From Thunderhead to Koi Pond

Hey Everyone!

Today, I finished up the pair of socks I was knitting up out of the yarn I had really been wanting to use since it had arrived.

This yarn is from KnitPicks, it is a Tonal Stroll Fingering yarn in Thunderhead Tonal. I had used my 2.25mm size 1 double pointed needles.

I am working really hard to get the sock yarn I have that doesn’t fit in the container I have for storing sock yarn, knit up. I have way more sock yarn that doesn’t fit in the container than that does fit in. I have plenty to do, which is a good thing. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I want to eventually live somewhere with colder winters, and I want to spend more time outdoors in the cooler months. I have found that I can make a better quality sock than I can buy in store, and I prefer my own socks anyway. There is so much pretty sock yarn out there, that there is no good reason for me to not make my own. I still wear store bought socks for the job I have now, from the first wear, I could tell the were a lower quality.

Once I get more of the Fingering weight yarn I have knit up, I definitely want to try using more of a hand spun yarn to make socks and see how that works. That’s not going to be for a while though.

I decided that the Koi Pond colorway of Stroll Fingering yarn would be the next pair of socks I would work on. I am excited to see how this next pair turns out.

Knitting through the Snow

Hey Everyone!

Winter has arrived, it has snowed a couple times this week, and is supposed to continue/last through next week.

I was happy when my latest KnitPicks box arrived yesterday, before the snow came in.

The hank on the left is Stroll Tonal Fingering in Inverness.

The second from the left is also a Stroll Tonal Fingering, in colorway Frozen.

The second from the right is Stroll hand painted in colorway coffee shop.

Last but not least is Stroll hand painted in Koi Pond. This one, in the pictures on the website, the lighter green looked like it was white.

As it is, I am working on finishing up knitting the pair of Stroll Tonal Thunderhead socks. I am on the second sock. I haven’t decided when one of my new Yarns I will cast on next.

That Wednesday Afternoon Work Session

Hey Everyone!

Wednesday afternoon and evening was very productive. I had a knitting work session all afternoon, working through figuring out a new pattern and how it was going to work.

I have started working on the Tuckamore Wrap out of the Crossings pattern book, which was just recently published, as in the copyright is 2019, and it’s now only February 1st.

Wednesday I worked through some of the issues I had encountered early on, and made some notes. I also ripped out my first attempt. I used the size needles recommended, and it was just way too tight. That is saying something since I knit with a looser gauge. I had started out with the size 6 and 7 needles, and that wasn’t working. I have bumped it up to size 8 and 9 needles. One thing to remember with knitting cables, they always come out tighter than straight knitting and knit/purl. Whoever thought that size 6 needles with worsted weight yarn was a good idea, I have no idea what how that worked for them. Let alone size 7 needles with cables and worsted weight yarn is a nightmare, and just way too tight. I can’t imagine having a tighter knitting gauge and trying to do that with the smaller needles. I was questioning it before I even started, figuring maybe since I knit looser anyway it might work, yeah no. I should also mention that I am using Wool of the Andes Tweed yarn for this project.

Since I recast it on, and got it going on the larger needles, I also have added an extra RS and WS to the set up rows before I dive into starting the pattern. I like having a little extra room in between the border and when the pattern starts, to help the border stay flat and not get warped with the pattern being too close to the edge.

I knew going it to it, that this project was going to be one that I would have to devote my full attention to while working on it, and I cannot work on it while also trying to pay attention to a show or video of some sort.