Autumn Rose has arrived!

wheheee!!!
The yarn + pattern for Autumn Rose arrived in the mail today!
It even somehow escaped the import customs +vat radar and made it through unscathed.

It looks wonderful! And with 3.25mm needles, it´s a nice change for the 2mm needles I´ve been using for socks + some other stuff lately.
I´m starting it right away! Picture will come...

gaahh!!! How irritating is this?!

It´s obviously the week of difficult socks! How else to explain this...reluctance to turn into something beautiful and nice?

First, the gorgeous Claudia Handpainted sockyarn I bought at loopy ewe. Wonderful stuff, even had a nice scent. I knitted it up into the japanese feather socks. The gauge was right on spot! My gut feeling was telling me to go for 2mm needles rather than 2.5mm as called for in the pattern for the main lace knitting, the socked seemed to turn out kind of big. But oh well, I settled on the "I don´t frog, besides, I will fix it when blocking"-approach. Duh!
Not enough yarn!!! Bummer, now I´m going to have to frog anyhow or find someone with really short yet stubby feet. (the picture shows the "finished" sock, and what´s left of the yarn, top right in the picture)


Secondly, I tried the Schaefer Anne yarn on a third sock pattern, with some small faux braids. I´ve tried this yarn on several socks before, but it always turns out too loose and stretchy, just like it did this time as well. Finally, I caved in! I´m knitting it into completely normal, simple and easy socks. This yarn will NOT be bothering me anymore!!
That being said, theyre turning into rather nice, normal, simple and easy socks :-)

Part of my irritation with this yarn is probalby what happened with it when I went to wind it from the skein- the picture says it all. My method ALWAYS works, so this really annoys me. I open up the skein and put it so that the yarn is wrapped around both my underarms. I then wind up the yarn into a ball, keeping my underarms apart, so that the yarn stays wrapped that way while I wind it. Much easier than using backs of chairs, knees, hubbies arms, and all other strange things I see people using.

Oh, I also sent a couple of packages to my Secret Pal 11. She liked the yarn and stuff I sent so much, it was really touching! Makes me want to send more :D

New yarn, finished projects

Some new yarn arrived in the mail today! Yummy!
I got some K.Knits Superwash Me sockyarn, colourway Alaska, and Claudia Hand Painted Yarn fingering weight yarn colours limeade and twilight. Gorgeous stuff and so, so soft.

I also finished some mittens that I really like. They´re made from the Camel Wool yarn I received from my secret pal 10. The pattern is from My Life´s Work Free Patterns. I´ll definitely make more of these mittens for xmas presents or something, they´re so quick and easy yet look like quite complex.

Finally, a really bad picture of a sock for one of my nieces. It has a little pattern from Socks Socks Socks that I quite like with the stripey yarn. Spices it up a little bit.