Stress knitting...

As most of you know weddings can be stressful... lots of details, lots of decisions and at least one guest behaving badly.  This week it has been a guest issue that really has me crazy, so I stress knit. A mindless, stockinette, vanilla sock... in pretty yarn!

This sock was only started on Tuesday evening. The yarn is Blue Moon Socks That Rock Lightweight and colorway is Chickabiddy.  I got it here at Simply Sock Yarn last summer. I don't see it in stock right now. Blue Moon dyes different colorways at different times so they come and they go. You can see other colorways here. I chose this sock to work on as the one I had sitting by my chair was a black yarn and my mood was even blacker - needed something a bit more perky.

I've said before how much I love Blue Moon yarn - love the roundy-ness of the yarn, love how the colors spiral, stripe and sometimes pool - I LOVE when they pool. However, this is not a sock I would give as a gift. It really needs babying. The colors fade quickly (although somewhere I read an article on how to set the colors and I need to look that up again).  The socks also shrink and felt. I have about 8 pairs of Blue Moon socks in my drawer in various stages of felting. I'm ok with it. I wear them till I can no longer get them on my feet and then I toss them. It takes several years to get to that  point and then I knit some more. I know not everyone would be okay with that, so I want to be honest about this yarn's shortcomings. It isn't an Opal or a Regia or a Paton that you can knit and wash and dry without a care.  For me the roundy-ness (I know that's a made up word but it is the best one I can think of to describe the yarn) and the colors and the crazy names are enough for me.

EDITED TO ADD - if you  hand wash this yarn it probably won't shrink and felt but I am LAZY and all my socks (except for a cashmere pair) go into the washer and the dryer!

Also speaking of the wedding I've been trying to knit a shawl to wear. I found this awesome yarn at a new yarn shop in town  - Fiber Optics in Milford, OH.  The yarn is the Neon colorway of Kimber Baldwin's Fiber Optic Yarn - Foot Notes  Paint Box Gradient. Go look at her selection. Don't be put off by the "out of stock". If you contact her I think you'll find it is available. I saw them in her shop but her website doesn't seem to be updated. Anyway, after a first unsuccessful run at another pattern, my friend Cathy suggested this pattern - Reverse Psychology - you can see it here on Ravelry. I think this is the perfect match of yarn and pattern.

Now the colors in real life aren't as strong as this picture is showing. The gradation is very smooth... starting with a coral pink and working into much much softer orange than is showing here.  It is a gray rainy day here and this was the best I could do. Anyway the gradient packages come with 15 little hanks of yarn. I've used about 5 so far and I have one more wound and ready to go. Here is the rest of the package.

Again  the colors aren't this in your face. It is a very subtle movement of color. Kimber has a ton of different gradient packages, some with cashmere...ooooohhhh.  I have also purchased a package in a purple colorway and I think more will find their way to my house.

Here is a link to the  store information. It is a wonderful shop. Kimber just carries her hand dyed yarn and fiber but OH WOW there is a lot of it.  All weights of yarns, lots of different colors, beads, roving and she carries spinning wheels too. She has remodeled a building and she even has a fireplace in the corner of the shop. Such lovely atmosphere.

Oh back to the pattern - I LOVE it!   Every single row is written out and there is a stitch count for every row.  I know some people prefer graphs but I like the instructions written out. The pattern is about 10 pages to print out because of all the written instruction, just to let you know. I think the $5 price was a steal!  I can see myself making this pattern more than once. I'm adding lots of beads...you have a choice to bead or not to bead... that is the question! LOL! I like the bit of sparkle and since a lot of the beads are on the ends it adds a bit of weight which should keep the edge from curling.  And I forgot to tell you that the shawl is reversible - get it Reverse Psychology??  When you put it on it will look great from either side. Anyway I need to get this knit. I put is aside for a couple of days when I was stewing over the wedding issue and switched to the sock, but last night I picked it up again and did  about 10 rows. I'm hoping tonight will be a good knitting night too.


happy knitting!
carol fun