Have you noticed something a little off about me lately? Well I certainly have. I just did the maths, and it has been over 6 months since I finished my last pair of socks!! As a self proclaimed sock knitting addict (I officially have to hand in this title now) this is unacceptable. Sure, I fiddled around with some socks in the meantime, but there was no dedication, nothing got finished. Time for a change!

I got one of my fanciest sock yarns out of my stash, a beautiful gift I got for christmas. It’s sock yarn by Spun Right Round in the Martian Got Moves (ha!) colourway. Do I mean the same sort of sock yarn I used for my ever favourite Prairie Spring socks? Hell yes it’s the same, and it is just as amazing as that speckled graffiti spectacle was. I am so excited about it that I took a picture of the sole of the sock-to-be, which I guess normally might not be the most interesting part of a sock ever.

I had fantastic yarn, I picked out a pattern that I thought fit it like a glove (or a sock, if you like), so what could possibly rain on my sock knitting parade? Never underestimate my readiness to be grumpy about unreasonable things! As I was about to cast on, feeling like I was back in my element, I discovered the pattern was written toe up. UGH! Toe up socks. I made loud disgruntled noises, I sat on the couch pouting, I might’ve sworn off sock knitting altogether for 5 minutes or so (yes, I am aware converting the charts to cuff down is also an option).

But surely knitting toe up rather than cuff down can’t be that bad? Well to me it is. It’s feels all kinds of wrong. Starting a sock to me should be a zero thoughts kind of thing. I know how to do cuffs, I can do them in my sleep. I like the idea that I can cast on any kind of sock at any time of day, at any stage of wakefulness. Casting on toes requires thinking, it potentially requires provisional cast ons, it requires more thoughts than ‘do I want my cuff k2p2 or maybe a twisted knit?’. It’s like exercising in the morning really, I’ll never be that person. I start my things easy. Anyway, I’m an adult, and I totally got over my unreasonable grumpiness, and cast on my sock. I am loving the result so far. The pattern-yarn combo might seem a little sqooshed (this is totally a word) at the moment, but trust me, when you put on the sock and the pattern opens up, it works fantastically.

And in other news about all things blueish greenish, I got a little reason to celebrate last week. My first ever first author paper of my phd got accepted into a proper scientific journal! Major milestone, so I figured I earned some celebratory yarn. Would I also have bought yarn if the paper got rejected and termed it consolatory yarn? Maybe.. Anyway, I finally jumped on the gradient train and went for 600 meters of merino fingering weight by Wollelfe in the Kingfisher Teal colourway. I want to make the Grady shawl with it, I just need to make the difficult decision if I want to knit this cake inside out or outside in, given that the shawl is knit inside out (got it?). Any thoughts?

*** Disclaimer: I acknowledge to the fullest that this post might be considered as enabling to the purchasing of yarn. However, I can not be held responsible for any purchases resulting from the reading of this blog post, but I sincerely apologise for any (permanent) damages to your bank account. If you need any excuses to buy new yarn though, I’d be happy to provide them (as you can see I am expert at coming up with reasons for yarn buying)***

 

Pattern: Pebble Beach Shawl
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock in Primavera

Yay, this was such a quick and enjoyable knit! Admittedly, it was already done last weekend. But I was so busy last week that the poor thing spend the entire week strapped onto my blocking maths. I felt some guilt, peeping at it in the mornings and feeling like I was applying medieval torture techniques to yarn. I didn’t want to take it off yet though, because I first wanted to take pictures before starting to wear it. But the pins have been taken out and pictures have been snapped.

I’m on a bit of a Malabrigo sock binge and again this is one colourway I love. I wasn’t sure how it would knit up, but I love how this shawl is very colourful without being very colourful (does that even make sense?). Still don’t think I would ever knit socks with it, seriously doubt it would be durable enough.

But this is perfect shawl yarn. And hat yarn, and mittens yarn and probably sweater yarn. The drape is so pwetty! I made the shawlette version of the pattern (perfect 1 skein project) but after blocking I think it can be called a proper shawl, size-wise.

And I have been such a good little knitter, I even immediately started turning my leftovers into hexipuffs. Seriously, do I earn knitting credit with this or something? Like knitting points I can later on exchange for someone else to sew in my seams or something. Earn 100 credits and your skeins of yarn will be wound up for you. How awesome would that be? Yes please!

 

Summer knitting for me is usually something that happens at a slower pace. Projects tend to be smaller and yarn less bulky. Heatwave knitting is nonexistent for me. Not a fibre in my being desires to touch my yarn when I’m quite literally sweating my ass off. After having 2 tropical weeks in Hawaii I returned home to the usually rainy country that is the Netherlands to find temperatures even higher than on those islands in the Atlantic!

As far as seasons go I prefer fall and winter, and whereas I do appreciate the usual 2 weeks of nice weather we get in summer, I do not mind the otherwise ever changing weather one bit. Lucky for me temperatures went down again, and the knitting needles were picked up again.

I’m happily stitching away on two projects that both happen to be made with Malabrigo sock. First off there’s the pebble beach shawlette. Yes that yarn is pretty and yes that pattern is pretty, but somehow there’s something completely different that makes me excited about this project. There’s no chart in the pattern, just a line by line instruction with next to it percentages on how far in you are. I’ve never seen that before, but I find it incredibly motivating to knit until the next ‘milestone’. Isn’t it odd how much of an effect such a small thing can have on your behaviour?

Then there’s the Rye mittens. You might recognise the yarn as a leftover from my Blossom cap. I think I should have exactly enough leftovers to get these mitts done, and then still maybe push out a hexipuff or two. I love it when yardages work out so neatly.

How is your summer knitting going?

It’s done, it’s done, it’s finally done! Conveniently I didn’t add a cast on date to my Ravelry project, but I saw that I mentioned this sweater in a blog post last October, so yeah.. it’s been a while. This sweater was cast on, mistakes were made, couldn’t get my stitch count correct, then managed to knit quite a bit with my stitches twisted in the round, then noticed I was knitting a size that would fit 5 of me, reknitting the bottom hem and in the end running out of yarn. Needless to say there were numerous times I felt like giving up. But I didn’t, and now I proudly present it as a finished object.

Pattern: Sperry by Amy Miller
Yarn: Lana Grossa Cool Wool Merino

Overall happiness with this project is very high, and not just because it’s finally finished. I think the extra time it took to rework some things was worth it. I did originally go for the split hem that was described in the pattern, but I really didn’t like the way it curled upwards. The ribbed hem is a bit more boring, but overall does look more clean and is simply much more practical.

And it fits! I’m very tempted to knit this pattern another time (although probably not in the near future) and I’d love to play around with different colours and maybe equally wide stripes. I think I wouldn’t mind it in a version that is a little longer and with full length sleeves. The shorter sleeves are definitely done by choice, but it is unfortunate that it isn’t a full winter sweater now. Also the jogless stripes aren’t as subtle as I would’ve hoped, but it is to an extent that I can live with it.

The yarn was an affordable option (at least compared the more luxurious yarn brands), adding up to around 40 euros in total. In my opinion that is great value, because it knit up lovely, didn’t mind all the ripping I did and is very soft, especially after the first wash.

All in all I am a very happy knitter! And now I hope to also make another knitter very happy by announcing the winner of the Blossom cap pattern giveaway!

And the winner is….

Monica (rav id:mmgrrr)

Congrats! A copy of the pattern will be send to you on Ravelry, happy knitting! 🙂