August 27, 2008
Socks of the Future
Last night I got so busy with an old project that I forgot to actually blog. It's been a little while since I got really lost in my knitting, so I let myself go with the stitches and actually let myself dream of having a new fall sweater.
Looking over my other projects, I can say they are all progressing. I have finished the body of the skirt for Ms. Z's Zebra Striper jumper. My Kusha Kusha scarf is increasing in size slowly. My walking is resulting in the better part of a toe for my walking socks. And I have another, more detailed sock project that I'm very happy with -- the first sock is almost finished. I'll blog about it when I the first sock is complete.
Thus, I am left to talk about something that I have been indulging in a little more this summer than I did last summer: buying sock yarn.
One day a couple of weeks ago, Ms. Z and I were out for a walk and I popped into Nina's (one of two stores that I can consider my LYS) to see if I could find any books with good baby garments. While I was there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she is now carrying Dream in Color yarns. After picking up some Smooshy, I was completely able to understand why so many people are raving about this sock yarn. I let Ms. Z help me pick out a couple of colors to take home for inspiration. The blue is Some Summer Sky and the red is Ruby River. I think it's very likely that one of these skeins will become a pair of Francie socks once I finish up the patterned socks I'm working on. I've been in a bit of a sock knitting rut lately, and I think those socks look like something that would get me to think a little bit along with being fun to knit. And since Z helped me pick them out, if there are any left overs, she's going to get some socks, too. Baby Dragon socks, anyone?
I have to show off this next skein because I don't think I've ever worked harder or clicked faster to purchase sock yarn. I swear, getting this stuff is harder than getting tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. It's Sundara Yarns Sock yarn in the Lilac colorway. After getting hands on with some while visiting Claudia I got bitten by the need for some of this yarn. The lilac wouldn't have been my first choice if I could have picked anything, but as it turns out, it's still a pretty nice colorway.
This skein was enough to convince me that I would like to have a little more in my stash. However, I just don't have the time any more to arm wrestle several hundred other virtual knitters for the chance to whip out my PayPal account for a share of the goods when this stuff gets posted. So, I decided to take the plunge and splurge on being a part of the last half of her Seasons yarn club. I'm looking forward to a couple more skeins of sock yarn as well as a couple of different weights of the silky merino.While I know I am not knitting very quickly right now, I am really feeling inspired by my knitting lately and I am enjoying surrounding myself with new colors and textures that make me want to pick up my needles in any free moment that I have.
I love the idea of Miss Z helping you pick out yarn. She has great taste! I L-O-V-E Dream in Color, and Smooshy definitely lives up to its name! Black Parade is one of my favorite colorways, and I have, ahem, several other colorways in Smooshy as well as in Baby, DiC's laceweight (on the sturdier side of laceweight).
Francie socks look like an awful lot of fun.
I have a couple skeins of Sundara from when it was not quite so crazy-making to get, and I happened to wander by on the 'net at the right time for an update. But when I tried recently to buy a bit more, because I love the style of dyeing so much, it was insane -- as you experienced. Despite clicking frantically during an update, I came away with zippo. (The site crashed big time during that update due to the insane knitter overload.)
So I signed up for Seasons too!
I thought about signing up for Seasons, but it was just not going to fit in the budget right now. I check every once in a while just to see what is available (usually nothing).
I'm looking forward to making Francie sometime too. It looks like a fun knit. 'Course I'm also overdue to start my own dragon socks. I've got some colors of Sundara that I might be talked out of since at various times I have requested an extra in case I didn't get my first choices but lucked out and got almost all of them. If I managed to get any that is.
I'd love to see a pair of baby dragon socks! Have just bought some green yarn for my own pair but I have small feet and always have leftovers.
Sundara yarn..yeah, maybe the sock club is the way to go, seems impossible to get some otherwise. Must be a fantastic yarn then!
Baby Dragons -YES! Your new yarn looks wonderful, it sounds as though you and Miss Z are having lots of fun.