Birthday gloves, finished

Quick update, I mailed these off on the 10th but forgot to post the final photo:


Made with Patons Kroy sock yarn

Right now I'm planning out the colors for Meg Swansen's Fair Isle Cardigan. If I can get all the Shetland yarn I need at Marilyn's Yarn (using a generous gift certificate, gotta love those) that'll be my next big project.

I'm almost done with a toe-up sock, just need to finish off the cuff. I made the first sock in this pair early last year, it'll be nice to have a new pair of socks for my own feet.

Birthday gloves

I finished the first glove last week and took a photo for mom to prove I wasn't being a total slacker. (These gloves are her friend's birthday present.)


Patons Kroy sock yarn

A little pattern I made up to fit around the wrist (it's on both sides)

I'm almost done with its mate, just 4 fingers to go. I have some ideas for my next project but nothing set in stone.

Starmore, the Early Years

Borrowed from the library: Scandinavian Knitwear (1982), Knitting from the British Islands (1983), Children's Knitting from Many Lands (1984).

In my opinion these three pattern books are not worth the money some shops demand but I'd pay a normal used book price (say, under $12). There are a few sweaters knit in the round (without making use of steeks) but the great majority are worked in pieces, which is a plus or minus depending on your personal preference. Even the hats in Scandinavian Knitwear are knit flat and seamed up.

As for the designs, it's a mixed bag. Check out that Aran dress on the cover: Yikes! Some items look dated, as is expected from patterns published in the early '80s, but there are a few appealing classic pieces in each book and more not-so-appealing classics. YMMV.

You can buy the "Patrington & Withernsea" pattern in Knitting from the British Islands on the Virtual Yarns website (it's been renamed Scalpay in the AS Classics section), as long as you don't mind buying it as a kit. I think it looks better on the website and I suspect the pattern has been updated and improved.

If you're curious but your library doesn't own these three books, ask about interlibrary loan. That reminds me, I should see if it's possible to borrow Pacific Coast Highway on loan.

Birthday gloves: One is done, it's drying inside-out right now so it's not ready for a photo. I just finished the cuff for its mate, looks like they'll be a little late for mom's friend's official birthday next week.

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.

A new book, new yarn, old yarn, and a new sock in progress

I received 3 skeins of overpriced Fortissima sock yarn for Christmas but it was from the same line as these Mexico socks. I didn't want two additional pairs of socks that look so much alike (I can make 2 pairs from 3 skeins) so I quickly accepted the receipt when mom waved it and headed off to Linda's Knit n Stitch, where the perfect exchange was waiting:





Fantastic book. I'll write a review that compares it to Alice Starmore's out of print Fair Isle book after I borrow her book from the library again.

On the way home I stopped at Weaving Works in Seattle and left with five skeins of Jamieson's 2 ply Spindrift for even more colorwork gloves/mittens.



Hooray for Christmas cash


The Spindrift will be combined with one of last year's major thrift store scores: a bag of 2 ply Shetland yarn, including some Alice Starmore Campion.



Hooray for thrift stores


The new yarn shop in town, Marilyn's Yarn, also carries Jamieson & Smith's 2 ply Shetland, so it'll be easy to pick up another color or two.

*****

Right now I'm working on grandma's Christmas request, a pair of socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock. This is the "Jeans" colorway:



Grandma's Request socks


I asked mom for gift suggestions and she said "Give her yarn and say you'll make socks with it." Mother knows best. I also offered to make gloves or mittens with the yarn but grandma wanted socks.

I'm declaring a moratorium on knitting socks at home after I finish the Trekking socks and grandma's socks. 2006 will be the year of colorwork for me. See how I snuck the "at home" in there? I'll continue to work on socks when I'm not home, it's easy mindless portable knitting so I can't give them up entirely.

Hello 2006, I hope you're kinder than 2005.

Angora Lined Mittens

It's plain looking, which is what Dad will like about it, but I'm happy that it works exactly how I thought it would in my head. As a bonus, it feels even better than I imagined. Now I want to make myself a pair of wool mittens lined with angora, it feels so cushiony and WARM and soft.

This looks like a practical joke here, mittens with no hole for the hand

I don't have a pattern written down, but this is what I did: provisional cast on with the wool, knit 1 round plain, knit 2 rounds of K1P1, purl 1 round (turning round), work 3 inches of K1P1 for the cuff, and then blahblahblah knit a mitten. Weave in all ends and trim them now, it's easier than waiting until the liner is almost done. Note: When the liner is closed up you can't reach the inside of the wool mitten to weave/trim the ends. Release the cast on sts from the scrap yarn and knit a second mitten (the liner) with the angora yarn. The thumb will be on the same side but make a left thumb for the right mitten's liner and vice versa (so when the liner is turned inside-out stuffed up in the mitten the gussets will line up). If your favorite thumbs are not hand specific then this isn't an issue. When the liner is done push it inside the mitten. There are some concerns in there about working with different yarns and maybe different gauges and the outside mitten should be big enough to accomidate the liner. Measuring the swatch around my hand revealed I needed 1/2 inch ease for the liner so I went with 9" for the mitten and 8.5" for the liner to fit an 8.5" hand. I guessed at his hand size, hope it fits.

Attention thrifty knitters on a budget: I unravelled the sleeve of a 99 cent thrift store sweater for the angora yarn, making this a very cheap project. They originally priced the sweater much higher but it was ugly so I found it on a 99 cent Monday. (At that point it'd been in the store for 4-5 weeks, nobody else wanted it.) The yarn is lovely but the sweater had a few dozen tiny satin rosettes and faux pearls sewn all over the front. Ew. It was in brand-new condition so I suspect it was a gift and the unfortunate recipient was unable to return it.

I'm off to the Kitsap Peninsula for my Dad's 60th birthday where I'll see my younger brother and his wife for the first time in 2.5 years. They recently moved to Chicago (from Florida) and you know what that means... more handknits!