Sock Along

This is from Stephen West’s newsletter that came this morning

I am so excited to announce that the Westknits Surprise Sock Along is coming. It’s a mystery knit along for your feet! 

Throughout July we are going to knit the Contrast Blast Socks together with surprising new details and design elements each week. The Westknits Sock Along is all about learning fun new techniques with detailed video tutorials as we knit a part of the sock each week for a total of four weeks. At the end of the Sock Along you will have a beautiful pair of finished Contrast Blast Socks.

Never participated in a mystery knit along before? The Surprise Sock Along is the best way to start because each week's clues (instructions) are much less knitting than a standard mystery shawl knit along. The Surprise Sock Along is a mini mystery knitting adventure with bite-sized sections to accomplish each week. At the end of July you will have a complete set of socks featuring an amazing symphony of stitches!

I can't wait to embark on this Westknits sock knitting adventure together!

Stephen has a link to his website for more information.

Here are a few important pieces of information

If you use self-striping yarn, we would definitely use it for the CC and make sure your solid MC contrasts well with your CC. Knit a swatch to visualise the colour relationship! 

Variegated and highly speckled yarns will disguise some of the design details, but it’s okay to use one as the CC as long as your MC has a high contrast against your CC. Stephen designed the Contrast Blast Socks with solid and semi-solid yarns in mind, so stick with this type of yarn to make sure you love your finished socks. Use multi-coloured variegated yarns at your own risk. 

Here are a few quick pictures of my knitting before starting the trip. We’ll see how far I get.

I didn’t get my post done before leaving so I’m finishing it in the terminal. I’m flying out of a gate that I’ve never seen before. F98. There is another Maple Leaf lounge here and another Starbucks. The walk was 10 minutes from where we normally fly from. I asked an Air Canada employee before I started the walk to make sure I was reading the board correctly. 

It’s time to pull out my knitting - we have an hour before boarding. 

Combinations

Here are some combinations for the Calypso Sweater from yesterday’s post. This is 216 and Ghost Ranch - the colours that The Black Cat Knitting Company used for the sweater on the pattern.

The next three pictures are all using 211 (the colour is black in real life). Above is Pop Click.

This is Sex on the Beach

Vibe Check

152 with Space Oddity.

184 with The Family Jewels

201 with Big Sky

The Dyed in the Wool skeins from these pictures are lying out on my front table. If you order yarn for the sweater I will try and match these skeins as best as possible.

The possibilities are endless. My suggestion is picking colours with a contrast. You don’t want to put all the effort into the colourwork and when you are finished the colours don’t show.

We are offering a 10% discount on Rowan Felted Tweed and Spincycle Dyed in the Wool between Friday June 9th at 4pm and Wednesday June 14th at 8pm. Enter the code VEGAS at checkout to receive the discount.

You will want to make sure to enter the discount code before completing your purchase, as it cannot be added retroactively.

I’m busy trying to get myself packed to go away. I have lists. 

My hockey jersey is coming with me. I’ll be wearing it Saturday night. Yes, mine is the purple jersey. 

The only thing that I can’t find are my blue and pink Cons. If you know where they are please let me know 😂

Calypso Sweater

Deidre stopped in this afternoon with a new sample for the store. This could be a fall project for me. I love the sweater.

This is the Calypso Sweater knit out of Rowan Felted Tweed (219) and Spincycle Dyed in the Wool (Water Witch). You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry. There are many sizes available on the pattern. Our sample is L and took 5 balls of Felted Tweed and less than 2 skeins of Dyed in the Wool. Take a look at the finished sweaters on Ravelry for colour inspiration. I will try and put together some combinations tomorrow.

We changed the neck and bottom band to K1, P1 ribbing. 

The sweater matches the shed.

These pictures were taken in the shade. 

Mr. UPS brought in a box from Spincycle yesterday and we have new colours of Plump.

There were also bags of Dyed in the Wool and Dream State.

Lynn worked the past few days helping me get orders unpacked (a huge one came from Hedgehog) and straightening the store. This is our new display of Le Lambswool from Biches & Buches. Each colour has it’s own house and they are quite happy with that.

Don’t forget that the store will be closed for a few days. I will try and have all orders packed and shipped before I go and then will be shipping again on Thursday June 15th.

Last night dad asked when I was leaving so he could drive me to the airport. I told him Friday night and there was a long pause. Dad, Beth and the dogs are going to the cottage Friday morning. I told him not to worry - I will drive myself. This time I will remember where I park the car!

Home Again

I enjoyed my days at the cottage. Here is Washed Out so far. I took the pictures quickly on the dock before we got in the boat to head home. You can faintly see the stripes of colour B (the multi-colour). After a few more rows I will be doing the lace pattern again in green. Then there will be more striping with the green and multi but this time less green in the stripes. The shawl will fade from green into the multi.

Dad and the dogs did not want to get into the boat. They really enjoyed their time away.

The dogs love the boat. If we couldn’t find Bosco and Jackson we would yell that it was time for a boat ride. They came running fast. 

Lucy loves the pontoon boat. It’s easy for her to get on and then she plops down. Good luck getting around her.

I was supposed to try and do some work there today but that didn’t happen. I’d like to say I’m going to do it now but the hockey game starts soon so I’m going to knit and I’ll work tomorrow. 😀

81

I’ve started a new shawl using Ice Ice Baby, Happily Ever After and Lemongrass. No pictures yet - I don’t have enough knit to show.

I’m making Washed Out by Joji Locatelli. The pattern can be purchased on Ravelry.

Washed out is a stunning asymmetrical triangle shawl with faded stripes and lace.

I chose a faded progression of colors for my sample, but we tried it in different combinations, and we decided that any order and combination looks great! Whether it’s a fade or not.  

The stripes in this pattern will make your colors melt together as you make your way to the final and most stunning part of this project: The lace edging.

I started with Ice Ice Baby and the lace will be in Lemongrass.

This is my cottage knitting tomorrow and then on the plane to Vegas on Friday. 

I left the store just after 4 and had errands to run. When I got home I realized that my knitting was still in the store. Back I went. 👿.

Happy Birthday Dad!!! 81. For his birthday Beth took him to the marina for ice cream. Maple Walnut in a waffle cone.

I was talking to Beth at 5:30 when she let out a groan. Dad was changing channels on the TV and the screen went dark. Beth thought that dad hit a button he shouldn’t have. No that wasn’t the problem. The power is out. Online it says that it should be back on by 10pm. They are watching the Stanley Cup on Beth’s computer. Until it runs out of power. I hope it’s back on before I get there tomorrow.

Rising Dawn Socks

Stephen West has a new sock pattern. You can purchase the pattern for the Rising Dawn Socks on Ravelry.

Choose one color of fingering weight sock yarn and enjoy the simple slip stitches in this relaxing sock pattern. These socks are knit top-down, so you can easily customize the length of the leg and foot as you knit. The relaxing rhythm of these socks are ideal for easy tv knitting or traveling. The simple texture shines with variegated or speckled sock yarns. Enjoy your sock knitting adventure and knit the coordinating Rising Dawn Shawl for a spectacular slip stitch ensemble!

Photos © Stephen West

Tonight’s post is going to be short. It’s been a long day. I was up at 5am to get Beth and the dogs on their way. All is well up north. Everything was moved into the cottage, they’ve had a nap and now they are fishing in the rain. I had pizza delivered and now there will be a bit of knitting before bed.

Smallidays

We received the first of two boxes from Hedgehog this morning. There are 3 new colours of Twist Sock.

Puppy Love

80% Blue Faced Leicester wool and 20% nylon, superwash. Hard-wearing fingering weight yarn with a high twist in the ply. Great stitch definition, best suited for sock knitting. That tight twist will keep precious hand knit socks in shape wash after wash after wash. Soft, yet durable and machine washable. Best of both worlds! Sold in approx. 100g skeins/365m.

Daisy Chain

Dada

Emma’s Smalliday kits are available online for preorder. You have two options - pay in full for a discounted price or put down a deposit and pay the balance when the kits are ready to ship.

I am very excited for these. I am definitely getting one for myself in fingering weight but there could be a DK weight kit in my future as well.

Emma’s mom (Laura) designed this shawl for the 2021 Smalliday set. I really like the shawl and think that this might be what I make. But you never know because Ambah also has great patterns and she will bring out something this fall. Plus there is the new Laura Nelkin pattern coming.

Atenti Hope Baskets are online for preorder. 

It’s bed time at my house. Dad and Beth are leaving at 6am for the cottage. Three men from work are driving up a trailer full of furniture and housewares. A barge is meeting them to bring the trailer across the lake. I’m not going until Sunday morning. By that time everything should be in order. LOL. They are going to be too busy fishing.