Swatch Frenzy and New Knitting Skills

KnittingYarn

Jan 25

Written By

Knitting has officially taken over my life. These past 10 days I've become a swatching machine! How many Moeke swatches did I knit even I don't know - 10, 15, 50?! Every single free minute of my day I am chasing this "aha" moment, trying to catch just the right stitch combination for the image in my head.This time I decided with Ioana that I will experiment with holding two strands of Elena to create a little bit different from Journey and The Choice look. It's fascinating to watch how such a small change can transform the fabric, plus it knits up much faster!You should definitely experiment with your stash and mix it up a little bit. It doesn't even have to be the same fiber, or color or yarn weight. If you have a lace yarn in your stash that you love and can't wait to put it in use, but scared of committing to a lace weight big project, just hold two strands together. I am still in love with my Gallery sweater which was knit with 1 strand of lace weight merino + 1 strand of lace weight alpaca/silk blend.Now to something completely new for me... Sock knitting!!! Yep, I am going to make the first pair of socks in my life, that is decided! After reading Michelle's, Tahnee's, Tien's and Andi's blogs, I am giving up - I have to see for myself why sock knitting is so addictive!!The timing is perfect. First of all, I've been freezing in the mornings and always have a pair of socks on, why not to put on the hand knit ones? Second, I need a small simple enough project to clear my head a little bit. And the last, but not least, I saw this photo on Purl Soho and fell in love - how adorable are those Pom Pom socklets?!My latest stash enhancement from KnitCrate will be perfect for my first pair of socks - SilverSpun is a blend of cotton + nylon + spandex + silver. Cotton and nylon will be great for durability, spandex for the stretch and "memory" and silver has great therapeutic properties and blocks all the odor causing bacteria. Perfect sock yarn, in my opinion. What do you think?I am super excited to learn something completely new for me in knitting and have a pair of adorable pom pom socks on my feet. Let's hope I am not going to frog the whole thing in a couple of weeks :)