Exciting New Project - So Many Parts to Love!

For the last few weeks I have been trying so hard to finish up some older ones, and put myself on a sort of "time out" from starting new projects until I got some things finished.  Now, as there were days that I didn't WANNA knit what I had on the needles, stomp, that gave my plenty of time to plan my next project, and plan I did!!  As I planned, this started to turn in to a project of luxury - I wanted the pattern to be something I would love to knit and love even more to wear.  I wanted the yarn to make me stop and look with its beautiful colors, and be a pleasure to touch while knitting and wearing.  As I went on, I even wanted my needles to be fun and cooperative and a joy to use.

First, the pattern.  Socks.  I go through cycles of wanting socks, shawls, sweaters, scarves, and socks again.  As much as I was fed up with the socks on my needles, I love knitting socks and love the portability and general ease and of course the final product!  I looked to my bookshelf to inspiration, and reached for my newest book.  knit. sock. love. by Cookie A, quite possibly the most brilliant sock designer we've seen so far!  This particular book is special, as it's a gift from my friend Kate, AND she got it signed by Cookie A herself!  Yes.  This is the book that I would work from for this project.  Marlinda seemed to be just the right combo of interesting, simple, and able to keep my excitement.  This would make me happy.

I had my sock pattern.  The next step?  Yarn.  I sorted my Rav stash by sock weight, and was a little alarmed to find that I have 51 different sock yarns in my stash!  Buying new yarn was obviously NOT an option, because that would just be absurd!  So I paid close attention to the options I already had.  Cookie A's socks tend to really shine in solid or semi-solid colors, so that eliminated 75% of my options.  Next I had to figure out what color I preferred to work with at that moment, and what would be the most luxurious.  I was again able to eliminate several options, and finally selected a beautiful skein by SweetGeorgia that I picked up on a trip to Vancouver last year (was it that long ago already??).  70% merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon for strength.  That combined with THAT reddish orange color - do you have any questions why I picked this option?  My only question is - how have I not used this yet??!

I can be picky about needles, but only in a general sense.  I like metal, hate bamboo, prefer circulars, don't go for straights, and want the pointiest needles I can get.  These patterns are really written to be knit on Double Pointed Needles, and as I hadn't used mine in so long, all my sets were all in a state of bent, repurposed ,or lost.  I needed new needles.  I did something crazy, and I SPLURGED on some Signature Needles.  But hey, it's the first $$ I spent on this project, isn't it?  I ordered my DPNs and they arrived today, and boy are the beautiful.  Signature Stiletto points are known to be wicked sharp, and the sort of "brushed" texture is very nice to the touch.  This was really the cherry on the sundae, and though not part of the finished product, would go a ways to make the actual knitting enjoyable.  I'm so excited to get started!

But first, I have one more project I HAVE to finish.  But we should have work in progress photos on these special socks by the weekend!