As always, I have lots of sock knitting to report. But you’re in luck! I went on a bit of a forced sock knitting hiatus while waiting for pretty new yarn to arrive, and have made some progress on a few non-socky projects in the past week or so. Case in point:
Ok, fine…yes, those are socks. But see how tiny they are? Each baby sock used exactly one color pattern repeat of my leftover Opal Ladybug yarn; and I made a matching hat, so it wasn’t just socks. These were gifted to my co-worker who is expecting his first baby later this month, and I think they came out really cute. It’s good to know I can squeeze a pair of adult women’s socks, as well as a baby hat and pair of socks from one ball of Opal; the leftover bits of sock yarn are starting to accumulate…
In other non-sock news, the Curlicue coverlet continues to curl:
This photo was taken after I used up the second skein of yarn, and as you can see, I am partway through the 6th section of the pattern. So far, so good.
Had enough of non-sock content? Oh good! Your reward is a look at my new stash of Trekking and Lorna’s Laces beauty. First of all is the Trekking:
From left to right: Trekking 66, 90, 102, and 67
They are incredibly beautiful, much more so than the photo shows. I knew this would be the case, which was why I wanted to be able to see the options in person rather than ordering blindly off the Web, but Salem is an insufferable pit when it comes to pretty sock yarn. I think I chose well, despite this setback: The 90 and 102, being interesting yet neutral, are reserved for Jeremy, should he find them acceptable; the 67 will soon be socks for my Aunt Stacy, who requested light socks to go with her nursing uniform. I chose the 66 because I couldn’t really tell what it would look like; it arrived with wonderfully subtle navy and green and violet tones that of course didn’t make it into my photo, and I may well make a pair of socks for myself with that skein.
The fifth skein of Trekking I bought was color 115, described on one site as “grey owl”. It looks like black and white tweed in all the photos I found online, but in real life it has quite a bit of purple mixed in as well. I still like it, but decided it would not go in the stash of Jeremy-friendly sock yarn, so I am making a pair of socks for my aunt with it:
The pattern, which shows up fine in person but dreadfully in this photo, is Chutes-n-Ladders from the Six Sox Knitalong. I like how it looks, but am concerned about whether it is making the cuff too tight, even though I increased from #0 DPNs to #1s. I’m a little annoyed with it, truth to tell, so it has been marinating for a few days while I try to decide whether to rip back to the heel and try out another pattern or an increased number of stitches. Never fear, though, I already have another sock going, thanks to these superheroes:
Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Vera and Aslan
I bought my very first skeins of Lorna’s Laces (also sight unseen) along with the Trekking, and was very happy with the arrivals. I immediately wound up a skein of the Aslan colorway to begin a pair of socks for my grandpa:
These are the Spey Valley socks from Knitting on the Road. I increased the stitch count to 84 (it was 63 in the book) for a manly-sized sock, and then decreased by 6 sts after 4″ in a nod to leg shaping. You can probably tell right where the decrease happened because the yarn started pooling differently, but so far I am very happy with both the look and feel of the sock. This yarn is lovely, soft, and smooth, and I will be interested to find out how it handles washing. As you can see above, I got three skeins of each color, and am hoping to knit a pair of ankle socks for my small feet from the yarn remaining from this pair.
Well, that’s all for the time being. Tune in tomorrow for an action shot of cream of asparagus soup, and a recipe too (fancy that!).