I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

Sadly, the knitting has recently taken a back seat to barbeques, yard-work, hiking, and attempts to beat the 100-degree heat. I did, however, finish Navajo plying the singles I was working on last week.

For some reason, I had a difficult time keep a good tension as I was plying. I suspect it was because the singles were a bit overspun and, thus, kept kinking up. I wanted some tightly-spun yarn suitable for socks but I might have gone a little overboard. I ended up plying with the Schacht and using my Sonata as an extremely expensive Lazy Kate. Basically, I put the bobbin on the Sonata’s flyer and kept the brake on to keep tension on the singles as I plied. Not my best work, but not the worst either.

I also spent a little time playing with a skein of Brown Sheep’s new yarn, Serendipity Tweed. I stopped into my LYS on Friday and the owner gave me her sample skein to try out.

I’m reallying like the yarn and the knitted fabric. It’s 60% cotton and 40% wool; not blended, though, but plied together. See for yourself . . . . .

Unlike some cotton blends, it’s very soft, albeit a little splitty. All-in-all, though, it’s a very nice addition to the Brown Sheep line.

For those of you, like me, who haunted the DeStash Blog for tasty fibery treats, I regret to announce that Teri and I have decided to delete the blog. The decision was based on a number of factors, not the least of which is that Blogger appears to be incapable of handling a blog with nearly 500 members. Of course, I don’t fault Google/Blogger for that — the service is free after all. But it made managing the DeStash Blog a little bit of a nightmare.

So, thanks to all of you who supported the DeStash site, especially those members who I never really interacted with because you followed the rules and guidelines. And a special thanks to those who destashed all the fabulous stuff I picked up for a song.
*sniff, sniff*

On the positive side, I’m looking forward to destashing on Ravelry when that function is fully operational.  Yay, Ravelry.

After much gnashing of teeth, knitting, and frogging quiet contemplation, I believe I have chosen the perfect combination of yarn & pattern for my Sockapalooza pal.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Firestorm colorway.

The pattern is Unst from Knitting on the Road:

I’ve altered the pattern slightly by adding a couple of garter stitch rows between the cuff and the leg to demarcate the cuff just a bit. So far, so good.

This pattern makes liberal use of double decreases and I’m glad I decided to use my Knit Picks double points. They’re pointy and slick–perfect for this project. By now I’m sure you’ve seen that they come in just about every size: 2.0, 2.25, 2.5, & 2.75 mm. Yup, Knit Picks has you covered.

And while you’re on the Knit Picks site checking out the dpns, make sure you do not look at all their sale yarns. K?