FO and UFO
My dining room windowsill is the catwalk for knitted objects. Just outside the window is a line of conifers, then a forsythia bush being eaten by a honeysuckle, like a slow-motion cage match. The forsythia is not winning the fight. This is my pair of finished Immigrant socks, and one Maizy Monkey sock in a rare (for this week anyway) sunny moment.
Pattern: An American in China from Knitty's Spring 08 edition.
Yarn: Urban GypZ Twisted in Curry with Raisins.
Duration: 12th to 24th April.
I dropped the stitch count to 50st for the foot, and 48st for the cuff, it's a guy-sized pattern and I have small feet, even for a girl. The linen stitch sole feels like there's a piece of leather sewn on the bottom of the sock. It is dense and solid with little stretch to it. I think I like them, but I wouldn't do this in fingering weight. Haven't worn them much, they're for slouching around the house.
The Urban GypZ yarn is NOT superwash, so I'll have to be careful about washing them, and there was some pooling on the cuffs I didn't like. On the first pair, the cast on end felted from being sat inside the sock, which makes me wary of the yarn, plus the pilling on the back of the heel. I didn't let the cast on end sit like that for the second pair. Got the yarn from The Loopy Ewe, but they don't sell it anymore.
The solitary sock is a Maizy Monkey, started April 28th. One is complete and the feel is ... different. Maizy is a yarn made from corn fibre. Doesn't feel anything like cotton or wool, it feels soft and dry, like thirsty paper on dry hands, almost velvety. I like how it feels on my foot. The yarn is a certifiable split-monster, but I'm OK with that because of the finished product. I think this will be a good spring or autumn pair. There's a picot hemmed top, a panel of Monkey lace down the front and back, and a half-linen stitch heel flap. I wasn't going to mess with grafting this so there's a three needle cast off for the toe.
Maizy is one of the several new Crystal Palace yarns. They're coming out with a bamboo/soy yarn in the autumn that I want to try, called Panda Soy. It looks to have the same construction as Panda Cotton and Maizy, both of which I would get again. I think they're an acquired taste to knit with but the end product is worth it.
Both of these are in my yarn reviews, along with a whole pile of other yarns. Each new yarn I use gets reviewed, there are 47 reviews so far.