summer festival socks

Continuing with the seasonal socks theme, I'm thrilled to have my summer festival socks off the needles. These were such a blast to knit, mainly due to the interesting stitch pattern. I find that patterned socks knit up much more quickly for me than vanilla socks. The grey yarn is KnitPicks stroll in dove heather and the brightly variegated contrasting yarn is from KnittyAndColor. Not sure what the name of the colorway is since it was part of a miniskein set. It's funny how these socks came about: I had originally knitted the yarn into my cozy memories blanket but found that the bright colors didn't jive very well with the surrounding squares. I ended up ripping out the square and randomly throwing it in a bag with the grey stroll yarn. Something about the color combination caught my eye and prompted me to go on a Ravelry search where I came across this fun free pattern, appropriately called Froot Loop. It's funny how inspiration strikes like that. I am feeling like my sock knitting mojo is finally returning and can't wait to cast on another pair.

Things here have been pretty quiet of late. The little guy is at summer camp for the first time. He is having a fun adventure and making new friends. The hubby is starting a new venture of his own by exploring how to mine for cryptocurrency. It was hilarious how excited he was to mine $2 worth....in 24 hours. Oh well, it keeps him out of trouble. Meanwhile I've been getting lots of knitting and podcast listening in. My current faves are Little Bobbins, Yarngasm and Inside Number 23. Do you listen to knitting podcasts? Any favorite listens at the moment?

winter fade

Really excited to show you the progress on one of my shiny new projects for the new year. It's the Find Your Fade shawl by Andrea Mowry. I am sure that many of you who go on Instagram have seen a number of knitters who are either planning out their fade or knitting on this right now. I love looking at all the yarn/color combinations going on out there. For mine, I was really inspired by the colors of the winter season, mainly greys and blues. I wanted a very subtle fade and so decided on a gradient effect:

the uncommon thread everyday singles

I am just loving this project right now. So soothing and relaxing to knit. The yarn is a single ply merino and is heavenly to work with. I've been watching a lot of video podcasts lately and this project is the perfect accompaniment along with a hot cup of tea and holiday chocolates. One of my favorite knitting podcast right now is a homespun house. I can listen to Molly talk about yarn and fiber all day long.

What kinds of shiny new projects are currently on your needles? Are there any particular knits that you would like to focus on this year? I can remember being so excited to knit socks at the beginning of last year. I am hoping to mix it up more this year, with socks, cowls, shawls and sweaters all getting equal attention.

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 :)