dance moves (summer night fever)

the side view

the front view

the tippy toes

the too cool for school

the gosh darn it I'm going to show off my handknitted socks even if I have to wear highwaters

Can you tell that I'm having way too much fun wearing my new Arne & Carlos Summer Night socks? I am now a total convert to the joyful & calming benefits of knitting vanilla socks. Especially with fun self-patterning yarns like this one. The pattern is my own cuff-down vanilla sock recipe that I'm in the process of fine-tuning. Still doing research on how to get the best fitting socks for my feet, especially when it comes to the heels and toes. There are so many varieties of both out there to try, but that's half the fun! The weather is simply gorgeous today, so a long tea break accompanied by the latest episode of the Wooly Cakes and Wooden Spoons video podcast as well as some knitting under the cherry blossoms sounds like a perfectly good way to spend the rest of the afternoon :)

early spring color mood

All of the beautiful sunshiny weather that we have been experiencing lately has inevitably found its way into my knitting. I adore nature's color palette for early spring: earthy browns, all the shades of green, pale to deep rose flower blossoms, blue skies mixed with white grey rain clouds. I especially love keeping a daily visual record of the cherry trees in our backyard. Yesterday there were merely buds on the branches...

which turned into gorgeous blossoms overnight. So beautifully fleeting.

 

This pink gradient perfectly reflects my current color mood. What's yours?

Hermione's Everyday Socks

lowbrow cowl

Lowbrow Cowl

Happy Sunday! It's been a lovely quiet one so far. Planning on catching up with my blog reading sprinkled with some cozy sock knitting and comfort food eating :) With Easter just one week away, I figured it was past time to finish the last of the Christmas 2015 knits, so I spent the morning doing just that. I love how this turned out and it was a fun project once I dedicated some time to it. My only regret (well, besides that it's several months overdue) is that I had to use a 100% acrylic yarn since the recipient is allergic to wool. Although knitpicks Brava is quite nice to knit with and is very soft & cozy. Plus you can't beat the ease of care. The cowl is a versatile size but I think it looks best worn as a single loop in order to show off the pretty leaves.

Wrapping up this project has me looking ahead to this year's Christmas Knitting. Every year I tell myself to get an early start but it never happens. When do you usually start your holiday knitting? A 100% handmade Christmas has always been a dream of mine since I started knitting again after college. Maybe one day!

systems & tools

I decided to hold off on starting any large time consuming projects until some more WIP's were finished. Some easy vanilla socks were cast on instead. Yarn is the popular Design Line by Arne & Carlos (first edition) in the Summer Night colourway. Fun! I also couldn't resist buying another knitting gadget: the Sock Ruler. Like I need another knitting ruler! But I have a hard time accurately measuring my socks-in-progress without having to resort to a mini-wrestling match so it was worth buying and has been used quite a bit so far. Another useful gadget is this sock knitting needle holder. I always get paranoid that my project will slip off the dpn's as it gets shoved around in my knitting bag. Also found a cute storage solution for my jumble of dpn's with this nicely sized pencil case.

I wanted to talk a little bit about how I've been managing the WIP basket this year. Pretty sure by now that you are all aware of my newly discovered love of sock knitting. Well, it turns out that an unexpected but most welcomed side effect to that addiction has been a noticeable lack of inclination to start new projects. Besides socks, that is. I have been diligently working on one WIP during my spare time on my days off until it gets done. Then on the days that I have to work, I get to relax and wind down with some perfectly mindless sock knitting. Where as before, I would come home after a 12 hour shift, eat a lonely late night dinner (since the guys are both fast asleep) and then pass out in front of the tv because all of my knitting required too much concentration. Knitting a little bit before bedtime on an undemanding project really is a great stress reliever. Plus, focusing on just two projects at one time has made me feel so much more productive. So far this year, I have completed 5 projects with two more close to being off the needles. That's a personal record for sure! So, what is your system for managing WIP's? How many WIP's can you juggle at one time before things start to feel a little crazy & out of control?