Sockages

I mentioned in the last post that I cast on a pair of socks. They are for my Beloved Future Husband whom I refuse to diminish my raving about.

The yarn is from my ever-loving stash (more about the lovely stash later)

The main yarn is Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima 100 Socka 2085.

It is a nice 3-ply weight grey heather composed of three plies of brown-grey wool with two additional plies of black and white, and nylon for durability.

The toe, heel and stripes are knitted in an unidentifiable 3-ply cadet blue variegate.

I used the Turkish parallel needle cast on with two circular needles, size 1.

I finished the toe and a bit of forefoot in one night.

I placed 1x1 twisted rib and then 2x2 twisted rib for 1/2". (Durability in high stress area)

I then switched back to stockinette and added a cute blue stripe for 3 rounds before switching back to grey.

I shall add more later. But for now, back to knitting this sock for my Dear Loving Future Husband!

The Yarn Supply in Dahlonega, Georgia

Lady Lacewings loves to knit socks. Why am I writing in the third person?

Alas, sleep deprivation strikes again.

On a whim last night (as always, as things can only ever be created on a whim), I decided to cast on for a pair of toe-up socks. I am, of course, making up the pattern as I go along. Usual vendetta against my brain. But wait! What's this?

I used yarn from my stash. GASP! I didn't go out and search for the most perfect of perfect options?

No. Unfortunately, and to my immense dismay, there are but two locales from which to purchase fibery stuffs.--

*Except during the months of October (Goldrush) and April (Bear on the Square). Street vendors will sell beautiful artisan goods including needles, handspun yarn, and hand-dyed alpaca.*

--The first is WM. Now, the WM in Dahlonega, Georgia is not for the faint of heart. There, you shall find derelict dregs of society intermixed with sorority girls and the eyes from the hills. And then there are the sweet old ladies that want to talk with you for an hour before you must dash because you are now late after being stuck in the twilight zone that is the Dahlonega WalMart (For our purposes, it shall henceforth be referred to as the DWM).

Now, the craft section. Not so bad if you are a budget quilter who likes smurf and flaming basketball prints. No Michael Miller or Amy Butler here. Sigh. The ribbon comes in neon colours and the shelves have pictures of ribbon styles for ease of restocking. However, not all styles are present and some are placed where they do not belong, as if on purpose. Oh, the Laze. The sewing needles are ok, if you have a Singer or Brother machine in one of 3 models.

Note: NEVER purchase a serger/overlock machine from DWM. Enough Said.

And now, the "yarn".

Yarn is "yarn" here, because the quality and redheartedness of the entire shebang is just too acrylic for my little woolen soul. No offense to dear Gram, but loads and loads of sport baby acrylic and supersaver acrylic and that dastardly ribbon thing in garish colors to be made into a jellyfish-like thing are just an eyesore. Admittedly, the colours of the Lion Brand "Amazing" are appealing, but only until you read the label to discover that it is, alas, but an acrylic incog of wool. Ah! Lion brand has wool-ease, right? But only in weights that are not rather appealing to flighty fingers of the sock and lace knitting populus.

The prices should be a quarter of the shelf proclamations, because how many dollars does it really take to produce that petrol derivative stuff? (Needless to say, the price should be less because it is produced IN MY STATE).

The conclusion is that WM "yarn" is for beginners only. Unless you have the hots for those groovy McCall's Home Crafts or Needlecraft magazines circa 1967. Wavy Afghan callin' your name?

There is only one exception: The sadly discontinued bamboo rayon yarn that Red Heart marketed as crochet thread. It acts like silk and is very pretty. I got 6 balls for $1.50 each and never saw it anywhere again, ever. Sad.

The other shop in Dahlonega is Magical Threads. The building is the first house built in Dahlonega. You will find pure, unadulterated wool YARN there. I bought some pencil roving from Plymouth yarn company there, and it was $16. I later spun a 2-ply laceweight from it and ran it through a fishing line gauge to measure it at 748 yds. That would have cost me about $10 more if it were pre-spun, I figure.

The shop does have Crystal Palace Mochi in a few colours, and some kidsilk haze. The yarn selection is mostly novelty yarns, but they are all on sale and they have K1C2 Ty-dye coming in.

In the next post, you will find more about my past and present sock knitting. Let's not be preemptive. I can't even resist the future.

Back to University

School is back in session, and my university classes are taking up all of my time. Not to mention the fact that clinical times keep changing.

It is a boon that I finished the main structure of my wedding gown before the start of the semester.
I shall upload photos when I get home.

I am so happy that I do not need to make alterations at this point in time.
I allowed the dress to hang for about two weeks now. I will not hem it until I have completed everything else, including the beading, because the weight of embellishments can affect the way that the hem will fall.

One thing I am stuck on is the flat satin piping. I could not find any double sided satin ribbon in the town where I reside. I had to settle for one sided satin ribbon that is not as pearly as I would like. I don't know if I will end up using the self fabric, but I really don't want to go to that point. It will be difficult to pull off.

As for the embellishments, so far I have completed the cascades that will be attached to the back with hand stitches in white thread.

I shopped for embellishing trim for the cascades with my mother. At first, I wanted a heavy machine crochet Victorian-type trim with little picots around larger scallops. However, my mother dissuaded me and said, "That's just not you." So instead, we came to a consensus on a slightly pleated white lace trim with little scallops that have smaller scallops bordering the edges.

When I was pinning this to the edges of the cascades, I was disappointed to find that the lace was unevenly sewn to the strip of netting that holds all the pleats in place. So, different widths of lace throughout the length make it look kind of tacky in my opinion. But I am a perfectionist and Lord only knows that I would spend a year crocheting little picots round the edges with a size 14 steel hook and white sewing thread.
Or even worse, I would probably spend every waking hour with tatting shuttle in hand, clicking out gazillions of tiny little picots that would then have to be sewn onto the edges by hand.

I think I'll have nightmares now. My hands will be working in my sleep.
Actually, someone cast a spell on me so that I can be more productive and finish knitting all those UFOs in my sleep. I'll pay you in yarn.

Anyway, getting sidetracked here.

I shopped for lace fabric and could not find exactly what I wanted. I ordered lace from fabric.com but ended up sending it back because it was really strange and made of that shiny, heavily draping poly-acryl which makes me sweat, just by looking at it.

I went to JoAnn's Fabric in Gainesville (my wonderful Fiance drove me there, as I was coming down with some horrendous illness and had a migraine)

We decided on a luxurious, light-as-a-feather white Point d'espirit, the same type of lace used on Elisabetta of Belgium's beautiful wedding gown.

This is the same fabric I will be using for the  cascade veil.

I decided to omit the sleeves from the gown. For a June wedding in North Georgia, sleeves of any kind would make me suffer in the heat.

Besides, I worked hard for my biceps, and this gown will certainly show them off!

Speaking of biceps, I need to get to my 11am Critical Injury Management class.

And then hand off a rather nice 4-page love letter to my Fiance...