Socks turned Feather

I'm sure I have mentioned these socks before somewhere (I think). My brother Gabriel is a US Army soldier and is Iraq bound in November. He came home in June to visit and I said to him that I would make him a pair of socks, fingerless mitts, and a beanie. Well, its almost mid-October and I'm barley at the heel.

I am knitting them two at a time and I have a semi-good excuse. When he was here I had him choose the yarn. He chose Berroco Ultra Fine Alpaca which was a good choice. I made it up both insteps (also two at a time) on US0's and the yarn was a bit lighter than fingering. It was taking for-ever aaaand they looked way to small. I reassessed the socks and decided they weren't the right ones. I looked and looked for the right yarn. I also decided that the yarn should be a super wash merino. The only limit was that they had to be a charcoal gray for them to be appropriate to wear in the Army.

I finally found Cascade Heritage 150 (or something like that, cant find the label) in a charcoal grey from Paradise Fibers. I re-casted on with a US1 and am waaaay happier with this project. They are bigger and much quicker to knit up. I usually do the short row heel but decided I wanted a heel flap and gusset. I had never knit one before since all the socks I have made are toe-up with a short row heel. Rachel for the Knitcents podcast talked about how she had never knitted a toe-up sock and decided it was time and came up with a gusset and heel flap for her sock. So that's where I am.


In other news I have found a gorgeous simple lace weight cardi pattern. The Featherweight Cardigan. This happened around the same time that I was knitting my brothers socks the first time around. I normally don't buy patterns but this one had me sold instantly.

I love layering in my wardrobe especially sleeveless or spaghetti straps with light long sleeve tops. I went to two of my LYS's in search of a nice lace weight in black. Could you imagine no one had black lace or even sock weight? The only sock weight I found was Berroco sock yarn in acrylic and nylon.YUCK. So I decided to buy a new skein of the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (before deciding to frog the socks).

I was knitting furiously for days. I managed to get past the armholes and even begin a new skein (the new skein now was a frogged sock :))half way through the second skein and 3/4 done with the body I try on my cardi aaaaand...its super scratchy and itchy!!! I guess my skin does not like the alpaca. I was super sad when I laid my bare arms against the body and it just felt awful. I have not knit a stitch since and don't plan to. Now I have three skeins of this yarn that I don't plan to do anything with. I should probably just sell/trade them on Ravelry. I am now planning to save up to buy some lace weight cashmere in black and make it that way. Ugh, still bummed though :(