The cool weather we've been having lately has me thinking about wool. Not that I ever really stop thinking about wool but I'm thinking about it more. I'm pulling out old projects and thinking of new projects and trying to come up with projects for yarns I really love. I went through a pile of wooly goodness in the corner of my sewing room on the weekend and started pulling a few things out.

I found...

a pair of mittens I started in the spring. It's not going to be too much longer before I'll be wanting to wear these. It would be handy if they were finished and had thumbs by then. I'm following the Mitred Mittens pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.

I found...

two skeins of Sheep Shop Sheep 2 Yarn in bright fiery warm reds and oranges. I've wound this up and cast-on for a bulky cowl but I'm not sure I have enough yardage. I'm a little undecided on what I'll do if the cowl doesn't work out. I saw some versions of the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat in this yarn that looked pretty cool (er … warm) but I don't know what I'd do with the second skein.

I found...

the Gnarled Oakwoods Stole I started in BC three years ago. Somehow in the intervening time I had developed an idea that this yarn was not working out for this pattern. I don't know what I was thinking. I did a few rows and remembered how lovely this yarn and these needles felt to work with. Maybe this year will be the year I sit down and work on something a little more difficult. Maybe I'll wear a new stole to Rob's staff Christmas party in December.

I found...

a ball of fuzzy blueness. I love this ball of yarn. It's a skein of Quince & Co.'s Osprey yarn in the colour Delft wound together with Garnstudio DROPS Kid-Silk (colour 6047). I started knitting this into a hat before Christmas last year but only got a couple of rows in before I realized I needed the needles for a present. Now I want to wear it and can't decide on a pattern. I was originally planning to make Felicity. I also really loved the lace edging on Ripley. I was thinking of doing a bit of a mash-up but when I went to look up the patterns just now I found this and this and this. So now I'm completely undecided. I wonder how long I've got before we get out first snow?

After how excited I was about this yarn and this pattern when it arrived you'd think I'd have cast on my socks in less than two months but I got distracted and, though the ball was wound a while ago, I only just scrounged up some waste yarn for a provisional coast on. This is the first of my Unisex Slip socks in the Rockin' Sock Club May colourway Maia. The pattern actually calls for a regular cast-on but I prefer a provisional one for a knitted down hem - what better way to ensure your cast-on is not too tight than to simply not have a cast-on.

I've been working on the pattern for a quite a while in a different yarn as a pair of toe-up socks for Rob but it is nice to finally be using this yarn. Each way I see it it seems more lovely. I often like a skein of hand-painted yarn a smidge less once it is wound up and the colours are all mixed together but this one didn't diminish. It's fantastic to knit with; every colour is my favourite for as long as it lasts and when it pops up again it is like a wonderful little surprise. The pattern is great - mostly plain, quick knitting but with a simple, easy to memorize pattern for just a few stitches. It keeps me entertained without being at all difficult. This is already a go-to pattern. I mean, I'm knitting it into two different pairs of socks for two different people … at the same time … and I'm not bored. Part of me wants to use July's yarn in this pattern too but I think I should give Fences a try first.

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Silk
Size: As written
Yardage: 2 skeins (about 640m, I have about 20m leftover)
Needles: 4.00 mm

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Finally all finished and delivered. In fact my sister was over when I finished knitting so I didn't even have to deliver it; I just handed it to her. I got this yarn for Jane's birthday way back in November and told her I would knit her a scarf or shawl out of it. Every so often I'd show her how it was going or give her a little update on my progress so it was especially nice to be chatting and sharing a pot of tea with her when I cast off the last stitch.

I'm sure I said this before but this yarn is incredible. Luscious is the only thing it could possibly be called. Silk always has a lovely drape but being a sport weight means this yarn is a little heavier than you'd expect when you think of silk and, along with the dropped stitch pattern, makes a scarf that just flows around your neck and over your shoulders. Jane said she's going to keep it at her desk at work to keep off the perpetual chill in her office.

The knitting on this project was pretty straight forward. The increase rows went quickly and the decrease rows went really quickly … and the even rows in the middle took forever. I don't know why they seemed to take so long - maybe it was all the purling - but my attention span for knitting the even rows on this scarf was sadly deficient. There are thirteen repeats of the centre pattern and I was pretty excited when I finished number eight. Half way! The result was worth it though. The dropped stitch pattern has a really nice, squashy texture and the columns of stitches were really fun to unravel.