Regia's Revenge

Just when I think I have my knitting self all figured out, I don't.  At all.

My sock knitting has evolved in a way that I imagine to be quite typical.  I knit my first pair of socks in 2001, when my mom found a ball of the newest, latest greatest yarn at a shop in NB.  It was Regia Jacquard, it was fine, self-striping and came with a pattern for a basic sock.

The novelty of the self-striping yarn hit me hard.  I could work a sock that was much less complicated than it appeared.  I could learn to wrestle with dpns (which I have since given up completely in favour of circulars) and fingering weight yarn, I could learn to turn a heel, and I could wear the resulting garment fairly immediately.

Once that first pair had been completed, a Sock Knitter (capitalization intended) was born.  I was living in an area that was then rather devoid of new yarns - Halifax in the pre-Loop, pre-Tangled Skeins era - but ebay was flourishing.  I purchased lot after lot of Regia self-striping yarns in the various available patterns and colours.  It was terrific.

Trips home to NB meant a visit to the now-defunct-but-always-in-my-heart Maggie's, where the sock knitting craze was catching up with my rabid greed need for the yarns.  Road tripping for work meant new cities, new shops and the now ubiquitous sock yarns.

Lucy Neatby mentioned a new-to-me yarn called Opal, and the passion grew.  And oh my goodness, they did the most wonderful solid shades too.  Then it became an exercise in digging for patterns and finding the perfect yarns to complement them.  I realized that I was practically living in the back yard of the Fleece Artist, and her yarns began to crop up, seemingly out of nowhere, at the nicer shops.

Opal and Fleece Artist were my gateway drugs yarns to some of the more springy yarns like Cherry Tree Hill and Socks that Rock.  I began adding cables, textures, playing with construction techniques and designing.

Over the past few weeks, I've been experimenting with some of my yarns and pattern books, which as involved much ripping and re-knitting.  Then I realized I just needed the sensory and tactile experience of knitting some socks.  Of watching the colour fly through the skein and into my work.  Of letting the yarn do some of the work.

Regia has had its revenge, and it's best served late at night, when the kids have gone to bed.

This has just been a long-winded way of saying that I'm knitting into the wee hours with some great new Regia self-striping yarns, and it feels like a homecoming.  Comfortable, familiar, and right back to my sock knitting roots.  And it feels terrific.

Plunge pair #36 are for Shannon, one of Amy's preschool teachers.  She's leaving the centre to go back to uni in the fall, and I dread Amy's reaction to having to say goodbye to her.  Friday she gets tears and hugs, but today, she gets socks.

Regia Avenue, vanilla stockinette, toe-up, the usual.  This skein was half price at Have a Yarn earlier this summer, as a small amount had been used to knit a sample swatch for the shop.  I still had a ton of yardage left.

Pair #37 will likely be done today, Regia Sierra, also from the Have a Yarn trip.

Also toe-up, vanilla stockinette.

The one exception to my re-embracing of the most basic in sock yarns is the Regia Jacquard line.  If I haven't worked all of the shades, it's pretty close.  I'm so over it.  But as they come out with more lines of colours, I will always be drawn to them.  Next on my list is the Kaffe Fassett collection, and I want the whole damned thing.

In not socks, I'm using a Fleece Artist mill end from LK to work Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf.  I'd seen the leaflet ages ago and wasn't all that taken with it in a self-striping yarn.  Big thanks to the knitter in line to see the Harlot last week; she was working a Sea Lettuce in Celestial Merino Dream (Aquarius colourway, if I had to guess), and it was so gorgeous in person, I had to try one for myself.

I love the fiddly little short rows and picots, and it's all just so much fun!  It's pretty slow going, as you only work the entire length of the row (which actually adds length) every 11 rows.  However, as with most Lucy patterns, I learned a new technique, a modified bind-off that makes the picots much less tedious than with the conventional lift-stitch-over bind off.

Big shout-out to Mimi at the Loop, the mastermind of the flawless Harlot visit last week.  We were e-mailing last week, and she mentioned she had some skeins of the Opal Rainbow in stock, that it was out of stock at the supplier, that it looked like something I would like, and that she'd hold some for me if I wished.  She was right about it suiting my taste, and now I have a wonderful skein of it just begging to jump the Ridiculously Long Sock Queue (again, capitalization fully intended).

Today it's home with DD#2, who at 2 1/2 has her first ear infection.  Hugs and drugs all around.

And self-striping socks.

Comments

[Megan]

I love those Shannon socks. I'm not usually a fan of self-patterning yarn but that pattern is so subtle.

I too love self-striping yarn! Why have I never investigated Regia before?

[jess]

Heh! I love Regia, too and often go back to Regia socks. Funny thing. :) [they also hold up really well!]

[Peg]

I have heard you are a fast knitter, but you are going quickly to knit up the second sock today! Good on you!
I am originally from Dartmouth, actually Port Wallis, but I am drawn to NS knitters and your blogs have been so full of Yarn Harlot that I am enjoying her in a virtual world.
I have some Regia silk, and since I have not knit socks for almost a year, I think I should cast on a pair today!
I was lucky enough (after much begging and sighing) to get a visit to Fleece Artist's studio. What a knitter's heaven! Where are you able to buy Fleece Artist mill ends?
I have the Sea Lettuce pattern and the more I see of it, the more I know I need to cast on for it!
Happy Knitting from BC!

[Lesley]

Yes, where do you manage to snatch up those mill ends anyway?

I love plain vanilla socks in the self-striping yarn. It almost seems arrogant of the knitter to think she can "improve" the yarn by knitting it into a fancy pattern. And arrogance in knitting only ticks off the Goddess Of Yarn.

Hugs to your girl. Ear infections suck.

[Jennifer]

I saw that Sea Lettuce Scarf while standing in line at the Harlot event too! Maybe we were together at the time....anyway it was purdy! Yours is coming along nicely too.

I hope that nasty ear infection clears up in a hurry! My daughter's good friend had to have an operation yesterday, to put tubes in his ears. The infections just would not go away. Poor little guy.

[katie]

you scarf is gorgeous! i just drooled all over my keyboard...
hope your little one gets over the ear infection soon. older son had quite a few when he was small, but somehow younger son (he's 7) has never ever had an ear infection. i hope i didn't just jinx that!

[heddy]

Pretty scarf ... but I am totally blissed out by the Regia socks -- the purple and pink one is gorgeous! I haven't seen that colour before 9we live in a small town, and I don't get out much! But Ww! wahat a nice colour!) I loves me a swanky, cheery, self patterning sock yarn! You sure do have some nice ones in the pictures!

[Mary]

"This post is so inspiring," she said to her first sock-in-progress, which currently consisted of about one inch of cuff. The sock-to-be looked back at her and nodded its agreement.

[Irish Yankee]

I just love the yarns. I just went online and ordered up a bunch. This is going to be a "Sock" Christmas. May I ask a dumb question. Is a Vanilla sock a plain one with no ribbing past the cuff? What is frogged? I see it so often but I knit alone and don't know some of the lingo!! Thanks for the help in advance!!

[Rebecca]

Hello - I'm the one who introduced herself at the Yarn Harlot. I've decided to come out of hiding - its the Regia post that made me do it. I love that stuff. I also had a question about the circular needles for socks. I'm pretty handy with the 5 needle business but would like to try the circs. Do you have any tips or suggestions that you could share?
And at your prompting, I'm working on setting up a blog of my own :)