LK Knits

[cross-posted from Knowledge Problem]

There's this really great outfit called Blue Moon Fiber Arts that makes some of the most gorgeous hand-dyed yarn for knitting that you can imagine; gorgeous yarn born out of the vision of one woman. I bought my first Blue Moon yarn, a variegated rayon in amazing shades of olive, a year and a half ago at Knit Purl in Portland, Oregon (a very nice and friendly store). Over the past year, lots of knitters around the world have fallen under the power of Socks that Rock, variegated sock yarn from Blue Moon. Indeed, I myself have a large skein of Socks that Rock, in the Cobblestone Country colorway. As soon as I'm done with the bamboo socks I'm making for the KP Spouse, I'll be making these for myself.

Blue Moon runs a Rockin' Sock Club in which you can sign up to receive a bi-monthly fix of Socks that Rock yarn for a year, among other goodies. Like so many other hobbies that appeal to fetishists, things like this sock club for this coveted yarn produced a frenzy, so much so that ... Blue Moon's bank closed its accounts and refunded all of the money to sock club members because they were convinced that Blue Moon was running a scam!

Is this the Patriot Act and the Bank Secrecy Act run amok, or just incompetent bank implementation of said regulation? It is certainly poor customer service!

For the Reader's Digest condensed version check out this Yarn Harlot post and this post at January One. Just to give you a sense of how big a frenzy this yarn/club have produced, note the almost 200 comments on the Yarn Harlot post about the "scam".

Note also Mr. Dubner's notes on this event at Freakonomics. His wife's been bitten by the bug too; will we soon be reading Freakonomics posts about how comfortable his homemade socks are? And he does comment that

Levitt’s sister runs Yarnzilla, an online and brick-and-mortar knitting emporium; and my wife has recently become a knitting zealot enthusiast. (I am always intrigued that so many people have embraced menial tasks — knitting, cooking, gardening, e.g. — as high-end hobbies, but that is a whole ‘nother story.)

I'd like to read that post, please, because it intrigues me too.

I love this Socks That Rock colorway, Cobblestone Country, which I bought about two years ago. Initially I made one Jaywalker sock, but the challenge I found with STR and the Jaywalker pattern is that STR has no nylon, and Jaywalker has no ribbing, so I had to fight to get it on my foot.

So I frogged it, and am in the middle of Retro Rib socks from the Favorite Socks book:

This is a very nice sock pattern; can't wait to wear them!

There's even a Favorite Socks knitalong and blog, that perhaps I should join; I think there are more patterns in here in my future!

One sock down, one to go:

The pattern is Retro Rib Socks from the book Favorite Socks (sock patterns from Interweave Knits). It's an easy pattern, but it is not entirely brainless.

The yarn is Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, in the now-discontinued Cobblestone Country colorway. I love the colors, and I love working with the yarn. These socks will be pure joy. Now all I have to do is finish the second one ...

Last week my friend Nancy was in from out of town, and we went on our annual yarn crawl. This time we went to Chix With Stix in Forest Park. I love it there, and don't make it there as often as I'd like since Forest Park is kind of out of the way for me. Sadly, though, Howie the dog was taking the day off and was not there ...

They were unpacking a big box of Colinette Jitterbug, which I bought in a very yummy color called "Velvet Leaf". It's shades of subtly variegated olive green, and the sheen of the yarn was just amazing.

I've never bought Jitterbug before, but I am really looking forward to a nifty pair of socks out of this. Perhaps a pair of Monkey Socks?

I should knit down my WIPs before I start thinking about another pair of socks, though, no matter how tempting the yarn is!

My Retro Rib socks in Socks That Rock (Cobblestone Country colorway) have been getting a little loving lately too:

I am to the point where I am ready to start the heel flap. I know lots of folks don't like the heel flap and ankle part of socks, but I love it! I particularly love doing the decreases to get the curve of the ankle. Just beautiful.

I love turning heels and knitting the gusset decreases. This is my favorite part of knitting a sock, especially on the second sock, where I just want it DONE!

I took Cat's "New Sock Architectures" class at Stitches Midwest on Sunday. It was great, and I recommend a class from Cat to everyone. By thinking open-mindedly about sock construction (let's try putting the increases ... there ... and there ... ), Cat has really opened up the sock universe.

I've always been a top-down, double-point sock knitter, and it's always worked for me, so I haven't messed with it; I've exercised my curiosity in other aspects of my knitting! This class is certainly going to change my view of making socks, particularly toes, heel turns, and edging.

And I am so in love with Judy's magic cast-on that it's not even funny! Here's Cat demonstrating it: