What Weekends are for

Hey Everyone!

This weekend has been a productive weekend for knitting.

Once I finished the fury socks, I cast on another sock using “Strawberry Fields” which is on the coquette yarn base from Bumblebee Acres fiber farm.

The name of this colorway always makes me think of “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles.

The colors themselves together makes me think of something out of the 1970’s.

I had pulled out this colorway because I was wanting to work with one of the spring colored yarns I have in my stash.

The coquette yarn base has become one of my favorite yarn bases to knit with. It is a thicker sock yarn that is sturdy to work with, yet washes up very well. It makes the perfect winter sock.

This weekend is what I needed to relax and get in the frame of mind for my last week at my current job and starting my new job without missing a beat.

While where I am at, and what I am doing is not necessarily what I want to do forever, the income is a means to cover bills and help me get where I want to go.

There are some yarn stores here in the Portland Metro area I have been meaning to get to over the past few years, and now I will make a point to go visit them and buy more yarn. Yarn shopping, and knitting in general is definitely an expensive hobby. I wouldn’t trade it for a less expensive hobby though. It’s what I love doing and is worth the money.

Falling in Love with Color

Hey Everyone!

A few months ago I went a bit crazy shopping for sock yarn, and bought a whole bunch of the KnitPicks Palette yarn in many different colors. Most of which have either been in the earthy – natural range that remind you of being outdoors, and remind me of hiking in the woods. Most of the rest of the yarn are jewel tones, which are some of my favorites.

I am currently working on a pair of socks, for myself, using the KnitPicks Palette Yarn in Larch Heather, and I am loving the color. To me this green reminds me of being out hiking in the woods, and the color of the moss and other plants that I have seen growing in the woods.

While I am not usually one to pick out the earth tones to wear, especially since they are not the colors that look the best on me, I am having fun with colors. I am picking out ones I like that I wouldn’t normally wear, for socks. Beings that I intend for most of these to be Boot Socks to wear with hiking boots, and in the cooler weather, they will be covered up anyone. I figure, who cares if they don’t go with what I am wearing, they are just socks, and if no-one likes them, that is their problem. Though I do own a tank top that is a similar color to the Larch Heather, that I typically wear under cranberry colored tops.

I may have mentioned this in other posts, but I used to like to wear a lot of pink when I was younger, before I really was able to embrace the outdoorsy girl thing. Now that I have gotten older, and have been buying most of my clothes myself, as well as the yarn to knit up items for myself. There are still some pink things here and there, but they aren’t pastel pink, or hot pink, they are more of a darker pink, tending more toward cranberry or raspberry. I also like to wear a lot of blue, dark teal, and turquoise. I also prefer the natural colors (off white, tan, and brown), in addition to the greens and blues for accessories, beings that they go with pretty much anything. They are also a bit of color without being all like “look at me, look at me”.

I also like using the Palette yarn for socks, it knits up so well, and quickly. Beings that it is what I have gotten onto for Socks, I can buy any color I want, and use the pattern I came up with for any of the colors and I get consistent results. I like that I know I will get consistent results with this yarn. When I had been working at the knitting studio, we had some yarns, that were the same brand and same line, but different colors would knit up differently. I like knowing that I can go into my stash of Palette yarn, grab any color I want, and it will knit up the same way as the first pair I knit up. I can combine colors and one won’t be thicker than the other, or looser than the other when using the same needles, and that the stitches and gauge will be even across all the colors, no matter which one I use.

Wintery Project of the Week

Hey Everyone!

This week’s project of the week is a triangle shawl that I am making out of Fishermen’s Wool in Nature’s Brown. I had been thinking about what I was going to do with this wool, for a couple of months, and then I realized that I had wool hats and wool scarves, but I did not have any wool shawls. Especially with the weather we have been having here for the last couple of weeks, a wool shawl would have been coming in very handy, since it has been below freezing. 

I still have my size two sweater going, I am on the sleeves of the back, and I am also still working on a hat for the wife of one of my mom’s coworker’s who is undergoing chemo. 

While I knit, using a knitting machine for work, I prefer hand knitting, and being able to pick up something and work with my hands, and make something to wear, for myself, or for a good cause. Those who can afford to buy the sweaters from where I work certainly don’t need a knit for kids sweater for their child. My heart is in making the projects for the kids in need, who actually need warm clothes, and being able to create and embellish on the basic pattern that World Vision has put out.