fo : seahawk and rogue nilla socks

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This pair of socks took a year to get off the needles because I was eyeballs deep in my projects at work. I still put the couple hundred odd stitches here and there to decompress when things were especially stressful, but it definitely did not progress as quickly as I had wanted.

pattern : Improvised
yarn : Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Fondo del Mar
needle : US 1 [2.25mm]
size : 10"

pattern : Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes
yarn : SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Rogue
needle : US 1 [2.25mm]
size : 10"

My rogue nillas marched at a much faster pace but I was still pretty impatient about it. I cast these on while moving across the rogue river valley. I just had to start something, sitting shotgun on a road trip would otherwise have felt like a waste of valuable knitting time.

Recalling the experience of knitting these two pairs is almost embarrassing. It’s like I’ve become this results driven careerist about something that was initially supposed to be an ongoing process to feed my soul. When did my yarn stash and project queue become such a to-do list?

While caring for and photographing these projects, I got to take in details I didn’t really notice as much when I was in the process of rushing to the finish line.

I had a chance to appreciate the little lightning bolts that took shape against the blue and lime green backdrop, like some storm on a little alien landscape.

The army-green and gem-violet spiraling up from toe to cuff remind me of sedimentary rock, taking ages to fall in line but always seeming to know the right place to sit—just like each one of these little colored stitches.

The simple texture of these knitting patterns allowed the variegated yarns to take center stage. Plain socks and multicolored yarns go together like milk and honey. No matter what you do, it pays off—it’s beautiful as a hank, and the result when knit up is inimitable.

I also was very giddy about finishing with a rounded toe tin the Magic Loop style. Anyone close to me while I was wrapping up the toe became a captive audience to my lecture about how I’m basically knitting two little hats for my toes with this method. Sorry, friends. I owe you something for that.

What if I honored these details while in the process of crafting them?
It probably wouldn’t have hurt to observe more while making them instead of rushing to mark something as done. I guess I knew that at one point in the process of crafting and documenting, I’d have that nudge again to be a little more present while turning fiber into wearables.

A little bit of yarn is left over from these socks, and instead of being an angry completionist about it (I should have made the cuffs longer!) I might store them for a scrap blanket project of some kind to be able to cherish this lesson of mindfulness one more time.
That blanket project idea is a little further off in the future since I’ll need some more sock yarn in my stash to begin, but I’m open to learning about some pattern favorites. For now, Severien’s beautiful work in progress definitely comes to mind.

wip - hue shift afghan

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And just like that, I’m a quarter of the way through my hue shift afghan project.

Mitered squares turned out to not be too difficult to work on. I admit that this wip spent a few weeks in time-out here and there because of some absentmindedly picked-up stitches on the wrong side.

Or at one point, a completed mitered square using the wrong color combination. After those speed bumps though? Yes. This can be smooth sailing now.

Many knitters of this particular Knit Picks pattern kit suggested that I break the yarn as few times as possible to compensate for such tight yarn rations. I’m still unsure if I’m doing well on that front, but we’ll see soon enough.