Year of Projects 6: Week 21

Just a handful of rounds before I cut the two main yarns and start the toe of the second sock. I'm still infatuated with these socks and have already gone stash-diving to select the next bunch of yarn leftovers for vanilla sock treatment. As you can see in the photo, there's a ridge where I've changed yarns at the end of one round to the beginning of the next, but I'm pretty sure this will block out with the first wash and wear. It's a super comfy sock and the bright colours are a nice contrast to the grey windy winter weather that's arrived. I'm hoping to finish up this pair in the next day or two and get started on the next. But before I do that, I'd like to finish sock number two of my Thornfield socks - they've been neglected for the past week or more.

I was in Ottawa for the last few days and had a chance to finally meet Anita, an extraordinary good-hearted knitter who started and manages the Warm Hands Network. She is an inspiration. Over breakfast and coffee she showed me photos of one of her contacts in the northern communities she serves - a woman who organized and administers the only two shelters in Iqaluit... and she stressed the urgent need for socks. How lucky I am to enjoy knitting gorgeous yarn donations into much needed and valued socks for entire communities of knit-worthy kids and adults! Depending on the weather and driving conditions, I'm already planning another road trip to attend one of the upcoming packing nights at Anita's house in Ottawa. It'd be fun to meet the whole crew! 

At the same time I've cast on some secret Christmas knitting. At the moment it's cute and fun, but it shows every sign of becoming a fiddly nuisance in a hurry... particularly as the next steps are intarsia. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So that's what I'll be doing for the next week or more. Have a great week and for those of you in Ontario (and possibly northern US too?) enjoy the season's first snow!

Year of Projects 6: Week 20

Several weeks ago I caught sight of a post in the GTA forum on Ravelry - Yarn Free to Charity. Another generous Raveller on Ravelry was destashing sock yarn for free. I was all over that!

A few days later I picked up more than three shopping bags of sock yarn; mostly 40 to 50 gram partial skeins. Enough to keep knitting scrappy socks for the rest of my life!

I've already packed up about a third of it for another Raveller in Ottawa who also knits socks for the Warm Hands Network. I feel good about that. I was starting to think I could never knit fast enough for all that yarn!

In the meantime I've cast on my first sock with three yarns chosen from the destashed yarns. The cuff and heel are Tosh Sock in a colourway called "Forestry". I'm not sure what the blue and green yarns are that I'm using for the leg and foot but don't they make a a very bright and dramatic fabric? Maybe it's a reaction to the last couple of  pairs of grey vanilla socks, but bright is exactly what I'm in the mood for!

I'm heading to Ottawa at the end of the week. Hopefully I have this pair of socks done to add to my pile for the Warm Hands Network. Now let's see if I can keep up with my knitting AND blogging.

the best laid plans

Towards the end of the summer my friend and I were thinking about getting away somewhere for a weekend. Somewhere out of town. Somewhere fiber-y with a workshop or a festival or something to look. A nice simple getaway. RHINEBECK!!

We were super excited to sign up for a bus trip from the GTA to Rhinebeck. I scanned the events, workshops and appearances and hey - Rachel Coopey was appearing, selling her new line of Socks Yeah! yarn and autographing copies of her book. Last year I won some Rachel Coopey patterns in a knit along which got me thinking... wouldn't it be great to knit a sock pattern by Rachel Coopey and wear them while meeting her in person! So I immediately cast on these Thornfield socks.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans, right? The Rhinebeck trip never happened. Not enough people signed up for the bus trip to cover costs so it was cancelled. Boo!

Oh well, maybe next year. In the meantime one Thornfield sock is done and the second is on the needles. The yarn is Socky-Talky by the Dye Guy in a colour way called Black Spruce. This photo was taking in very bright warm sunlight so the colours look too yellow-brown. I'll try to do better when I finish the socks. I'm not entirely sure that the yarn does any favours to the pattern. It's a little too busy and it overwhelms the travelling stitches on the leg for the most part. And a word to the wise - all these crossing stitches make the sock fit quite snugly. After trying on the first part of the leg I realized these'd be a bit small for me, but as my Rhinebeck trip was cancelled I decided to carry on and knit them for a friend with skinny legs and narrow feet.

So no trip to Rhinebeck for me this year, but at least there'll be a lovely pair of socks at the end of this!

where were we?

So where were we when I last left off? Hard to believe that I haven't managed a single blog post since July. Lots has happened since then - all good - but not much knitting.

Necker socks were done in July, but with heat-wave temperatures through July, August and September the socks were given away with no photos taken. Maybe now that fall is here, I'll catch up with Nancy and we'll snap a few shots. We'll see.

In the meantime it's been vanilla socks. One pair with rounds of variegated yarn alternating with rounds of grey yarns, another pair with wide stripes of various grey yarns.

I used some cream coloured yarn that was given to me by another Raveller for the cuffs. There was no label, and the yarn felt super soft so I wasn't too sure how much (if any) nylon was in the yarn. So, just the cuffs with that.

For the heels on both pairs I used leftover Kroy sock yarn. There's definitely nylon in that so the heels should be hard-wearing.

The width of the grey stripes was planned to use up the scraps in their entirety in matching socks. With all the back-and-forthing to the cottage I didn't always have a kitchen scale available, so there was a fair bit of shifting one sock onto scrap yarn, knitting the other up to the same point, then shifting that sock to scrap yarn and so on. Annoying? Sure, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I'm never really sure how scrap yarn socks will turn out, but these two pairs are amongst my favourites. They are very handsome and wearable socks. In fact, even Gavin remarked that he really liked the wide grey stripes. They're not for him though!

Next week I'm off to Ottawa to visit my brother's family and celebrate my brother's birthday. While there I'm hoping to catch up with Anita - one of the organizers of the Warm Hands Network - and drop off some socks. At the same time I have a shopping bag full of sock yarn leftovers for another Ottawa knitter who makes socks for the Warm Hands Network. I was given three bags full from a GTA Raveller a few weeks ago for charity knitting, but it's more than I'll be able to knit in my lifetime so I'm glad to bring it someone who'll put it to good use!