4 posts tagged “brown”

Wow - I appear to have completely forgotten to blog my last yarn purchase.

Ok I have a much smaller yarn budget these days because J and I are trying to pay off our mortgage early.  Far from being despondent though I am treating this as a great opportunity to really get to know my modest but pretty decent stash.  Not counting a big pile of leftovers just waiting to be turned into something new and exciting (see the earlier shawl) I have enough yarn to knit at my current speed for a year and half before I run out.  Obviously in this time I can keep the tank topped up with the occasional purchase but I am looking at yarn with a much more critical eye than buying things because they are pretty.

I did buy one new yarn though, it was a little bit reduced and will be used to make a Christmas present so it will pay for itself twice over which is a good thing and I do find I treasure my purchases a little more now they are less frequent.

This is the muse base yarn from Violet Green (80% merino, 10% nylon and 10% cashmere) and it does feel softer than most other yarns (this MCN blend being incredibly popular amongst all sorts of dyers and knitters at the moment).  It is the Magus colourway which is a sort of deep chocolatey brown and will make great socks for my Dad for Xmas.

The Magus Sock Yarn

I still occasionally catch myself panicking I am running out of yarn (not true in the slightest) since I am knitting it faster than I am buying it at the moment and then I remember that it is there to be used up and I relax and enjoy it again!

The second item I finished early in the holiday was the Heath's socks for J.  This was a nice simple pattern which I could knit happily in the car or watching movies etc. The final fit is good and I knit them using Artyarns in Turquiose and Brown.  I think that the pattern works well with the varigated yarn and both stand out on their own. I can't believe how fast I knit these up though, they took about a week when they should have taken two!

Heath's Socks

The yarn was fun to knit with and I hope that it wears well.  I don't think it is nicer than other high end yarns and annoyingly it comes in 50g skeins which I dislike since those skeins always seem to end up more expensive somehow.  I bought this yarn on sale from purlescence and I might get it again if it was on sale but the other colours didn't really float my boat in the same way as Easyknits or Socks that Rock do.

A knitter on Rav has posted a free pattern to commemorate the life and work of Heath Ledger.  It is a very simple sock with a single subtle cable down the side and it looks very elegant and plain but with a bit of interest.  Now I am not a huge fangirl but I have always enjoyed Heath Ledger’s films – like Johnny Depp he seemed to flit easily between Hollywood Blockbusters like A Knight’s Tale and Batman to more unusual film projects like Brother Grimm.  A few people were knitting these socks and I decided to join in, at least in part because the relatively plain design means that this is a good pattern for variegated yarn and I have some very loud Artyarns sock yarn in turquoise and brown (bought in the Purlescence sale) which I got for J when he asked for a pair of blue socks.

This pattern has been very quick to knit it took only four days to finish the first sock, I went back to knitting with my Brittany needles and I had forgotten how lovely they are after so long knitting with the Harmony’s.  Unfortunately I had also forgotten how fragile they are and snapped one but I can knit a sock on four dpns so it is not a disaster.  These are pretty good mindless knitting for watching the West Wing to as well.

Here is the first sock modelled by J, hopefully the second sock won’t be too far behind!

Heath's socks Heath'Artyarns Heath's socks

I did pick up a little bit of yarn in the Purlescence sale for some yarn I have wanted to try for a while. 

I bought two 50g skeins of Artyarns Supermerino in crazy colours which are possibly for a pair of socks for J.

Artyarns sock yarn

I also bought 5 skeins of Manos Del Uruguay in Olive which had about 1/3 off so that I can make myself another nice vest top like the cabled vest.

Manos Del Uruguay - Olive

I am very pleased with both buys especially the Manos.  I wouldn't normally buy so much because at full price it is nearly £10 a skein but this was far more reasonable.

I shall end with a gratuitous cat picture because it is so hard to get N00t in a good pose.

Cat in repose