I powered through sore finger tips and aching hands to get the heels completed on the socks yesterday. My hands are so sore, but I'm loving every minute of it! I had some trouble with the heels in all honesty. Remember this is my first time doing either toe-up or two-at-a-time, AND I decided to use a new wrapping technique on top of it. I used Alice's Shadow Wrap, and actually I much prefer it to the standard wrap-&-turn I've used previously. The tutorial for the Shadow Wrap here.
See, I really did complete the heel!
I am really liking the pattern so far. It is easy enough to do while I watch tv, and it is quite pretty without being too feminine. This would make a great sock pattern for either guys or gals.
So far I am pleased with how the socks are turning out except for one thing; the yarn color. I made sure to get yarn out of the same dye lot, but they are wound differently. One has more prominent contrast threads than the other and I swear the shade is much lighter. I am still torn whether to gives these as gifts or not. I was leaning towards giving them as gifts, but now I am thinking I may just end up keeping them. I think the socks are beautiful, but the whole not really matching thing bugs me to no end. I don't know what I'll end up doing in the end. It may depend entirely on how much time I have and how many projects I can get completed before Christmas time.
Now to get to the exciting part; the needle order! I stated previously that I was trying to decide which needles to get. I would like to get an entire set of needles that I love, but I need to find which needles I love first! I will be getting at least one circular needle of KnitPicks Harmony line at the end of this month, but wanted to try something else out in the mean-time. After several searches I discovered that the number one knitting needle preferred by the majority of knitters are Addi Turbos.
I placed an order today on Amazon.com for 3 Addi Turbo fixed circular needles. I ordered all of them in 32" cords with a size 0 and a size 1 in regular tips and a size 1 with lace tip. I wasn't going to order a lace needle, but figured heck, I am trying to find my perfect needle after all. The needles are nearly twice as expensive as the KnitPicks needles at $13.50 each. I think that is probably as high as I am willing go pay for individual needles. The KnitPicks Harmony needles are $7.49 each for the smaller size. My order of Addi Turbos should come by the end of next week. Once I am done with the Diamond Wave Socks, I will work on my husband's jacket until the new needles come. I am really looking forward to using them!
While ordering my needles I do believe I may have stumbled across a nice online yarn store. I bought my needles on Amazon.com, but it was through a third party vender named FabYarns&Knits. I went to their website out of curiosity and was pleased by the premium yarns and tools that they carry. I have had a hard time finding luxury yarns on the web, but they have a pretty good selection at FabulousYarn.com It is nice that they also do discounts. You can sign up for their newsletter and get 5% plus they give a 10% discount on every order. The 5% off stacks with their other discounts too. Orders over $100 get free shipping on top of the percentage discounts. There is even a crazy 30% off if you order over $1,000. It would be awesome to get that much luxury yarn, but good heavens that is a lot of money! I can't deny it would be a great deal to get $1,000 worth of yarn for only $700, but that is like my yarn budget for the whole year, lol Their discount page here.
I will probably end up making a $100 order from FabulousYarn.com either end of next month or early November. It would be a great place to get luxury yarns for Christmas gifts from. 100% baby alpaca hat anyone? That would make one dem fine gift :) I will no doubt get the yarn for my husband's jacket from there if I end up making a nicer quality one for him. Oh the yarn I would buy if only I were rich! lol
I believe that is all for now. I will be posting again with pictures when the socks are complete.
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