The Yarn Is Very Happy Now

I finally finished the February Lady Sweater.  It's actually not a difficult pattern (so long as you keep your wits about you, if you don't there's some frogging involved!).  It came out fitting perfectly.  My sleeves are longer than the picture that came with the pattern (deliberately so) and the sweater itself is also longer.  I have probably about 3/4 of a skein of the yarn left.

I really do like the color now.  This sweater will go both with dressy skirts and casual pants, so it's a definite win/win all around.  I'm really glad that I went to the trouble of dying the yarn.  I'm amazed at how evenly it dyed because frequently when I've dyed homespun I've ended up with variations in the color, sometimes pretty variations, but definitely not the even color I got this time.

My next project is supposed to be a dress for my granddaughter, but I'm currently allowing myself to be temporarily sidetracked by a pair of socks.  The yarn is a wool bamboo mix in a pink and sort of purple (almost brown) color way (I love those yarns that make their own stripes).  It's incredibly soft and I'm loving knitting with bamboo sock needles (this is the first time I've tried them).  I needed a mindless knitting break after all that lace before I attack another more fiddly pattern and socks are my main knitting addiction.  When I knit a pair of plain socks I no longer even need a pattern.  I know that for me I can simply cast on 64 stitches with most sock yarns (with Kroy I sometimes reduce that down to 60), and simply have at it.  I do a knit 2 purl 2 cuff for as long as I feel like then switch to plain stockinette until I get to the heel.  I knit the heel on half the stitches, turn it, pick up 17 stitches on each side for the gusset then decrease back down to 64 stitches around until I start the decreases for the toe.  Easy peasy.  I will admit I still smile every time I turn a heel because my mother used to tell me how hard that was (it isn't).

So all's right with the yarn at the moment.  Stay tuned to find out whether the dress for the almost four year old turns into an adventure or not.