A bit of catch-up

I have been knitting more than blogging lately, but I decided to try and catch up a bit. I started knitting socks again. I didn't for a long time because I have such weirdly shaped feet after all my surgeries that most women's sock patterns seemed unlikely to fit. Up to this point I had only knitted top-down socks. I have a Lucy Neatby book, Cool Socks Warm Feet, which helped me with directions for the short-row garter heel and I finally sat down with the youtube video, and learned Judy's Magic Cast-on, so now I think I am a convert to toe-up socks just so I have an excuse to keep using it. I had to increase right before the heel and also do the heel on more than half the stitches to accomodate my high instep on the right foot, but not the left. I did a leg pattern that is sort of a fisherman's rib adaptation. I am quite happy with these socks and went on to knit another pair soon thereafter. I took a class at our LYS about stranded knitting and made this Opus Spicatum by Kate Gagnon Osborne using Mirasol Miski, an incredibly soft yarn that is 100% llama. It is not very slouchy on my large head, but it went to my sister-in-law Carolyn for Christmas, and it looks great on her.

I learned to knit with both hands finally, and though it was awkward in the beginning, it was loads of fun once I got going and I made a second Opus that I'll talk about later.

I also made a Lotus Hat that Alexa loves out of Eco Alpaca, and she wears it often, so it has been one of my most rewarding knits this fall. I finally made something out of some Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande that used to be a hat that was too large for my head. I knit it from the top down in a broken rib pattern and liked the way it looked on the wrong side best. This one went to my nephew Christopher for Christmas.

And finally, one of the prettiest pictures of my yarn ever, taken by my friend Kate.

This is some nice stuff I got at Black Sheep from a lady whose business is New Hue Handspuns. It is an 80-20 mix of merino and angora. I got 344 yards of laceweight out of it, and I love it so much I priced it a little high in my etsy shop.