Dear Koigu,

I know it's been a while since we've been together - too long, in fact. I'll admit, I found myself interested in other sock yarns, and well, you ended up getting the shaft. I'm not saying that it was right, but sometimes, even though you know you're destined to be together, you stray. It doesn't mean that I didn't love you while I was experimenting with Artyarns Supermerino or gallavanting around town with Lorna's Laces, it just means that I needed to make sure that you're really the one for me. I guess I needed to experiment with some other sock yarn so that I could really know, with all of my heart, that you're the best.

Yes, Koigu, I know now that you ARE the best. I can't promise that I'll never touch the Lorna's Laces or Mountain Colors Sock Yarn that hang around my house, but you can be sure that I will always come back to you.

My heart, if not my fingers, will always be faithful to you.

xoxo,

Elisa

~~~~~~~~~~~

FO Alert:

Pretty much, my knitting has sucked ass recently. We won't talk about Lara (No. We. Won't.), or my Retro Rib Socks, or my Shapely Tank, or my Angel's Rest Sock. We'll just say that they went to the WIP pile in the sky (or FO Purgatory). After The Unpleasantness with my Shapely Tank, I really needed some comfort knitting, and with lots and lots of babies on the way (don't get any funny ideas - OTHER people's babies) I decided to get a start on my Christmas baby knitting.  I present to you the cutest damn thing I've knit to date:

Pattern Specs:

Tasia's Cardigan, Pattern #607, by Friends of Cabin Fever

Yarn: 2.5 skeins Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK, Color SH804

Started: August 17th, 2005

Finished: August 24th, 2005

The pattern is well-written, the yarn is a dream to work with, and I am so pleased with the result that I keep picking the sweater up and rubbing it against my face. I haven't bought buttons yet, but my plan is to buy them once I know what sex this particular baby will be. Girl baby = cute girly buttons. Boy baby = cute boy buttons.

~~~~~~~~~

Sock it to me, Baby

I also wanted to talk to you about socks. Obviously, I have re-committed myself to Koigu KPPPM. I'm having dreams about A Good Yarn's wall of Koigu. I'm giddy with the Koigu right now, giddy I tell you.

But there's been a problem. I really love knitting socks because they are the perfect portable project and they have always been a calming knitting project for me. So, after I had knit three pairs of simple stockinette socks successfully (say THAT 4 times fast, 'kay?), I felt like I wanted to tackle a more complicated sock pattern. Let's recap:

First - Socks Soar on Two Circs. We know how that turned out, right? Frogged.

Second - Peak Experience Socks (um, no - that didn't work so well) Frogged.

Third - Retro Rib Socks (cough *bastard sock* cough) Frogged.

Fourth - Angel's Rest Socks (f*cking too tight stupid a** mumble mumble) Frogged.

So - what's the problem? I know I can knit a more complicated pattern that any of those listed above, and really, I don't think any of these socks really needed to be frogged. They could have been saved, I just didn't want to save them. No matter how much time I had spent on them, I just didn't care about fixing them. I just wanted the yarn freed up (although I am starting to think that I have some jinxed Lorna's Laces) for other, last bastardly projects.

Here's what I think:

Elisa wants sock knitting to be relaxing.

Counting stitches and pattern repeats is not relaxing

Therefore, Elisa should stick to simple stockinette or ribbed patterns.

I'll admit, I thought this made me kind of a loser until I was talking to the wonderful Allison at Circles, and she was saying how she likes to keep her sock knitting simple because if she's going to spend the time working on a complicated lace pattern, she wants it to be in a shawl or sweater. Now, if you've been lucky enough to meet Allison, you'll understand why having her say that really helped me relax about the whole thing (yes, this was becoming a Thing). I know I can knit lace because I've got a couple of lace projects on the needles that are coming along swimmingly, so I'm just going to chill the f*ck out about needing to knit complicated sock patterns and go back to enjoying my stockinette socks knit in gorgeous Koigu.

I do have some questions for you, though:

What are your favorite sock yarns and where do you buy them?

What the hell is a pimento cheese sandwich? Her Bookishness asked me if I had ever had one before, but she didn't tell me where I can find one. That girl has a mean streak, I tell ya.

Does your best friend ever try and bribe you with jalapeno poppers? Mine does. I love her.

Comments

[Kathy]

Have I told you how much you make me LAUGH!! Gah! The whole sock thing had me dying! And the Pimento Cheese? Still dying!

I can't knit a sock to save my life. I TRY to love socks. I have plenty of attempts at trying to love socks. But every sock I make sucks. Really.

But that Baby Sweater?? Definitely doesn't suck. That is adorable!! And I love that you're waiting to pick the buttons - so they're the perfect ones. What a great friend you are and what a great gift!

And just because I have to weigh in on the whole Pimento Cheese thing... even though Kellee pretty much summed the whole thing right on up... store bought is a little like knitting socks for me... I keep trying, but haven't really found anything that doesn't really suck. But homemade? Holy give up any thought of dieting. Gimme some with some cheddar in there - whip it in the cuisinart so its all soft and blendy - mmmmmmmm. That stuff is the BEST!

[Kristen]

It's nice to read about others who feel the same way about simple socks that I do: the simpler, the better to carry around and do a few rows here and there.

I haven't tried every sock yarn out there (but have been picking up a selection to have on hand and now my selection to choose from is growing) but I do enjoy Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport (a 100% merino wool). I have some Artyarns Supermerino lined up next and I hope it'll give me the same sort of sock. (I also have a slew of LL's Shepard Sock ready for Christmas socks and trekking and some regia stretch.) my opinion on opal and regia is impressed but not overly impressed; there are some great colorways out there, but they make for a utilitarian sock.

Someday, when I feel like I can afford it, I'll try koigu. Till then I'll keep sighing deeply when I see others socks-in-progress.

(sigh).

[Erin]

Well, my favorite sock yarn in Mountain colors. But I have to preface this by saying I really haven't tried any others (other than Regia, of course, but you can only make so many self-striping socks!) I'd really like to try Keigu or Lorna's Laces, but none of the LYS around here carry them... To say the least, it's a bummer!

I have to agree with you here about wanting socks to be simple because they're what calms you down when a complicated sweater starts bringing you down!

[Keiko]

I LOVE the sweater! Maybe I'll re-start my knitting with baby stuff for my nephew/niece... great job!

[Lolly]

Hey dear E! Love the little baby cardi! It is SO cute! (is it really taboo to ask about Lara? I am really curious about her... I was even thinking of knitting her...)

you know, I really love the simple sock patterns--I have the same philosophy with other knits. simple--and you can always "jazz" it up with the special yarns.

Hope you have a great weekend, E!
xo

[margene]

Everything goes better with Koigu...have you tried socks? Pick a simple pattern and get the basics of a pair of socks down and when you feel more comfortable go for the more complicated patterns. The little jacket is just too cute!

[Kellee]

How cute is that?!?! Love the baby sweater.

Socks: AMEN on the easy sock. The rest of my projects can be hard, but the socks have to be easy. Favorite sock yarn so far: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, but I have some Mountain Colors sock yarn in my stash that I'm dying to play around with. Both came from Winsor Button in Downtown Crossing. I will say that I also liked the Knitpicks sock landscapes stuff a lot, but it's an entirely different animal. Luckily, it's cheap, so if you end up not liking it, it's not such a huge loss. Caveat: I have yet to get to knit with any Koigu, so gauge accordingly.

Pimento Cheese (also known in The South as pimenna cheeze): grated velveta, pimennas from a jar, Miracle Whip, cayenne, black pepper and salt to taste. Mash it all up in a bowl & refrigerate. Served most often on Sunbeam with a side of sweet tea. "City folks" are rumored to use cheddar cheese and plain old mayonaise. I've also heard tell that they'll use *gasp* whole wheat bread, but then, they's all crazy anyhow, so who knows? MY mamma, she used TWO kinds of cheese (cheddar and monterey jack), but we don't talk about that much 'round here. T'ain't her fault, really, she shouldn'ta never followed that fella out to CA. They all told her nothin' good could come of it, but she went on anyway. Oh, and she used that crunchy, nutty wheat bread with them seeds all in it, but don't you DARE tell anyone I told you that.

[melanie]

Yay baby sweaters!!

[heather]

pimento cheese. yeah...that stuff is good. It's YELLOW-ORANGE...like Crayola crayons.

Hey. I decided after much gnashing of teeth (retro-rib) that all socks for me...should be 2x2 rib on the cuff and straight stockinette tops with a nice heel. No complex pattern going down the foot...it's a nice idea and I'm glad some knitters are masters...but I agree...simple socks are the new black. :)

I'm in step with you...My next sockies are plain jane! :)

[Colleen]

I'm with you and Allison about the sock knittng....

That baby cardi: soooo cute.

The cheese-sandwich business: sounds, um, interesting. Where do you get one round these parts?

[freecia]

Ay-ya! Don't I know how this is going. Petticoat Socks? They've taken up torture. Two repeats of 4 need to be tinked. I got your tink right here... GR.

Cherry Tree Hill http://www.fullthreadahead.com/cgi-bin/yarn.shop/st_main.html?p_catid=9 makes a very lovely yarn. 420 yards a skein. It cheeses me to buy 2 skeins of sock yarn but it /does/ let me return the unwound skein after the mate gets sent to the depths of my closet (much scarier than your closet).

I love Rowan Cashsoft. I almost made my sockpal socks out of those...

[Bookish Wendy]

Huh, I didn't even realize that Kraft made a Pimento Cheese. It's always a bit orangish. And VERY yummy. It's smashed cheeder cheese, with pimento's in it. Recipes vary (as I just discovered with a bit o' Google search.) You can make it although as Sue said, I can't imagine it will match the pre-made version. When I lived in GA I just bought it where ever it was on the menu or if it was in the deli fridge at Kroger.

And it's not like I was holding out some important info--- there is Google. I'm just sayin'!

[Sue Walker]

P.S. Do I want to know about the 60 guys and the golf tournament story?

[Sue Walker]

I can answer the sandwich question! On one of my famous world tours (okay it was just one of our USA RV trips) we stopped in Hannibal, MO. and I ordered a Pimiento sandwich. It was good old Kraft Pimiento cheese on Wonderbread and it was delicious. I've tried making them myself but I can't duplicate the flavor - it must have been one of those you-had-to-be-there moments.
Sue