In the Knitting Bag

In my knitting bag, I have some socks! I always have one or two pairs of socks going. The first photo is Waving Lace socks from and the Spring 2004 issue of Interweave Knits, with a new Chinese sock yarn - Jojoland Melody, 100% wool fingering weight- I really like the slow, subtle color change and the way the stitch pattern shows. I bought 4 colorways and sent one to my friend Norman for Xmas. It was really difficult to choose which color to give away...

The next photo is our old friend Jaywalker - this is my first pair, or rather it will be when they are finally done. I started these last summer, and made good progress on the first sock until after the heel and then it stalled until the New Year. But I picked them back up and took them to the Campbell Folk School in January, finished one and moved right into the second sock. It's not exactly movie knitting - I need good light to work with these size 1 needles - but they should be done with plenty of winter left for the wearing. These are in Opal Handpaint that was well aged in my stash.

I also have a long term project - Hanne Falkenberg's Dacapo cardigan in blues & greens. I cast on for Dacapo on Christmas night, after all the fuss and excitement of the day was over and the race of the holiday knitting was won. It's an interesting design with fine Shetland wool and small needles, and all in garter stitch. What you see here is the center back. There are increases at each edge and on either side of the center stitch, and it will continue to grow until the bottom edges come around beyond the side seam point. I have to knit about 5 more pairs of green & turquoise rows before I change color and shaping.

I knit mostly by feel - I can knit while I read or knit in the dark if there is no complex patterning. And I have discovered that I don't really like knitting garter stitch, because of having to knit into a purl stitch over and over again. Some part of my mind says - no, no, no - because usually a purl should be purled. It just doesn't feel right. But I guess it's good to work your brain.

I'll probably put this aside soon for some new small projects in Peace Fleece and/or Fleece Artist yarn. I have a booth at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival - my business is called Peace Weavers - and I want to have a few new models for the booth this year. Holly & Angela are working on some larger items - they are my knitting elves. I send them yarn and they send me beautiful finished items! Then I send them more yarn in payment. It's like Christmas when new things arrive!

Peace Fleece has two new colors and one of them is a lovely orangey brown that I'm going to try to knit up in a stuffed corgi. That's Rupert at the top of the page. He's my Buddha-dog. We also have Miss Wiley. Both are Pembroke Welsh Corgis and both are about 8 years old. We've had Rupert since he was maybe 6 months old - someone left him at the local shelter - and Wiley was a giveaway in the local Valley Trader a few years ago. They are great dogs.