Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Just being quiet

Pheasant Run
Pattern: Lisa Parker's Pheasant Run
Yarn: Claudia's Handpainted in an exclusive Loopy Ewe Fall sock club colorway
Needles: Size 2.5 mm Knit Picks circs


I've been busy and just haven't had much to say.

It was a difficult reentry. It's not that I don't love my boys. I do. I even enjoy spending time with them. I also enjoyed my time alone tremendously and know that it won't happen again for a long time. Having the house filled with the boys and all their stuff and noise has been tough on the nerves. Having to cook and clean and look after the boys again has been draining. I'm only now starting to adjust.

I know I said I was only going to do one repeat of the Loopy Fall Sock club sock but I changed my mind. It became a contest to see if I'd have enough yarn to finish the sock for my largish feet. At first it seemed as though the yarn would win until I noticed that I had dropped a stitch quite a few rows back and didn't like how it looked when I pulled the stitch back up. After ripping and reknitting and rethinking the toe I ended up with more than enough yarn. See those little balls at the top of the sock blocker - that's what I had left. Two teeny, tiny little balls of yarn (I found one knot in the skein toward the end).

The pattern is very nice. It works well with the variegated yarn and shows it off well. The Claudia Handpainted is a dream. I'd definitely work with it more if the skeins weren't so skimpy. I prefer 7 inch long legs on my socks and I was only able to knit 6 inch legs to have enough yarn.

Here's a closeup of the very nice garter edged Eye of Partridge heel. This photo also shows how fallish the colors are. One woman on Ravelry described it as Fall Cornucopia which I think would be a great name for this unnamed colorway.

Pheasant Run heel close up

I've picked up the Cabled (Sweat) Sock again and I'm 4 rows away from the heel. I want to finish the second Loopy sock before the end of the month for a kal on Ravelry so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I think I'm going to work on the Cabled Sock for a bit until I get to or through the gussets and then pick up the Loopy sock. It's hard to go back and forth between the socks because the Claudia yarn is SO soft - it's like butter and slips through your fingers - while the Wollmeise has a stringy sort of feel to it. I love the Wollmeise but it doesn't feel great after using the Claudia and it's difficult to maintain tension with such different yarns.