Shepherd's Lamb Rambouillet

When we lived in California, I worked in a genetics lab. One of the PhD students was doing his research on cochineal insects, which live on cacti and are used as a natural red dye. That's the thing about PhD projects- they are so oddly specific, and I personally can't imagine devoting 6+ years of my life to something like that, but hey, I don't have a PhD. Anyway. I recently got the opportunity to review some yarn dyed with cochineal insects and I got excited because I saw many, many lab group presentations on these little things. It's always fun when my science background and my yarny worlds collide.

This is Shepherd's Lamb Rambouillet yarn, a DK weight 100% American Rambouillet wool yarn. It's dyed with indigo and cochineal, both of which are totally natural- a bonus if you aren't into chemicals. It's 180 yards/2 ounces and the suggested gauge is 6 sts/inch. This is my swatch (unblocked- see how it's not really rolling? Good firm stuff, that), which is 6 sts/inch (I used size 6/4mm needles), and I honestly think it's a little dense. Although, this is possibly the wooliest wool yarn I've ever knitted with, and wooly wools are good for firm, dense, hard-wearing things, so maybe knitting it at 6 sts/inch would be ideal for this yarn, depending on your plans for it. Anything at that gauge would be basically bulletproof, not to mention wind-, rain-, and weather-proof. I feel comfortable saying you could likely treat this yarn as a worsted and knit it at 5 sts/inch for a less firm fabric. That being said, I might knit a pair of simple mittens at 6 sts/inch and give them to my mom in South Dakota. We were just there over Christmas, and the high temperature a couple days was below zero, and with wind the "feel like" temps were in the negative teens. Um what.

The pooling makes me think you'd want to do a simpler pattern with this yarn- not too many cables, and probably not anything with openwork. Based on the wooliness I'd say just simple, basic, wear-all-the-time patterns like warm hats and mittens, maybe a solid sweater. I also bet it's excellent for felting, if you're into that!

Thanks to Shepherd's Lamb for the yarn. All opinions and rambling are my own.

Baby Sleep Sack

First project of "buy no supplies" January is done, and it's not even January yet.

The original idea was to buy no supplies, but now I'm kind of thinking that I'd like to just buy less overall. Example: the baby is getting too tall for her sleep sack, so I could pop onto Amazon and buy a new one, or I could use what I have and sew one up. So, I did! It was easy and pretty quick.

I traced her old sleep sack and added space all around, including a few inches at the bottom. I used some striped French terry that my mom gave me ages ago, found an appropriate zipper in the zipper box, and just serged it all together. At first I tried to finish the armholes with fold-over elastic but that was a hot mess, so I did thin bands of the terry then topstitched them to the seam allowance. Finished it with a tab and a plastic snap to keep the zipper up (I have, not joking, 24 colors of plastic snaps, and have used approximately three of them), and it's done. It's not perfect- my machine struggled a bit with the fabric- but I'm proud of myself nonetheless for following my new rules.

Next up: more bibs. "One size fits all" bibs are stupid, and that's mostly what we have, so quite a lot of food ends up on her outfit instead of her bib because the bib is too small. So I'm planning some larger bibs with snaps, not velcro, because we like to rip our bib off towards the end of a baby meal.

"Buy No Supplies" January

Story #1: When I was in college, I had no money (said all college kids, ever), but I still did arts and crafts projects and made these incredible, often 3-D cards for my then-long-distance boyfriend. I had oodles of creativity because I worked with what I had, and I was so good at transforming random things into amazing other things. I don't have that kind of creativity anymore, I don't think, and I miss it. I lost it when I got the means to buy what I wanted instead of having to come up with some way to make what I wanted.

Overflowing fabric and yarn closet. Those bins are for yarn. It's all spilling out of the closet into my husband's work space. Oops.

Story #2: As a stay-at-home mom, I'm often looking for something for the baby and I to go out and do- it gets lonely (and the days get long) when we stay at home all day while daddy is at work. Aside from necessary errands like getting groceries, the thing we most often go out to do is go to crafting stores like Joann and Michaels. Usually I'll go to get one small thing, like a zipper, and end up spending $50 on three yards of fabric, two zippers, a picture frame, some elastic, and a bottle of chalkboard paint. I started feeling guilty about this habit a few weeks ago, and also, my stash of crafting/sewing/knitting stuff no longer fits in its designated spaces, so it's time to make a change.

Big ole' bin of quilting fabric for all the quilts I don't make.

For the entire month of January, I'm planning to buy zero supplies. No yarn, no thread, certainly no fabric, no paint, no ribbon, nothing. I will make things from my stash and only from my stash. I'm hoping that this will a) help me stash down and clear some clutter, and b) spark some of the creativity I feel is missing. 

These are full, and there are three more like them. 

I already have some ideas for what I want to make in January. I'm also hoping to find gems that I've forgotten about- I think there's some laminated floral print in there somewhere that was meant for a rain jacket, and I know there are about 10 different large stripe knits, and I think I've got some gorgeous sock yarns I'd like to use. I'm serious about this- no cheating and buying thread or something. Either make do with what's here or make something else! Related to that, I'm hoping to tackle the pile of mending as well. Made do and mend, and DIY before you buy, amirite? I'm gonna go cross-stitch that and hang it on the wall. 1950s, here I come.

But That Cashmere Tho

So, I ripped out the cashmere glove. It was too big, and I didn't like it. But now what to make with this yarn?? I really wanted to make something for myself before Christmas, but I'm not sure that will happen, so maybe I can make something during Christmas "break" (not really a break, as I'm not working out of the house anymore, we have a 9-month-old, and we'll be traveling, but whatever) and call it a compromise.

Here's a swatch with the yarn, which if you've forgotten is Filatura di Crosa Solocashmere, and it's 100% cashmere, which you could have guessed because "solo" and "cashmere." The only place I could find to buy it online is here, but I think that's only because it's a new yarn? White yarn is a little hard to photograph, so here are two different angles.

On the top of the swatch, I used size 4 needles, which is smaller than the size recommended on the label, but I love how dense and luxurious the fabric feels at this gauge. On the bottom, I used size 7 needles- the recommended size. At the larger gauge it's basically like a fluffy cloud and I bet a sweater knitted at that gauge would feel like heaven. The yarn has a slight halo, but there's still good stitch definition. Do I make something that goes around my neck? The yarn is certainly soft enough for next-to-skin wear (again, duh, cashmere). Or do I try again with gloves or maybe mittens?

My sister loves orange, so I was actually thinking that maybe I'll do something with the orange and cream together, like striped wrist warmers. But I dunno, that would be *awfully* generous of me, seeing as how this is cashmere...

Again, thanks to Filatura di Crosa for the yarn for review.

Cashmere Gloves, or Maybe Not

Right now, the baby is totally happy sitting on the floor in her room, playing with toys. She doesn't crawl yet and she's perfectly stable, so I don't worry about toppling. I get to sit in the rocking chair and knit while she plays, and it's lovely. I don't think phase will last much longer because she's making motions like she wants to crawl, and then I'll never sit down again. But while she's still happy playing on the floor, I knit. I've gotten a ton of things made in playtime. It's awesome. My latest project is this cashmere glove, which if we're being honest is not great.

I'm using Filatura di Crosa Solocashmere, which is listed as a fingering weight 100% cashmere yarn. I don't think fingering is accurate for this yarn- depending on how dense you want the fabric to be it knits up at sport to DK weight gauge. The recommended needle size is 6 to 7 (4 to 4.5 mm) so maybe someone doesn't understand what "fingering" means?

I'm using my Anchors Aweigh glove pattern and making the second size, because according to my swatch my gauge was tighter than the pattern. The plan was that larger size + tighter gauge = the smaller size glove. That is not working. This glove is clearly too large in the hand and it's goofy. I keep thinking "clown glove" while I'm knitting so that's probably a sign that I need to cut my losses. I only have the tip of the middle finger and the cuff to go. Don't care, we're done here. Just to be clear, the issue here is a bad pattern/yarn combo. The pattern and yarn alone are great, but they don't want to be together, I don't think.

Sometimes with blog reviews, you get to pick the color and quantity of yarn you'd like, and sometimes you don't, and that's fine so long as you know about it. For this particular review, I asked for three balls of black because a) black gloves are classy as hell, and b) I thought (correctly) that I'd need more than one ball per glove to make a decent length cuff. Instead, I received two cream and one orange ball, but I was like whatever, I'm still making gloves because that was the original plan. I did a provisional cast on then went right into the thumb gusset part, because I wanted to use up every inch of one of the cream balls (which is 87 yards) for each glove. I was planning to knit the hand, then go back, undo the cast on, and knit the cuff down, using up all of the yarn. A good idea in theory.

The yarn is soooo soft. Duh, it's cashmere. It's a tiny bit splitty but really not bad. My only issue is the laddering. See here below, in the palm? I shifted around the dpns around every few rows, but no matter what I did the yarn laddered between dpns, then kept the ladder after I moved the needles around. Never experienced this before, but this is only my second 100% cashmere project, so maybe it's a cashmere thing? Anyone have ideas? Maybe it would fix itself with blocking.

But I'm going to rip this out and make something different. I finally admitted to myself this afternoon that I hate the way this is going. The hand is too big, and I can tell I wouldn't wear these. So now I'm not sure what I'll make with this yarn, but whatever it is it'll be luxurious, because cashmere.

Thank you to Filatura di Crosa for providing the yarn to me for a review. Opinions and rambling are my own as always.

Giftalong 2017

This is my fourth year participating in the Indie Designers' Giftalong on Ravelry. If you are unfamiliar, it's basically a big KAL/CAL (knitalong/crochetalong) that starts with a pattern sale, then continues on up to New Year's Eve. The sale starts on Tuesday November 21st and runs for a week. I've got 20 patterns included in the sale- check them out here. There are prizes like free patterns, yarn, and books for those who finish projects and post about them. Even though I don't generally get a chance to make anything during the Giftalong, I always discover a new-to-me designer or two, and my queue gets bigger every year.

Check out the patterns, and use coupon code giftalong2017 for 25% off from November 21st to 28th. Happy gifting!

Clover Club Hat

Remember a while ago when I posted about this hat, and how my color choices were questionable but I was probably gonna finish it anyway? Well I did. Color choices are still questionable. That pink reads as neon but maybe we'll just say it's FUN!

The pattern is Clover Club Hat from Berroco's Portfolio Vol. 4, which also has my Millington Cardigan pattern (shameless plug.) The hat is fine. I like the pattern, but I wish that a) I had made better color choices, b) I had done twisted ribbing, because I think that no matter what, 1x1 ribbing that isn't twisted looks sloppy, and c) that I had lengthened the hat either in the pink part above the ribbing or the tan part above the colorwork. It's just a tad short on my head, and my ears aren't totally covered, and personally I find that unforgivable in a hat. 

The colorwork pattern is awesome-looking, but keep in mind that you do have to strand across like 9 stitches at some points. I personally dislike doing that, but to each his own. It's much easier to do in worsted than fingering, though, so there's that. I wouldn't do this hat as a first colorwork project.

The brim is knitted to twice the length then sewn to the inside to make it double thickness. This is the first time I'd done that and I like it. 

I will likely take this hat with me to the Midwest at Christmas and see if any family members want it. I actually have quite a collection of accessories that are looking for new homes. I just don't need much more than a fingering-weight hat and a pair of gloves down here in the Bayou. (Not that that's stopping me from knitting more hats and mittens and cowls, but.)

Zen Yarn Garden Quartet // So Faded Pint Sized

I understand now about fading. At first I was like "I don't get why everyone is SO OBSESSED with fading, I mean it's fine I guess" but now I want to fade everything, and I mean everything. It's addicting. I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon, but here we are.

I'm making a So Faded pint sized for baby Elaina with this Zen Yarn Garden Quartet. Once I'm done I simply must cast on for another one for her, and one for me too. Love the fade effect. I like the pattern, it's fine, but it's the fading that's got me. If you're not into fading, or want other ideas for this yarn set, Zen Yarn Garden has this helpful idea list for patterns that fall within the yardage of the gradient sets, which come in quartets, like I have, or trios.

How great is this fade?

I was offered this yarn as a blog review, and I knew right away that I wanted to make a So Faded for Elaina. The yardage (200 yards per skein, 4 skeins total, 800 yards) is great for a kid's sweater. For reasons that surely made sense at the time, I decided to make the size 4... for my 8-month-old. I guess we'll put it in storage once I'm done and pull it out in a few years. I claim mommy brain.

The yarn! It's really soft. It has a slight superwash stringy feel to it, but I suspect that will be remedied by 5 minutes in the dryer after I wash it. For babies it's so important that yarn for next-to-skin projects is really soft, and this definitely is. It's lovely to knit with, too- think of a sock yarn you really like, and that's this. No splitting, no snagging, smooth stitches.

As for the colors, I absolutely love how the teal, purple, and pink fade into one another. It's perfect. I'm less thrilled about the gray- if you look closely at the photo above, the gray has speckles that are cobalt blue and red. To really fade it should be teal and pink to match the other skeins. Also, I sort of wish for a color in between the gray and teal. The fade is a bit harsh between those two. I might just be picky though. It's a great gradient and I like that they take the guess work out of picking coordinating skeins. Plus the packaging is nice so it's totally giftable. See? Pretty.

Thank you to Zen Yarn Garden for providing the yarn for me to review. All opinions and rambling are my own.

Self-Patterning Socks

Finished these plain vanilla socks the other day. They don't match. I don't care. But also, I don't love them, and I do care about that.

After the flood, a bunch of wonderful souls sent me yarn, and an awful lot of it was sock yarn, including several balls of self-patterning yarn. Self-patterning yarn has never really been my thing, but sometimes I find myself in need of some vanilla socks on the needles, and self-patterning doesn't require winding, so... perhaps a touch of laziness wins out, and I cast on. 

This particular pair is maybe not my favorite, because the yarn isn't terribly soft and the socks aren't super warm (odd, for knitted wool socks) so I'm not sure I'll wear them a lot. Not that I get to wear my wool socks a lot anyhow, but. 

I've got all of this self-patterning in my sock yarn bin, courtesy of the aforementioned knitters. Do I keep on trying with self-patterning? Let it shuffle to the bottom of the bin?

Thoughts on self-patterning yarn?

October Cardigan, just sneaking it in

I finished my October Cardigan from Knitscene Fall like, um, two months ago maybe? A little less? But today it occurred to me that I should take pictures and talk about it while we're still in October. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute.

Overall this is a simple cardigan with some fun details. It has welts across the upper back and front shoulders, and these nifty curved pockets. It's knitted in pieces and seamed, which I used to totally hate, but I'm coming around on it. 

I used Malabrigo Rios in the color Water Green that I got from someone's destash on Ravelry. I hadn't used this yarn before, but I'm glad I picked it out because I totally love it. It reminds me of Madelinetosh Vintage without the hefty price tag. It's a nice firm yarn, which is especially helpful if you're going to be doing a lot of seaming.

Didn't make any modifications, really. Size 37, and I think it took 6 skeins? Or 7? I've forgotten. It took one less than I bought. 

This was a nice, soothing knit, good for the few months post-baby when my brain wasn't on yet. Big swaths of stockinette to zone out to while basically just waiting for the baby to wake up, again. Luckily we're now past that stage, because wow does it suck being zombie tired literally all the time.

My Jack-O-Lantern baby is lurking in the background. Happy Halloween!

Too cute, can't deal.

I finished the new Unicorn Hoodie for Elaina.

I simply cannot. One of my husband's aunts sent us this dress after she was born and this is the first time I've put it on her. Of course it's perfect with her new unicorn hoodie. I just about died when I got her dressed up. She must have known she looked adorable because she sat there and let me take a bajillion photos of her.

I wanted to make a new unicorn hoodie anyway, since I lost my original in the flood, but what sealed the deal is this Be Sweet Magic Ball yarn in the candy-colored Pastelicious. Is this not the most perfect unicorn yarn you've ever seen? I couldn't have come up with a better yarn for a unicorn mane and tail if I'd designed it myself. It comes in 48 colors, so should you want to also make a unicorn for your little one, you can make whatever color unicorn your heart desires. My heart is apparently candy colored.

The Magic Ball yarn is about 95 yards of a bunch of coordinating bits- mohair, regular yarn, metallic stuff, ribbon- just tied together in approximately equal lengths. I separated out the different bits so that I could make the mane and tail just the way I wanted. The only bit I didn't use was the blue ribbon, because I just didn't think it would fit with what I was going for.

Once I had each bit untied and wound up into a ball, I just cut appropriate lengths and made the mane and tail according to my pattern. I've got enough left over from one skein that I'm thinking of making her either a unicorn hobby horse (unicorn head on a stick) or a stuffed unicorn toy, or maybe even both. I've got a thing with unicorns, can you tell?

For the body of the sweater, I used some leftover Happy-Go-Lucky HGL Worsted in Salt Silo- the yarn I used for my Blowing Snow cardigan for Midwestern Knits. The horn and hooves are Knit Picks Swish. I wish the horn was smaller. I wrote this pattern with only one size of horn, despite the sweater going from 6 months to 12 years. Kind of a derp now that I have more experience, so I went back and fixed that in the pattern. I actually made quite a few changes to the pattern while knitting this version, including bringing it up to my current style sheet.
 

 While this yarn was 100% perfect for what I wanted it for, I don't think I'd enjoy knitting with it, especially the ribbon part. However, to each her own, and if you would like to knit with it, there are three patterns written specifically for this yarn: the Magic Scarf, Magic Cowl, and Magic Ball Hat.

Thank you to Be Sweet for providing this yarn to me for review. All opinions are my own, as always.

Knitscene Winter 2017

I got my copy of Knitscene Winter 2017 in the mail the other day, which was totally exciting because I've got two patterns in it! I've got a cowl and a sweater in the Hygge section (that's a Danish word meaning "cozy living," sort of, and it's pronounced HUE-guh, like the sound an old-fashioned car horn makes, which is totally adorable.)

This is the Dejlig Sweater, and I think it might be my most favorite sweater design that I've done. It's an idea I kicked around in my head for like a year before it became real.

I will admit that I got inspiration for this sweater from an episode of Pretty Little Liars. Don't judge. Everyone has that one show. One of the characters was wearing this great sweater with exposed seams, and I got obsessed. It took me a minute to figure out how to expose seams in a stockinette sweater, but I worked it out, and ta da! Here is it and I LOVE IT. I love the curved side seams, and the integrated kangaroo pocket, and the slight hi-low hem. It's cozy and warm and I can't wait to get it back.

I actually finished this sample the day I went into labor. Maybe somehow my body knew that I needed to get this done before the baby came? But yeah, I finished it at like 4 pm, made dinner, we decided for certain on the baby's name, then not 15 minutes later I was having contractions 5 minutes apart. Elaina came the next morning. It was actually kind of nice that she came when she did because I got to try this sweater on before I sent it off to Knitscene- I didn't think that was going to happen. Glad it did, because this fits me perfectly and it was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be and I'd like it back, please.

I also have a cowl pattern in this issue- the Kostbar Cowl. This one is pure and simple comfort knitting. I knocked out the sample in like two days because I liked knitting it so much.

Easy lace, worked in the round, no edgings, Malabrigo Worsted. What's not to like. 

These patterns are available on Ravelry if you don't get Knitscene in the mail, or you can get the entire digital issue here. 

Bad Choices?

I'm not much of a knitalong person. I do what I want, when I want and that includes knitting. But for whatever reason, I decided to join in on Berroco's knitalong for Portfolio Vol. 4. I'm making Thea Colman's Clover Club Hat with two colors of Berroco Ultra Wool and some pink Vintage.

I knew even before I started knitting that there wasn't enough contrast between the pink and the teal... but I started anyway, and got all the way through the first and second colors before I had to admit to myself that I don't love this. It's not the pattern- the pattern is amazing. I think I was trying to be too thrifty by only using leftovers, and it's just not a great combo. 

The teal and the taupe-y color look great together, of course. It's just the pink. I went to my LYS and they don't carry this yarn, so I'd have to order it and I don't want to order one skein. I mean, I don't want to try to order just one skein but end up ordering like 6 different single skeins of yarn because I want free shipping. I'm trying to stash down. I know myself. 

So what to do? Rip it out and find something else that will work instead of pink? Carry on since I'm almost done with the hat anyway? Stuff it in a project bag and forget about it for 2 years? Open to suggestions. 

New Pattern // Aleyska Mittens

I talked about these mittens a bit the other day when I talked (gushed) about the yarn I used to knit them, but I figured they deserve their own post.

After winding up my new ball of Alegria Grande I decided that the yarn wanted to be mittens. Being me, I had to design some new ones instead of knit one of the 84523578 mitten patterns already out there. I found a cable pattern I loved in one of my beloved stitch dictionaries and here we are. Aleyska mittens. 

They're written for three sizes- adult small, medium, and large. The small fits my hands perfectly and my palm is 7.25" around above my thumb. I know we've been over this before, but I love knitting worsted weight mittens. They are so fast. 

I'd recommend doing magic loop if you're going to knit these. You don't want to be working the cable pattern between double points- what a mess. 

Want to make a pair? You can get the pattern on Ravelry for $5. BUT WAIT! Until September 21st you can use coupon code FALLYALL to get them for 40% off. It was fall-ish outside the other day. Football is back. Fall is here as far as I'm concerned, even if the high is 90 F today. 

Replacement Unicorn.

We lost a lot when the house flooded last year. Most of the furniture, an awful lot of my yarn and fabric, tons of books. Probably the things that make me saddest, though, are my high school yearbook and my handknits. I had a box of handknits under my sewing table. The box would have floated except that the table held it down, so it filled up with water and sat there for two days. Again, this would have been fine- people don't realize just how much you really can save from a flood- except that one sweater in that box bled dark blue dye all over everything else, and that's not fixable. I don't care about the blue sweater. Never liked it anyway. But the original unicorn hoodie was in there, and that I lament. 

So cute.

So, I'm making a new one for the baby. I'm using leftover yarn from my Blowing Snow cardigan from Midwestern Knits, and some Knit Picks Swish for the hooves. Not sure yet on the horn. I might so the same yarn as the hooves, but I do like a metallic horn. Dilemmas. 

For the mane and tail I've got the perfect yarn. It's called Magic Ball and it's a mix of mohair, ribbon, and yarn in the perfect sugary unicorn colors. I can't wait to get this thing done because it's gonna be adorable.

Right? That is the most unicorn-y unicorn yarn I've ever seen. So perfect.

Review // Manos Del Uruguay Alegria Grande

Possible new favorite yarn:

I was lucky enough to receive a skein of Manos del Uruguay Alegria Grande for a blog review. I squealed when I opened the package. It is GORGEOUS. The color is rich and deep and nearly impossible to capture in a photograph. I picked out Tahiti, but there are tons of other semi-solids, and a bunch of what they call "space dyes", which are really cool variegated colors- I'm partial to Orquidea. Check out all of the colors here. 

Alegria Grande is a worsted-weight version of fingering-weight Alegria. It's basically worsted-weight sock yarn- 197 yards per skein, 75% superwash merino, 25% polyamide (nylon). The yarn is actually made in Uruguay (it would be disappointing if it wasn't, given the name) and the tags are each signed by the artisan who made the yarn. It's also certified Fair Trade, which is a pretty hard label to get. I think that's pretty cool in this world of "made in China" mass-produced crap. I always like to know where my clothes and my food come from.

Knitting with this yarn was a joy. The color is glorious and it's so soft. Great stitch definition, too. It's hard to say for certain because I made mittens and not a sweater, but I think the drape on this yarn would be really nice. The only thing- it's a little slippery, probably because of the nylon content. I used metal needles and the stitches slipped off a few times, but I bet if you used wooden needles that wouldn't happen.

I designed some mittens with this yarn- more on that in another blog post. I've got enough yarn left over that I think I will knit some baby mittens for Elaina- the old fashioned kind that are connected by a string that goes through the arms of a coat. Then she can't lose them, and I get to knit a bunch of i-cord. Love. 

Thank you to Fairmount Fibers, the North American Distributor of Manos del Uruguay yarns for providing this yarn to me for review. Opinions are my own!

Winner!

The Berroco giveaway is now closed, and the random number generator says comment #9 is the winner, and that's Lacey Marie! Send me an email at emily.ringelman @ gmail DOT com with your contact info!

Thanks everyone for commenting!

Vanilla is the New Black

Miss Babs Cosmic Sock Yarn

I came to a realization recently. There's a not-small chance that the world could end soon, so why not just knit with the good yarn?
"What's the point," I asked myself, "in holding onto it if we might all die in a fiery inferno because of some aggressive tweets?"
"No point at all," I answered. So I finally wound up this Miss Babs sock yarn that I bought at Stitches West back in 2013, when we still lived in California. I've had this yarn hanging on a hook above my sewing machine for literally years, because the color is so gorgeous that it seemed a shame to hide it away in a yarn bin. I think this yarn is discontinued now- it's Cosmic hand-painted sock yarn, and the color is called Impatiens.

One lonely sock

It's been a long time since I knitted a pair of socks. I think the last pair I actually finished was in 2016. I finished this sock above (Down the Rabbit Hole) around Christmas time. I started the second sock but HATED knitting it- these are mirrored socks and the first one was a bit annoying to knit, because you have to keep shifting stitches around the needles, but the second one was intolerable because the twists go the other way, and it was proving too fiddly to be worth it. So I put them away but now that they're out for photos maybe I'll just make the second sock the same as the first and be done with them.

But back to the new socks. These are Vanilla is the New Black. I do love knitting mostly stockinette socks- don't know why, I just do- so these were right up my alley. The heel doesn't fit as well as my usual heel flap heels, but it's ok. They were fun, I love the yarn, done.