Monday Knitting: What's on our needles, plus a winner!

Winner winner chicken dinner! [snicker] Who was the lucky winner of Friday's huge contest? Lynne, who wrote, "I just gave my friend the book titled The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman. This book was a well written mystery, involving greek mythology, classic literature and art. My friend loved it! (I did too, of course.) Would highly recommend." Congrats to Lynne, and thanks again to everyone who participated last week!

it's growing! how many scoops is this?

Amy's just finished Annette, and is really happy with it. It was a long slog that started on a whim last August, when — somehow — she cast on the wrong size, two sizes too large. Not noticing this until she got near the sleeve section [aka 2/3 finished], she ripped it with the encouragement of her fellow knitters at The Purple Purl and re-cast on right then for the correct size. It was a demoralizing turn, and after chugging away on it blindly for as long as she could stand it, she put it aside for a few months.

Picking it up again in January, she realized she wasn't that far from getting to the sleeves, and with a little concerted effort, it was done in a matter of weeks. Pictures to come…it still needs buttons.

Moral: sometimes the knitting needs a break. Sometimes it's the knitter. Just don't give up permanently unless there's a good reason to.

The Calmer Leftovers vest [aka the ice cream sweater -- see pic above left] is coming along well and underarm shaping will soon be achieved. Amy does not want to think about the weaving in of ends that will be required. There's no spit splicing without wool, you know.

Jillian's knitting another Thorpe hat. This time out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky, color Carrot. She says, "It's my first time knitting with this yarn, it's fabulously soft and squishy.  I want more. None of my local yarn shops carry it –anyone online carry it?"

Soft, squishy and carroty!

Kate's working on Project Black Sock:

Bad for the eyes, good for the feet.

As an inveterate sock knitter with a passion for interesting sock yarns, I have a drawer-full of bright colored, insanely striped and wildly variegated socks.

But sometimes a girl needs a pair of dark, sensible socks.

For some years, my sock drawer has been divided into two sections: handknit, and black socks. All the black socks were commercially made.

My favorite black socks are wearing out, so I've decided that the other side of the sock drawer should also be filled with hand-knit socks. Hence: Project Black Sock. I've been quietly collecting black sock yarn, and this winter I started knitting in earnest.

I've already got a pair in Shibui Knits sock yarn, a pair of Socks That Rock in one of the colors from the Raven clan, a pair in some mostly black tweed I found in the bargain bin at one of my LYSs, and a pair in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (really warm and wonderful).

Up next: 3 more pairs of the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (because it is so warm and my feet get so very cold), a pair in Koigu, a pair in Regia, a pair in Paton's Kroy, a pair in Briggs & Little Durasport, a pair in KnitPicks, another Socks That Rock pair, the TARDIS colorway from IndigoDragonfly, and an odd ball of a Regia grey and black variegated number that will work nicely with black heels, cuffs and toes. If a sock yarn comes in black (or very dark grey, or some interesting variegated black/grey/midnight blue mix), I want it, and I will knit a pair of socks in it.

Crazy? Maybe. Ask my optometrist in a year's time! But by then I won't have a single pair of machine-made socks in my drawer.