In and out

Seems like summer just got going - but no, it's the last day of August, and fall is right around the corner.

The August SSP socks aren't done. I don't even have a picture of what I've got, because today is rainy and dark, and I only use an iPhone to take pictures for blogging anyway, so they would have been extra pathetic. I'm down to the heel flap on sock #2, though, so I should have a finished pair in fairly short order.

My attention has been diverted this past month, however, to sweaters. I finished up one for my sister that was supposed to be a quick knit, but I ended up having to effectively knit the body three times, due to errors on my part and learning curve type effects. I've also knit up a sweater for me - a Safire sweater (pattern by Hilary Smith Callis) that is currently drying on the not-a-table upstairs. It needs its ends woven in and some buttons. I need to go shopping.

Yesterday I ventured out to a local that I've been meaning to check out for a while now, because I discovered that I actually know the owner - our paths crossed in an entirely different context. The shop in question is Make One Yarn Studio. It's a bit of a trip to get over there - I live a good 25 km away, I think - but it's a nice, spacious shop, and I reconnected with Bess (hadn't seen her since, oh, 2008?) and picked up a lovely ball of Fantastic Knitting Zephyr Laceweight in Deep Purple. I'm thinking it could become a shawlette for my mother - she's a purple fan, and while she knits, I've never ever seen her knit lace.

The one thing I regret about my trek out to Make One yesterday was the timing - Bess got in a shipment of yarn I would have been all over if I had been there to see it. I'll have to go back.

I'm trying to figure out what my next sweater is going to be. This is tough because I have a birthday coming real soon, and I've provided my sister with a rather knitterly wishlist of patterns and DPNs in sweater gauges - 4 to 6 mm. If some of the desired patterns fall in my lap, I will want to work those up right away, provided I have enough of the right yarn, and I think I do. But I need to wait to see.

Then again, this morning it occurred to me to look at the listed gauge and yardage requirements for Julie Turjoman's Quercus. Gauge is given as 20 sts = 10 cm/4", which should work with the Naturally Merino et Soie I have in my little stash - I knit my sister a sweater with the same yarn (in a different colour) at that gauge and it was great. So I could just jump in on that.

I'd better work on the August SSP socks while I think about it.

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