Stash News Friday, August 19, 2011

Yay!  I got mail!  Yesterday I got a delivery from Webs Superstore.  4 skeins of Valley Yarn Huntington Mauve (color number 21), and 2 skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock Fragrant. 

I want to knit the "ballet" pattern from my Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks book for my niece, Hannah.  She likes pink, and is a dancer.  The pattern specifies the Valley Yarn Huntington yarn.  I never use the yarn specified by a pattern.  I always think I know better, and, well, I just like different yarn sometimes.  This always leads to gauge problems.  This time, I decided that I would use the yarn used in the pattern.  2 problems:  they didn't have pink (it is on back order EVERYWHERE), and when I clicked on the "comments" by customers, they all said that although it is a pretty yarn, it "splits."  I am going to try it anyway.  The Mauve is ...  almost pink?  dark pinkish?  Well, I hope Hannah likes the color anyway.  As I am still working on my 3rd try Rain Socks for Allie, I will "work" on these socks, um... how do I say this?  They will be my "sit and knit" project for the bathroom for the time being. 

I cast on 32 stitches, and am swatching in the round right now.  I am actually using the specified needles, too, size 1.  I was going to drop down one size, since I think I knit loosely, but I will try to go with the pattern exactly.  If the gauge is off, I will drop down.  I have decided to knit the swatch in the round this time, since my last gauge swatch was so off.  I think it is just too different when I knit all K instead of back and forth with rows of K and rows of P.  We shall see.

Speaking of "sit and knit,"  I have been really sitting and crocheting.  I have been working on motifs from my Irish Crochet And How To Make It book on Kindle.  I still am not sure what I am going to make with these little bits...  So far I have made:

Rose and 2 leaves,



A wild rose motif which includes:

The full Wild Rose.

 A "half-rose,"

a Rosebud.

And various sizes of Wild Rose Leaves:

 

This one is the "large" leaf.  I especially like how the picots look like pointy edges on the leaf.

As you can see, none of this is put together.  I need to lay it all out, and crochet "stems" connecting all of the parts.  As the leaves have those cool picot edges, I will crochet picots on the stems to be the "thorns." 

I also have been working on a "Blackberry" motif.  So far, I have made 4 "large leaves."

You can see how different these leaves look from the both the Rose Leaves, and the Wild Rose Leaves.  I love how round they seem. 

Anyway, I am taking a break from this to get started on Hannah's socks.  So, I will be working on both Allie's Rain Socks and Hannah's Ballet Socks simultaneously.  I might make a copy of the pattern of one (or both) since the 2 projects will be kept in different locations.

My goal today is to get to the gusset of the Rain Socks.  I have about 5 rows to go.  Definitely do-able!

C. A. Losi