Stash Diving, the Attack by Jack and a New Sock.

Sometimes a girl just needs to brag. Pictured is the beautiful (and capacious) cedar chest that my Beloved designed and built for me as a christmas gift. I love it. I want to hug it. He may notknit or understand my obsession with knitting and all things yarn related, but he made me a cedar chest for my yarn. It makes me love him extra. It's curently the repository for the sweater - sized amounts of yarn, my alpaca collection (because alpaca is like crack to me, I can never have enough), my umbrella swift and skein winder. The last two items are also courtesy of the Beloved. He rocks.

Stash diving was kind of fun - I spent a lovely afternoon rooting around in there, rediscovering what I had. For instance, I reacquainted myself with some Briggs & Little single-ply sport weight in a nice marled green and some in a natural cream - perfect for a pair of fancy mittens. I also discovered 2 balls of Rowan Soft Baby - where that came from I have no idea, nor do I know what to do with it. I'll let it marinate in the collection until something suitable comes along.

I also found a bag with an assorted collection of left over sock yarn - you know you have on e too, a little stash of leftovers that are too big to throw away and too small to use. I'm going to keep collecting until I have enough obb bits left to make The Ugliest Socks on Earth. They will be fabulous I'm sure.

Jack the cat also enjoyed stash diving, particularly when I relented and tossed him a ball of leftover something. He enjoyed himself thoroughly.

In my last post I wrote about some Lorna's Laces that had just arrived in the mail and said that I had some plans to make a fancy sock. And so I did. Throwing all other projects aside (sorry Dad, sorry Ruth), I cast on for a pair of 9-to-5 Socks by Nicole of allbuttonedup.wordpress.com. What a great pattern. It satisfied my hankering for a fancy sock without being too complicated.

The pattern is well written and well thought out and introduced me to a new stitch. I realy enjoyed how the spiral rib flowed out of the ribbing and continued down either side of the heel.

The heel flap pattern was a nice change from the usual standby and really complemented the overall design of the sock. The sock is pretty, patterned and stretchy, as well as fun to knit. A keeper I say, now let's hope Nicole os nice enough to share any of her future sock designs with us.

I liked the yarn almost as much as I liked the pattern. It was my first project with Lorna's Laces and I'm looking forward to working with it again. It feels delicious, almost silky, and seems to knit up nicely. I haven't washed these yet (okay, this one, as I just finished this sock this afternoon and cast on for it's mate this evening), so I can't comment on how it holds up in the wash. I'm holding the Cranberry in reserve for a pair of Roza's Socks - thanks to Deb for the suggestion! [Everyone should check out Deb's blog - that woman is a sock knitting machine. The way I look at it is, if Deb recommends a particular pattern for a particular

sock yarn, do what she says, she knows socks. She knit 79 (!!!!!) pairs of socks last year. I am both awed, inspired and kind of intimidated. Plus she's very nice. Go check it out.].
Knowing that I have not knit 79 pairs of socks last year, or ever, I feel compelled to go finish my Dad's christmas socks (don't look at me like that, he and his girlfriend have been in South America for the last 4 weeks, they didn't need woolly socks down there). I will post pics when they're done. Happy knitting!