Parsley Socks!

Today a number of goodies came in the mail for me from Knit Picks. I ordered 3 skeins of Shadow Lace in Midnight Heather, 3 skeins of Gloss Sock in Parsley, "Respect the Spindle" book, and a ball winder. All of it came in less than a week so I'm ecstatic. I took the time to wind up my Parsley into little yarn cakes with the winder asap and it was quick and fun. I can't wait to start winding more yarn up into little yarn cakes BUT I want to jump immediately into the pair of socks for Greg.

I'm knitting up for him Men's Merino Socks by Nancy Bush from Interweave's 2010 Knitting Traditions magazine. I got the magazine a while back for the articles especially the one on the Cowichan sweater history because I was knitting up a Cowichan-like knock-off from Knitscene at the time but I fell in love with wanting to knit up some of the other patterns inside. I chose the Parsley green Gloss sock yarn for Greg's socks because it didn't have any synthetics in it to agitate him and I figured it would be a nice splurge on some merino/silk blended sock yarn for a present.

The Gloss has gotten some mixed reviews on Ravelry from different users. Some folks complain that it wears out quickly and pills for heavy duty stuff while other people says it felts too easily or even stretches out a lot. The complaints are so varied between that and the myriad of compliments that the yarn gets for its shimmer and feel against your skin though so I'll take my chances and do a pair of socks and see how Greg likes them. For the price, it's worth experimenting with a pair of socks for my man.

In the skein, the Gloss didn't really impress me as a shiny, silky yarn but as I knit it up it felt pretty buttery and it started to show its shine knitted up. I've been mindful of the yarn in seeing how quickly it pills by rubbing on the ribbed part of the sock I've already knit up and so far it's holding up well. I've only got an inch or so in on the 3.5 inch long ribbing but knitting up in such a tiny gauge on size 2s are making my wrist stiffen a little. I must be out of practice in knitting in the round on dpns on tiny needles.