Knitting Stuff


My Opal Magic socks in purple are finally done and off the needles. They are a very basic 60 stitch pattern with wide (k5 p1) ribs down the cuff and the instep and an eleven stitch stockinette panel down the front and the back. They fit great. The Opal yarn is self patterning with the colors, so Opal socks don't require a fancy stitch pattern.

Seems like it took forever to finish the socks because I was working on the CIC Candleflame Shawl at the same time. The shawl is done now except for weaving in a few yarn ends and blocking. The blocking is going to be a challenge because the shawl is so large. I plan to cover the extra bed with a plastic shower curtain so the shawl blocking needs to wait until after Kimmy spends the night on Tuesday.

Winter is over. I'm coming out of hibernation and looking for something a little more challenging to knit. I've joined the Broadripple Knitalong on Yahoo. Broadripple is the name of the sock pattern. A knitalong is where everyone knits the same pattern, sends email about their knitting to the group, and shows pictures of their project to each other as they go along.

I've never done a cyber knitalong before so this will be a trial to see if it's something I enjoy. As of this afternoon there are 160 knitters signed up to knit a Broadripple by May 30. There's so much email from the group I had to route it off into its own folder. I haven't started to look at the pictures yet.

So far I haven't decided what type of yarn to use. There are several choices. The top of the Broadripple socks is a garter stitch pattern instead of a ribbing. Without ribbing, I have some concern that the resulting socks may not stay up. I hate baggy socks. I'd like to knit them for Mom, but I especially don't want to use the pretty blue Opal Inspiration that's tagged for her next pair of socks if the socks aren't going to stay up.

May all my problems be so minor.

Are you planning a spring project?