Thursday, January 22, 2009

Love the One You're With

Seems as if I fall in love/lust with whatever new yarn I'm working with. Is it possible to have one-project stands with yarn? If so, I guess I'm a yarn slut.

The latest yarn that I want to spend all my time with is Kraemer Yarn's Tatamy Tweed:



Sport weight, cotton/acrylic blend, soft, wonderful colors, excellent yardage for the price----what more can I say?

Almost thirty years ago, I knit a sweater for my husband (it's ok---we were already married so it didn't turn into the sweater-that-killed-the-relationship). It got passed down to my son a few years ago, and he loved it (except that it was wool---slightly scratchy Shetland). He asked me to remake the sweater but just not in wool. I was very excited to see the colors for Tatamy Tweed and find that I could put together just about identical colors for the recreation. The gauge is spot-on identical to the original sweater, which is another terrific plus.

I started knitting yesterday, using the Knitting Fool's Simple Worked-from-the-Top Raglan calculator; so far, so good.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Happy Feet



After taking six months to finish one pair of socks, I'm now back in sock mode. I finished the socks I started in May and then rolled right on to finish three pairs back to back. Today I'll start number pair number four.

I've used OnLine, Red Heart Heart& Sole, and Malabrigo for the most recent pairs. I love the Malabrigo, but I think the Heart & Sole is a good workhorse sock yarn---the acrylic blend and aloe are a big plus. Heart & Sole and KnitPicks Essentials go in the washer (not the dryer---I'm not that reckless) and come out looking fine, so that's what endears them to me.

I do have the hand-washing of socks down pretty well: a nice soak in Woolite, a gentle wringing out, then laying them on a towel on the guest bed and covering them with another towel (to prevent big fat Henry from wallowing on them). When I was first making socks, I thought that the care of these beauties would be a bit much, but it really isn't.
Next to try out is Patons Kroy.

And I'm still in love with my KnitPicks double points----so smooth and pointy and easy to work with.

Somedays, I honestly feel that I want to put the designing on hold big time and just knit socks. Now wouldn't that be self-indulgent?