DSC00588.JPGI’m smitten. I absolutely love this new (to us) Louet Gems line. Here is my Grape sock, finished up yesterday. It’s the Waving Lace Socks pattern from Favorite Socks. It was very easy to knit and I love how it turned out. It has a long cuff and I have long feet (size 11) and you can see in the photo the amount of yarn I had left over from 1 skein. (I followed the pattern exactly, and knit with #1’s.) Good to know that I can get by with 2 skeins for these socks. They are so comfortable to wear, too. You’d think that since I like them so much, and the color is one that I have not knit before, and they were easy to do, that I’d jump right in and make the twin, right? (Those of you who know me, know what’s coming…..) Of course I started another design last night. Well, I wanted to try the Louet Sportweight (which really is a delightful sportweight - not very heavy. I’m still using a size 1 needle to knit it.) Now I’m trying out the Meida’s Socks with Sage. This pattern is really fun to knit, too. :-) And then after this one, I think I will have to try…

cookieexampleA Cookie A design! Because her designs are absolutely over-the-top amazing, and we just added all of them to our pattern section at The Loopy Ewe. This is a new venture for Cookie (selling her patterns - not designing them) and we are her first wholesaler. My only problem will be deciding which one to start with. They’re all incredible. They all call for Louet Gems, too - so it’s a good thing we have the entire color line. (Ahem. It’s a good thing we have the entire color line ordered. Still waiting on the other half of the colors, but they have shipped so we expect them any day and will get them up immediately. This is one of our “big lines”, so barring any unforeseen problems, expect us to have it in most all of the time.)

I also like yarns that are semi-solid - meaning that the color intensity/shade varies throughout. You’ll see this in many of the wonderful J-Knits yarns, as well as All Things Heather, Apple Laine, and Claudia Handpainted. We’re also getting a great new line of semi-solids from sKNITches next month. I have a sample skein and it’s beautiful. You’re going to love it. So for those of you who are finding fun lace patterns to knit up and you want the stitches to pop, try some of these different solids.

Of course that got me thinking. Why do I love knitting socks? Well - there are lots of reasons. They’re portable, they don’t take a whole lot of yarn, they can be as challenging or as simple as I want them to be, they’re relatively quick to finish, etc. But one of the biggest reasons for me is that it allows me to try all different kinds of techniques and patterns without having to commit to a whole sweater of it. It is a great way to experiment and learn. That brings me to this month’s contest. Leave a comment and answer this question: What do YOU like about knitting socks? I will do a drawing next Monday to see who wins this month’s fun “Loopy Loot” package - so get your comments in!

I did a little re-stocking today - more Wildhorse Farm patterns, more Zephyr stitchmarkers, and more Loopy Totes. Of course there is always more, more, more in the works!

Sheri loveseeingallofyourFrankandMarthasocksphotoscomingin!