Once upon a time there was some yarn. It was Blue-faced Leicester yarn [in dk weight from Yarn Pirate]. Wool from Blue-faced Leicester sheep makes very soft yarn, much like merino — perfect for a baby’s sensitive skin.

That yarn, you see, wanted nothing more than to go and live with a baby. It had heard tales of babies’ silky hair and tiny fingers and big eyes, and thought that sounded like the perfect companion for the yarn’s later years.

Yarn can be dangerous to babies. They lack coordination and can end up tangled, a bad situation for both wool and baby. The yarn didn’t want to be a hazard, so it knew it had to wait for its adventures to begin. (more…)

I promise to regale you with stories of my weekend — filled with embassy visits, tea drinking in the rain, and a small fiber gathering — a bit later.

But before I get to that, I wanted to show you what arrived in the mail last week.

This is my second year participating in Emily‘s Wee Tiny Sock Swap.

I knit a sock and sent it off to a fellow knitter, Kirsten:

(The sock I knit was made with Woolarina merino/tencel in the colorway Kelp.)

And a different knitter, Donna, sent me a wee tiny sock:

But she didn’t stop there. Donna sells homemade stitch markers and double-pointed needle protectors and she sent me one of each, perfectly personalized based on sneaky questions she asked me:

She also sent me some fairy notecards and a bookmark and a postcard from Colorado.

I felt terribly spoiled. Thank you, Donna!

In Ravelry, I belong to a group that has monthly contests around themed sock knitting. I have not yet cast-on for April socks, but would like to tonight. One of the qualifying categories for this month was knee-highs, and it just so happens that Grey Kitten gave me a subscription to a knitting magazine for Christmas that contains an ideal pattern: Bettie’s Stockings.

I think all four of the following yarns would work with the pattern. Any thoughts on which one you’d pick?

Crash into Ewe Jewel Collection in Marasite (yes, it has silver bits in it)

Neighborhood Fiber Studio Sock in Dupont Circle

Scout’s Swag Superwash BFL in Kizkalesi

or ShibuiKnits Sock in Sky

Since in the knitting blogiverse Wednesdays are for updating your WIPs (works in progress), I thought I’d share with you my progress in the Sock Madness competition.

Last Wednesday during knit group, I finished grafting the afterthought heel of the first-round socks:

The pattern is called Mertini and is based on a quilt pattern called Drunkard’s Path. Unfortunately, although I loved the brilliance of the Koigu yarn I chose to knit them in, it had enough variegation in it that it obscured the designer’s clever pattern. If you squint and tilt your head a bit, you can get an idea of the detail here:

And with the completion of the socks, I advanced to the second round.

Saturday the new pattern arrived in my inbox. Hints were sent ahead of time, and we’d pretty much all guessed that the second round was going to involve colorwork. I’ve never worked with more than one yarn at the same time, so the prospect was a little scary. The pattern, called Tokena, is based on Maori baskets, and aside from working with two yarns in every row, seems relatively straightforward. I feel confident that I’ll be able to handle the challenge (which is good, since tackling colorwork was a knitting goal for 2009).

I found two yarns that I hoped would work well enough together and wound them up before leaving the house for the morning.

While I was out at the Cherry Blossom Festival, I had the chance to work on the cuff a bit:

I knit until I had to add the second color and then paused to ask for some help:

Eleanor took my knitting and opined, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

Check. Let’s attach that second ball of yarn:

That was Sunday evening’s progress, just before I tried it on to find that I could no longer get it over my heel. Later that night it looked like two piles of yarn again.

Eleanor also said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Monday, I flipped the knitting inside out, recalling the suggestion that it’s easier to knit Fair Isle patterns looser in the round if you keep all your floats on the outside.

The knitting is almost always faster the second time around. I have tried the leg of the sock on several times (I’ve just turned the heel of the first sock) — and this method seems to be working for me. I’ll share more photos as I progress.

Hi, thanks for stopping by, but Sprite can’t come to the blog right now. The first round of Sock Madness ends on Thursday and she’s frantically trying to finish up her second afterthought heel.

The designer gave her numerous tips to improve this heel experience over the previous one, and Sprite fully expects to be back with you tomorrow after she’s finished Kitchnering the heel closed, weaving in the ends, and uploading a photo.

She then expects to collapse in a heap — or to pick up larger needles and knit something relaxing. Maybe get back to her sweater…

Our internet seems to be liking us better this weekend, so I’m able to post from home tonight.

Ten days ago was the first day of spring, and I hurriedly finished up a new pair of socks to be able to wear them to celebrate.

They remind me of rainbow sherbet.

The pattern is Spring Forward.

The Yarn is Mama E’s C*Eye*ber Fiber sock yarn in the Spring Garden Colorway.

They go with my green Mary Janes and my comfy green pants.

They also go with the first tulip of the year.

It was so fun to wear new socks on the first day of a new season. I’m thinking I may celebrate every season that way from now on…

As for Sock Madness, I’m nearly to the toe decreases on the second sock and then just have to add the afterthought heel. I’m hoping to finish tomorrow night. This is how they looked on Friday morning:

I hope that will enable me to advance to Round #2.