Hedgerow Socks - done

I finished these Hedgerow Socks last week but have not been able to get a decent photo to share.  At first I thought it was because the weather has been so relentlessly gray here and I wasn’t getting enough contrast between the yarn and my background (also gray).  This morning there is a bit of wan late winter sunshine, and I still couldn’t get a great shot.  I touched up the color a bit in Picnik to try to reveal this yarn’s true color, but this is as good as I could get it.  My older stash photo (taken in May sunlight) is probably a better match:

The camera brings out the blue.  There are blue notes here, but the yarn definitely reads as “green.”

For the most part, I like these socks.  However, the yarn is a bit tricky.  It’s a two-ply, which means it’s bumpier than most sock yarn (remember the more plies you add, the more circular your yarn cross section becomes, and the smoother the yarn).  2-ply yarn wants to lock together when it touches.  I understand that weavers prefer 2-ply for exactly this reason.  I could tell the yarn wanted to “lock” while I was knitting it.  I had to pull it quite sternly at times.  Knitting this yarn was harder on my hands than rounder yarn is.

I tried to relax some on the second sock, and as a result, the sock is slightly bigger.  I checked and doublechecked, and I think the stitch/row counts are the same.  But the sock is bigger.  I’m not sure what to do about it.  I may rip back the toe and start it a couple rounds sooner.  I may try to full the sock a bit (no superwash, so it should work – but I should test on a swatch).  I may just give it to someone with bigger feet who can fill it out.

The pattern looked simple but was deceptive, too.

So all in all, this is a project that took more cunning than I expected.

One of the upshots of this project is that I think I should strive to spin a 3-ply sock yarn, which REALLY means I need a smaller whorl.  And I think I should figure out how to spin woolen style (not worsted, which I do now), so that the resulting yarn will be bouncier.

More study and practice needed.  :)

A snowy white day, a dreamy green sock

It started snowing around lunchtime today and continued gently all day.  It’s supposed to come down a lot tonight, and tomorrow we should have 10+ inches.  Hooray!  I clicked these on my walk home from the dentist.

In knitting news, the latest sock is Hedgerow Socks, by Jane Cochran (link to free pattern).  These have been in my queue for a while, and I even started them once, but didn’t think they made good office knitting.  They still aren’t the easiest office knitting I’ve ever done.  This surprises me.  The stitch pattern looks so easy.  It’s just:

Rnd 1-2: *K2 P1 K1 P2*
Rnd 3-4: *K1 P1 K2 P2*

But it can be difficult to see which round you’re on.  I haven’t had to rip back yet (knock on wood).  I also feel like I’m improving my ability to read my knitting.  So that’s all good.

I’m using the one skein of yarn I purchased at MDSW09, this lovely:

It’s from Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont, a 2-ply 50/50 wool/mohair.  It’s the sock yarn I aspire to spin, fine, springy, beautiful.  And I adore the color, a dreamy undulation of greens that run the range from bluish-green to moss green: I also like that I’m using a New England pattern on a New England yarn.  Here is how they looked a couple of days ago:Now this has a heel on it.

I still haven’t make the Deck the Ball with the Starry yarn, but I promise I’ll do it this weekend (Kristina).  After all, we’ll be snowed in!

Socks Sad - Bag Glad!

I started another pair of office socks last week - the ones that were my backup travel knitting project in Seattle. The yarn: Knit Picks Essential in a deep blue. The pattern: Not Plain Jane's Hedgerow socks. The pattern is a simple 4 round repeat; rounds 1-2 are identical, as are rounds 3-4. This is a simple rib variation - just knits and purls.

For some reason it just wasn't working for me. The meeting room where I do a lot of my office knitting isn't terribly bright, and I had a really hard time reading my knitting with the dark yarn. Worse still, I wasn't in love with the pattern - at least not with this solid yarn. So I'm going to rip it! I've started a new pair of socks for Boy 1 (who has outgrown all his handknit socks) instead.

I've been carrying them around in this adorable bag made by Sew Bendy (link to Etsy site). See how it closes, by putting the long strap through the short one? So easy, so cute.Inside there is one pocket and a snap loop for guiding one's yarn. Here's a peek under the hood: I've been getting lots of comments on it. Thanks, Sew Bendy!

I'm packed

Tomorrow I leave for the West Coast. The knitting plan:

1. Finish sleeve #2 of Must Have Cardigan on the long flight. I'm over halfway done with my row count... maybe 2/3? Plus, the rows will start getting shorter at some point soon. [Pack extra pair of needle tips size US 5 on the off change that mine are taken at the airport. Pack end caps and key in case the knitting needs to be secured on the cable.]
2. Finish sock #2 of undulating rib socks for my mom. I've turned the heel and am almost done with the gusset decreases, so there's not much sock left here.
3. Start a new pair of undulating rib socks - for myself - using Dream in Color Smooshy in color Spring Tickle. This project uses the same needles as #2. I only have one pair in this size.
4. On the off chance that I finish 1-3 and still need to knit, or on the equally off chance that my sock needles from #2 are confiscated at the airport, I have one more project packed - Knit Picks Essential yarn in a heathery denim blue, the Hedgerow Socks pattern, and my trusty old 2.0 mm sock needles. Hedgerow is a simple rib pattern repeated over 6 stitches and 4 rounds (rounds 1-2 are identical, as are rounds 3-4), and it looks like good conference/travel knitting.

I also have books for 2 different book groups to keep me busy (Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, about which some woman wonder why the teens are all aflutter, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery).

And a slew of knitting podcasts downloaded on my mp3 player.

Yeah, I'm packed.