On Saturday, about halfway through the afternoon, we already had about 6" of snow accumulation and the clouds above Chicago showed no sign of slowing down. Going out to do anything in weather like this didn't have a lot of appeal, so we had a long, grey day to spend at home. A good day to get caught up on house chores, like laundry, which resulted in the discovery of this:
Sad, sad socks my friends. The sock on the right is the mate of the sock I repaired for John not too long ago (good thing I still have some Mudslide yarn left). The sock on the left is one of the socks made out of my handspun "Hang on Sloopy". Both earned a big sigh. The second Mudslide sock I expected to have to repair sooner rather than later (the trip through the washer and dryer just must have been too much agitation for those weak fibers) but the handspun sock had had no obvious signs of such imminent hole-age. I was contemplating which to take on first when John reminded me that part of the reason his socks get so much "love" is that he just doesn't have enough thick hand knit socks -- and that weather predictions for Thursday suggest that the temperatures might not break 0 F.
This left me to think about knitting priorities. And whether I could give myself a little challenge to heat up what is likely to be a week of cold snowy weather. I am always looking for man-friendly yarn to stash. The good people at Blue Moon Fiber Arts have a nice line of colorways called the Raven Clan, which are essentially black yarns "enhanced" with colors as part of a color study. What's really nice about these yarns is that they have beautiful color undertones to appeal to the knitter, but these undertones are subtle enough to appeal to the color-conservative male in my house. This full-skein picture of the yarn gives you a good idea of how the color reads when you see it from a distance.
While this macro shot shows off the nice purple and olive undertones that show up when you look close or get the yarn into brighter light. As man-friendly yarn goes, I think it's really stunning. And the fact that it is Heavyweight STR meant that it would meet John's need to have another pair of warm thick socks for winter commuting. The name of the colorway, by the way, is "Grawk"... so, naturally, I came up with a name for the project before I even really knew what they were going to be: "Socks that Grawk".
I like starting new sock projects with a very specific person with very specific wants. For John, these wants include: 1 ) dark or subtly colored yarn and 2) simple unobtrusive patterns. He really liked the last pair of socks that I made with the X and O cables up the side, so I thought for this pair I would stick with the cable theme, since that went so well. But for this pair, I decided that I wanted a little more all over patterning, so I got out an old Harmony stitch dictionary and found a lovely, simple cable pattern that created a wide ribbing that I thought would be perfect. With the cable stitch selected (and charted), the starting notes entered in my knitting journal (all the project I design myself get recorded here for further reference), some new podcasts loaded up on my iPhone and my lovely yarn converted to center pull ball, I sat near the best light in the house (admittedly not very good) and used the rest of Z's nap time to get the socks started.
By Sunday afternoon (before naptime) this is what I had accomplished -- and I was very happy with both the cable stitch pattern (made so much easier by being able to cable without a cable needle) and the way it worked with the dark yarn. It knit up so quickly (I worked on a few other knitting projects on Saturday besides this one) that I decided it might be time to issue myself a little challenge: to knit John a new pair of socks in time for that wicked cold weather on Thursday. By the end of naptime on Sunday, I had turned the heel and knit a pattern repeat past the heel, so I'm optimistic that John could have a new pair of socks by the end of the week.
What a noble knitting challenge! They look beautiful (and warm) so far :-)
Love those cables! I may have to look at something similar for some lovely handpaint I was just gifted.
Great yarn! I think I'll look for some for DH. His only other hand-knit socks are in a stunning yellow/green self-striping yarn. He says he loves them, but that may be because he only has one pair. Nice knitting journal, too. Looks like a lab notebook!
I'm very fond of the STR Raven series. It cranks out beautiful tonal socks, and is versatile enough to handle simple to complex patterning. Five DPNs way up. :)
When my mom was here, she was kind enough to fix holes in three of my handknit socks, including the Dragon socks! WOOT! I know how lucky I am.
I've been lucky so far that none of my hand knit socks have gotten holes in them, though my hubby has a pair that I need to fix up.
How well does the STR heavy wear? I love my Trekking, but I'll be the first to admit that they make some fairly thin socks.
Good socks.
I just picked up a skein of BFMA in Valkyrie, one of the Raven Clan colorways. It was a lot blacker than I'd expected--I can only see the subtle colors under strong light. Is yours the same way? I do like the color depth--just expected it to be more visible like yours is in the photo.
How lovely! I would like to knit socks for my husband, but he is very hard on socks.
The color looks even better when knit than it does as a skein! I just bought my first STR yarn and can't wait to knit it up. I've heard such wonderful things about it.
Since you're thinking socks:
You might enjoy the 'Biological Clock' socks from Janel Laidman's book, 'The Eclectic Sole'. It's a new book I picked up last weekend.
The biological clock socks are fairly simple clock socks, with a double helix cable up the cuff. They might satisfy hubby's desire for basic socks, and tickle your scientific sensibilities at the same time.
I've been eyeballing the Raven clan yarn since it came but but have seen very little of it knitted up, looking forward to seeing your socks! Might have to get some for a pair of knee-highs for myself..
ooo - i hate it when socks die, but the new replacement socks look so good, Imagine if they never wore out and then we'd never have the oppportunity to knit new ones? And in the the next post - you are right about the hair, toddlers have such great wispy hair - love that shot.
:-D