Yarns I Knit with in 2014

As part of my review of my 2014 knitting, I was curious how many and which yarns I used this past year. I discovered that I had the pleasure to knit with over 52 different yarns. (I currently have about 158 different yarn brands and bases in my stash).

Bases I used in 2014 included
lace   fingering   sport   dk  worsted  aran   bulky
Fibers included
wool   merino   silk   alpaca   mohair   cashmere   cotton   nylon   stellina

I knit with both commercial and indie-dyed yarns, purchased at my local yarn shops and online. Many yarns were knit with for the first time. I purchased 16 of the yarns in 2014 (marked with a *), so about 70% was knit from my stash.

Lace
Garnstudio Drops Kid-Silk
Lang Yarns Mohair Luxe

Fingering
Artyarns Ultramerino 4
Estelle Sockitome Heathers *
Fireweed Dyeworks Self-striping *
Madelinetosh Feather *
Madelinetosh Sock
Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock
Oink Pigment Sock *
Patons Kroy Ragg Shades *
Phildar Phil Folk 100 *
Phydeaux Yarn Chaussette *
Pinguoin Pingorex Baby
Quince and Co. Finch
Regia Desgn Line Kaffe Fassett
Regia Mosaik 4-ply
Rowan Fine Tweed
Shibui Knit Socks
Stimpylab Strong Sock *
String Theory Colorworks Continuum Self-striping *
Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock
The Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering
The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet
Voolenvine Yarns Blitz *
Western Sky Knits Aspen Sock *

Sport
Madelinetosh 80/10/10 sport
Madelinetosh Sport
Manos del Uruguay Serena
ONline supersocke 6-ply *
Ornaghi Filati Malaga

DK
Blissful Knits Adore *
Duck Duck Wool *
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit
Knitting Fever Cashmereno
Madelinetosh DK *
Madelinetosh DK Twist
Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Suri & Silk
Zitron Zeitlos

Worsted
Cascade 220
Custom Woolen Mills 2-ply *
Madelinetosh Vintage
Malabrigo Yarn Merino
Noro Silk Garden
Stonehedge Fiber Mills Shepherd's Wool

Aran
Cascade Yarns Casablanca *

Fleece Artist BFL Aran

Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica

Mission Falls 1824 Cotton

Noro Taiyo

Bulky
Cascade 128 *
Lionness Arts Roar
Luxury Collection Baby Alpaca Sport
Malabrigo Yarn Mecha *

Socks in 2014

I don't often make goals or create lists, as they seem to put undue pressure on me. I like fly-by-the-cuff, follow-my-whimsy kind of knitting. 

But lots of knitters on Ravelry were announcing goals for 2014, so I began to consider what mine might be. Buying less yarn and knitting from stash were definite goals. A considerable part of this stash was fingering, sockweight yarn as I wanted to make socks, lots of socks, but hadn't gotten around to it. So, I set myself a goal to knit 12 pair, which seemed a lofty goal, and joined a couple of the sock forums to motivate me.

I did it! I actually more than doubled my goal. 26 pairs in 2014. Some were works in progress and one is a baby pair, but still. Here they are:

Broken Seed Stitch Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/broken-seed-stitch-socks

Phildar Phil Folk 100 and Estelle Sockitome Heathers

Crusoe

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crusoe

Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock, 'Manu'

Estonian Button-Stitch Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/estonian-button-stitch-socks

Phydeaux Chaussette 'Vignoble'

Java Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/java-socks

The Plucky Knitter primo fingering 'Flying Monkeys'

Thuja
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thuja
Blissful Knits Ambrosia DK 'Secret Garden'

Jaywalker

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaywalker

Ornaghi Filati Malaga

No-Purl Monkeys

 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/no-purl-monkeys

Artyarns Merino 4

Thuja

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thuja

Regia Design Line Kaffe Fasset

Thuja

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thuja

Madelinetosh Feather 'Mala'

Oak-Ribbed Sock

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/oak-ribbed-sock

Fiberphile Squooshy Sock, 'Continuum'

Charade

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/charade

Shibui Sock 'Pebble'

Sunday Swing Socks 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunday-swing-socks

Western Sky Knits Aspen Sock 'Kettle Rainbow'

Pin-striped Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pin-striped-socks

Stimpylab Strong Sock 'Pangea'

Vanilla Bean Striped Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vanilla-bean-striped-socks

Quince and Co Finch, 'Leek', 'Snap Pea'

Basic Ribbed Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/basic-ribbed-socks

Regia Mosaik

Orchideen-Socken

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/orchideen-socken

Sunshine Yarns 'Cedric'

Perfect Fit Newborn Socks

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/perfect-fit-newborn-socks

Pinguoin Pingorex Baby

125-15 Short Socks with Cables
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/125-15-short-socks-with-cables-in-alaska
Fleece Artist BFL Aran 'Sea Storm'

plain vanilla with omg heel
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/omg-heel-socks
String Theory Continnum 'Ares'

plain vanilla with Fish Lips Kiss heel

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fish-lips-kiss-heel

Fireweed Dyeworks 'Russian Rainbow'

plain vanilla

Oink Pigments 'Blackberry Brambles'

plain vanilla

Patons Kroy Ragg Shades

plain vanilla

plain vanilla, stranded

Custom Woolen Mills 2-ply worsted

plain vanilla, stranded

Custom Woolen Mills 2-ply worsted

plain vanilla, stranded 

Custom Woolen Mills 2-ply worsted

And yes, lots more socks in 2015. 

The Colours Got Me

A podcaster was knitting with Sophie's Toe yarn (Emily Parson @emilyquilts.com), and I went to check out her hand-dyed yarns. I fell for this one, Sophie's Toe Sock yarn, 100% merino superwash, 350 yards, in the Iris colorway :

When it arrived, I went to put it with my sockweight yarn and found a skein of Koigu in a very similar colorway:

I also found a solid purple Koigu kppm skein:

I love having yarn in my stash, waiting for something to happen. Now I get to dream about what I could create with these three skeins, 700 yards of sockweight yarn:

 I'm thinking maybe socks or a shawl, perhaps Antarktis....❀❀❀

Fall in the Garden

Because it was such a glorious fall day, I took my half-completed shawl (The Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia, knit in Madelinetosh vintage Glazed Pecan) out to the back garden to take a work in progress picture:

I also had to capture some garden shots as we are having a rare, true autumn. Typically, the green foliage  is struck by a hard frost in early September, causing the foliage to brown quickly and fall. But this year, we've still not had a hard frost, so there was time for the changing colours to happen:

coral bells

hardy geranium

hardy geranium

sedum 'Autumn Joy'

spirea

false astilbe

plum

spirea

\

barberry

leaves on the rundle rock path

a local artist's glass ball

view of the backyard and garage from the house

❀ ❀ ❀

October 22: Finished pics:

March Socks in Progress

2014 is the Year of the Socks for me. It should be, given all the sock yarn I've managed to squirrel away.
Lately, I've been scouting the Ravelry sock forums to see what people have knit. I came across this lovely free pattern, Estonian Button Stitch Socks by Jane Prater. I love learning new stitch patterns, plus I think it nicely showcases variegated yarn.

I'm knitting it in Phydeaux Chaussette sock yarn (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon). colorway, Vignoble. This gorgeous skein was purchased by a friend for me at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California in February 2014.

©dedolha

Did you know....?  Chaussette is the french word for 'sock'. 

Because I often start a new sock pattern before finishing the second sock, I have joined the 12socksin2014 forum on Ravelry to keep me on track. I've completed 4 pair so far, so off to a good start. 

Another pair of socks I'm currently working on is the Sunday Swing socks by Kristel Nyberg, the pattern available free on Knitty.com: 

I'm using Western Sky Knits Aspen Sock (100% merino), colorway Kettle Rainbow. This skein was also picked up at Stitches West 2014. I love seeing the difference in how variegated skeins are in the skein and after knit up...

❀ ❀ ❀

March 27, I'm pleased to report that I finished sock #1 and immediately cast on #2; I'm currently starting the leg.

To mark my serious commitment to sock knitting, and to celebrate my March birthday, I have ordered Signature Needle Arts 2.5 mm 6" double-pointed needles. I've heard everyone raving about these needles and I hope the hype is true, as these babies set me back $65 Cdn (incl. shipping).