Marginalia Socks

I've been working on my third pair of socks from The Handmade Sock Society Season 6, and I'm almost finished with the first one!  These are the Marginalia socks, and I'm knitting them in Dream in Color Smooshy With Cashmere in Rabbit Ears.  These are an all over lace pattern, but its very simple and repetitive. I don't knit very many pairs of socks in cashmere blend yarn because it's more delicate and less abrasion resistant than regular Merino and nylon sock yarn.  On the other hand, they are amazing to sleep in, and since I don't sleep walk they don't wear out as quickly.

In other news, Mr Noodle has realized that Caleb isn't going back to school anytime soon, so he's starting to assert himself.  Caleb has the warmest room in the house, and years ago Mr Noodle decided it was actually his room.  He became our kitten the summer before Caleb went away to college, so as far as Mr Noodle is concerned, Caleb doesn't really live here anyway.  Every time Caleb comes home, Mr Noodle is happy to see him and gives up "his" room so Caleb can use it, but for the last five years, that's just been a week or two at each end of the summer and about a month in December.  Then Caleb goes back, and Mr Noodle moves back into his room.  This is the first summer Caleb has taken the whole summer off and been home in years (the Master's Degree program he's doing doesn't have summer classes).  Mr Noodle wasn't expecting this.  So when Caleb came home he just adjusted as usual, but Caleb has been home for two months now and Mr Noodle has decided he wants his room back.  He's taken to screaming loudly at Caleb (loudly enough that Caleb's gaming friends can hear him through the headset Caleb is wearing), and last night he started stealing Caleb's things.  Anything that is small enough for Mr Noodle to pick up seems to be fair game.  Caleb has another month before he heads back to College Station.  It looks like things will be interesting around here!

Letterpress Socks

I finished my Letterpress Socks.  These are the June socks for The Handmade Sock Society, Season Six, and I wanted to share them before we get the next design tomorrow.  These are knit in Hue Loco's Merino Sock in the Ohana colorway.  I also used a tiny bit of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Natural at the very beginning of each sock (details are in the previous post).  Just a note: this photo is probably the most accurate for the yarn color in these socks.  This has been a surprisingly difficult colorway to photograph!

I'm looking forward to seeing the new design tomorrow!  I have five or six skeins of yarn set aside for this series, but I've found that if I try to pick yarn before I see the pattern, I end up changing my mind.  It's just easier to decide once I've seen how intricate or textural a design is.

In other very big news, Caleb was accepted for graduate school!  He'll be starting his MS at Texas A&M this fall!  We're all very excited, and we've already got the A&M t-shirts around here!

Sock Progress!

I'm on track (at this point) to finish the Letterpress Socks before the July pattern is released!  These are the June pattern from The Handmade Sock Society Collection 6.  I'm finishing the second sock now and only have a few more rounds before I start the toe decreases.  The next pattern comes out next Thursday!

These are knit in Hue Loco Merino Sock in Ohana, but I added a little accent stripe at the top of the sock in white.  This was not in the pattern, and I can't take credit for it, because I got the idea from some other people's project, but it was just too cute not to add.  Basically, you work the cast on and the first round (in ribbing in this case) in the accent color.  Then start round two with your main color - but you just knit it (no ribbing).  Continue the ribbing on round three and onwards as necessary.  Working it this way gives you a clean line between the two colors.  The single knit round sinks into the ribbing and isn't visible at all.  I haven't double checked, but I'm remembering this as Elizabeth Zimmermann's Purl When You Can.  It's a great technique to know for color changes on ribbing!

A Little Lace

I finished the garter stitch section of my Londoner Shawl and have started the lace section!  The lace is simple and repetitive which tends to work well with multicolored yarns.  I've found that where the color changes in a yarn might distract from a lace pattern, if the pattern is fairly simple and geometric, you don't lose the stitch pattern like you would in a more complex, non repeating design.  I think our brains can fill in the gaps our eyes see when the colors change, but that's just my theory.

Speaking of colors, I'm still trying to get an accurate photo of the color of this yarn.  It's better in today's photos, but still not perfect.  I find myself stopping mid-row just to stare at the colors of the yarn!

In home news, yesterday I spent the morning vacuuming the house (those of you with Labradors understand the ongoing job that is).  Usually Obi barks at the vacuum cleaner - he's very much one of those dogs who deals with things he doesn't understand by wooooofing at them.  Yesterday, he followed me around almost the whole time squeaking one of his squeaky balls.  Towards the end though, he realized that if he'd put the ball in front of the vacuum cleaner, I would bump the ball and he could chase it.  I think that's better than being barked at the entire time.  It wasn't much quieter!

 

The Handmade Sock Society Season 6: Letterpress

As I mentioned last time, the June sock design - the second of the six - came out last week.  The Letterpress Socks are all about texture - no lace this time!  You're actually looking at the second try on this one, because I didn't like the way the yarn was working with the pattern the first time.  Sometimes that happens, so I frogged what I had and started with another yarn.  This is Merino Sock by Hue Loco in Ohana.  There's kind of a lot going on in the colorway, but I'm happy with how it's knitting up!

The Handmade Sock Society 6: Flourish

I've finished my May socks for the Handmade Sock Society 6!  These are the Flourish Socks and they are a really lovely mix of lace and simple stockinette stitch.  This is one of those designs where you get a lot of drama for very little work.  I knit them in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Arapey which is a muddle of blue, mauve, gray, and some purple tones.  The value (light/dark) of the colors is very close, so even though there are lots of colors involved, they don't overwhelm the stitch pattern.  This is definitely a sock pattern I will revisit in the future!

This morning the June sock design was released, so I will be picking my yarn soon!  This month's design is the Letterpress Socks. 

The Londoner

I've started a new wrap project.  This is the Londoner Shawl and I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Arroyo in the Wabi Sabi colorway.  It starts with the garter stitch section and then shifts to the lace for the second section.  This is one of those colorways that Malabrigo does that I just keep stopping to look at.  It's amazing and definitely worth a few minutes of staring!

Actually, I like the color so much that I bought two sweater quantities of it on this base.  I didn't remember that I already had it on the second purchase.  It's a nice problem to have, because now it means I can have a shawl and a sweater - and I've got enough to do a long, hooded sweater if that's what I want to do!  So many decisions to make...