Gloucester Rowing Socks

Last year my partner and I checked Glacier National Park off my bucket list, and this trip was my very first time to Montana. 

While I did not really need any souvenir yarn given the size of my stash, a mutual friend of ours with a huge love of orange had been on the sock list for a while, and our color palettes are so different I really didn't have anything in my stash. So while we were out that way, we picked up some locally dyed yarn that was right up her alley.

Yarn: Big Sky Yarn Co. Star Sock

Yarn Supplier: Cama's Creek Cottage in Kalispell, Montana

Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm

Patter: cuff down, 2X2 rib with offset cable twists

Our friend is active with the rowing community up in Gloucester, MA, and a pair of warm wool socks will be very useful for those early morning rows. Plus I was very charmed to add running cable that travelled from the leg down the top of the foot.

Mountain Fire Socks

While I was sitting around knitting Majes' Fire Circle Socks, a mutual friend started chatting with me about them and jokingly asked how to get on the sock recipient list. She has been going through a lot in recent years, so it was nice to surprise her with a pair that the next pair of stockinette socks that I was just making to keep my hands busy anyways

 Yarn: Hobbii Happy Feet Print in Sea of Flames (leftover from making Majes' fire circle socks) and a lonesome skein of Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash Acrylic Blend in Navy

Yarn Supplier: Hobbii Yarns and Knitting Treasures (permantly closed) in Plymouth, MA

Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm

Not the best photo in the world (no blocking done out in the woods), but these were warmly received by a very surprised recipient.

Fire Circle Socks

This past summer, sitting around campfires I knit my friend Majes another pair of socks for his selection. He has been a fantastic knitwear recipient, so I don't mind the fact too much the fact that he has unreasonably large feet. 

Yarn: Hobbii Happy Feet Print in Sea of Flames

Yarn Supplier: Hobbii Yarns

Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm

Nothing fancy here pattern-wise, just my standard cuff down, heel flap socks with wedge toe. The simply 2X2 rib and stockinette was perfect for sitting in the dark knitting around a campfire and talking with friends.

Baby Blanket for Lil' Pup

Friends of ours were expecting a very welcome baby whom they nicknamed "lil' pup" due to their respective love of otters and wolves. So my partner picked out an unusual colorway for a baby blanket to look more like an island surrounded by water.

Yarn: Cotton Kings Sultan Deluxe in 17 Mojave Azurite

Yarn Supplier: Hobbii Yarns

Pattern: Tusindfryd Baby Blanket by Sys Fredens

I hadn't been able to find good photos of this pattern laid out flat (potentially a red flag in a pattern) but by reading through the pattern it seemed like it should work. The result at least in my gauge, which tends to be relatively short, wide stiches, were these graceful curving lines of the eyelets, which you just needed to organically spiral out from the center to let the edges lie as expected. I was actually very charmed.

Inky Socks 1

Our friend Inky has gotten another pair of socks from me that didn't have an intending recipient in mind, but this is the first pair that were made just for them. These are exactly their colors, and the off-kilter stripes are completely their style.

Yarn: Knitting Fever Indulgence Cashmere (discontinued)

Yarn Supplier: a friend's destash!

Needles: US 2 / 2.75 mm

The pattern is just a basic 2X2 rib cuff down sock with heel flap and wedge toe, but after talking with Inky about how and where their socks would wear out, I went with a slightly longer heel flap to give some extra reinforcement at the top of the heel. When tried on, they quickly got awarded the title of favorite boot or sitting around the house socks.

Not only is this yarn incredibly soft, but also the 6-ply is very squooshy. Very excited about the 2 other balls of this yarn in my stash and then making Frankenstein socks out of the leftovers. This yarn was from a mutual friend's destash, and I think they would both be delighted by the community connections.

Botanical Gardens Net Bag

I try not to do a ton of impulse yarn, but I absolutely fell in love with this Queensland Collection Cairns in Royal Botanical Gardens that was in clearance at Northampton Wools. Seeing it, I immediately knew exactly what I wanted to make out of it.

Yarn: Queensland Collection Cairns in Royal Botanical Gardens and Dungarees Fine 

Yarn Suppliers: Northampton Wools and Mind's Eye Yarns respectively

Hook: 3.5 mm and 5.0 mm

Pattern: Mandala Net Bag by Caroline Hosmann (modified)

I had used the same Queensland Collective Dungarees Fine in the edging of my Trio blanket. I love how the colors are picked up between these two yarn colorways by the same producer.

I did make some minor modifications to the pattern due to my choices of yarns with different gauge, which I was really satisfied with.  I started with pattern, went until I ran out of the Cairns, then did one round of the netting in the Dungarees Fine held double. When starting the top I halved the number of stitches and went single strand to get the more closed open that I would like.

For my gauge with the Cairns the number of net stitch repeats in each round is probably higher than it needed to be, but the end result is a very stretchy, generous bag, with some extra structure from the way I did the top.

Do Ewe Yoke KAL

It had been a while since I had done a KAL, and the Do Ewe Yoke (Ravelry link) was right up my alley as it combined both Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool which I am absolutely obsessed with  Zanete Knits's design aesthetic which has been really appealing to me and colorwork. 

The Spincycle Dyed in the Wool are seconds that I had picked up in a grabbag a while back, and the Louet Gems Sport weight I am knitting with was chosen primarily since it was in my stash, I had enough of it, and the colors seemed like they would work together.