawl to keep myself from being crazy at the end is weaving in the ends as I go. Each time I've finished a stripe or a section, I've woven in the ends. I'm leaving little tails on them so that if I stretch the shawl when I block it they won't pop loose (if you leave a bit of a tail and the fabric stretches, some of that excess can be pulled into the fabric), so all I'll need to do at the end is trim them. Weaving in ends is one of those things that I don't exactly despise doing, but it certainly takes time that I'd rather use for actual knitting. This shawl does have a lot of ends (I think about two dozen, if I'm counting correctly), so that would likely take a good portion of an evening to deal with if I left them all for the end. This way, I can spend about five minutes here and there and save myself the aggravation.

The sun came out a bit over the weekend, so I was finally able to get some glamour shots of my finished Zeccola Cowl in fingering weight:

I got a good amount of additional length when I blocked it (it's now approximately 68 inches around), and it fits perfectly around my neck doubled. I wore it over the weekend, and I wore it to work today (it was pretty chilly this morning). It works perfectly to keep me a little warmer when it's not cold enough for a sweater.

I ended up using about 767 yards total of the two yarns, so just slightly less than the total used for the original. I probably could have squeezed out two more repeats if I really wanted to, but I'm happy with the length I got. The leftovers will go into the stash and perhaps become a square in Rainbow's log cabin blanket, if I ever get it out again.

My father's socks are still in progress and moving along regularly. The first sock was finished Friday night, and now I'm a little more than halfway done with the leg of the second sock. I'd like to finish them up as soon as possible, though I'm not sure that that will happen this week. I do, of course, want to get them to my dad soon so he can make some use of them before spring really comes, and I think he'd be happy to have them now, as he's been sick for the past week. He and I are alike in that our feet are always cold, so I'd love to help him feel better with some cozy wool socks!

On to the Next

Now that my cowl is done, I'm focusing most of my evening/weekend knitting time on getting my First Point of Libra done. I'm very close to finishing the main triangle and should be able to wrap it up tonight. Here's a pretty bad picture of my progress:

Up next will be the rest of the gradient stripes, which will be easy but also long. The one redeeming part about the main triangle is that the rows have gotten shorter, but now they will be getting longer. At least this knitting is fairly mindless, so it's a good project to work on while watching TV or a movie or chatting with friends. There's no counting to do or stitch pattern to follow, and that's something my frequently exhausted brain very much appreciates at the end of the day.

I'm still working on my father's socks and rapidly approaching the toe of the first sock. Although they feel like they are working up faster than my father-in-law's socks, they might end up taking longer at the rate I've been going (though bear in mind that I've really only been working on them during my lunch break at work and occasionally a bit in the evening while I wait for dinner to cook). I cannot express how happy I will be when this pair of socks is done and I can knit something in a color that I can actually see!

There have been many signs pointing to an early spring lately (all our spring flowers have shoots poking up through the ground, and I keep hearing birds tweeting in the morning), so despite the fact that it snowed again today, I'm starting to get a sense that I won't have much time to enjoy my Evenlight if I don't finish it up soon. So while I'm trying to focus on getting my shawl done, I think it might take a back seat to the sweater every now and then. The shawl just has to be finished by the end of March, but I fear that it will be too warm to wear the sweater if I let it sit until then. The good news is that I have a day off from work coming up (a day, I should add, when I'll be off without Rainbow), so I'm planning to use it to the fullest extent and get as much knitting done as I can.

I've Reached That Stage

You know the stage I'm talking about -- that point in any project where you've lost the luster of the initial cast on and are wallowing in the interminable middle. That point when you can't wait to be done but it seems like all the time you're putting in isn't really resulting in any progress. I'm kind of at that stage with my Zeccola Cowl. Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying the pattern. It's just that I've been working on it almost every night and it seems to be moving so slowly despite the fact that I've gotten faster at knitting the pattern now that I nearly have it memorized.

I will say that in the last couple of evenings, I have noticed that it's become more of a pain to flip it around as I finish knitting half a round, so that's a sure sign that it's grown. I finished up the 12th repeat last night and started on the 13th. When I measured it last night before packing it away, it was approximately 44 inches long. I think that means that 16 or 18 repeats is going to be the magic number, but we shall see. Though I haven't weighed my yarn, the cakes are noticeably smaller. If I can keep up the pace, I might just finish it by next week.

Because I finished up the black socks last week, I needed a new lunchtime project for my work bag, so I thought I might as well get started on the socks for my father so he has some chance of actually wearing them before winter is over. The yarn for these is only marginally better -- dark brown, a colorway called Fedora (as with the black socks, the yarn is Knit Picks Stroll). I decided to make the stitch pattern a little less boring this time around (but not too wild -- let's not forget these are for a man who likes very plain things), so I'm doing two rounds of 2x2 rib followed by two rounds of stockinette. The result is a waffle-like fabric that I quite like the look of:

I'm pretty sure that when I'm done with this second pair of dark socks, I'm going to have to dig through my stash to find the brightest, most colorful sock yarn I have in my stash to knit the next pair. I'm also making a mental note to not ask for color preferences anymore (or maybe I'll just knit something other than socks for the dads next year).

Eerie, Pennsylvania

Some of you may be aware of the fact that the G-20 Summit is going on right now here in Pittsburgh. The Mister and I are both lucky enough not to work downtown, where most of the excitement is, but the city does have a weird sense of shut down about it. He drove me in to work this morning, but things seemed okay this afternoon, so I walked home as usual. It was a truly surreal experience. There was very little traffic but there were several news helicopters hovering over my neighborhood, and a small group of protesters (perhaps broken off from the main event) crossed my path when I was about halfway home.

At times like these, it's always helpful to have some knitting with me, especially some fairly mindless knitting that can be really soothing. My current sock certainly fits the bill.

This would be the first of the Mister's family socks. The Malabrigo sock is a lot thinner than I'd remembered, so I've gone down to a size 0 (2 mm) needle for the heel, gusset, and foot. I'm maintaining the 2x2 rib on the instep, but other than that, it's just a plain sock. The decreased needle size combined with the Mister's big feet make for a rather time-consuming sock, but that's pretty much why I started with his. After finishing these, my socks and Rainbow's socks will be a breeze!

Speaking of mindless knitting, I am finally on the last stripe of my brother's scarf. I'm going to knit as fast as I can this evening to get as much done as I can, and I'm pretty confident in saying that it will be done by this weekend. Expect to see it complete in the next post (and please hold me to that promise!).

Real Men Wear Knit Socks

The Mister has his first hand-knit socks of 2009.

Pattern: stockinette worked over 64 sts with a 2x2 ribbed cuff, slip-stitch heel, and wide toe
Yarn: Patons Stretch Socks (41% cotton, 39% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic), colorway Licorice, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: January 10/January 23

This yarn was bought on a whim when we were shopping for gift-wrapping supplies at a Michaels in December. Of course, I had to take a swing by the yarn department and saw this new yarn featured at the end of the aisle and on sale. The Mister had been complaining that, much as he liked his wool socks, they made his feet sweat a bit, so I thought the high cotton content in this yarn might be more appealing to him. He approved the color, so into the basket it went.

I liked this yarn, and not just because it was only a couple of bucks a skein. I encountered no big issues and had more than enough in each skein (a whopping 239 yards) to knit The Mister socks to his specifications -- that is, an 8" leg and a 10.5" foot -- with some leftovers. Although I haven't knit with it to know for sure, Knit Picks Risata seems to be a very similar yarn, though perhaps a little softer because its wool is merino. Perhaps the most satisfying thing about this yarn is that I can take a 10-minute drive and pick some up, without having to place an order and wait for it to ship.

The most important critic, of course, is The Mister himself. He's worn these socks twice already since I finished them last week, so I'd say that's a ringing endorsement!

But Will He Like the Flecks?*

These really got to be a slog in the end, but it's good to know that some of my holiday knitting is finished before the end of July.

Pattern: a variation on my regular stockinette
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Tweed (65% superwash merino, 25% nylon, 10% donegal), colorway Flint, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: July 23/July 31
Recipient: my father-in-law

Mixed feelings about these, really. They were easy to knit and therefore fast (heck, almost the entire foot of the first sock was completed during a screening of Mamma Mia!), and as I said, it's nice to be able to get some obligation knitting done early.

That said, I wasn't wild about the yarn. The yarn base itself is nice enough, but the donegal "flecks" drove me a little batty. This yarn is basically the normal Essential, but it looks like little bits of loose fiber were thrown in as it was being spun, and very few of them were well spun in. Many are loose enough that they can be pulled out, and I did just that frequently as I was knitting. Had these flecks been a little longer and been really spun into the yarn, I might not have minded as much.

I really think that calling this yarn a tweed is a misnomer; it's not a true tweed, and it doesn't have that wonderful sense of dimensions that you get with a yarn that is a real tweed. I'm really not sure why I bought this yarn in the first place -- worse, I have two more skeins of it in the stash! I'm hoping that it's not too far out there for my father in law, who's a little more adventurous in his choice of color in clothing than some men I know. (The Mister has already nixed the idea of using the two remaining skeins for socks for him; he doesn't do flecks.)

The good sock-knitting news is that, having done the two pairs for the dads, I've cast on another pair for me, in some yummy cranberry-colored Araucania Rancho.

Delicious, no? This is the beginning of some Merino Lace Socks from IK/Favorite Socks. In spite of the fact that I'm knitting on size 0 (2.0 mm) needles, it's a lot of fun -- I suspect it has to do with the fact that I'm knitting something other than stockinette for a change.


*At last night's bonus fifth-Wednesday Hurricane Knitters knit night, some of us had a discussion about men's preferences when it comes to yarn and how very few men seem to care for tweeds. All the men we know prefer solids (or even heathers, in some instances) to anything with "flecks." If only we had a man like Jared to knit for!

Ribbed for His Pleasure

The Mister has decided that he LOVES these socks -- shocking, I know, considering they're not a shade of gray or black. It's unfortunate that it's a tad too warm for him to wear them now.

Pattern: 2x2 rib worked over 68 stitches
Yarn: Dalegarn/Dale of Norway Baby Ull (superwash wool), color 5545 (I think), two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: March 18/March 31 (can you tell I was bored?)

The Mister would like you all to know that he has learned a lot about sock construction. For instance, he knows that this part of the sock

is the gusset (and he pointed it out entirely unprompted my this knitter). More proof that my knitty talk is rubbing off on him? After I finished taking these shots, he pulled the socks off, handed them to me, and said, "You still have to block them, right?" Oh, Mister!