A Socking Experience

I have something embarrassing to admit.


Until this week, I have never worn a single sock that I have made.

I had this revelation when I noticed an unwoven end sticking out of my sock drawer; it was from my Fair Isle socks, which I finished, like, forever ago. I wanted to show off by wearing them in front of a new friend, so I wove in the ends and started wearing them. That was about five days ago. I'm still wearing them. Man, guys, hand-knitted socks are AWESOME! Totally comfortable, totally fit, they don't stink, and they're oh-so-warm. I wish I didn't hate knitting socks so much, because they freakin' rock.


See? Here they are. A little funny, but totally wearable. I was a little embarrassed, maybe, that I turned the heel upside-down, but whatever!

So, that experience led me to take stock a bit, and it turns out there are other products I've made that don't see a lot of use. Cotton beanies, for example, get short shrift simply based on their fiber composition. Blaze has been worn once or twice, and is always well-received, but I avoid in in general because of the un-lovely color and gappy neckline. And then there is the bag of UFOs that could definitely be worn, could I work up the energy to finish them.

But there are exceptions to this "rule." The green sweater - finished long ago but never actually posted here, egads! - gets a crap-ton of use. I LOVE it. It is handsome, cozy, comfy, and in all ways excellent. Except for one. The yarn, Valley's Northampton, is pilling a lot on the sleeves. Possibly because the sleeves are knit slightly looser than the body? Whatever, it doesn't look so hot.

It's made me think. It's really important to me that the things I produce be not only useful but used. However, it also seems to me that it may be partly a learning-curve issue. I'm a lot better now than I used to be: better at pairing materials and patterns, better at picking materials, and more likely to execute something to a wearable standard. So I guess that's ok. I'll sure be wearing the socks from now on. Enough of the rambling, on to the news.

I have a new cat. And a new home!

She is beautiful, funny, talky, and obsessed with animal fibers. We get along. My roommate is awesome, too.

I have joined the HAT ATTACK! For those unfamiliar with "attack" games, it is an international, knit-to-the-death, secret gift buddy competition. You target and are targeted, and "kill" by mailing your random victim an item (hat) knitted at breakneck speed from a formerly-unseen pattern. Last one still grasping needles wins... Who cares? What I love about it is that you end up with a hat, knitted just for you by someone you don't know. They say that gauge for the pattern (something geeky, since it all came about through the Ravelry Geek forum) is 5 st/in, and I think I'm going to fudge a little and use that beautiful ball of orange Manos left over from those stupid Matrix mittens. You remember the ones.

Been playing with double knitting again - using some of those $1 cones to make a blue/blue Fair Isle cap, double-sided. No pictures as I left it at a friend's. Maybe I'll pick it up when we go SKIING tomorrow!

And... according to my tracking info, my Webs order arrives on Monday!!! Oh! My! So much good stuff coming! Let's see... three or four skeins of Cascade Eco Wool, 900g of Araucania Nature Wool Bulky (meant for Greengables, but poo to that), two cones (lbs) of the Highland Tweed that I've been eying more than a year, enough Northampton (I still like it, it's cheap) to make the Greenwood cabled vest.. I'll be all set.

The Eco Wool was meant for a gentlemanly sweater, but I've decided my energies would be better spent elsewhere, so I'm considering jumping on yet another bandwagon and joining the Hemlock Ring Throw Knitalong, as narrated on the Webs podcast, just because I've never done a knitalong before. And it is a pretty pattern! In any case.. I'm set for 2008, yarn-wise :)

The Search for Yarn

What to do?

The blue shawl is almost done. The green sweater is done, though I'm waiting for its inaugural post until I can do some color-correcting of photos. I... have no other projects to work on!

So it's that time, sort of magical, sort of nerve-wracking, when I get to dream up what to do next. And what I've been dreaming of is a sweet little cardigan, fitted and sexy, in some kind of animal fiber blend. Only instead of short-row shaping to make it fit, I dream of gathering the front panels at the side seams and button bands. Delectable!

To do this, I'm convinced that I need a very drapey fabric made with a very fine gauge. I've been looking for something in a fingering weight; but not just any yarn will do! It must be soft and have exactly the tweedy shade I've been looking for. I found something quite lovely at my local Kirkwood Knittery, but it was silk and quite expensive. Nothing else so far in St. Louis.

I took advantage yesterday to check out the local yarn store in Estes Park, CO, The Stitchin' Den, and while I didn't find anything that suits my needs, I must say I was impressed! The store is very tiny, and half of it is filled with books and needlepoint supplies, but I've never seen a store with a nicer stock. There was not a thing in it (excepting maybe some fun fur, but it was still good fun fur) that struck me as junk. You pay for it, I'm sure, as the prices weren't cheap, but I coveted a good half of the yarn in there.

And how's this for a call-back: browsing a shelf near the door, I saw the most interesting, loopy thick 'n thin yarn in really cool colors. And what was it? Ozark Handspun! Who'd have thought? Go Missouri!

(Also, don't tell, but I'm not that desperate; I've got some amazing yarn, specially ordered, waiting for me at the Kirkwood Knittery. I am about to embark on a Super Secret Project! Shh!)

Anatomy of an Underarm Gusset

What's that bump, you say? That unsightly lump? Sure to form a hump when worn?

Why, it's an underarm gusset, my dears, and it lets you go like so!

This underarm will not wear out, my dears, even though it is grafted and not seamed! Sweet.

WIP, finally

This is a seamless raglan sweater, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman, with some changes to make it more my shape and more interesting to knit. I began it sometime in June or July, sometime after the brown sweater. Boy, is it a quick knit! I've been spending most of my time on other projects, but it's still moving fast.

I decided on a bust size of 36.25, which gives just over two inches of ease; in order, then, to make it fit nicely at the waist I nipped it in a few inches at the side seams, and I did short-row shaping at the bust. Don't get me started on how wonderful short-rows are. They are wonderful. Truly.

The yarn is "Northampton" by Valley Yarns, the WEBs home-brand. It's a worsted-weight wool that comes in a really lovely range of solids and heathers. I recommend it! I usually like to knit in a much finer gauge, but for a worsted it's nice. The yarn is soft and makes a nicely-springy fabric.

So it's exciting. I would have finished it two weeks ago but I left it at home when I went on vacation, worried that I'd finish it too early and then be carting around a winter sweater the rest of the time. As it is, I finished the second sleeve and joined them to the body today, but had to frog back an inch later - I'd attached the arms wrong! I look forward to cold weather with this sweater.

And a note on wool wool wool: why am I knitting so much in wool, even though it's summer? It all began when I got a sweetheart who is into the outdoors. On our various camping trips, I've discovered just how true it is that cotton clothing can kill you: when wet, it loses almost all of its insulating power. Stuck in the rain for two hours, even in the summer, and you can really tell! So in reading up on it in various camping and mountaineering books, I've become convinced that wool is the way to go - because of its scaly fibers that still trap air when wet, it insulates in any conditions. And in anticipation of a winter spent in the mountains with said sweetheart, I'm on a quest to procure enough wool garments that I will be at home whether in a cafe or a snow cave!