It's Back!

My knitting muse has returned! I knew that working on something fairly mindless would eventually inspire me!

I've decided that I need a new pair of gloves. I've had the same pair of alpaca gloves for the last couple of years now, and this winter, one of the finger tips has given up. I could repair it, certainly, and probably will. It is, however, a good excuse to knit myself a new pair.

My only problem is... what pattern? I've been looking around and haven't found anything that screams "KNIT ME!". Yanno what I mean? So, I'm going to design my own. I have two shades of Jarbo Garn in 4 ply. This is the same yarn I've been using for my lace shawls, the yarn from Sweden that I love, love, love. Just heavier. I have the cream and the charcoal; I might just pick up a skein of the light gray as well. We'll see.

Today, John and I walked over to the library (about a 30 minute walk there), where I had a video on hold (Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitting Workshop, Part 3"). I picked up a couple of knitting books as well. One of them is Alice Starmore's "Book of Fair Isle Knitting". That is one inspiring book! I wouldn't mind having it in my personal library, to be honest. The second book is a mitten book.

As of about an hour ago, the only decision I've made for sure is that the cuff is going to be corrugated ribbing. I've already started the first glove. I can tell even now that these are going to be warm and cozy gloves. So far, this is what I have... (by the way, I have no intention of knitting the gloves shown in the picture; I want mine to be uniquely me)

I'll keep you posted.

Stitch and Bitch

Most of my knitting time this week has been spent with the Pi Are Square shawl. It's nice having something so mindless on the needles. I can either zone out completely or I can watch tv, chat with John, or just sit and think. Gotta love a project like that.

It's coming along; at this point, each row takes just over 15 minutes to complete. That's a lot of stitches!

It's also becoming more colourful. I wasn't sure, at first, if I'd like how the colours would come together. I do. I've decided to leave one of the colours out as it's not a heathered yarn, so after the teal-y blue I'm working with right now, I'll be moving on to two shades of denim-y blue.

Now, on to the bitch part of this post. Every time I'm in the grocery store, I check the magazine section for new issues of my favourite knitting magazines. Last week, I saw a Knitter's magazine on the stand. However, it was packaged with another magazine and shrink-wrapped, so I couldn't peruse it. I didn't buy it.

Yesterday, I did. I paid $10.95 for the two magazines. That, in itself, is a lot of money and worthy of it's own bitch. What really angered me, though, was what I discovered later. I took the Knitter's magazine to the tub with me (gotta have some bathtub reading to go along with the glass of wine!) and read through the magazine. I wasn't terribly impressed with the contents and was a little puzzled by all the summery patterns, considering the fact that summer is a long ways away.

Then I looked at the cover a little more closely. This is the Summer 2007 issue!! Excuse me?? Summer 2007?? I paid $10.95 for a magazine I didn't buy (at a discount because I was still affiliated with the yarn store) last summer?? And for another magazine (Australian Homespun) I never would have bought in the first place? As nice as the other magazine is, it's geared to quilters. I don't quilt. I'll never quilt.

The magazines were presented on the shelf with the Knitter's side facing. If I'd had my glasses with me, I never would have bought it, so in part it's my own stupidity. The publishers could have, at the very least, had the decency to include an up to date issue! I'm really disappointed and angry, and I feel that I've been taken advantage of.

*deep breath* Bitch over.

It Ain't Lace

So, last night I decided to see what Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Are Square shawl is all about. There's an article and pattern in the Winter 07/08 Vogue Knitting. My intention was just to knit up a little one to see what the shaping is all about (I have a thing about shawl shaping going on these days... what IS the most practical shawl shape anyway?).

By bedtime, I realized I was kind of getting into this shawl. It's basic. It's garter stitch. It's not lace. It's the perfect stash buster.



It's brown. Brown is sort of how I feel right now.

This is some of the stash that will be busted; I have two 50 gram balls of each colour and all of it will become part of this shawl, along with all the remaining brown I can find. It's left over from the Little Arrowhead cardigan I finished earlier. All of the yarn is Sirdar's Country Style DK. I had purchased the 50 gram balls a few years ago, with the intention of making a scarf out of it. I never did.

This is not going to be a lacy shawl. It's not going to be dainty, or even pretty. It's going to be practical. It's going to be wrap-around-yourself-when-you're-feeling-chilly-or-just-yuck practical. It's simple, it's relatively mindless, seeing as it's all garter stitch. It will not have a lacy edging because I don't think it will need it.

And right now, it suits my frame of mind.

Knitting Muse has left the building

It's been an odd week. After last weekend, having completely finished the Evolution Shawl, nothing I'm working on feels "right". I'm just not feeling the love with any of my projects.

John's Sterka socks are finished. I grafted the toe of the second sock last night, then sat about, restless, not being able to decide what to pick up next. I hate that feeling!

The socks. Yes, I do have a picture, just to prove that they're done. :)

He loves them! This yarn is interesting. It feels quite a bit rougher than any sock yarn I've worked with to date. And thicker. The socks feel more "substantial" than most of the socks I've knitted for John and he likes that. That's not to say that the yarn IS thicker; it's a 4-ply (fingering) weight yarn, worked on my usual 2.25 mm needles. They just feel thicker, stiffer, "woolier". Yanno? The important thing is that he likes them.

I did start on another project last Sunday, one that caught my eye. It's from the Winter 07/08 Vogue Knitting.

It's pattern #2, the Beaded Shawl. I'm using the Jarbo Garn Gastrike Lace I have leftover from the Evolution shawl, with pearl seed beads. I like it but, as I said earlier, I'm not loving it yet. I did swatch it with other beads, but the pearl beads looked the best with the dark gray. What you see there, I did last Sunday afternoon and evening. I haven't picked it up since then.

I've looked at other projects that need finishing (like the Shawl Back Shrug), but again, I haven't picked up anything that screams "Pick me!". It's frustrating.

Where'd my knitting Muse go??? I want her back!

The Pattern

Yes, I had intended to write out the pattern. Here it is, but keep in mind that I haven't done much in the way of proofing or having someone test knit it. If you find any mistakes, please let me know and I'll do my best to update the pattern.

Evolution Shawl (in pdf)

It is also available on my free pattern page (link in the sidebar). Enjoy!

Edited to add: I've been informed by a number of knitters that for some the link above doesn't download properly. It is a 7 page pdf, so do be aware that it may download a little slower than some files. I have also stored the file in a different location. If the above link doesn't work for you, try this one:

Evolution Shawl (pdf)

Again, let me know if it doesn't work. If it doesn't and you really, really want the pattern, email me at evskae at gmail dot com (same goes for any of my patterns).

Breathing a HUGE Sigh of Relief!

Yesterday, you saw the pictures of the shawl. You saw the horror of the hole. Well, John (and those of you who left comments) was more confident of my abilities than I was, it seemed. And, it seemed, rightfully so. Once the shawl was completely dry and released from the floor, and once I'd had an opportunity to sit down with Rena Crockett's book, I set about to repair the hole.


It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Nor was it as difficult as I thought it would be.




You saw this picture in yesterday's post. As I said then, a splice had come apart at that spot. Lesson learned, nuff said about it. Basically, what you do to repair a spot like this is re-knit that section, using a fresh piece of yarn. I found all the stitches, pinned them onto the cardboard and, using the new yarn, simply re-knit the section and grafted it to the other end of the "hole". Then, I made sure that the ends were secured! Very secured!

That was the "before", here's the "after"...

Am I happy, or what? That shawl hasn't been out of sight since I finished the repair!

"Flawless Knit Repair" by Rena Crockett... it isn't a big book, it's self-published, 19 pages, cost me approximately $12, if I remember correctly. After yesterday's repair, I think it was worth every penny. Now, I feel a little more comfortable about tackling the hole in the Icarus Shawl (finished that one a year or so ago, but it's been hiding in my yarn stash until I was confident enough to dig it out)

Blocking Day (picture intensive)

9:25 a.m.

I’m ready to block the Evolution Pi shawl. It’s soaking in a Eucalan bath at this very moment, getting all soft and squishy and nice-smelling. There’s just one small problem.

My office is too small for the shawl to be comfortably blocked. I need a minimum of six feet around. If I take all the boxes and shelving units out, I could do it, but where would I put them? I could move all the living room furniture out of the way, but again, where would I move it to?

I’m wondering if I can fold the shawl in half and block it that way? Do you think it would hurt it? Adversely affect it?

I’ll let you know what happens. *keeping my fingers crossed*

1:40 p.m.

The shawl is drying on the office floor. I did have enough room... barely. I tried blocking it folded in half, but it just didn't work very well. So, I tried it full out. It worked. It was a little cramped while trying to pin it all out, but I managed (and only pinned my finger once, badly enough to draw blood). I would have taken a picture, but the camera batteries were dead. They are now recharging.

It did not block out as large as I had anticipated, but it's still a good size. I thought it might be 6.5-7' across, but it's about 6' across. That's good, because I'm 5'4" across (arm span, that is), so it gives me plenty of width. It took almost an hour, and 98 pins, to block the shawl. It's gorgeous. Really, it is. I'm pleased with how it's looking.

So why do I not sound ecstatic? Well, I've learned a valuable lesson: when doing a spit splice, no matter how felted the yarn appears to be, make sure you make it a long enough, and very strong, splice.... or leave tails that can be woven in later. Why, you ask?

As soon as the batteries are charged, I'll show you why.

Pictures



You can see how little room there was for pinning out the shawl. A couple of detail pictures:

Batwing Lace Center panel:

Vine Lace, moving outward to the Feather & Fan section:

Modified Van Dyke edging:

And then, the reason for my disappointment:

So, what happened? I had to splice the yarn at this point. Apparently, I didn't splice it very well and in the course of blocking it, the splice separated. Had I noticed it sooner, I could have blocked it a little less strenuously. However...

I do have Rena Crockett's most excellent little booklet, "Flawless Knit Repair" and will attempt to repair this shawl flawlessly. Or as best I can. I've decided that, since this is a Me shawl, it doesn't have to be perfect. The shawl itself isn't perfect (yes, there are mistakes in it.. your knitting doesn't have any???).

And here's the shawl, unpinned and draping on my ancient sofa. Other than the hole in the edging, I really am happy with this shawl. I'm seriously thinking of knitting myself another one, perfect this time. *grin*

Robbyn, there's a box of tissues on the table; no drooling on the shawl!

Oh Yeah!

Uh huh, it's off the needles! All that's required now is a good blocking!

When that's done, I'll post pictures. For now, I'm thrilled beyond words that this shawl is off the needles, not because it took forever (it didn't), but because I really want to see how it looks totally done!

(and I'll tell you one thing right now.. it will probably be close to doubled in size!)

I wish I could show you the finished Evolution Shawl. It isn't finished. The border is more than halfway done, though. I'll tell you what, that border is taking me as long, or longer, than the body of the shawl! It would be nice if it was mindless knitting, but I'm learning the difference between knitted lace and lace knitting.

For anyone who doesn't know the difference, knitted lace has either a knit or a purl row on the wrong side of the work. Lace knitting has patterning on every row. That makes for knitting that demands concentration, and attention to the chart. It also means that it takes longer.

Because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I cast on for a mindless project. Not only is it mindless, it will also be a stash buster. Here's what I have so far...

The pattern (yes, I'm following a pattern this time) is from Vivian Hoxbro's "Shadow Knitting". The yarn is the unspun White Buffalo-style yarn I was given a couple of years ago. The pattern in the book is done with a fingering/sport weight yarn; this yarn is, obviously, quite a bit heavier than that, at least a worsted weight, so I've changed up the needle size. It's going to be quite a large, and very cozy, shawl, which is just what I want.

I'm using 4.5 mm needles (US7); it's not a stiff knit, but not terribly drape-y either. I'm envisioning something I can wrap myself up in on the sofa (or in my recliner) while watching tv or knitting. If necessary, it can also replace a jacket if I need to run across the street to the grocery store; just so much easier, dontcha know? As far as yarn colour goes, I didn't have a lot of choice. These are the colours I was given, plus a natural white. I was going to use the white instead of the blue, but I have more of the blue than the white, so I'm going with what I have most of. You know what? I don't actually dislike the combo.

Froukje left a comment on a previous post (the one that had some Dutch in it) and I just wanted to respond to it. Froukje, my parents are from Friesland (Bergum and Garijp); I grew up hearing Frisian and Dutch; I still have a lot of extended family there. I was married to a Dutch man and learned how to speak, read and write it. I've always loved langages and I do try to keep up my Dutch, isn't easy because my present husband isn't Dutch at all and I rarely hear anyone speaking it around here.

What a Difference a ' Makes

I'll post a longer entry later today or tomorrow. For now, I just wanted to let you know that the patterns that weren't downloading before should be fine now. This morning, I had enough time to examine things and think about what was happening. It came down to.... '

Seriously. I had named two folders as Kids' Socks and Kids' Hats. In the link address, the address stopped at Kids. Therefore, no pattern found. I've gone in, renamed the folders and all is now well.

HTML... gotta love it!

Ready for an update?

I've been nibbling away at the Pi Shawl. Every day, I try to do at least a few repeats; so far, I've eaten away 186 stitches of the 576 edge stitches. I've decided not to rush it because it's hurting me, knitting as frantically as I have been.

I decided to take a progress picture this afternoon.

Elizaduckie asked if the shawl had a name, or is it my own design? No and yes. :)

I've been trying to find a name for this shawl and haven't even been struck with inspiration yet. (Hmmm.... while proofreading my post, I thought of a name... what do you think of the Evolution Shawl? Evolution because, from just inside the outer edge, it goes from waves... or water... to vines... or land... to batwing... or air. Well?) It is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's basic Pi shawl pattern, with stitches of my own choosing. I will be writing out the directions, or at least making the charted version available at some point.

It will be a nice, big shawl, just what I wanted. It will be perfect for those evenings when I just want to cuddle up with something (as opposed to someone) warm and cozy, but not too heavy.

Oh, and also to Elizaduckie, I very much appreciate the suggestion of indicating what format my patterns are in. I will be making those additions to the pattern titles as soon as I can. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention. It was something I had never even thought of. For those of you who have no idea what I'm babbling on about, Elizaduckie pointed out that Macs can't open .doc files. Some of my free patterns are Word for Windows files; she suggested that I indicate what type of pattern each is. It was only when I started working with Macs at work that something like that even came into my radar.

I have a small confession to make, to end this blog. I started another project. I wasn't going to, but I was inspired! I'll tell you more about it on the weekend, but I WILL say that it's another shawl, a very cozy one, and it's going to use up some stash yarn, and I'm following a pattern this time.

En... Tijm? Mijn haar is nu langer en ik heb veel meer grijs. En wij wonen nu niet meer aan het meer. *zugt* ;)

An Updated Blast from the Past

A couple of years ago, I posted a pattern for a simple shrug. The pattern was from a Bernat leaflet, no longer available, as far as I know. To jog your memory, here's what it looks like...

The pattern is on my free pattern site. However, I'm not rehashing this pattern for my own benefit. I was approached by another knitter on Ravelry, asking if she could adapt the pattern to machine knitting. I gave her permission to do so, with the proviso that I could publish her notes. After she had made the machine knit version, she emailed me the directions.

It took a while, Nicola, but the pattern is up, finally. My thanks to Nicola, who blogs (with friends) at Four Friends and a Blog.

On another matter, Robbyn tagged me, on her blog, with a "You Make My Day" award; I'm afraid it may take me a bit of time finding another 10 bloggers who haven't already been tagged, Robbyn. That's a lot of work! I appreciate the honour, and I'll have to go through my blogroll this weekend. :)

As well, I have an update on the Pi Shawl. The edging is progressing nicely at the moment. I have about 144 stitches (of 576) nibbled up as of this morning. I finally found the perfect pattern for the edging, in, of course, one of Barbara Walker's treasuries (#2). I charted it, swatched it, made sure it worked and then cast on for it. It's not an easy pattern to memorize, but with just a 12 row repeat, it's working up fairly quickly. It's interesting how the yarn (and your project) will let you know whether a stitch pattern is right or not. At least, that's how it feels; looking back on the other stitch patterns I had tried, I know they just wouldn't have been right for this shawl.

Now, I'm really looking forward to having it completly off the needles, washed and blocked. I can't wait to see how this shawl turns out!

A No Pic Update

Sorry, no pictures today. Pictures of a round shawl at the stage it's at just aren't very pretty. No, it isn't finished yet, but it's getting there.

I decided to re-try the Feather & Fan pattern and managed to get it going, with the help of a lot of stitch markers. On Tuesday night, while watching the DaVinci Code, I used up all of the cream yarn and attached the dark gray, which is the edgin yarn. When doing the stretch test (hold the center point and the outer edge, making sure nothing slides off the needle, stretch it out), I figure the shawl to be about 5-5 1/2 feet across. That's dry stretching it. I'm hoping it blocks out to at least 6' across, and I don't think I'll be far off that mark.

Last night, I decided to start the edging. Last night, I put the whole thing aside to stew. I tried three different edgings, each a couple of times. To say I was frustrated when I gave up in favour of a bath is an understatement. Even John asked if he should tread carefully around me for a while. *grin*

I could swear there was a mistake in one edging chart; how can an edging that starts Row 1 on 7 stitches and ends at Row 12 with only 6 stitches work? Where does that extra stitch for Row 1 come from? Thin air?? And that was in a simple Van Dyke lace edging!

The other two charts I tried... well, it was probably operator error. I couldn't say for sure that there were mistakes, but I could not get either to work. The best thing to do in a case like that is simply to put it aside for a while.

Now, where did the bag with John's socks go?

C'est finis!

little arrowhead cardi done
Originally uploaded by Strings 'n Things

Even though the Little Arrowhead cardi was already off the needles, I didn't get around to sewing it all together until this morning. It is completely finished now, even blocked.

I think I'll get a lot of use out of this little cardi; it's the perfect thing to wear over a short sleeved t-shirt (which I wear to work most of the time), or a sleeveless summer top.

How I Spent My Monday Night

On Sunday evening, I went from 288 stitches to 576 stitches, or at least I thought I had. After work yesterday, I started the Feather & Fan section. The first pattern row left me six stitches short. I improvised. I knitted a knit round, putting in stitch markers at every 100 stitches. I counted 578 stitches. I knitted a second round, re-counting every 100 stitch section. By the end of the round, I had the right stitch count. I knitted a third round, removing the stitch markers. I started the next pattern round and, by the end of the first pattern repeat, found a mistake. Arghhhhh!!!

I put the whole thing down for a while and stared at the tv (I have no idea what was on... CSI or the news, probably) while John was preparing dinner. I knew what I had to do. I picked it up again and studied it. I came to the realization that picking up the final stitches of the previous section would be fairly simple as they were slightly "separated" by the yarnovers of the increase round. So, I dug out a needle and some waste yarn and began picking up stitches. Hmm... yanno, there's not a lot of difference between gray and cream when you're trying to see which stitch you're supposed to be picking up! It wasn't until after dinner that I had all the stitches on the waste yarn. Then, I gingerly pulled out the circular needle (with John watching what I was doing, a puzzled look on his face); no problem so far. I started frogging. It went quite well, actually. The yarn only stuck in one or two spots and not too badly (I'm liking this yarn more and more).

So, now, the shawl (which still has no name) is off the needles, on waste yarn, waiting to return to the needles. It does give me a perfect photo opportunity. Here's where the shawl is at right now...

Obviously, I haven't stretched it out as much as I would have if I'd been blocking it, but it does give you a pretty good idea of what's happening to this point. Now, though, I'm re-thinking the Feather & Fan pattern. It may be too wavy for a nice edging. F&F looks best with a very simple finish, like a plain cast off. However, a plain castoff on a round shawl isn't a good idea as it won't block nicely. It just wouldn't have enough stretch.

Any opinions? Suggestions? I had been considering a continuation of the vine pattern with a round of the batwing lace pattern towards the end of the shawl, a few knit rounds and then a lacy edging.

In the interim, I'll get it back on to the needles tonight, work the increase round and a couple of straight rounds, just to make sure I have the right number of stitches. And then I'll work on John's socks.

Allow me to introduce...

...umm.. I'm not sure what to call this project at this point. Suggestions are welcome, certainly.

Right now, this looks like a rather bland bit of gray knitting. Believe me, it's anything but. I'm having a lot of fun with this shawl. It is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl, which can be found in various publications. If you've never heard of it before (where have you been hiding?), it starts out with 9 stitches; after one round, the stitches are doubled; after three more rounds, the stitches are doubled again. You double the number of rows, then double the number of stitches; and you knit straight between increases, which makes the shawl a blank canvas, really.

Every stitch dictionary I own is piled up on the floor of my living room, where I've been plotting the next section. Right now, I have 288 stitches on the needle and am 16 rows (2 of 3 pattern repeats done; picture shows one pattern repeat) from my next increase and another stitch pattern. The hardest part of this shawl is deciding which stitch pattern to use next! I'm leaning towards the feather & fan pattern, but I'm not totally certain yet.

And then, there's the border. It will be knit sideways around the entire outer edge. That means I'll have to decide on a border to finish it off nicely. I think I mentioned that I'm using the yarn left over from the Icelandic shawl. I'm starting with gray; with the next increase, I'll change to the cream and near the end, I'll change to the charcoal gray. I think I'll still have yarn leftover, at least of the light gray.

It's a good thing I have to go to work today; I'd spend all day working on this shawl (and killing my wrist) if I stayed home. Speaking of work, it's time for me to get ready.

Photos and stuff

I tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger was having none of it. When I hit the button to publish, all that published was the post title. So, I'm trying again today.

I'm feeling pretty good about myself these days, knitting-wise, at least. By January 10, I had three projects off the needles: the Icelandic shawl, the Malabrigo Lace scarf and the Little Arrowhead cardi (yes, Robbyn, she is finally off the needles; just need to sew the underarm seams and that will be done today). I've also frogged one project; the Luna Moth shawl, which was gorgeous, was being stubborn and while sliding the stitches up the needle, decided to get sticky. Close to 30 stitches popped off the needle and started to undo. I had no patience with that and frogged all of it. Oh well, the hemp will be used for something else one of these days.

Because of all my finished projects, I, with no iota of guilt, cast on for a new project. I'm using the leftovers from the Icelandic Shawl to create a Pi Shawl, as designed and written by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I'm following her basic instructions and using lace stitches of my own choosing (from Barbara Walker, so far). Right now, I'm up to 288 stitches and am working my second lace pattern. Once I increase to 576 stitches, I'll change stitch patterns again, and possibly yarn colour. Because I'm using what was left, I've started with what I have most of, the light gray; then I'll go to the cream and, finally, end with the charcoal for the edging. I'm having a lot of fun working on this shawl right now. I will post pictures, but not with this post.

Today's post is for other photos. I said I'd take some "artsy" shots and I leave you with those.

The First FO's of 2008!

One picture, two finished objects, no artsy shots... yet.



And, the Icelandic shawl before blocking...

As well as a close-up...

The scarf in the first shot is from Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby. It's the "Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890". Yes, that's the title. As I said in my last post, the yarn for the scarf is Malabrigo lace, on 4.0 mm (US 6?) needles.

The yarn for the Icelandic shawl is a Swedish yarn, Gastrike Lace, in 3 natural shades, worked on 4.0 mm needles. Each skein had 660 yards per 100 grams and I probably have enough to make another shawl, changing the colours around. I really enjoyed knitting the shawl. I'm not the greatest or most patient when it comes to blocking, but I'm happy with the result nonetheless.

Once both are dry, it will be time for artsy shots. As artsy as I can make them. :)

Just Where Has My Brain Gone??

I can't believe I forgot! I've already got an FO! I finished the Malabrigo Lace scarf on January 1. It's on my dining room table, waiting to be blocked. It is absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

Everyone, by now, has heard about the softness, the cushiness, the absolute lusciousness of Malabrigo. Well, the laceweight is no different. A year or so ago, I made John a 100% cashmere scarf for his birthday; I would say that the Malabrigo Lace scarf rivals it for softness. It's THAT luscious! And the Malabrigo is merino, not cashmere!

So, why are there no pictures yet? Well, I do need to block the scarf and by the end of today, I'm hoping the Icelandic Shawl will be done, too, so I may as well wait for that and block both at the same time. Considering I have to work this week, both projects will likely wait until next weekend to be blocked. Most likely.

If I do get the Icelandic shawl finished early enough in the day (I have 10 rows left to do), I may block them today. If so, I'll take pictures and post them. In the meantime, back to the needles!
I can't believe I actually forgot to post about an FO! Sheesh!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Lianne!

And it's 2008!

I'm just plugging away at finishing things. Sort of. I mean, I am, really. However, I found some sock yarn my Mom gave me a few years ago and I decided that I needed a mindless project for those times I don't really want to concentrate.

Right now, most of the projects I'm working at finishing are projects that require concentration (like, at least 2 lace shawls and a lacy shrug). Socks are great tv knitting. So, I cast on for another pair of socks for John.

The yarn is a yarn from Holland. It's a 4 ply fingering weight sock yarn called Sterka (the word sterk means strong, in Dutch, and would be pronounced the way you'd pronounce stair-ka), 75% wool and 25% polyamide, 380 metres in a 100 gram ball. I was given 1 1/2 balls, plenty for a pair of socks. This yarn has a much more "wooly" feel to it than almost any sock yarn I've knit with so far. It's a good thing John has no sensitivity to wool and doesn't mind a slightly scratchy yarn; I find it a little coarse to knit with, but I'm sure they'll make good, strong socks. And, most importantly, he likes them!

Here's a close-up of the yarn (and heel flap)...

The colour is pretty close to the actual colour, muted, neutral, just the way John likes them.

Now, for something totally different. We'll see how well (if at all) this works. Photobucket, where all my blog pics are stored, has a neat little feature I was playing around with this morning. You can put together your own little remix, incorporating pictures, video, text, music, etc. I decided to put together a remix of some of the projects of the past year (or so).

Stay tuned.