Joy, guilt, and a few sins to boot

Ok, LOTS of piccies this weekend… But when depends on how much I can be arsed altering, saving and adding, and what happens as the weekend progresses 🙂
Firstly, I can reveal what I was doing for the gifty knitting. Sue received her parcel yesterday (in a super speedly less than 24 hours – if you want to post something in town, use a university campus post box), so here is what she found.

They are River Rapids socks designed by Sock Bug, knitted in Curious Yarns sock yarn, colourway Beach. Here’s a side view – notice the beautiful slip stitch design for the heel. I’ve not seen that on many designs (I may not have knitted all that many pairs, but I’ve trawled through a LOT of patterns :D)

Ok, so you guys already know that I have had issues with these socks. Sue also knows that, so I owe it to her and Sock Bug to explain why. Firstly the pattern is fab. It is easy to follow, easy to memorise, and is ultimately so simple yet so effective visually it hurts 🙂 Sadly, I kept forgetting what kind of decrease I was meant to do – entirely my own fault, and frogged both socks a few times each 🙁 Here is a piccie of the pattern close up, but it is a bit glarey – sorry 🙁

The yarn is nice too. I’ve not tried Curious Yarns before, but I’ve seen them mentioned a few times, and thought I’d give it a go, given it can be machine washed (always good for gifting). The colourways are just gorgeous and luscious and edible. BUT, when the yarn came, it didn’t have nearly as much blue as it shows on the website pic. On the website, the blue is really deep like the sea, with the sand and stone colours as they are in my pics. The blue in my yarn is more like a really pale cloudy sky blue. I was a bit concerned when I started knitting because the blue barely shows on the ribbing, and you only see it on the heel and sole, but in the end, it all worked out 🙂 Also note that the pattern calls for 2.75mm needles, which are few and far between/expensive in the UK, so I first went for 3mm judging by the yarn gauge, hit gauge, but also found the fit, shape and pattern too loose. I dropped down to 2.5mm and got a much better fit and shaping from them. So, in short, use Sock Bug patterns – they rock and have a sock bug at the top, and use Curious Yarns sock yarn, cos it is pretty and knits up well, but watch out for that hand dying batch/on screen colours factor.
And I have more! Here is what happened when I tried to design an argyle pattern and knitted a test version in Regia Silk Shine.

Either my design is off, or the yarn doesn’t do stitch definition very well. Here is a slightly better picture where the light is hitting the sock right to catch the purl diamonds.

I’m thinking it is the yarn, and that it would work much better in a flat, paler colour (like a nice dusty pink or pale blue). Incidentally, I’d love to do the cashmere thing with these socks, but I’m not going to use it until I’m happy with the pattern design. I figured the Regia would frog easily because of the silk content, while the cashmere is just too gorgeous to risk a frogging.
Anyway, your opinions on the pattern (what little you can see in the sock) would be much appreciated – is it me or the yarn? Oh, and the grey on the sock isn’t the light reflecting – that’s fuzz from the lining inside my toothy bag 🙁 Goodness knows how that happened…
Lastly, I decided to have a bit of a sort out of my knitting today. I got out all 7 of my projects on the needles. Yup, 7. 2 pairs of socks, 2 scarves, a cardi, hourglass, and the Vogue bolero (which even though it went in for frogging, I consider it on the needles because of it still sitting there taunting me). It was a slap in the face. I frogged the bolero all morning, then decided that I have not knitted hourglass because I hate the needle I’m using (a nasty metal and plastic cheapo circular, which is to be replaced asap), so frogged it too. I will still knit it, but only when I have a better needle. I then had to rejig my stash to fit the frogged yarn in it. Then I realised just how much stash I have. It still isn’t as much as a lot of people have, but enough to be embarrassed.
Firstly…

Secondly

And that doesn’t include the box behind the sofa under the stairs that has 2 kilo of chunky black stuff, and the stuff I have in the ongoing projects box that I’m knitting with, and the other stuff in the same box that I’ve been planning to use for AGES. Please note that the sofa is a 3 seater.
It also doesn’t include my trip planned to the Knitting and Crochet Guild open day tomorrow, to their 1p a gram yarn mountain/volcano… This is why I have a lot of photos today, just in case I am tempted to buy tomorrow, or do buy and have a lot to discuss. Ohhhhhhhh baby…