Displayable Knitting

I have knit quite a few things this fall, but can show hardly any of them. THESE, though, are a present for ME, so you get to see!

I even put them under the tree.

Last spring my friend came to visit for the weekend, and brought me three balls of yarn from her recent trip to Iceland. "Direct from the factory!" she said.

With three balls of sock yarn, the possibilities are nearly endless, but I opted for a simple toe-up knee sock, with a little teeny yarn-over rib. They're knee socks, but I like wearing them scrunched up.

Yarn:
80% Icelandic wool, 20% nylon
Tension:
About 10 sts per inch on 2.25mm needles. (I used 120 cm long Addi Turbos)
Pattern:
Using a long circular and magic-looping, cast on 12 stitches using figure-8 cast-on. Do half your increases each end of both needles EVERY ROUND, then the other half of your increases every OTHER round until you get to 72. Knit until it's just at the start of your heel, then do a short-row heel. As soon as that's done, start your pattern stitch for the leg. Which is:
Row 1: k4, p1, yo, k2tog, p1, repeat to end.
Row 2, 3 and 4: knit all knits and purl all purls.
Row 5: k4, p1, ssk, yo, p1, repeat to end.
Row 6, 7, and 8: knit all knits and purl all purls.
Repeat rows 1 to 8 until it's long enough to reach nearly to the widest part of your calf.
Switch to 2:1 rib. (k2, p1)
Knit til ball runs out (save a couple of meters for a cast-off), and bind off loosely in pattern.

I ended up with 25 yarn-overs in total, in each column.

These socks aren't warm - they are HOT. Icelandic sheep are not kidding around.

Thanks so much, Beth Anne! Love you. (And I still have a whole ball left to make mittens!)

Behind the Scenes

I used to write a knitting blog. I miss those days sometimes.

Niece's Socks

Pattern: none. Basic Stockinette with a 1X1 rib at cuff, a slip-stitch heel, and a wedge toe.

Yarn: Fortissima Socka mit Bambou, 60% wool, 25% bamboo, 15% nylon

Yarn Source: Needle & Arts Centre

Yarn Cost: $20

Needles: 2mm and 2.25mm Addi Turbo

Tension: 40 sts over 4 cm

Cast on: December 30, 2008

Bound off: January 10, 2009

Size: Youth size 2-4

Notes:

I tried to use the Addi Turbo double-points for this project, but got a lot of laddering. It might be because the double-points are pretty heavy and I'm used to the lightness of a circular. I went back to magic looping with a slightly smaller needle (Addi doesn't make a Turbo in 2.25mm in the 120 cm length).

Gwen's Chalet Socks

Pattern: Chalet Socks from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks

Yarn: Phildar Preface, 70% wool, 30% polyamide

Needle: 2.5mm Addi Turbo 120cm long circular, for magic loop

Tension: about 36 sts over 10 cm

Cast on: December 27, 2008

Bound off: January 8, 2009

Modifications: Left out one cuff repeat, making these a little shorter in the leg. I was worried about running out of yarn - needn't have been, since I have more than enough left over.

Notes:

I'd make these again - they went surprisingly quickly and were fun to knit. The pattern was a little tricky to memorise at first, but after about 2" of the travelling twisted stitches, I had caught on and didn't need the chart too much anymore.

I've cast on another project, from the book I got for Christmas from my sister. These are Veronik Avery's "Woollen Gloves" from Knitting Classic Style. They're meant to go under a pair of fingerless Latvian mittens, but I'm undecided as to whether I'll make the mittens or not. They are pretty cute together....

The yarn I'm using is Crystal Palace's Panda Silk, a blend of merino, bamboo and silk. It's gorgeous yarn. Soft, smooth, with a little lustre...I'm knitting it on 2.5mm needles and getting a little finer tension than the pattern specifies, so the glove is nice and snug. It's a nice quick knit, with an easily-memorised pattern - a simple lace scallop. In fact, it's almost the exact same pattern as the Lacy Scallops socks.

Soon I'll be casting on for the next of Ruby's sweaters - Mason-Dixon's "Fern" cardigan, knit in Sisu sock yarn. My goal is to finish it by Easter - knit on tiny needles and with sock yarn, it will probably take me some time, so I'd like to get going. At the moment though, I'm happy to be knitting something for myself for a change...

Cleaning House

I've been working on finishing up WIPs lately. I finally tracked down a ball of the red Regia 4-ply from my ill-fated Sockapalooooza experience, A YEAR LATER. The dye lot was drastically different, but I didn't care - I plowed through the last half-sock and got 'er done. Here are Cookie A's Gothic Spire socks, finally finished.



Pattern: Gothic Spire, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Regia 4-fadig. 75% superwash wool, 25% Polyamide
Yarn Source: Uptown Yarns, Courtenay, and The Wool Shoppe, Parksville
Yarn Cost: $24
Needles: 2.5mm Susan Bates circular, 100 cm long, for magic loop
Tension: 9.5 sts/inch in stockinette
Cast on: May 2007
Bound off: July 31, 2008
Modifications: None.
Notes: I loved this pattern when I first saw it but I don't know that I care for it as much now. It's complicated to look at and my eye finds it hard to decipher the design. That being said, the socks are nice and long, comfortable, stretchy and warm. I am finding them a bit roomy - I originally cast them on for someone else, so used the largest size. I'd prefer them tighter, but that's what the dryer is for, no?

I must admit I wouldn't make these again. They are impressive and pretty, but the yarn wrapping bit is a bit much. This is what you have to do: slip next four stitches onto cable needle. Wrap working yarn twice [or four times, depending] around the four stitches. Knit the held stitches. It's a right pain. You can't get around the required cable needle - there's no way to do the wrapping without holding the stitches on a separate needle. Very time-consuming.

But it's nice to have another pair of socks in the drawer - and red ones, no less.



So I'll keep 'em.

Growth - with photos.

Origami beads, strung with Czech glass (and yes, the odd plastic) for a friend.

Cap Shawl update - I'm on round 153 of 163. Once the main body is finished, I shall have the pleasure of knitting the attached border.

Stripey socks news: a disaster befell me while I was riding to knitting a few weeks ago. Due to a combination of careless sock-stowage and winds generated by incredible, super-human speeds, my sock-in-progress, along with its Addi Turbo, got sucked into the pedal thingy. Like, the place where the pedal is attached to the bike. The entire shooting match was wrapped so tightly around the pedal thingy (help me out here, Lizbon) that I had to cut the yarn free, and now my Addi Turbo is permanently kinked in several places. Dirty grease is immovably ground into the leg of the sock. And I have lost my mojo.

But look how good my dinner was.

Baby Yukon Golds, olive oil, butter, rosemary from my garden, Maldon salt and cracked pepper.

Pink hardy geraniums, and my first ever stargazer (I think that's what it is).

Chives, a very pretty plant that also provides highly popular bee and butterfly habitat. These are unbelievably hardy, fast growing, and you can cut them down after their first bloom to get a second one later in the summer. Hummingbirds love them too.

And with all this stitching, knitting, cooking and weeding, some things are bound to take a backseat.

(Hi, knititch!)

Busy. Cold. Soaking wet. And messy.

Welcome to our home! This is the front closet.

Below is the ficus, which has become habitat for a little tiny spider. Tiny, but prolific. In four days the guy spun a mass of webbing from the ficus ONE METER up to a paper lampshade, then another ONE POINT TWO METERS over to the mantle. And this isn't just one web - it's a six-inch wide mass of strands. You can't see from this picture, but it's quite splendid. Mr HSBoots glanced up at it and said "When was the last time you dusted?"

I don't know, but I can tell you it was after the last time YOU dusted.

I haven't had much knitting time lately. Between the kids, the dog, the garden and the housework (ha ha!) the yarn has had to take a backseat. However, in my waiting-around time I've done one of two socks:

in Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn. (Thanks for the yarn, Ames!)I'm knitting these at about 7 sts per inch on 2.5 mm Addi Turbos.

Can I just say that the best part of magic looping is the money you save on needles? I used to knit socks with two circulars, which is great except that you have to buy two of the same size needle. A 30 cm needle costs the same as a 100 cm needle...might as well buy just one.

Lastly, it is May the 13th. Please observe my thermostat:

I HAVE THE HEAT ON. It's 8 degrees and pouring outside. Not even the DOG wants to go out today. He went over to his potty corner when he first got up and, shivering, squatted down to answer the call of nature. He looked up at me with a resentful eye - which got a direct hit a second later by a huge, icy drop of rainwater from the pine tree.

It was hilarious, but he didn't much appreciate my laughter. Can't take a joke, I guess.

And last night I drove past the house of pain. Would-be Ike Turner's vehicle was sitting comfortably in the driveway. I guess this means they patched things up, after all.

Ain't love grand.

Prima Socka

Marina Piccola II


Pattern: Marina Piccola, by Kate Gilbert
Size: 78 stitch sock, to fit women's size 8.5-9 (UK size 5-6)
Yarn: Sock, by Sweatermaker. 80% merino, 20% nylon (I think....not sure as no ball band)
Yarn Source: Fun Knits, Quadra Island
Yarn Cost: FREE because the skein was tangled like Days of our Lives
Needles: 2.5mm Addi Turbo 100 cm long, for magic loop
Tension: 9.5 sts/inch in stockinette
Cast on: February 10, 2008
Bound off: March 29, 2008
Modifcations: Used "m1" instead of "m1 left" or "m1 right". Couldn't see much difference on such a dark yarn, and the m1 was way faster than the m1L or m1R.
Notes: I like this pattern. This is my second time through it. One thing I don't like about it is that there is no glossary given, despite the fact that this is a purchased pattern, so you are not sure exactly how she wants you to do your increases. The first time I knit it, I spent a bit of time browsing around the internet looking up different ways to "make one left' or "make one right". I wasn't happy with any of the methods, especially since I knit socks so tightly, so I eventually abandoned the directional increase in favour of a generic one.



The star toe could be explained better. The method is easy enough, but I would have liked her to be more exact about how to arrange the stitches so that the decrease lines would be in the right places. This is probably just as much my problem as hers, since I was using the magic loop method and the pattern is written for DPNs.



I LOVE the cast on that Kate calls for. You cast on more stitches than you need (114 for a 78 stitch sock), join in the round, and on the first row you k2tog, p1 all the way around. So you've decreased your extra stitches straight away, loosening up the cast on edge so there's no tightness at all, but it's also not droopy. What's hard to remember is to simply cast on at a good tension, rather than doing my "I'm-casting-on-for-a-sock-so-be-loose" thing.



The sock that results is very comfortable. It's nice and clingy, the twisted rib providing just enough stretch to be snug, without being tight.


I'm glad I have my own pair of these, but I think for my next pair I'll move on to a different pattern. Actually, I think I'll move BACK to a plain stockinette sock for my next pair. I like knitting without looking and this pattern does require your attention.