The sock rides again

I thought the Hourglass Sweater would hold my attention enough both in it's quick-knitability and because there's an occasion in a couple weeks at which I'd like to wear it, but the Jaywalkers are mesmorizing! I knit a little more on them before the kids woke up and I'll do some more while watching TV tonight.

I think I love them so much because you have to do so little work to make the chevron pattern appear. My first chevron attempt was on size 0's two years ago. After 4 hours of knitting, I'd only gone about 2 inches. I was decreasing and increasing and yarn-overing constantly and I'd lose my place easily. I wondered how the heck anybody could get addicted to sock knitting?

I've been trying very hard to ease up on my death grip on the needles (probably why I didn't actually have to go up a needle size to get the right gauge) so working at this fine gauge has actually been quite pleasant. I'm even thinking about how great it would be to finish these quickly so I could go on to a pair made out of worsted weight yarn!

Ann Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks has really inspired me. She explains everything so well and the explanation of the sock percentages is eye opening. I'm even excited about doing the plain basic socks. I'd like to use up some odd ball worsted bits to make some thicker socks.

(insert lightbulb flash as I experience boredom with work in tandem with an intense desire to dye some yarn - Break Time!)

When I write my posts, sometimes I leave it up and add to it as I go through my day. After writing the last paragraph, I had a flash of inspiration to overdye one of the gray Wool-Ease skeins I purchased yesterday. I'd intended to use them with some leftover sock yarn to create some kind of scarf for spring, but after getting the Budd book, I really only want to use it for socks.


So I'm Frankensteining what I hope will be a blue-ish purple. I know the color won't take extraordinarily well since this yarn is 75% acrylic, but it should do something. Plus, I just like the process. I used royal blue and violet Wilton icing dyes and I'm trying to drip in blue, red and green food color from time to time. We'll see what comes out!

What I really like about dyeing Wool Ease is that because of the acrylic content, I get subtle semi-solids without even trying. I also like to tie my skeins rather tightly in order to add to the depth of color and variegation.

This might just be the year I totally and completely embrace sock knitting!