Sock it to me

Sorry for missing my usual Sunday evening post; TW and I had a small party for the print department faculty from the college where TW teaches (and of which we are both alumni) Sunday evening and I was too tired through Monday to even think about posting. It's amazing how tiring yakking with friends and nibbling good food all afternoon can be! But it was a great afternoon and everyone seemed to have a good time. And I am in shock over how much food we have left over.

The Hex Coat had reached a point where it wasn't really portable on the ferry any more, and I suddenly panicked late Monday evening, realizing that therefore I might find myself with 2 hours of ferry travel time without *gasp* anything to do! So I did what any knitter worth her or his wool would do. I delved into the stash, whisked out 2 balls of sock yarn, and threw into my bag the yarn, my trusty KnitPicks sock needle set, and Too Much Wool's Loksins sock pattern, and bright and early Tuesday morning, commenced a new pair of socks.

The yarn is KnitPick's Palette blue/violet/green mix called Blue Note Heather, which I specifically bought for this pattern about a year ago but am only now getting started on. The yarn is really more of a Shetland type than a smooshy sock yarn, and in the ball it seemed more navy blue. Now that I've knit with it a bit the colours are peeking through more. While I love blue I've never warmed up to navy blue, so I'm quite happy to see the increased liveliness of colour as I progress. The lace patterns in Loksins are very simple to knit and easy to remember and I'm enjoying working on them.

The other socks I have been working on are done - it's amazing how quickly socks knit in a bulky yarn get done! My dear friend Bonnie asked for a pair for her sister, who loves bulky, fuzzy socks, so we picked out an alpaca/silk boucle from Artfibers called Mackenzie in an interesting peachy-beige colour. They're almost dry from their post-completion blocking and will be in Bonnie's hands tomorrow.

It's challenging to estimate yarn amounts for bulky socks, and while one ball definitely wasn't enough two was more than plenty. I prefer to have a new ball for each sock, regardless of the yarn, so that I don't have to join a new end in part way through the second sock. This means I end up with two partially used balls instead of 1 larger remaining ball, but especially in a bulky yarn like this having ends woven in would be obtrusive, and less sturdy as well. It appears I have enough left over to perhaps do a pair of fingerless gloves for her as well, if she'd like them.

OK; back to the Hex Coat!