Of socks, and swatches, and super stuff

Here are pictures of my latest pair of socks. They're my first using a Feather and Fan pattern. It's like the Ridged Feather pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, but it does't have a purl row. Why have a purl row if the pattern looks just as good without one?

The yarn is KnitPicks dye-your-own, and it was dyed with Kool-aid as a family project. It was *supposed* to be green and blue, but the Master Dyer put green Kool-Aid in the blue pot, so .. it didn't quite come out that way. The colors in the single-sock picture are closest to life.

My next pair of socks is using KnitPicks Gloss, in Dusk. I *like* this yarn. It is soft. It is silky. My toes tingle with the anticipation of wearing them. (My toes are easily excited. Life is pretty boring from the inside of a sock.) I'm using the Field of Flowers pattern from Heirloom Lace on the front of the sock above the ankle.

I've also finished the large gansey swatch. I see now why the directions say to measure it every which way, and then seam it. I knit it in the round (like the gansey will be) which made some of the measurements tricky, but still ... I got 'em. And I used the information gathered to start Stealth Project #3. I also made my Very First PomPom ever, and attatched it to the hat.

Lastly, but most definitely not leastly, are some things that have crept into my knitting basket lately. Heirloom Knitting is the one which will last the longest, I'm sure. I spend my spare time reading it. It is WONDERFUL!!!! The lace pattern for my current pair of socks comes from there. The lace pattern for my next pair of socks will come from there. And I'm thinking of making an adaptation of the Unst Stole for a friend. It's a lovely book. I just wish I had an isolated mountain cabin, no chores, and enough food/water/yarn stockpiled for the winter so I could devote the proper amount of time to it.

Next to the book is a laceweight skin of Shaeffer Yarns, in the Anne colorway. My mom picked it out for a ficchu from Victorian Lace Knitting. I don't have the book yet, but that's a minor problem. I've never worked with handpainted yarns (excluding KnitPicks items) so making up the ficchu will be a treat. And my last treat of the day (courtesy of a gift card from the State Fair) was some handpainted sock yarn from Claudia, in the John B colorway. I was at a loss as to what to get with my gift card (the store didn't have any Jamieson and Smith cobweb yarn, alas) so I vacillated between mittens and socks, mittens and socks. Since the sock yarn went so nicely with the ficchu-to-be, I went with the socks.

Tomorrow my husband is taking me to a harp concert. I am looking forward to it (understatement). And in our non-yarn shopping yesterday, I found a collection of Medieval Epics which I snatched up. I've always wanted to read the Nibelungenlied, but never saw it anywhere. Now I have it, merrily perched on my desktop.