two knits of ivory

When I take pictures of my knitting, and my yarn, I really take it seriously. I really love looking at pictures of knitted items and yarn. I love seeing the colors and textures and the overall object. The more detailed the picture, the more natural the lighting, the more joy I get in looking at it. Pictures of the tiny little stitches of socks represent my most favorite type of knitting p0rn. I kinda feel weird about this fascination. Among knitters, I surmise, I may be in a minority, but probably not alone. Yet, it is not a topic I have ever seen discussed in the knitosphere. I'm sure, now that I am reflecting on it, there is a group on Ravelry for people like me. If I was more of a social creature, I would have flushed them out by now. In the meanwhile, though, my latest attempt to capture my own piece of pictorial heaven was done in poor light yesterday afternoon. These are a Christmas gift for my niece, Meaghan. Even though these are not my colors, I was still impell...

I've come to realize this week that I cannot seem to muster the interest in finishing a single project that I love, that is just for me. I don't count the Watermelon Firestarters since I knit these because I loved the pattern, not necessarily as a knit for myself. I have several fantastic projects on needles. First, Blueberry Moon has received nary a glance for almost two months. I just can't commit to the design element. That it's hogging up all my size three circulars hasn't facilitated completion says enough on it's own. Then there is Project Stole . Last this project saw action was as Thanksgiving weekend travel knitting. That was two weeks ago. I could really use this extra warm, ultra luxurious wrap at work. What's in my way here? Then there is my Queen's Forest scarf, which, truth be told, is in hibernation. I only cast on the project to reduce the tension in the yarn cakes. I still feel strongly that all scarf knitting must be chan...

Ahem. These. Are. Done. Did you get that? Done. As you can plainly see the toes are green. By Friday night, even without the help of the new scale I could tell I was completely wrong in my assessment that I'd have enough yarn to finish off the socks. And hubby unwittingly came to the rescue yesterday morning when he suggested a road trip to help ease us out of last week. Quicker than one could say boo, I was thinking Patternworks ! It was perfect weather for a drive through New Hampshire and perfect timing because I desperately needed some fingering weight sock yarn to complete hubby's socks. And complete hubby's socks was my mission for this weekend. Patternworks did not disappoint and I was so proud of myself to leave with only having spent $60, $10 of which was spent on a sweater rack, so it doesn't count, right? I had really hoped to buy some Koigu as I have yet to work with this yarn but their selection of greens didn't work for me so I settled for something t...

The weather just doesn't seem to want to cooperate, both last weekend and now it's been rainy and dreary. Dreary, I can handle, but rainy interrupts the visual itemization of my stash and FOs I've got going on. I did get all my yarn photographed before it started drizzling again. And since I finally realized how to use the close up function on the hubby's digital camera I had to take more photos of the latest additions to my yarn stash. My very first Lorna's hand dyed yarn: This is Shepherd Sock yarn, 80% superwash wool, 20% nylon, colorway Gold Hill. Each skein is 215 yards. Madelinetosh hand dyed yarn: This is a superwash merino in the Violas colorway. The one skein I have is 395 yards. And finally more Cherry Tree Hill supersock. The yarn didn't have its tag, but I know this is 100% superwash merino and 420 yards. The colorway name remains unknown to me. It's taking all of my will not to start knitting one or more of these skeins up. I really fear I m...

After some bumpy choices, I am moving right along on my husbands Earth socks made in the Earth colorway of Cherry Tree Hill supersock 100% washable merino wool yarn. I started off using size 2 needles on the 2 x 2 rib cuff for 15 rows but after knitting a few stockinette rows I decided to rip back to the cuff and began the knitting the leg of the sock in size 1 needles. According to Cherry Tree Hill's colorway cards the Earth colorway I'm using on these socks, as well as the other colorways I've used this summer (Blue/Breens and Brights ) are no longer being marketed and I guess this means they're no longer being made? Seems like a great loss to me. I loved these socks I made in the Blue/Green colorway

When I asked the hubster to model the steely winter set for me, not only was he a good doobie about it, he reminded me that he should model it with the aran sweater I made him. So sickly sweet, eh? I'm plugging along on my sweet tarts socks. One sock is done (sans kitchener), and only about 30 rows remain to be knit on the second. I also did get a half an hour this weekend to work on my burgandy throw . It was so deliciously cool on Saturday, it was a comfort to have it on my lap. (Might I add that I can't seem to get down the spelling, is it burgundy or burgandy? Isn't burgandy a place and burgundy a color? I'm too lazy to google it!) To make an honest caption out of this post, let me add that yesterday Dunkin' Donuts rudely put caffeine in my coffee, regardless of a clearly stated request to the contrary. I was still pretty amped up, even after partaking of some pharmaceutical relief at 8:45 pm, though the last sip I took was before 4:30 pm! Notwithsta...

Having a blog made it easier to tamp down the inner voice in my head that requires I take the path of least resistance, even if that means missing a yarn store in geographic location I have a) never been at; b) rarely been at; c) may never get a chance to go to again; and d) any combination of a, b, & c. It would be easy to say I am lazy. That is what it looks like, but it isn't laziness, it's my aspyness. If I decide to go to point A to point B and am en route, any deviation will cause generalized anxiety. This engenders a physical and emotional uneasiness that is better left unfelt. When I saw a brochure for a yarn store at the New London, CT ferry office on Saturday I took one but I truly believed it would wind up being thrown in the recycle bin with a deep sigh of acknowledgement of my 'limitations.' Ten minutes later I was in a whole new place. Yes! I wanted to see the yarn store. Yes! There is absolutely no reason on earth we shouldn't stop at the lovely y...

I've finally cast on the Cherry Hill Tree "Brights." At this stage yesterday afternoon I was unsure if the colorway wasn't drowning out the cable pattern and I was all set to frog and design anew. But something stopped me. I remembered that the whole point of doing another CHT project was to improve upon the pattern I came up with on the fly for the "Blue/Green" xmas sock I finished last weekend. As I mentioned earlier, the sock was too big in the foot, and the cable and knit sections of the heel weren't proportional, which is probably the source of the too wide foot section. So I continued to plug away. Am I in love with this colorway now I've knit it up? Eh, not so much. The wine color seems to dominate, where I was really drawn to the apple greens, yellows, and rusty orange. But it is still a great yarn to work with.

Jen's Christmas socks in the blue/green Cherry Hill Tree are done! Considering I didn't use a pattern, and was using a smaller gauge than ever before, and incorporated ribbing for the first time, the socks came out pretty well-proportioned. They are a definitely looser in the arch of the foot than they should be for a sock to be worn with shoes, but Jen'll be wearing these to sleep in so there was no reason to frog and restart. The next pair in ‘Brights’ will be for me and hopefully I’ll have worked out the ‘maths’ and get a snugger fit. I seem to be having a bit of a learning curve with the ball winder, specifically creating nice looking balls with the string coming out the center and the exterior not all a mess. (AKA, I know the pic is pathetic!) On the second of these two CHT ‘Brights’ balls I increased the tension. When I knit up the socks I’ll see if increased tension is good or bad or unimportant.

I spent last night trying to get some of my work on camera. Very little success. So I'm technologically inept and that doesn't auger well for a blog, but never thee mind. I've got two WIPs, a KFYOS blanket that was once going to be a cabled poncho and the above pair of xmas socks for my sister. This sock is my first foray with a superwash merino from Cherry Hill Tree in their colorway Green/Blue. It's like a dream, and a dream on size two bamboo dpns no less! For me, that's saying somethin'. I found this yarn a few weeks ago when I ventured, quite trepiditously, into a LYS I've never been in before in Wakefield, MA, Butterfly Yarns . The proprietor was very nice and very friendly and loves her dogs. What else can I say? For an anthrophobe like me it was near stress free. She was perfectly gregarious and I made it out alive with only a little bit of unease. Good day for a fantabulous yarn. So I went back two days ago and shuffled through what Cherry Hill Tr...