Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Look - a new project!

Yes, about time, I finally started something new. There are of course at least two things unfinished on the needles, but that didn't stop me from adding a third. And this one is a sock, yes, finally a sock on the go. I have had a funny 'empty' feeling about my knitting, and finally it clicked, I had no socks on the go. Well that was easy to sort.

So let me introduce my new sock project, first I had to dive back into my stash and find yarn suitable. I located this one, Noir Superwash Sock from Vintage Purls. But there was a nagging thought, Noir was so dark that any textural pattern would be as good as invisible ... part of me thought that would be cool. I could call it Stealth and knit in all sorts of code ... or sneaky clever sock things and then I had a reality check that this was a sock, for a boy-cub, not an uber clever design or art project, a sock destined for pre-teen feet. More than that I realized that that I had a lace project on the needles with 'quite a bit to go' before it was chart-free, and a colour work project also that required a chart. I needed a simple sock. So I frolicked around the left over sock yarns and found these three that seem to complimented Noir well.

And I kept it simple, stripes in set of three rounds, toe up, Judy's magic cast on, increase until it fits ... then knit, then start a gusset. The loose idea in my head was to transition stripes from the green, to the varigated forest to the brown yarn. I have between 4 and 8 grams of each for each sock, I've weighed them and divided each ball of yarn into half. In my imagination it works. Quite frankly I'm impressed with how far 7g of green yarn stretches when knit into a 72 stitch sock.

I've worked my way to another corner of the Shetland yarn blanket, that is now two corners done, well technically one and a half corners as I've only worked half of this one. Progress is slow but steady.

I'd love to knit this again in a single colour, the bands of colour really show up the changes in the lace patterns and I wonder what would be the effect if the colour didn't change. Of course if I was to knit it again I'd have to add a wee bit more interest into the center of the blanket, just to ward of the boredom ... I begin to see how over time those amazing lace shawls and blankets and wraps evolved.
take care
Something smells good, so probably time to check the kitchen and set the table .. or call the cubs to earn their keep and do that for me.

take care
na Stella

3 comments:

Knitting Linguist said...

Isn't it nice when they're old enough to set the table, leaving mom a bit more time for knitting before dinner? All of your projects look wonderful - I love the blue of that last border, and the sock colors are wonderful together. Perfect boy socks!

KathyR said...

I like your chosen boy-cub sock - the colours work well in the stripes, but I was really taken with the Stealth idea! You could even have splashed out and bought a set of needles made from that carbon-fibre material the stealth bomber is made from to make them with. How nerdy would that be? (can you tell that I'm tempted by the needles? Knitsch has them available, I think)

KathyR said...

My mistake...it's Polly at Little Country Wools who stocks the Blackthorne needles. Just in case. ;)