Thursday, August 28, 2008

Some Damn Socks!

Here is why my blogging has sucked lately:









Those are some damn socks. From the top:
1. Fibranatura Yummy in Peridot Spring. Not the softest yarn in the world, but that probably means it'll hold up a long time. The amazing colors and amazing pooling more than make up for the minor amount of roughness in the yarn (btw it is rough, not itchy. big difference).
2. ShibuiKnits Sock in Bark. Ohmygod I want to marry this sock yarn. It is the most freaking amazing sock yarn I have ever felt in my life. Talk about squishy. This yarn is going to have, like, ten thousand of my babies. Amazing. Purely amazing. I have another sock's worth of yarn in Pagoda that I'm dying to try, but it'll have to wait. I'm into trying new sock yarns at the moment (clearly).
3. Araucania Ranco Solid in Charcoal. Apparently I love this color so much I bought it in their sock yarn, their Nature Wool, and their Limari. Huh, who knew?

Those socks are all done. The rest of the socks are all in progress (including the one that just looks like a skein. It is currently 20 rows of ribbing. BTW, I have decided that 1x1 ribbing looks fantastic on everything, especially socks).

4. The Bane of My Existence socks(this is Silk Garden Sock). Mr. Cabbage saw these in the yarn shop and about swooned. He swoons for Noro really easily. He has about a billion Zeebee hats in Silk Garden. Really. Plus some scarves. Swoons. Really. But this yarn SUCKS to knit with. I will never, ever buy it again. Along with Colinette Jitterbug (way, way too many bad reviews) and Claudia Handpaint (knit socks out of this yarn and they freaking fell apart so fast, it was ridiculous).
5. Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Rosehip. This yarn has a little mohair (but not too much) so they're very soft and have a slight halo. Also not as stretchy. Note: cast on 2 or 4 extra stitches next time I use this yarn. Thanks, mohair, thanks a lot.
6. Some lovely Sundara Sock Yarn being made into some Waving Lace socks.
7. Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sock being made into a really, really scrumptious pair of Spring Forwards. This is another sock yarn that is on my "buy again" list. I don't know what the hell she uses as her base or what the hell she uses for dye, but this yarn is like knitting with pearls. Smooth and with a sheen. Love, love, love. Once I make more of a dent in my current sock yarn stash I'm buying more.
8. Creatively Dyed Yarn's Almost There (discontinued). Got this stuff in St. Louis and even though it is just ribbing, it is already very pretty. Yay, blue :)

P.S. Sorry for the blurry photos. I don't know what's up with my camera but it can't take a good picture to save its life.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

FO- CPH v2.0: Organic and Purple!



This bad girl is finally finished!
Deets:
5 1/2 skeins of Vermont Organic Fiber Company O-Wool on US 8 needles (US 6 for the ribbing). I did this one in one piece from the hem to the underarms and I did an attached garter stitch button band. I started this thing back in February and it stalled for some reason. But I've actually worn it three times already, despite the fact that it is August. Yay for purple cardigan hoodies! Oh yeah, and this pattern is Central Park Hoodie. Did I even need to say that, though?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

FO- Yay, Seamless Hybrid!


Well, my main man turned 27 a couple of weeks ago and I decided to continue in the tradition I started last year by knitting him a sweater. Except that I sort of started this thing almost a year ago and decided to finish the last half of the hibernating sweater in time for his bee-day. Meet EZ's Seamless Hybrid, my first EZ sweater. I had previously knit two pair of her mittens (here and here) but had yet to try one of her sweaters. This one will definitely not be my last. I'm envisioning one for myself in pink DK weight tweed...
Anyhoo, this one was knit with 6 balls of Plymouth Galway, and I'm actually pretty impressed with the yarn. Its nothing fancy, just a good, cheap, standard worsted weight wool. But I think we need more of those. I'm not a fan of yarns that have too much acrylic, but those seem to be some of the only cheap yarn you can buy (I think this yarn was 5 or 6 dollars for 100 grams. 100 grams! holy moly!). Lamb's Pride is 1-2 dollars more, and has mohair (meh) and is single-ply (nice sometimes, but not as sturdy as plied). Personally I find Lamb's pride to be pretty fucking itchy. So I'm excited about this yarn, fo' sho'. What else? Size US 7 needles, 41ish inch chest, and oh yeah... the neckband...

for some crazy reason, my tubular bind-off looks like this. WTF?! I thought I did it too tight so I ripped it out and did it again and steamed it to try and relax the yarn, but nope. Luckily Mr. Cabbageeatsyarn thinks this is a design element (and I believe so did someone else that commented on it on Ravelry) so that's what I'm calling it. A design element. Here's an on-purpose design element:

a nice flat hem. I'll take credit for doing that one right.
Finally, here's a picture of the sweater being knit in the wild, bar-style. Gasp! Its Cabbage's face! I was beginning to doubt the existence of her face!