Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hurried Rush

Do you ever feel like you're in a constant hurried rush? Over lunch the other day I quickly snapped a photo of the socks I've just about finished: The pattern is "Fluke" by Alarming Feminist. (Download is free on her blog.) I've just started the toes, and plan to finish them by Friday.

Unable to resist bright orange Wollmeise, I cast on for Julia Mueller's fabulous pattern "Entangled Stitches" last week. (Available as a Ravelry download.) Oh, do I love this knit! Perfect for fall - love the texture - and they're orange. Happiness.
Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Yarn School with the Harveyville Project in yes, Harveyville, Kansas. It'll be a long drive, but I'm looking forward to spending time with unknown fibernistas and learning new spinning & dyeing tricks.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Color Phase

Why does something as simple and basic as color hold our fascination every single day? As a child, nothing was more exciting than selecting your favorite crayon from the box. At work I love seeing how coral looks great on every skin tone, and I continue to detest the mushroom color of my cubical walls. Now, nothing is more exciting than picking out the perfect wall color-- or perusing your Wollmeise stash for the best saturated colors...
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Are you someone who has a constant favorite color, a favorite set of colors (warm vs cool?), or are you like me-- you find yourself going through color phases? I'm certainly stuck in one right now: bright-sunshine-orange.
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Last January I started a pair of socks that I originally classified as "losers". After a little leg shaping, the chevron pattern sucked in too many stitches for me to get the sock over my large instep. Talk about knitting too small of a gauge swatch... Over the summer I ripped it out and started again - and I just loved how they turned out.

I still love the shaping, though. I love it enough to pay with gauge and re-knit this pattern again! I've had a number of requests for this pattern from people who saw them at the Minnesota State Fair Creative Activities building (they won a blue ribbon in the Textured Socks category) and from folks on Ravelry.

So.... yes, I'm writing up the pattern. I'm going to change the ribbing to flow into the chevron pattern, and chart out the leg shaping as an element to add if you wish.
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The first copies will go to people who will be taking a sock workshop class at Bella Lana in Minneapolis this October from me. I'm really excited to be teach a knitting class again! Project details:
Start/end: January-July 2008
yarn - Wollmeise Sockenwolle in Sonne M
needles - knit picks circulars in 2.25 and 2.5mm
pattern - coming soon!
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Coming up: A spinning update & most recent knits: a pair of Poison no. 5 socks and Entangled Stitches gloves (Gorgeous pattern!) in the Wollmeise SOS- Save Our Souls crazy-bright-orange colorway. Wow, are they bright!