Granny Cowl, Socks, and Tour de Fleece

It seems like I’ve done a pretty good job of clearing off my needles recently, which left me with not a lot to work on. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I do have Matt’s scarf, the High Seas shawl which I haven’t even photographed yet, and that crochet scarf. They weren’t really holding my interest (either scarf) or weren’t good portable knitting (I’m looking at you High Seas shawl with your charting on every row). So… I started some new things!

A while back I saw Mary-Heather’s granny squares cowl. I knew right away that I wanted to make one! I’m terrible about being random in color choices when it comes to knitting or crocheting and I didn’t much care for weaving in a lot of extra ends from having two colors, so I decided on using my handspun from last year’s Tour de Fleece that had enough color differences to make them a little more random. The Corriedale fiber was from Zarzuela’s Fibers in a special colorway for TdF last year. I have 16 squares so far (aiming for 24) and I like how they’re turning out!

Handspun Granny Squares

With the Gush socks off the needles, I figured I should pick out another sock pattern to knit considering it IS the Summer of Socks. After all the previous failed attempts, I decided I was going to get this Summer Spirals pattern to work for me. 54 stitches were still not enough and 64 stitches were still too much, so I figured out a way to add just the right amount of stitches. I cast on 60 stitches, adding in one purl stitch in each purl section. Now I’m basically following the 54 stitch sock with the addition of one purl stitch in each section. I think it’s working out pretty good so far. Just a few more rounds until I start the heel.

Summer Spirals Socks

Starting one new pair of socks just wasn’t enough for me! I decided to join in on the CSI: Most Wanted KAL and after a week or more of debating which sock to start with, I finally settled on Dawn Gnot using Plucky Knitter Primo in Sassy Sprout. I’ve done the toe and two repeats of the chart so far. The yarn is really nice to work with – soft MCN blend with a tight twist. Definitely need some more when I can manage to snag some!

Dawn Gnot Socks

This past weekend was not only a holiday weekend, but the start of the Tour de France and for the fiber spinners out there, it was also the start of Tour de Fleece! I made the decision to participate fairly close to the start of Tour de Fleece, so my only goal was to “do some spinning.” Now, I have to admit, this may have been some poor planning on my part. For some reason I knew that it started July 2nd and still thought that it must surely start later in July then that. On top of that, this past weekend ended up being a pretty busy one. I have to hang my head in shame and admit that I haven’t done a single bit of spinning yet. 😦 I suppose it’s a good thing I only joined the Lantern Rogue team, where you know you won’t be able to spin every day, since I figured there’d be a few days that I couldn’t do any spinning. I just didn’t think I’d start out with no spinning the first weekend, a holiday one at that with 3 whole days off! I plan on getting my wheel out and doing some spinning tonight. With the gym, having to grocery shop tonight, find time to make dinner, and Matt working a different summer schedule then normal, I don’t know that it’ll be that much time. Some time is better then no time, though!

Anyone else doing the Tour de Fleece this year? If you’ve set goals for yourself, how are the going so far? If not, have you done much spinning yet? So far I’m not doing so hot, but there’s still time to make up for that! Hoping to have some spinning progress to share next time. 🙂