These are three socks that are currently on my needles. Can you guess which is the good, bad & ugly one?

Hint: The good is one of my favourite colours (purples). Well, no guessing there. The purple sock is a Trekking XXL yarn - very nice to work with, knits up quickly and the colours are gorgeous. My gauge is a little smaller than usual on these - not sure why.

Hint: The bad one is a new pattern that I am learning. Yep, I came out of my box of plain stockinette knitting of self-patterning yarn - and I am trying a pattern. It’s the yellow/brown/peach combo, a pattern called “Jaywalker” and is quite easy. I had to learn a couple of new stitches, and after awhile “got it”.  However, this sock is “bad” because it’s got a bunch of mistakes that I made knitting it (the mistakes don’t affect the integrity  or structure of the sock), plus I don’t like to frog. So, I left in the mistakes and my daughter wants them mistakes and all. The yarn is a Brooklyn Handspun 100% merino, and is VERY fine, and knits up slowly - but very nice feel.

Hint: The ugly is the last one standing - the weird coloured one. Hence the least amount of knitting.  I completely dislike the colour combinations and pattern of this self-patterning yarn (Online Supersocke). I don’t know why I bought this colour - somehow in the yarn shop it looked nice. It’s a combinations of maroon/chartreuse/lime/blue. Again, my daughter says that she wants this pair, so it’s not being thrown into a dark closet.

Geez, sometimes work really gets in the way of knitting and quilting. But, if I wasn’t out there earning, I would not be able to indulge in my passions. Here we are, Wednesday already, and I’ve barely had time to put in any knitting/quilting stitches.

On the knitting front, I did go shopping with my sil for yarn (see my last post); I got to the heel flap of my first Trekking XXL purples - this sock is in holding pattern right now,  until I see my sil this weekend - I’ll show her how to turn the heel. I’m still also knitting on the sock from hell (most ugly yarn I’ve ever seen — I know that I should rip it out and just put that skein to rest, but I just can’t help it), and I’ve now started Grumperina’s Jaywalker sock. I saw some finished socks in this pattern on Ravelry, and after reading through the pattern - I figured I could do this pattern. And, it is really easy. Once I figured out the K1 f/b (real easy) and the DD (slip 2 stitches together as if to knit and then knit next stitch, then slip the slipped stitches over the knit stich) I started and, well, I think I know what I’m doing. Some pattern is emerging.

I’ m using some Brooklyn Handspun yarn that I picked up at last year’s Kitchener-Waterloo knitting festival - the colours are a little odd — but I was attracted to them: yellow, brown and peach. They labelled it as Root colourway. I will get a photo up asap.

On the virtual knitting front - I received the Spina di Pesce sock kit from Yarnissima to join the KAL with the Yarnissima Ravelry group. It’s  gorgeous, gorgeous blues Wollmeise yarn. The KAL starts on April 4th. This is the KAL that I need to get ready for by learning how to knit toe-up and learn some stitches, plus figure out how to read those charts.

I also received a pkg from Knitpicks with a book from Cat Bordhi “New Pathways for Sock Knitters” - that should help me learn the toe up thing. I also signed up for some Peanuts kits from Woolgirl (have not heard back yet as to whether I go in on those.) And, phew, I joined the Indigo Moon Ravelry group just in time to discover that Indigo Moon will be running it’s first ever Yarn Club!!! I’ll be watching out for that one. And, last, but not least, I’ve been reading the buzz about some people having received their March sock kit from BMFA.

So, considering I’m having a busy week at work, and, now that I put it down in words, I did have time for some knitting related stuff - and the week is not over!!

On the quilting front, I managed to get a quilt in to Jan (long arm quilter) for quilting and I just have to get one last border onto my Holiday Sampler quilt, and then I can drop that one off with Jan as well.

Wow! Imagine how much of this stuff I will get done when I retire (BTW, very long way off). Nice to dream about it though!

Finally got around to finishing these off. They are luxuriously nice and soft. I think that it is the mohair and silk that makes them really soft.

Apple Laine "garden party"

They knit up quite quickly. I made these 1″ shorter in leg length than I usually do because each skein was 190 yds (174 m), which is less than others that I’ve knitted up. In the end, I would have been able to make them the usual length - there was enough left over. Hmmm..could this be a good case for learning how to knit toe-up?

A while back I started on an Online SuperSocke in a weird melange of maroons/greens -  oh-oh, I think I’ve run into an “ugly” sock situation. I don’t think I like these for myself, and they are too frightful to give to anyone.

To counteract this, today I’ve just casted with some Trekking XXL in nice shades of muted purple — can’t miss with those!