Bloomin' Socks, not bloomin' onions (although, those do sound really good)

I got the book Sensational Knitted Socks a while ago, and have poured over it, carrying it around with me in my bag, keeping it next to the bed, moving it from bookshelf to coffee table to knitting area to bookshelf, but have not yet actually USED it. Until this weekend.

You see, a few weeks ago, I casted (casted?) (is casted truly a word? is it a word we knitters have made up? does it really matter?) on some socks for my dear Aunt B, who is recovering from a bout with melanoma, among other things. Poor dear lost a toe and a half, and has been acclimating to a sort of new reality lately. She lives back in the hometown, and could really use some homemade goodness. Momma is making her a nice big afghan, prompting my sis to float the idea of me making her socks. I immediately began some toes, some really lovely toes, in STR (is there anything else, SERIOUSLY, does anyone else even MAKE sock yarn?!?!) Cobalt Bloom. The toes sat on the needles for a while – I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them, although I did know that I did not want to do Jaywalkers (no offense, Jaywalkers - you have been good to me) or a regular ole ribbing, and stockinette socks, for me, are too tedious to undertake more than once every few months. S’s Tiger Socks were stockinette – sometimes they seem to take longer than a patterned sock. I knew I wanted to do something a bit different, and I grabbed Sensational Knitted Socks and dragged it from room to room with me, searching for the perfect pattern – not so complicated that memorizing it was out of the picture; a stitch pattern that would compliment the beautiful pinks, purples and browns that make up Cobalt Bloom; something that would be just plain fun to knit (think Jaywalker pattern); and something feminine and girly-ish. Guess what? I found it!

The name of the pattern is innocuous enough – the Yarn Over Cable pattern. Sounds okay, if a bit boring, eh? I gotta tell you, this is one gorgeous pattern. Take a look:




Knitting updates for me include:
1. I have finished a VIP (very important project, that I cannot talk about AT ALL, as it is also a VIS (very important secret) that I will try to keep for a few more months. all i can say is, yowza, it turned out to be purty pretty).
2. I have also been coveting, and I do mean COVETING, what the other STR Rockin' Sock Club sock knitters out there, both those in blog-land and those i see on a regular basis, have done with this amazing yarn and gorgeous pattern. Tina is really onto something here with her "scientific experiment" idea: I have seen, in person, three partial pairs of Cedar Creek socks, and each is so completely different than the others, so outstandingly unique, and so fantastically wearable, that I feel the almost overwhelming need to cast on as soon as is humanly possible. Especially after seeing our favorite NeuroKnitter, NK, and her almost-completed pair. Must....cast.....on.......CedarCreeks....
Maybe even before I begin
3. Rogue-sleeves. Not yet alive. 'nuff said.
4. Marbles Jaywalkers continue to amuse the heck outta me. Love them, love the colors, love the slight differences in each sock. I am pulling from both the outside and the center of a center-pull ball, making my signature two-at-once, on two-circulars, and on one sock, there is a very pronounced red color, while on the other, the color is way more muted - never quite leaves the pink side and gets to the red.

And so we live to knit and blog another day, don't we, WeHeartYarn-ers? We do indeed.