Recently my mother received an email indicating that Mars would be swinging into Earths orbit come August 2009.  The email indicated that the red planet would be visible to the naked eye - as clearly & as large as our own moon.   THAT would be amazing - to look up & see the Mars just like you were looking at the Moon!  It'd be like we were living in a scene from Dune or Land of the Lost.  (i sent my mom a link from Sky & Telescope, letting her know the email is a hoax).

I happened to be working on these socks at the time that my mom disclosed this supposed upcoming event to me.  The pomegranate colorway resembled the Red Planet & reminded me of the new trace elements discovered recently upon an expedition to Mars, thus the sock was aptly named Trace Elements.  

Construction:  This sock is knit using 2 circular needles, but could easily be adapted to using double pointed or magic loop method. 
I used a heel flap design & Kitchener toe technique.

Stitch Pattern:  The overall design of the sock has vertical lines - which is really nice for a sock if it is destined to be on my foot.  I always prefer that my socks have linear vertical elements rather than any type of horizontal lines.  I do not need a sock to make my legs look any more like sausages.  A thin, long line throughout a sock pattern creates length through my ankles & eliminates some self consciousness from my mind!

The Yarn: I chose to work with the TDY Magpie for this sock.  A) because no one believed me that it was in fact a fingering weight yarn because it is fluffy & bouncy, springy & full of body.  B) becaues it is fluffy, bouncy, springy & full of body.  and C) because i wanted you all to see just how the colors from the House Blend Collection work up. 

Our House Blend Collection yarns are not dyed in a traditional manner which can create patterns of stripes or repeating colors throughout your fabric.  Instead, our House Blend Yarns are dyed in a way that creates a wash of various shades of a single color or color family.  This method results in less frequency of pooling, flashing & striping.   This is one of my favorite ways to dye yarns & definitely one of my favorite yarns to knit.

Pattern coming soon    ish...

This is a very pretty light gray & pale yellow variegated yarn from the Pigeon Sock selection.  Its actually a mistake skein - which is why it gets to stay home with me. 

One of my favorite colorways is Waxwing - which consists of 2 shades of yellow, one pale & one darker & 2 equally varied shades of gray.  This skein was well on its way to being a Waxwing, but was stopped in the process, as it was accidentally dyed with just one shade of gray & one shade of yellow.  It works out wonderfully though, as while i contemplated making Swallowtail, i really wanted a gray yarn.  I remembered this mistake skein & grabbed it from my stash.  The gray & yellow are similar tones & that keeps the yarn looking sophisticated & simple, but with just a hint of added interest. 

The Swallowtail Shawl, by Evelyn Clark, was originally published in Interweave Knits, Fall 2006.  It was a project that i was immediately drawn to the first time i came across it. 

i frequently dug through my magazines & found the pattern when contemplating a new project.  I have spent lots of time perusing the finished Swallowtails on Ravelry.  But as a yarn shop owner, i was forever knitting samples for the store & never just because i wanted to make something. 

Now, it is 2009 & i am not stocking my shop full of samples & there is not a baby in my belly, i am free to knit as i please. 

Swallowtail it is!