La Sirena

Gifts

Thats right, I said gifts, so if you are a member of my family, please go browse somebody else's blog until after X-mas, or New Years ..or 3 Kings day.  OR read along and see that you are both in my thoughts and on the tips of my needles and though I am bit disorganized, I really do desire to drape you all in my warm and fuzzy hand knit gifts.

That said, day before yesterday I broke down and went back out for store bought gifts after having an epiphany to the tune of "there is no way I will finish all the "little" hand knit projects I had in mind this year by Christmas, or even by the end of the year". 

This was after coming to the realization that just a bit over a week shy of Christmas I have a grand total of a sock and half knit.  And, no it is not the argyle sock.  I thought maybe I should warm up with a simpler sock while I puzzled out the details.   

Here's the completed sock.  Knit in Knitpicks gloss (a merino/ silk blend and yes, it is as luxurious as it sounds) on size 3 needles. Made up pattern, using a simple slip stitch diagonal pattern within a 3 stitch ribbed pattern.  I wanted a pattern that was classic and manly but also interesting.    I'm most satisfied with the result.

Nevertheless, it has been a long time since I worked size 3 needles and its been slower going than I thought a project of this size would be.

So, I went out to get some of this and that for those relatives whose presents are still nothing more than a ball of yarn (and no they don't knit). 

I really had no intention of buying more yarn.  Really.  But then a lovely blend of glowing earth tones and blues and grays caught tugged at my peripheral vision.  Patons, no less was offering a wool soy fiber blend of cool shadows over a golden ground.   I couldn't resist.  This was just the stuff I was hoping to find for my father's fingerless gloves.   Despite, still not having finished my other 1/2 sock, I cast on. 

I love, love, love it.  The way the colors seamlessly blend one into the other, the worsted gauge, the soft glow (OK, the yarn is a tad bit itchy, but even this feels right in this yarn).   I imagine clouds passing over a field of grains: wheat or oats maybe.

The yarn's name? SWS (soy wool stripes), not the most evocative name, but perhaps the people at patons thought the yarn would speak for itself.

Etsy Shop

We now have an etsy shop!

www.SilverMermaid.etsy.com

Come visit!  I'll be adding things throughout the month (mostly jewelry, but maybe some knits as well).  Right now it is mostly rings. If you see something in our blog gallery (or you've seen it in person at an art market) that you are interested in purchasing but that's not on etsy, feel free to ask and we'll be happy to post it for purchase through etsy (unless it has already sold), which facilitates paypal purchases etc.   

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Grandmother's Argyle

My grandmother's knitting story goes like this: when she was in college it was fashionable for girls to knit argyle socks for their sweethearts and male friends. 

My grandmother was a brilliant student, entering college at the age of 16, and of Scandinavian descent no less, surely, one of her male friends teasingly challenged, she too could knit argyle socks. 

Ever the pragmatist, my grandmother's response was to hire another friend to knit her the socks, which she then presented to the challenger passing them off as her own.  Needless to say, I did not learn to knit from (either) of my grandmother(s).

This year I decided to take her argyle challenge and knit her some argyles of my own (shh. don't tell). 

I'm beginning to see the wisdom in her original course of action.  My first attempt looked OK from the front, but the myriad of looped strands in the back seemed like a bad idea in a sock: I worried about the tension, and about toes getting snagged on the loops... Rrrip.

My next attempt was in interasia,thinking I'd stitch the peach diagonals in later. I decided to work on only one sock at a time this time.  Good thing too, because this was painstaking knitting, let me tell you.  I obviously am not a master at interasia.  It looks much better from behind than before,  but it was all I could do to keep my various little yarn balls fairly straight and I still have a lot of little gaps to tug closed.  I'm beginning to think a single band of argyle around the ankle will be all I can muster if these are to be completed this year. Sigh.. Rrrip.