It's Friday! We have a special guest visiting this weekend...Chappy's Mom, (aka Deb) is meeting us at Liz's house for the weekend and of course Chappy will be coming with her. Can you imagine, 4 dogs, two cats, three knitters/spinners, and a brave husband stuck with us all, under one roof. This should prove to be an interesting...but oh so fun weekend!
Once again, I haven't downloaded all my pictures; So let me just go ahead and tell you about my latest obsession. SOCKS! What? What's new about that? Like you haven't witnessed all the sock yarn I hoard...wait a minute...I think you have missed a few latest purchases...Hmmm...you will have to wait for the pictures. I might have to pull a Wendy and prove that I didn't need to take my obsession to another degree of insanity by showing you a picture the mass amounts of sock yarn that I have hoarded in almost every crevice of my house. Surely if I did such, my friends--led by my husband--would plan an intervention session.
But you see, it has taken a step in another direction...enough to make me buy and try several yarns and more needles to keep all my "swatches" on. WHAT...SWATCHES?...FOR SOCKS????? Yes, now you know it's gotten bad. I've made a zillion swatches as of now...OK...maybe 5...but here's who you can blame...and this is what for...
That sock is Eunny's self-designed "Chuck's Cabled Sock." I might as well start myself on medication now, because I've definitely on my way to being certifiable. I absolutely loved these socks from the moment she put this picture up. Then she wrote it up and and made it available. Lord how I love Pay Pal AND Eunny. Fair Isle and cable on double pointed needles, with sock yarn. Hellllllo Betty Ford. Actually it isn't that hard...I have just been having a hard time with my choices of yarn, colors, gauge of yarn, yaddy, yaddah...Well you know there really isn't that much out there in solid sock yarns...and though she used Baby Ull for part of this...I don't quite trust that it will stand up to heel wear. (Anybody made socks out of Baby Ull?). Then I had to decide on color...Oh lord. But I did have a pretty good supply of great solid colors in Lorna's Laces. Then do I use a subtle variegated background for a "stained glass" effect with a solid cable?...Ooohhh that opened up a lot of possibilities.
So after finally deciding on two solid colors of Lorna's to go together...On size two's as suggested ( I usually knit Lorna's on 0's or 1's) I start knitting away and I am having a great time of watching it all appear under my needles. But when I went to try it on after a couple repeats, my fear of how fine Lorna's is compared to a lot of sock yarn was confirmed. Then I tried a swatch using looser tension...Boy did that look fugly. Then I went and bought some Louet Gems Opal...sportweight, bigger gauge...Which produced a fair-isle cable sock fabric that would make me look like I'm wearing Uggs. It was beautiful...but way too thick for my taste. Plus, I really didn't like that the Gems Opal has very little give or spring. It's like knitting with cotton!
Hrumph...I almost felt defeated and might of had to resorted to using my brain cells to redesign the pattern to make the Lorna's work. Ah, but I gave it one more shot ... I tried the Lorna's on size 3's. ( I worked the cuff in 2's) Never in a million years would I have thought it would work on 3's being so thin...ah, but it's working! It is a very, very slow progression, but I'm working on a little-bit each night.
But then enters Moth Haven and her ARRRgyles. Damn it! What the hell? Dude, haven't I already got the weight of the world on my shoulder's with the Chuck's? Do I really need to add intarsia knitting to it all. Yep, when she added this little character to the design! I was just fine only contemplating argyles before she went and did that. Bloody hell, mate...my quest for more solid sock yarn has begun again! Needless to say, another fricken color combo to decide on!
Oh...and right before the argyle mess, I desperately wanted to try this little number...just for fun...Pink Lemon Twist's Hod Rod socks. These just seem so cool and fun! (BTW, go look and congratulate her on her new puppy! It is absolutely adorable!)
My problem now...My plans for the colors I have or wanted to pick for all three is all in the same range. Guess I'm still going to have to hurt my brain on coming up with some more solutions!
Did you hear the interview on the New York radio station where Roger Waters says that he's hoping to do a version of The Wall with Cirque de Soliel? That would be AWESOME!
Posted by: Joanne | July 28, 2006 at 06:18 PM
Those socks really do look gorgeous--even with the purl bumps.
I had a great time this weekend!! And so did Chappy, even if he's convinced that Marley doesn't like him . . . (grin)
Posted by: --Deb | July 30, 2006 at 06:57 PM
All 3 of those socks are on my radar! Of course, I have to actually knit a PLAIN sock first... Look forward to seeing your progress/findings!
Posted by: margo | July 31, 2006 at 12:19 PM
I really didn't need to see those Hot Rod socks - they'd be perfect for my flyball colors (red/black).
Posted by: Beth | July 31, 2006 at 04:25 PM