I have always loved shoes. My shoe collection is probably not massive by anyone’s standards, but it is carefully chosen – there are few pairs that I don’t care for. In the winter I tend to wear high heeled boots most of the time – they are warm, and that way I can wear heels in the winter without freezing. But when I do buy another pair, I find that a new variable has entered into my considerations – “How will they look with handknit socks?”
Luckily, they look very nice.
I bought these at the same time as a new pair of boots (it was a buy one, get 1/2 off sale.) I wanted a pair of flat soled boots, for those times when heels aren’t what I want. I confess, although I love these I am totally at a loss for how to wear them.
They are a little too big in the calf for me, but so are all boots… I have something like the world’s skinniest legs, and the world does not make them small enough for me. I always have to buy them too big and deal. They aren’t as big as they look here though… they are unzipped. Do I wear them over pants? Because I tried that, and I thought I looked strange, but that may just be holdover from the last time I work pants tucked into boots in the 80s. I got these because I don’t care for the clunkier riding boot styles of flat boot, and I liked the retro 60s aesthetic. I have worn them, so they aren’t returnable… any advice on how to make them work?
I have been swatching a little, to no one’s surprise. For my fellow soft tweed lovers I thought I would share a new find.
It isn’t labeled a tweed, but it has different colored flecks, making it tweedy in my book, if not a traditional tweed. This is Beaverslide worsted, a blend of merino and mohair. The mohair makes the yarn soft, but is not apparent in the skein. The yarn is somewhat minimally processed – it contains lanolin still, but it does not smell sheepy to me (this is a big deal to me; I hate strong sheep smells.)
The yarn has a sturdy, dense feel, but it is not in the least scratchy or hard to knit with. I would call this a softer version of Peace Fleece (I can’t knit with peace fleece, but this was lovely on my hands.) It is easier to knit with than Kathmandu Aran, and if you like that yarn I think you would love this. It knit to 4.5 st/in on US 7s before washing, and blocked to 4.25 st/in. There is a tiny bit of vegetable matter, but not nearly as much as could be found in, for example, noro. I’m planning to use this for Vivian by Ysolda from the twist collective. I was worried that it was too thin, but having knit with it I can see where it will be nice and dense for cables (it looks nice in cabled garments on Ravelry.) It was a bargain I thought as well. I’d recomend checking out their website, they have many lovely colors. I’ve also heard good things about the McTaggart tweed, though I have not tried it.
I also swatched my nature wool for Wisteria. I got 5.5 st/in on US 6 needles – so seriously not a worsted weight yarn. I love the slight variegation. I’m hoping this will be my next sweater after Vaila.
I am nearly finished with the first lace repeat on vaila. I can’t say that the sweater is super fast – the lace pattern is on every row. I made one error already, but I’m hoping it isn’t noticeable. I should also mention that I did not do the special cast on. Since I’m changing the shaping it didn’t seem important, and to be honest I almost never do special cast ons (don’t even get me started on tubular cast ons!) Thanks for the suggestion to knit the sleeves inside out – what a great idea! I will certainly try it.
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 