FO #12

And they're done.  My comfy, cozy, lovely Tesserae socks.  I cast on the first sock on the first day of our cruise to Bermuda at the beginning of the month, and knit pretty much only in the evenings when we relaxed in our cabin, and still managed to finish all but the last couple inches of the second sock by the time we were back in Boston a week later.  I let them languish in my knitting bag a bit after that, but finished them up at work this week over the course of a few naptimes.  And I love them.  I love them because they're comfortable as all-get-out.  I love them because the pattern was easy but interesting to knit, another part of my ongoing love affair with Anne Hanson's gorgeous patterns.  I love them because it's the first time I've knit with The Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga yarn which is luxurious to say the least.  But most of all, I love them because they will forever remind me of one of the best vacations I've ever taken.

Bermuda was heavenly - perfect weather (temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s), gorgeous scenery, lovely people, water that is warm and perfectly clear down-to-your-toes, sand the likes of which I've never walked upon (soft as powder, foot-caressing, and indeed pink!), and just amazingly welcoming and relaxing.  We had such a nice time exploring and swimming every day.  I even took my first-ever horseback ride (not counting that caped pony ride around the 10-foot ring I took way back in the 70s)!  So now I can look at the turquoise and blues in these socks and think of Bermuda's water and sky, the rusty orange and think of sunsets and horses and wild roosters.  And that makes me very, very happy indeed.

Project info:
Bermuda Beach Socks
Pattern: Tesserae by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga
Coloway: Black Spotted Prominent Caterpiller
Yardage: about 400

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 12
Yards knit: 3470

Serious geek-out

Ok, as everyone already knows, I am a big nerd.  This is true in many areas of my life, not the least of which is my knitting. 
Evidence:
1) I signed up for three full days of classes at this year's Stitches East convention, and that's only because I couldn't quite justify taking two days off to attend all four.  I'm taking an all-day class on knitting socks two-at-a-time on two circulars (a technique I have just not wrapped my head around independently), an all-day class on Bohus Stickning, a style of knitting developed in the Depression in Sweden, and two 3-hour classes on sweater design and knitting "backwards," another mysterious concept that intrigues me.  This is a serious treat to myself, because it isn't cheap, but it's so enriching and so much fun, I already know I won't regret a penny of it.

2) As I have mentioned before, my very favorite yarn company is Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  So far I've tried all three Socks That Rock weights and five of their other yarn bases and every single one has been just luscious, and head dyer Tina's color sense is easily the best in the business.  Well a few days ago, Tina asked in a blog post for help naming some new colorways.  I chipped in my tuppence worth, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and although it wasn't used for the colorway I suggested it for, one of my names is being used for an as-yet-unseen colorway!  I haven't even laid eyes on it, but I already know I'll be ordering a skein because, hello? Something I said struck a chord with THE Tina of BMFA!  I feel like I've touched knitting greatness.  (by parroting a great movie's title, but still.  I'll take what I can get...)

So yeah.  Serious geekery indeed.  As for actual knitting, I'm still kicking it with the Traveling Sweater, which becomes more and more deliciously cozy by the yard.  I started a Daybreak Shawl on my Bermuda cruise and managed to lose the pattern on the very first day, so that's not too far along and hasn't been touched since.  Thank goodness I overpacked the knitting supplies, and had a skein of Skinny Bugga (yum!) and the Tesserae sock pattern.  So those about an inch from finished, and will be posted about just as soon as they're done.

Planning phase...

Well, the Passiflora was a short-lived project.  I knit the first inch or two before realizing I just don't like the yarn.  I mean, it's a perfectly nice yarn for something and someone, but not for this for me.  The color was too grandma-ish, and the gauge was too loose-looking.  I don't know.  Just wasn't cutting the mustard. So I frogged it.  Still want to knit the pattern sometime, but not sure what yarn I'll use when that time comes, and that time is just not now, I'm afraid.


Enter the Traveling Sweater.  Look how cozy and useful! Look how not-summery! (I hate heat, and knitting this makes me think how cozy autumn will be when it gets here.) Look at the brand! It was over before it even began - there was no use resisting the attraction.  I ordered the yarn and the pattern, it arrived, and I cast on.  Love, love, love knitting this.  It's fairly simple, so far, at least, with just enough short rows to keep it interesting.  And the yarn is so luscious with such subtly shifting color (I ordered it in the Manly, Yes But I Like It Too colorway, which is what I believe was used for the sample shown on the pattern, that devoted to the goal of wearing that exact sweater am I) that I just can't put it down.  It's got an interesting construction, too, so I'm excited to put it together at the end.  You knit a big rainbow-shaped piece and two sleeve/back pieces.  Plus, the designer is on Ravelry and taking part in the knit-along on the Socks That Rawk board, and she answers everyone's questions (mine included) super-fast and super-encouragingly.  Not one bad thing to say about this experience.  Except that it isn't autumn yet.  But I can't really hold anyone accountable for that, so I'll try to move on.

The only snag is that I'm leaving for a week-long cruise to Bermuda in a week's time, and I'm not sure a lapful of wool is quite the right accessory for the trip.  So I'm contemplating some lighter-weight projects to take instead.  Sure, the voice of reason might remind me that I've got half a Hedera to knit and 1.8 Bellatrix to go, which would both be perfectly appropriate cruise knits.  But the voice of temptation thinks a Citron shawl might be the thing.  Or a Fernfrost.  Or maybe a Lavalette? There's some Wollmeise whispering to me from the stash bin, as well as a skein of beautiful Tess laceweight that I had completely forgotten about and just accidentally unearthed.  Which voice will be loudest? The suspense is terrible.  I hope it lasts!

FO #11

Hello, beautiful!  These here are my beloved Slip Jig socks, from the Rockin' Sock Club's May shipment, and they just might be my favorite socks I've ever knit.  How do I love them? Let me count the ways. 

1) The Yarn.  Socks That Rock Mediumweight is so sproingy and delicious to knit with, and it makes such wonderfully squishy socks that are just heaven to wear.  They hug my feet warmly but not overwhelmingly so.

2) The Colorway.  This one was great in the skein - all that pink and green was like a preppy dream, with little shots of sky blue that surprised me everytime it popped up in the knitting.

3) The Designer. Irishgirlieknits, aka Carrie Sullivan, posts on the Ravelry "Socks That Rawk" board and although I don't think I've ever had any personal dealings with her (or did I buy from her destash once? I forget), she is always so positive and friendly, and somehow it felt like "one of us" made the bigtime when her pattern came in the package.  (I do realize I'm delusional if I think she and I run with the same crowd, but that is sort of the beauty of Ravelry - we *are* all a little community, regardless of location or ability or prestige!)

4) The Pattern Itself.  Not only do I love the way it looks, but it was so much fun to knit!  First off, the garter cuff, which was a welcome break to that inch of tedious ribbing that socks usually begin with.  Then those adorable cables!  Like little portholes, first a bunch of them with fun little garter stitch stripes, then down to four, all the way to the toe (almost - the pattern carries them all the way to the end, but I garbled that bit and ended up making a plain toe).  I knit and knit and knit because I loved crossing the cables so much!  I couldn't put them down until I'd crossed just one more.

Happily, we're having a chilly May so far here in Boston, so I should get the chance to wear these beauties a few times before it's too hot.  And I see myself knitting this pattern again before too long.  Irresistible!

The details:
Ravelry Link (this is a new thing, let's see if I can do it right) 
Pattern: Slip Jig, from the March shipment of the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club.  Pattern will be available for sale in March 2011 from the BMFA site.
Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight
Colorway: My Wild Irish Girlie, also available in March 2011 from BMFA
Yardage: approx 350

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 11
Yards knit: 3020