Saturday, June 19, 2010

Koigu. I love Koigu

Here are my Waterfall Cable Socks. This is a design I first worked out three summers ago when I was first knitting socks. I don't even remember where I got the stitch pattern (probably Vogue Knitting), but when I first knit it, it looked to me to be water tumbling over rocks - hence the name.

The yarn is the wonderful Koigu KPPPM, colour 703 - a pale purple with flecks of both purple and the occasional orange.

Koigu Waterfall Cables complete

I like this yarn. I really like this yarn. It has a great hand, feels good on the feet, and so far (knock wood), wears really well. I like the way the yarn is dyed - almost too much colour for a cabled design, but not quite. If I have a complaint (and it's a small one), it's that the skeins are small and I wasn't sure I'd have enough yarn for a cabled pattern, even for my short feet. (I did - crisis averted.)

My only other complaint - and it's really not a complaint, it's an observation - why is it so hard to find this yarn in Canada? It's Canadian yarn!! I have nothing against buying from Americans, but why should I?

Sunday, June 13, 2010

June Sock Yarn Review (yes, again)

Still Lorna's, but a different colour. Franklin's Panopticon is the first in Lorna's Color Commentary Series. These aren't colours I'd necessarily choose myself (good thing we're all different), but so far I'm liking this one.

I've done a Toffee Sock in Lorna's earlier, so I chose another simple sock - a Butterscotch Sock to show off the yarn. The Butterscotch Sock has a 2x1 rib for the leg, then five rounds of plain before an Eye of Peacock heel flap. The 2x1 rib is good and stretchy, with a little less purling than a straight 2x2.

LL - June Franklin first sock

You can see from the finished sock that it's easy to see how the yarn will work up, even on the ribbed leg.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The best laid plans

I had planned to do Red Rover, but because I have already made a Toffee Sock in Lorna's, thought I'd do something different.

This is as far as I got before I decided it wasn't going to work.

Lornas - Seed Stitch Rib cast-on

It's a seed stitch rib - nice enough and I liked the leg, but thought it was getting a bit more complicated than I like for a review - I want the yarn to show itself off, not the design. And then, I made the mistake of forgetting I was working over 72 stitches, so by the time I did a heel flap over 40, I was too far gone to change my mind. Stubborn isn't my middle name for nothing. (My friends used to say that I should use the word "determined", not stubborn. I believe my kid's version was "pig-headed".

So this is what I did instead. I changed colours to Franklin's Panopticon. I like the colours - maybe not my favourites, but so far, the yarn hasn't let me down. Soft, no knots - perhaps a little finer than I would prefer, but it knits like a dream.

LL - Franklin progress

Hard to go wrong with Lorna's. The only thing I don't like is there are simply too many colours.


The Red Rover was too complicated, so this is a plain 2 x 1 rib sock - not quite vanilla - that's why it's butterscotch.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

June Sock Yarn Review

I'm not finished reporting on May's socks (they're done - they're just not photographed), but here is June's yarn for review - one of my old favourites - Lorna's Laces. I know already this is a tried and true yarn - the colours are good, the yarn is very high quality, and I have never had a pair of socks turn out bad.

LL Red Rover

I almost put it back in the box when I pulled it, but then changed my mind. When I started doing this, the idea was that I would pull from my yarn box with my eyes closed - the only time I would put back a yarn would be if I had already reviewed it. I have knit with Lorna's before, but I haven't reviewed it, so this will be the month.

Lorna's, don't let me down.