AmphibiaKnits

No More Knitting

I am not going to let myself knit any more until I finish my marking. Wish me luck.  I am already experiencing withdrawal pangs.

This will be a short and largely random post.

Here's a bruise I got from stopping a goal fired at me last week at soccer shooting practice.  And I was wearing padded gloves!  My hand hurt for about three days. 

My car is off at the fixit place being appraised, estimated and fixed.  I'm in a rental for about two weeks. It's a Ford Fusion.  I think it's an experience akin to driving a WWII panzer tank. It's about as responsive and fun to drive.

Here it is from the back. 

Yes, that's my Namaste Hermosa bag which I use as a briefcase for work.  If you look at it closely, you can see where the damned dogs have started to chew it. Top left hand side at the opening.

But the more interesting thing about this trunk is the little dangly thing.

Here's a closer look.

It's an escape button for people locked in the trunk.  Fascinating.  I assume it glows in the dark, otherwise how would you notice it if you're locked in a dark trunk?

Well, it certainly came in handy for at least one victim. 

BTW, Old Sambro Road is less than a km from where I live.  

In terms of actual yarn content, I finished the Spring Crocus socks.

I had done some sort of a moss or seed stitch gusset on the first one (top one in photo above).  I don't really like the way it worked out -- too intrusive.

 

The second one is better. I did the Turtlegirl double gusset decrease on the sole.

They're also too big by about 3/4 of an inch. So if someone with bigger feet than I have (Marion, I know you have size 9 feet, but you don't actually WEAR the socks -- you just keep them in a drawer instead of on your feet) wants them, consider them a gift.  I can get them out of the Happy Couples pile and into a good home.  (If you want them, Marion, they're yours). 

At least they're done.

In other distressing news, I had to rescue one of the new stripey socks from Desmond's mouth the other day. Sigh.

No yarn deliveries this week.  I'm waiting for the next Nalani Stripey sock club installment (plus two skeins), which I think shipped out on Wednesday.  It will be a while.  My Cephalopod Yarns order shipped on April 13, but who knows where it is.  It's somewhere between there and here.  The Plucky Knitter stuff doesn't ship out until the 30th, I think, so that will be a while.  

But none of that even matters until I finish my marking, my conference paper, and my taxes. Grrrr.

I hate April. No wonder T.S. Elliot called it the cruellest month.

 

Well, sh*t, there goes the yarn budget ....

Sigh. Yesterday was not a good day.

I finished the Shur'tugal socks.  The colour is darker in real life.  But they're done.  I ended up going back to Alice's way of doing the twisted stitches, because the other way didn't produce as crisp a result.

I did 7 pattern repeats on the leg and did the double gusset decrease on the bottom. Love the yarn.  These are for me.

I decided to start the Redbud socks by Linda Welch.  It's such a great pattern.  I'm not crazy about the way the RSC patterns are presented -- too much writing and too little charting.  I feel like I have to do a ton of reading.  What I really need to know for a pattern is what the stitch pattern is.  The rest of it I can do myself.  But once I looked at the pattern I decided I had to cast on.

Since I hadn't wound the Budding Twig yarn, I decided to take a leaf from Mapleweave's book and use an existing STR colour.  I had a skein of Sassafrass already wound (and another one in the tub, according to my Rav stash -- I'm a severe victim of yarnesia), so I thought I'd use it.

I'm not so sure.  The colours are light and springy, sort of.  But there is crazy striping going on and I really think it detracts from the pattern. The pattern is a lovely braid going down the leg after the lattice under the picot, but it's all lost in the variegation.

I think that some sort of a chevron pattern (kind of like Jaywalker or something along those lines) would be ideal for this yarn.  2.5 mm with 64 stitches seems to give a nice consistent stripe.  But I just don't think it works for the Redbud pattern.  And to be honest, I'm not sure that the Budding Twig would either.  I think this is a pattern that needs a plainer yarn.

So I'm tempted to frog and re-start.  What do you think?  

I have some solids on the dining room hutch.

The tealy green one is STR in one of the newer colourways -- Rambalaba or Ramalaba, perhaps?  It would probably work.  The other yarns here are non STR.  The cinnamony orange one is Sweet Georgia BFL sock in Cayenne. There's a HandMaiden Swiss Mountain Sea Sock in Periwinkle, and one of the Tsilk Tstockings in Delphinium and a Fly Designs MCN in Violet.  The grey is from Yarns by Melissa, and the yellowy green at the front is Lemongrass by Tanis Fiber Arts in Blue Label.  The pinky skein in the middle is the Lorna's Laces Solemate from last year's Cookie A club.  I definitely want to try that for something, but I thnk it might be better for a different project.

There are also some of the rescued RSC skeins and the Sokkusu.

I'm almost  tempted to use the Sokkusu in the bluey purpley pinky colour (?Jammy dodger?  Can't remember -- the dogs ate the label).  It's in several smaller balls now, but I don't think it would affect the pattern.  The only concern I have is that I'd have to go up to 72 stitches and probably do it on 2.25 mm needles if i used that skein because it's thinner than STR mediumweight.

The other possibilities are a couple of skeins keeping me company here at the computer.  The top is a Hazel Knits something or other in some colour or other.  It's more blue than the photo shows.  The bottom is STR Chapman Springs in mediumweight.  I just fear that I'd get the same stripey effect as with the Sassafrass.

Any suggestions?  The Redbud is a super fast pattern to knit.  I am sure I could get one sock done on the weekend.

It's another heavy marking weekend, but I have to have a break sometime, don't I?

The thing which made my day today was a surprise visit from Magda between step and body trim.  She brought me a present.

It's about the author's experience over the course of a year attempting to knit the Mary Tudor sweater from Alice Starmore.   It's a ton more than that, but it looks awesome and I can't wait to read it.

So that's where I am for now.  

I have to finish the second Spring Crocus or Early Crocus sock and then I can free up my 2.25 mm needles so that I can do the second Jewelled Autumn sock.  Some of the Lonely Hearts I fear will be relegated to the status of "confirmed bachelor".  I absolutely HATE the flabella.  And I am not crazy about the colour of the Flaming Desire, even though I did a pair in Casbah in Sangria and they are wonderful.  And Rimefrost looks like a lost cause as well.

Oh well, the Shur'tugals have now joined eYarnmony and are a Happy Couple.

Once I get some suggestions about what yarn to use for the Redbud, I can start those as well.

For now, a little surfing and then some marking.  Blech.  

Post the Second (aka Lord, I was Born a Rambling Maa-aaan)

The historic building across from my work is scheduled to be incorporated into a downtown monstrous commercial tower.  The lower part of the building is a designated heritage property, so the developer is required to incorporate the facade into his new design.  They've emptied it all out, and now the outside is being propped up.  They've added great big huge cement slab weight things.  But I think it's kind of cool how you can see other buildings through the empty window spaces.

 

Over at Purdy's Wharf, they're doing something which involves erecting scaffolding. When it was lying on the ground, it looked kind of cool because some of the ends were painted in pastel colours. 

In terms of offerings from the yarn gods, this week I've received only the Tsecond Tsock kit from the Tsock Tsarina.  

I must say, the offerings this time around are done with a lot more thought and care than previously.  In  the previous tsock clubs, we got a ziploc bag with the yarn and the pattern thing, but there were no regular extras.  I guess in fairness we got an extra skein of yarn each year, and there were a couple of things like lavender and eucalyptus sachets and a thing of goat's milk.

But these kits are all carefully considered and surround the theme.  This month's inspiration is A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The sock is called Bottom's dream.  It's a donkey head.   The kit came wrapped in tissue paper which looks vaguely Arthur Rackham-ish, and it was sealed with a manilla donkey sticker.  There's a copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as an Arthur Rackham Bottom card (complete with oatmeal cookie recipe inside), a donkey cookie cutter (LOVE), a donkey stitch marker, and a donkey finger puppet.

I suppose technically they're asses and not donkeys, but whatever.  

I love the idea of socks with ears on them.

Last week (Thursday) I went to Chapters for the first time in about a zillion years.  Since I've been buying ebooks for the Kindle (or technically, the Kindle app on my iPad), I haven't been going to actual brick and mortar bookstores.

I used to have a rule about Chapters:  I didn't permit myself to buy more books than I could carry between my chin and my hand.  That's a lot of books, though. 

I used to buy books like I buy yarn.  I guess technically I still do, but it doesn't seem as real when they're electronic.  I can no longer feel the weight of them from my chin to my wrist.

But I went in the other day looking specifically to see whether they had the new June Hemmons Hiatt Principles of Knitting and the new Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott sock knitting book.  Nope.  They had neither one.  

But they did have The Sock Knitter's Workbook by Ewa Jostes and Stephanie Van Der Linden.  

The book is mostly technique and very little pattern.  As I was flipping through it, I realized that it contains information  which I haven't seen before.  For example, there are four different heel flaps in the book: square (the usual one which we do), round, horseshoe and heart-shaped. Who knew there were 4 other types of heel flap heel?  There are some additional diagonal heels, and a bunch of cast-on things like rolled cuffs and different methods for tubular cast-ons.

The book is illustrated with lots of clear and bright photographs, and the text is clear and easy to read.  

So I was pleasantly surprised by that.  It lives on the kitchen counter and is my meal-reading book.

I also picked up a copy of Gothic Knits, which I hadn't even heard of.  But I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.

There are I think 12 different dolls to make.  They're all made out of DK, and they come complete with shaped bodies and knitted clothes.  There are even templates in the book for stitching on the eyes and the mouths.  It's lovely.  Instead of knitting Dangercraft monsters, I might knit some Gothic weirdos.

The other really fun book which I got was Hello, Cupcake!  If you are any kind of fan of cupcakes or children's birthday parties or whimsical food in general, you MUST get this book.  

It has designs for a bunch of different cupcakes.  There are dogs on the front.  They're called Pup Cakes in the book.

Among my favourites are the Garden Variety cupcakes.  Check out the lettuce cupcakes.  See the lettuces?  They're made from coated cornflakes.  Genius!

Then there are the bugs . I am particularly smitten by the Smartie Scorpion.

But I am absolutely blown away by the Monarch butterflies.  The butterflies are made from piped chocolate and something called melting wafers.  The instructions are in the book.  If you didn't know what you were looking at, you'd never know these are cupcakes.  Look closer.  You can see the yellow round frosted cupcakes under the Monarch butterflies.

Then there are other whimsical ones such as the Spaghetti and Meatballs.  The meatballs are made from Ferrero Rocher chocolates covered with strawberry preserves.  Talk about amazing.

Anyway, if you have $25 to spare, I'd suggest you get the book.  It's fun to look at, even if you never make any of them. 

In my Amazon wishlist, I have some knitted food books.  One day, when I'm feeling flush with cash ...

On the needles right now, I'm on the second Shur'tugal.  I've turned the heel and have finished the gusset decreases.  I'm on the foot, so it's all downhill for now.

I am also on the heel flap of the second Spring Crocus sock.  As soon as these two are done, I will cast on for Redbud and something else.  My pile of Lonely Hearts is slowly dwindling.  On the other end of the bookcase, I have the Happy Couples.  Right now there are four happy couples, and as soon as I finish Shur'tugal and Spring Crocus, there will be six happy couples.  It's like e-Harmony, but I guess it's e-Yarnony. 

See, there IS method to my madness.  I don't start a new one until I finish a Lonely Heart.

I have a metric crap ton of marking to do over the next week and a half, as well as prepare a paper for a conference (and file my income taxes -- can't forget *that* happy task, nosiree, bub).  So I may be a little absent for a while.  If I haven't succumbed from writer's cramp, I should have sufficiently well-developed hand muscles that I'll be able to knit at the speed of light. 

Until then, I bid you adieu.

And I guess that's when I'll be able to show you about my little fall off the wagon into the Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga trail.  And my fall off the wagon into the serendipitous Plucky Knitter trail. 

But for now, I leave you with happy cupcake thoughts. 

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

I meant to blog last week or last weekend.  It didn't happen.  I feel badly.  So I'll make today's post extra long. Or maybe I'll break it up into two posts.

Post the first.

When we last left off, I had finished the Papaver  socks, and nothing had arrived in the mail.

Last week, I got arrivals in the mail.  Yes, there was more stashquisition, but it was of the sock club variety, so it doesn't count. And there has been some progress knitting-wise.

First off, the goodies. 

I received my March Rockin' Sock Club offering from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and my April Cookie A Sock Club offering.  

The Rockin' Sock Club contains the usual host of lovely goodies:  dyer's notes, 2 patterns, a mini-skein, and a bumper sticker.

The yarn is STR Mediumweight in Budding Twig.  One pattern is a shawl (meh), and the other is a pair of socks called Redbud by Linda Welch.  I keep referring to them as Rosebud.  Whoops. 

The socks are actually a lovely pattern, and I think I want to cast them on as soon as I have two more things off the needles.  I really like the pattern, and I think I'll use the club yarn, since it's such a nice mix of light colours.  I'm not usually a fan of the light stuff, so I have to strike while the mood is upon me.

The second sock club offering is from Cookie A.  The yarn is Sokkusu Original from Socktopus (Alice Yu).  I find it intriguing that Cookie A's yarn comes from a fellow designer who also has a yarn club.

On a philanthropist level, I am super-happy that Cookie A has introduced Alice's yarn to the world at large.  If you read the comments in Ravelry, people are really taken with the yarn.  As am I, which is why I have 18 skeins in my stash.  The selfish part of me knows that this will likely turn Alice into a sock yarn superstar and she and Ling will never have another quiet moment to themselves. But my love of Sokkusu and wanting to share wins out.  I just hope I'll be able to scoop some updates every now and again.

The yarn is called River Styx.  I think I might use it for the Socktopus Tideway pattern and I might use one of my HB#2 skeins to knit Turbulence.  And perhaps I'll use Grellow to knit Nanaimo.

There was also a very cool band around the yarn, which I have of course put on my bulletin board of yarny goodness. 

I had also ordered some short circs to attempt sock knitting with 2 circs at a time.  I ordered ChaioGoo red lace in 2.25 and 2.50 mm (16") and a set of Hiya Hiya Sharps in 2.75 mm (24").  

I initially tried the ChiaoGoo needles and wasn't sure.  I was emailing Christine, and she said she doesn't like the ChiaoGoo needles because the cable is so stiff and it creates ladders.  So I switched socks and switched needles.   

After doing the comparison, I think I like the ChiaoGoo more than I like the Hiya Hiyas.  

Of course what I really want is SNA circs in a 20" length.  That would be perfect for me.  But they seem to be working more at the big end of the spectrum than at the small end of the spectrum.  Yesterday they announced the arrival of size 10 circs (6.0 mm).  Why can't they work out the bugs and do 2.25, 2.50, 2.75 and 3.0 mm circs?  They'd make a killing.

But as usual, I digress.

Last week's knitting consisted of finishing the second stripey sock.   I did the Sweet Tomato heel again, but I knit a couple of rounds between wedges, so the striping doesn't match anymore. Grrr.. It only matches to the heel.

So I cast on another self-striping sock.  It's the Platypus colourway from Nalani Yarns.  I decided to do an afterthought heel, now that I realize that I didn't actually pay enough attention to Leslie's video tutorial.  I neglected to knit 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of sotckinette before starting the heel decreases.  Duh.  No wonder it was uncomfortable.   So I am trying again.  I have the first sock done sans heel.

I did it cuff-down and went down to 2.25 mm needles.  I think I knit 18 rows of ribbing and then another 72 rows of leg before inserting the heel.  

It looks to me as though it's going to be a short sock.  I should probably have done another 12 to 15 rows on the leg, since I forgot to compensate for the smaller needle size.  

And finally, there was some puppy love last week.  This is mostly for Magda.  

Lila - deceptively cute.

Des on the floor

Sebastian on the floor

Lila and Bastian

And Bastian taking a nap

They're cute when they're not destroying things.

Bindweed Elfwitch

One of the many advantages of having a blog is that when I get comments, I also get the link to the commenter’s blog.  So I get to do lots of following links and following other people’s blogs.

When I was sitting in the waiting room for Small Claims Court last night, I was looking at Coxabey’s blog and going through all the older posts.  She is doing a whole whack of those hexapuff things, which is fascinating in and of itself. 

But I digress….One post referred to her faerie name.  Her faery name is Cherry Goblinglitter:

 

She brings riches and wealth.

She lives in fruit orchards and vineyards.

She is only seen in the light of a shooting star.

She wears red, cerise and purple berry colours and has gentle green wings like a butterfly

Well, thought I, isn’t that cool? I’ll try it. There’s a link to the Fairy Name Generator.  So I put my name in and pressed the magic button.

When I was a Brownie, I was something plain.  I was a troll or an ogre or a goblin or an elf or something. But I wasn’t a pixie or a fairy, which is what I wanted to be.  When I moved up to Girl Guides, I was hoping to be one of the lovely flowers.  I yearned to be a Rose.  The badge had a beautifully embroidered rose on it.  It made me swoon. So what was I?

A Thistle.  You know, the plant with a spiky flower and thorns.  I was a WEED. 

Such is my lot in life.

My fairy name? Bindweed Elfwitch.

Bindweed?  Isn’t that the stuff that chokes the living daylights out of all other plants and takes over in the garden?  This time I actually even get the word “weed” in my name.  Since I’m no longer a tender youngster, the powers that be are just going to pull no punches.  Elfwitch.  Elf-WITCH??? Not even Bindweed Elfwizard or Bindweed Elfwarlock or Bindweed Elfsorceress or Bindweed Elforacle.

Bindweed Elfwitch

She is cheerful and friendly.

 She lives at the bottom of tangled gardens and in hedgerows.

 She can only be seen in the enchanted moment between sleep and waking.

 She wears tangled multicoloured skirts made of petals and has transparent green wings like a cicada.

In case you’re wondering, here’s a cicada.  Note the transparent green wings.  Note also the Elfwitchy red eyes and witchy whiskers sprouting from the face.

 

 

Yup, that's me. I’m what Mr. DramaticKnits would refer to as a “hot mess”.  More mess than hot, methinks.  And apparently that would be a tangled hot mess.  You'll note that the word "tangled" (which is a pretty good description of my hair most days) appears twice in my fairy poem. Sigh.

It was a short mail week this week, and I received nothing.  Nada.  Zip. Bubkes. (Or is it bupkes?). Goose egg.

The only thing I accomplished was finishing the second Papaver sock in the Hazel Knits Entice in Spanish Wine.  So that's one less lonely heart.

I did the Turtlegirl double gusset on the second sock. It's the bottom sock.

And look -- the Lonely Hearts Club is getting smaller.

Last night after finishing the Papaver sock I cast on for the Crysanthemum frutescens by Hunter Hammersen.  I cast on using Bugga in Signatus Lacewing.  After about12 rows in, I discovered a dropped stitch and pulled the whole thing off the needles.  So I cast on for the second stripey sock instead.  At least I can be trusted not to bugger up stockinette too badly most times.

Since the Papaver was on 2.25 mm needles, I now have a free set available.  I might cast on either the second Sweet Georgia or the second Yarn Love sock. 

But after I went to all the trouble of doing the picot cuff on the Crysanthemum, I think I'll tink back and pick up and start over again.  

Story of my life.  Bindweed Elfwitch. 

Sunday ... Just Sunday

This week I've finished a couple of things, started on a couple of things (well, one thing) and worked on a thing.

But before I get  to the fiber content, I just wanted to give a great big thank you to Laura and Les from The Knit Girlllz for mentioning the blog on their podcast.  That was super sweet.  It even generated a couple of new friends on Ravelry, one of whom asked me whether I have a Rav group.  

HA HA HA HA um. ... no.  Rav groups are for important people and good causes and interesting stores.  I am a mere knitter who blogs occasionally.  I can't even imagine having the temerity to think I could have a group.  But it was a funny and sweet thought.

I just wanted to clear up for Les the madness behind my method of finishing the socks.

My problem is that I have an extremely short attention span (which is why I knit socks and not sweaters), and an abundance of yarn and a bunch of needles.  I also have more patterns than yarn, if that's possible.  

So if left to my own devices, I would just knit single socks forever. But since most people prefer to have two socks to wear, I have to occasionally make the second sock.  But I do have that pile of singles glaring at me and making me feel guilty.

So instead of casting on six new different socks, I'll only let myself cast on 3 new socks.  And after every new sock, I have to cast on a mate for an old lonely sock.  So instead of havng just 6 more singles, I'll actually get 3 pairs out of it.  Yes, it's the same number of socks on the needles, but it ends up making more pairs.

And of course, the new single socks then go into the singles pile and become old socks which require mates, so it's kind of a vicious circle, but it keeps things rolling.

I could never be project monogamous like Les.  I'm way too much of a knit ho.  

Since I last blogged, I finished the first Crocus Vernus sock in the Primo Fingering in a purple colour.  I love the Primo Fingering.  It's thin but has a nice twist.  Personally I like thinner MCN blends.  (Which of course begs the question why I have so much Bugga, but that's an explanation for another day).

Anyway, two thumbs up to Hunter for the Crocus Vernus sock.

This week I received some more stashquisition.  I got the March shipment of the Knit Love Club. The yarn is the standard Sokkuso Original, and the colour is called Grellow.  It could just as easily have been called Yolive.

I love the Socktopus stickers that come on the bags.

The yarn itself is mostly an olive green with some areas of a more yellow in it.  It's hard to capture the colour properly, but these are reasonably close.  The tag fell off in the bag.

I can't express how much I love this yarn.  I've been wearing my Jubilee socks lots because I just love the yarn.  It's 100% SW merino with a lovely tight twist.  And it's fairly thin, but it's plump. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you like Socks that Rock Lightweight, you'll like Sokkusu.

And speaking of Socks that Rock lightweight, my January Rockin' Sock Club parcel arrived on Friday.  I joined late.  So the March installment is on its way and will take probably two weeks to get here.  The reason I joined again was the January shipment.  Love.

I love the colour.  I'm not sure about the pattern. I like the sock pattern, but I don't know about the buttons. We'll see.  And from what I could tell on the thread on Ravelry, some people (as in, lots of people) were having difficulties with it and had to rip it out a couple of times.  That doesn't bode well for me.  See the previous comment about the short attention span.  Once I rip and it doesn't work a second time, I've cast on for something new.

The January shipment also came with a sticker.  It's almost bumper sticker size. 

Hmm.... Aret hose the Social newtwork socks by Lucy Neatby?  I may have to cast those on.  I like the Aubergenius background and brighter overlay.

Anyway, the third piece of stashquisition that arrived this week was the March installment of the Nalani Yarns self-striping sock club.  

The yarn is a three-stripe 100% SW Merino in a 2-ply. The colour is called Dreams.  It's a tealy blue, purple and black.  Amber also sent another button (which makes three this week -- it's a good week for the yarn board) and some Rockets candy. 

How much do I love Rockets?  They're my Hallowe'en favourite.  I might have a sweet tooth which rivals Lala's sweet tooth. 

So those were the acquisitions this week.

On Friday night I finished a second sock - it was the Cherry Tree Hill Northern Lights.  It's a plain stockinette with a hemmed cuff, eye of partridge heel flap, and double gusset decrease.  The second one striped a little differently from the first. 

The one I just finished is the one on the left.  The rows of red stack up a little better.  And when I was doing the toe decreases, I was just doing k2t and ssk without doing the extra knit stitch.

I don't love these socks, and I'm glad they're done.  It's another one out of the Lonely Hearts Club (which is what I've just decided to call my pile of singles).

See, here's the madness in action.  I finished a new one (Crocus Vernus), and then I finished a Lonely Hearts (the Cherry Tree Hill).  So it meant I could start a new one.  

Since I had the LittleMonkeysStitchnSpin yarn in Rainbow Remix already wound, I decided to cast on a stockinette sock in that.

I decided to do a picot cuff and the Sweet Tomato Heel over half the stitches instead of over 2/3 of the stitches. I also wanted to add a couple of rows of stockinette between heel wedges to see if I could tighten it up and make it look nicer.

I started with 2.5 mm needles.   Then I decided that the fabric was too thin, and decided to go down a needle size after the picot cuff.  So I did about 10 rows on the 2.25 mm needle and the fabric was still too holey.  My litmus test for fabrics is the watch test.  If you can put your watch up behind the fabric and still read the time, it's too thin.  I used to use that for the test of whether fabric was too thin in the see-through sense, but it works for socks too.

So I decided to go down yet again to a 2.0 mm needle size.  I really don't want to have to go down any lower than 0.  

The yarn is a 3-ply 100% superwash merino.  I should have thought about it before I bought it.  It's 3.5 ounces and 490 yards.  That equals thin.  It's almost a laceweight.  

Now don't get me wrong. I like thin yarn.  I like thin socks.  The Sokkusu is fabulous.  I love the Primo Fingering.  I find that Sweet Georgia CashLuxe is also similar.  It's like Skinny Bugga.  But all those yarns have good twist and are plump.   This stuff is just thin.

It's so thin, in fact, that it was laddering on the DPNs. Usually I can avoid ladders by doing the 2 or 3 stitches on either side of the join a little tighter, but no amount of pulling was helping these ones.  So I decided to change to magic loop.

I hate magic loop.  Les makes it look easy.  But I find it to be a royal pain in the arse having to move all those stitches up over the needle all the time. The only 2.0 mm needle I have in a magic loop size is an Addi Turbo.  Which actually means Addi Blunt.  

And the other thing I'm not loving about the yarn is the colour.  The colours are muddy and there is some bleeding.

The yellow is a dark yellow, not a bright lemon yellow.  The orange is very dark and is close to the red.  At night, it's almost impossible to see the difference between the red and the orange.  The red is a rusty red rather than a bright blue red or a true red.  There's a light green, and it's mottled. The middle green is the most consistent, and then there's a darker green which looks more tealy in the photo. 

So between the ladders, the thinness and the colours, I am not enjoying this knit at all.  I only did 70 rows for the leg after the picot cuff.  It's shorter than what I normally do, but I can't stand to have this on the needles any longer than necessary.

Doing the extra rows of stockinette after the wedges leaves kind of an odd stripey effect on the instep.

As Princess would say, I'm not digging this.  

The other Lonely Heart which I picked up to work on is the second Papaver in the Hazel Knits Entice in Spanish Wine.  It's on 2.25 mm needles.  What's with all these small needles? Blech.

I don't know what the next new sock will be.  I got my shipping notice for the next Cookie A shipment, so that will be here soon.  

But whatever happens, my next new knit won't be purple.  I feel the need to move away from purple for a day or so.

Gosh, maybe I'll go take a look through my patterns to see what I'll cast on next.  I am going to do the next Shur'tugal as well, so that I have a pair of those to wear.  

That's it for now.  I got a migraine as I was falling asleep last night, and it made it difficult to do any moves at the gym which required my head to be down. So I am going to take Sebastian to my room and have a nap.

Here's a shot of Princess with her arms full of puppy love on Friday night.