Again - so far behind

Let's just say there's a bit of knitting that has been done, but not a lot of writing. Too much work. Too damn much work. (And then, of course, an interesting federal election - but that's another story.)

Let's get started. These are the March socks:



This is Cascade Heritage - Cascade's sock weight yarn. I had been prepared not to like this yarn because there is just so much Cascade in the world. However, it was a very good yarn to knit. Consistent, good heft and with enough twist in the yarn that it didn't split. It's 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, and if it's anything like the rest of the brand, it will wear well. The skeins are large and no-one should have a problem not getting a paid of socks from it. This is another that I would buy again.

This is April: Seacoast Handpainted in the Cowboy colourway. This is a yarn I bought years ago from Pick Up Sticks when Connie sold only sock yarn.



I thought it was a bit on the thin side, but it does have a nice feel. This one is 100% superwash merino and I'm not sure how well it will wear.

The other pair of socks I've finished (and quite like) are these:



This is Pagewood Farm's Alyeska - an MCN blend that is a delight to knit. It's got good heft (as most of the MCN's do) and reminds me of my all-time favourite yarn, Handmaiden Casbah. This yarn is so soft, it would make a great shawlette.

It's only problem (and it shares this problem with Casbah) is that the skeins are short. If you look at the photo, the toe on the second sock is a different colour. Most of the sock is Army Girl, but that one toe is Mississippi Mud. I'm too damn lazy to rip back the completed sock to make them the same, so they're not.

This is what I call my Butterscotch Sock (another "not quite Vanilla"). It's a six-stitch panel rib and gives good leg fit without being too fiddly.

I'll get on to May soon.

Too damn busy.

So far behind

So far behind: this is the final result from February:



Schaefer Anne - 60% superwash merino, 25% mohair, 15% nylon. The yarn has a beautiful halo and was a delight to knit. I find it on the fine side and if I was making another pair of socks, I'd go down a needle size and increase the number of stitches. It would make a wonderful scarf or shawl.

Not real keen on the colour. (Surely Elizabeth Zimmerman deserves better than camouflage? Had it not been her name, I wouldn't have bought this colourway.

The great mosaic challenge

Most months I try to do a pair of socks for the Ravelry group Sockknitters Anonymous (although, seriously, is anyone in this group actually trying to stop knitting socks???). The January challenge was mosaic knitting / slipped stitches. Ah - weakness. I enjoy slipping stitches. It's such an easy way of adding interest to a sock without having to do a lot of work.

So... instead of taking it easy in February, I hit the needles - two pair of Biscotti and two of my own. The Biscotti are done - it was January's hit pattern - Elizabeth Sullivan's Cranberry Biscotti. My version was a bit of an experiment. I used The Unique Sheep's Verve in the Doctors Without Borders Gradiance -

This is where I started: the #4 skein, the darkest, I saved for the cuff, heels and toes. The other three I used for the slip stitch pattern:



I'm not sure this was a great choice - and I'd use another gradiance again where there is a gradual transition from one colour to another. In this case, there was a lot of contrast within each skein and varying amounts of the three colours used - white, red and burgundy.

Keeping track of where I was proved to be difficult - and I couldn't swear that the two socks are identical. They are, however, lovely and I will enjoy wearing them.

Some progress

I don't think I could be any slower at this month's sock. The poets say that February is the cruelest month - and as far as I know, it's because of the weather. It's usually neither good nor bad: not the deep-freeze of January, but not quite spring. The days are long enough that you know summer is coming, but no-one in their right mind would step out of the door without boots and a winter coat. (At least, where I live.)

February should be good sock knitting weather, but so far, it's been dreary.

This is progress so far:



Part of the reason I haven't done a lot for this months sock is because of the Sockknitters' Anonymous challenge on Ravelry. (Ravelry is addictive. Do not attempt this at home.) I had great fun with a couple of slip stitch patterns from the Harmony Guides (also addictive) and then, just at the last minute, decided I'd cast on the simplest sock of all (well - almost the simplest). It's a plain old Toffee Sock with slip stitches with yarn in back every fourth row.

In Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Lightweight, this is a fast knit - great for meetings.

February Sock Yarn Review - Schaefer Anne

Already February 6, and nothing about this month's yarn. Too much work (definitely too much driving), a fair bit of knitting in the early morning hours but no time to write. I've driven in and out of Winnipeg on business, and have been thinking a lot about quilting.

But there's always time to knit.

This month's yarn is one I have in my stash several times over, but have not yet knit - Schaefer Anne.

The Schaefer Yarn Company of Interloken, New York has is an American yarn dyer with several weights and blends of yarn. Schaefer Anne is a fingering weight yarn with superwash wool, mohair and nylon. It can be used for socks, scarves or mittens.

This colourway is Elizabeth Zimmerman.



Schaefer takes the majority of their colourway names from notable women. Elizabeth Zimmerman is a remarkable woman of American knitting, no longer with us, unfortunately, but in her lifetime and beyond a remarkable designer. Her Baby Surprise Jacket is still a great favourite for grandmothers (and everyone else who must knit an infant garment quickly. It's wonderful because it finishes in one piece and all the knitter needs to do is add a few buttons and sew in the ends. This is particularly wonderful for those of us who hate sewing together pieces of knitting.) Elizabeth Zimmerman's book, "The Opinionated Knitter" is worth reading, regardless of how experienced you are.

Whenever I look at Schaefer's offerings I wonder at how they chose colours for women's names. This one both intrigues and confuses me. I think of Elizabeth Zimmerman as being a colourful woman. How could she not have been and been as prolific a knitter as she was? This colourway is hardly, well.... colourful. To my mind, it's rather dull and a bit too much like camouflage for my taste.

January 2011 - Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino

They're done. It took a bit of doing since I was very focused on getting some SKA socks done so my review yarn took a while.



This is a great yarn to knit - top class. It's firm with a good twist and both soft and springy. Good stitch definition and no problems with splitting or frayed spots. I couldn't ask for better.

I was also very keen on the way the yarn was dyed. There are no stripes and no pooling - just flashes of colour. In the photos it looks as if there is barber poling, but in person, you don't really see it.

A little of this, a little of that

January has been my back to work, nose to the grindstone, git-er-done month. Except when it comes to knitting. I have four sets of socks on the needles and all of them are progressing .... well, shall we say, slowly. Now, the quilt I'm making for my daughter is undoubtedly part of that, but .. I digress.

Here's where we are:

Monthly sock yarn review: Celestial Merino



We're up over the gusset on the first sock. Now, I should be much further along: these are the easiest socks in the world to make and I enjoy every stitch. Don't have to think about them, don't have to worry if I'm following the pattern. I sit, I knit, I am. That's why I love my Toffee Socks. Nevertheless, you see where I am.

And this is why (or at least one of the reasons why).



My Come Together Socks. The Sockknitters Anonymous challenge for January is mosaic knitting, where slipping the stitches does all the work. It's addicting. I worked through my Harmony Guides for a stitch I thought would work, and this is the result. I call them Come Together, because two yarns coming together makes for a much nicer sock than when they are apart. The yarns are Phildar Preface (the black) and Sliver Moon Farm's superwash in Rio.

Do you ever wonder why sock knitting is so addicting? I remember thinking I would never get them right - now I don't think twice. I know that five years from now this will have passed as one of the crazes of the 21st century, when young women made and wore hand-knit socks, and there won't be the yarns we have now, but when it happens, I'll be set for life!!

Sock Yarn Review - progress

We are making progress. This is a very good yarn with an excellent hand. It has good stitch definition, and I am entranced by the way the colours have a faint barberpole.



The barberpoling shows up far more in the photograph than it does in real life. I need to take a photo of this outside in natural light, because I suspect the flash picks up some colours (blue, I think), more than others.

I've knit Lucy's yarns before (well, one of them) and I enjoyed it then - and I'm enjoying this one now.

January Sock Yarn

January's sock yarn is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino in Fiery Fuschia.



Lucy's site - Tradewinds Knitwear - states that her yarns are hand-dyed by a dyer in Nova Scotia with the colourways designed by Lucy. The Celestial Merino is 100% merino, 320 yards per 100g.

I've used this yarn before - it's soft, and I am expecting good stitch definition.

If you go to her site, www.lucyneatby.com, what she depicts as Fuchia is bluer than my skein.

Catch-up on December

December was a good month for knitting, but not a great month for writing about knitting.

December always comes with its own blessings and it's own challenges. Christmas is the great blessing. Every year I look forward to Christmas and our celebration of the birth of Christ. This year I was at the Cathedral for the service on Christmas Eve. As it has every year since I was a child, there is magic in Christmas Eve that has nothing to do with Santa Claus or presents. It was a cold, crisp evening, typical of the prairies, the cold of my childhood, and again this year, as I left the building, I enjoyed a deep sense of calm and hope. This is the dark part of the year, into which the light comes suddenly, and there is nothing that cannot be made better.

But ... and the but is always a big one..... getting there is always a great challenge in the eat what you kill world. I worked like a dog to get to Christmas. (As an aside, my dog appears to sleep most of the time. What it is this "work like a dog" thing? Dogs appear not to work at all.)

And so, I knit some before Christmas, but didn't write about it, because I came home every night to think more about getting to sleep than I did about sitting down at the computer.

After Christmas - now that was better. Off to Ottawa for visiting, needles in hand.

So yes, the December Sock Yarn Review is complete.



I like this yarn a lot - and I like it more in the knit fabric than in the skein. There is flashing and a minor bit of barber-poling - which I like. The colours stand out clearly.

There was the little issue of the cut in the skein, but there was only one, and the rest of the skein was well-plied and very even. I think it was an anomaly.

I'm looking forward to wearing these socks.

More December

It's been an interesting month for socks. After the test-knit, then on to the cable socks I've been working on.

This is STR Mediumweight in Wonderful Goodness. This is a dye technique that I've never seen Tina of Blue Moon use before -



I like the speckle - and I've nothing but good things to say about Blue Moon yarn. This sock is full of cables, and Blue Moon works well for cabling without a needle. The stitches stay where they're supposed to be, are easy to pick up and have excellent stitch definition.



The skein. I'm hoping Tina does more of these.

December knitting

Not a bad month for knitting, but not even close to a good month for blogging.

Here's the progress on this month's sock yarn:



So far, a very nice yarn. It's smooth, well-plied, knits into a firm fabric and has no slubs or loosely plied spots - other than that cut in the skein. I've knit past that, and it seems to be an aberration, so I'll not criticize the yarn for that. It could have been a cut when someone opened a box of yarn. (It could even have been me, but I don't think so.)

I have been busy with some other knitting - in particular, this test-knit for a new pattern for Hunter Hammersen. She calls it Truckle Socks and it's a simple, intriguing knit. There is a scallop pattern on one side of the front, one side of the back. The back set of scallops continues onto the heel flap, while the front continues down the instep. What I really liked about this pattern was the gusset decrease.



The gusset decreases on either side of the scallop pattern. For one side this is the usual position, but the other side creates an interesting pattern across the front of the sock.

I'm enjoying this. Hunter posted on Ravelry that she expects to have the final pattern available in the new year.

December Sock Yarn Review

December's sock yarn is one I got through a Ravelry swap - Black Bunny Fibers. The Yarn Harlot had mentioned it on her blog and when I saw it come up in a destash, figured this couldn't hurt.



I really like these colours - intense blue, black and green. The yarn is fine, with a very nice sheen, but not too tightly twisted.

My only complaint: when I was winding it, I discovered a cut in the yarn.



One big ball. One small ball. Cut through. I doubt this came from Black Bunny this way, since it would have made skeining a right royal pain in the you-know-where, so I suspect it's an accident of some kind.

I'm going to overlook this as a defect.

Sock Yarn of the Month - Mountain Colors Bearfeet

They're finished. Well, actually, they were finished some time ago, but this has not been a good month for writing about yarn and knitting.

I like this yarn a lot, although I'm not sure I would use it for socks again - not that it's not good for socks, but because it would be so nice for other things.



These are relatively thick socks, but make a nice firm fabric, with good stitch definitions. The socks feel nice on the feet. There is nylon, but I'm not sure how well these will wear.

Stats: Mountain Colors Bearfoot
Gauge: 8 sts per inch
Needles: 2.25 mm
Pattern: Toffee Sock

Mountain Colors has brought in another sock yarn, but this one is still offered.

progress

Not a good month to be writing about knitting, although it hasn't been a bad month for knitting itself. The weather here has finally turned, gone from being unseasonably warm to what we might expect for mid-November. Not a lot of snow yet, but it's coming. Our days are grey and dull, the way Remembrance Day is supposed to be.

Here's progress on my Sock Yarn Review sock - the Mountain Colors Bearfoot:



Almost done the first sock. So far the yarn lives up to its reputation, but I can also see where the mohair in a sock yarn would drive me crazy. I'm more inclined to knit a really nice scarf out of this, or maybe a shawlette.

My fun knitting for the beginning of the month has been this: a test knit for Lucy Hilton - Pirates Pearls. This isn't a great picture, because it really does look better on the foot rather than off, but with the deep purple yarn and the gold beads, it is rather sparkly.



I'll get better photos, because this pattern really does deserve another look.

November Sock Yarn Review

November's sock yarn is one that (unfortunately) is discontinued. I didn't plan it that way, but that's what got pulled from the bin.

Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Juniper.



This yarn is a mixture of 60% wool, 25% mohair and 15% nylon. The mohair gives it a halo not ordinarily found in sock yarns.

Casting on tomorrow morning.

October Sock Yarn - Tanis Fiber Arts

The final stats for my Toffee Sock

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label
Colour: Sea Breeze
Needles: 2.25 mm
Gauge: 8.5 sts per inch

Composition:
80% superwash merino
20% nylon
4 oz skein (115 g) is 420 yards (385 m)

Tanis has 31 semi-solid colourways - the best selection of blues I've seen - and 8 multi-colours. This yarn would be wonderful for cabled or textured socks. This is a Canadian company; her website is www.tanisfiberarts.com

They're finished

My sock yarn review socks are finished. This is Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label. I like this yarn a lot because the socks have good heft and are very soft.

No knots in the skein and the colour is saturated and consistent. What else could I want?

I like this yarn

I like this yarn. It's easy to knit, shows great stitch definition, and if like me, you like socks that are on the thicker side of thin, makes a sock that feels nice on your feet.

Of course, I'm not quite there yet, but that's what progress feels like so far.



Up the leg, over the heel and into the gusset. Some days I think I can do this sock in my sleep. (I'd think of giving up except: a) they fit me perfectly and b) I like knitting socks.

Not quite sure about this sock

This is my contribution to October's sockdown for Sock Knitters' Anonymous.



The category is under appreciated patterns - patterns where there are fifteen or fewer projects listed on Ravelry. I'm #6, which I found surprizing, considering this was the sock of the month for February 2009.

The yarn is Malabrigo in Impressionist Sky. This is the first time for me knitting with Malabrigo Sock - so far it's very soft, quite fine and slippery. I've gone down two needle sizes in the sock because I don't think I'll get a 72 stitch sock to fit using 2.75 mm needles.

The start is the cuff - knit sideways and then picked up for the leg.