Wednesday, October 3, 2007


Kate calls this my "obligatory picture post". I call it sharing my excitement with the world. Ok, with a small part of the world. Here is a photo of my Snowflake sock in progress. I upsized the needles because I have wide feet and I also have an ankle that was dislocated once and now is larger than the other one and has a tendency to swell to the size of a grapefruit. I am also not using the Lorna's Laces Shepherd's sock yarn that the pattern suggested. I am using Telemark from Knitpicks. It was cheap, $1.99 a skein and I wasn't sure I was going to like stranded color work and didn't want to invest a lot of money into something that would gather dust. The yarn is not real soft. It is 100 percent wool and will need handwashing. It does knit up nice and spongey. The sock fits on my ankle well and is not tight. It is stretchier than I anticipated. Every pattern for stranded color I read said it does not stretch. And I LIKE IT! The pattern is difficult enough for me to not be bored as I learn and easy enough that I can follow it now that Kate has made it bigger for me. I am halfway through the last pattern repeat on the cuff and will then do the solid color heel and the striped bottom-of-the-foot. It is so cool to see the pattern develop as I knit. I am in awe that it works. Yay for new skills! Now I will have to find a pattern for some pretty mittens to go with my bright red coat for winter.

17 comments:

Michele said...

this looks lovely. i'm amazed at the skills you are gobbling up. think you're going to love making and wearing your stranded color-work mittens.

Julie said...

Yay!! A new skill! Looking good.

Sheepish Annie said...

Yay, indeed!!! Very, very nicely done. I really need to work on that whole "new skill" thing...

Olivia said...

oooh that's gorgeous!

Em said...

Show-off!!! *sticks tongue out*

Actually, I'm quite proud of you and Kate, the sock looks awesome. I am jealous, as just starting mine is a bit beyond me yet (see blog for details), but hey. The Yarn Harlot's coming. We can get pictures of our socks with her.

Go, new skill sets!

amy said...

Oh, Donna Lee, that's gorgeous. Good for you!

Mistrmi said...

Beautiful, beautiful work. . .

And ICHC is a great site --- tell your family to back off!

Dianne said...

Absolutely beautiful!

teabird said...

Beautiful! It looks as if you've done this forever.

roxie said...

Your colorwork is kick-ass gorgeous! Bravo!!!

MadMad said...

Oh, they're coming out great! I used Telemark for a hat for my son, and while it doesn't feel great knitting, it washed up nice and he hasn't complained about it itching, either. And you really can't beat that price!

Amy Lane said...

That is AWESOME...and very Norwegian... how wonderful! (Knit Picks has some great deals... I used their sock yarn for my strikke project simply because it was handwash, and my concept yarn was handwash too...

TinkingBell said...

Pretty pretty and a challenging new skill - what a great one for the Southern Summer of Socks!

Donna said...

Very nice new skill, and very well done. More power to you!

jaaladay said...

Wow, that looks great! I love the colors you chose, too.
How'd you size it up? MY mom has one larger ankle, too, and I'd like to make her a custom pair of socks this Xmas.....

Jaala

Taphophile said...

It's a beautiful sock. Well done. :)

Bells said...

they look fantastic! Good work! You know for all my stranded knitting experience this year, I'm afraid of stranded knitting with DPNs for some reason. I must overcome it. The results are obviously worth it!

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