Twisted Scarlet

Pattern: Twisted Scarlett
Yarn: Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock

The pattern is from one of the ladies in the new knitting group I joined.  We meet every other Tuesday night in Pickering, Ontario, if anyone is local and looking for a knit group to join!

Anna also dyes her own yarn and sells it in her Etsy shop, Mythic Yarn.  She brought some yarn to the Knit night and it was too tempting.  I picked up these lovelies. Anna doesn't have anything in her shop right now but I know she is dying up some wonderful new yarns!

 Back to my wristlets.  The cable detail is a nice thick chain. The pattern is for fingerless gloves.  I knew I didn't have enough yarn for those and that I would mostly be wearing these inside when I am wearing a 3/4 length sleeve sweater and want a bit more warmth.

 The pattern took a while before it became intuitive but I like it!

I really like how the ribbing flows into the cables at the top and the bottom.  I wish mine were a bit longer, I started to run out of yarn so I had to stop.  I still like them.  They are the perfect extra bit of warmth on a cold day.

Sock History

First Socks

Second pair of socks

Notice the difference in the cuff

Adventures in making socks

Third pair of socks

The pair of socks that made me stop knitting socks

The book that got me interested in knitting socks again.

The yarn that will become my new socks . . . merino wool!

"Mommy, I want pink socks!"

I went to yarn store today to get 2 balls of grey Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino to give me enough yarn to re-make a tee for myself. I came out with this much.

My son got a hold of one of the grey balls already "sigh" untangling in my future

Claire, my 3 year old daughter, took one look around the store and said "Mommy, I want pink socks.  Can you make me pink socks?"  She then went and found every pink yarn in the store.  I found the sock yarn section and started looking.  The first pink yarn she found was Manos del Uraguay!  @ $25 a skein.  NOT HAPPENING!  I steered her towards the Sock It Too Me Yarn.  Rainbow coloured but with pink in it.

I figure I can make a small pair for her and some ankle socks for myself.  Yeah 2 for 1! But my daughter is a bad influence on me.

Then when we went to pay I was seduced by a sample knit.  It's a shawl/scarf/wrap thing, called the Striped Trap.  It's so fun!

It starts with a small number of stitches stitches.  You increase 1 stitch every few rows and stop when you run out of yarn.  The main colour is used for a few rows and the the contrast colour is used for another few rows and then you switch again.

All stockinette so boring but easy to do without thinking.  It will take me a while but I figure I'll finish when the weather is cold and be able to wear it right away!

So I learned in May that even though I have projects planned I am easily distracted by other knitting projects and lots of household projects.

I'm almost finished my Regatta Tee for the TTTKal . . . . it was supposed to be done yesterday but I had a pounding headache.  I'll show you by the end of the week.

Anyone else have an accidental stash building shopping trip this week?

Slightly disappointing yarn shopping

Yesterday was the Creativ Festival in Toronto.  I was so excited to go and look at yarn and fabric.  I wanted sock yarn and sweater yarn.  I've gone to the Creativ Festival several times in the fall and had such a great time and seen so much inspiration.  The spring show was quite disappointing. There were only 3 yarn stores.  The whole venue was less than 1/2 of the size of the fall show. 

I wanted to get sock yarn and needles for the socks.  I was able to get sock yarn . . . .but no needles.


 I wanted to get sweater yarn for a Burdock Cardigan . . .but none of the stores had enough to make a sweater in a worsted weight yarn.  Overall not really worth going.

The good news: I got sock yarn that I love.  The yarn is Tough Love Sock by Sweet Georgia Yarns.  The yarn is 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon.  Colour: ultraviolet.  And best of all it's hand dyed in Canada

The last pair of socks I knit was over 6 years ago and I never work them.  The cuff was too tight to put on and the the gussets bothered my feet. I threw them out.  I do have a few pairs of socks I knit 10 years ago and I still wear them today but they aren't perfect.  I'll show them to you next week.
 For my birthday I got the book Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes for my birthday and I have been waiting since March to get yarn and needles to start casting on for this method.  I think I'm going to like making 2 at the same time, being able to try them on and customize the sizing as I go up and casting off with Jeny's Surprising Stretchy Bind Off , which I've just learned recently and love how stretchy it is.

This is going to make my feet very happy!! Now I just have to wait for my needles to arrive in the mail so I can cast on for my 2-at-a-time toe up socks!  What is your favourite way to knit socks?