A Tale of Two Socks and Two Shawls

It was the best... No. Sorry.

I've been working on the Twisted Tweed socks in the absence of anything else that's managed to capture my attention. Back when I first started them, I wrote here that I was a bit concerned that the slipped stitches would make the sock a lot less stretchy, and therefore difficult to put on. Back in the day (last year or the year before, who knows, I've lost all track of time), I knit my Tilting Sunset socks using a similar (but not identical) technique. If I remember correctly, and it's entirely possible that I do not, the pattern for the TS socks involved slipping a stitch for a couple of rows and then moving it one or two stitches to the right or left, creating some tilted and elongated stitches running up and down and around the socks:

(The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy, Cloud Jungle colorway. Amazing.) These stitches do, indeed, reduce the elasticity of the sock. Once they are on, they're fantastically comfortable, being Smooshy and all, but it does take a little finesse to get them on, particularly over that lumpy heel and ankle area.

Luckily, my fears about the simple slip stitches in the Tweed Socks were unnecessary. In this sock, you slip stitches with yarn in front on every other row, which compresses the row gauge a bit and reduces elasticity somewhat, but not enough to make it difficult to get the sock on.


As always, my meager photographic skills don't do the yarn justice (Sundara Sock Yarn, Sage over Pumpkin). The slip stitch pattern really works with this yarn, creating a lovely tweedy effect. I'm almost done with the first sock.

I'm still considering what to do for my next non-sock project. The smoke ring thing doesn't seem to be working out right now, or at least, the yarn I chose didn't seem to want to be a smoke ring. So I gathered up some magazines and some books to look for some inspiration and honed on in "Knitted Lace of Estonia," which some of you will remind me I had said would likely be the source of my next project while I was still working on the Simple Knitted Bodice.

I should pay more attention to myself.

Upon first glancing through the book, I thought that I would knit Madli's Shawl, a nice rectangular shawl with lots of lovely nupps. But then I found a lovely laceweight version of Miralda's Triangular Shawl, which just sent my plans into turmoil. The version of the shawl in the book is made with fingering weight yarn instead of laceweight. In my opinion, the delicacy and beauty of the pattern is completely lost in that yarn. If I had only seen the version of the shawl in the book, I wouldn't even be thinking about knitting it. Now, having seen what it can look like in a more delicate yarn, well...

This is what I love about Ravelry! (Or hate, depending.) There are so many variations on patterns that we can't all visualize, so it's wonderful to get to see those variations made real.

But now I don't know which one to do! From nothing, to too much, in one day.

Opinions?