Cherry Blossom and Rainbow Sock Progress

The title today pretty much says it all.
I've worked a little bit on the shawl, and a little bit on the second sock.

Do you see the way the different colors on the shawl are not mixing together? I'm not sure I like this, but will keep knitting to see what happens. It looks like this particular section is going to continue with the colors pooling, but soon I'll increase to double the number of stitches--that should throw them out of whack.

Too Many Little Pointy Sticks

Whew, I am glad to be finished with the double-pointed needles on the Cherry Blossom Shawl.
The stitches just barely fit around my 12" circular needle, but using the dpns felt so flimsy--I switched as soon as I could.

That was fun!

Hey, that wasn't so bad! I was worried that a sock would take forever because of the little needles and small gauge. In fact, knitting my first sock was fun. I've already cast on the mate, so I hope to avoid the second-sock syndrome.
It's all stockinette, and not the easiest to get over my heel. Next time I'll have to do some ribbing or some other stretchy pattern on the leg. You can see that the cuff is slightly rolled--I just did a sewn bindoff. I like it.

It's almost a sock!!

I think I should be able to finish this soon.

Knit Until the Yarn Runs Out

I made it around the heel!
This is my first sock; I like that I can try it on as I go.
The pattern is from knitty.com.
I didn't really like working the short-row toe or heel, so I'm eager to try something different on my next pair.

The Stash Plan, Part 1

Meet the Recently-Acquired-Yarn Bag.
I'd like to make a dent in my yarn stash, and I'm going to start using the most recently acquired yarn first.
Why not, right? It was all the yarn on top of the pile.

So, what's in the bag?




From a trip to New Orleans, 109 yards of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in a blue-purple.


Also from New Orleans, 175 yards of of Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino Wool. The colors remind me of all the Mardi Gras decorations that were up.



You've seen these two before--from the San Francisco Artfibers store, 265 yards of silk/alpaca/wool in navy, and 83 yards of silk/lambswool in blues and greens.


From the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat in Tacoma, 380 yards of Socks That Rock merino wool in Nodding Violet. Beautiful!


Don't you love getting yarn for Christmas? Me too! This lovely gift is 270 yards of Berroco Europa Superwash Wool/Cotton. I've started some toe-up socks from Knitty.


Something else from Tacoma--1,240 yards of hand-dyed superfine alpaca from Crown Mountain Farms. With it, I've started the Cherry Blossom Shawl by Kristin Spurkland.


This is from the Spring 2002 Interweave Knits.

As I work through all this yarn, I'll add things to the bag from the stash, grabbing yarn from further and further (farther and farther?) back in time.

Whew!

I did finish the cardinal hoodie in time for the intended recipient's 3rd birthday,
but then, wow--I needed a little break from knitting.
The sweatshirt took me just under three weeks, and my right elbow was starting to hurt.

I haven't done much knitting at all for about two weeks,
but in the last couple of days I've started thinking about what I want to do next.