Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2011 - Day One

I just found out about Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011.  It runs from March 28th  to April 3rd 2011 and is a week of fibre-arts related posts where many members of the knitting and crochet community worldwide blog daily together on the same subjects and topics.  Wow! Sounds like fun! The BIG question is, think I can keep up?  We'll see....

So today's topic is....A Tale of Two Yarns

My absolute favorite yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport.  Socks and Shawls knit up quickly with this yarn.  And it is soooo squishy and soft using a size 2 needle.  Colors are great and I have found it at Jimmy Beans Wool, The Loopy Ewe and Eat, Sleep, Knit...three of my favorite online yarn stores.

River Rapids Sock in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Midway

And then what could I say about Malabrigo worsted that hasn't been said by everybody else?  Soft, soft soft to the touch.  Again, I found some at all of the three yarn stores listed above.  Sadly, most of my local yarn stores do not have much in the way of either of these yarns.  However, one local yarn store has been much better lately about stocking all the pretty yarns that I love to find online.

Brattleboro Hat in Malabrigo Worsted - Verde Esperanza

Oh Noes! What Did I Do to My Sock???!!!

Sunday night, I finished turning the heel on my second River Rapids Sock.  I turned the heel perfectly.  No extra stitches as sometimes happens.  Wasn't short stitiches as happens on other occasions.  It was perfect.

And, then, I compared it to the first sock.

Oh noes! The heels were not remotely the same at all.

See?

What did I do on Sock #1???

I had perfectly followed the pattern for sock number 2.

So what in the world did I do for number 1???????

River Rapids Sock #1 - Great Pattern!

Apparently, I didn't follow the pattern instructions toooooo closely.

So, what's a girl to do?  I frogged to the end of the cuff....no more perfectly turned heel, no more perfect, exactly followed the instructions heel.  Even though these socks are for me, I'd like them to be the same (as much as I am capable of doing that).

So rippppppppp.  And then I tried to guess what I did.  Well, attempt number 2 (in which I just repeated rows 1 and 2 of the heel instructions) resulted in too long a heel and the tension was all wrong.  Hmmm...what's next...well, I was fairly frustrated at this point so I frogged back to a point where the two heels are the same length.  The cuffs matched up perfectly.  So, I figure I will take Spindiva's advice and avoid clogs when I wear these socks!

By the way, I am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport.  The colorway is Midway and it is perfect for the River Rapids Sock Pattern.  Soft and squishy and I can't wait to wear them!  I bought the yarn at Jimmy Beans Wool, another interned yarn store that I love, love, love!

Hopefully, in a few days, I will have Pics of the finished socks.  Stay tuned!

I'm Seeing Red!

Red yarn, that is! Look at these beautiful yarns that I found at http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/. First, this beautiful Malabrigo sock yarn called, are you ready, Ravelry Red! What a great name!

Next, from Lorna's Laces, another sock yarn called, yep you guessed it, Ysolda's Red. Perfect for knitting up an Ishbel shawl which is on my project to do list!

Why the great interest in RED yarn? My niece is going to the University of Maryland next year! Yay Magpie! That means I get to knit red hats, red socks, red shawls, red sweaters, red scarves, red afghans...you get the idea!

Go Terps!