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Thursday, April 09, 2015

Riding the Wave

I didn't want to cram them both into one post, but I did actually finish two projects last week. The sweater seemed the more exciting of the two, so it went first, but now here's the second (and arguably the less exciting).


These are just plain vanilla socks -- I saw no reason to try to compete with the stripes by doing a stitch pattern. I did my basic sock over 70 stitches on size 0/2.0 mm needles for a firm fabric: 3x2 ribbed cuff, slip-stitch heel, wedge toe. The yarn is Fibernymph Dye Works Bedazzled, a 75% superwash merino/20% nylon/5% sparkle blend, in the colorway Sad Panda. I love this colorway because of what makes it special: The blue stripes are actually variegated! I didn't try to match up the stripes in both socks, but they ended up being pretty close in the sequence.


I am enjoying the self-striping yarn so much that I cast on for a new pair on Monday with a skein that Lisa graciously provided me with for a new design. Here's a peek:


These are going to be a somewhat nontraditional sock construction with a bit of patterning to complement the stripes. I had already worked up a sample of these in a different yarn last fall, but I decided it was too dark to show off the pattern well, and frankly I like it much better in a striping yarn. I'm hoping to have the sample and a draft of the pattern finished up this month.

I'm still riding the high of sweater knitting, so I decided to start another one. Well, I swatched for it, at least.

I bought the pattern and yarn for it (Dream in Color Jilly) sometime last year, fully intending to knit it right away and have a lightweight sweater for the fall, but obviously that didn't happen. MDSW is coming up, and I'd like to have a larger project that isn't too heavy to take with me for the car and the hotel down time, so a fingering weight sweater seemed like just the ticket. I swatched on Sunday evening and got perfect stitch gauge after washing (my row gauge is close enough), so I'm ready to cast on soon. I have at least one other sweater quantity of yarn in my stash, and I'd really like to get that knit up in the next year -- think of it as tackling the stash one sweater at a time!

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