What drives your knitting?

I think it is color and pattern that drives my knitting.  I love color, and that makes me buy more yarn than I can possibly knit up (anything familiar there?).  But texture and pattern follow closely.  I find plain vanilla knitting a little hard to bear.  Bo-oring!

On the needles right now are socks that take care of both of those motivators.  I am using a soft baby boy blue yarn, Knit Picks Stroll in Wonderland Heather, and a lime green remainder from another project.  The blend is luscious.  What do you think?  The pattern is Broken Seed Stitch by handepande.   

By the way, Granddaughter #1 is having two boys in October, and Granddaughter #2 is having a boy and a girl in October.  Two sets of twins in the same month! 

Knits go to Omaha

I have three pairs of socks on needles.  They include the blue pair that I previously mentioned, plus a red pair for my daughter-in-law, and finally, this pair for little old me knitted up in Knit Picks' colorway, Frosting. 

You didn't think I would make a trip to Omaha without something going on did you?

In fact, my sister-in-law was so taken with the socks that I volunteered to make her a pair.  So, one pair of colorway Pearlescent from Knit Picks is coming up. 

Mary's Blue Leg

For our church's service auction, I submitted an offer to knit someone a pair of socks.  The total service was breakfast at a popular local restaurant followed by a stop at the LYS to select the yarn.  A multi-talented quilter from our church, Mary, was the high bidder.  I started on the socks late yesterday, and have completed about 4" of the leg of the first sock.  I think she will enjoy seeing her socks "in utero". 

Yarn is Regia, Die Sockenwolle, colorway Sonata. 

St. Patrick's Day Green Socks

I knitted yet another pair of the beginner's lace socks to test the pattern's accuracy and language.  This time I used the green (and a little blue) sock yarn, Colinette's Jiggerbug 400 Lagoon,  that I bought at my LYS' St. Patrick's Day sale-on-green-yarn.  I am satisfied that the pattern is written correctly, and I am very happy with the yarn.  The lush deep richness of the colors and the ease of working with the yarn made it a fun project.

I have a little side story about the green socks.  I was at a meeting after church service today.  The meeting room was over air conditioned and I was about to freeze in my cottons and sandals.  Naturally, I had my project bag sitting on the floor beside me.  (Don't you take your project bag with you everywhere you go?)  I simply could not stand the cold any longer and reached into the bag and whipped out the completed green socks and pulled them on.  Everyone was so surprised that they started laughing at me.  One person, however, asked if that was the result of that green yarn he had seen me working with recently.  Yes, indeedy. 

My St. Patrick's Day yarn is of those yarns that you fall in love with, and will be purchased again.  And again.  Love making socks!  I have also been trying out some new needles.  Squares.  Kollage and Cubics.  I recommend both of them.

Up next ... Scarlet ... I will be a Scarlet woman. 

Fourth time is charm?

I was down through the heel and tried on my latest effort at socks, and they were too small.  Frog it again.  I have fussed and struggled over the pattern for these socks, even changing to a simpler pattern (Wollmeise) designed by Monica Jines, but still find myself doing something wrong.  Hopefully, this time will be a good fit with a pretty pattern.  The color of this hand-died yarn is scrumptious which is, I suppose, a reason that I am being so picky about the output.   It is colorway Kokomo, from Wullenstudio, superwash merino. 

I have treated myself to a new pair of Kollage Square dpns.  I am so sold on them that I have another pair on order in a different size.  Currently, I am working with the size #1 pair while I await the arrival of the size #2.  The LYS is having a hard time keeping them on hand!  These are advertized as easy on the hands, but that is not why I bought them.  They last because they are steel, and the yarn moves so nicely across them, but without danger of the needles falling out.  In addition, they are very light weight.  Goodbye, bamboo.

Another new thing -- I have changed the title on my blog to YARN SCRAPS.   I think it is a more appropriate description:  scraps of my mind and life tied together with scraps of yarn.