It seems I did get SOME knitting done this summer... Clockwise from top left:
1. Blueberry Waffle socks using one strand of Opal Mosaic in color 1112 and one of Opal Uni-Solid in color #20 held together. These socks are a gift for a former co-worker.
2. Crystal Palace sent me some yarn and one of their new circular needles to test. This yarn is Panda Wool, and I think the color is #2101 Rosewater. It's spun from wool and bamboo (yes, bamboo!) and is wonderful to work with. Nice hand, very soft and warm socks that wash up beautifully. I made up the pattern as I went, and knitted both socks at one time using the Magic Loop technique. Thank you to the folks at Crystal Palace and to my good friend Laura for giving them my name as a tester.
3. Not socks that I knitted, but socks knit for me by my sister from Regia. I'm not sure of the color, but think it might be Mini-Ringel color #5219. I LOVE the bright colors and the stripes. Thank you, Cherryl! I taught her to knit socks a couple of years ago, and she's as addicted now as I am.
4. Opal Rodeo color 1159 in K6, P3 ribbing. These socks won me a Viewers' Choice prize at the Sockathon Yahoo! Group. I can hardly wait to see what comes in my prize package... :) Crystal Palace is also supplying the prize yarn for the contest. Thanks to them, again and to all the group members who voted for my socks.
I have been terribly remiss in acknowledging another gift I received this past summer. There's a terrific blog called Good Yarn Karma, where you can sell or trade off your stash, or even just give it away "for Karma". I saw the book Knits from the Heart listed a few months ago. It was being given away for Karma so I asked for it and got it! Very cool blog, and a lot of very nice folks there. I was supposed to mention the blog here when I got the book, but life (and grandparenting!) seems to have gotten in the way.
Hope to finish the blue Rodeo socks soon, and get another project on the needles. We're off on the BigYellowBike to a GoldWing gathering in Harrison, Arkansas in a few days, and I need a good back-of-the-bike knitting project for the trip.
