It's Tuesday, It's Knitting

How 'bout I strike a deal with y'all? I'll limit myself to writing about knitting to just Tuesdays. If it's Tuesday, it must be yarn talk. Deal?

Okay, maybe the occasional Sunday too. And Thursdays if I've got something irresistable to show you. But definitely no Mondays or Fridays. You're home free there.

I'd like to say I've finished my second braided cable sock but I'm stalled halfway down the foot. It's not that I don't like these socks - they're lovely - or the pattern - it's very fun to knit - but honestly I needed a break from all those cables. It's an awful lot of cables to knit. I can't imagine how people knit giant, complex Aran sweaters without going mad. Anyway, I was getting to the point where I was about to get sloppy with them so I decided that what I needed was to cast on for another pair of socks - something completely different. This time instead of solid color yarn I needed something with lots of different colors and a simple, basic pattern. Just a good, plain sock.

My dear friend, Poppy, claiming that she didn't feel cut out to be a sock knitter, sent me some sock yarn that she had sitting around. The deal we arranged was that since I love to knit socks she'd send me her unused sock yarn and I'd eventually send it back to her rearranged into socks. I get the fun of knitting and giving socks to someone without having to buy the yarn. She'd sent me some yarn that was just what I needed - cotton/poly blend yarn that's literally a rainbow of colors. I swatched the yarn, figured based upon Poppy's leg measurements how many stitches to cast on and I'm off to the races with them. I decided that since the yarn is cotton and cotton can wear badly and can be sort of limp after a wearing that I'd knit them a little tighter using 2mm needles and they're turning out very pretty. The fabric is smooth and lovely and they remind me of a tie-dye shirt that B has and therefore have been dubbed Poppy's Hippy Dippy Tie-Dye Socks.



I'm only 3 1/2 inches into the leg - all those bitty stitches take more time - but I hope to have the first one done by the end of the weekend. Then I'll go back and finish my braided cable sock and then do the second tie-dye sock. Hopefully by the time winter completely wears her out, Poppy will have some bright cotton socks to help her feel spring really is just around the corner.