Girl on the Rocks

Socktober - Self striping yarns Part II October 22, 2008

A continuation from Part I - some of my favorite self striping sock yarns

The last two of my favorite self-stripers hold their own with creative color combos that always look good to me.

Sknitches

Photo courtesy of flickr user Wannabeknittin’

Take sknitches for example. Yes, I am clearly a fan of blue and brown, but don’t these socks look so good? Sknitches also has a wide array of non-striping yarn in beautiful colorways, so if you order from her site, you can get a great mix of sock yarns in fabulous colors.

Ravelry Yarn page

Knitterly things

Photo by Flickr user Wooly interlude

Some of the first handmade self-striping yarn that I ever heard about was Vesper sock yarn. As a spinner, the shop’s curator also has a beautiful assortment of hand-dyed roving. It can still be kind of a challenge to snag the sock yarn, but it seems like there are shop updates many Wednesdays, and the Ravelry Group can a be a useful guide to shop stalking.

Ravelry Yarn page

Speaking of ravelry groups…. a long time ago I started a Ravelry group for those that love stripes - Better with stripes. Pop on over and say ‘Hi’ if self-striping yarn is your sort of thing.

Related posts

• Socktober - Self striping yarns Part I (1)
• State of Denial - Part I (3)
• Reflections on a month of Socks (6)

Socktober - Self striping yarns Part I October 10, 2008

Another socktober is upon us… Last year I didn’t do too much sock knitting during Socktober… but at least I thought about socks a lot. There is the slim possibility that I will cast on for sock this month. I can guarantee that I am not going to finish one sock, let alone a pair. So I’ll just have to write about socks.

Through the wonders of the internet, an intrepid knitter has at his/her needletips an amazing selection of sock yarns. The indie dyeing community is expanding everyday with beautiful new color combinations and dyeing techniques. I do a little dyeing myself, and I am usually on a tight budget. This makes justifying yarn purchase a difficult task. If I spring for a $20 pair of socks (that might spend a very long time as yarn) it has to be something good. I have two favorites that I can justify purchasing at almost any time: Socks that Rock and indie-dyed self-striping yarn. You have probably already heard about Socks that rock, so let’s talk about some of my favorite indie-stripers.

Lovesticks

Lovestick’s yarn makes an awesome striping pattern using three colors… Two colors make wide stripes separated by a thin stripe of a third color. Here - just look:

Photo from Flickr user Sock-a-holic

And my favorite thing about her shop… she has Sport-weight yarn. Perfect for a quick pair of socks.
Ravelry Yarn Page

Twisted

I first found Twisted on etsy, but she has since graduated to her own site. There is always a wide variety of base yarns available from sport weight SW merino to merino/bamboo or merino/tencel blends. I like nearly every colorway that Meg has produced, and I don’t think there is anything else like her subtle striping effect. Now she even has coordinating mini-skeins of heel and toe yarn available with come of her colorways.

Photo from flickr user Meg of Twisted

I use the Twisted Ravelry group to stay in the loop about shop updates and fiber clubs.
Ravelry Yarn Page

i have too many favorites for one post, so stay tuned for one more installment

Related posts

• Socktober - Self striping yarns Part II (4)
• State of Denial - Part I (3)
• Major shop update (2)

Fake Rhinebeck Contest entry - this is how you do it October 23, 2007

As I mentioned yesterday, I did not attend Rhinebeck, and am getting jealous of looking at everyone’s loot. Rhinebeck booty is all over blogland. I can take this time to show myself that I don’t need any new yarn, and get excited over stuff I already have. For example….

All of this yarn and fiber. From the top

• Finn top - supersoft fine roving, about 8 ounces
• Socks that rock Mediumweight Space Dust - I didn’t sign up for the sock club, because I am perfectly happy to spend that money on colors that I get to pick out myself.
• The bottom two are Sport Weight Lovesticks self striping yarn in ‘Watermelon slice’ and ‘With a twist’. I love this stuff.

Wanna play? Here is the low down. Anyone can play as long as you head to your stash and get re-excited about yarn/fiber that is NOT new. Take pic, and blog it*, and leave me a comment so I know you are playing (a linkback is helpful but not mandatory). The comment can be on this post or the previous one, but you must leave it by midnight (Pacific time) Wednesday, October 31. (DEADLINE EXTENDED!!) A winner will be chosen at random. I haven’t assembled all of the prizes yet, but rest assured that there will be yarny- and fibery-goodness.

*If you don’t have a blog and would still like to play, flickr entries would work just fine.

Related posts

• Winners (7)
• What’s Your favorite: a contest (76)
• Stitches West 2006 is over for me (0)

knitting report September 19, 2007

writing my thesis is taking away most of the words that I have to use in a day, so you will have to suffer throught a bulleted (and photographed) list of projects that I am working on right now.

• Toe-up self striping socks
  

  I added a little twisted stitch accent on the sides. Yarn is sport weight from Lovesticks

• Charity Miter

  
  My first non-garter stitch mitered square. For a charity blanket to be assembled by Moirae. Knit in Cascade 220.

• Cotton washcloths

  

  I have a few of these that my Mom bought in Amish country, and they are starting to fall apart. So I went to work on using up some partial balls of cotton. Fun!

Also, the new knitty is out. My faves? Neiman, Diamond Waffle (Props to you designer Danny for including 3 sizes in the pattern), and of course the Woodins.

Related posts

• Some photos and cool links (1)
• Socktober shame, October pride (10)
• Socks are finished (1)