2 posts tagged “absinthe socks”

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The Green Fairy Socks

May 14, 2009
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Shortly into my Lakes holiday I finished the Absinthe Socks in Wollmeise Frosch. I am incredibly pleased with these socks. The pattern was a huge amount of fun, the yarn matched it perfectly! and they look and feel great, a perfect marriage of socks. My only slight complaint is that the cables which sit on the top of the foot where the ankle and foot meet are tight and stretch a little too much. Ii didn't irritate me while I wore them yesterday and I did walk a couple of miles out of town to visit a ruined Roman Fort so they were put through a proper test run.

Absinthe Socks

I don't normally "save" special yarn for a perfect pattern but because this was my last skein of Wollmeise I did this time and I am glad that I did.

Now I have worn and washed these a lot I can attest that they yarn is still very soft and the colour has not faded at all. They truely do live up to the hype - if only it was easier to get.

Spring is here!

Mar 28, 2009
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I wrote a exhuberant and lyrical post last weekend all about the joys of spring to celebrate the Vernal Equinox and Vox ate it - boo! So this is round two with some added extras after J and I completed another day of serious gardening to prepare for the growing season.

The Spring Equinox came calling in several ways for me this year.

Firstly I have been growing seedlings for the garden - here are my coriander seeds.

Coriander Seedlings

Now every year there is always one batch of seeds I fear won't make it and this year it was the aubergines. I knew that they took 10-14 days to germinate so it shouldn't have been a surprise that at day 11 I had no seedlings. I had 3 more days to wait. However I started to assume for various reasons that this meant the seeds had failed (largely due to my own fears about using the *wrong sort of compost*). My first aubergine shoots arrived on the Equinox and I felt stupidly relieved. By day 14 of the cycle it looked like I had 10 aubergine plants. So far so good.

Aubergine seedling

The gardening theme continued and for the first time (ever I think) J and I took flowers from the garden - which we were pruning back anyway and put them in vases inside the house. I don't know why we haven't done this before. I like cut flowers but feel that they are not very ethical or sustainable and so have viewed them as a rare and guilty pleasure. This might just be a way around it. I would be tied to the seasonality of the flowers I want to buy but I like seasonality in my fruit and veg (It is nice being able to look forward to stawberries and raspberries and enjoy them for a short time but at a time when the flavour is unparalleled) so it seems to follow I could looked forward to seasonality in my flowers. I already love it when the daffodils come out and this time was also able to remember how much I love the smell of hyacinths.

Lastly I cast on (and have even finished one whole sock of a pair) the Absinthe pattern from the Spring Knitty. This seasons Knitty has been my favourite for a long time. Some great socks and two shawls I would love to knit. These socks caught my eye because the bright green was so perfectly seasonal and because I too love Art Nouveau design. I have had a skein of Wollmeise in Frosch in my stash for a very long time. I was bought for me before Wollmeise got so popular that it became a scrum trying to get hold of her yarns. I had been saving it for a special pattern as I doubt I will be able to get any more for some time (I do like Wollmeise and it is exceptionally well dyed with an interesting and unusual base. But I just can't be bothered with the contest for getting hold of it and the nastiness which can come with that - I am going to happily wait until updates are less crazy and if they never get less crazy I will enjoy all the other great yarns which are just as good). Anyway. This was clearly the perfect pattern for Frosch. The semi-solid aspect of the colourway wasn't going to swamp the pattern and the green colour (which some have called Chartreuse) looked really good as an Absinthe.

Absinthe Socks

Now I have knitted a fair amount of this up I am enjoying it incredibly. The colour palette is sophisticated and subtle and the base is still unusual and interesting. It is a great shame that this is my last skein but I am determined to enjoy every single inch of it and knit up all my leftovers.