It’s time to answer a few questions from the comments.

Hannah asked if Loft is an appropriate yarn to use for knitting socks. I say no. It is a softspun, light yarn and is not superwash. It is far more suited for hats, scarves, sweaters, mittens, etc.  and would be great for colorwork or lace, in my opinion.

When I first fondled Loft, the yarn that it most reminded me of, off the top of my head, is Alice Starmore’s 2-ply Hebridean: a soft, lightweight yarn. I haven’t gotten around to comparing them side-by-side yet, but at some point I will, to see if my immediate reaction was close to reality.

Linda asked if, when I create some gradient lace from the Loft I purchased, will I put the lightest or darkest colorway closest to my face. I hadn’t thought about it until now, but I think I’ll go from light to dark, with dark being on the outer edge or bottom of the piece.

I’ve not yet decided what exactly I’m going to do — circular, square, triangle, or something else.

Gail commented that she hoped I’d post pictures of our visit to Kid Hollow Farm. I will not, because I didn’t take any pictures. In fact, I took no pictures at all during our weekend away.

Seanna Lee asked me how much I expected my Filey to shrink after washing. It should shrink 15 – 20% in length and will not shrink in width.

I did not knit a swatch and wash it to check the amount of shrinkage. I like to live dangerously.

I knit a sweater from Rowan Denim abut a year ago and it shrank abut 15% in length after washing. For that project I did knit a swatch and wash it, measuring before and after. Here is the blog post about it.

I’m working on the front of Filey now. I did get a fair bit done over the weekend.

I think I mentioned this already, but I’ll say it again because it is a cause for joy. This lighter colorway of denim yarn is not bleeding blue all over my fingers. After hours of knitting with it I have just the merest bluish tinge to my fingertips. A far cry from my experience with the darker colorway last year.

In other knitting, I finished a Giant Sock. And started working on the second one.

Lucy is working on a nap.

I have acquired a bunch of new stuff recently. What better day to share photos of it than New Stuff Sunday?

When the Knitgirllls came to visit me last weekend, they brought me some lovely prezzies. A lovely shawl pin:

This is from Knitting Notions, and the wood is lacewood. I think this could double as a hairstick.

And they spun some yarn for me!

This is spun from Tempted Yarns roving, in the “Tree Hugger” colorway. There’s plenty here for a small shawl or long scarf. It’s about DK weight, I think. I’m wondering how it would look in a Trillian-style scarf?

We went to fibre space during the Knitgirllls’ visit. Conveniently, Brooklyn Tweed’s new yarn “Loft” debuted shortly beforehand, and fibre space is one of the few shops in the country who carries it. I, of course, bought some.

I got 4 shades of lavender/purple with the idea of making a shawl with a gradient look.

I also purchased some in the Fossil colorway, thinking it would look good knit up in a traditional shetland lace pattern.

When we went away to the mountains, we met up with my imaginary friend L-B. Being L-B, she brought us all gifts. I got some yummy Sunshine Yarns wool:

We took a side trip to Kid Hollow Farm, and there I got some gorgeous mohair/wool blend yarn, again with the gradient idea:

So much new yarn! So many ideas! So little time to knit!

Lucy sez:

“When all else fails, take a nap.”

I am knitting along on Filey, the sweater I am knitting from Rowan Denim yarn. Because a garment knit from denim yarn will shrink lengthwise (but not in width) one must knit all pieces of said garment longer to compensate for said shrinkage. Doing this in denim yarn is a bit of a study in masochism.

I ma making the size large, which necessitates knitting 28.75 inches in the body pattern before switching to the garter stripe pattern for the shoulders. I finally reached this point on Tuesday night.

As I stopped to measure from time to time I was tempted to really stre-e-e-e-etch out the piece for measuring. But I didn’t because doing so would end ultimately in disappointment when I washed the sweater and ended up with a too-short garment.

I am now working on the garter ridges on the shoulders.

So the end of the back is in sight.

And I will then turn around and make another piece just as long for the front.

Lucy is doing her imitation of a rug.

I am pleased to report that I have an F.O.: the Trillian wrap. Here it is draped across my office chair.

I did a lot of knitting on this over the weekend. The only reason I finished it is because Laura started a Trillian and I couldn’t let her finish hers without finishing mine.

I knit mine from one skein of Wollmeise in the “Im dunklen Wald” colorway, on a U.S. size 3 needle. I used most of the skein (and gave the tiny bit leftover to L-B to feed her hexi-puff addiction).

I have purchased a couple more Martina Behm patterns that work well with a single skein of Wollmeise sock yarn. There make great side projects to work on when I am tired of knitting with denim yarn at the end of the day. And it is a way to use some of my Wollmeise Wall of Shame.

Speaking of denim yarn, I did only a bit of knitting on Filey over the weekend and am still working on the back. The back should be done this weekend.

And I picked up my sock in progress for my commute to work. I turned the heel this morning:

This is a not-quite-so-giant-as-the-last-giant-socks sock. But it’s still pretty big!

Vogue Knitting Giveaway

The winner of the Vogue Knitting book is Lynette, who has been emailed. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.

Lucy Sez

“Meow.”

Here are the giant socks I finished a couple of days ago.

These are knit from Trekking 6-ply in color # 1806, on U.S. size 2 (2.75mm) needles. They were made for size 14 wide male feet and used up almost every bit of the yarn.

I started another, not-quite-so-giant sock:

Funky stripes, eh? The yarn is Online Supersocke 6-Ply Winter Color and is old — it’s been in my stash for a number of years, and I think a yarn distributor gave it to me. This is colorway #888. It’s another sport/dk weight sock yarn and I’m using my 2.75mm needles on it as well.

I am knitting along on Filey — see?

I’ve not knit on Trillian since last weekend, but I plan to take it with me this weekend on our knitting retreat so it will likely get some love then.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready to go pick up the Knitgirllls at the airport. Later, from 4 – 7 pm-ish, we’ll all be at fibre space in Alexandria, VA. Hope to see some of you there!

There will likely be no blog post on Sunday since I’ll get home late-ish. But I’ll be back next Tuesday.

Lucy sez:

“I’ll just stay here, okay?”