Changing Socks Midway and Knitpicks!
My first ever Knitpicks order! I can’t believe I waited this long to order from them and the box arrived in three days flat, with free shipping. I ordered small samples, enough for a hat or a pair of socks or mittens, maybe, and the yarns are unbelievably soft. Even Wool of the Andes (the light green skeins), which lots of people said was plain, scratchy wool. My favourite is the deep red Andean Silk, which I cannot wait to turn into a soft, winter cap, before ordering more for a sweater. Like many other people, I’m a little disappointed with the colour palette of Knitpicks, but as far as my favourite – deep red – is concerned, am not complaining. The Elegance (the other red skeins at the top of the picture) is a little too bright, but I’ll probably come up with something Christmassy for it. 
In other news, finished one Shepherd Sock, but had to put the other one aside to make a pair from this lurid sock yarn, also from Knitpicks. It’s for a niece of mine who wants pink-purple socks, and it’s her birthday this weekend, so.
Also, the Stitch & Motif Maker is a blast. It has a great drag/drop feature that you can use for repetitive cable patterns. I’m having a blast playing around with it.
You can’t see it in the photo, but my size 1 bamboo needles are slightly bent from the effort of the sock they just knit. Does that happen to everyone’s thin needles? I don’t like metal DPNs but this is really weird.
I did the first iteration of the Orenburg shawl on long bamboo 0s, and they both ended up a bit bent.
I’m also intrigued by this Knitpicks of which you write. I’ve been thinking that after I’m done with the various donation hats I’m intending to get done, I want to make some fingerless gloves (or fingertipless gloves) to help me in my quest to keep my heating bill down. Most of me ends up fine when I keep the heat down in winter, but my hands sometimes get achingly cold. But then there’s the typing thing. Anyway, the various colors and yarns they sell look like they’d be great for such a thing, particularly if I additionally want to play around with patterns…
Knitpicks is great. Wonderful prices, lovely yarn. And they have a lot of fingering and sport weight, which is good for mittens. Just their colours tend to be very saturated, that’s all. That’s a good idea, actually. Tipless Gloves for Typing. There you go, you also have a pattern name. Which reminds me, I have a half finished pair of gloves I need to dig out….
It’s great to visit your blog! Your lace work is particularly inspiring, as I’m a relatively new lace knitter. I’ll have to look into the GOL – haven’t done any projects there but have the book. My list of next projects keeps getting longer! And yes, my bamboo dp’s bend after awhile, too. (Try rolling them on a table to straighten out.)
Happy knitting!
I like your blog! Have fun with the Knit Picks stuff; I’m a big fan of their yarn. (May I suggest color cards if you plan to use it a lot though. Much more accurate than the catalog.) The sock looks great.
Thanks, Yvonne and Alison!
All of my tiny size bamboo needles 2, 1, 0, are bent from knitting with them! It’s totally normal. I actually like when they get just the right curve to them that I can just zip along.