Addicted to Socks

The blogs I read are related to knitting, my two great inspirations are Yarnstorm www.yarnstorm.blogs.com who excels in every aspect of domesticity and Yarn Harlot www.yarnharlot.ca an ace knitter who does so much to promote the craft, so its time I blogged on this subject. I've just finished these socks, knitted in an Opal Yarn protype that came to me from Germany via ebay. They are a gift I'm taking out to Italy.

I've also knitted with Opal Elemente which gives a lovely fairisle effect without the colour change hassle, I don't have a photo at the moment but you could Google it. Opal sock wool comes in 100 g balls, its 75% wool, and one ball is enough for a pair of socks with enough left over for a pair of fingerless gloves. I only recently tackled socks and now that I can turn heels and graft there's no stopping me. In fact I just got this from ebay, its 8 balls of Opal Crazy and according to the second picture should produce some stunning patterns .

Socks are quick and easy, ideal knitting to take when travelling as you only ever need to carry one ball, the needles are short and best of all there's no sewing up. I admit I don't enjoy the finishing process, blocking and stitching, better to travel than arrive as far as I'm concerned, which is strange as according to personality questionnaires my team role is that of completer finisher.

I have aspirations to spin, I've been a couple of times to meetings of the Edinburgh Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers and been amazed by the wonderful yarn and garments the members produce. By the second lesson I was able to actually use the wheel and it was really exciting to turn a cloud of fibre into some knittable yarn, but I don't think I'll be investing in a wheel while I'm still working because (a) I don't have the time to dedicate to it and (b) I have a huge stash of wool already (and OK (c) I'm still buying wool on ebay). Besides, I have an Opal mountain that needs to be reduced.