In search of a Contrast Color

It's time to get a start on my holiday knitting, and maybe also pretend I'm actually participating in the Summer of Socks 2009 while I'm at it (it would be nice to finish at least one pair of socks before SoS ends). I have several people I'm planning to knit socks for, but I need help with my yarn choices.

1. Socks for S

This pair is going to be for a man with size 10 feet, and I plan knit the Diamond Waffle pattern (though probably with short-row heels and toes), and I want to use this yarn:

It's Colinette Jitterbug, and according to the ball band the skein has 267m. Although that's more in yards, it's still under 300 yds. So I'm planning to do the heels and toes in a contrasting color. These are the options:

I have plenty of the Lorna's Laces, but the yarns feel like a fairly different gauge (the LL seems thinner, although according to the ball-band info for each, the Jitterbug actually knits up at a slightly finer gauge), and the ply and texture are a bit different.

The Cherry Tree Hill is a similar gauge and texture/ply, but I was planning to use that for a different pair, for someone with perennially cold feet who will want socks as tall as I can knit them.

The Wildfoote (sorry that pic is so dark--the colorway is Brown Sugar, and you can see the colors better here) is closer in texture to the Lorna's Laces than to the Jitterbug, but I have plenty of it. I'm just not sure if the color combo with the green would look too Christmasy. This guy does celebrate Christmas, but I wouldn't want him to feel he could only wear these socks once a year!

2. Socks for H

I'm planning to knit the Herringbone Rib socks (here's a Rav link with better pics), using the blue Cherry Tree Hill shown above (approx 420 yds/sk). Or I might possibly knit Leyburn instead (here's a Rav link with better pics). If I use some of the Cherry Tree Hill as the contrast yarn in the socks for S, will I have enough to make nice tall socks for a woman's size 8 1/2 feet? If not, what do you think about doing the heels and toes in this color?

It's also Cherry Tree Hill, so no concerns about gauge or texture not matching. I think the colors go well together, and H likes fun bright colors in her socks. My only worry is if a contrasting heel/toe will look weird with the herringbone or the stranded pattern of either of the sock options. Thoughts?

3. Socks for me

I have been considering using the turquoise Cherry Tree Hill above to make a pair of Pomatomus for myself. Will I have enough if I use some for the heels and toes on socks for H? Another yarn I've been considering using for Pomatomus is this (Artyarns Ultramerino):

But I worry that the pattern won't show to its best advantage in a non-solid yarn.

4. Socks for C

Finally, I'm planning to knit some fairly large socks (I think men's size 12?) with this other colorway of Lorna's Laces:

I could just do basic ribbed crew socks, but I'm trying to think if there's anything a little more interesting I can do that won't be obscured by the variegation, and also won't be too weird for a guy. This is a man who's definitely in touch with his feminine side, but that doesn't mean he chooses to express it through his wool socks (that's what the platform heels are for).

There are actually two or three more pairs of socks (including one for Taz) I'm hoping to knit in time for the holidays, but let's not get carried away right now. I only have so many pairs of dpns! I am itching to case on for something sockish, though, so any advice on my contrast color issues will be much appreciated!

Swatching

This is my new Woven Gems Inca Cotton (the colorway is "Desert") that I got from Sangeeta when I went to visit her and watch HP6 together. I love it. So much that despite having so many WIPs that are *this* close to being done, I chose to spend my limited knitting time today swatching it to see what hoodie-sweatshirty type pattern I might be able to knit with it (possibly Under the Hoodie?--that's a Rav link). I'm getting 17 sts to 4 inches on US 7s, but I'm thinking of going down to 6s and seeing what happens. Meanwhile, any suggestions?

Won't you be my neighbor?

Yummy! The sumptuous buffet of Neighborhood Yarns that we dined upon tonight at Knit Happens. Being bad never felt so...soft. Aaah!

Needles, pedals, and tent poles

There has been yarn buying, there has been knitting, there has been a lot of cycling, and there will be some camping. But there is no USB cable. So no pictures. Yet. But I learned the hard way that if I wait to post until I have the pictures ready, six months can go by before I even know what hit me. So here I am.

I didn't buy much at Sheep & Wool, but what I did buy was yummy indeed. 1400 yds of Tess 50-50 silk wool in a gorgeous deep purple and silvery gray colorway, which I intend to use for Lucie. One fat skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in a nice dark blue colorway (I'll post the name once I'm home and can check the ball band). And a small souvenir gift for a friend. That's it. But if you've seen how much Tess costs, you'll realize I spent most of my budget on that. And if you've ever touched it, you'll understand why.

No, I have not finished an knitting projects. I did, after all, take two full weeks off of knitting to rest my wrist. But now that my needles are back in my hands, I have at least made it past the 75% mark on Taz charcoal socks. At this rate, I might finish them in time for Labor Day...

What I have definitely been doing more of is bicycling. May 18th was Bike to Work Day here in the DC area, and I (somewhat insanely) decided to take up the challenge, despite the fact that I live more than 10 miles from work. I actually made it in only slightly more time that it would normally take me on public transportation, and I felt so charged up from the exercise that I didn't need to consume a drop of caffeine all day. I did it again yesterday, and felt great again, and I made it in even less time than the first day. So now my plan is to see if I can do it at least three days a week. Then I'd be logging about 75 miles a week without even taking any extra time out of my schedule! My evening hindi class starts on June 3rd, so that might throw a wrench in my plans, but I can always just buy a headlight.

Finally, this weekend we're going camping! I am sooo excited!! OK, so it's not backcountry canoe camping in the arctic like I did in high school, but there will be a lake, mountains, a tent, starry night skies, a campfire, and marshmallows. And a loving husband to share it all with. What more could a girl ask for?

In which a lapsed blogger is reborn thanks to fiber fever

What is this, you say? Who is this freakishly out-of-it blogger who has suddenly reappeared? Where the heck was she all that time? And why on earth would she just randomly reappear now? Either that, or you're asking yourself "Why should I care?" (if you're even reading this at all).

Excuses aside, a lot of newsworthy stuff has happened in my life in the past four million years six months, but only now have I finally gotten it together to write. At some point I'm sure I'll get around to telling you about my second India trip, and my second wedding while I was there, and my new job, and my summer plans. But right now, what I really want to talk about, the thing that some how managed to penetrate the haze of endless writer's block, is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

I am no fiber festival virgin. I've been to my share of county fairs. I've done Rhinebeck. I've seen the insane people at the fleece tent. But from what I've heard, MD S&W blows the rest out of the water. And now that I finally live close enough to contemplate going, well, let's just say it didn't really take much contemplation.

Now, some people are crazy. Some people plan to get there extra early and storm a certain booth with several of their co-workers from a certain LYS. Me, I'm fully aware that since this is my first time, I have about a snowball's chance in hell of competing with the experts. And anyway, until I get there and see the remains of their pillaging, I won't know what I'm missing. I am going early, but for the enjoyment, not to compete. Instead, I've begun researching patterns so that I know what types, weights, and quantities of yarn I should be keeping an eye out for. My budget is pretty limited, so I am trying to be very picky. Perhaps too picky, since so far I've only come up with one project I'm sure about. But it's a beauty:


Lucie from last fall's Knitty. © 2006 Axelle de Sauveterre.

And who knows? Maybe I'll luck out and Axelle will have a booth there too, and I can just buy the exact yarn the pattern calls for. Now I just have to figure out if there's any other yarn I'll be able to afford after I buy enough for Lucie.