The Rock and Weave socks are done.

I first saw this sock pattern at the Yarn Harlot's, here and then here. I thought the construction looked interesting. The linen stitch cuff (which looks as if it's woven, hence 'Rock and Weave') is knitted first as a long rectangle, and then you pick up stitches along the side of the cuff and start the rounds of stockinette to make the rest of the sock. The cuff is closed by a couple of buttons.

The yarn is self-striping, and I love how it turned out, although it's not the way that I expected it. When I thought 'self-striping', I thought it would be like those self-patterning sock yarns (Opal, Jigsaw, etc), where the skein has long stretches of one colour which then change to a long stretch of another colour, and so on. The striping in STR yarns actually contains of short stretches of colours which results in spirals of colours instead of actual stripes. Which is no problems for me, I love the look of these stripes. But I thought those of you considering STR might want to know that. As for me, I love these socks. The yarn is so nice to work with, it kind of just glides along my fingers.

Oh, and another thing I noticed with the STR yarn, is that the yarn is very tightly spun, resulting in a dense kind of yarn (as in, if you try to squeeze a strand of the yarn between your fingers, it would pretty much maintain its width) while still being very soft. I think this prevents it from overstretching and makes it more durable. When I knit socks with DPNs, I usually have problems with ladders at some point or another. But I noticed with these socks the ladders hardly show at all. Now, I am NOT saying that STR will solve laddering problems :) But perhaps it helped it not to overstretch at the joints between needles? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Pattern: Rock and Weave socks by Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Yarn: STR medium weight in "January One" colourway
Needles: 3.75mm for cuff, 2.25mm dpns for the rest

Along with new colours there are new projects as well.

I've started the Melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today, using some 2ply lace weight merino from The Knittery. The yarn is really really lovely stuff. It has a silky feel to it and the colour is just gorgeous. Although, this being my first time knitting with an actual lace weight yarn, it feels like knitting with dental floss! It took a while getting used to the lightness of the yarn. But I do love how the stitch pattern looks. Although it doesn't look like much right now.

And this is the beginning of a Rock and Weave sock (pattern from Blue Moon Fiber Arts), using Socks That Rock in the January One colourway. The cuff is knitted sideways in linen stitch, which makes a very interesting texture. These are not my 'usual' colours, but I'm loving the warm tones.

Annette's Swing Coat is almost done. It's blocking as we speak, so I hope to show you a finished picture soon.

It's Easter long weekend here until Monday, I hope you have a good Easter. I leave you with some easter craft links that I love (but sadly won't be able to make in time for this easter):

• easter birdy
• stuffed patchwork eggs
• easter peeps
• knitted eggs
• egg-shaped sideways chalks
• yarn wrapped spool animals