Shooting the rapids

The River Rapids socks are finished! I love them. With any luck, Mom will like them as much as I do.

(River Rapids socks by Sockbug. Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock! in Garnet)

What can I say about Lisa Souza's yarn? It's fabulous and reasonably priced. Look how beautiful this heathered solid is.


I'm about to start on my first stranded colorwork project—a hat for my nephew. Never having done colorwork, I decided to do a bit of practice. So far I'm not loving the stranding. Mentally I just can't get the hang of holding one strand in my left hand and one in my right. That means I need to hold both strands in my left, and that's where the problems come in. As far as I can tell, most (continental) knitters drape their yarn over their index fingers for control. Being the oddball that I am, I drape the yarn over my middle finger, and that's part of my problem. Stranding would be easy if I could control one strand with my index finger and one with my middle finger (as one of my fair isle books illustrates), but I just don't have the dexterity to do it that way. So it turns out I need a gadget to help keep my strands separate.


It isn't terribly comfortable, but so far it's getting the job done. I hope this works.