…Flowers and trees blooming, light breezes…

I guess you could say I have a little *spring* in my step!

…beautiful weather and pretty new socks…

Berry Socks
Yarn: GGH Marathon [sadly discontinued!]
Needles: Size US 1.5

Basic stockinette pattern with small ribbed cuff, and the German heel and French toe adapted from Knitting Vintage Socks. The beautiful yarn was the star, so simple stockinette did the trick. I knit on these on my way back from North Carolina over the weekend. Surprisingly, half of the second sock was knit in the dark, so I am surprised it looks this good (a few visible ladders, but hey, you wear them on your feet!)

The yarn was from a long ago trade with sweet Debi. It is the second pair of socks I have made with this yarn (Kris’s were the first), and I am sorry that it is no longer manufactured. I love the subtle colors and striping. It looks like handspun. Luckily, Trekking is a close comparison, and that is well-represented in the sock yarn market today (and my stash… )

I finished the last few inches and the toe decreases last night, while watching GAME ONE of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators. I have been a Penguins fan for a long time (basically since Kris and I got together about 10 years ago!) and I am so excited about the series. The Penguins won 4-0 last night! Dear Ottawa friends – I know there are a few of you – we can remain bloggy buddies

With the playoffs and the race for the Stanley Cup in mind, a few of the hockey fan knitters over on the Ravelry group Puck This! were starting a playoffs knitalong. I decided to make my game-watching knitting a stashbusting activity… so I will be Stanley Cup Stashbusting for the next two months… until the Cup is raised over someone’s head (preferably a Penguin’s) Please feel free to join me – no matter what team you support, or if you know nothing about hockey at all! It is nothing formal – only fun! I am planning several small projects for the random green and brown skeins (for Project Spectrum) of yarn in my stash. Cowls and fingerless mitts galore!

~Many many thanks for your comments on my sister’s cardigan!

Hexagons?  that’s your queue!

She is growing… the last photo is the newest hexagon of the bunch – #19.  This is the beginning of the 4th row.  As a reminder, I am using the lovely marled yarn, Jojoland Rhythm in two separate colorways:  one for the edgings (the brown/blue combo-m01) and the one for the hexagons themselves (m20).  The colorways are so varied – this particular one includes some deep pinks and purples, followed up with intense greens.  Every once in awhile, there is some yellow and blue thrown in too.  

As it gets larger – I am almost 1/3 of the way through – the hexagons seem to take longer to knit.  Of course, they are the same size, but I think some of the time is spent wrangling the blanket around after picking up the stitches on the sides of the existing hexagons.  I am surprised to say that it takes about 1 hour per hexagon at this point – where I think I was able to knit at least 2 in that time period earlier.  Of course, this is a pure process knit, as I am in no real hurry to complete it (although I know Becca would love it by next autumn!) but it is an observation of the time invested.  You know, in case you ever feel the desire to take it on

The blanket will require a serious amount of blocking in the end, but I am not sure that it will ever be the same size as the large sample in the booklet.  It will serve my dear friend as a nice cozy lap blanket.  If I finish all 60 hexagons and still have some yarn leftover, I could add some length or width to make it a little larger, but it is still to early to estimate my yarn usage at this point. 

Marled yarns are a favorite of mine.  The lovely blends of color in the Jojoland make me quite happy, just as the subtle variegated striping of Trekking.  My newest socks have a great marled effect too… knit in GGH Marathon. 

I finished the first sock this past weekend – I got a nice chunk of knitting time on our way to Cunningham Falls State Park, the site of our special “weekend walk”.  We went for locally-made maple syrup and some great hiking – and we got both! (wanna see the pics?)  and I also got several inches of sock #1.  Sock 2 started straightaway.  I love the colors here – they reminded me of strawberries and blueberries, hence the sock’s new moniker:  Berry Socks. 

Brooke at The Daily Purl has made some fabulous stoles and scarves with Habu warp and weft yarns, so those are definitely tempting me. But, then so are Olga and Vanessa’s Habu knit creations…

With the help and advice of some weaving friends I met through Ravelry and Flickr, I decided to add a few specific weaving yarns to my stash – just to avoid some of the tension problems I have experienced of late. I am hoping to warp up this linen soon and began work on the denim rag rug!

There is no doubt about the strength of this yarn: 100% linen! It should make a great rug warp, and I liked the natural undyed color to go with the simple indigo of the jean rags. I picked this up from WEBS, along with a few other weaving yarn goodies.

Valley Yarns CotLin 8/2 cones

I really liked the springy combination of these colorways, and the three of them came with a dishtowel drafting pattern for the loom. If I can find the patience and wherewithal, I will attempt the plaid dishcloth! With 3000 yards each, I can afford to experiment a little and play around on the loom.

And as I learn more about my loom and its capabilities, I am also looking at my sock yarn stash in a new way. After seeing some fun store samples woven up at The Mannings, I think it would be a blast to experiment with the colors of sock yarns. After a winter sock “drought” – my last pair being the Autumnal Equinox socks for Socktoberfest – I finally cast on for a pair of socks yesterday after feeling the urge to see how this yarn would knit up. Definitely wanted to knit with this one – there was no thought of using it for weaving.

The feminine companion to the other GGH socks I made for Kris… another thanks to Debi for sending these (now discontinued) yarns in a trade almost two years ago!

After seeing a parade of beautiful socks by Chawne, I felt the time was right to finally cast on for some socks. I was waiting to finish my sister’s sweater, but I thought: why delay happiness? These socks are making me pretty happy! I started them on the train while I was traveling downtown to see Amber, who was in DC for work. We had a yummy Ethiopian dinner. And while we did not knit or take photos of our outing, we had a great time

So, as I look over my stash, I am thinking about all of the possibilities and all of the fabrics – both knit and woven – that can be created. It excites me. It’s like a newfound spirit of adventure: seeing my stash with both weaver and knitter eyes!