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A bit behind on posting

But I’ve been busy knitting. Well, and working. Work is getting pretty busy too…

So two Mondays ago (whoops! where did the time go?) my Stephen & Penelope yarn package arrived with wooly goodness:

Holst Garn Supersoft cakes in “Burnt Orange”, “Magenta”, “Mariner” (dark blue), and “Breeze” (light blue)

I’m thrilled with how the orange and magenta go together, so these are what I’m going to use in the sweater I have planned. As Holst Garn is pretty modestly priced, I went ahead and purchased my alternate colors in case I didn’t like the magenta (or it bled). So I’ll use the blues for some mitts or something instead. I am happy to report that my orange and magenta swatch a) did not bleed and b) was right on gauge.

However, greatest of tragedies, my wooly package was missing it’s most important member. It apparently ripped in transit (as evidenced by it being tape back together) but my Undercover Otter skein “Soultaker” had already fallen out. S&P very graciously sent out a replacement skein ASAP, but it still took until Thursday for me to get it.

Undercover Otter – Squirm (sock fingering weight) in “Dark Skies”, a purple with blue speckles and “Soultaker” – and white, neon green and dark charcoal gray

I was happy to see that the two skeins went as well together as I’d hoped for. In addition, they have decent contrast as evidenced by the grayscale, so my colorwork plans wouldn’t be doomed:

Undercover Otter – Squirm (sock fingering weight) in “Dark Skies”, a purple with blue speckles and “Soultaker” – and white, neon green and dark charcoal gray – image in grayscale to show how Soultaker is a mix of very light and very dark, while Dark Skies is in the middle

So Thursday night I spent time winding on the yarn, doing a bit of informal (ie: no washing) swatching, and getting ready to cast on. On Friday I started my socks, and made decent progress. By Sunday,  I had a little over half the leg completed. So Sunday morning I slipped the stitches to some white cotton thread and gave it a wash to check that gauge didn’t change, and the colors didn’t run. Basically, I was using my sock leg as my formal gauge swatch. It’s perhaps a bit more work than a traditional gauge swatch, but not by much, and it’s extremely accurate as a method.

All was well (yay!) so I continued on:

A sock being knit in Undercover Otter – Squirm (sock fingering weight) in “Dark Skies”, a purple with blue speckles and “Soultaker” – and white, neon green and dark charcoal gray – using stranded color work and stripes.

I really love how the green is working with the purple. To me, it looks like dappled foliage against an evening sky, where the last sunlight is playing across leaves. The stranded color work is supposed to be a lattice (like on a gate) but becomes much more organic looking as the contrast switches back and forth between lighter than and darker than the background color. I’ve departed from the formal sock pattern, Päivätär, in my interpretation. I’m adding in more stripes of bits of colorwork, and doing the heel and toe just in the Soultaker using my preferred heel (Eye of Partridge) and toe. I am taking careful notes in my Ravelry Project Page though to ensure I can do it all again on the second sock.

Oh yes, and here is the grayscale version:

A sock being knit in Undercover Otter – Squirm (sock fingering weight) in “Dark Skies”, a purple with blue speckles and “Soultaker” – and white, neon green and dark charcoal gray – using stranded color work and stripes. In grayscale to show the level of contrast.

I’m actually rather farther along since I took these photos, as I’m all the way down to the toe. I think I might just be able to complete sock #1 tonight before bed. If I can keep this up, than by this time next week I’ll have a full pair of socks to show you.

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