There Has, In Fact, Been Knitting

Granted, 99% of my knitting these days has been happening on the commuter rail, but lately it's all I can sneak in (more on that later). But I find that my fingers get twitchy if I go too long without knitting, and even a few rows on the train will take the edge off.

So, first up: socks. This is Fannie's Fingering Weight Yarn in Purple Rainbow, from Farmhouse Yarns. I got this back in May when I visited Purl in NYC - S. was with me, and he was kind enough to climb the ladder to reach it. I've never seen this yarn in any stores in MA, and I really like knitting with it. And it holds up really well - I knit another pair of socks with this yarn over 2 years ago, have worn them a lot during the fall/winter/spring, and they are still in great condition. This yarn can be machine washed and dried, but I still opt to hand wash and air dry as with my other handknit socks. Given the ugly heat, these won't be worn for quite some time, but they are DONE. (Pattern, by the way, is the Yarn Harlot's "sock recipe" from this book.) Also, Farmhouse Yarns does make sock yarn, but I find this weight works quite well.

Next up: still on the needles, but about 3/4 done is a scarf using the beautiful Malabrigo Silky Merino in Caribeno. I bought this yarn last fall at Windsor Button, which is my work LYS (my home LYS is the Franklin Mill Store, which also serves as my home fabric store). Now. I love knitting with Malabrigo merino so much that once upon a time I started knitting a boyfriend an afghan out of the stuff, and kept on knitting it even after he dumped me. However, I find that it pills something awful and had vowed to avoid it, but this yarn was so incredibly beautiful that I caved. Happily, it's been great to work with, and it has a lovely sheen to it. I don't yet know about the pillage factor, but the project has been living in my purse for the past few weeks and seems to be coping just fine.

This scarf pattern is the Pink Aura scarf from One-Skein Wonders, although I needed two skeins of this yarn to have the adequate yardage (and I prefer my scarves long anyway). I've knit this pattern before, and I highly recommend it - first, it is very easy to memorize so you don't have to lug the book around, and second because it seems to work with pretty much any yarn at any gauge. In other words, it's pretty difficult to screw up, and depending on your choices you can wind up with two very different-looking scarves. I am admittedly on the fence about how this yarn is patterning - in some places it's pretty stripy (see photo below), and in other places the dark blue is almost turning into big polka dots. I'm pretty sure it will all be fine once wrapped around my neck, though. I did intend this to be a scarf for spring, but it seems very warm and so I'm thinking it may see some use later this fall and winter. Assuming, of course, that I finish it by then...