SAM3 - March - done!

It`s been a busy month, with not much time for fibery fun, but I did manage to get my March socks finished, thanks to a couple of DVDs last evening.

I used a new-to-me yarn, and it's Canadian! Similar to another well-known Canadian yarn, this has short bursts of colour.

This is the Winter`s Dawn colourway.

The unusual fibre content initially caused me a little bit of grief gauge-wise. My first attempt was too large, as the yarn doesn`t really scrootch down as much as an all-wool yarn would. My second attempt was too small, as the yarn doesn`t really stretch as much as an all-wool yarn would. But my third attempt -- just right!

Although I found the yarn to be a little bit splitty in places, and a little bit underspun in other places, I love -- LOVE! -- how the colours came out.

The fabric feels absolutely scrumptious and has a terrific sheen to it.

I haven`t had a chance to wash them yet, but it will be interesting to see if the yarn blooms at all, given the mohair content. And, with the mohair, silk and nylon, I fully expect these to last a long, long, long time.

In the Other News Department, I had originally planned to do a nice, thick, cabled, wool scarf for the International Scarf Exchange 4 . Then I got my partner`s info, and she lives in a climate that probably wouldn`t really warrant such a beast. Time to revamp. I`m thinking I`ll try something with these.

Drive-by Post

Just a quick post to note a few things:

Eve is looking for some people to take part in a fun li’l comic-readin’ study. Pop on over, sign up, read a few comics, get a few laughs, and answer a few questions. Simple, eh?

I signed up for the Blue Moon sock club last year. You didn't hear anything about it here because, well, frankly, I found all the selections to be ugl not to my tastes. I was lucky enough to be able to trade some of it away, and I haven't even been tempted to knit with the rest of it. Naturally, I didn't join the second round because I didn't want to make the same mistake again, and naturally, the first one out this time around is freaking gorgeous. Figures, eh?

Seems that something is getting close to completion. Time to put down the knitting needles and pick up a needle of another sort. Wish me luck, eh?

SAM3 - March done!

During the grey days of February, I just had to do something with colour, so I got a head start on my March socks.

It's the December selection from Spunky Eclectic -- a colourway called Good Morning.

Here's the pair.

As I was knitting along on the first sock, I noted how the colours came in nice short bursts. It reminded me of Koigu. The colours were indeed very much like a beautiful winter sunrise.

I love it when hand-paints come out just the way you hope they will -- love it, I say.

And then ... as I wound the second skein, I noticed that the colours didn't seem to look the same as in the first skein. There were longer lighter sections, and the colours didn't seem quite so bright. Crap! What to do? I was in totally smitten with the first sock, but alarms bells were ringing in my head.

It seemed that one end of ball two was a little lighter than the other, so I re-wound it so I'd be working from the darker end. Since the part of the sock that I see the most is the toe and foot, I started with the leftovers from the first ball and went toe up. I didn't get all that far. The ends sticking out show where I had to connect the second hank.

You can see it coming, just like a train barrelling down the tracks toward you at 100 kph. I know that when working with hand-paints, you should work with both balls, alternating the strands. Frankly, for socks, that's just frustration up with which I am not prepared to put.

Lesson learned, though.

Sock 1:

Sock 2:

Well, for a short while it was on the way to becoming one of my favourite pairs of socks.