Saturday stash

 I've been waiting for the light to be brighter for picture taking.  I'm not very happy with flash photographs.  It's the color change or maybe the warmth.  Don't know why but I totally prefer daylight.  So, I was knitting while I waited for the darkness to lift.  It seems to take longer every morning.  While sitting on the cold front step, I was reminded of my mother constantly warning us kids to not sit on cold concrete.  She said we'd get piles.  Since, in our feckless youth, we had no idea what she was talking about we kept on doing it.  Clearly, I never did learn.

This week I've been happily knitting on my favorite sock needles.  While sock yarn use doesn't make a huge dent in the stash, I need to knit round and round with skinny yarn and little needles on a regular basis.  Like eating the right food for my body,  a sock diet is necessary and makes me happy.

One sock, two sock...

One of the yarns I found in the stash was a vintage sock yarn.  Now, this yarrn might date to 1953 considering that it's a blend of wool and nylon crimpset - whatever that is.  But it's anti-shrink, anti-stretch and permanently mothproofed.  Can't ask for more than that.  When you rummage around in thrift shops for yarn, sock weight is not easy to find.  I remember reaching for the color first and being delighted to find that it was for socks.
In my imagination eye, I've been seeing these gold ribbon socks almost since I saw the yarn.  This week was time to make it real.  Since I was inventing this sock pattern, I went round and round for a long time while I tried to figure out what I would do with the heel.  I ran the ribbon into the heel, FYI.  Then, I had to decide whether to continue wrapping the ribbon around the foot or just give the illusion.  I really like the result.  And the yarn is wonderful to knit..very soft and smooth.  And mothproof!

Gold sock, blue sock...

I've already confessed to frogging those long lace stockings.  The yarn didn't hibernate for long.  I believe that yarn always knows what it wants to be - see gold ribbon story above.  My teal wool is very strong and springy.  I'm now convinced that it wasn't happy as lace and with every round I was feeling its frustration and annoyance at being all dolled up like a lady.   So, I gave in and devised a cable and rib pattern that looks as sturdy and useful as the yarn.  These are not plain socks but the pattern has a lot of strength and solidity as well as grace.  Another happy result.

Kind of a surprise are these purple mohair mitts-to-be.  I have a ton of this mohair - don't ask.  Some is dyed in  very intense shades of emerald, fuschia and purple.  I have an enormous cone of undyed as well.  Can you see how fine it is?  And then look at the mitten...it fluffs out so much in the knitting process.  These will be pretty warm mitts, I think. I'm not sure what I'll do with it all.

And, for the really tiny feet in this world: Zen Flower booties.  I wondered if I could knit a tiny version of those frilly scarfs and get a flower.  Yes, I can but it's not very practical and so many stitches on a small needle is a killer - maybe easier in a finer yarn.  They make a sweet decoration on baby slippers, though.  Can you see the tiny heart in the middle?

I'm back to knitting.  I want to finish the gold sock this morning.  Then I'll decide which project to pick up next.