And Now They Are Socks

Simple socks. A Chinese Long Tail caston, followed by some 1 X 1 ribbing (my favorite), and then, inches and inches of stocking knit. A spade toe with a grafted seam—a few ends to weave in and nothing else.

Pretty yarn is a great base for plain socks.. and that is pretty much my rule... Fancy yarn, plain stitches, plain yarn, fancy stitches.

What is next? Well, lets look at my queue. I have a long list of hats to work on—part of a collection I want to make and document (4 hats are already done--of over a dozen planned hats). Socks? Not to many—I have too many socks at this point and need to stop for a while. I have one pair planned for my S-I-L but no more for me at the moment.

I have some knitting (big and small) planned for me. Like a pink shell (light weight, lace) made from Lion Brand Sock Ease—I made one shell 4 years ago, (in an olive green)  and I really like it. The next will be different (lace) but mostly the same.

To go with, I have a huge bag (20 50g skeins) of alpaca in a “kettle dyed” pink—the colors range from a pale baby pink to a deep dark rose—It is DK weight--(5 stitches to the inch on size 5 needles)—I have already made a swatch—7 inches by 4—I am more concerned about stitch gauge than row gauge.

No pattern for the sweater; just a simple cardigan knit from the top, with raglan sleeves. A variation of the Ladies February sweater—but finer. Garter stitch yoke (which will be shorter, and will feature short rows for a better fit, and staggered increases to make the yoke rounder rather than squarer. I think the there will be a very simple pattern below the yoke—a mostly stocking knit body—with just a simple knit and purl pattern.

Not quite the conventional sweater set—Since it is a rare day indeed that is cold enough for me to wear 2 sweaters! Besides, I am not the kind of gal who wears sweater sets--But I do need a warm light weight sweater –I have one (a dozen of years old). It is a cinnamon brown (a really beautiful color) done in a soft mohair-so fine, I knit it 2 strands held together and still only needed a size 5 needle. I also have 2 Lady's February sweaters (made from worsted wool) --but they feel bulky--

I also have some small knits (hats, mittens and such) planned for my grand daughters—Soft yarns will come into play—some angora, some cashmere, some mohair—pretty little things. The girls, have 3 sets of 4 grandparents--(Plus me, but I don't come as a set)--so they are inundated with things. It is fun to shop for kids, too. They are, at times, girly girls, but they are also out and about girls—They are eager to share the new word they learned for jeans—Dungarees! And when they go to Nature School (which has a motto of “no bad weather, just inappropriate clothes”) jean or dungarees are what they wear. And with grandparents buying clothes—they have a wardrobe of outer wear. Why knit an out doors sweater when a sweater will be competing with fancy coats, and fleece jackets, ponchos and puffy down (style) jackets.

This is about half my fall queue. So now the socks are finished, I have made a swatch for my sweater, and found a skein of suede(just one) so Little Ms K will end up with a pair of boots to match her big sisters Ugg style boots... (to give my self a break from miles of pink yarn) I pulled out some yarn for a quick pair of slippers, too. There are a few pairs to be knit. A few quick and easy projects to off set a large and detailed project.