March Sock Yarn Review - Dicentra Designs Superwash Sock

Two done. Thank goodness for Law and Order UK. The energizer bunny and I love the accents, event when it's a repeat.



This yarn has short repeats, so unfortunately, the brilliant colours get somewhat muddied in the sock. You can really see them on the heel turn, but not really on the leg and foot.

The yarn was good to work - no knots, although there were some slubby bits that did not make a difference to the knit.

Gauge: 8.5 sts per inch
Needles: 2.25 mm


This is a firm sock and I'm pleased with the way it has knit. I would buy this yarn again and would try others that she has dyed.

Dicentra - finished one sock

Oh, my. Too much March. I worked too much, played too much and didn't do very much knitting. This is the first of the March socks.



What entertains me is the heel turn, which is the only place on the sock where I can really see the rainbow stripes.

So far, I love the dye job, but the yarn isn't quite as good as I'd hoped. There are a few too many slubs, although, thank goodness, no knots.

I hate knots.

Two pair of socks finished - finally

Two pair finished. I say finally, because I worked like a little bear on the Ripple Socks and they took forever. Too many ends. Too much purling.

Now don't get me wrong. I love the way they look - but they weren't a fast knit.



They're shorter than the ones in the book - Socks, Socks, Socks. Nadine Stewart must have thought men would wear them, although there isn't a hope in you-know-where (otherwise known as he-double hockey sticks) that any man I know would wear them. My husband doesn't wear anything that isn't dull green or dull black.

The yarn was wonderful. The variegated is Knitpicks' Imagination in Evil Stepmother and the two solids are from Simply Sock Yarn. The solids were lovely.

I also finished the February Sock Yarn Review socks - from Schaefer Heather. This is the sock yarn with so much silk you can feel it. It was a wonderful knit - the yarn has a good twist - not like merino, but it makes a nice tight fabric, and for me, that's what socks need.

These are bright. I mean bright. They cannot be used for bed socks, because they would keep me awake at night.



Back to my needles. I spent the weekend quilting and I feel quite creative these days.

The Enchanted Wood - not so enchanting

I have moved on to Clue #2, and in spite of my best efforts, this is not working.

First, there was trying to work from the wrong pattern - that was easily corrected, although not after I knit the first half twice.

And it didn't matter, in any event. The correct pattern still resulted in my not having enough stitches - so either I cast on incorrectly, or I decreased wrong, or I just can't count. It could be all three, but I lean heavily towards the latter.

And then there's the part where the beautiful colourway was obscuring the pattern. This shawl wants a solid, or a muted gradiance, not the wonder of wildflowers I'm using.

So the rest of the shawl will be in stockinette, and I will have a load of beads left over for some other project. And it will go a lot faster.

Shawls - why do I do this?

I have no idea. I love to wear shawls. I love the look of shawls. I think people who design them are wonderful. I hate knitting shawls. No, correct that. I hate casting on shawls.

This is my attempt at The Enchanted Wood, which is a KAL from the Unique Sheep.



The yarn is Wildflower Fields, which is a gradiance colourway. (I love gradiance and I am equally fond of just about everything The Unique Sheep does. Any comment I make that might imply a criticism is not about them. It is all about me and my total inability to count. )

Correct. I got the lace cast-on (very clever, those Estonian lace-knitters. So simple and so effective.), but I'll be damned if I can even count to ten. As I knit back to the beads, sometimes I had nine, sometimes eleven. I have persevered and am now almost finished clue one. Since the bottom beads are strung, I think I can manipulate them to where they should be. If not.... well... anyone who gets close enough to me to see the beads are a stitch off the point ought to know me well enough not to care about beads and points.

And yes, I know this KAL is over. I'm a slow lace knitter.

We are so far behind....

... but there is a little bit of knitting being done. This is March's yarn so far:



This is one very (and I mean VERY) bright yarn. In the skein, it's a rainbow. On the needles, it makes short spirals, with the yellow popping out, almost as if to say, "Hey, it's me!! ME!!" The yellow reminds me of our Giles, the rescue dog, who always comes in the door and rushes for the missing person (either me or my husband), tail wagging, almost as if to say "Mom (Dad), I'm home. Me. I'm home. And I know you are just dying to see me. I came back. Again."

That's yellow. I really like yellow.

And so far, I really like this yarn.

What else is on the needles

This is the start of my Ripple Socks, my contribution to Sockknitters Anonymous challenge for February. I have had my eye on this pattern since I first picked up a copy of Socks, Socks, Socks, but it wasn't until I confirmed that it was an "underappreciated" pattern that I actually cast on.



Now, to admit to my proclivity for thinking I need more yarn, what I had in stash was one 50g skein of KnitPicks Imagination in Evil Stepmother - why I have one skein I don't know. It's clearly what I ordered, (I checked the receipt), but why I ordered one I have no idea. One 50 g skein does not a pair of socks make, and for this pattern I need two more colours regardless of how much I started with. So I ordered. Simply Sock Yarn has great solids, so joining Evil Stepmother are Magenta and Purple. (Those of us who are stepmothers and who love our stepchildren get a kick out of the name. I keep threatening my daughter's older sister that one day I'll turn on her. She laughs.)



So far the pattern is a dream. I'm a little further than the photos. Not really looking forward to the purl ridges. Purling on double points is always a pain in the you-know-where.

March Yarn - Dicentra Superwash Sock

This is March's yarn - Dicentra's Superwash Sock - 100% superwash merino. This is a very intensely coloured saturated yarn. The colour is Pelennor - as colourful a yarn as I've ever used.



It's even more colourful than the photo looks, because you can't see any of the green.

Spring is coming to the great big flat. It hasn't been much of a winter so far - a couple of cold snaps, but nothing to worry about. The snow is disappearing from the pavements and we walk around outside most of the time with our winter coats open.

February Sock Yarn Review - Schaefer Heather

For the first time I did not finish my review socks - only one of the pair. Blame it on the Olympics, fitting in one more pair for my Ravelympics Challenge - blame it on the King Charles Brocade. Regardless, I can report that this is a lovely yarn and I would use it again for socks.



My one and lonely sock. It will get a mate - I promise. I don't seem to have a problem with SSS (second sock syndrome).

This is the first sock yarn I've knit that did not pool on the gusset. Now, that's a neither here nor there. Most handpainted sock yarns pool because of the increased number of stitches that are gradually decreasing. Striped yarns have narrower stripes; random yarns pool in blotches - and I am generally very pleased with the changes. This one, for some reason I don't fully understand doesn't look all that different.



A few facts:

Yarn: Schaeffer Heather
Content; 55% superwash merino, 30% silk, 15% nylon
Needles: 2.25 mm
Gauge: 8.5

At this gauge, the fabric is tight and solid. I could really feel the silk in the yarn while I was knitting - and I would give the silk the credit for the sheen. All in all, a lovely yarn, although I think I might make my next skein into a scarf. There's only so much decadence these feet can take (or should be entitled to.)