living in the woods and making stuff

I have really gotten into stripes this fall, particularly when applied to socks. I love to see how colors change when they are stuck boldly next to other colors. Right now I am working on a series of socks, or “Christmas Stockings for the Miser.” They are the perfect size to hold an orange or a hard boiled egg, and a sprig of holly…

I might put them up in my cabin for my house guests this holiday season. (Makes you want to visit me doesn’t it…?)

I have found knitting socks to be a great way to test out new patterns. I am currently using socks as a swatch to test the results of color and stripe width mixing. I started off simply, making a red and white striped sock with 8 rows of red, 8 rows of white. Now I am moving onto a dark green and light green sock, making each stripe 6 rows wide. My plan is to make a vairiety of socks, each unique, with different variations on the color themes. I have several balls of red yarn, some greens, and white to work with currently. Maybe I need to throw some non-traditional holiday colors in there for fun, but haven’t gotten that far yet. I also have two balls of sport weight yarn. A red one, and a green one, that when striped could make an exceedingly cute or tacky (depending on how  you see it) pair of socks. I have a thought in my mind of  a ruffle trim. We will see how much of this project I finish before Christmas (the goal date, so that I have something to hang on my banister, or give my guests to wear on their feet…)

Note on the yarn: the sport weight yarn I am using is Koigu Kersti, and the sock weight yarn is Jawoll, which I am having SO much fun knitting with lately. (The same yarn as the baby booties, which I did somehow manage to finish!)