Sock (and Sock Yarn) Madness

Hello friends! I know it's been a while, but I thought I'd take a break from my never-ending reading assignments to post about all the cool things I've been working on.

This past Sunday was Easter, and I wanted to make something cute for my nephew Nicholas- he is always asking me to knit him something, and he loves stuffed animals. When I saw this adorable Bonbon Bunny pattern I knew it would fit the bill perfectly. His favorite color is orange- and I had plenty of that in my stash- so I found an appropriately Springtime-y shade of Shibui Sock and went to work. How cute is this little guy?!

I finished a few days before Easter, but since I wanted it to be a surprise I couldn't share on Instagram (his mom might see!)- so shared on Ello instead. I know a lot of people in the knitting community have been slowly migrating over to Ello, and I'm all for trying new things, so I made an account over there. Feel free to check it out, but it is mainly the same stuff that pops up on my Instagram feed- though I'm often more longwinded in my Ellos. It is certainly different, but so far I'm liking the platform precisely for that reason. Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

After finishing my 3 Color Cashmere Cowl I couldn't bear to stop knitting with the lovely yarn I used, so I decided to knit up a quick pair of Rose City Rollers with the yummy leftovers.

These socks are a dream to wear! They're warm, and soft, and snuggly- and I feel so well coordinated when I wear them with my cowl. While people may see the cowl, they probably aren't going to see the socks, but I'll know. Kind of like the knitter's equivalent of matching your bra and panties- utter decadence!

I worked on these while waiting on the Round 2 pattern release for Sock Madness.  Well, the Rose & Thorn pattern was emailed to teams about a week ago and I managed to finish my socks in five and a half days- not bad! I could not be happier with them- they are gorgeous!

The beaded cuff was fairly challenging, but the second sock went much smoother. I've never made socks with beads on them, but I absolutely love how these look! I used Julie Asselin Stella yarn, and I think the metallic sparkle looks so good with the iridescent shimmer of the beads. Plus, the pale pink really makes the lace rose motif pop. I feel like these are something a ballerina would wear when not in pointe shoes- they look so pretty and dainty! So far I am really loving this competition. Although the deadline for knitting Round 2 socks is Sunday, April 3rd- my team filled up a whole week early! Thanks to my super speedy knitting (by avoiding schoolwork and staying up way past my bed time), I managed to nab one of the coveted team spots and advanced to the next round. I'm now waiting for the Round 3 pattern to be released sometime next week.

Since it's been a couple of weeks since my last update, I'm sure you've deduced that my stash has grown since last we spoke. You know me so well.

There was a trunk show at Stitch House for Molly Girl Yarn last weekend... And I may have quietly snuck out of the house while Atticus was taking a nap to take advantage. Don't worry, Matt was home. But seriously- can you blame me? Look at how beautiful this yarn is!

Angela posted a picture of Lollipop on Instagram and I had to have it! I asked her to save me a skein on her sparkly Diva base, and SHE TOTALLY DID!!! I've used Diva before (thanks to the wonderful dealers people at Yarnbox), and love my Agatha socks to pieces- and you can never have too much bling, amirite? I can't wait to use this for something spectacular!

I was also lucky enough to score a Farm Fresh Knitting Kit- a collaboration between Tuft Woolens, Must Stash Yarn, and Freckled Whimsy- three of my favorites! This kit is glorious! I wish you could smell how fabulous the Honeycomb scent is- I can't get enough of it.

Everything in this kit is fantastic. Martha, Stacie, and Karrie are so talented! They really outdid themselves putting this together. They even included a sweet little extra- that lamb cutout in the middle is actually pressed paper with basil seeds! I planted mine, and hope the seeds grow (hello, pesto). Fingers crossed!

I couldn't resist, and I've started a pair of socks with the Daily Eggs colorway- they look great! I love these colors- that blue is everything!

These are practically flying off the needles, so they'll be done by the time the Sock Madness Round 3 pattern is live. I decided to start these two-at-a-time to match the striping as closely as possible (though Stacie's OCD skeins make it all but impossible to screw that up), but then switched to working them separately since I find 2AAT to be too fiddly for my taste- I hate dealing with the yarn tangles. It's nice to have plain vanilla socks to work on while binge watching episodes of Daredevil (OMG, you guys- are you watching Season 2? Because YOU NEED TO BE!).

I still have a few more lovely things headed my way, so definitely stay tuned to see the goods. Hopefully I'll be able to work in some projects besides socks, but no promises. This is MADNESS, after all!

Talk to you soon, lovelies. Until next time- just keep knitting.