Monday, June 11, 2007

Weekend knitting

I finished them! My Conwy socks, the Second Pair Syndrome socks are done!
It's surprisingly hard to get a shot that shows the color properly. It looks lighter with flash, but brings out the purples nicely,


whereas the no flash version shows off the cables and the blue tones.


If you haven't knit Conwys yet, give them a try. The cable pattern is interesting enough to occupy the brain without making TV-watching or talking impossible. It was a fun knit.

There has also been some progress on the WIP front. My dad's sweater (remember, it's burgundy, not bright tomato red!) has gained an inch or two, and I've started on the cables. Granted, they aren't recognizable as such in this shot, but trust me, they're there.


And then, there are my sister's socks. Knit in Opal Hundertwasser, regarding which I have a confession to make.


Just a few days ago, I was reading the Yarn Harlot's blog and chuckling to myself. She was talking about loving a baby sweater pattern so much that she bought several, kept thinking about them obsessively, and even had urges to go back and buy the rest of the kits so she could just keep knitting them. There may have been something self-righteous about my chuckle, just a little bit. I mean, I'm bad, but clearly, this proved that the Yarn Harlot had it much, much worse. I wouldn't go back and just keep buying the same kit over and over again, no, not me.

Until now. In my case, it isn't the pattern, it's the yarn. I confess that I am a process knitter and that I get lots of pleasure out of watching yarn stripe, pool, change colors. But where a normal yarn has a regular pattern, the Hundertwasser keeps surprising you. Because the socks aren't supposed to come out identical, there are all sorts of different patterns and colors in a skein. You just start knitting and keep knitting because you want to know what color or pattern comes next, or how long the section you're working on will be when it turns into something else...
I haven't been able to put them down. Literally. I must have knit 4" just this morning.

And now for something a little less uncommon: the Baltic Sea Stole. What you see here is the seed stitch border. I cast on 171 stitches instead of 111, and unless I thoroughly misunderstood the math involved, I should get either 9 or 10 pattern repeats out of this. I have the pattern and the chart in front of me.


Now all I have to do is math. We'll see how it goes!

22 comments:

sgeddes said...

The Conway socks came out great. I'm going to have to look that pattern up.

I think the Baltic Stole will come out great. i love the color you selected.

Anonymous said...

Conwy is my favorite sock pattern. Yours look so good.

Jess said...

I reallly like that sock pattern. Where can you find it? I want to make them too...
they look great in that yarn. ME want ME want!

Zonda said...

Nice looking socks there! Good for you!! Looks like you've had a good, productive weekend! :)

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Love love love the Conway socks! Great job!

And that Opal yarn is sooooo pretty :)

Jo said...

Congratulations on finishing the socks - they look great! I also empathize with repeating a favourite pattern - I have made 'Daisy' from Knitty at least 4 times now.

Unknown said...

I love how your Conwy socks came out. It's been on my to-knit list for what seems like forever.

I've never considered Opal Hundertwasser, but it sounds really interesting now.

weezalana said...

Love the Conwy socks. That pattern is on my list.

Your description of the Opal is intriguing. Can't wait to see how the colors play out!

Nell said...

The conwys look great! Lovely colour choice. I'm looking for soemthing for some much loved LL's. Maybe this is the pattern...

Larjmarj said...

I just bought two skeins of the Hundertwasser, can't wait to get my hands on it. Where is the sock pattern available? Looks like a good one.

cpurl17 said...

I'm dying to knit up some Conwys. Yours came out fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Great Socks! I love the color you are using for your stole.

Elspeth said...

Very pretty socks!

Bezzie said...

That is a cool sock pattern. (I hate trying to photograph cables too!)

Poops said...

Those socks are lovely! I love blues and purples!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty Conwy socks! I'll definitely have to try this pattern too, it seems to be such a great knit!

Rachel said...

I love that hundterwasser (sp?) yarn too! I can't wait to see your finished socks!

Anonymous said...

I, like you, love to watch the colors in a verigated skein come together in patterns and different poolings. Its just facinates me in a way I can't really explain.

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

The socks look great! Can't wait to see the finished stole.

Anonymous said...

Lace! Socks! Excellent! And now I have to go get some Hundertwasser, since it's gotten good reviews. I always thought that the ladies at the LYS were trying to pawn it off on me as some kind of local touristy gimmick. Then again, I also thought that we had the only Hundertwasser apartment building out there... Ahem. Off to the yarn shop.

Ceallach said...

BUGGEE!

Heheh, just kidding.

Lovely socks!

KNIT A NEW DREAM said...

I love it all! Can hardly wait to see the finished sea stole! Sue