wip: scrap socks 2, slide

​Second sock syndrome successfully prevented. I think I made a good call on knitting these one-at-a-time. It helps me better focus on each sock's different pattern. It still feels like a bit of a waste to have just one sock being worked on a long circular needle, so, in spite of my renewed fear of snapping another thin needle while on the go...

..so I moved these onto dpns, and...

..casted on my second pair of scrap ankle socks. Scrankle socks. These are made using Brittney Elbertson's Go to Shortie Socks pattern. She originally wrote these for a small diameter circular needle (which is a fantastic idea! Someday.) But I wanted these both knit at once for some semi-identical socks. It feels like the way to make the best look out of a random and usually horrific color scheme you often get with yarn scraps.

It thankfully took only a few minutes to learn how to start cuff-down socks with a magic loop, as the method turned out to be super simple. Definitely an easy addition to any knitter's arsenal of skills.

Brittney's pattern is very well laid out and simple to follow. She took care to make these socks easy to adapt to your favorite sock knitting method. It all is coming out to be a quick and portable knit. I plan to use these (and all of my scrap ankle socks) for exercise. Scrap socks sit in the perfect place on the spectrum between specially hand-knit, but also un-precious enough to absolutely beat up on the daily run.

Brittney Elbertson's blog and Youtube channel are very charming and entertaining, too. Pay her a visit! Linking this post up with Frontier Dreams'KCCO.

​ mirage fiber arts, las vegas

While on my thanksgiving weekend trip to Las Vegas with Nick, I took advantage again of Ravelry's fantastic LYS finder resource and found two shops to visit.

The first was Mirage Fiber Arts on S. Buffalo drive. The moment I walked in, I was warmly greeted by the ladies knitting on those adorable rocking chairs.

Their full walls suggested a generous and well curated selection of squishy yarns. I spent most of my time there handing skeins of alpaca or mohair to Nick and insisting that he squeeze and appreciate them.

While convincable, I was mostly on the hunt for something more local than the usual staples of Malabrigo or Berocco, and found what I was looking for.

A skein of Nerd Girl Yarns Swagger in "I Ain't Nobody's Bitch", and Ethereal Fibers' Dark Matter Sock, a 70/20/10 Merino/Yak/Nylon yarn, which is unfortunately not the most well catalogued yarn on Ravelry.

I'm learning, however, that the wonderful thing about picking up a yarn without an existing and well-documented record of projects online is that my project will definitely be a nice little surprise to see all knit up. I'm not entirely sure now the Swagger Yarn will turn out, so I'm probably going to let it have its say on a vanilla sock or something. (Or maybe give the Stranded Show-Off pattern another try?) I'll share my second LYS experience with you very soon! For now, I've got an Ease sweater to finish weaving in and blocking.