Knitting Only

Here are Tiff's socks, using a solid and a varigated of Koigu KPPM, #2 needles, and "rpm" from Knitty.com. Very cute. It is difficult to find a good pattern for a varigated, and luckily rpm appeared just when I needed one. That's my fancy blocking board in the background, leftover styrofoam from insulating around the window AC units. Don't really need to upgrade, except possibly get a towel to go over it with stripes, instead of the swirly print I'm using now, to help me line up edges. I used the grafted toe and the short row heel. The short row heel, I'm not a fan of it. I usually do flap but it wasn't going to give me the effect I was looking for. They're alright, I just don't think they fit as well. Tiff lives in a cold and damp climate so they should be useful. The colors are inspired by some awesome hot pink and teal sneakers she had on Memorial Day. P and I went to Fine Points in Cleveland (no trip to Cleveland is complete without a trip to Fine Points), P got the yarn, and I made the socks. Now to send my brave little swatchlet through tomorrow's laundry to see if Koigu can handle machine wash and dry like I've heard. The socks will get a handwash, regardless.

I'm back working on the Mountain Colors sock I posted earlier. I had to take a hiatus because I only have one set of #2 dpns, and my #2 Addy is .25 mm larger than the double points. The sock is really beautiful, and I'm so glad I got two 2 skeins so I can make another pair later. I think they will be done in time to go in for Winter Knitty. It is a good pattern for gifts, super stretchy so one size fits all and needs no chart or cable needle, good for airport lines.

Still too hot to work on my almost-done sweaters, so of course I started a new one. This sweater was in Winter Vogue Knitting last year, on one first pages of ads. Poor VK, full of lovely cabled sweaters and I get hung up on an ad on pg 5 or something. The yarn is Karabella Margrite Bulky, which is 20% cashmere and 80% merino, like buttah, and not as expensive as you might think. I considered using Aurora Bulky, but the price turned out to be the same. It looks a bit yellow in the photo against the dead white foam but it's really a creamy white, almost like natural wool but not quite. I had a bit of a scare when I washed up my swatch and it came out looking like a drowned rat. And when I say that, I know of what I speak. But the stitches plumped back up nicely when it dried and it evened the stitches out.

This is the first time I ever used the yarn the pattern was written for on purpose (I have a couple pairs of socks where it just happened to work out that way). I have been knitting worsted and smaller all summer, and forgot how fast one can cruise on a 6.5mm needle (though I think I'd use wood for this yarn if I had one, it's very slippery). Unfortunately the pattern is only written for 32" and 36"--it's the same but with an extra purl stitch between the leaves. It's good to be petite sometimes, as I do wear a 36" sweater, and I calculated I'd get an extra leftover ball and a half from shortening it. Maybe I will make a matching cap. It would be very soft against the forehead.