Life keeps getting in the way of my blogging. Ok, no really, it’s still the picture thing. However, I keep trying.
It’s been a big year of changes in my life. Hubby and I are living in separate states and leading separate lives. This is okay and a mostly good thing. It’s never easy to end a relationship but I think we’ve done pretty good. We aren’t as good of friends as I would have liked but we certainly aren’t enemies. He’s a very good guy and I want only the best for him, we just weren’t completely right for each other and in the end, that’s okay.
I’m going to school now which is severly cutting into my knitting time. I’ve made up for that over the Christmas break though. I knitted Jared Flood’s amazing and beautiful Hemlock Ring blanket. I used Cascade Eco+ in a lovely shade of red named Valentine which does not remind me of a Valentine at all. I’m having a few issues blocking that sucker though. You really do need two or more people to block it.
Then I knitted myself a pair of socks. The wool was dyed by the amazing local dyer Pamela Beitia and purchased from my favorite LYS, Ewephoria. I knit it up using the Express Lane pattern that you can download for free here.
Express Lane Detail
Express Lane
After that I started on yet another pair of socks for Soozy. Deb found a hidden gem for me at Ewephoria that had somehow escaped my notice. Oddly enough, it was a book I had just found out was published a couple of days before. I’m way out of the loop since it’s been on the market for a while now. I’ve been a fan of Wendy Johnson for a while now so I was really excited to hear she had a sock book out and I was very happy with the look of the book and the patterns found in Socks from the Toe Up. Evidently I’m not too far behind, it came out in April of 2009. In looking for the link though I see she has another book coming out in March 2010 Toe Up Socks for Everybody. I’ll have to keep my eye out for that one.
Now I’ve always been a top down girl. I’ve done a few toe up socks but I’ve always preferred top down. Recently though, I needed to use up every last bit of yarn for a pair and as any sock knitter worth their salt knows, the way to do that is toe up. I discovered quite by accident that I could do a gauge swatch while I was knitting the toe (a tip I read a couple weeks after discovering it for myself) and that won my heart over a little more.
However, it was after listening to Episode 88 of Cast On when the amazing Ms. Brenda Dayne shared a new cast on that was featured in knitty.com that toe up socks won me over. It’s so simple and so amazing and so…just wow. I found this video by Cat Bordhi explaining it.
I was already a fan of Judy’s Magic Cast On from Cat’s previous book but once again, Ms Bordhi helped cement the cast on in my mind with a video. Be prepared for a few giggles on this one.
The only thing left…the heel. My first heel was Priscilla Gibson-Robert’s short row heel. I wanted to love that heel. I really did. The wraps were forever making me pull out my hair. Problem solved. Enter the Lifestyle Toe Up sock short row heel. No wraps. I’m still working out exactly how to do the M1 in a way that I like but so far, I’m happy.
Anyway, back to that sock for Soozy. It was knit out of Madelinetosh Sock in Black Currant. This sock yarn is such a dark purple that it’s nearly black. As such, my color is completely off. What’s new?
Hearts & Flowers
Hearts & Flowers side detail
Hearts & Flowers Motif Detail
Ok. That’s enough for today.
