October Sock Yarn - All finished

Actually, these were all done much earlier this month, but it's not been the kind of month where I spent a lot of time on the computer - except for working. (I worked a lot. I'm getting too old for this.) (Does that matter?)

This was a great yarn to knit. One slubby bit - didn't bother me. The yarn is firm and on 2.25 mm needles, makes a nice firm sock.

These are very stripey - not sort of stripey, but very. Red, white and blue for Les Habs - my beloved Montreal Canadiens. When I was knitting these socks I thought of my father. Dad died recently - and no, he wasn't a Montreal fan. Dad was a dyed in the wool Toronto Maple Leafs fan - such a nice man and so misguided. When I was a kid, Dad watched hockey every Saturday night. I wasn't all that keen on hockey, but if I watched with him, and brought him cheese and crackers at half time, he'd let me stay up to watch The Saint.

I started cheering for Montreal because it made life more interesting to cheer for a team my father clearly did not like. (And was better than his team. Even in the sixties, that wasn't all that difficult.) I had no idea that to be a girl from Winnipeg cheering for Les Habs was not something I should do. We learn what it means to be Canadian in so many ways.

Yarn: Biscotte & Cie's Bella
Colourway: Go Habs, Go!!
Needles: 2.25 mm
Gauge: 8.0 (actually just a titch over)

Coming up for November: Perchance to Knit.

So many yarns, so few months.

Now, off to knit. It's Halloween and the kids have finally gone home.

First sock finished

Can you say stripes? Can you say Montreal Canadiens? Yes to both.

My first sock is finished and I am very pleased with the result, although (admittedly), not yet used to the stripes. With all the socks I've knit you'd think I'd had had one that striped the way this one did, but nada.

No knots, no slubby bits on the first sock.

This is Thanksgiving Day - I'm off to work for a few hours to do catch - up, but know that when I get home, my husband will have cooked a nice Thanksgiving supper. We're doing chicken, since even with help from his son, there is no chance the three of us will do damage to a turkey - but when you think of it, it's the thought that counts.

For me, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the winter. When we had a cottage, this was the weekend we boarded up the windows and made ready for next season.

We have much to be thankful for.

Heel Flap Finished

Up and over the heel flap. The stitches have been picked up for the gusset.

The snow flew here yesterday - briefly, but it's cold enough that there is still a frosting of snow on the ground in shaded places. It feels a bit odd, not because it's October - here on the prairies, it's often this cold in October and rare that we don't have snow before Halloween, but we still have green leaves on the trees and our grass is still green. (Note to self: take photos.)

We had an unusually warm September - enough so that September was the warmest month of the year so far. Go figure. As one commentator said, "Take Manitoba out of the oven: we think it's done." It's been a blessing for our farmers, who had been looking at a less-than-average crop. This one may be better than average, because there was so much heat during September.

October is proving herself to be different. With Thanksgiving upon us, this is really what most of us think as being the last non-winter outdoor weekend of the year - time to close up the cottage or finish taking out the garden. That's my job for the rest of the day.

At least when the weather is cold, it doesn't seem illogical to be knitting socks.

Now done up the leg

This yarn is delightful - it does stripe - broad stripes of about five rounds each, with an absolutely predictable pattern - white, blue red ad infinitum. Very Montreal Canadiens.

It's an easily knit sock - the yarn has a relatively tight twist, so I have had no problems with splitting and, as I predicted from the cuff, this will be a nice, firm sock.

You can probably tell the stripes still amaze me. This is the first sock I've knit (and there have been one or two) where the stripes were like this - not created by each change in colour being more or less a round, but by lengths of one colour after another. There's little shift between colours, with the exception of the red change to white, where there is a little transfer. There is no purple, however, where the blue and red meet. The stripes simply change colour.

So far, so good.

On the needles

And we're off - this yarn is a little thicker than either of the others - with 17 wpi, you wouldn't think so, but this will be a nice firm sock. It also looks as if it's going to stripe - and I don't mean sort of stripe, or bands of colour - I mean plain old stripes. The break between the colours is sudden and so far, may be almost equal. We'll see when I knit more.

October Sock Yarn - Biscotte & Cie

This is October's test sock yarn. It's a Canadian yarn by Montreal dyer Biscotte & Cie. The colourway is "Go Habs Go", which is what attracted me to it. For those of you who don't know who the Habs are (which essentially means everyone who is not a hockey fan), the "Habs" are "Les Habitants", which is what Montrealers call their beloved Montreal Canadiens. Check out the jersey - big C for Canadiens, with an H for Les Habs. I grew up cheering for the Canadiens, mostly because my father cheered for the Toronto Maple Leafs and it was the best way to make Saturday night interesting. Blue, red and a bit of white - those are the team colours.

I've wound this yarn and it had one knot - which I find acceptable - and long repeats for the colour changes.

After last month's knit, I'm going to swatch this one first to make sure I get my firm 8.5 sts per inch. One more Toffee Sock coming up.