Sock Book

I just finished looking through my copy of 'Sock Innovations' by Cookie A. I picked it up last weekend. Turns out, my Mom got her copy a few days before I got mine. I mentioned it to her because she buys me knitting books which is kind of dangerous. I buy a fair number for myself. She knows what I like and we have similar interests. Occasionally, the Knitters Guild of Denver lucks out and gets a duplicate.

I really like some of the patterns and they are all top down which is what I usually do. Guess, I am a creature of habit when it comes to socks. I still need to try two at a time. But now I have a new distraction from that goal. And I will probably get distracted by something else before I do any of these.

The best part is the patterns are all new. So, I will keep my copies of Monkey Socks, etc. The traveling cables look really neat. I have don't a full cable on a sock yet. Just need to look through the stash and pick something.

Library Shawl

I started it this year and the shawl is almost done. I am below the pocket area on the second side. A couple more repeats, border, pockets, and weaving in 14 - 18 ends will finish it.

The yarn is Kitten by Reynolds, made in Belgium. I have no idea how old it is. I acquired the yarn as a Christmas white elephant exchange three or four years ago. It was on its second year through the swap. I have no idea how long the original owner had it. It is 84% acrylic, 16% wool and knits up nicely for me on size 8 needles. A ball is 50 grams and 160 yards. It is machine washable but the directions looked a bit fussy for baby stuff because it should not be dried in a machine.

The pattern was designed for Cascade 220 and is a library shawl out of '220, 220 Projects for Cascade 220'. This is pattern #11 and has a faux cable and rib. The only issue I have is that the stitches for the slipped border tend to come out shorter on one side than the other. I haven't decided if it is me or the design. I really like how the pattern has knit up and am tempted to make another one after this.

Blocked and Finished - Qiviut Scarf

The pictures aren't fantastic but the scarf is completely done including blocking.

The pattern is the Chevron Scarf out of Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas. All right, it is half the pattern because I had half the yarn in a slightly thicker weight. I really like how it turned out. I think next time it gets blocked it, I need to let it be slightly narrower or use more pins. There is some waving along the edge from blocking.

Knitting both ends at the same time was interesting. The two balls didn't have the same yardage. The difference probably isn't huge, maybe 8 yards, but it was noticeable when getting down to the last bit yarn. And with expensive yarn, I really wanted to use as much as I could.