Sunday, November 30, 2008

Round and Round

I can't believe it's only the end of November and I've already finished my Christmas knitting. That's never happened before. :-)


I had originally bought some Dream in Color Smooshy in the Giant Peach colourway to knit another Jeanie, but when I received it, I knew I wouldn't be able to use it to knit something that would take that long. The colour just didn't appeal to me. I received the skein of Wooly Wonka Hand Dyed Silk Lace as part of the Change of Seasons Lace Club and didn't particularly care for the pattern, and the yarn was a bit too vivid for my tastes. When I went to throw them both in the stash and they ended up beside each other, I knew they were meant for each other, and that together, they were meant for my mother, who loves pink, peach and salmon tones.

I decided to do the Moonlight Sonata pattern, because I thought the stitch pattern would be strong enough to hold its own against two variegated yarns. I think it worked out quite well.

The silk livens up the pastel Smooshy, and the Smooshy tones down the silk. I didn't block it hard, because it was already just about large enough. The whole thing has a warm glow to it and feels wonderfully soft, especially after blocking.


I hope my mom likes it!




Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Digging in

If you keep at it, it will get done eventually.

I finally finished plying the sock yarn I've been working on.


I hope it's enough for a pair of socks.


All other knitting has been put aside to finish some holiday knitting. Row by row, the crinkly-wrinkly-peachy-pinky continues to slowly grow.


Remember when I used to actually finish something? Hmmm, I don't - LOL!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Bea's Vs

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on a test knit for Bea, and since it's now been released, I can share it with you!




Totally cool! It's called V-stripe, and the Vs are formed by cables that move gently down the cuff and flow into the heel flap and foot. Here's a shot of the cuff and top of the foot.



And here's the back of the leg and the heel flap.



The flap is ribbed, and a detail I particularly liked is the gusset,which is also ribbed.




The pattern is available, in four sizes, either directly from Bea's site or from Ravelry.

I quite like the yarn I used. It's a semi-solid, which slightly striped on the cuff and then softly mottled on the foot.




It's from Tannis Fiber Arts, and the colourway is called Orange Blossom.


She has a lot of very nice semi-solids, and the yarn has a substantially squishy feel to it and wonderful stitch definition. Even though I've put a hiatus on sock yarn buying, I might have gone back to get some more in different colours. :-)

Friday, November 07, 2008

Mucho Exciting Mail

I've been busy knitting away, and I'm just about finished something, but I can't show you what it is yet. Luckily for me, my mailman has also been very busy lately, so I can show you that.

Norma
has been spearheading donations for the Red Scarf project, and part of her enticement for donating were some fabulous prize drawings. I was lucky enough to win a copy of the brand spanking new Mason-Dixon 2 and the yarn for one of the fabulous projects therein -- woo hoo!!


Can't quite tell what's in the shiny bags?


Yumm! Kidsilk Haze, for the Plaid wrap!! I've heard tell it's an addictive little bit of fuzz, so I'm almost scared to touch it. Thanks very much, Norma, and thank you to your lovely and talented assistant Paula, and thank you to the wonderful ladies at Mason-Dixon for supporting such a great cause!

I also received a wonderful gift from Bea, the talented designer for whom I test knit the Cross and Meet socks a while ago.

A sock blank she dyed especially for me!


Very cool -- totally my colours, and it should knit up into a great looking pair of socks. Thank you very much, Bea!

It just may be that Bea has a wonderful, new pattern coming out soon, and that just may be the reason I don't have any knitting that I can show you. But you didn't hear it here, mkay? :-)