It’s a wonderful sound, the soft rain we’re having this morning. It creates a mood, quiet and contemplative, and I feel so happy for all the plants and trees. It’s a great day for writing and knitting. Fingers crossed that we get plenty but not too much. Which, I suppose, is a good way to look at everything.
I’ve been having such a wonderful time knitting these last few weeks. Two pairs of socks and keeping up with the Sharon Air mystery knit along from Casapinka have kept me entertained while I was working on the class schedule (YOU HAVE SEEN THE NEW SCHEDULE, RIGHT? It’s great!), and now so many wonderful yarns are coming in that all I want to do is find a great project for them and try them out.
Completely new for us is Ancient Arts Nettle Soft DK. The yarn is spun in Italy from fine merino and nettle (a plant that is cultivated without pesticides and yields a bast fiber similar to linen), then hand-dyed in Canada. The fiber is much smoother than most linen blends, is delightful to knit and yields a nice bouncy fabric. I made these adorable mitts from a single skein (in just a couple of days, so I obviously fell in love.)
I made them narrower than the pattern, which is easily adjusted. (I tried the smaller pattern size but I like my mitts to be snug.) I added some length to the hand section, since I always want more coverage than most fingerless mitts give, and still had plenty of yarn for the pair. I really like how the ridgy pattern still shows, despite the many colors in the yarn. Here are the colors we have in stock – I just need to find some space to show them off!
Aren’t they gorgeous??? I love their dyeing technique – all those beautiful accents! Come see them in person!
Here’s where I am on the Casapinka Sharon Air MKAL. Interesting shape, isn’t it? I’m close to binding off one side, with 2 more clues to go. I do love my colors and the way they’re playing out.
And here is one pair of socks I just finished:
They’re made from Lang’s Super Soxx, a very good and sturdy sock yarn. But now I’m tired of making big old socks, next pair is for me. This may be the one:
.. or since we just got a big shipment of Zauberball Crazy, full of wonderful colors, I may have to do that first. Or maybe a really luxurious pair from one of the amazing colors of Smooshy with Cashmere that just piled in. Love this time of year!! And I think I found my “dead of winter” project, which usually involves a massive amount of garter stitch. A couple years ago, it was Glow. Remember this monster?
This year, Travel Mode 2.0. Check this out, and then start collecting colors!
I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend and that you didn’t have to labor at all!
