First FO of the New Year

All I had left to do on these socks was the toe of the second sock. Not a lot, not more than an hour or so of knitting. I can't knit much right now, but a round here and a round there, and before you know it, your socks are done.

This is the Alpaca Sox yarn. So soft, and the finished fabric has an almost velvety feel. We'll see how they wear and launder. I have a feeling the yarn might be tender.

I've sewn the shoulders together for my pink sweater, but I don't have the right circular needle for the neckband, so that's on hold until I can get to the knitting shop. That might be a while. Work is pretty demanding right now.

There has been a bit of knitting. Not as much as during a typical week, because work and the holidays shook up my schedule, but there has been knitting.

On Sunday, I read submissions and finished this sock. The second is cast on, but barely so.





















And here's the latest view of Catherine Parr. I'm knitting the back yoke now. It's at roughly 6 inches, maybe a touch more. Once it reaches ten inches, I'll probably put it on stitch holders and knit the front. Or maybe -- brace yourselves -- I'll take the time to figure out just what I'm going to do about the neckline before knitting the front yoke. My current thinking is V-neck with colorwork bands to match those at the sleeve cuffs.

My second choice might just be a turtleneck with no colorwork.

Then again, that colorwork is nice, and it would feel so toasty warm around my neck, and it would be easier if I didn't have to do any math. So maybe I'll just follow the pattern.

(Yeah, right.)

Road Trip

Last week my mother asked me if I wanted to go to the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Indiana, for a long weekend. We used to do this every year with a group of women, including some of her high school girlfriends and their daughters. In recent years, what with mom's health concerns and my travel schedule, we haven't been able to manage it.

Anyway, it sounded like a fine idea to me, so away we went for a long sunny weekend of shopping, eating, chattering --

-- and driving. We put 600 miles on the car, about 200 of which was at night. But the daylight drive time was sufficient for me to finish the HPYC socks pictured above. My feelings about this yarn haven't changed. Great dye job, lousy base. The finished socks feel a bit flimsy.



























Luckily, I brought another ball of sock yarn just in case I finished the HPYC socks. This is Alpaca Sox on size 1 needles. This yarn is lovely to knit, soft and springy and responsive to the touch. It's fuzzing a little already from the alpaca content. We'll see how they wear over the long run. Using size 1s instead of my ubiquitous 1.5s ought to minimize any pilling.

The editor in me is compelled to say this....
As you're listening to the news these days, regardless of your political slant, try to keep one thing in mind. The difference between "voter fraud" and "voter registration fraud" is much like the difference between "lightning" and "lightning bug." Get upset if you want to, but know what it is you're getting upset about.

(apologies to Mark Twain for that one)

Tipping It Off!

The NCAA tournament starts in 21 minutes from now, and I can't wait! Every year, I am glued to the television while the tournament is unfolding. Love it.

And every year, as I watch, there is yelling and knitting in equal measures.

Some years I've started a new project on the morning of the first game, sort of like my own personal Olympic knitting project, except that it's college hoops. This year, I've decided to concentrate on meeting my March goals and finishing some existing projects.

That doesn't mean I won't start something new.

Any excuse to start something new, right?

I've got three pairs of socks OTN, and two of those pairs are on the second sock. I imagine I could finish both pairs in the next week, maybe even in the next couple days. That would leave only one sock OTN, and lawdamercy, we can't have that.

So I'm winding sock yarn this morning. Gobs and gobs of it. I brought boxes of it with me to the office. (I'm stuck at the family business until early afternoon.) (And yes, I brought a tv with me, too, so I could watch the games here.) (And no, I have no intention of actually working today. It's tournament day! Sheesh.) I brought my swift and winder. I'm alone here and enjoying every moment, winding yarn and anticipating tipoff.

I've about resolved on knitting some of the Alpaca Sox yarn next. I'm very curious about this yarn. It seems counterintuitive to have alpaca socks. It's not the most generous of fibers, and it lacks wool's elacticity. But the yarn feels like heaven, and it's got some wool blended in, so maybe it will outperform my admittedly low expectations. We'll see. I've wound off a hank that's all shades of smokey gray -- it looks like the ashes in a campfire pit, which is actually much prettier than it might sound.

Have any of you knit socks with this?