A little frosted sparkle

I did not do any knitting for Christmas this year (primarily because this year, all my handmade gifts were edible). However, I’ve been accumulating a list of gifts to make for the coming year, even breaking my ‘no yarn shopping’ rule to take advantage of the after-Christmas sale at a local yarn shop so I could pick out three skeins of the lace yarn I’ll need. And some of those gifts are coming due soon – including something for Richard’s birthday, and a pair of these cute crocheted slippers each for my mom and my two sisters.

So, considering that Richard’s birthday is actually this coming Wednesday, and the first pair of those slippers is due in about two weeks (and will require that I actually first learn to crochet), the last thing I should be doing right now is starting a non-gift project. Especially a non-gift project that uses sock yarn, US size 1 needles, and yet more slip-stitching. Right?

So I am sure it comes as no surprise at all that this afternoon I cast on for a new scarf. Ever since I finished the Murano Scarf, I’ve been consumed with the thought of using up even more of my stash of sock yarn in a similar manner. I was especially driven, because I’ve had a skein of this lovely pale blue lightly varigated, sparkly sock yarn in my stash for a very long time. I did not actually *order* this yarn; it was included as a replacement for something else I’d ordered, which I can no longer recall. I’ve tried starting a few socks over the years, but none of the patterns I’d tried really spoke to me. Plus, I am just not a sparkly sock kind of gal. Hence, it’s been languishing in the stash, the poor little skein, waiting for me to figure out how to bring out its true potential.

I also had in my stash a skein of deep, dark blue Trekking XXL; the sort of blue that I knew would look simply stunning when mixed with the sparkly pale blue. But I didn’t feel like making the same pattern a second time, so I turned to my quartet of Barbara Walker Treasuries, and did a whole lot of pondering, and casting on, and ripping out, and casting on again, until I had something that was perfect.

And now, despite the fact that I know I should be knitting anything but another slip-stitched sock yarn scarf, I cannot help myself. There is a pile of cotton yarn and a slipper pattern, and another pile of yarn with its own (secret) pattern, all calling to me, and yet, I am blithely ignoring it all, in deference to this. Edited to add – pictures removed in order to work on pattern for submission)

I just love the way the lighter yarn just seems to float on top of the dark blue background, and the way the little bits of metallic thread catch the light and make the whole thing sparkle. I am already plotting out a pair of matching fingerless gloves, likely with corrugated ribbing and a single larger diamond motif on the back. I know I should stop; put down the sock yarn, step away from the sparkles, and pick up the crochet hook, but it’s hopeless. I’m in love.