Enough with the Socks Already

It's time to work on something other than socks. I should finish the Baltic Sea stole this weekend so it's time to think about what to work on next. I have some good summer projects in the queue.

These are for the spectrum scarf from Winter 2008 Interweave Knits and a pair of gloves.The scarf is a two row chevron stitch pattern and is knit with two strands of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, changing one of the two colors every other row. The gloves will be knit with a strand of the Rowan Kidsilk Haze and a strand of the Rowan Felted Tweed. Chevron patterns are fun to knit and Kidsilk Haze is a gorgeous yarn, which makes me wonder why it took me so long to find the time to make this.

This is for Alice Starmore's Hat Trick, which is a set of three Fair Isle hats. I don't need three Fair Isle hats, so I'm going to make two hats and a pair of mittens instead.

This is Jamieson & Smith 1 ply cobweb. It's for a modified version of Mediterranean Lace by Maureen Egan Emlet from "A Gathering of Lace." The plan is to omit the center square and just make a rectangular shawl. This will not be a summer project; this will be a many years, and probably a many tears, project but I'm okay with that.

This is Alpaca with a Twist Fino and it's for the Maikell Shawl from "Knitted Lace of Estonia" by Nancy Bush. It's for my mother, who wants a scarf and not a shawl, so I have to modify the pattern. I started this once before and wasn't happy with the way it was coming out so ripped it and put it away but I think it's time to give it another shot.

So Much for Getting the Sock Stash Down to Reasonable Levels

That's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock; Peace of Fleece, which I hope I like it since I bought enough for two pair; and Art Yarns Cashmere Sock, which I hope I like it since I had to sell a kidney to buy it. I also ordered Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in two colorways on-line. All of which means, I'm pretty much back to where I started from in terms of sock stack size.

And the Nominees are...

From left to right: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Lichen, Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in turquiose mix (it's not turquiose; it's more of a sea green) and Louet Gems in Teal. These are all fingering weight and are all definites.

Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Forget Me Not on top, I-have-no-idea-because-I-lost-the-ball-band so I'll just refer to it as mystery grey on the bottom left and Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Logwood on the bottom right. These are all also fingering weight and are all solid contenders.

 2-ply sport in 100% alpaca from Winters Gone Farm on top and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Twilight on the bottom. The alpaca is undied. It's from Loki, who's very, very dark brown. (I met Loki. He's very nice. He let my kids feed him and didn't spit on us.) I mistakenly ordered the Lorna's laces in sport weight but since I'm planning on knitting at least one pair in sport weight, it's not a problem. 

 

I've decided to shoot for 6 pair. I'll be home for 11 of the 16 days so 4 pair seems kind of unambitious, especially if at least one pair is in sport weight. Also, I have a lot more sock yarn than I realized and one of the goals is to get the stash down to manageable levels. The next step is to swatch my patterns and figure out which yarns will be used for what patterns.