A little bit twisted (both stitches and logic)

I seem to have a “thing” lately for twisted stitches.  I love twisted rib for sock cuffs (when I’m not doing picot hems, because even though I could do without the sewing part, they are completely adorable) — I love hos it looks, how it stretches, and what a pretty, dense texture it creates in the fabric.

Apparently, I love it so much that whenever I knit with my Super Extra Special Hard To Find Yarns (read: yarns which can only be obtained through trades or rather vigorous stalking — good thing I have a somewhat obsessive personality!), I’m drawn to patterns requiring a lot of twisted stitches.  Such as Marlene, above, which I cast on just two nights ago in Wollmeise 100% Superwash, colorway “La Digitessa.”  I’d loved the pattern since my Winter issue of Knit.1 first arrived in the mail, but had been thinking of doing it in a squishy yarn with a light sheen — maybe a bamboo/merino blend.

Then I looked at the somewhat embarrassing stockpile of Wollmeise I’ve amassed over the last two months (I’ve been a VERY dedicated stalker lately, as well as being pretty  lucky in recent updates) and decided that while I am sort of a collector by nature and there’s nothing wrong with having a yarn “collection,” yarn is a tool.  It wants to be something other than a twisted hank, even if it’s a Very Pretty twisted hank. (At least, that’s what it would want if it had things like nerves and feelings and could actually want things).  And, truth be told, I was afraid of knitting this yarn because, well, once I knit it, it will be knit and then it cannot be knit into something else… and what if I love the colorway and I want to knit everything in it and I can’t ever get any more?

Yes, I know this is faulty logic.  When have I EVER, no matter how much I’ve loved a yarn, decided I had to have more of That Yarn in That Color so that I could do another project with it?  Never.  (P.S.  Wedding-related things don’t count.  I plan ahead to knit multiple things with one yarn in that case and purchase yarn yardages accordingly.  Therefore my Never remains accurate).  Nonetheless, just to hedge my bets, I decided to make sure that the first Wollmeise I cast on was one that was relatively easy to replace.  Because I need to save my favorites for my favorite patterns.  I’m not sure, yet, if this will be a favorite pattern.

So far, I like both the yarn and the pattern (what’s not to like about Claudia’s colors, after all), and the twisted stitches do produce a stunning texture that is both bold enough to be interesting both to knit and to look at… and mild enough to not get lost in a vibrant, somewhat variegated colorway.  I hope they continue to proceed along as well as they’ve begun.

Well, that, and that I don’t get to the end of knitting the socks and find myself deciding that yes, they’re lovely, but they need to remain on display in my handknit sock drawer because I simply don’t have shoes worthy of something as pretty as my Wollmeise.  Heaven forfend.

February Finishes what January Left Undone

So much for New Year’s resolutions about blogging more. January flew by in a flurry of cast-ons (3 pairs of socks, to be precise, two of which I’ve finished, neither one of them in January. Oh well) and a very busy life offline… and here we are in February, already more than half spent.

Crazy.

One of January’s cast ons was for a pair of Merino Lace Socks from Favorite Socks. I think this might be one of my favorite pattern books ever — the first pair of socks that I ever knit was a Favorite Socks pattern, and since then, I’ve done three more patterns from that book. Poor thing is starting to show some wear.  I’d started these because I wanted to knit up some of my Sundara before more of it arrived mid-February.  I almost succeeded… I was about halfway through the second sock when my Seasons mailing showed up.

Let me just say that I adore Sundara yarn.  The colors are beautiful, the yarn is comfortable to knit, I see no flashing or pooling and I think the subtlety of the grey purple in this yarn (“Deadly Nightshade” is the colorway) plays well with a sophisticated lace pattern.  (We won’t talk about the start that I made on Garden Gate socks that was quickly abandoned to the frog pond when I realized that Black over Violet and Deadly Nightshade were just a little TOO close in tone.  Someday, the right combination will turn up in my mailbox, or stash box really it will).

Aren’t they pretty?

Also, while I’m celebrating my pretty knitting and project love, I should mention that I finally, finally got a camera lens that lets me take knitting photos in the middle of the night, when I actually have time.  It’s a sigma prime f/1.4 30mm lens, for the camera geeks out there, designed to work with an Olympus DSLR body.  I’m not thrilled with its color fidelity (I had to do quite a lot of correcting to get pictures like these), but it’s fast, has beautiful definition and, most importantly, a focal distance that is shorter than the distance between my body and my feet.  You have no idea how hard it is to photograph socks when the minimum focal distance of the lens you want to use is around 3.5 feet.  That might sort of work if I were 6 feet tall and wanted to take all of my pictures standing (except for weird shadow effects)… but at my whopping height of 5’3″ … well, you do the math.

I think I’m in love.

I was going to write about my other projects (the Fireside socks I’m knitting from Casbah in an unnamed colorway that vaguely resembles Origin, the Marble Lace Socks that I just can’t seem to make myself finish), my newfound love for knitting socks on two circulars, and the totally strange psychology of yarn acquisition that surrounds yarns like Sundara and Wollmeise and now Sanguine Gryphon’s Bugga, but I think those will have to wait for other posts.  I have dinner plans.

If anyone has a good way of motivating oneself to finish a half-knitted second sock that just sort of keeps on languishing, do let me know.