wip : stranded show offs ii

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I'm about to turn the second heel of these Stranded Show-Off socks in a Zauberball. It's hard to put it down now that I see how lovely these colors look in this pattern. The Regia Hand-Dye Effect really did the pattern an injustice to me. When the yarn's a dream, the whole sock knitting experience is a dream as well.

I also finished Hannah Thissen's Slow Knitting. I like what ideas and values that this book fosters. As a long-time lurker of knitting blogs over the years it was exciting to see the profiles of names I recognised (like Bare Naked Wools, Brooklyn Tweed, Jill Draper Makes Stuff, etc). It was a little difficult reading this book in the format that I did (I'm talking about on a Kindle app, on an Ipad), but it's a recommended read if you're interested in source-conscious, sustainable wool and the mindset of slow knitting.

The book wasn't enough to completely assuage my knitting-related impatience--I look at my stash feeling anxious excitement about seeing what they'll look like knit up. Sometimes I stay up late knitting something just because I want to make some arbitrary knitting 'checkpoint' so it can be further along. The concepts resonated with me, though. After some digestion (and a few completed projects) I might be a Slower Knitter in due time.

fo : clarke, rhubarb show-offs

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2017 has been a year focused on a lot of other things, like the surprising turn my career took, the first apartment I moved to (with a partner I never thought I would meet and grow with). I lost a lot of good knitting time this year being swept up with a lot of that but still managed to get a few things off the needles.

The problem (?) with taking so long to blog about something you've knit is that it's likely that you've already spent some time incorporating them into your life and putting them into use.

pattern : Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

yarn : Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Cobblestone Heather and Garnet Heather

needle : US 6, 7 [4-4.5mm]

size : 40

My Clarke sweater's already a little rough around the edges. I haven't really felt the push to block the garment to make this look as attractive as possible for the blog, I hardly even wove the ends in! As soon as it was bound off I wore it and continued to whenever the weather deemed it appropriate to. It can't be that heretical to admit that, right? I don't block that often at all!

The first pullover I knit was a Jane Richmond pattern. It was such a simple and enjoyable process that I sank my teeth into the Clarke pattern expecting the same straightforward, highly customisable design. I was not disappointed and might make another sometime in the future. So far the Swish Worsted has been soft and very comfortable--no scratchiness at all. One issue I see is that it pills quite a bit. The pilling makes me wonder whether this batch of skeins I bought from knitpicks would suffer the same unfortunate fulling effect post-wash that I read complaints about on ravelry. It would suck to see such a fate from a sweater I love this much.

pattern : Show-Off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell

yarn : Regia Hand-Dye Effect in Rhubarb

needle : US 1 [2.5mm]

size : medium, 10"

This whole sock project was a nightmare, and it was entirely because of the yarn. I had this in the time-out pile since 2014 and didn't pick it back up until 2016. I was determined to finish it. Ignoring the general convention of knitting both socks with the same types of needle to ensure gauge is the same, I just picked some aluminum dpns and sped through the last sock.

With the frustration of the yarn behind me, I can enjoy these gorgeous colors and how the Anne Campbell's pattern has let them shine. To give the pattern a good faith effort once more with less annoying yarn, I casted on once more with a Zauberball skein instead. Anne Campbell kicked ass with this design.