First off: KNITPICKS! SCOTLAND! TWATWEASEL! Now that that's out of the way....
I finally succumbed to the call of cheap internet yarn.
When I moved a few months ago, I lost my LYS (Knit 'N' Knibble in Tampa, if you're in the area stop in, pet the yarn, and tell Caroline I said hello!). And then the local Jo Ann moved farther away, so my only source of yarn is Wal-Mart. Now, I've used my fair share of Red Heart and Simply Soft, and they definitely have their place in the world (I'm the ultimate Lazy Laundress... no way am I handwashing a wool afghan), but sometimes a body has to knit socks. Or lace. Or felt something.
And that's where Knitpicks comes in. For only marginally cheaper than Wally World, you can get fibers that come from an actual animal. Apparently they also sell some ballin' circular needles, but I haven't fallen for those yet.
In case you missed the Shopping Spree post, here's the picture of my Knitpicks loot:
4 skeins of Essential, two kettle-dyed in Jay and two regular-dyed in black. Total wallet damage: $19.15 with shipping ($10 of which came out of my Project Wonderful ad money, thanks adverteisers for contributing to the yarn fund!).
So far, I've knit up all of the Jay and just cast on with the black.
The yarn has a little bit of fuzz to it. The Jay was knit into a lacy pattern, and you can still see the stitches clearly, even though they're not extremely well-defined. The finished fabric has nice stretch to it and springs back into place easily. It's some of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched.
No wear report as the socks are for a Christmas gift, but I'll update later after they've been washed a few times. I expect some pilling because of the fuzziness, but hopefully not too bad.
Blogger gave us a new toy to play with!
See that box over there under the ads? -------------->
It gives you a list of who "follows" (is subscribed to) Saltwater Purls. You can click the "Follow This Blog" link if you want to be notified when I add new posts.
Do it for me... I'm nosy.
2008 is The Winter of Knitting.
Last year, I did a few handmade Christmas gifts, Y's Skywalkers and my sister's Fat Fuzzy Scarf.
This year, I got ambitious.
For Sister: Jaywalkers
For Mum: Evening Stockings for a Young Lady
For Grandma: Gentleman's Shooting Stockings
For Y: Noro Striped Scarf
For the neighbor's grandbaby: Better than Booties Baby Socks
And for Dad's birthday: Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock
I finished Dad's about three weeks ago, as his birthday is the 21st. My sister's are finished as well. Mum's first sock is done, and I'm doing the ribbing on the second. The baby socks I started but had to rip back as they were coming out too big. I have the yarn for the Shooting Stockings, and still have to shop for some good scarf colors.
Progress photos:
(top to bottom, Jaywalkers, Plain Winter Socks, Evening Stockings)
Three more months of this? I may go insane.
That said, I'm not too fond of how they look in a lot of stitch patterns. And there's no consistency at all, some look great in basketweave but terrible as a cable. Some make pretty good cables but disgusting lace. And there's no way to tell what yarn goes with what pattern without swatching (and swearing) a million and one times. Yeeargh.
The one pattern I've found that looks great in just about every yarn is the zigzag stitch, made famous by Grumperina's Jaywalkers. You get interesting skinny stripes without knitting miles and miles of stockinette.
One of my first socks was the Jaywalker-inspired Skywalkers. Because they had to fit Y's massive clodhoppers and because I wanted to do them "my way", I pretty much took the idea of Jaywalkers and ran with it, ending up with a completely different sock.
This time, I decided to do them the "right" way. I started with Knit One Crochet Too's Soxx Appeal in Raspberry Sundae. I've heard Jaywalkers tend to not stretch much, so I was hoping the elastic in the yarn would help me get a well-fitting sock without having to make it big and saggy.
I have the first sock done, and it fits great! The heel is snug but not too snug. The colors are awesome, they really pop when I go out in the sun.
Overall, a lovely pattern and fun to knit.
I've been acquiring things recently.
For the holiday knitting, some Knitpicks Essential sock yarn. In black, and the new kettle-dyed stuff in Jay. I LOVE the kettle-dyed, the little stripes you get are gorgeous.
Neighbor's nosy dog sold separately.
And something I couldn't resist: KNITTING BOOTS. Well, rain boots with a photo of knitting printed on them anyway.
I've been trying not to buy any more clothing, but damn, it's like they were made just for me. And I don't have any rain boots. (OK, enough rationalizing.)
