Knitting Basket Full Of Socks

It has been raining buckets all month. I think we've had maybe four days of sun. What has that all added up to? Lots of knitting time of course! At the moment, I only have socks in my knitting basket.

I've been diligently working away on my Hieroglyphic Socks that I started in September. I only have to knit the toe on one of the socks. But, like all my other recent socks, this one has the potential to misbehave.

Yarn is Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino Petite in the Coachella and St. Louis Blues color ways 

The stitches are a bit loose where I picked up along the heel flap. I have a plan on how to fix it, but I'm not sure how the fix will affect the length of the sock. So until I'm sure that I got the length of the first sock's toe correct, I'm going to hold off on knitting the second sock's toe.

The other two socks pairs I have in my basket I had cast on just before we left for Hawaii. I've knit the Haleakala socks before, although they have since been gifted to my Mum. I thought that since we were going to Haleakala, it made perfect sense to knit a new pair. Well, after casting on and knitting a round and a half, I realized that I probably wasn't going to work on anything with a cabled pattern while on vacation. Although, I still took them to Haleakala. They sat in the car while we hiked. Now that we are back, I've started to knit on them again.

Yarn is Malabrigo Yarn Sock in the Pocion color way

I still wanted some knitting for the airports. Since Haleakala socks were out, I also ended up casting on a pair of vanilla socks. They might look familiar because I have knit the exact same pair of socks before. The yarn washed out and the rainbows aren't as bright anymore on the old pair. I've since learned how to better maintain my socks, so I'm knitting this pair again.

Yarn is Canon Hand Dyes Charles Self Striping Sock in the Yoga For Elephants and Silver color ways

I've also kept up at my embroidery. After sewing most of one side, I realized that I'd done it really crooked. I ripped it all back out, took some deep breaths, and started again. It's ready to be sewn into a sachet, although I think I might wait to have a few more ready before I break out the sewing machine again.

Well, that's what I've been working on for the last 2 1/2 weeks. I hope to have the Hieroglyphic Socks finished up soon so I can cast on a sweater. What has everyone else been working on? And what do you hope to start?

Yarn Zealand

The other day I had a day on my own in Wellington. I took the train down and went to visit the weekend underground market. Kiwipurler had tipped me off that Helene of Happy Go Knitty would be there and I ought to go say hi. I am weak though, so a skein of the 100% BFL in the Forget Me Not color way came home with me. Whoops.

I figured out that the Wellington location of the Holland Road Yarn Company was nearby, so I headed over. At first I was just going to get wool wash. Ha! That would requite self control... and fewer yarn fumes. I skein of Ashford 12ply will become a hat that matches my wool coat. Knitsch isn't being dyed as regularly now, so when I saw these skeins of Mad Blood Stirreth, I couldn't say no.

Tash was in, so I was able to show her my Police Box Sox in person. Jenn let me try on her beautiful sweater. I was interested in knitting with the yarn it was made out of. (Anna Gratton's 4 ply) and have largely decided that the yarn is right for my future project.

Meanwhile, I made a decision on what to cast on next. The Stray Cat Socks in the Blue Moon color way seemed like the way to go. I might want more of the yarn and I thought I ought to test it out.

This also means that I finished my Yoga For Elephants socks. I'm so pleased! Just in time to warm my cold tootsies.

Knit All The Socks And Sweaters

My Pomme De Pin is finished! Actually, it was finished July 13th, but it took awhile to get some pictures.

I used Cephalopod's Bugga! in the Nebraska Conehead color way. Just days after I finished the sweater, Cephalopod announced that they were closing their doors. I'm just happy that I have a nice sweater out of their yarn.

I made many modifications, the most visual one being the way I changed the collar. All the details can be found on my Pomme De Pin project page via ravelry.

Of course I can't leave out a picture of the sleeve after explaining how it was sewn in.

Just after finishing the Pomme De Pin, I cast on these socks. It is a future pattern design. The fancy patterning is on the other side of the socks. I have one last diagram to draw before they are ready for testing.

I also completed my Something's Rotten In The State Of Denmark socks from Canon Hand Dyes. It had felt like I'd been knitting these forever. I started these on May 30th and finished them on July 20th. Let it be known that the knitter's definition of forever is a month and three quarters.

Of course I always have to have a Canon Hand Dyes sock on the needles. Here is Yoga For Elephants. I wanted to cast on these ever since the yarn arrived, but I'm proud to say that I remained disciplined and finished the Denmark socks.

I've also got Pente on the needles. A group of us decided to do a knit along with each other, which quickly became a knit against. I'm knitting the second sleeve, then I just have the back and some finishing to do. Once you start knitting the sleeves, this sweater quickly becomes a tangled mess. I considered trying to lay it out, but honestly, the way it sits in my knitting basket is the most accurate illustration as to how it feels to be knitting this sweater. It will be worth it in the end though.

What has everyone else got on the needles these days? Any crazy, tangled knitting going on?

Yarn Smaug And Moth Bilbo

So after the excitement that was knit/crochet blog week and then a trip to see a friend (amongst other things) I found myself pretty worn out on the blogging front. However, knitting has continued and I have a finished object to show off. Behold, a pair of socks out of Canon Hand Dyes Charles Base in the color Fall Leaves. This was the first skein Canon Hand Dyes that I bought. 

I love them. I wish it were cool enough to wear them. But it's been shorts and sandals weather and it doesn't look like it is going to let up any time soon.

As usual, the universe likes to balance out my stash. So since I finished one pair of socks out of Canon Hand Dyes, I obviously had to replace it with two new skeins. Both skeins are Canon Hand Dyes in the Charles base. On the left is Yoga For Elephants with a grey heel/toe skein. It's themed after a Babar picture. On the right is a Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic themed skein called "What Would Be The Scientific Purpose Of Killing It?"

But let's get real. The universe clearly wants me to have a giant stash. This is what has really been bought recently. I feel like a yarn Smaug with a hoard of fiber. (Last night a moth flew a little too close to my room. Let's call him Bilbo. He didn't make it.)

In other, slightly ironic news, I've started to pull out a lot of yarn and fiber out of my stash. There are skeins and roving that once made me happy, but my taste has changed and it has started to feel overwhelming. I'm now deciding how to go about selling/offloading/redistributing or otherwise not having the skeins and fiber in my room anymore.