Updates with photos

In the last two months I've finished a pair of socks, most of a child's cabled cardigan (burgundy), a woman's hat, and I've started another child's cardigan (storm blue).

I knit the hat for my mom's friend but had to give it away before I could get a good photo of it. Too bad, it was pretty cool looking and the pattern isn't on Ravelry yet.

I'll finish the first cardigan after my niece tries it on. It just needs a second sleeve, and I don't want to bother with that until I know the first one fits her right. I can handle ripping out one sleeve but I'd rather not rip two. Did I mention the sleeves are knit entirely in seed stitch? Not my favorite thing in the world. (I purl with my left thumb so doing anything that involves repeating K1P1 is slower for me than the average knitter.)


this color is not accurate

this isn't the real color either

I'm excited about the storm blue cardigan, it's a gansey style pattern (decorative knits and purls and a fancy cable) designed by E.J. Slayton, found in a 1994 Knitting Digest magazine. So far I've knit the first 6 inches of the fronts and back. It's worked in one piece to the armholes and finished off with applied i-cord trim and i-cord buttonholes -- which I might change up, I haven't decided yet. The yarn is beautiful, it's the Storm color in Knitpicks Swish DK (superwash). The wool is very soft and I expect it will pill like crazy but oh well, 6 skeins only cost $18. I'm hoping that the cardigan won't have to be washed as often as a regular pullover sweater.

I don't want to know how long it took me to slog my way through these socks. Ugh, so boring to knit. The heels are solid blue because I cut out the other colors and wove in a bunch of ends.

Updates: Socks and Mittens

I finished the St. Paul socks:


yarn: Lana Grossa #1004 on size 0 Addi Turbo
I'm not sure if I like how the experimental toe feels on my foot so I might rip them out and try again (good thing they were knit top down).

... started another pair of boring basic socks:


yarn: Regia on size 0 Addi Turbo
The short row heel is hiding under the sock, I made it solid dark blue by cutting out the other colors. Hopefully there will be enough yarn to make a matching blue toe.

... and knit up a swatch for these mittens:


yarn: fingering weight Shetland wool on size 1 Inox
That's light green on dark green, not black

The chart is based on a photo in a German pattern book, but it hasn't reached the final polished stage yet. For unknown reasons the original chart is not actually in the book -- I looked at every single page to be sure. The birds are a mostly accurate copy, the rest is a mixture of what I could see in the photo, my idea of what might look good, and what fit into the chart outline. Now I need to sort out measurements and row gauge and determine if the chart is too tall for my smallish hands, which I'm guessing it is. I'm also not crazy about the thumb chart so I might start over with an empty thumb outline.

When the chart is finalized I'll post it here, but don't hold your breath, I'm still in a knitting doldrums. If I shorten it then I'll include the original for longer fingers.

St. Paul Socks

I haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting lately, just a few pairs of socks. Two pairs for me, one for mom. Right now I'm in a waning phase, and that's OK, the waxing will happen again too. I don't see the point in forcing it.



St. Paul socks (because that's where I bought the yarn)
Yarn: Lana Grossa #1004
I'll use the leftover yarn to make a matching
pair, in toddler size, for my niece Katie


I changed a few things on this sock, deviating from my standard pattern.

First, I decided that I prefer the fit of a short row heel, specifically the "no wrap, no gap" heel from Queen Kahuna's Crazy Toes and Heels. I've tried a few different short row heels (Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Charlene Schurch, Wendy Johnson, a couple others) and they all work fine, but this one makes the most invisible line slashing across the heel -- for me. It's fiddly but the end result is worth it. I'll miss making heel flap heels, they are my favorite heel to knit, but this is something I wear on my feet where comfort is paramount. However, I won't rule out ever using a heel flap heel in the future.

The second change is the toe. I've been wearing handknit socks for about six years now and I've noticed the most wear happens where the four decrease columns line up on the sides in the toe area. The yarn stretches and wears thin there before anywhere else on my socks. So for this sock I closed the toe up like the top of a hat, spacing out the decreases, to see if the yarn there will last longer.

And finally I continued the K1P1 ribbing down the instep stitches until they reached the toe, which isn't something I normally bother to do (usually I stop the ribbing before the heel). Oh, I also started with the tubular cast-on, my very favorite.

Laila's Socks, both of them

Finished the 2nd sock, so more photos...

Gee thanks...

Ravel sulked in the background after I shooed him away. (He's named after Maurice Ravel, not the thing you do with yarn.)

Laila's Socks
Yarn: Regia black and Regia variegated, fingering weight sock yarn
Pattern: from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush
Needle: US size 1 Addi Turbo

Notes: I first followed the heel as written but didn't like the heel turn that much, so I ripped it out and used my regular heel turn instead. I played with a few of the color repeats, sometimes doubling the blues or sunset repeats. I added a few extra rounds of colorwork on the foot to make it a little longer.

As far as colorwork goes this was easy, I didn't need to refer to the chart or carry it around. If you like the look of colorwork, but don't want to refer to a chart after every few rounds to see what's next, then this is a great pattern for you.

---

My younger brother asked for a hat like the (boring) Seahawks hat I made Dad last year, but he hasn't decided on the colors yet. So I guess that's what I'll be working on soon.

Laila's Socks

A few years ago I bought a ball of black and a ball of variegated sock yarn, with the idea of using them together to make a pair of colorwork socks. The yarn sat in my stash, waiting for me to design or find the right pattern.




Laila's Socks

Yarn: Regia black and Regia variegated, fingering weight sock yarn

Pattern: from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush


Right now I'm working on the 2nd sock but it doesn't have to be done until Christmas so there's no rush. I'll likely work on it until it's finished this week anyway, I don't have a specific new project in mind.

Blogger Beta allows labels! I should be able to edit previous posts and add labels to everything else, I apologize to the three people on bloglines if you see a large number of "new" posts from me.

YO Cable Socks

socks for grandma

pattern: based on the YO cables from Sensational Knitted Socks (by Charlene Schurch)

yarn: Cascade Fixation (98.3% cotton / 1.7% elastic)




I wasn't crazy about the yarn at first -- it's a little too nubbly for my tastes -- but it sure makes a comfortable stretchy sock. Even better, the elastic allows me to knit for hours without pain. Knitting with other cotton yarns makes my hands ache.

I want to mail these off tomorrow (grandma's birthday was last month) so I steam blocked them instead of doing my usual wet block. First I made a blocker using a wire hanger, which makes a lot more sense than dropping $25 plus s&h on commercial blockers. I found easy instructions here (not my page). Blockers aren't really necessary though, I've always found that gently patting the fabric into shape works too.

Ullared hat and two pairs of socks

Right now I'm working on the Ullared hat from Charlene Schurch's Hats On. It should be done by next week.


Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport @ 8 sts/in

I reluctantly decided to start with a tubular cast on. I love it but it takes an eternity, especially for a hat with 180 stitches. Of course when I viewed the results after pulling out the waste yarn I knew it was worth the extra time. Any ribbing worn around the wrists or head deserves the tubular cast on, it's gorgeous.

Also finished up some socks recently:


Trekking sock yarn, cuff down


Regia sock yarn, toe up

---

This week I checked Aran Knitting out of the library (again) and was peeved to discover extensive water damage on ALL the pages. It looks like someone dropped it in a sink full of water. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Of all the books to ruin... sigh.

I used part of my gift certificate to buy 6 skeins of dark blue jumperweight yarn, I'm using that instead of natural black for Meg Swansen's Fair Isle cardigan. I'm changing most of the other colors too and the yarn shop doesn't have all the colors I need in stock. I have to check in when the owner is around to see if she can help. I'll order online if I have to but it'd be nice to get the rest of the yarn through the shop because there's still a good chunk of money left on the gift certificate.

yet another pair of socks and a bad glove

I finished grandma's socks on the 9th and mailed them off (after a quick handwash and air dry) on the 11th.


Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, color "Jeans"

Grandma asked me to make the cuffs extra loose so I aimed for 8.5" cuffs for her 8" ankles and then decreased on the leg so they wouldn't be too loose for her foot. I included instructions on how to block the hell out of the cuffs if they were still too tight: wet the cuffs and place them over a drinking glass or plastic bottle until dry. I recommended she look for a glass or plastic bottle that is about 9" around. That should do the trick.

I love working with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock but I think it should be washed by hand if you want to keep it looking nice, even though the label says it's machine washable. I throw all my socks in the washing machine and the LLSS has pilled badly (and doesn't look that great in general, even if you ignore the pills) while my Regia socks from 5 years ago look almost as good as new. That's my experience, I can't explain why some people don't have any problems machine washing their LLSS.

When I bought the yarn for grandma's socks I had this conversation with the LYS worker:

Her: Have you used this Shepherd Sock before?

Me: Yeah

Her: How did it hold up after washing?

Me: Well I wish I didn't machine wash it, it doesn't look very good but they're just socks so I don't care that much. If I used it for a sweater or gloves, something more visible, I'd be upset that the label says it's machine washable.

Her: OK, we had a customer who was upset with us because she machine washed her socks and she felt they were ruined after one washing.

Me: Yeah, if I were you I'd recommend people handwash this yarn.

---

Right now I'm working on a pair of gloves for my mom's friend, as a favor to my mom. She selected a silky alpaca fingering yarn, black with light blue for contrast around the wrists. I should have known during the swatching process it wouldn't work but I stubbornly knit to the end of the thumb gusset before giving up on the yarn.


Bad glove

Problems: it was too itchy (even though it felt fantastic in the skein) and alpaca yarn doesn't have the kind of spring I want in a glove yarn. Duh. Lesson learned. There's some black sock yarn in the stash so I'll start over with that this weekend. I'll probably do something different around the wrist, depends on the stitch count.

Plotting the Frankenstein Cardigan

There's good news in the final paragraph so I won't blame anyone who skips all this rambling and heads straight to the end.

I finished the 2nd sock over a week ago and forgot to post a photo. Thanks for the kind comments in the last post about the edited socks, they really did make me smile. I must say when I finished the toe and turned the sock inside out my first thought (both times) was "Oh thank god I already wove in all these ends, what a pain in the ass that would have been." ;)




I'm now working on a new sock but it's nothing special, it's just another cuff-down to match one of the socks in the mismatch pair (which I haven't worn because I knew I'd eventually knit their true mates).

Plotting the Frankenstein Cardigan

I was hoping I'd be able to find the perfect Fair Isle cardigan pattern in the numerous books and magazines around here. It hasn't happened and I don't think it will. So I'll design it myself, using information in Alice Starmore's Fair Isle Knitting book (which I don't own but have borrowed from the library), Meg Swansen's Knitting (ditto), Latvian Dreams, and the Philosopher's Wool book. That's how I like to do things, cobble together the best techniques from various sources. And by "best techniques" I only mean those that make the most sense to me and seem like they'll give the result I want, that's all.

Some things I know for sure:

1) Yarn: I have plenty of white worsted wool and only small amounts of Shetland jumper weight so worsted wins. It'll be dyed after I figure out the colors.

2) Style: cardigan

3) Construction: knit in the round, so there will be steeks at the front and sleeves (and maybe the neck). I'll likely do crocheted steeks, as shown over at blogdogblog -- that makes more sense to me than using a sewing machine.

4) Design: Fair Isle based, in the sense it will have shifting shaded background colors. No snowflakes, I'm sick of knitting snowflakes. I'd also like to avoid anything obviously non-traditional, like most of the Philosopher's Wool sweaters, but I'm not going to stress about it.

5) I'm tired.

Some things that are still up in the air:

1) Size: I forgot to measure one of mom's favorite sweaters when I was there a month ago but I think 46" would work (that gives her about 8" ease, does that seem like too much or not enough for a cardigan?) Hmm, I hope I have enough yarn for a 46" cardigan. I'll do the sleeves last and if it looks like there won't be enough I can buy more and dye a new color to use in the sleeves.

2) Sleeves: I'm leaning towards picking up sts and working down to the cuff

3) Button band: mitered button band/collar OR double i-cord trim with hidden i-cord buttonholes.

4) Colors: It will likely have shades of blue but this isn't even close to being decided.

One of these years I'd love to make mom an Alice Starmore design (oof, those kit prices) or Dale's Ingeborg but for now a self-designed cardigan in worsted will have to suffice.

I was gazing at the Ingeborg photos last week and sent Knitpicks an email (customerservice at knitpicks dot com) to inquire about the possibility of them selling fingering weight 100% merino in solid colors. They confirmed that is in the works for early Fall! Killer. We can also hope they'll offer an extended color palette within the next year or two.

Edited Socks

I succumbed to the call of the swap yarn . . .



. . . but it might look a little different than you expect.



Where's the white, the faux Fair Isle sections? I edited them out!



Mwahaha. Hey yarn, I'm the boss. In total there were 12 sections cut out. This meant I had around 24 ends (instead of 2) to weave in but I took care of that as I worked down the sock so it wasn't a big annoyance. Do try this at home: The yarn was knit at 10 sts/in on size 0 needles, 78 sts cast on. My shoe size is 7.5 (about 9.25"). There were 3 or 4 sections of color left over so I could've added about 1.5" to the leg or foot.

Totally Tubular (cast on)

I played with the tubular cast on while swatching for mittens last month but I hadn't actually worked it into a project yet. Last night I figured I might as well do something new with my familiar cuff-down socks so I started a sock with a tubular cast on. You can google for instructions online (and there are completely different methods of accomplishing it to be found) but I like Lucy Neatby's instructions in her Cool Socks Warm Feet book. Neatby gives instructions for how to do it with both K1P1 and K2P2 in the round. In comparison Nancie Wiseman refuses to explain how to do K2P2 tubular in her Finishing Techniques book -- because she doesn't like how it looks! heh.

One thing worth mentioning is that I haven't seen a photo (online or in a book) that adequately shows just how COOL this cast on actually looks in person. I took photos and they also fail to capture the magic.

Here it is, with K1P1 ribbing for the cuff of a sock:


with the waste yarn

after the waste yarn was pulled out

Hmm, I don't know why but it just looks so much better in person. The only downside is that it seems to take forever (at least it did for my 78 stitch socks on size 0 needles) and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. People rarely notice what color your socks are let alone what the cast on looks like. I suppose it's something a knitter does to please oneself, because nobody else is going to care at all.

knitting with cobwebs

Here's the variegated socks I finished last month, finally got around to taking a photo. Same basic pattern on the same size 0 Addi circular -- it's a rut but it works:



Rainbow in a blender? They don't look as garish in person and once the foot is hidden in the shoe they're actually rather tame. Or so I keep telling myself. ;) I've decided to avoid buying variegated yarn from now on, unless it's monochromatic or it stripes.

I started another shawl, this time for my mom. The yarn is super fine laceweight merino wool. It isn't cobweb (that single ply wool used for Shetland wedding ring shawls), but it does feel as if I am knitting with cobwebs. I've used laceweight yarn before and this is even thinner than that. I am not crazy about working with this yarn but I'm determined to finish. Who knows if it will be done in time for Christmas but it's not a cold weather shawl, it'd be more appropriate for her birthday (late March) or a Mother's Day gift.

Last night I blocked out what I've done so far just to be sure it looks OK before devoting more time to it:



I'm not wild about it but it should look nice when it's all done and I like the way it drapes. Mom will love it no matter what, she's that kind of mom. This pale green is SO her color too, it is beautiful on her. I looked through magazines and books for a different pattern but the only other shawls I like that use laceweight yarn are circles or squares and they call for 500-1,000 more yards than what I have here.

I'm tempted to halt this shawl for now and make Highland Triangle from Folk Shawls, I might be able to find a sweater to unravel that will give me enough sport or DK yarn for it. I also really like the Fir Cone Square from the same book, that's on my "must knit" list. The Wool Peddler's shawl is good looking too, though the garter stitch section is a bit plain (but good for warmth).

Regia stripey socks

Close-up!


Stats: Regia yarn, 10 sts/in on size 0 needles, 84 sts cast on
I have no idea why I like stripey socks so much. Maybe it's a Pippi Longstocking thing?


Stats: Trekking yarn, 10 sts/in on size 0 needles, 88 sts cast on

I need to figure out a way to build a fake lower calf for my fake foot model -- it looks misshapen because there's just cotton stuffing in there. :)

mexico & sockotta photos

I finally had a chance to take decent photos of the last two pairs of socks. Well only one of each pair made it into the photos so you'll have to imagine a matching pair.



The promo photo promised there would be lime green but there is no lime green. As you can see in the previous entry the foot did not have a leg attached to it so I put stuffing in the sock leg to make it look somewhat normal.



Here are the Sockotta socks, the cotton in the yarn made my hands ache so I doubt I will use it again any time soon.

hummingbird socks photo

yarn: Fortissima Colori Socka Color #2419 (kolibri) size 0 needles, 80 sts cast on

I call these the hummingbird socks because the colorway was named "kolibri" by the yarn company and that means hummingbird in German.

more sock photos

This is the first sock made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock yarn in the Baltic Sea colorway (size 0 needles):


The green ragg socks from a few weeks ago (size 0 needles):

Yeah it's a lousy photo (too dark), I'll try again later.

Photos of felted slippers & blue sock

Well it took a while but I finally felted the first two pairs of slippers. Fortunately I am pleased with how they look so I will finish the remaining 8 pairs for Christmas 2003. I'm making a total of 10 pairs instead of 9, Dee is getting a pair too. She picked out orange and red at the yarn shop which looks pretty cool and nothing I would have thought of putting together, so I really like that.

Oh, these slippers are super comfortable too. Oddly enough I never once thought about how they might FEEL on the foot, so it was a pleasant surprise to slip them on and think "Ooooooh, niiiiiiiice!" The soles are thick and comfy.

I did something wild and crazy, I took a photo of the latest blue sock before its mate is finished. Oh well, it's not like I've ever had a problem with the dreaded "second sock syndrome" so it will definitely be finished sometime soon, I'm almost to the heel on sock #2 already. I can't afford to buy yarn and then not use it.





And here's the pretty blue sock (worked on size 0 needles) from the Trekking sock yarn I bought at the sale last month: