Yarn Spree

Yesterday I hit Tess’ Designer Yarn Shop in Portland. It was a much better experience than the first time I visited. I think I circled the place 3 times, and picked up and put down different colors of sock yarn about 100 times before I settled on these.


I also wandered into Knitwit’s Yarn Shop (by far my favorite Portland yarn shop) where I was pleasantly surprised to find Schaefer Nichole. I’ve never seen it anywhere but online. I had to buy two skeins. I’m not wild about the one on the right but it’s Nichole and it’s squishy and it smells sooo good. The Boy thinks it smells like sweat. The knit sibs said vinager. I say, it smells like wool is supposed to!


Knitting the Perfect Pair by Dorothy Ratigan tricked me. With a title like that, you know it’s going to have a lot of introductory text informing you how to get the perfect yarn-pattern combo. At least that’s what I’m expecting. But when it arrived, via Amazon, and I flipped through I was disappointed with the lack luster sock patterns that made up the second half of the book. I didn’t want to knit a single one. But then again when I first looked at Wendy Knits’ Socks from The Toe Up, I didn’t think I’d make any and as of this moment I’ve made two pairs and have two more on the needles. Maybe there’s a knit along for this new book. Or maybe I should read it before I dis it.


I did finally finish my 5th pair of socks. They are Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks by Anne Bud. I used Berroco Sox which should be a self stripping yarn but this stitch pattern really distorted them. I’m always amazed at how fat baby socks are. Those little feet must be super wide at the heel. I currently have 10 pairs of socks on the needles. I’m actively knitting on 7 of those. 3 are for knit alongs. We're on week 6 of the 52 Pair Plung which means I'm a pair behind where I should be. It seems like I’m just crawling along on all of them, but when you spread out your knitting time between 7 wonderful socks it does slow things down. I’ll have more sock progress to report soon.