A Long-Awaited Finish and a New Start (and Restart)

Once there was a pair of socks...almost. I worked on these last year on our trip to Kentucky. (You may recall this is the project during which I broke a needle on the trip and lost my notes about modifications...twice.)

I did not put the socks in time out--this is not why they waited so long to be finished. I had planned to use them as a sample to demonstrate my invisible cast off (or bind off, if you prefer).

Project Stats
Started: 6 Mar '11
Finished: 16 Jun '12
Pattern: Hourglass by Bev Elicerio (free)
Materials: Apple Laine Apple Pie in Arizona colourway, 2 skeins ($21.67) I've made several socks since then and each time considered using them for a demonstration, but never did. I  finished them and wore them. This morning I finished up my zigzag socks (I'll show them later, don't worry, but I don't have pictures yet) and finishing them just made me think that I couldn't wait any longer to finish these orange socks. I'll make a swatch to demonstrate the cast off method.

Meanwhile I'll enjoy wearing these (well when the weather's a little cooler, perhaps) and the memories they recall of my trip to Ottawa where I bought the yarn.

Straight forward short-row heel.

I'm not too crazy about wearing lacy socks (I don't like the look of the skin showing through) but I'm hoping that they will prevent my feet from overheating in them. Surprise, surprise...wool socks are warm. And, I know, I am a woman of cold feet, but there is such a thing as too warm. (It starts at "hot and sweaty"--no one likes that!)

Also, the colour of the yarn is way too crazy busy to let the pattern show, so it's not a great match of pattern to yarn. But it was the pattern I wanted to use at the time and the yarn is still very pretty.

Now that these are done, I can turn my attention to another pair that I started the other day:

I'm hoping to avoid the "too busy" thing by mixing a variegated with a matching solid.

It looks a little stripey, but there are patches of solid colour as well. I'll keep the pattern simple just in case. Not that I know what I'll be doing. I got as far as the toe plus a few rows but it was too big. Now to decide whether to go down a needle size or cast on fewer stitches?? I'll let you know...

Last of the Travel Report...Getting and Giving

Before I even got my suitcase out of the van that had picked me up at the airport, I was buying yarn. My wise and understanding sister stopped off at her favourite yarn shop on our way to her house! We went to the Wool-Tyme which has been recently expanded.

And I can vouch that the store is very big!! and chock full of yarns!! They had a lot of of cottons and baby stuff that I was not into. And they had a lot of chunkies which were tempting but not the right thing for me right now.

They also had a bigger collection of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend than I could have imagined. (This is what I used and loved for my Sahara sweater.) There were two variegated colours I came very close to bringing home, but I decided not to since I didn't have a project for them and then didn't really know how much to buy. And they didn't have a price for them posted with the yarn. That really irks me. And sometimes that is enough to not buy something.

Enough about what I did not buy! I did pick up a couple of skeins of sock yarn from Apple Laine.

It's called Apple Pie and I think it will be lovely!! The yarn is a blend: 65% Superwash Merino, 20% Kid Mohair, 10% Nylon, 5% Silk. It is very luxurious. It's a small company based near Russell, Ontario and their yarn is only carried in three stores (all in Canada). This is the type of yarn to buy on a trip!

Their website is the best I've seen for showing you what the hand painted yarns will look like when knitted up. My colour is here and the colour I first wanted is here. (They only had one skein in stock so I "made do" with the Arizona colour. I'm not complaining!)

Another thing I took home was a few skeins of wool that was leftover from a sweater my sister made for her MIL. I just took it because it should felt well. Maybe I'll feel like making a felted bag sometime.

Troy didn't really see how I could possibly use another bag. Maybe I don't need to have another bag, but I can imagine needing to make another bag. There is a difference.

I also took home some DK weight washable acrylic/nylon/wool blend that I will pass onto another sister who obsessively makes hats. She gives them as gifts and always makes a lot for the local library's charity drive.

Ok, so that's the "getting." How about the "giving?" In this case, that meant mostly advice and teaching. Both of my sisters there were curious about "that cast on" that I talked about on this blog. Even though both of them knit very competently, neither of them knew about the cable cast on. And, as you know, that is my favourite go-to cast on method. After a quick demonstration, they both had it. And decided they loved it too.

By the time I left, one had practised it quite a lot as she had cast on (and finished) four or five squares for an afghan she started with wool she bought at Wool-Tyme. (I love to increase knitting everywhere!)

That's all for this trip. Only two weeks til I go on another one!...