Fearless Fibers Yarn

One FO Down, One UFO to Start

Once again, I’ll begin with a quick reminder that the contest deadline is this Monday, so be sure to get your entries in soon!

Now on to knit talk …

At long last, I’ve finished the never-ending pair of knee-socks that I began so long ago! I just haven’t had much time for knitting lately and so these took me a very, very long time to complete.

I’m fairly happy with the results, but I do wish that I had made the legs an inch longer. The socks fall just a bit short of being full knee-socks. This is my own fault, as I still seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that when one gains 20 pounds, some of that weight is bound to appear in one’s calves. I also made some type of bizarre error in the lace rib on the leg. It’s just a tiny spot where there’s some type of odd twisted stitch (things like that happen from time to time when you need bifocals and can never really see what you're knitting!). I thought this small mistake was hardly noticeable, but when I put the socks on and proudly showed them to my husband the first thing he said was, “What’s that?” while pointing at the exact spot of my little boo-boo. Oh well.

Here are a couple of pictures. The socks are knit from my Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock Yarn in the Deepest Forest colorway.



And yes, there really are two of them ...



In addition to the usual satisfaction of completing a project, the other exciting thing about finishing these socks is that it means I can move on to my next project! Since I’ve had so little time for knitting of late, I’ve been trying to keep to one project at a time so that I have at least some hope of actually finishing something now and then.

As I’ve mentioned before, my next project will be a Fair Isle sweater of my own design. Let me begin by saying that I’ve never designed a Fair Isle sweater and have no reason in the world to think that this project will be a success.

The sad truth is that I am afflicted with a little-known disease called Delusional Knitteritis that causes me to plunge head-first into projects well beyond my capability. The symptoms vary by outbreak, but are easy to spot. It this case it began with a review of pattern books and online patterns, resulting in a score of lovely choices that would satisfy any knitter’s aspirations. This was followed by confusion over which project to choose. A few days passed and the confusion turned into utter mayhem within my head as the projects under consideration were pushed further and further into the recesses of my addled brain and ideas of my own began to crop up and take precedence. You can imagine what happened from there.

Delusional Knitteritis is usually not pretty, but now and again – perhaps as much by accident as “design” – something magical happens and the project turns out as planned. Those are the moments that knitters who suffer from Delusional Knitteritis live for!

The yarn for the sweater is ready and waiting for me now. It’s a sport-weight superwash merino wool that I dyed in six complementary colors. I also created a second set of six skeins, which are now up for grabs in my Etsy shop. I absolutely adore these colors, although they are frankly not the best choice for me personally. Cool tones generally look best on me and these are definitely warm tones. But I don’t care. I love them! (Take note: This may later be referred to as “Critical Error Number One” on this project. Knowing this as I do it and doing it anyway is another symptom of Delusional Knitteritis.)



Planning a Fair Isle sweater is turning out to be a bit more complicated than I expected. It’s not brain surgery, but it will require some careful thought. I'm just trying to take it one step at a time. First, I’ll need an accurate gauge swatch. I abhor knitting gauge swatches, as the yarn and needles are always calling out to me, “Cast on already! Let’s GO!” The result of this abhorrence for swatching is that I often complete the swatch in such a haphazard manner as to make the results rather meaningless. For a Fair Isle sweater, that simply won’t do. It’s critical that the pattern repeats, both horizontally and vertically, are planned well so that they end and begin at the right places in the sweater to maintain an acceptable level of symmetry.

There are lots of other small matters to be worked out, but I’ll spare you the laborious details now and just share the project with you as it progresses.

I would like to say that I’m now off to start that gauge swatch, but the truth is, I’m becoming weary just thinking about it and am seriously considering a nap instead.