As The Needles Click

I have not been well for awhile. The last time I mentioned that things were not right was in April. I thought I was on the mend back then, but it wasn't to last. Since then I have visited many a doctor and been probed, scanned, and prescribed. After ruling out some really scary things, I made it to my nutritionist and it looks like we may have found an answer. I'm on a rather strict diet of meat along with certain fruits and vegetables now. I won't lie, I am mourning the loss of cheese, butter, and grains in my diet. (We just bought fancy cheese! Drat.) But if this works, I'll finally feel better.

While this has been going on, I've done my best to keep on knitting, designing, and being generally creative. I've had quite a few days of being exhausted, so progress has been slow. Never the less, I do have a little knitting to show off. I've been working on some shop samples. A baby giraffe hat and the cow variant of the baby giraffe hat.

After the second hat is complete, I'll put together the ears and horns

With all the doctor visits, I've snuck in a round or two of my Geographer socks. I was almost at the toe, but I noticed that there were two consecutive rounds that were rather loose. I don't want these socks to wear out prematurely, so I went ahead and ripped back a little to fix the problem.

Now that the Pucker socks are done, I feel I can use the white to mend my Sheep May Safely Graze socks. It turns out that the white I eventually chose, Rosy Green Wool Cheeky Merino Joy, is really too weak for the heels. Heels are my wear point and after wearing the socks three different times, I have had to mend the heels two different times. I'm planning to rip out the heel (and maybe the toes for good measure) and replace it with some Baa! La Jolla in the La Perla color. I think the Rosy Green Wool will last just fine for the rest of the sock. I'm looking forward to being able to put my sheep socks back into regular rotation.

Four Whites To Rule Them All

I'm on my fourth cuff for this silly sock. I had bought Baah! La Jolla in La Perla, sight unseen, thinking it would be thicker. The thought was based on the purple skein of La Jolla that I'm using in my Onoprodum socks, which is thicker. This skein was the same thickness as the Koigu. Baah!!! So last night I bought a skein of Rosy Green Wool's Cheeky Merino Joy. It is a sport weight yarn. I probably should have just gotten a sport weight yarn the begin with when I started having the trouble. 

Clockwise from the top left corner is: Cheeky Merino Joy, La Jolla, Tosh Sock, and Koigu

The good news is that because the Sheep May Safely Graze socks have been giving me so much trouble, I've stayed focused on the Onopordum socks. I have turned the heel and started the gusset on the second sock. They are looking great, they are fitting great, and I am not running out of yarn. I am happy.

My car knitting at the moment is a Monkey Sock. I know I might have a rough time matching stripes. I'm going to try anyways. It's a fun pattern and I like how it looks in the Sugarbush color way from White Birch Fiber Arts .

I hope I'm not alone in this, but who has bough multiple skeins for a project in order to get just the right one? Can anyone beat four different skeins?