No snow

The snow is all but gone. It snowed on Friday morning, but as temps rose it turned into rain. Today it has been raining all day, gray and boring. The kids are of course disappointed but at least they got a few days of winter. Who knows if there will be more of it this year.

But look what I've got! Goodies from Sarah's Yarns.


The red yarn is JaggerSpun Superfine Merino in Raspberry, the others are JaggerSpun Zephyr wool/silk in Steel, Blueberry and White. There is 1260 yards of each. Now I just have to decide what to make... I am thinking about using the Steel for a Casino shawl and the Blueberry for Mountain Peaks. But Victorian Lace Today is somewhere in the mail so I hope to find something fantastic in that one too. We'll see. But I'm itching for a lace project!

I finished the second pair of Baby Tiger socks. They will be gifted tomorrow, I do hope that the kid hasn't grown too much...


I finished the first Baudelaire. I love it! The yarn is Fleece Artist and it behaves just as I like varegiated yarns to behave: absolutely no pooling or striping, just random bits of colour.



M has been complaining about his Jaywalkers being on hold. The reason is that I find them really boring... So I started another pair for him, a simple toe-up ribbed sock in 6 ply yarn, nice and fast :-) Only 48 stitches to the round, the foot is already done. I also tried a new toe, the Round Toe from Sensational Knitted Socks. I love it and will definitely use it more.


M's new socks are also a tryout for my new Brittany Birch short sock needles. They are only 5 inches long and look absolutely tiny compared to my other ones that are all 8 inches long. But the Brittany's are very nice to work with, the perfect length for my hands. I imagine that they are on the short side for someone with larger hands though.

Snow!

When we opened the door to leave for work and daycare yesterday, it was snowing! Totally unexpected, though they *had* forecast freezing temps. Good thing that M changed to winter tyres on the car on Sunday! Usually we do it in November or so but this "winter" it hasn't been necessary until now. Weird weather!
This morning it was -7 (Celsius of course) and the kids brought their sleds to daycare, totally happy :-) They better enjoy it while it lasts, above zero temps and rain is predicted shortly :-/

I fixed the bad grafting of the first baby tiger sock and started the second one, cuff is almost done. I'll do my best to finish them before Friday, I want to give them away before baby gets to big...

And I didn't get any packages today either. I want my yarn!!! *pout*

Catch-up

Sorry for not blogging for ages and ages but I've been so tired lately. I've gone to bed much earlier than usual and haven't had any time left for blogging. I'll try to do better!

This last week I have been commuting by train, about an hour and half every day, so I've been knitting up a storm! I finally finished my Sockret Pal socks. On Monday they where just the cuff and two eight-row repeats on the leg of the second sock. On Thursday they where done! I'm very happy with them, and I do hope they will fit my pal and that she'll like them. I will show them when she has got them and I have revealed myself to her.

After that I started a pair of Baudelaire for me, in Fleece Artist. Yum! They are very quick compared to the Sockret socks, as they had 80 stitches to the round and these have only 60. So I'm already past the heel of the first sock. Of course the patterns would be more visible in a solid yarn, but it's nice this way too I think. And I just love the yarn!


Sorry about the crappy picture, I have a new camera and I apparently haven't learned how to use it yet.

I've also made a pair of little Tiger socks. They where intended for the baby of a friend, but when I tried them on a baby of another friend I realized that they are too small for him so I've started a larger pair. The first one is done. Almost anyway, the grafting of the toe went bad so I have to fix that. Of course the yarn is black just there so it's hard to see... Here are the small socks:

Yarn: Opal Rainforest Tiger, 36 stitches on 2.25 mm needles. Top down with short-row heel.

Here's some pictures of the great stuff my own Sockret Pal sent me:

A pattern booklet from her guild, a handmade journal, sock yarn and a mysterious box. The box contained this:

More sock yarn and a 12" Addi! She dyed the green-white-pink yarn herself, it'll be fun to see how it knits up!

Mom and I are going on a quilting class next month. I've been in quite a slump with quilting lately so classes are a great way of actually getting something done. The upcoming class is a sort of stack and whack that makes a kind of stars. You need a fabric with a really large repeat. Six repeats are put on top of each other and then you cut triangles. The identical triangles are sewn into hexagons. Then you fill in the blanks with contrasting triangles. The effect is great and one of the fun parts is that you just can't know how your hexagons will turn out :-) I have two fabrics to choose from. One has black background with blue dragons and orange flames, the other one also has black background with butterflies, flowers and leaves all over. Decisions, decisions.

I recently found out that there's going to be a textile fair (quilting and knitting and more) in a town an hour away from here in a couple of months. Fun, because my town is hopeless when it comes to both quilt and yarn stores. So I usually shop the internet, but once in a while it's nice to actually see and feel the stuff before you buy it. And of course it's much easier to match colours and such. So I'm looking forward to that.

I'm also looking forward to the post! I got some book money for Christmas so I ordered three books from Amazon. Good prices but bad shipping time :-/ I also made a test order of lace weight from Sarah's Yarns, I'm very excited about that, Jaggerspun Zephyr. I'm thinking of making the Mountain Peaks shawl and the Casino shawl. I miss having a large lace project on the needles.
I also ordered some Cascade 220 for this cardigan and matching felted slippers. It was ages ago that I made a grown up sized sweater of any sort, so that'll be fun too. I've had the slipper pattern for some time but haven't tried it yet. I simply haven't found any suitable yarn (see above rant about the lack of yarn shops here...) So I'm watching the mailbox...

Now I'm off to watch the Mythbusters Pirate special :-)

I'm back!

We came home Thursday morning, but I haven't had the energy to blog until today. I'm still rather tired, eight hours time difference takes some time to adjust to. The kids woke at three this morning... No joke.

First we spent two days in Singapore doing mostly nothing, because we managed to eat or drink something stupid the first day so the kids got sick early in the morning. Me and M didn't feel too well either :-( So the day that we had planned to "do" Singapore was spent sleeping in a hotel room. Oh well.

Australia was fantastic of course. Friendly people, awesome nature, beautiful cities, great food. We stayed in Sydney for four days (way to short time!) and then on to Perth and the cousins for three weeks. The first of those weeks were spent 250 k south exploring wineries, beaches and such.

I must confess that I knit almost nothing even though I had packed loads of projects. At least I now have decided what to do with some of my yarn :-)

And I got my second Sockret Package! It arrived (on a Saturday no less, we don't get mail on Saturdays in Sweden) just before Christmas. My (not so) secret pal lives in Australia so she took the opportunity to save on postage. I haven't any pictures yet, but I got four balls of yarn (including one of her own hand dyed!), a handmade journal, a little pattern book from the knitting guild in South Australia and a 10" Addi Turbo! It will be interesting to try that one out! Thank you so much, Pal!

The last post for a while

We're leaving tomorrow morning on a looooong vacation. We won't be back until after Christmas. First stop Singapore, then Sydney, and last Perth where my sister lives. Internet access will be patchy. Sis doesn't even have a home computer, only her husband's work laptop. Neither M nor me are sure how we will survive without internet for four weeks. I have packed lots of knitting...

I'm bringing my two ongoing socks, M's Jaywalker and the Sockret Pal sock. And material for three more pairs. I hope that it is enough, and that it's not way too much... But as I have probably said a hundred times by now, this trip involves five long plane rides.

Speaking of socks, I finished the Opal Silk socks! Camera is packed, so no pics, sorry. I put them on immediately and they feel really nice. I haven't washed them yet so we will see how they come out after that. I must admit that I am a bit scared about machine washing my handknit socks, I always do it by hand.

Now I have to go obsess some more over forgotten things to do and to pack! Over and out.

Sockret Package

My first package from my Sockret Pal arrived yesterday. Wheee!

There was a great Australian magazine called Yarn. I have heard of it and I was actually planning to try to find it on my trip there. There was chocolate filled with crunchy honeycomb (now mostly gone, I have to admit) Cute little stitch markers that spell out Y A R N (do I see a theme here?) And they match the actual yarn I also got.

Superwash merino/nylon from Scouts Handpainted Swag! Wow! The colour is called Stormsurge and I can see why. It's not quite as bright as on these pics (still no daylight when I'm home...) but several different grays and blues, love it!


I've been busy with my silk socks. The first ones finished.


Toe-up, Judy's magic cast-on, short row heel, stockinette.


I tried the tubular bind-off for the first time. Me like!


The second one is flying along, I'll reach the cuff in another inch or so. I want these finished before I leave on vacation, and that shouldn't be a problem. The problem is to decide what projects to *bring* on the trip.

I will bring the sock for my downstream Sockret Pal. The plan is to finish both of them while gone, and maybe mail them off too. I'll also bring M's Jaywalkers. They have been sadly neglected lately, but maybe I can finish them before Christmas. For myself I'm thinking Baudelaires, but I haven't decided on the yarn yet. I also want to bring something easy and plain for car journeys and the like. I don't know how much knitting is realistic, but I do have 5 long plane trips ahead, and some car trips. Plus general loafing of course :-) We'll see. And if anyone knows of any yarn or quilt stores in Sydney or around Perth that I mustn't miss, please tell me!

Bad blogger

I've been such a bad blogger lately I feel really bad about it :-( But things are rather hectic around here, and that will continue the next two weeks, and then, bliss, four weeks of vacation. In Australia. I'm really really looking forward to it.

First we're having a short stop-over in Singapore. Just two days and one night, mainly to break up the long trip for the kids. After that we go to Sydney for five days. We'll mainly stay in Sydney except for a one day trip to Blue Mountains. Then we fly over to the other side of the continent, to Perth where my sister lives with her husband and three boys. The only thing we have really planned is a rented cottage some 200 k south of Perth for a week. I'm thinking beach, trips to the beautiful forests down there, and not to forget, the wineries!

On the hectic front, E's birthday is coming up, and he had a party last Sunday for 12 little kids, I'm glad that's over! Well, the party wasn't bad at all, but the preparations cleaning of the house... And on Saturday we're having both sets of grandparents, two of M's siblings with families, and my grandmother over. At least the cleaning is mostly done. And they're not getting dinner.

And now for some knitting content! Socks! I'm knitting socks! The sock for my Sockret Pal is coming up great. I love the yarn and the pattern and I hope she will too. I've turned the heel on the first sock.

The pooling is hardly visible at all in normal light, and the little leaves are much more visible. Apparently I suck at photography. Or can I blame the lack of daylight around here these days? I'm amazed at my progress, because the yarn is on the thin side and my pal's feet are on the wide side I have 80 stitches on each row. I think they will fit her nicely.

I'm also knitting a pair of plain stockinette socks in an Opal wool/silk blend. And talking about fast... I knit the toe on Tuesday night so I would have something to knit on the train on Wednesday. I was on that train for maybe 90 minutes total, and I actually had to stop knitting in the end because I was afraid to make them to long. I turned the heel last night. Of course it helps that 56 stitches was enough for my foot. This really surprised me, I have a rather wide foot and the yarn isn't all that thick so I had to rip out a bit of the toe because it was getting way to wide for me.

I'm not all that thrilled with the colours and pattern of this yarn, but it is so comfy! The colours are a bit more muted in real life. But is a nice sock anyway. I have not quite decided what to do with the leg. I think I'll do a short bit of stockinette and then a k2, p2 rib or something.

I tried a new way of picking up the wraps on the short row heel this time. I've always used Wendy's method but I haven't liked the look of the picked up wraps all that much. Then Lolly posted a link to a great tutorial of another way to pick up those wraps. So I tried it. It was *very* fiddly but it looks *very* nice. Maybe it gets easier next time. The idea is to pick up the wraps from the right side of the fabric, and to do it from the bottom up. Do check it out!

Halloween

Up until about five or maybe ten years ago Halloween didn't exist in Sweden. The someone realised that you could make money from it and introduced it here. I don't have to buy the pumpkins, no problem there. The thing that aggravates me is the confusion about what date it should be celebrated. In the US Halloween is October 31, right? That's All Hallows Eve or something. Here that's a moving holiday, which means that the actual church holiday is on the first Saturday of November or something like that. This means that we've had costumed kids banging on the door for a week now! Argh! And only one group actually arrived on Tuesday. Also they seems to believe that they are allowed to mess with our mailbox if they don't get goodies on the wrong day.
OK, rant mode off!

Knitting content:
I've made some hats for the kids. First a Shining Star hat for H:


It's the 'child' size, but I removed a couple of repeats to make it shorter. It's plenty big for her, maybe I should have done the 'toddler' size. But she likes it and she will grow :-)
I just love it from above!

I've also made a Pirate hat for E, for his birthday. He turns five in two weeks time. Of course it seems like he was born only yesterday.

Isn't it great? All the kids at daycare are really into pirates these days, so I think he'll like it. I took out one row of skulls, I hope it fits. I'm not blocking it until he's tried it on.
Anyway it's really warm and probably windproof too. It can stand all by itself...
It's great from above as well:
I used leftover Peer Gynt for both hats, so they where practically free (except the cost of the Shining Star pattern of course)

Day off

Today I have the day off. I'm not allowed to work because of the 24-7 standby last week. I do get paid :-) The kids are at daycare in the morning, I'll pick them up after lunch. M is home sick but he feels a bit bad about invading my free morning so he keeps quiet and away from me.

Autumn is finally here. It was very late in coming this year, but now it's cold and frosty and actually a tiny bit of snow. Beautiful weather today, I'm taking a walk in a bit! With my baby iPod and the Lime & Violet podcast I found the other day. I've listened to the first few episodes and they are *hilarious* Totally nuts and great fun to listen to!

I'm enjoying my handknit wolly socks very much in this weather. They are slim enough for my ordinary shoes and warm enough that I don't have to break out the boots just yet. And fun when I look at my feet :-) I'm wearing the RPM today, still in love with them. But I'm glad that I made the leg longer, for they do fall down the leg a bit. Probably a combination of the spiralling ribbing pattern and that my ankles are rather slimmer than my feet.

I got a bag of yarn from Astrid's the other day, sockyarns and my first Noro!

I started a Harlot Scarf with the Noro and the colour transitions are very nice the first 4 inches. Then there's a knot that makes the yarn jump from deep pink to bright green!


*Not* nice :-( What do I do? I'm thinking of winding the skein in to a ball and try to make the colour changes better.

I'm trying to decide what socks to knit for my Sockret Pal. I have the perfect yarn, Opal Smoke in browns and tans (I just got it from Astrid, see pic above) Not my preferred colours but very nice. But what pattern to make? I'm thinking some not too open lace would be nice, Fir Cone maybe. I swatched Mrs Montague but, nah, not this time.

I'm getting aggravated with the Dragon socks. I don't know if it's visible in the picture, but the second sock keep coming out smaller than the first (this is the second try) and I'm positive that I use the same needles *and* this time I've really made an effort to knit loosely. Grr.

I probably have to frog them and start over with larger needles. Other than that, I like the absolutely non-pooling of this yarn (Fleece Artist), just random little bits of different colours. Very pretty.

Round and Round

Long time, no blog. I've had so much to do the last week so I don't know where it went. And I have 24-7 standby all this week until Monday morning. The standby has been calm so far (knock on wood!) but you never know...

I finished the RPM socks yesterday.

Pattern: RPM from Knitty
Yarn: Koigu
Needles: Addi 2.5 mm 120 cm, Magic loop
Mods: I knit these toe up and made the legs as long as possible. I have maybe 10 g yarn left.

The colour is very off in these pictures. it's much clearer in real life. I couldn't find the camera while it was light outside.
One of the socks is slightly darker than the other, but not much. The colours have formed stripes that lean the other way than the purl spirals. Very nice. I'm very much in love with these socks :-) They where a fast knit too.

I got some more stash the other day, from The Loopy Ewe:

From the left: Fleece Artist in Tiger, Claudia Handpainted in Caribbean Blue, All Things Heather in Diablo. So far *all* my yarn packages from the US has been caught by customs, so the yarn gets a bit expensive, but oh so nice. I haven't tried Claudia or All Things heather before, they look very nice both. The colours are fantastic.

I'm also waiting for a package from Astrid in the Netherlands with , among other things, yarn for my Sockret Pal's socks. Hopefully it will arrive on Monday.

I have the things collected for my pal's first package, I just have to pack it up and send it.

I haven't showed my new toy:
My old iPod broke down a while ago, the hard drive crashed beyond repair. So I had to get a new, poor me :-) I would very much like to get one of the video iPods, but with the vacation coming up I had to settle for a less expensive one. This is the 4 GB Nano. It feels tiny compared to my old 30 GB one, but it is nice that it weighs hardly anything (only 40 g) and it is enough for th podcasts and books I usually listen to while driving to and from work.

Finally finished

The Leaf Lace Shawl is finished. I finally managed to block it somewhat, even though I'm not completely satisfied with the blocking. I don't have a good place to block such a large thing. Maybe install wall-to-wall carpeting in a room somewhere... I would also like a set of blocking wires, I didn't manage to bet the top completely straight. Now I blocked ot with string on my parents spare bed which is wide but not long enough. But the shawl is wearable.

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl
Yarn: Sandnes Peer Gynt, 7 balls @ 50 g in a tweedy grey
Needles: The ones specified in the pattern (which I can't find at the moment)
Size: The largest size of the pattern, with the thickest yarn suggested. About 90" across the top and 38" down. It's suppsed to be 45" down, I will block it better some other time.

I'm very happy with this shawl. The pattern is very well written and easy to follow. I'd say this is a great beginner pattern. I wanted a big warm cosy shawl and I got it. It's great indoors and outdoors over a jacket maybe.

Peer Gynt is a classic Norwegian yarn usually used for Norwegian style ski sweaters and such. This tweedy variety is slightly scratchy, but I put a little hair conditioner in the water when I soaked it for blocking and it came out rather softer.

When little H saw the shawl she wanted one too, so now I know how to use the two balls I have left :-) Mine has 15 leaves along the spine, I think 7 or 8 will be good for her, she is a rather small 2.5 year old.

I finished the first RPM sock! As I knit it toe-up I was able to use up almost all the yarn without running out. The leg is 9 pattern repeats instead of the suggested 6, and then I made the ribbing 20 rounds. I bound of using Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn bind-off.

Here's a (blurry) picture where you can see the pattern a bit better. And yes, I've cast on the second sock. No second sock syndrome with this one! It helps that the weather has turned colder and I want more wooly socks.

A gratuitous picture of my cute kids, lying in the sofa watching tv! Yes, I made that quilt, very scrappy nine-patches and rail fences, tied. It was the first one I ever finished, when E was six months or so. I made it for him to play on on the floor.

H looks a bit under the weather, and she is. She has some sort of cold, fever and a horrible cough, and she's very cranky most of the time. She also sleeps more than usual and doesn't want to eat. It doesn't seem to get any better so we're calling the doctor tomorrow. Maybe she needs antibiotics or something.

I'm having much fun putting together the first package for my Sockret Pal. I have just one more thing to fix before I send it. How I'm going to remain secret I don't know, the stamps will be a big clue...
Note to my own Pal: I'm going on vacation for the whole of December (to Australia, yay!) so I won't get my post until after Christmas. It would be nice if I got the first package before I leave. Just sayin'.

Finished and unfinished

I finished the Fetching fingerless gloves.

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, colour 300104, 1 ball with very little left
Needles: 4 mm dpn's
Comments: very fast knit, and fun too. I learned a new cast on (cabled) and a new bind off (picot) I like the yarn, it's very soft, almost feels like cotton. Autumn is (finally) here, so I will definitely use these (and my Knucks!) soon.

I can't keep my hands away from RPM, I just love how they are turning out. Here's a pic with the the other skein, to compare the looks of the skein, the ball and the sock. The colours are more vivid in real life. Must. Have. More. Koigu. I *have* been working on M's Jaywalkers too, I just forgot to document it. I'm almost at the heel. I'm planning short row heels on both RPM and Jaywalkers, and at least the RPM will be as long as possible, I don't want to waste any of this fab yarn!

And here's my sock yarn stash, for Socktober. Enough for some 22 adult pairs and lots of kids socks from the leftovers! Oops, quite a lot in a rather short time...

Lots of Opal and samplings of a bunch of other yarns. I have deliberately bought one of each of a number of interesting yarns to test them out. So far I have tried Regia, Opal, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Fleece Artist, Lorna's Laces, Koigu. I have Schaefer Anne, Trekking XXL, Interlacement Tiny Toes, Lang Jawoll, Shelridge Farm and a few others in the pile that I haven't tried yet.

More Socks

The chanterelles are now safe in the freezer!

My subconsious (sp?) goal for Socktoberfest seems to be to cast on as many socks as possible... not quite what I intended. Anyway, I started these fantastic socks the other day:

RPM in Koigu. I love them! The colours are absolutely fantastic (way better in person than on the screen) and this patterns suits it perfect. The yarn wants to stripe in warm and cool colours. Together with the diagonal rib it gives the sock a lot of movement (fitting for a sock :-) The striping and pattern is perhaps a little more visible on this (blurry) picture:

On another Socktoberfest note: I'll try to take a picture of my sock yarn stash this weekend, when there's some daylight. I'm also going to block my Leaf Lace Shawl, so there will be finished pictures soon. I promise, Kath! I realised that my parents extra bed is rather wide, and we're going there anyway on Saturday for my Moms Birthday. So I'm bringing a wet shawl and a lot of pins to the party!

KTS2 Box and a Pot of Gold

I got a box in the mail today!!! From my Knitters Tea Swap 2 pal Mandy. I opened the box, grabbed my trusty camera to document the goodness, and *no battery* Ack! So I had to wait impatiently for the battery to charge enough for e few pics. I just poked the contents a little :-) Finally, we had power!

Here's the opened box:

It contained some very nice chocolate.


Two bars of dark chocolate with 70+% cocoa, and baggies of chocolate drops and chocolate covered raisins. Of course I had to sample everything, very yummy, especially the Dagoba bar and the raisins.

Two cute tins of tea, English Breakfast and Gunpowder Green. I haven't really tried green tea so that'll be interesting.

There's even notes on water temperature and brewing time on the tins! I admit I was a bit puzzled about the temps first, 212° on one and 180° on the other. I use Celsius, and the boiling point of water is 100 °C, so those temps are of course impossible at normal kitchen air pressure... Then, of course, pal from US = temps in Farenheit! Duh! Though I admit that I usually don't check the temperature on the water before brewing my tea. At work I get hot water from the coffee machine, and at home I take the kettle of the heat just before it boils. And brewing time... equally sloppy! I have to better my ways.

Last but not least two rolls of Lang Jawoll sockyarn in a pretty green (colour is fairly accurate on my screen).
The lot:


Thanks so much Mandy, I love all of it! I will try the green tea tomorrow, it's much too late for tea now.

As for the pot of gold... M brought home a box of chanterelles from work today. 3 kg (6-7 pounds) split with my parents made me clean chanterelles for an hour or so. But look at it! Yum!

That bowl takes 4 litres (1 litre = 4 cups). I put it in a pot with a little salt and let it simmer in its own juices a little. It has cooled down now so I will scoop it into baggies and freeze it. Soups and whatnot for the winter.

KTS2

I posted the package for my Knitters Tea Swap 2 pal today. Fingers crossed, touch wood and all that, so that it doesn't get lost but reaches its target without a hitch! But man! postage is expensive here. This package of a little more than 2 kg (maybe 5 pounds) cost more than 30 USD to send overseas. Yuk!

I have started to think about what socks to knit for my Sockret Pal. Leafing through Barbara Walkers books I found a simple lace pattern called Mrs Montague's (I think) and I'm thinking about using that. It's simple diamonds on a stockinette background. I'll have to swatch it in the actual yarn of course. And buy yarn. My pal likes earthy colours, which I don't use myself, so I have nothing like that in my stash. Woe me, having to shop for yarn ;-) I also found a nice little cable one could have travelling down the sides of the sock, maybe together with the diamond pattern, maybe not. I haven't designed socks before so this will be a first. A lot of swatching methinks, maybe I should buy some extra yarn for that?

Hey, I just got an e-mail from my KTS2 pal. She posted my package today!!! I can't wait to get it, so exciting :-)

Socktober quiz

Lolly put together some sock knitting questions, as it is Socktober! Here are my answers:

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class? I'm not sure but I think I just found a pattern and went for it. I probably asked my Mom if I had any problems. Maybe 15 years ago? The only patterns available where for thick 'ragg' socks to wear in your rubber boots, so that's what I knit. I remeber that I had no idea how the sock pattern worked, I just followed along and voila, a sock, amazing! I knit maybe two or three pairs, but didn't really enjoy it. Grey, bulky socks with 1x1 ribbing for the whole leg isn't very fun for long...

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time? See above. I think they where worn out eventually, and thrown away.

What would you have done differently? Dunno. I used the yarn and knowledge available to me at the time.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed? Hmm, difficult. I restarted my sock knitting this summer and even though I have acquired ridiculous amounts of sock yarn since then I haven't had time to try it all ;-) I'm working on a sock in Lorna's Laces right now and that yarn is very nice indeed. Soft and silky.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method? No crochet here. I haven't decided if I like dpn's or Magic Loop the best. I tried using 2 circs but found it too fiddly.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?) Both are nice and have their uses. Sometimes you want the sturdier heel flap with slipped stitches and all, and sometimes you want the slimmer short row heel.

How many pairs have you made? 5 pairs recently and maybe three pairs long ago. And I have two pairs on the needles now.

Unconcentrated

I've been a bit unconcentrated and off lately, so I started a gazillion new projects at once... Here the first of a pair of Fetching from Knitty. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, very nice.

I restarted M's Jaywalkers.

Please disregard the messy desk. As you can see I'm going toe-up, magic loop. The double decreases are looking much nicer this time, so I hope I won't have to frog them again. I haven't decided on the heel yet, heel flap or short row. I'll have to ask M if he has any preferences (though I doubt it)

I also started a Print'o the Wave scarf (a free pattern from Eunny Jang) in Drops Alpaca. What a yarn! Mmmmm. Only problem is that the yarn is dark blue so seeing the stitches is a bitch.

The postwoman was very nice to me both yesterday and today. Yesterday I got this from Simply Socks Yarn Company:

Lang Jawoll in red, Lorna's Laces in Flames, Shelridge Farms in Gunmetal Blue, and Schaefer Anne in Azure. All very nice and soft and yummy and all for me :-)

Today I got this lot from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions:

Opal Uni on the bottom, Egg Yellow, Viola, Mokka, Azur and Camel. Trekking XXL on top, 78, 101, and Aquarell 159. One of these is for my Knitter's Tea Swap 2 pal, and one is for my Sockret Pal. The others are for me, I think.

I finally tried my hand at making stitch markers.

I like them :-) and it's fun. I'm probably going to send some of these to my Sockret Pal.

Now, off to start dinner!