Saturday, October 14, 2006

New Tone-on-Tone Sock Yarns + Lots of Knitting Progress

The first group of tone-on-tone colorways on Superwash Merino Sock Yarn are now listed in my Etsy store and ready to find their new homes! Without further ado, here they are:

Midnight Blue




Rusty Nail



Lime Kiwi



Lilac



Coral Pink



At the time of this post, I have four skeins of each colorway available. I’ve listed one of each in my Etsy store and will replenish them as they sell. Of course, if you need more than one skein for the project you have in mind, you can pop me an e-mail or an Etsy “conversation” message and I can set up a reserved listing for you with a larger quantity, as long as they remain available.

There are three more of these tone-on-tone colorways still drying in my workshop now. There’s a wonderfully rich and vibrant emerald green, a gentle peach, and an eye-popping scarlet red. There's also an island green -- kind of green, kind of turquoise -- that's also ready now but for the life of me I can't get an accurate picture of it!

I particularly like these tone-on-tone colorways because of their suitability for knitting socks with cables, lace or other intricate patterns. Although handpainted sock yarns are wonderful, the variation of color can sometimes overwhelm the stitchwork and so I personally lean toward subtler color variations for more intricate patterns. Of course, the variation in the depth of shades in these new yarns are much too great to call them “subtle,” yet the commonality of basic color in each of these yarns gives them a certain continuity that will work well with most any sock pattern imaginable.

Speaking of socks, I have a new pair on the sticks. I started the first sock on Wednesday and found it just flowed off the needles incredibly quickly. In fact, it progressed so fast that I decided to take a picture of it before I got too far along. I didn’t want my first work-in-progress photo of these socks to be of a completed sock, as that would ruin the punch line for the final Finished Sock Photo!
The photo is just awful, but hey ... that also helps save the punch line for the photo of the finished socks.



It’s a good thing I took this WIP photo, as somehow – apparently by some bizarre bending of the space/time continuum – I finished the first sock on Thursday. I’m not sure how that happened, as I barely recall having much time to knit. I did stay out of the dye workshop on Thursday (my first day without dyeing in quite some time!), but I didn’t spend my day sitting and happily knitting my sock. I did laundry. I went food shopping. I went out to lunch with my husband. I accompanied hubby to the computer store to buy some parts. I ordered supplies. I labeled lots and lots of yarn. I answered e-mails. I processed payments and shipped orders. I went bowling (it was league night). When did I knit the sock????

I suppose it will remain a mystery how I managed to knit an entire sock during a busy 24 hour period, but I won’t question it further but rather just revel in the miracle of the completed sock. I love the darned thing as I have not loved anything I’ve knit in quite a while. I’m not entirely certain why. Perhaps it is because it looks exactly as I pictured in my mind before I cast on the first stitch.

Now I need to make the second sock and then I’ll give you a full blown picture and I can also post the pattern if anyone’s interested.

Enough chit chat for now! I have much dyeing to do today … and need to find time to work on the six-color sweater. I am overjoyed to report that I unpinned it from its blocking position last night and – with much fear and trepidation – began the process of seaming the sleeves into place. I was fully convinced by that time that the sleeve caps wouldn’t fit and that the sleeves themselves were too narrow. I can’t even express my delight in reporting that the sleeves fit perfectly into the armholes and the sweater itself seems as though it will fit like it was made for me (which it should, since it was!). I now have to knit the neckband, weave in about 9 million ends, do a little last minute blocking to the bottom edge of the sweater which is still curling, and then it will be DONE!

My next project to begin will be a red sweater for the Red Sweater KAL. I have no idea what I’m going to do for this sweater nor how I’ll find the time, but some demon got hold of me and before I knew it, I had signed up. If a red sweater to brighten up the dreary days of winter sounds like fun to you, pop on over to the Red Sweater KAL site and sign up. It’s just getting underway, so you won’t be a latecomer!

Now go knit!

5 comments:

The Knitphomaniac said...

The lime is beautiful! Well, they all are, but the lime is my favorite. I'm gonna hold out to see the red before I decide but I think I'm gonna hafta order two skeins of the purple to make a wrap. *nods*

Anonymous said...

New colors... ::THUD:: Absolutely gorgeous, Deb. And congrats on conquering the sweater. The socks are most lovely, too. Y'know, it's a good thing I just got portions of 2 different raw fleeces from my friend in Montana, or I'd really be trying to burn up my debit card before next month!! You make it difficult to be good, woman. ;)

knitspot anne said...

i'm so glad the sweater is fitting well!! i was rooting for you.

Elisa said...

Scarlet red sock yarn? Don't suppose you'd send me a preview photo? You know I probably HAVE to have some. . . . .

Anonymous said...

The "Rusty Nail" skein arrived today, and is it ever subtle! In artificial light, it looks mostly red; in sunlight, it looks mostly reddish brown. In short, it's another beautiful colorway from a hugely talented color artist.