Friday, May 21, 2010

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack

So I haven't blogged in what, a year? No matter, I'm back now. I'll probably be talking mostly about knitting, but other stuff is sure to slip in. For one thing, I plan to do a bunch of sewing this summer, and I am also itching to make some jewelry. Since I no longer have a glass studio, I'm thinking polymer clay, at least for now.

In the meantime, I just finished my second pair of Rockin' Sock Club socks. I joined my first sock club this year from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. That means I get a skein of their "special" sock club yarn six times a year along with 2 patterns and sometimes other goodies as well. I have to admit that the patterns are at least as exciting to me as the yarn! I made the first yarn into a pair of Cascadia for a friend of mine. I loved the yarn color "Happy Go Lucky" with its highly saturated pinks and reds. Here's what they look like:


Last night I finished my second pair from club yarn. This yarn is called "My Wild Irish Girlie" and It's one of those wildly colored handpaints that I usually love in the skein and in the sock -- not so much. Well, these are pretty cute knitted up. The pattern is called Slip Jig and it was very easy, in fact, by the time I got to the end, it was too easy and I was bored to tears. This is medium weight STR and here's how they look:



I am undeniably compelled to knit socks. I can think of many reasons for this. First, I am a fairly obsessed knitter. Socks are small enough to carry around and work on anywhere. Socks always fit, and wearing hand knit socks is one of life's affordable luxuries. I can try all kinds of things out while working on socks, and even if the entire sock is a disaster, I don't mind frogging it and starting over. It costs so much less to knit a pair of socks than it does to knit a sweater, and I can get a lot of knitting bang for my buck, since I'm usually on size 0 needles.

So I tok a look at my stash this morning and I have more than 30 skeins of sock yarn. I figure at the rate I am knitting socks, this should last me about 2 or 3 years. I probably don't need to buy sock yarn for a while. Let's see if I can resist. I am also ready to start designing my own socks, so stay tuned.

I'm also working on a couple of other projects at the moment. I'm making a ramie/linen cardigan for summer, and I have, after much resistance, caved to Clapotis craziness. I caved, not because I want a Clapotis. I caved because I wanted something I could work on as "social knitting"; something I could work on without paying much attention to it, and I also was seduced by, um, some
sock yarn I saw at Maryland Sheep & Wool. The yarn is "Jazz" by Creatively Dyed, and her colors were so amazing, I just had to buy some -- but not for socks!!!

Maybe blogging will keep me honest and working on some of my other UFOs which have lain dormant for quite a while, but let's wait and see.

Other exciting news is that I am planning a podcast with my son Ben who is also a knitter, and quite an accomplished one at that. We're waiting until his summer plans are solidified and then we will begin our mother-son extravaganza. More on that as it develops!

If you have read this far, thanks. Check back soon, and keep knitting!