WIP Tuesday

Hi, Knitters,

I hope you are all well and good this morning. I am sharing a quick update on some work in progress projects today. Oh, and before I dig in, I wanted to share the results of the Solja and Emmanuelle sweater votes. Here is what I counted, I did my best to be accurate and a few voted for both:

Solja: 26 votes!

Emmanuelle: 30 votes!

I'm still debating and actually that's a pretty close outcome. After I finish Maude I will make a final decision. Thanks for chiming in, that was really fun.

The sock in progress (above) is in my new favorite indie-dyed yarn from Gale's Art. Honestly, the photo is not filtered and the yarn is even better in person than it looks online. It glows with depth of color. The play of the gray and bright colors is brilliant. Click here to specifically see information or to purchase the same yarn as in the photo!

The pattern is one I have knit before and one that works so well for variegated sock yarns and it is a super fun knit. The Monkey socks, of course.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A (free on Knitty.com)

Yarn: Gale's Art Wonder Sock in Graffiti and Asphalt  The photos on the Etsy shop do not do the colorway full justice in my opinion. I think it is difficult to capture the true beauty of this colorway in a photo. Believe me, in person Graffiti and Asphalt is about the prettiest sock yarn I have ever seen. And it is knitting up better than I could have ever imagined. You will LOVE this yarn.

I heard from Gale that she is busy dyeing up more Graffiti and Asphalt sock yarn to fill the orders that have been pouring in. I saw this yarn on a couple of podcasts, The Knit Girllls and Whatcha Swatchin. I am so in love with this sock yarn, which is BFL and nylon. I know I'll be posting a lot more about it in the future. Gale is really talented, and from what I hear, she's a lovely woman as well. 

I've finished my first sock in the Hundertwasser Opal sock yarn in the Winterbild colorway. This is my first glitter sock. I think this yarn looks so old-fashioned like a wool blanket or a flannel shirt. I am a big fan of the Hundertwasser line of the Opal sock yarn. It's a winner. You can most likely find this yarn on Ebay but I do believe it's a discontinued line. You'll have to search around.

6-inch cuff. Top-down. How I make my socks free pattern.

Knit on Signature Needle dpns, 6-inch length

I have this ball of Opal lined up next.....  it says Dr. Deiter Dornig on the label. The German labels really throw me for a loop, I never quite know what the line or colorway is called. I've had this for awhile and I can't remember where I got it. It looks like it's going to be a really good stripy jacquard sock in great colors.

My Maude cardigan is coming along nicely. This truly is my favorite type of sweater with a deep 2x2 rib and then loads of stockinette stitch. There's nothing better. The pattern does have several AT THE SAME TIMES going at once but none of them are too complicated. There is some row counting involved for sure. I'm so enjoying the yarn and pattern.

Pattern: Maude by Carrie Bostick Hoge

Yarn: Shelter in the Button Jar colorway

Yarn bowl: White Barn Farm Sheep & Wool

And last but not least, I knit a leaf. The first leaf of many for the Leftie shawl. I started this in the car on the way to Mequon last Saturday. Mequon is about 2 hours from Madison, north of Milwaukee. There was a track meet. After the one leaf I had to put it down, it took too much reading and looking for car knitting. I started feeling a bit car sick. 

I haven't made any more progress on the Leftie but I have to say I really loved knitting this first leaf. I think this shawl will be addicting once I get a move on. I counted 29 leaves in the sample in the pattern. I hope to get about that many on my version. We'll see where the yarn takes me.

Yarn: Miss Babs Leftie Kit in Slate and Reds

Pattern: Leftie by Martina Behm

I have so much work knitting to do this week. Wish me luck as book deadlines are looming. I am feeling a little stress about this fact. The funny thing is that most all of the knitting I share on the blog is my leisure-time knitting that is completed in my off-time (riding in the car, sitting at games and meets, early morning wake-up time knitting), not my daytime work hours knitting. It's a blurry line when work and play collide but I am used to it. 

Now to get back to my work knitting! Yikes.

best, susie

p.s. I just got off the phone with my son who is sophomore in college. He finished his finals this morning and will be heading home soon. I am so excited to see him. We talk about food and cooking and baking quite a bit, a mutual interest. He recommended this website to me and it looks to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to spend some reading and baking and cooking time on here. Click here to check it out! There is a podcast, too! I'm going to give a listen as I work today.