Queen of Beads - Done

About a month ago I blogged about my wonderful package from the Rockin' Socks Club. With the arrival of this package, I become a completely monogamous knitter. I only wanted to work on these gorgeous socks. I finished them a few weeks ago but it took a while to get good pictures. 

This colour is so hard to capture. It's a little too greeny here.

I think the next ones are the best for showing off the pattern and the beads.

Pattern: Queen of Beads by Sivia Harding

Yarn: STR Lightweight in My Blue Heaven

(N.B. both yarn and pattern are part of the sock club and won't be available to the general public until next year)

Needles: 2.5mm Addis

Mods: I did these toe up using Judy's Magic Cast On and Wendy Knit's Gusset Heel (pdf). Thanks to these modifications, the socks fit like a dream!

Thoughts: These socks were an enjoyable knit from beginning to end. I would highly recommend this pattern to anyone who is thinking about knitting with beads. The most annoying part is getting the beads on the yarn but once they are on, you are good to go! The pattern is made up of two sections, the twisty part that looks like cables (but isn't!) and the beaded section. This makes the knitting even more fun because you're always just a few rows away from doing something different. I can definitely see myself making these again.

Now I just need to keep myself busy for the next few weeks until the second package arrives!

Spring Socks

In December I received a wonderful package from Tam. She sent me all sorts of chocolately goodies and a beautiful skein of sock yarn. I loved the yarn so much that I immediately wound it into a ball intending to cast on over the Christmas holidays. Christmas knitting being what it is, I didn't finish until January at which point I was tired of socks again and onto other projects. Then my first Rockin' Socks Club package arrived which got me back into the sock lovin' feeling except then I couldn't put down that project. However, as soon as I was done those socks (reminder to self: blog about finished socks), I immediately grabbed the yarn from Tam. 

I had no problem deciding what pattern to use. There is one sock pattern which is sweeping the blog world right now and I knew it would be perfect for my yarn (check out this beauty and this one).  I cast on last Friday and this sock has already seen some serious action. It got to sit in the sound booth and witness a radio interview at the CBC. It also came on Gen's birthday shopping trip and hung out in the change room of many a clothing store. 

But enough talking about the sock, do you want to see it?

This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in a special edition colourway based on Renoir's Spring Bouquet. I absolutely love it! Tam, you did so good! The beautiful colours help me believe that spring is right around the corner.

Sock in Progress

I raced home from work yesterday to get a picture of my sock in daylight before the sun set. And I made it too, except that the light was terrible because it was raining (something that I maybe should have clued in to when I was walking home).

Regardless, I was able to get one decent of the sock in progress. It's grown a little since this picture was taken. I did the gusset increases and will be turning the heel tonight (doing a sock backwards is fun!).

I've really been enjoying this pattern. I like the division between the fake cable part of the pattern and the beaded section. It keeps it interesting. 

In other news, I got my first knitting-related injury on the weekend. I'd been standing up to allow my yarn to untwist (the beads mess up the yarn) and I went to sit back down on the couch next to Pete. I guess I must have put down my sock first before I sat down because all of a sudden my foot really hurt. I just thought I had jabbed it with the needle and didn't think much of it until a few hours later when I realized that it still hurt. At that point I actually looked at the injury (my lovely Koigu socks were no protection from Addi's) and discovered that I'd broken though the skin and was bleeding.  I put on a band-aid and hobbled around for the rest of the night but by the next morning it felt much better.

My mom once cut her hand while eating a crab in Mexico. She said it was the best crab she'd ever eaten and she was sad when her cut healed because she had enjoyed the reminder. Maybe this wound will remind me of my lovely beaded socks ... and to always be aware of the location of my knitting needles.

Lucky Me

That was an unexpected hiatus. First there was no light for pictures and once I had pictures my work-life exploded and I've been struggling to get it under control. I have pictures of my finish Clapotis to show off (I'm wearing it right now and it's delicious!) but I decided to blog about something even more exciting (more exciting than a Malabrigo Clapotis? How is that possible?!?).

Way back in December I got a very exciting email. It was from the Yarn Harlot letting me know that I'd won one of the karmic balancing gifts from her blog for supporting Knitters Without Borders (she's still got lots of gifts to give away so go donate if you haven't already!). I would have been thrilled to have won anything but this was more than I ever could have imagined. I won a year's membership in the Rockin' Sock Club, the Socks that Rock club! I could not believe my good fortune and actually didn't believe it until last week when my first package arrived.


Here it is, lying all innocently on my kitchen table (full disclosure: I actually opened it on the streetcar with Heather but we weren't able to get pictures so I recreated the experience when I got home)

(Wow, this picture is dark. That's what I get for taking pictures in my kitchen. I promise there are better shots of the yarn coming up.) The package contained a beaded sock pattern (Queen of Beads) by Sivia Harding, a gorgeous skein of STR Lightweight, matching beads, an adorable mini-skein, a key chain and a button.

Here are some better pics of the yarn. I discovered that the light in my bathroom is more conducive to pictures of yarn. (Click to embiggen)


I got a little artistic while trying to capture the subtle beauty of the beads. Definitely click to see the larger version of this one.
I wanted to do this sock club thing right so I decided to knit the Queen of Beads pattern, beads and all. However, I always have to be different so I did it toe-up. I started this weekend and am about halfway to the heel as of right now. Pictures to follow on WIP Wednesday!