Hand Dyed Socks

I dyed the yarn for these more than a year ago, but I just now got to it.  I wasn't all that thrilled with it when it came out of the dye pot, but now I just love it.  I grabbed some Rowan Cotton Glace for the cuffs, toes, and a stripe around the heel, and a skein of Knitpicks Shine (green apple) for the heel.

I just picked yarns to use up and makes some socks, but somehow they came out really nice, like I meant to make them match that well.  This will never happen again.  For the first time I knitted the toes to fit my right and left feet  specifically.  So, instead of having an even parabola shape for the toes, they arc off down to the right or left to fit better.  See for yourself:

I will do this from now on.  They fit so nicely without bunching at the toes. 

I Will Never Wear This

I finished knitting 5 skeins of Classic Elite's Lush (Angora/Merino blend), and I hated every moment of it.  The yarn is really nice right off the skein, but it took very little knitting before the emerging garment began to spew angora fluff all over the place.  I was unable to knit more than 30 minutes before I felt angora up my nose and in my lungs.  I put the garment in a plastic bag so that the working stitches peaked out, but still, it was awful to work with!

I knitted from the neck down.  I used a smocking stitch from a stitch dictionary, though the yarn felted a bit and the cables are not as defined as I'd like them to be.  I knitted rib stitch through the middle, and finished the bottom with a lace stitch.  I am happy with the design, and I enjoyed inventing a garment as I knitted, but I just can't imagine wearing this.  It sheds like a mo-fo.

Here are the cables.  I liked the fit of this before I washed it.  It's about 900 times larger now.  I'm thinking about felting it more.  As it is, it's too big, and too fluffy.  Perhaps felting will solve both problems.

Something I will wear:

Bad picture, but nice scarf.

This is an angora/wool blend from Lorna's Laces.  I made this a few years ago, and just never got around to blogging it.  It's a mobius scarf.  Here's a better picture: