Jedi Knits

Queen Alice Socks

2012-01-08T20:26:00.004-07:00

The sweater problem that was plaguing me the last few days has been resolved, and after ripping back a few inches and redoing, I am heading back in the right direction, now. I'm pretty sure the hard part is over (famous last words?) and while I do intend to take a photo of the Work in Progress soon, I don't have one today, so in lieu of that, here's a pair of socks.

The first moment I laid eyes on the pattern for Queen Alice socks, I was enchanted: little daisies in the cuff and delicate twisty cables along the length of them, and that one big ol' cable filled with seed stitch, tumbling down the rabbit hole. I envisioned it in a bright vibrant colour, and dug a skein of Sweet Georgia's superwash sock out of my stash.

Funny story - when I saw this colour (called Dutch) online, I thought it was a bright golden yellow, with a tinge of orange to it. Of course, you never know whether a colour is accurate on your computer monitor, right?

When it arrived at my house, I was happy to see that it was precisely the vibrant hot yellow I had hoped it would be. So imagine my surprise when I pulled it out of my stash and wound it, a month ago, and realized that it's actually orange! It's super duper orange, and I don't know how I thought it was yellow, before. Seriously, like it's almost identical to the Hazel Knits orange I used for my Jubal Early socks, and if you recall, I totally made a huge deal out of how orange that yarn was. I swear this one was actually yellow, once. Or else I'm going crazy.

But I digress.

I did have a bit of an argument with these socks at the beginning. It was trial and error until I got the gauge right, and then having a good portion of the leg done, I decided that they were too tight at the right gauge, so I went up a needle size and then realized that the stitch pattern in the cuff was actually pulling in too much so I just did that part in plain ribbing instead. It all went smoothly after that, and all I had to do was switch back down to the right size needle at the heel flap. I also changed the decreases at the toe, but that's nothing major.

They actually knit up fairly quickly, considering the complex stitch pattern. At the beginning, I thought I'd never memorize it (like I always do) but somewhere past the halfway point of the first sock, I had it memorized (like I always do) and it was smooth sailing.

Great pattern + great yarn = awesome socks.

Cabled Blanket

2012-01-05T16:26:00.006-07:00

I decided to participate in a loosely-defined knitalong with TFA yarns this month, to start off the new year right. However, I just hit a bump in the road and may have to rip back a ways on said project, so why don't we just talk about something else today, instead?

Last spring, my HLM was bragging to his family about how crafty I am, and he suggested that I make them a quilt or something, to give to them as a gift. I suggested an knitted blanket, instead, since it'd been a while since I made one and I had a hankering. I gave him a few options, and he chose this free pattern from Bernat. I hemmed and hawed a bit about what to knit it with, but ultimately decided on Knit Picks Swish Bulky, so that it would be machine-washable. He also picked the yarn colour, a now-defunct Douglas Fir.

I started knitting it in the spring, but of course the weather eventually got the better of me, as it got too hot to knit with a growing bulky-weight blanket on my lap, so it got set aside for a few months and then picked up again in the fall. I ended up ordering a few more skeins, as well (this was during a particularly difficult time when I had three projects on the go for which I seemed to have underestimated my yarn needs.) I ended up using 14 skeins in total, before I was happy with the length of it.

In the end, the blanket seems somewhat narrow, but it's because of the way the cables and the purl columns between them make it draw in like ribbing. If you actually sit under it, it will spread quite wide and really curls around you for a comfy couch experience. The cables are really squishy and luscious, which is why I loved the look of this blanket, initially. It will be a super warm and cozy blanket for naps on the couch.

A Bevy of Shawls: Cladonia

2011-12-31T00:12:00.004-07:00

The final installment of This Year In Shawls Draped over My Sofa is a bright and colourful Cladonia.

Back in my self-striping sock yarn phase, I picked up a few balls of Knit Picks Chroma fingering weight. I knit one pair of socks with one ball, and had planned to do another variation of my Zauberball socks with the other two balls, alternating colours. When I was at this summer's Sock Summit, however, I attended a lecture by Clara Parkes on the properties of different types of yarns, wherein she mentioned how singularly unsuitable a single-ply yarn is for socks, as it won't tend to perform well under pressure and friction (i.e. exactly what a sock undergoes day after day.) So what to do with these two lovely balls of fingering weight single-ply yarn? Obviously a Cladonia shawl.

It knit up very quickly, partly because I was enjoying the colour changes so much. There are a few places where the changing colours clashed with each other, so by the end of the shawl, I was splicing sections out, to make some colours predominate while eliminating others.

I think it ended up pretty cute, though I have to admit that I haven't worn it a lot, yet. It takes a certain joie de vivre to pull this one off, n'est-ce pas?

A Bevy of Shawls: Not Your Granny's Shawl

2011-12-30T09:56:00.007-07:00

Having completed the complicated Bridgewater shawl, last April, I was certainly ready for something quicker and easier. When I saw the release of the eBook What Would Madame Defarge Knit?, nothing would do but to make one of the Flatland crocheted triangle shawls. I thought it would be nicest if I used a self-striping yarn with long repeats, so I found some Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock on sale at Webs, and ordered two balls, with the intention of making a large dramatic shawl.

I decided that updating to a more contemporary colourway with the yarn, as well as using a glossier single ply yarn, would update the design and keep it from looking like a huge granny square shawl, like your own granny would have made.

Of course we all know how quick crochet is, so despite restarting a couple of times and completely changing the stitch employed in the pattern, I was still done the first ball of yarn by the fourth day, and ultimately decided not to use the second ball, as it seemed to be large enough for my plan, which was a cute little crocheted neck scarf.

In the end, it still sort of looks like a huge granny square, but I still like it. After a severe blocking, the fabric is quite crisp, and I've worn it a fair bit. I like how it looks, sort of retro, sort of not. And for only four days' work, who could complain?

A Bevy of Shawls: Bridgewater

2011-12-29T13:53:00.005-07:00

This beauty is one that I worked on throughout last winter, and finished last April. I suppose I was waiting to blog it until I could get some photos of me wearing it, but seeing as that hasn't happened, the sofa will have to be my surrogate.

Turns out that the last time I showed this off, I hadn't even started knitting it, but was still experimenting with kool aid overdying. Once I finally cast on, there was a long and enjoyable period of garter stitch, to create the square center panel of the shawl, followed by a stint of lace in the round, a long hibernation, eventually coming back to it and finishing the lace, and finally a long and drawn out slog through the knitted-on edging. This type of edging takes forever, but it always worth it, in the end.

After all was said and done, I took a big plunge and dunked my finished masterpiece into a bowl of grape kool aid. The end result is a bit patchy and not quite as dark a colour as I'd intended (I used 5 packets of grape kool aid, but perhaps twice or even three times that many would have been closer to the result I was after.) I pinned it out and decided that the patchiness added some visual interest and depth to the shawl, and opted to leave it as is. Someday, when I need to wash and reblock it, I might grab some more grape kool aid and redo the dye job, but right now I love it.

The overall texture is super light and floaty (it's once again Jaggerspun Wool/Silk, in case you didn't remember) and I usually fold the square into a triangle and wear it that way, as a neck scarf or a shawl. Added bonus: a subtle fragrance of grape whenever I wear it.

A Bevy of Shawls: Holden

2011-12-28T15:56:00.006-07:00

I decided to take some time today to photograph some old projects that I've never shown off. One of the ones I had on my list was this lovely Holden shawl. When I started uploading the photos onto Ravelry, I realized that I finished this over a year ago! I've worn it a fair bit during that time, because I love how it turned out - such a beautiful but simple neutral accessory.

Initially I bought this yarn (Viking of Norway Baby Ull, which is a fingering weight baby merino) to make a pair of socks. When that didn't exactly work out the way I hoped, it disappeared into the stash for a little while, before I pulled it out again to use it for this project. Holden is such a lovely pattern that I knew a simple yarn would work well and show off the lace. I love the feminine design in a basic elegant grey.

After blocking, the hand of this fabric is really great. The warm soft halo of this yarn makes the texture of the shawl just luxurious. It is quite warm and wraps around into a lovely scarf, too.

A Year in the Planning

2011-11-27T22:42:00.006-07:00

Okay, not really. I had it planned out and ready to go, way back when, but sometimes things just fall behind in the weaving queue, you know? So after making numerous showy towels and scarves and whatnot, throughout this whole year, I finally feel like this project's time has come. (I laughed when I read the bit in last year's post about "one more project before this one." A textbook example of the best laid plans, I think.) Perhaps the best impetus of all is that it's been a bit chilly of late, so why not prepare for the winter by weaving a toasty blanket?

I mentioned in that first post that I'm weaving it in two panels. This is the beginning of the first one, six repeats across and eighteen long. When I finish the second panel and attach them, the finished blanket will be twelve repeats by eighteen, which should be somewhere around 45 inches by 60 inches, the perfect size for napping on the sofa.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

2011-11-26T20:05:00.002-07:00

Does anyone want to hazard a guess regarding what this portends?

Revisiting the Kindergarten

2011-11-21T13:41:00.006-07:00

The first pair of colours I matched up for the second series was some beautiful heathered Cascade 220, possibly my two favourites of all their many shades. There was a lovely sort of wheat yellow with green heathered throughout it, and a sort of greeny grey brown. They look lovely together, and have a bit more contrast to the naked eye than this photo would appear. What I love about this scarf, another version of Hopsack with a 2-colour warp, is that one side of the fabric has vertical stripes while the other side has horizontal stripes. I wish it was clearer in the photo, but nevertheless, it might give some little kid something to ponder.

The next pair of colours is also Cascade 220 -- I was planning to use the magenta with a dark wine red, but there wasn't enough contrast to show the pattern well, so I went in a very different direction and grabbed some more of the bright green. The two colours clash terrifically, which I think kids like, right? Anyway, I did a herringbone twill with some basketweave strips between. I saw a draft sort of like this one on Weavolution, and adapted it and cleaned it up a bit to use it for this scarf. I like how it turned out, and it certainly reminded me of how much I love a simple herringbone twill.

Lastly, I pulled bits of many of the colours I'd already used and wound a random little warp to weave in random stripes of plain weave. I decided to do plain weave instead of twill, because I wanted the various colours in warp and weft to intermingle and blend and create some interesting hues. I think it went pretty well, although I have to admit that I enjoyed this one the least, perhaps because I prefer having a bit of structure, rather than so much freedom. Is that weird? I also had to change the sett, to 8 ends per inch, which seemed maybe a bit loose on the loom, but fluffed up nicely once I soaked and washed and fulled it a bit.

A cute little stack of woolen scarves.

Kindergarten Scarves

2011-11-15T22:16:00.006-07:00

One of the lovely ladies I knit with regularly is a kindergarten teacher. A purer heart you will never encounter. She mentioned a while ago that some of her kids can't really afford proper winter wear, which is obviously a must in Edmonton. I thought that the least I could do was contribute a few scarves from some random and/or leftover wool I had. Knitting makes great scarves, but so does weaving, and it's waaaay faster. So I paired up some colours and picked some drafts from my Handweaver's Pattern Directory, and started. Four days later, four cool scarves for kindergarteners.

Thursday: I started with a simple neutral zig zag in browns. This is some leftover Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, and when I took it off the loom and washed it, it fluffed up a lot and made a super air-filled scarf. It will be warm, for sure. This one set the standard for the rest, with 10 epi, and aiming for about 6" wide and 50" long.

Friday: I tied this warp onto the last one, since it used the same threading and the same number of ends. I just did a different treadling for this one, also out of Wool of the Andes, and it made kind of a cool polka-dot almost-stripe thing. In the photo, on the left and center panels, you are looking at the front of the fabric. On the right you are seeing the back of the fabric. Similar but different. When I finished this one, I put a little more effort into fulling it when I washed it, and it ended up a very nice cohesive fabric.

Saturday: For the third one, I put together two great shades of green Cascade 220 - a searing apple green and a mellow teal - and, after rejecting several design possibilities, decided that nothing would do but to revisit the zig zag. I love how it looks in these two colours. The whole time I was weaving it, I wished it was for me. It makes me grin every time I look at it. There is something Kermit the Froggish about it, I think.

Sunday: Lastly, I pulled out two more skeins of Cascade 220 and did a variation of Hopsack with a two-colour warp and weft. I don't know the name of this pattern, but I've been wanting to weave it for a while. It's sort of a minimalist houndstooth or something. Anyway, I love the effect of the two-colour warp and weft, and also love these two colours together. I bought them ages ago to make a pair of herringbone mittens, but just never got around to it.

So that's the end of my Four Scarves in Four Days series. Of course, after I finished the four I'd planned, I realized I still have enough leftover yarn for at least a couple more. So I pulled out the warping board and got back to work.

Woobu Scarf: Take Two

2011-11-13T09:59:00.004-07:00

For the second iteration of the leftover Woobu scarves, I decided to revisit a fancy-looking twill design that I used for my very first ever weaving project. The Handweaver's Pattern Directory tells me that it's a variation on M & W threading. Me, I just did what it said to do, and hoped for the best.

If you compare this scarf to the original, you will see the similarities, as well as some differences. The original was done in a super-drapey bamboo yarn, which was quite fine. This yarn is of course a much fluffier wool and bamboo blend. After blocking, it does have a surprising amount of drape for a wooly scarf.

Unfortunately my indoor photo shoot washed out the colours a bit, due to the sheen of the yarn - the design does actually stand out quite a bit better than it appears to, in these photos.

Having finished that one, I am in a bit of a scarf-frenzy right now. More to show off, tomorrow!

Busy Bee

2011-11-05T18:09:00.006-06:00

I've been AWOL for a bit because I caught a case of finish-itis. Unfortunately not also a case of taking-photos-itis.

Hallowe'en came and went and I'm particularly pleased with this year's costume: the adorable and beloved Bee Girl from Blind Melon's No Rain video.

Obviously I knit the armwarmers and the hat (from KnitPicks Palette), and just altered a yellow henley t-shirt for the top. Most of the effort went into sewing the tutu, which entailed me nearly drowning in 6 yards of black netting and yellow ribbon. Having never made a tutu before, it was a bit of a hack, but certainly good enough.

A lot of people didn't get the reference, and just thought I was a bumblebee, which was okay, because the people who do remember Bee Girl loved it and I made people giggle happily all day, and feel a warm golden glow of reminiscence.

Woobu Scarf: Take One

2011-10-15T23:12:00.005-06:00

Although my yarn stash isn't yet taking over my home, it is slowly growing excessive. As most knitters do, I periodically pledge to make some projects from yarn out of my stash, rather than buying more yarn. Sometimes that's easier to do than others. In this case, it was an inspiration to dig out some gorgeous Woobu that I had left over from two projects (oops, that reminds me of two more Finished Objects I haven't yet blogged...) Once I dug it out of my closet, I realized that I have just tons of it. I decided to make two (maybe even three) woven scarves with it.

The Jengu yarn is the whiter one - I used that for the warp of the scarf, in a point threading. Then I wove a 2/2 reversing twill to match, using the Irish Girlie Green. The colours in the green look pretty fantastic, not least of which is because of the sheen of the bamboo in the yarn.

It was a challenge for me to weave this loose enough - after having woven so many towels out of cotton/linen, I am used to beating the weft yarn pretty firmly. Even while trying to be gentle, I still started this out with far too many picks per inch, and had to unweave a bit and try again. It was a very quiet and gentle project, and I enjoyed the beautiful colours for every bit of it. In fact, while I was weaving this scarf, I kept thinking that it must be the prettiest thing I've ever made. After weaving, I twisted some fringe for the ends, and then gave it a bath in some Soak and laid it out to dry.

Once again, the whole scarf took only two days (which ultimately means I finished two whole scarves, start to finish, in four days!) It seemed to take a bit longer to dry than the alpaca, and resulted in a firmer fabric than the previous scarf did. That might be due to the much springier nature of this yarn in comparison to the relative lack of stretch in the alpaca. I am planning a second scarf with the same warp & weft combo, but in a different twill design, and right now I'm considering whether I might want to make that one a bit looser, at maybe 10 ends per inch, rather than 12. The jury is still out on that.

End results: a pretty scarf, a smaller stash, another project out of my head and into my hands. Big win.

Grey on Gray Twill Scarf

2011-10-13T16:03:00.005-06:00

The greatest part of finishing the towels is that I finally got to start working on the scarves I had in my head. The greatest part about weaving scarves is that they are so darn quick. I put this one on the loom on Monday and finished weaving and had it off the loom by Tuesday night.

I wanted to make a scarf for my HLM, since I have only ever made him one scarf (a rather impractical one I knit years ago, pre-blogging.) He mostly wears black and muted colours, like many guys, although he has started to branch out into colour in recent years. I decided to stick with a monochromatic scarf, to try to make it very wearable for him, so I chose two shades of grey in a luxurious soft alpaca. I made it nice and wide, so it can cover face and neck, and long enough to wind around the neck once and still hang down enough to tuck into his coat.

I wove it in a simple 2/2 twill, with both colours in both warp and weft, which creates a simple and masculine block design. It is similar to a gingham, but I assure you that I had this scarf planned out long before I decided on a whim to make a gingham towel. The sett is 15 ends per inch, which seemed great while I was weaving, but once I unwound the cloth from the loom, it felt so stiff that I thought I had woven it too tight. I washed it in a sink full of Soak (and was shocked at how filthy the water got during that wash) and laid it out to dry overnight. By yesterday morning, I knew it was okay.

Now that it's completely dry, the hand is great: it drapes well and has lots of movement on the bias. Some of the softness of the alpaca is constrained by the weave structure, but it will be interesting to see how the fabric changes with wear, as some of the guard hairs come loose to enhance the sensation of softness. As well, I expect the alpaca will begin to full together with use, as has been my experience in the past with alpaca garments.

In any event, my HLM seems pleased with it, and it will certainly keep him warm once winter comes again to the Great White North.

Allover Stars Towels

2011-10-12T13:12:00.009-06:00

I have come to realize that one of my blogging problems is that I love the moment of the reveal so much that I often forget to post in-progress photos. Here we are again, with a project that I didn't get around to mentioning until it was already completed. Yes, it's another set of woven towels, but the last ones I'll subject you to, for a while.

After I finished the Striped Star towels, I folded up my loom and worked for a bit on a quilt top that I wanted to finish (oops, there's another work-in-progress I haven't shown off, yet.) I had several woven scarves bouncing around in my brain, but I decided to put them off until I wove one more set of towels. That's because I realized that I could just tie the warp for these towels onto the warp from the Striped Star towels (very easily because it is the same yarn at the same sett and threading) which saved me the effort of having to put 450-ish ends through the reed and heddles individually, and also saved a bit of length in the warp. Okay, that was probably greek to most of you who aren't weavers, but in simplest terms, it saved me a day or two (or four) of effort by tying the warp on. That way, I could get to the weaving part a lot sooner. I got it tied on with virtually no problems, and was weaving right away. They went quickly, with each towel taking about two days to finish.

When I mentioned to my sister that I was going to do towels with allover stars, rather than just intermittent stars where the stripes cross, she said: "Oh, won't that be awfully busy?" (She clearly takes after my mother, who says that every hexagon quilt I make looks awfully busy.) I knew it wouldn't, and thought that it would be sort of like a gingham, which isn't busy at all, but has a pleasing repetitive design. As I was weaving the first of the star towels, I realized that the threading for them was the same as the threading for gingham. The sett (how many threads are in one inch of weaving) was closer for the star design than I would want it for plain-woven gingham, but I decided to risk it, for one of the four towels, anyway. It did end up a little stiffer than the other towels, and I couldn't quite get the squares to be square (because the warp threads were a bit too close to let the weft thread push far enough between them.) Still: so cute.

I hemmed the four towels by hand and then threw them in for a machine wash and tumble dry. They shrunk a bit, and the weave collapsed in, like a waffle-weave would. I steam ironed them and they flattened out nicely and have a soft absorbent hand, like the previous set did. Oh, and did I mention that the back of the towels has the reverse design: white stars on a purple background?

Maddie & Molly

2011-09-16T09:23:00.006-06:00

I've given you a couple of teasers on this project, mostly because I was confident that no one would ever guess the truth: that I was knitting a set of conjoined twins.

I hope you will agree with me that they are just the cutest things, and that everyone needs a pair. I have named mine Maddie and Molly, and you can see that, though they are so much the same, they have their own personalities, too. Maddie is clearly the more outgoing one, although wary of strangers. Molly is the shy one, and mostly only talks to her sister.

Revealing the dolls to people I know has been funny, because of the way they look confused and then astonished (and then mention that I'm crazy.) It's funny how everyone questions the anatomy of the dolls, wondering why there are three legs instead of four, for example. Like snowflakes, no two sets of conjoined twins are the same, and this duo happens to be joined throughout the torso, and have two arms and three legs. Nuf said.

I took a page from Ysolda when I designed these dolls. Having knit Ysolda's Sophie bunny a while ago, I realized how great it is to construct a doll completely in one piece, in the round, without having to sew pieces together at the end. That was my goal with these dolls, as well. It begins with knitting and stuffing the body, then you pick up stitches to add the legs, then the arms, then the two heads. You stuff it all as you go, so once the second head is done, your dolls are finished. Awesome.

The girls are wearing a pretty basic blue stockingette dress, with puffed sleeves and garter stitch trim. There is a single button closure in the back of the dress. They also have a white pinafore over the dress, with eyelet details and i-cord straps and ties. It would be great to make a bunch of outfits for the girls, to play dress-up, although the third leg would certainly make pants more of a challenge to knit.

I anticipate some people feeling that these dolls are, shall we say, inappropriate, but I disagree. I think it is always a good thing to show children that people come in all shapes and sizes and are just as loveable no matter how unusual they look.

Pattern forthcoming.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's a Chair

2011-09-15T16:37:00.004-06:00

I found some supercool Superman fabric at the fabric store yonks ago, and picked some up with the intention of making my HLM some pj pants from it. When he saw it, his first thought was that I should use it to recover a stained old bucket chair we had in the living room. Let it be said that I don't know how to reupholster furniture, and let it also be said that this fabric is not upholstery fabric. He was adamant that I could do it (since I am crafty in many ways, he assumes I am crafty in every way) and I can't say no to him, so I put some thought into how to do it and one day tackled it.

I did the bucket part first, since I thought I knew what I was doing. My initial plan didn't really work, but I managed to jury rig something that more-or-less did. The seat cushion part eluded me for a long time, because there is actually a fabric apron holding the cushion to the chair, so a simple cover wasn't possible. Yesterday I figured out how to do it, and this morning I measured and cut and sewed the cushion cover and voila! Super chair.

Castle Stark socks

2011-09-04T21:51:00.007-06:00

I've been wanting to knit the Yarn Harlot's Lenore Socks for years, really. Unfortunately Blue Moon isn't offering their patterns for sale as pdf files, yet, and I always forget to add one to my cart when I do a yarn order from them. They had some copies of the pattern at their booth in the Sock Summit Marketplace, so I happily snagged one. I poked around the booth to see if they had a nice skein of their Raven yarn to knit them, but Haida was what I had my heart set on, and there was none. I decided to use the opportunity to try out a new yarn. I looked high and low for nice black yarns at various booths, and came really close to getting a luxurious one at Fiber Optic, but ultimately I decided to try out Cascade Heritage sock yarn in a charcoal grey, instead.

As you can see, the top of the sock has these fantastic peaks that flow down into gothic arches. The sock was very simple to knit, particularly once past the design on the cuff. I used a few different needle sizes to change the sizing a bit, making it wider for my calf. The Heritage yarn knit up very nicely with the 2.25mm needles I used for the ankle and foot, and it seems to wear very well. I have one more skein that I picked up at the Webs booth at the Summit. It may well become my inexpensive ($12 a pair) go-to sock yarn.

Striped Star Towels

2011-09-03T21:47:00.005-06:00

I did a couple of posts when I began these towels ages ago, and I actually finished the weaving and cut them off the loom in mid-August, but I finally got around to taking some photos of the finished product, so you can see them in all their adorableness.

As I have mentioned, they were woven in the cotton-linen blend that I still have too much of, in a 1/3 and 3/1 twill weave. If you look in the large white spaces between the stripes, you can see the classic diagonal lines of twill. 3/1 twill, incidentally, is the weave used for denim jeans, so even if you didn't realize it, you are very familiar with it.

The warp made four towels in total, but I gave one away, so there are only three in the photo. I am already planning another set, but this time with allover stars, in violet and undyed yarn. Finishing those might get my cotton linen stash down to a more reasonable amount...

Hemp Produce Bag

2011-09-01T15:18:00.004-06:00

As part of my ongoing effort to catch up on posting finished projects, here's one I finished just a couple of hours ago.

One of my friends recently came back from a trip to BC with a couple of skeins of Allhemp3 for me to play with. I decided to use one for a prezzie for her and to keep the other for my own selfish uses.

Since one skein of Allhemp3 isn't a whole heck of a lot of yardage, I tried to find some smallish useful projects for it. There were a couple of contenders (like nubbly exfoliating washcloths) but I decided to go for a mesh produce bag (free on Ravelry), instead. I made one of these a long time ago, using leftover cotton yarn, and knew it would be quick and simple (and a good palate-cleanser for me, between projects.)

I made it most of the way through the mesh part before I ran out of the red yarn. Luckily I had some orange Allhemp3 in my stash, left over from some older projects. I finished the mesh and did the handle in orange. I think the two-colour bag is pretty cute, in the end. I gave it a wash and hung it to dry, to soften the stiff hemp a little, but a bit of use and some more washing/drying will leave it as soft as it is durable.

Phase 2

2011-08-28T21:41:00.005-06:00

I have successfully finished the first part of my latest project, which I showed you the other day. Just in case you weren't sure exactly what I'm making, here is another clue, as I start the second part.

I hope that helps clarify things for you. ;)

More Socks

2011-08-25T12:45:00.003-06:00

The final installment of my recent self striping stockingette socks binge is this pair, made from Knit Picks Chroma Fingering weight. It is a wool/nylon single, similar to the Zauberball. I didn't go through the fuss of alternating stripes on this pair, which means I got a pair of socks that is perhaps more fraternal than identical.

One of the lectures I attended at the Sock Summit was about different types of yarns, and it was mentioned that this type of yarn is not the best for socks (since wool singles don't stand up well to pressure and abrasion, which socks receive in abundance.) I had two other balls of Chroma which I was going to make into a striped pair of socks, but I decided that they might be put to better use, elsewhere. I'll show you, one of these days.

Work in Progress

2011-08-23T12:15:00.004-06:00

I remember being a little girl, sketching and colouring dresses, and dreaming of having a career as a fashion designer when I grew up. There were times in later years when my dreams changed and I got sidetracked by other things, but I have always loved the idea of being a designer. (My obsession with the many incarnations of Project Runway is certainly indicative of that.) Of course, in recent years, I have begun to dabble in knitwear design, with some sock patterns, and some sweater ideas, etc. Never in all those years did I imagine that I might end up designing soft toys, and I certainly never imagined I would design one that started out like this:

Breaking News

2011-08-19T11:27:00.003-06:00

Not merely knitting news, this time, but actual real news!

Some of you may be familiar with the case of the West Memphis Three, a murder case in which three teenage boys were convicted for killing three 8-year-olds, in West Memphis, Arkansas. The teenagers, now fully grown men, have been in prison for 16 years (one of them on death row) while a growing group of supporters have argued that they were wrongly convicted, and have fought to have them exonerated. After years of legal battles, and having many DNA tests performed on the evidence (which have found DNA that doesn't match any of the convicted men) today they are finally being released from prison. As always, the WM3 site has the latest news on the case.

At this time, it appears that the three men have entered an Alford plea, which is a type of guilty plea that means that they maintain their innocence while admitting that the prosecution may have enough evidence to convict them. I have to admit that I'm still a bit flabbergasted that the case hasn't been entirely overturned, based on the lack of evidence, but at least the guys are finally getting to go home and be with their families and friends.

If you would like more information on the case, there have been two documentaries released: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which covers the flawed trial and conviction and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, which follows up on the three men and their fight for freedom, several years into their sentences. A third documentary was slated for release next month, but I imagine the filmmakers will do some more shooting and re-editing, based on today's news.

Goes to show - what seems like an endless battle can be worth the effort. Sometimes the good guys win.

Simple Socks for Summit

2011-08-04T11:23:00.006-06:00

Oh my gosh, it's been how long since I posted?! I guess I lost the blogging mojo for a while, there. My crafting mojo hasn't disappeared, but I haven't been taking photos, mostly, so there's been nothing much to show for it.

I went a little crazy just prior to my trip to Sock Summit 2011, obsessively knitting to try to finish my Traveling Sweater for the trip. I succeeded, but I was pretty burned out by it. Photos of that will have to be another day - suffice to say it was a hit: for me personally by keeping me warm on the plane (where I usually freeze my buns off) and also for my fellow knitters at the Summit, where it garnered a few compliments. For the record, my Honeybee cardigan was the most popular of all my knitted items at Summit - I was pretty proud to have so many compliments on that one.

Choosing a project for the trip was easy - I always choose simple stockingette socks for traveling, since they are mindless and small and portable. This time I grabbed another skein of self-striping yarn from Biscotte & Cie, and cast on. Nothing fancy, just a toe-up stockingette sock with afterthought heels. They were perfect for airport lounges, airplanes, and classes at Sock Summit. They are also perfect for sitting around, enjoying the last precious hours of my vacation.

Seeing Stars

2011-07-02T19:52:00.005-06:00

Anyone who read yesterday's post might be wondering what I had up my sleeve with these towels. I have one word for you: stars!

If you look at the spot where the vertical purple stripes meet the horizontal purple stripes, you will see little four-pointed stars. Cool, huh.

Over halfway done weaving the first towel (and still enchanted by the way the stars appear, bit by bit, as I weave the purple rows.)

Weaving as Therapy

2011-07-01T13:02:00.005-06:00

I got the worst cold this week -- it started with a sore throat and then I lost my voice, and got stuffed up, and now I'm in the coughing and dripping stage. Fortunately I've also had a few days off work, so I got to lay around a bit and feel sorry for myself, instead of having to pull it together and go out in public.

The same day that I came down with a cold, I started to sley the reed for a new weaving project. There have been lots of little hiccups along the way on this one: first I realized that I was two ends short, while I was threading the heddles, so I had to add two in and move everything over. Then I started winding on the warp and snapped two warp threads, so I had to redo those two and wind the warp again. I did, and then realized I had one more snapped, so had to undo it and redo it yet again. Fortunately I had time on my hands, so I could walk away when I got frustrated (often) and come back later when I felt calmer.

Since I have tons of the Cotton Linen blend from Valley yarns (that I used to make the Sunshine Plaid towels and my Wobbly Herringbone facecloths) I am making more towels. This is a set of four towels in undyed cotton/linen, with magenta stripes, and will follow it up with two or three more in a different design, in natural and violet.

The weaving doesn't look too impressive yet, I admit. Ignore the orange bit at the bottom - that's just the header, not part of the towels. Above that is the hem, in two parts, and then the towel itself. So far just stripes, right? You just wait and see.

Jubal Early Socks

2011-06-18T21:18:00.007-06:00

One of the great things about being in a sock club is that it pushes you out of your comfort zone, a bit. This month, Cookie A pushed me out of mine.

Orange is, without doubt, my least favourite colour. I never wear it, and rarely buy anything that is at all orangey. I tore open my package last week to find an orange skein of yarn. It wasn't even yellowish-orange, or brownish-orange, or (one could only hope) pinkish-orange. It was Orange. Like, if orange was a two-by-four that hit you over the head, it would be this shade of orange. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a chance, and to my surprise, discovered that I even kinda like it. It's just so darn bright and cheerful and friendly, that I couldn't possibly resent it just for being orange. The yarn is from Hazel Knits, called "oh my darlin", and the funny thing is that the only other time I've used Hazel Knits yarn, it was also an orangey-pink yarn that I bought at the first Sock Summit.

The two patterns were a bit harder to choose from, since they are both pretty cool, but I chose the road easier traveled, and knit the ones Cookie called Jubilee Socks. For some reason, the word jubilee kept jumbling in my brain into Jubal Early, a bounty hunter ("So you're a bounty hunter..." "That ain't it at all." "So what are you?" "I'm a bounty hunter.") from Joss Whedon's Firefly. Jubal Early isn't particularly orange, but his is as unlikeable as he is likeable, which suits, I think.

The socks themselves were a simple 6-row repeat, with purl welts alternating with a little lacy faux-cable. Easy to knit and very quick. They fit well, and what better way to brighten up a rainy day than with some bright cozy socks.

Boysenberry Socks

2011-06-10T11:23:00.004-06:00

Once again, I've been completing projects here and there, but just not showing any evidence of it on the blog. I present you with some evidence: a completed pair of socks.

These ones were from the April installment of Cookie A's sock club. Once again, there were two patterns to choose from, and once again I chose the simpler one. This one has a variation on a feather & fan lace pattern, with twisted ribs in between. Nothing terribly complex about it, but it certainly creates a lovely sock, especially in this bright berry purple colour.

The yarn is from Lorna's Laces, and is called Solemate. It's some sort of fancy space-age yarn, with a fiber called Outlast in it, that is meant to help control your body's microclimate so you don't get too hot or too cold. When I have mentioned this to other knitters, most of them have said "but wool already does that." It's true, and I haven't worn these socks yet, to find out if they really do make a difference that way. Today is a nice sunny day, so maybe I'll try them out and see if my feet stay cool.

In any case, the yarn is thin and strong, as Lorna's Laces tends to be, in my experience, and the colours go from lavender to magenta to a bright exciting pink. I really enjoyed knitting these socks. Even though they took two months because I only worked on them at cafe knitting with the girls.

Finished them just in time, too, since yesterday a parcel arrived in the post, containing the June shipment of Cookie A's club. I can't show you yet, in case some clubbers haven't received theirs and don't want spoilers, but it is bright and mouthwatering and not at all my usual colour. I wound it immediately and already have a couple of inches of sock cuff knit. Awesome.

Making Music

2011-05-20T23:18:00.005-06:00

I've intended to start weaving that wooly plaid blanket for ages, but then the weather started warming up, and I started to think about this towel kit I had, and the next thing I knew, I had wound the warp for them, instead.

After a few days of meditatively and carefully sleying the reed and threading the heddles (566 little threads worth) I finally got to start the actual weaving today, and it's totally worth all the work. Just look at the spectacular colours.

This particular towel is based on a Mozart symphony: the colours of the warp stripes indicate particular musical notes, and the width of the stripes indicate what type of notes they are (i.e. eighth, quarter, half, etc.) If you could decode the stripes, you could actually play this on the piano like a musical score. I have to admit that I made one error in there, though, so don't try to play it. It won't come out right. I take solace in the fact that you probably can't spot the error.

The weaving itself is a waffle weave, which doesn't look as impressive while it's under tension on the loom, but hopefully will look great once it's off the loom and laundered.

I'm loving this project.

I Also Eat

2011-05-14T21:51:00.006-06:00

I realize I've mostly been showing off my finished knits and not much else, for a while. I've been doing lots of baking and cooking, as well, but just haven't put up photos. Here are a few beauty shots for you to enjoy.

Scones I made ages ago, when I was in search of the perfect scone recipe. These were truly delectable. In fact, I think I should make these again soon.

One day I had a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich with smoked gouda and caramelized onions. Then I made it a reality.

Lastly, what self-respecting foodie hasn't yet made Prince William's Groom's cake? I altered the recipe by using a ganache for "icing", rather than just plain melted chocolate, which seemed to me like more than a little bit of a cop out. The ganache includes a bit of my tequila vanilla, and in my opinion is the best part of what is, ultimately, a really yummy chocolate cake.

Superb straight out of the fridge, but even better if it comes back up to room temperature, which softens the ganache a bit and really brings out the flavour and texture.

Cookielicious.

Felix socks

2011-05-13T11:13:00.004-06:00

I mentioned, a while ago, that I stocked up on self-striping yarn, so I could quickly make a bunch of stockingette socks. This is the second pair from that group, from a Canadian yarn dyer in Quebec: Biscotte & Cie. It was their little kitty logo that caught my attention, the fantastic self-striping colourways that caught my eye, and the experience of knitting with the yarn that caught my heart. This particular one is Felix, 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon: it is soft and fluffy and makes a really nice fabric for socks. The colours are really spectacular, too, as you can see.

Another simple toe-up stockingette sock, using Judy's Magic cast on and a standard toe, and another afterthought heel - this time, I changed the shape a little, by making it curvier and less pointy, which I think gives it a much better fit to my actual heel, which is not terribly pointy.

I know it looks like all I'm doing is socks, lately, but I assure you that isn't the case. Other projects are on the horizon.

Elementary Watson Socks

2011-05-04T13:34:00.005-06:00

These socks are part of the blog-post backlog (backblog?) that I need to catch up on. A while back my dad started hinting about socks. Of course I have a long-standing selfish knitter reputation to keep up, but even I couldn't say no. I rarely get asked to make something by the men I love, so when given the chance, I do it.

Coincidentally, I had found a nice men's sock pattern that I was eager to try out. These socks are inspired by a sweater worn by Mr. Watson (aka my beloved Martin Freeman) in the new Sherlock tv series from the UK. There have been some amazing knockoff sweaters knit by some awesome bloggers I have serious girl crushes on, but I didn't really want the full-sized sweater, myself. Socks seemed like a more reasonable tribute, to me, and with my Dad wanting socks, it was the perfect match. I ordered some Tough Love Sock yarn from Vancouver's Sweet Georgia Yarns in the Nightshade colourway and cast on.

I did use the opportunity to learn something new from this pattern - the Fleegle heel for toe-up socks - but after that, I made a couple of changes to the pattern (which you can't see because I'm not showing the leg, here.) After the heel, I didn't do the design on the back leg, but did k2p2 ribbing, instead. I wanted to ensure that the leg was comfortably fitted, and I decided that ribbing would do that better (plus the bonus of it being easier than adding more cables and stuff.) When it came time for the cuff, I carried on in the same ribbing in the back and changed the space above the flying geese motif to ribbing in the front. I carried on doing the cables just the same. It looks good (you'll have to trust me on that) and they fit my Dad really well. Success!

Unicorn Socks

2011-04-27T11:35:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I still don't have photos yet of the kool-aid dyed shawl, or various other things I should have photos of. I'm going to ease myself back into being a good blogger by showing you a very simple and mindless pair of socks.

These ones are the simplest of toe-up socks, using some self-striping sock yarn to add interest while allowing me to make some very quick and easy socks. I went through a little spree, recently, of buying self-striping sock yarn, when I decided I was running low on socks and would need to quickly replenish my drawer before I had to start wearing (gasp) store-bought socks. This particular pair uses Knit Picks Felici, in a colourway they call Moonlit, but I think looks like the palette of a little girl's room decorated with unicorns and mermaids. Or maybe I'm just revealing a bit too much about my childhood. I found the yarn to be a bit splitty, but very soft. It is a wool & nylon blend, so hopefully it will stand up fairly well. (I just wore a hole in the bottom of a pair of socks from Knit Picks Stroll, which were about a year old. I think I'm going to darn them, since they are otherwise in really good shape.)

For these socks, I used my standard: the Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula, but by now I just use the numbers from the formula and make the sock however I like. In this case, I did Judy's Magic Cast-on and a standard toe, then knit the whole length of the sock to the cuff before returning to open it up and knit an afterthought heel. I did the afterthought heel rather than a short-row heel because I didn't want to muss up the pattern of the stripes as the foot transitions to the leg, and also because I thought it would be nicer to have stripes around the heel rather than a block of one colour for the bottom and another block of colour for the top. If you've ever worked short rows in self-striping yarn, you know what I mean.

End result: a comfy and soft pair of socks in pretty stripes. Gimme the marker, Dude - I'm marking it an 8.

After the Kool Aid

2011-04-10T18:33:00.004-06:00

After a little trip to the microwave and a lot of rinsing, my little test skeins are ready for viewing.

As I'm sure you guessed, they are dyed with (from left to right) Grape, Lime, Cherry. The original Ruby Red wool/silk is across the top, for reference.

I like the bright red of the Cherry, but I already have another shawl that colour. I also like the brownish olive green the the Lime turned into, but I do have some Walnut brown wool/silk that I've been planning to use for a breezy lace cardigan, and I don't know that I need two brown lace items, just now.

Most of all, I love the deep almost-black purple that I got with the Grape: it's just what I was hoping for. I think we have a winner.

Milk Cake

2011-04-09T20:11:00.005-06:00

I had a dream last night that I was eating a bowl full of pieces of stale cake soaked in milk to rehydrate it. Think about that for a second. I could have had a dream about flying with valkyries to a Nordic castle inhabited by Alexander Skarsgard, but I had a dream about stale cake and milk. Weird, to say the least. (It reminds me of another dream I had, once, where I was eating turkey leftovers (not even a fresh hot meal, but leftovers) and was worried that my HLM was going to steal them away. I mean, to be fair, even leftovers of turkey dinner are worth protecting, it's true.)

I decided not to overanalyze the dream, but to take it as a sign that it was time to make a Tres Leches cake. Ever since I saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman, I've been lusting after it. Thanks to the milk cake dream, today was the day. I bought the requisite three types of milks at the store after work and came home to put this baby together. For the record, it's just as lovely as it looks. Perhaps I went a bit heavy on the whipped cream layer, but I hated to waste any, especially since it has just a teensy bit of my tequila vanilla in there.

I also (finally) finished the knitted lace edging of the Bridgewater shawl, a few minutes ago. Having finished it, I am thinking about overdyeing it before I block it out. Maybe it seems crazy, but I've made enough projects with this ruby red that I'm ready to have a shawl of a different colour now. (Note to self (and also to you): buying lace yarn on cones gives you a lot of yarn.)

So I tried out a few colours of kool aid to see how they look. This is clearly the Before shot. I can't wait for them to dry out!

Canopy Socks

2011-04-07T14:41:00.005-06:00

I finished these socks a while ago -- they have actually been through the wash a few times, already -- but somehow they got missed in the blog.

They were one of the last couple of pairs from the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club, and when I recently got an urge for a simple but satisfying sock, this one came to mind.

I made a few changes from the original design (Ravelry), since that's the kind of girl I am. I did a garter stitch cuff rather than the picot hem from the original -- this was partly about saving yarn and also because a garter stitch cuff will fit my wide calf better than folded hems generally do. Then I shortened the leg a bit, since the pattern suggests that a large size sock may take two skeins of yarn rather than one. I obviously wanted to get by with one skein, so I made it a little shorter. Then I changed the toe from the lacy leafy toe of the original to a plain stockingette standard toe. I'm very happy with the end result, overall.

The funny thing about these socks is that I actually used four needle sizes to make them. I started out with a 3.00 mm needle, thinking it was a 2.75 mm. After a bit, I realized my mistake, but rather than starting over, just went down to the intended needle size. After knitting part of the leg at that size, I decided it was still too big, and went down to 2.50 mm. By the foot, I actually went down to a 2.25 mm needle, to get a nice snug fit. It's pretty ridiculous, when you think about it, especially having to do it all over again for the second one. The good thing is that they fit nicely, since my calves are large and could use the extra room, anyway.

The fingerless mitts I mentioned last time are done, too -- I just need some photos. And I am down to the last quarter of the lace border on the rarely-mentioned Bridgewater Shawl. I have even sketched out plans for a new pattern or two of my own, to stretch my design muscles. Things are going well, here. How about you?

Another Adorable Baby Blanket

2011-03-31T15:37:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned a week and a half ago, I recently committed myself to making a couple of baby blankets. Initially I was going to make two of the same blanket (the shale lace blanket I showed off last week) but my mom and sister were so enamored of Jared Flood's Tweed Baby Blanket (ravelry) that I decided to make one of each, instead. In retrospect, I'm glad I did. While I love the first one, I was a bit tired of doing the same thing over and over by the end of it, and making a second blanket the same might have put me over the edge.

The classic Shetland construction of this one is perfect for cleansing the palate: first you knit a big garter stitch square (from one corner to the opposite corner) which is so easy and meditative that it's heavenly. Then you pick up stitches along the four sides and do some lace. It just so happens that this lace changes colours every four rows, which definitely inspired me to keep going and do a full repeat (or two or three) every day.

Once again, the acrylic means that I can't block it quite the way I'd like to (sorry Jared) but it still looks great. The only thing I might change is the attached i-cord edging. I upsized one needle size to do it, but it still seems a little bit tight. Perhaps going up another size would have helped, or doing some more unattached rows of i-cord at the right places to follow the curves of the lace.

Once it was off the needles, I wasted no time in getting back to the springy fingerless mittens I've been hankering for. They are nearly done, so I'll show you those, soon.

Sweater for Wee Doggy

2011-03-30T09:52:00.007-06:00

My family got a new puppy a week and a half ago. Just look at that face. He's a miniature schnauzer, so he's very tiny, too. He will grow to be a bit bigger, and a bit hairier, but for now: tiny and adorable.

My parents just happen to be one of those frugal "let's save money and energy and keep the heat turned down to the point of shivering" types of families. Perhaps that's why I learned to love wool so much. In any case, I can only imagine how poor little Gryphon must be shivering as he trots adorably around the (fancy brand new) tiles in that house. I mean, he would be, if he weren't being carried everywhere, and held in the crook of a warm elbow all day.

Anyway, when they suggested I knit him a sweater, I couldn't say no. (Look at that face!) I grabbed some leftover wool and needles and found a perfect simple pattern on Ravelry and cast on.

Because he is so wee, I was done in no time flat -- though not before I realized that all three people living in that house with him also know how to knit, so how how is it that I'm the one who got nominated to make this sweater?

In any case, it's worth it, to get a few more cute photos of the puppy. As you can see, it's a bit big, but don't we always make something for babies to grow into?

Shale Baby Blanket

2011-03-20T18:58:00.003-06:00

My name is Rhonda and I am a yarn snob.

I might as well come clean about it, now, because I've recently taken on knitting two baby blankets, and bumped up against the place where luxurious knits meet family-friendly knits. If it were my choice, I would knit Jared Flood's baby blanket patterns in a yarn that's cloudy and wooly and tweedy, and then handwash and block the heck out of them to create a work of art.

Instead, I have to actually consider the moms who will be using and washing these blankets. They will want to just throw them in the washing machine every time the baby gets it messy (whether with food or barf or something worse) so a luxurious heirloom in hand-wash-only wool isn't really reasonable. One option would be to find a superwash wool to make it with, but aside from being a bit more expensive, the options I found for superwash worsted-weight didn't appeal.

The obvious choice is simple and inexpensive and easy to find: 100% acrylic.

When I started knitting, I used acrylic almost exclusively. It was a while before I discovered the wonder and perfection of wool and other natural fibers. Over the years, I've obviously become a yarn snob, since I don't even want to admit I made this blanket from acrylic. Sadly, I can't really block it, so the lace, while lovely, will never quite be as beautiful as it could be, were it washed and stretched out flat and opened up. Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with this blanket, and I think the recipient will like it, too. I am hoping that it will be barfed on and snuggled up to and carried around until even workhorse acrylic can't hold up to the abuse.

Snowflake Mittens

2011-03-16T11:40:00.006-06:00

In case the last few posts have left you thinking that I'm only making socks, here is a completed pair of mittens to dispel that notion.

I'm sure that I've mentioned before that these are mittens based on a traditional Norwegian pattern. Decades ago, I had a penpal in Norway, and she sent me a pair of mittens for Christmas, one year. They were red and white (the negative-image of these ones, with red where I have white and white where I have blue) and warm sturdy wool, and I wore them for years. By the time they started to show some real wear and tear, I had learned to knit, so I got out some graph paper and sketched out the pattern. I've made several pairs since then, including one for myself out of red and green alpaca, and they lasted for years, as well. A few months ago, I discovered a hole at the end of one finger, and decided maybe it was time to make a new pair.

The alpaca I used before was Andean Treasure from Knit Picks, and the mittens were so soft and warm that I decided to stick with the same yarn. This time I went with a blue and white, and decided to reverse the dark and light colours to make the snowflakes white and the background blue. I am very happy with how they turned out, especially since the weather was so cold for so long. Thankfully it's warming up, now -- soon I'll get to put these away and enjoy the warm weather, but they'll be ready for me next winter, to keep me warm again.

I decided while I was knitting them that I should write up the pattern and post it as a freebie on Ravelry, so other people can also enjoy this simple and lovely mitten pattern. I would love to see some of you make some, though I hope you won't really need a pair until next winter.

download now

Haleakala Socks

2011-03-15T16:49:00.007-06:00

Time has gotten away from me, a bit, and I realized that I'm going to have finished projects piling up around here, if I don't start posting about them. Don't get me wrong -- I'm still up to my elbows in yarn and working on a dozen things at once (with even more ideas waiting in the wings that I'm trying to get around to.) What I really need is a month or two away from work, so I can really make some progress on my ever-growing queue. (Note to self: start buying lottery tickets.)

This is a pair of socks that I made last week. They flew off the needles, because it was a relatively simple pattern in a luxurious soft cashmere-blend. They represent the first shipment of Cookie A's sock club, which I have to admit I signed up for almost immediately, when I saw her announcement at the end of last year.

The club offers two sock patterns, along with two cookie recipes, every two months. Of course it also includes a skein of sock yarn to knit the socks. February's shipment was Caper sock yarn from String Theory, which you can see is dyed a spectacular colour, including shades of my favourite teal.

Of the patterns offered, I chose the simplest one -- mostly because it is the most beautiful, in my opinion, but also because I was ready for a relatively simple sock. I say "relatively" only because somehow I never managed to memorize the eight-row lace panel. Usually by the heel of the first sock (or definitely by the beginning of the second sock) I'll have the design memorized and can carry on without the paper pattern, but this one just wouldn't stick, for some reason. Other than that, it was a basic top-down sock, as is Cookie's standard.

The back of the leg is 2x2 rib, which was a bit boring to knit by the time I reached the heel and stockingette sole, but other than that, it was quite an enjoyable knit. I have a bit of the yarn left, so I will even be able to make a few hexagons for my slowly-growing sock yarn blanket.

I regret to inform you that there are no photos of the delicious chocolate chip pecan cookies, since they were eaten, long ago. Actually, I don't regret it at all.

Rushing Rivulet Socks

2011-02-24T11:09:00.004-07:00

I was in a random little sock yarn club for a few months, a few years ago, where I got surprise skeins of yarn in the mail. I wasn't in love with this one when I got it, and it sat on my shelf for a long long time before I wound it up and tried using it for something. It didn't work in that pattern and I set it back on the shelf for another year or so. A little while ago, I decided to purge some of my yarn and this one topped the list. I picked it up to put it on the purge pile, and started looking at the beautiful colours, and stroking the soft texture, and decided to give it one more chance.

I finished these socks a few days ago, and have been wearing them happily. It was a pretty simple pattern, in Cat Bordhi's usual toe-up style. The stitch used was easy and quick -- two out of three rows were stockingette, which makes it trip along at a good pace, and the yarnovers in the third rows help to break up the stripes in the yarn, a bit, to make it a bit more random. I like this pattern for multicoloured yarns, and may use it again.

In this design (using the Riverbed architecture) the increases for the sock gusset all come from the bottom of the sole, which makes the fabric bias across the arch of the foot. They hug up against my foot in a very comfy way, but it doesn't really feel much different from an ordinary sock without that bias. I also added a few more rows to the heel flap, since I have a high instep, which also helps them to fit well.

The yarn itself is soft and cozy, too. My only complaint is that, through the course of knitting the two socks, there were about a dozen spots where one ply was broken and a new ply joined, which leaves lots of fuzzy little ends sticking out. I could have cut that piece out of the yarn each time and woven in ends, but then I really would have been swearing each time I came across a new one.

Overall a quick and comfortable sock that kept me occupied until the yarn for some of my new projects arrived. Stay tuned!

Vine Lattice Socks

2011-02-18T10:09:00.003-07:00

It won't look like anything new, since I've made several posts about these socks, previously, but I just wanted to show off the finished product (and wear them, as an extra bonus) to prove that I eventually finished them.

I am still in the process of writing up the pattern -- it's hard to find the time, when I want to spend my time knitting, not writing about it. Once it's ready, I'll show that off, too.

Have a happy Friday!

Beer & Honey Bread

2011-02-16T19:37:00.002-07:00

I am past the heel on my second sock, but today I took a few minutes out of my yarn-filled day to make some bread. I found this recipe for Honey Beer bread by way of foodgawker, and couldn't wait to try it. I just happen to have everything I need in the house, and it sounded like such an easy recipe.

Suffice to say it was super quick and really couldn't be easier. The recipe warns against overmixing, so I was very careful not to, which left it a bit lumpier on top than it could have been. Better safe than sorry, I say. I will mix it a bit more, next time. You may be wondering how it tastes. It is over half eaten, if that answers your question. I ate mine buttered, with a nice hunk of goat brie on the side. Bliss.

The New UFOs

2011-02-15T14:24:00.004-07:00

I've had a handful of finished objects (aka FOs) recently, but don't believe for a minute that my total number of projects-on-the-go has decreased. I am nothing if not easily distracted, and I've cast on for another little project or two as the others came off the needles.

I finished my twisted cable socks, which left me with no socks on the needles. Shocking, you must agree. Although I am expecting a skein of yarn from Cookie A's sock club any day now, I knew that I wouldn't be able to wait patiently -- not when I have another quick and simple sock to knit up in the meantime.

I started another of Cat Bordhi's inventions, using her Riverbed architecture, which increases for the gusset along the bottom of the foot, causing the stitches to hug the arch of the foot along the bias. The photo shows the toe of the first sock, a few days ago. I am finished the first and almost to that point on the second sock, so you can tell it's a quickie.

I also finally cast on for my stranded alpaca mittens, when the temperature dropped again. I got past the first thumb gusset, but that's when I put them down to rededicate myself to the twisted-stitch socks. Now I have to rededicate myself to the stranded mittens.

So I'm back to having four (or five or so) UnFinished Objects to keep me busy. Ain't life grand?

Herringbone Scarf

2011-02-07T20:31:00.007-07:00

My latest weaving project is a very simple herringbone scarf, woven in a beautiful heathered wool-silk blend. I have had the idea for this project in my head for a year or so, and after playing around with different twill weaves with the facecloths, I finally decided it was time to bring this scarf to the top of my weaving queue. I know I haven't even shown you the facecloths, yet, but that's just how quick it is to make a scarf, on the loom.

I actually got the yarn last Wednesday, and immediately measured out the warp and dressed the loom. I did a bit of sampling of the herringbone first, to establish how hard I needed to beat the weft in order to get a consistent 45 degree angle in the twill, then began to weave the delicious scarf itself. I wove it in a pretty leisurely manner for the next couple of days, when I wasn't at work. By Saturday night I had finished the weaving, then I twisted the fringe, gave it a bit of a soak with some mild agitation to full it ever-so-slightly, and hung it to dry overnight.

I think the photos capture, a bit, what a gorgeous heather this yarn (Jaggerspun Heather 2/8) is. The colour is darker, called Walnut, and closer to the finished photos, further down, but you can see in these lighter photos that there is some red in there, and copper, and some cooler shades. It was so enjoyable to watch the herringbone pattern grow, with each meditative pass of the shuttle, back and forth, in such a shiny soft and pretty yarn.

As the fabric grew, it took on a soft fuzzy halo, which didn't obscure the herringbone pattern, but felt lovely to the hand. I agitated the scarf against itself as I hand-washed it after it was complete, to build that halo a bit more, and also to full the threads together to make the fabric more stable. The yarn fluffed up a bit with washing, as well (especially, I think, because it came off a tightly-wound cone and not out of a more relaxed skein) and softened a bit more. The twisted fringe also softened and fluffed up. I trimmed the fuzzy ends, below the knots. I wonder if I should have made the fringe thinner -- twice as many at half the size? Perhaps that would make it look more professional, less rustic.

After hanging to dry, the scarf was soft and fine, but definitely warm. The fabric still has some give on the bias, and is so supple. You can see how it flops and folds, in the photo. Such a simple scarf, but classic and beautiful.

B&B Cardigan

2011-02-06T21:08:00.007-07:00

I suppose I've made you wait long enough for photos of my Black & Boysenberry cardigan, and since I finally managed to throw together a few half-decent photos, today is the day.

I'm sure I've laid out the details before, but in case you don't remember, I used EZ's percentage system to knit the cardigan entirely in the round on circulars, with a steek in the front that I cut to add the buttonbands at the end.

The sleeves were also knit in the round, two at a time, and then attached at the underarms so that I could continue knitting the whole thing in the round. I used a set-in sleeve shaping and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think I had knit the shoulder width a bit small, according to my knitting gauge, but it blocked out pretty wide when it was wet, so it actually turned out just about perfect.

I also did v-neck shaping with a steek, which made the work-in-progress look pretty weird, but after cutting, the shape is just right. I am really happy with the depth and angle of the v-neck - it really pays to measure and get out the calculator and a pencil. With an eraser.

The sleeves lengthened a bit more than I anticipated, with blocking, as well, but they are still a comfortable length. I fold the cuff back once if I want to keep them out of trouble, but otherwise, they are cozily down around my hands, keeping me warm.

As you can see, I couldn't pick just one type of button at the fabric store. It's not entirely my fault - the store didn't have eight buttons of either of the styles I wanted. It was my mom who suggested that I get four different types of buttons and mix them up, two of each. I agreed that it was just enough to give the otherwise simple cardigan a bit of personality.

The only thing I don't love is the corner where the buttonband turns to the v-neck. It is a bit floppy - I guess I did too many increases there, since I was guesstimating how many I would need. I could try to reblock them flatter, but I'm not sure it would work, anyway, since they were pretty flat while blocking the first time. Having the top button a bit higher would probably help with that, too. Live and learn.

I'm super happy with this one - it is just the size I wanted, comfortable and warm. I've been dreaming of a wide-stripe v-neck since forever, it seems. (At least since then.) I finally have one.

The Second Sock

2011-02-02T12:51:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since I've dedicated any time to the second pair of socks I designed. The first one languished for a while at the end of the leg, then for a while longer somewhere past the gusset. This weekend I released it from limbo and finished off the toe and cast on the second sock. At the coffeehouse last night, I picked them up where this photo leaves off, and got halfway through the leg (did it really take four hours to do one repeat of the pattern? Yikes.)

I have managed, so far, to distract myself from starting a new pair of socks by working on these ones, but I don't know how long I can keep it up. I think my brain knows I'm up to something. I do want to finish them, though, and get the pattern out there into the world, since I've just ordered yarn for my next design, which will be more of a departure.

EZ Pot holder

2011-02-01T13:50:00.004-07:00

The other night I was reading Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac in the bath (what, like you haven't?) and discovered a little project she devised to practice the technique of double-knitting. It's a little potholder from bulky wool, where the sides are made of garter stitch and the center is actually two layers of knitting, back to back, made at the same time. Such a quick little project, and me sitting on all that leftover wool from my cardigan... obviously I had to make it, and right then.

Out of the bath, I cast it on, double-stranded with the worsted weight Boysenberry wool, and in an hour or two, it was done: a thick little square of wool with two layers of stockingette making a little padding in the center. Very cool. And practical, since wool is such a great insulator and won't conduct heat like cotton, when wet. Not to mention it's totally inflammable.

Aren't sheep awesome?

Tantalizing Tanis Socks

2011-01-30T18:25:00.005-07:00

As promised, a completed pair of socks.

From a pattern by Cat Bordhi: Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks (ravelry), knit from Tanis Fiber Arts' blue label sock yarn.

The linen stitch pattern was a bit tiresome by the end of the second sock, though it really wasn't any more work than a basic ribbing would have been. It was actually a fairly simple sock to knit, especially because I had worked from Cat's book before, so I understood some aspects of the construction better, this time.

You might be able to tell from the photo that there is a vertical strip of linen stitch coming down from the cuff, that grows wider to cover the whole instep of the sock. Then you knit an underheel and a couple of inches of foot and then a star toe. I am happy to report that it's a nice tall sock, too. While I was knitting the first one I kept thinking I couldn't possibly have enough yarn for a sock this tall, with my long wide feet to consider. After I finished the first sock, I weighed the sock and the remaining yarn to reassure myself that I could finish both. I was happy to find that I did have enough, so I wouldn't have to have two-coloured toes. I think it may have to do with the linen stitch using less yarn than stockingette would have. Also, I think the yarn is perfect for this sort of linen stitch, as it blurs the shades together a bit and softens the variegation.

More socks to come...

Just a Tease

2011-01-30T00:10:00.004-07:00

For those of you waiting to see photos of my finished cardigan, they're on the way, once I can coordinate my schedule with that of my photographer. Also on the way, photos of a finished pair of socks, a finished single sock, a finished set of woven facecloths, and a spontaneous wooly doubleknit potholder (EZ made me do it.)

Tonight, I have celebrated my recent spate of finished projects with a hot and satisfying Vanilla Rooibos Latte.

And by casting on a new pair of mittens. Ha.

Superb Soda Bread

2011-01-27T10:48:00.005-07:00

The other day on foodgawker, I discovered a recipe for Irish soda bread inspired by Everything Bagels. Like the blogger who developed the recipe, I too love Everything bagels, and also feel guilty about them, since I know they aren't exactly healthy. Her recipe for Everything Bagel Soda Bread is healthy and filling and so delicious.

I made one yesterday and could barely wait until it was out of the oven before cutting into the fragrant loaf. The bread itself is dense and moist and hearty, like a bowl of oatmeal. The toppings are dried onion and garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and rolled oats -- savory and yummy. A real stick-to-your-ribs sort of bread, which I am loving.

The recipe itself gives weights for the main ingredients, which necessitated me getting the kitchen scale down from the closet, but with a bit of fuss, it worked well. I kept track of volume measurements after I weighed them (cheating) so I might try it that way, next time I make it. Also, she begins with rolled oats and uses the food processor to grind them into flour, which allowed me to use another new toy of ours. I have to admit, though, that I'll probably just buy oat flour at the health food store and skip that step next time, too.

Great recipe, overall. I will definitely revisit it again.

Weaving a Sampler

2011-01-26T10:48:00.006-07:00

Knitters often complain about making gauge swatches, about wasting time and effort and yarn to make something that isn't part of the project itself. Personally, I do make them, because I think they're an important precursor to a successful project. Weavers have a sort of counterpart to this, in the form of a sample. A sample is a piece of cloth that is woven purely as an educational exercise, or as an experiment to see how a particular design will work in a particular yarn or colour combination, or at a particular sett (the measurement of threads per inch.)

It's funny how I'll knit my gauge swatches without complaint, or even knit all manner of useless and silly items just for the heck of it, but when it comes to weaving, I can't imagine weaving something that is just a sample. I can't imagine spending the time on something that I couldn't use, after it was finished.

After I came up with a few little variations on reverse twill, I wanted to try them out, but not knowing how they would look, woven, I didn't want to commit to something as big as a set of towels. I came up with a compromise between sampling and practical weaving, and decided to make six little eight-inch squares of six different patterns, to see how they looked, and then use them for facecloths. These are woven from the leftover cottolin from the Sunshine towels, using the orange and red for a subtle contrast in the design. The dark red part between the designs will be the hem, and the yellow line marks the cutting line between two facecloths. As you can see, I just finished one that was a fancy looking reversing twill design, and moved on to a simple herringbone. I can't wait to start using them!

Almost a Cardigan

2011-01-19T19:49:00.005-07:00

I put a lot of time into the striped cardigan this week, and it's paid off. I attached the sleeves to the body on Monday, and this morning finished the shaping and got ready to cut the steek. As you can see, it ended up looking a bit weird, since I did decreases for a v-neck on either side of the steek, on the upper half. That way I could keep knitting in the round and do all the shaping at once. The set-in sleeves worked really well and look good, although you can't really tell in the photo, since they are all squished together by the neckline shaping. I loved having a chance to customize where the seams sit, even if it meant doing a bit of math last night when I was planning it.

This afternoon I sat down at the sewing machine to stabilize the sides of the steek, so none of you have to worry about my sweater unravelling. Then I carefully cut it apart along the dotted line, and picked up a million stitches for the collar and buttonband. I should have the knitting done by tomorrow (dare I say tonight?) and then lay it out to block for a day or so.

The scariest thing about knitting with steeks isn't even the cutting; it's not being able to try the sweater on to see how it fits. You have to rely on your gauge swatch, your skills with a measuring tape, and knitting math. I'm not gonna lie -- I tried it on right after I cut the steek, since I was pretty nervous about it, and I'm really excited about the fit. Hopefully it will look even better with buttonbands and a good blocking.

Getting Somewhere

2011-01-13T10:42:00.005-07:00

The problem with having so many projects on the go at once is that progress moves slowly, overall. I've been plugging away at several of them, but only really getting anywhere on one or two, this week.

I decided to pick up the socks and do some more work, since socks are fairly quick to finish, and I would be able to get one project off the roster. (Let's not point out, just now, how I always start knitting a new pair, having completed the old one.) As you can see, I have one completed sock toe, which means one completed sock. The linen stitch suits this yarn, I think, and the star toe is not my usual, but I like it, too. The second sock is moving along, as well, but this week, I have started putting more time into the stockingette cardigan.

I cast on some sleeves on Tuesday (two-at-a-time, to make sure they're matchy) and have been going around and around since then. Having stripes helps me to keep going, since I get that "just finish this stripe" feeling while I'm knitting. Then I get the "maybe one more stripe" feeling, after that. I am really loving this cardigan, and can't wait to see the finished project.

Also on the Needles

2010-12-31T09:38:00.005-07:00

I do have a couple of little projects on the needles, as well, for some instant gratification knitting. Unfortunately I have so many projects on the go that nothing is really very "instant" anymore.

I got this Tanis Fiber Arts blue label sock yarn in a sock club a couple of years ago. It is a colourway that she doesn't normally dye, called In the Navy. Really more of a royal blue with a bit of navy in it. I tried it first with the Tern socks from Twist Collective, but the pattern got lost in the variegation of the yarn, so I ripped them back and decided to try one of Cat Bordhi's different sock architectures. These particular ones have a little slit in the back of the cuff, which is perfect, since it will give my calves a bit more breathing room. I could also fold the cuff down on one side, in a jaunty way, but really, who needs their socks to be that jaunty?

The socks have been hibernating since I started my two cardigans, but I picked them up last night and enjoyed knitting a bit more of the leg.

Not quite done in time for the holidays, I began a lightweight little scarf in a candy cane stripe. I had some leftover laceweight in both red and white that I've been loath to part with, so when I got the idea of knitting a scarf in thin little stripes on the bias like a candy cane, I thought it was ingenious. Again, I got too distracted to finish it in time to wear it for this year's holiday season, but I'll put a few more hours into it and block it and it will be ready for next year.

Not to forget that there is another pair of socks on the needles, but they are pretty stalled, as well. I really need to get them finished, too. I am displaying a lack of self-discipline that doesn't bode well for my future career as a knitwear designer, you know?

Well, you can probably guess what I'll be doing all night, tonight, while watching a movie marathon. Or maybe a Misfits marathon...

On the Needles

2010-12-29T12:40:00.008-07:00

I noticed that I've been getting lazy about showing things that I'm working on. A few of them are big projects, and I always try to wait for them to be photogenic before I post something. Sometimes they aren't really photogenic until they are finished, though. Here are a few candid photos of what I have on the needles, right now.

The latest shawl in progress, the Bridgewater shawl by Jared Flood. It has a garter stitch square for a center (very meditative and enjoyable) that is knit diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner, with increases and decreases along the sides to shape the square. Then you pick up a border around the edges of the square, and knit a lace border. I'm at that part of the pattern, which is why it looks like an amoeba. I admit I haven't been working on it much, of late. There are a couple of other things that are taking up my attention.

One of those is a plain stockingette cardigan in black and boysenberry stripes. I had some black worsted wool in my stash, but only half what I needed to make myself a sweater. Of course I immediately thought of using it with another colour, doing a nice wide stripe on a basic cardigan, and got some yarn in this beautiful boysenberry colour to cast on. I'm using EZ's percentage system from Knitting Workshop, and making a steek up the front to cut apart into a cardigan after knitting the body. I am also going to use her formula for circular set-in sleeves to see how that works. And I'm "complicating matters" with a v-neck, as she puts it. "The techniques are simple, but would gum up directions for your first circular set-in sleeve to an intolerable degree." I do love complicating matters.

The other large project I'm working on is another cardigan, the Traveling Sweater that all the Blue Moonies are in love with. This one is a more interesting construction: short row wedges that form a circle of ribbing, with sleeves and upper-back knit separately and attached. I am just past one-fourth of the circular ribbing. It's simple enough, and the yarn is soft and lovely wool/bamboo. I'm still enjoying it, but I might be cursing 2x2 ribbing in another week or three.

Well, those are the big projects. I will show you the smaller ones, too, one day soon. Maybe even a finished one. Well, I can dream, anyway.

Sunshine Plaid Towels

2010-12-24T14:13:00.007-07:00

Just in time for holiday gifting, I finished my towels. There were three in total, and on Sunday night, I finished the weaving, zigzagged the hems, cut them apart, sewed the hems down, machine washed them, and then ironed them partially dry before laying them flat to dry overnight. Then on Monday morning, I folded one up and gave it away. Phew. The other two will be going to new homes, as well, which means I still won't know, firsthand, how well they will work to dry dishes. I will have to trust others' opinions on that, at least for now. I believe I mentioned previously that I have more of the cotton/linen blend that I will make more towels with, sometime soon. Perhaps I will keep some of those to try them out.

After washing, the fabric softened up and fluffed up, and now it has quite a nice soft hand. The selvedges evened up a bit, too, which is nice. While I was weaving, the warp threads along either side of the cloth were looser than the ones in the middle (despite me trying to fix this prior to weaving.) I was worried that the selvedges would end up wobbly because of it, but they looked okay off the loom and even better once washed. As per usual, finishing can hide many errors.

There were a few errors, alas, that I noticed on the underside of at least one of the towels, where a few warp threads were skipped and left a little block of threads. I think it gives the towels character. It certainly proves they were handmade.

My biggest lesson with these towels was in changing weft colours (and frequently.) I mostly just wove in the starting tail in the next shed, but left the finishing tails hanging. I am a bit worried about it, since I don't know how well the cut ends will stay in place. I certainly don't want them developing holes along that selvedge, especially as they are gifts. I am placing my trust in more experienced weavers, who say that it will work out.

Overall, I did enjoy this pattern. The repetitive nature of the blocks kept me wanting to weave Just One More, and they also gave a way to gauge how far I had woven, without the fuss of trying to measure the cloth before it wound around the beam. I will, however, be taking a break from plaid to go back to something simpler (one colour in the warp, one in the weft) for some little facecloths in the leftover cotton/linen. I am going to sample a few patterns I invented, and see how they turn out. Then maybe back to the plaid for that woven blanket I had planned...?

Woodruff Mittens

2010-12-22T12:06:00.005-07:00

I have a pair of mittens that I have been wearing every day in winter for a few years now. They are stranded sportweight alpaca, knitted in this Norwegian mitten pattern that I copied once from the real deal. Unfortunately a few weeks ago, these mittens developed a little hole at the end of one of my fingers. I could darn them, but frankly, it's been a few years and I'm ready for a little change. By "little", I mean that I am actually going to knit the same mittens in the same yarn but with different colours. I know, I'm off the rails this time. Before I take on that project, though, I wanted a quick pair of worsted weight wool mittens to keep my exposed finger warm for the time it takes to knit another pair of stranded alpaca ones. I mean, with the rate I am being distracted by casting on for shiny new projects, it might be a while before they're finished.

A couple of weeks ago at our coffee shop knit night, I took some pink worsted weight and started a free pattern from Ravelry. Two or three inches after the cuff I decided that they weren't the right ones, and I frogged them back completely to try something else. Like everyone else, I have been watching Jared Flood's blog to watch the pretty photos of his latest patterns in his beautiful new yarn. I decided to give his Woodruff mittens a whirl, with the pink Ella Rae Classic that I had selected from my stash. A week later, I was very happily wearing them. The only thing I changed was to add a couple more purl welts to the wrist, to make it a bit longer, safely tucked into my coat.

I love the look of the bobbles and twisted stitch cables, and the moss stitch palm and thumb are tactile and comfortable. The weather has been mild and they have been warm enough, but certainly nothing compared to the stranded alpaca mitts I'm used to. I'll have to get to those, right after I finish my shawl... and that cardigan... and the other cardigan... and those socks... oh, and the other socks... Yoiks, I'd better get to it.

Unselfish Hat

2010-12-17T09:50:00.004-07:00

Despite my generally selfish crafty nature, every once in a while I get a soft spot in my heart for someone who requests an item from me, particularly if it's a quick and simple project like a toque.

A year ago, one of my coworkers asked me for a hat. I asked for specifics, and he said he'd think about it. A week or so ago, he finally sent me a photo of a hat and said he wanted that one. I got some appropriate yarn (elann's Peruvian Highland wool, one of my staples for worsted weight wool) and knit it up.

It's just a really basic hat, with about an inch of 1x1 rib at the bottom and then stockingette stripes: 4 rounds natural, 4 rounds green, 4 rounds natural, 1 round brown.

Simple, easy, done.

Baking Whoopie

2010-12-15T15:59:00.002-07:00

Suddenly today I had a craving for whoopie pies. They've been all over blogland for ages, but today they got in my head and wouldn't go away. I did some internet searching to find a recipe that I liked, and I found this one at the Omnomicon which is apparently an old family recipe. A bonus of being a bakerly type person is that I have all that stuff in my apartment, at the ready, and nothing keeping me from combining them into some fluffy little treasures.

In no time flat, I had made some perfect little round cakey cookies and a bowl of creamy sweet filling and sandwiched them all together. I might have eaten one before the rest were all assembled. Just what the doctor ordered. I mean, if the doctor was PMS. Which it is.

Futurella Quilt

2010-12-09T11:54:00.004-07:00

I know it's been the better part of a year since you last laid eyes on the Futurella quilt -- what can I say? Some projects move slower than others, chez crafty.

I had the top sewn together by the summer, but didn't get around to adding the borders until fall, and then a couple of weeks back, I finally laid it all out and basted and quilted it and put the binding on. Finis.

It is already gone to the recipient, or I would have taken some more close up photos, to show the border fabrics (a deep pink animal print, a matching yellow animal print, and a greyish green hexagon print) and the pretty backing fabric (white with little pink polka dots.) It came together pretty well, and fluffed up nicely after a washing.

I'm not completely satisfied with the way the hexagons are laid out, in the end. I think I could have done some more rearranging to improve it. It's my own fault, for not leaving it up for a few days (or a week) while I was in the planning stages. It's always good to mull it over, rather than just deciding it's done. Or maybe I'm just a perfectionist.

Sunshine on the Loom

2010-12-02T11:49:00.004-07:00

I decided a while ago to try my hand at weaving some dishtowels, so I found a draft on Webs and ordered the yarn to go with it, thinking I might give them away for the holidays.

The yarn is a nice cotton linen blend, so hopefully will make for nice thirsty towels, but I won't know that until I finish them and get them off the loom to give them a try. It's the first time I've woven with a linen blend, and I'm liking it so far. Linen can be tricky to weave with, apparently, especially in a pure linen yarn, since it is stiff. This yarn is half cotton and half linen, and while it has some of the stiffness and scratchiness of linen, it also has a lot of the softness and ease of cotton, so I am having a pretty easy time of it.

I chose four colours -- a nice bright yellow for the background, with red and orange and blue stripes. I was aiming for some bright primary colours to make some happy towels. The orange turned out to be a bit too close to the red (in the photo, the orange is the wide stripe on the side, and the red is in the narrower stripes. Clearly they are awfully close.) I'm also not so sure about putting the blue through the middle of the orange stripes. When it comes to colour planning, live and learn. Other than that, I think the design is turning out to be what I wanted -- happy and stripey and cool.

I am over halfway done the first of three towels. If they turn out well, I may just tie on another warp and make another set using some different colours. Or I may try something completely different, instead.

Tiny Sweater

2010-12-01T10:14:00.004-07:00

At my workplace, there is currently a contest to make ornaments for the staff Christmas tree, with some undisclosed prize to be given to the winner. I don't have much of a competitive nature, but I have a lot of a crafty nature, so I spent my coffee and lunch breaks for a few days working on a tiny little green sweater for the tree. I used some leftover KnitPicks Stroll on US1 needles and cast on 48 stitches around for the body. It ended up about three inches across, which is what I was aiming for.

I put three little cables up the front and back just for some interest, and made a little turtleneck collar, which is perhaps not quite tall enough to call a turtleneck, but who's counting.

I think it turned out pretty cute, and it definitely looks great on the tree -- bring on the competition!

Girlie Friday

2010-11-28T23:27:00.005-07:00

Well, it might have taken me forever to knit this cardigan, but it's finished now, and it's super snuggly and comfortable, and well worth the effort.

A pretty simple (and free) pattern from Knitty, it wouldn't have taken me long to finish this, if I weren't so easily distracted by every impulse to start a new project. I was admittedly a bit intimidated by the idea of altering the pattern to knit the yoke all in one piece, with set-in sleeves, but once I got going on it, it was easy enough. I even added a few decreases to the fronts & back, to make the width from shoulder to shoulder a bit narrower.

I wet blocked it after everything was seamed and tried it on and was worried that I might need to reblock it a bit wider for it to fit the way I wanted. I decided to knit an extra inch of ribbing on the collar and buttonbands, just to give a little more width. Then I got a bit bored with 1x1 ribbing, and let it languish a while longer before finally picking it up and getting it over with.

I was planning to wet block it again after finishing the collar and buttonband, to tidy things up, but once I had it off the needles and tried it on, I wasn't convinced it needed it. I took a steam iron to it to make it lie better, but that's all.

I have to say that I am really happy with this cardi: the colour, the texture, the fit, the warmth. Between the ample collar and the long ribbed cuffs, it is plenty cozy and I really think that all of you should print off the pattern and knit your own. You will thank me, later.

Mise en Place

2010-11-15T17:05:00.003-07:00

I am feeling really good about my crafty accomplishments this week. I am this close to finishing a quilt, even closer to finishing Girlie Friday, and making good progress on yet another lacy shawl (or two) that I haven't even shown you, yet. I even wound a warp for a sweet weaving project that I'm going to put on the loom, tomorrow.

But tonight, I'm going to take a crack at some Indian cooking. Look at that, all ready to go. There will be leftovers, if you want to pop over, tomorrow.

The Planning Stages

2010-11-10T12:49:00.006-07:00

I mentioned a while ago that I've mentally reassigned a big bag of wool I have to a woven blanket (rather than the tweedy jacket I've had in hibernation for a few years.) I have a few colours of the wool (black, white, oxblood, brick, and peach) and am trying to imagine how to make a cool blanket out of what I have. Since my loom is only 27" wide, I can't make a single layer of fabric wider than that (and I'm not quite ready to tackle doubleweave just yet) so I'm going to weave two panels and sew them together, to made a wider lap blanket. I've been imagining different designs, stripes, etc, and different weaving patterns. I had initially thought I'd do the warp in the three shades of red/orange, in wide stripes (to make it easy) and weave each panel in either black or white, rather than switching colours in the weft (to make it even easier) but I just don't think that will look as nice as if I overcomplicate things (as is my usual choice.)

So I downloaded a free demo of Pixeloom, this great weaving software that has recently come out with a Mac version, and played with a few ideas. In particular, I found that the white yarn, when used as a weft with the others as warp, tended to wash the colours out, and didn't look as good as the black. I thought maybe I'd leave the white out, altogether, and see how that looks. So I came up with a pretty simple striped warp in a pretty simple twill weave, which makes a cool sort of plaid when repeated in the weft (click to zoom):

I like it a lot, but having played for so many hours with the tartan design website, long ago, I know what a difference just a smidgen of a shocking contrast colour can make, so I decided to try adding a narrower stripe of white between the other colours:

I think it really makes the fabric three-dimensional, and adds a lot to it. Now I just have to sit down and do the math to figure out how much of each colour I need for warp and weft, and whether this pattern is doable with what I have in my stash. I hope I do -- I think this might look pretty cool when I'm done.

(Don't get too excited, though. I have one more weaving project to make before I get around to this one. Patience, padawan.)

A Happy Discovery

2010-11-05T22:35:00.004-06:00

I made a discovery at work, recently, and completely by accident. I was in need of some basic sunflower oil for cooking, and I was drawn to a lovely looking bottle by a Canadian company called Maison Orphee. Once I got it home and opened it, I was delighted to find it had a beautiful sunflower seed aroma. Bear in mind that I have used a lot of sunflower oils in my day and I have never had one that was fragrant like that. Of course I tasted it, and it also has a lovely strong sunflower taste. What a perfect oil for salads or vegetables! Needless to say, I have been using it ever since. I made some cinnamon buns with it and while the dough was deliciously scented with sunflower as it rose, the scent and taste were not noticeable once the buns were baked, perhaps because of the overriding cinnamon flavour.

The other night I decided to make a carrot cake. I gathered a lovely bunch of organic carrots and set some cream cheese out to soften, and opened my precious bottle of sunflower oil.

I was happy to discover that there is a subtle nutty sunflower flavour in the finished cake. I left out any walnuts or pineapple or icky raisins or anything else people dump into carrot cake, so the texture is relatively smooth and the flavour really comes through. Even better is a big thick slice with cream cheese icing and a scattering of fresh raw walnuts on top. Bliss.

Some Greenish Socks

2010-11-04T12:09:00.004-06:00

These socks were the first chance I had to try out Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga sock yarn, which is a decadent merino/cashmere/nylon blend, and it certainly won't be the last time I use it. The yarn is very soft and strong and round (perfect for cables) and of course the colours from Sanguine Gryphon are always spectacular.

This particular colour is called Goldenrod Crab Spider (and if you look up that particular kind of spider, it really is that crazy colour.) I love the way the yarn is such a shocking greenish yellow -- not the sort of colour I would usually use, but I really enjoyed it while I was knitting.

I also have a fair bit of it left over, so there will be a lot of crazy yellow crocheted hexagons in my ongoing blankie.

As for the pattern: it was simple enough, basically a 2x2 rib with cables every sixth round. The cables were a bit fiddly, since you are crossing the two knit ribs while leaving the purls in the center. I found that the cables really took away from the stretchiness of the resulting fabric, and I had to make a larger size sock (with a larger gauge needle) than I would have had to, if it were simply ribbing. In the end, they are lovely and soft (and bright!) for cold winter months to come.

A Green Scarf

2010-11-03T14:22:00.005-06:00

Although I have been remiss about blogging, I did finish that scarf in no time flat. I dressed the loom on a Saturday morning and did a bit of weaving throughout that day. After I worked all day on Sunday, I came home and finished the weaving, then cut it off the loom, tied some fringe and gave it a bit of a soaking and blocking.

Monday morning I woke up to snow on the ground, so I grabbed my new scarf off the floor and was nice and warm for the walk to work.

The washing and blocking certainly helped to plump up the yarn and hide my uneven beating. While it was under tension on the loom, I could really see the difference in my weaving tension -- sometimes the rows of weft yarn would be spaced closer together or further apart. It's the first time I've woven with wool, so I'm not used to how grabby it is. Cotton or bamboo yarns are smoother and slide against each other, which helps with consistency, I think. Also, I've previously woven at a tighter sett (with the yarns all closer together, with respect to the diameter of the yarn) so I have been more used to beating each weft in pretty solidly. Weaving at a looser sett takes a gentler hand, since you don't beat the weft so much as coax it into place.

It was certainly a learning experience, and I am looking at all of my stash yarns again with a different eye -- not just for knitting possibilities, but also for weaving ones. I have already decided to reassign one big bag of wool from a hibernating knitting project to a multicoloured woven afghan.

I have many other projects on the go, as well, of course. I will get some more photos up, soon.

Finding the Weaving Groove

2010-10-23T18:27:00.005-06:00

Those of you who have been reading a while may remember my table loom, Miss Bennet. For the last year and a half, she's been sitting folded up and unused (because I didn't have anywhere to set her up) but today I finally dusted her off and opened her up. This morning I wound a warp for a green wool scarf, and dressed the loom for weaving. I did a bit of sampling for practice, and once I'd found my rhythm, I started weaving the scarf. It's pretty wide at the moment (nearly twelve inches) but I'm sure that between draw-in (the tension of weaving that pulls in at the sides of the cloth) and fulling it after I take it off the loom, it will be somewhat narrower after.

You can see it's a simple pattern, bands of plain weave surrounding bands of basketweave. A simple design to thread and weave, to help me find that groove of weaving, after a year off. Still, I have to admit that I find even this simple design pretty exciting. Hopefully it will turn out to be a nice scarf when I'm done.

Chicken, Cheesecake, Octopus

2010-10-16T19:32:00.006-06:00

I have definitely gotten back into my cooking groove, lately. It may have been sparked by the great Thanksgiving meal my HLM and I made last week (with not only pumpkin pie, but also accompanied by my favourite delicious banana bread.) My groove was certainly helped along with some excellent garlic-marinated barbequed pork chops with some homemade porcini mushroom sauce, a few nights ago. Sorry, no photos -- that food is all long gone, now.

Autumn appears to be in full swing, here, so tonight I decided I wanted some comfort food to warm myself up. I saw a recipe somewhere today for a chicken pot pie with leeks and mushrooms, and decided that I didn't really need a recipe to make it, so I came home and improvised this one. It didn't take that long, and I think it's going to be something I revisit again and again this winter.

I did wuss out and use a frozen pie crust. Don't judge me -- I made one from scratch for the pumpkin pie last week, I promise.

It looks a bit messier on the plate, but it still tasted pretty great. Just a hint of thyme and sage really fill out the flavours. Yum.

Then, last week I got a craving for cheesecake, so I pulled out a recipe for Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, taken from Junior's Deli in NYC. I have wanted to go there and eat their cheesecake ever since I learned of them in Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker:

Who knows how to make love stay?

Tell love you are going to Junior's Deli on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to pick up a cheesecake, and if love stays, it can have half. It will stay.
Tell love you want a momento of it and obtain a lock of its hair. Burn the hair in a dime-store incense burner with yin/yang symbols on three sides. Face southwest. Talk fast over the burning hair in a convincingly exotic language. Remove the ashes of the burnt hair and use them to paint a mustache on your face. Find love. Tell it you are someone new. It will stay.
Wake love up in the middle of the night. Tell it the world is on fire. Dash to the bedroom window and pee out of it. Casually return to bed and assure love that everything is going to be all right. Fall asleep. Love will be there in the morning.

But I digress. The main difference with a Junior's cheesecake is the crust -- you will find no graham wafers, here (and good riddance!) Junior's makes a very thin sponge cake for the crust, and then loads a bunch of delicious fluffy cheesecake on top. I have to admit that I was skeptical at every stage of this cheesecake. I wasn't sure that the crust turned out right, and then I wasn't sure that the cheesecake batter baked properly, and basically I just made it and crossed my fingers and stored it in the fridge overnight. The next day I cut myself a slice, and as the knife went through, I could tell it was going to be fluffy and perfect. I wish you could taste it. I am definitely a convert to the Junior's way of doing things.

Lastly, in knitting news, I have made an octopus. Okay, not quite -- only five arms, I know. I have finished knitting the main part of Girlie Friday, and have sewn the sleeve seams already (and tried it on, I will admit. I didn't want to take it off; the sleeves alone were so warm and cozy.) Tonight I will sew the side seams and then wet block it. Tomorrow I will pick up the stitches for the collar/front bands and see how that goes. On the home stretch!

To Frog or Not to Frog

2010-10-12T13:05:00.005-06:00

A week or so ago, I got it into my head that I needed to knit some new mittens. I found a cute design on Ravelry and dug out some stash Cascade 220 in some cool contrasting colours, and decided to jump in.

In the past, the mittens I have knit have always had a snug little ribbed cuff that clings to the wrist. These mittens are of the style where there is no shaping between arm and wrist and hand, but have a little thumb gore that you make on the side and then pick up thumb stitches when you're done the hand.

Here's the thing: It fits a bit snug in the arm, where the knitted braids sit, and a bit loose in the hand, which is okay, too. The wrist -- the wrist is where the problem lies. Since it's the same size as the hand and arm, it's really floppy there, and I don't really like it. I don't like it to the point that I'm not sure if I'll wear the mittens.

I am hoping that blocking might help -- it'll make the hand and arm fit better, I'm sure, and while I can't do much about making the wrist fit better, at least the fabric will be even and flat and lovely, there, with better drape. Maybe that will make enough of a difference.

Certainly it can't be argued that they are cute mittens with adorable robots on them, and that the double-layer of worsted weight wool will make them super warm. The only question is: should I carry on and finish knitting them and block them in the hopes that I will learn to love them or should I call it a day and frog them and make a different pair?

There is something that I dislike about frogging a project -- is it about admitting defeat, or about feeling like I'm somehow letting the project down by not finishing it? I suppose I'm just being neurotic, either way.

What do you think? To frog or not to frog?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2010-10-04T18:50:00.002-06:00

The weather today was sorta cool, sorta warm, sorta cloudy, sorta rainy. In other words, a perfect day for some roast chicken. Having recently watched a great video for a recipe on skillet-cooked chicken with a lovely herb sauce, I decided that today was the day to try it out.

Verdict: easy & delicious.

That Sort of Sunday

2010-10-03T19:17:00.005-06:00

Have you ever had the sort of Sunday where you make bread pudding for supper? (Please take a moment to admire those browned crusty bits poking out the top, which somehow soaked up the sweet eggy mixture and then caramelized in the oven into something truly heavenly.)

The sort of Sunday, I mean, where you drown it in warm whiskey sauce and then curl up on the sofa to eat and knit and watch the latest episode of Rubicon?

Animation

2010-09-30T09:22:00.003-06:00

I came upon this charming little movie on the interwebs and had to share.

(edited to try to make the darn thing fit.)

Cables for a Kindle

2010-09-29T14:23:00.005-06:00

A month or so ago, I decided I need a Kindle. I found myself poking around amazon one night, and somehow got drawn in by the little videos about their latest model, with all the upgrades and improvements. At the time, they weren't yet available; if they had been, I would probably have ordered one right then. That's how things work when I'm home alone, websurfing at night, with little willpower. I'm sure one or two of you might relate.

When my HLM got home, he reminded me that he has one of the second-generation Kindles that he got for a gift, and doesn't use it much. He offered to let me use it, and I happily took him up on it (even though I'm still secretly thinking I should get a new one -- I mean, the upgrades!)

So reading books on the Kindle has become my latest distraction while pedaling away on the stationary bike. I'm enjoying it a lot, although it's perhaps a bit too quick and easy to wirelessly download books, which might be encouraging my tendency to thoughtlessly overspend. It does mean I've been reading more lately than I have in a long time, so perhaps it's okay, anyway.

Thing is, if I want to bring the Kindle along with me (like to continue reading the book at work, for example) I have to put it in my purse, alongside keys and pens and lip balm and all manner of things that could muck it up one way or another. A more dedicated consumer would spend anywhere from $30 to $200 for a Kindle cover on amazon. As a stashbusting knitter, I immediately thought of a knitted sleeve for it. I had recently been going through my Vogue Stitchionary of cables, looking for inspiration, and decided to modify one of the asymmetrical cables to use on a Kindle sleeve. I didn't make a gauge swatch, but just started and restarted it a few times (changing needle sizes, adding stitches) until I was happy with it. I made a little chart for the cable to make the two sides mirror-images of one another, and thought I had the two sides spaced evenly, vertically, but it turns out I didn't. Then again, since the cable is asymmetrical, anyway, I suppose it doesn't hurt to have the two of them staggered asymmetrically, as well.

To sum up: I used up the last ball of Sublime Cashmere Silk Merino that I had hanging around, and our Kindle is protected from damage. Win-win.

Spot Check Socks

2010-09-28T17:32:00.005-06:00

Despite falling off the face of blogland for a couple of weeks, I have nevertheless been crafting. I started a couple of new projects, and finished the second sock of this pair.

As I mentioned once before, I think, these are the Spot Check socks from the book Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn, and I made them with one wee skein of brightly coloured Koigu and a half a skein (or so) of deep dark brown Malabrigo sock, the two of which combined make them more than a little on the decadent side.

They are also super-warm, being two-stranded throughout the leg and foot. My mom is worried that my toes will get cold.

In fact, while I was knitting them, I thought it was a bit funny that the toes and heels were single-stranded, since those are so often the part of the sock that wears out first. Perhaps a smarter knitter would do the same double stranded pattern over the toe, as well, but using two ends of that same colour?

I have a few contenders for a second pair, using the other matching skein of Koigu that I have left over, but I'm not sure how crazy to take it. There are a lot of pairs of Spot Check socks on Ravelry that use two yarns that don't contrast as well, and the pattern is somewhat lost. One of the things I love most about this design is how well the variegated yarn stands out -- each little stitch is like a jewel of one pure colour. I'm not sure if I have anything in my stash (beyond black or white) that would let the pattern show up that well again.

More show and tell tomorrow.

Spot on

2010-09-15T10:53:00.003-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, I finished the first one of the Spot Check socks. The photo includes the remaining Koigu to show two things:

1. that yarn is just as crazy as I said it was, and the sock pattern really tones down the crazy to something more reasonable.

2. the first sock used less than half a ball of the Koigu (yes, I weighed it) so I will be able to make the whole pair of socks using just one skein -- I will have another skein left to make a pair with a different background colour. I like this colourway with the brown, since it gives a bit of a 70s feel to the colour palette, but I would like it with black, too, I think (more 80s?) or maybe even something completely different.

My Heart Beets 4U Socks

2010-09-11T22:29:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned earlier, I finished these socks a few days ago, but got completely caught up in the next pair and neglected to blog about them.

The yarn I used is the last Rockin' Sock Club shipment, called Firecracker -- a bunch of lovely reds and purples which reminded a lot of people of a harvest of beets, which is one of the reasons that this pattern was called "My Heart Beets 4U."

The other reason, of course, is because there is a big garter stitch beet on the heel of the sock, which then spirals up into faux cables like beet greens sticking out the top of it. So cute!

It was this beet on the heel which cinched for me which sock I wanted to knit from the July shipment. While the other pattern was also lovely (and I'll probably knit it another day with another yarn) the beets were calling to me. (Yeah, I really love beets.)

The rest of the sock was the same simple faux cable, composed of yarnovers and decreases set up in such a way that the stitches seemed to twist like knitted cables, but rather than making the fabric tighter because of crossed stitches, it left it stretchier because of the yarnovers. Because of this, I once again chose to knit a medium foot, although I did the heel flap a bit longer (the length specified for the Large size) which gave me a little more wiggle room in the instep.

They fit very well and are completely gaudy and unreasonable. And they make me crave some of grandma's borscht.

Still On About Variegated Yarns

2010-09-08T21:48:00.005-06:00

There are a few skeins in my yarn stash that I bought on impulse, because I was really drawn to the colours in them, when I first saw them. Sometimes I am pretty stumped about how to use them, though, and they just sit around for a long time while I ponder one possibility or another.

This week I had a sudden epiphany to use one of the brightest rainbow skeins of Koigu KPPPM that I have to make a pair of socks from the book Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn. It's a pretty simple pattern, where you alternate stitches of variegated yarn with stitches of solid yarn, to break up some of the craziness of the variegated. As you can see, it really works to tone down what would otherwise be a pretty eye-searing rainbow of Koigu.

The solid I'm using is Malabrigo sock (so delicious and soft) in a deep dark reddish-brown called Cordovan. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to use this skein, either, since I felt the colour was too dark to show a stitch pattern very well. Fortunately I know from my weaving colour theory that dark colours work well with brights, leaving them as eye-popping as they originally were (as opposed to lighter colours, which tend to wash out brights when used together.) Since this stitch pattern alternates the two yarns, it gives an appearance similar to a plain weave using the same colours, so I was pretty sure my theories would play out well in reality. I am pretty excited about these -- in fact, I finished my Beet socks this afternoon and immediately cast on for these ones; I think the needles were still warm. What can I say? I'm a woman obsessed.

Twisty Knitting

2010-09-07T15:34:00.006-06:00

Amongst my various projects, I have been continuing to work on my second pair of twisted stitch socks. I think we can all agree that the new yarn is showing the stitch pattern much more clearly, and I can vouch for it being way less splitty for this type of knitting. I am just up to the heel flap on the first sock, which means things are about to get easier -- no twisty stitches on the heel flap (although I briefly considered keeping the patterns going there) and then the sole of the foot will be stockingette, so I will only be doing the twisted stitch pattern for half the stitches.

The side of the leg is also great -- you can see the way the travelling stitches make a cool motif, the way they come together and spread out. The effect is less apparent on the front and back of the leg, because the patterns are spaced so much further apart.

I think it looks pretty good, so far, although I admit that I might like the first sock pattern better. This one seems a bit blocky, perhaps? What do you think?

An Impractical Love Affair

2010-08-31T13:13:00.004-06:00

I will admit it: I love variegated yarns. There's something about seeing a skein of yarn blending together a symphony of disparate colours that just makes me reach for my wallet. I love to just look at it, sitting in the basket on my wall, like a work of art, or to take it down and stroke its softness, to wonder at the way the colours meld together and complement each other.

Of course, yarn isn't meant only for looking at; it's also meant for knitting (or crocheting or weaving or whatever your thing is.) The thing is: sometimes once you wind that skein into a ball and start knitting with it, you might begin to think that it's lost its charm. The yarn may start to stripe in some weird way, or to pool colours into big blobs, and you might look at it and wrinkle your nose at the way it's distracting from the stitch patterns. I mean, face it -- sometimes variegated yarns don't make the nicest end products.

With that in mind (and because of my self-imposed yarn diet) I've been plugging away, this year, at using up all of the variegated yarns I bought back when I was so enamored of them. I decided that perhaps semi-solids are more my thing, since they show off fancy patterns more, and don't look so (dare I say) gaudy when you wear the end product.

What I inadvertently discovered is that I really love variegated yarns. I realized that the joy of knitting a pair of socks is only partly that you get to wear them and show them off when they're done. There is also so much joy and pleasure in the quiet hours and hours (and hours) of meditatively knitting them, of seeing one colour parade after another along my needles, of making each little loop and watching how the change from magenta to coral makes this fantastic fade of rosy pink for just a moment in the middle. To see each of the colours I love slide past my finger and onto the needles never ceases to amaze me.

Some people wonder why sock knitters don't buy the $1 sport socks at department stores. Why would I want to deny myself hours and hours of pleasure, soaking in the saturated myriad of colours in a skein of sock yarn, not to mention the satisfaction and comfort of wearing custom-sized socks that I made myself, just to save a few bucks? Besides, what you might spend on going to see a film that will entertain you for a couple of hours, I will gladly spend on a skein of variegated sock yarn, that I get to enjoy for days or weeks as I knit it, and for months or years as I wear the gaudy stripey colour-blobby socks, afterward.

Impulse Cardigan

2010-08-26T23:01:00.004-06:00

While knitting on my new little sock at the cafe, last week, I was struck by a sudden urge to knit a cardigan. Once I got home, I went through my favourites on Ravelry for inspiration, and was reminded of how much I love the Girl Friday cardigan from Knitty -- so casual, so comfy. I must have one.

I went through my Cascade 220 stash and decided to make it with this crazy lime green I have six skeins of. I wound some up and got ready to make a swatch, but upon closer inspection of the pattern, I realized that I would be one skein short. I did have seven skeins of rose pink set aside for another cardigan; when I looked at that pattern, I realized that I need eight skeins for that one, so the pink became my default for Girl Friday. I am really happy with the choice, although maybe it will be a bit of a Girlie Friday, instead. The pattern looks super squishy right now, but it will block out much flatter, and hopefully will look really cool.

By now, I have knit far past that photo: I am done the back up to the arm holes, and just past the ribbing on the fronts. I am planning to join the back, fronts, & sleeves all together above the armpit and knit it in one piece from there on, thus saving myself the effort of sewing the sleeves into the body, later. Call me lazy, but I think it's clever.

One (more) warm cozy cardigan, here I come.

The Next Sock

2010-08-23T17:32:00.004-06:00

When I chose the three motifs I used for my Real Love socks, I had a few other motifs on deck that I really liked together, and thought maybe I might make a second sock design using them. That time has come. I am planning this one out better than the first, and even making different sizes and stuff. I made up the charts and printed them off so that my own pair of socks will actually be a test of the pattern, as I write it.

Good thing I did, since I realized right away that the first row after the ribbed cuff is actually row 2 of the pattern, not row 1 -- whoops. I also noticed after knitting one repeat that the amount of travelling stitches in this sock draws the fabric in more than I expected, so the socks are going to be a bit too snug for a so-called Large. I also realized very quickly that this isn't the best yarn for this sort of a sock. It is a bit too splitty, which is somewhat aggravating for a travelling twisted stitch pattern. Perhaps aggravating is too strong a word -- but they are not relaxing and enjoyable, that's for sure. If that weren't enough, it is also getting quite a halo of fuzziness as I knit them, which I normally enjoy in my knitting, but in this case it is just going to obscure the lovely travelling stitch motifs, particularly after they are being worn.

So it will be back to the drawing board: rewrite the charts so the right row comes first, add a handful more stitches for a Large and make this chart the Medium, and begin again with a new yarn. I am going to use some sock yarn royalty for the second time around -- Madelinetosh Tosh Sock, in a spectacular ruby red grapefruit colour that will make my mouth water with every perfect little twisty stitch. Swoon.

Charybdis Socks

2010-08-16T15:44:00.005-06:00

Although I've been pretty preoccupied with other things this week, I've still managed the finishing touches on my Charybdis Socks.

They were a simple but satisfying knit -- I really only had to refer to the pattern once or twice during the whole thing. When I was knitting the second sock, I think I only referred to the first one, rather than using the pattern at all. They went fairly quickly (despite all appearances) and fit so nicely. If only the weather wasn't so warm, I would be wearing them right now. I think the various shades of blue really work well with this pattern, too -- they were designed with a sort of whirlpool theme, after all, and the stitch pattern is visible through the variegation but still lets the yarn shine.

Now that I am finished them, I have a new use for my size 2 needles: knitting the second pair of twisted-stitch socks I designed. I am pretty excited about them, and have already started writing up the pattern. Hopefully they turn out as nice as they are in my head.

By the way, almost 400 downloads of my first pattern, by now, and there are actually a couple of other pairs being knit, too. Check it out:

Red Letter Day

2010-08-10T09:27:00.004-06:00

After a few people on Ravelry admired my Real Love socks and showed some interest in seeing a pattern for them, I decided I would try to write it up. It would give me some practice for the next pair I have designed, and if I offer this one up for free, then I won't feel guilty about the unpolished nature of the pattern, this time, while I get some experience and feedback for the next pattern.

So I wrote it up over a couple of days and plugged in my unprofessional photos and some charts and popped it up on Ravelry, last night.

It's already been downloaded 150 times! Now I know that I have downloaded a lot of patterns that I haven't knit, yet, so I'm not expecting that many to actually be knit, but still... that's pretty cool. Even to see one or two pairs would really make me proud.

If you want it, you can have your own copy, too: download now

Out of Desperation

2010-08-06T09:35:00.006-06:00

As I was finishing off the final toe of my Real Love socks, I looked around all of the packed boxes in our new place and realized that I didn't have another project on the needles. I'm not sure where my crocheted hexagons ended up, and I didn't really have anything else on-the-go to putter away on.

Panic set in.

I still didn't have the internet at that time, so my options were pretty limited. I only had a couple of pattern books unpacked, and the majority of my yarn was still packed up. My printer was still packed away, so I couldn't print off any pdf patterns from my computer. I had a few balls of sock yarn peeking out of one shopping bag in my room, and I managed to find a pattern on my computer that was simple and intuitive enough that I would be able to knit it without having to refer to it often.

Thus, my Charybdis socks were born. The yarn is a nice round sock yarn, called Monarch, in a colourway called Shades of Teal. I chose this particular sock pattern because I thought it would stand up to the striking variegation in the colour of the yarn. I think they look pretty good for something I threw together, on the fly.

Real Love Socks

2010-08-05T09:22:00.006-06:00

With the lack of other entertainment on the weekend (and because I am still trying to spend a lot of time resting my knee) I managed to get a lot of knitting done. After I finished my Monkey socks, the only thing I had left unpacked and in-progress were my Real Love socks. It was probably a good thing, since the complexity of the travelling twisted stitches meant that I put these off more often than I worked on them.

If you recall, I got a twisted-stitch reference book for my birthday, and right away I threw together a couple of potential sock designs out of it. This was the first one, and is wide enough that it will fit my feet, in a very fine gauge. I had thought about potentially writing the pattern up to offer it to other people, but I'm not sure it would be very useful, since people with more normally sized feet would probably have a hard time making them fit without a lot of adjustments, anyway. In my experience, it's easier to upsize a sock pattern than to downsize one (assuming you can't just knit the whole thing at a tighter gauge, and I think that trying to knit a sock at a tighter gauge than 10 stitches per inch might just be crazy.) The next twisted-stitch sock pattern I have planned will be more appropriate, that way, and I may try my hand at selling knitting patterns, then.

I think I went into some detail on the patterns last time I mentioned these socks, but basically I just chose three that I thought were interesting together, that had the same repeat length in rows, and that created an interesting negative space (i.e. the purl background between the center motif and the one on either side, which you can see better on the first photo, or even better on this one I posted ages ago.) There is a span of the patterns where the stitches don't move, so I used that piece for the ribbing at the cuff, and also for the heel flap and for the toe. I think it looks pretty cool.

I named them Real Love socks partly because it takes some real love and dedication to make a 96-stitch circumference sock for size 10 feet, and also because I had John Lennon's song Real Love running around in my head while I was knitting them.

Funny side note: the current issue of Interweave Knits has a few twisted-stitch designs in there, and two of them use the same motifs as I did for these socks. Check out this one which uses the motif I have on the side of the leg, and this one which uses the double chain motif that I have beside it. Out of literally hundreds of stitch motifs in that book, we ended up with duplicates. Great minds think alike.

Monkey Socks

2010-08-04T12:28:00.008-06:00

Though we are still living out of boxes, mostly, I did manage to find my camera, and now that I'm back online, you get to see my finished Monkeys.

I am really happy with how they turned out -- they fit really nicely, despite being the medium size. The yarnovers give the stitch pattern a lot of stretch, and leave the socks pleasantly snug. I could have knit them in the large size, but it required many more stitches in a tighter gauge, which wouldn't have worked with the lovely yarn I had chosen, so I gambled that the medium would fit my wide feet -- and won.

The yarn is Socks that Rock in a colour called Sweet Pea. It was the May Rockin' Sock Club yarn, and while I wasn't inspired to knit either of the patterns that came with it, I was definitely inspired by the subtle variegation of this yarn. It is mostly off-white, with some soft grassy green and a barely-there peach which is only visible in the right lighting. Perfect for a cute little stitch pattern like Monkey.

As I mentioned before, I am planning another pair of Monkeys, but using SpillyJane's variation of staggering the stitch pattern. Soon, soon, my pretties...

An Update

2010-07-30T16:23:00.004-06:00

1. The move is progressing well -- we have virtually everything we own in boxes, at this point. I am so thankful for all the help we've had over the last couple of weeks. (Aside: we really need to have less stuff. Thank god I had a self-imposed yarn/fabric destash, this year, or it would be even worse.) I'm pretty sure that the unpacking will go much more slowly, but it will be so nice to be settled into our new place, by this time tomorrow.

2. The knee is slowly getting better -- I am still using a cane when I go out, though I don't usually use it around the house (what with all the boxes to lean on and all.) I am feeling more stable on my feet, and soon I may even be able to walk somewhat normally.

3. Finished my Monkey socks, but lord knows which box my camera is in. I will have photos of them for you sometime next week. They turned out so cute! I am already planning a variation on the theme, possibly in some more of my Socks That Rock, but should be receiving my July Rockin' Sock Club shipment very soon, so that may trump more Monkeys, for the time being.

4. Once we get ourselves moved tomorrow, I won't have internet at home (or phone or tv, for that matter) until it gets hooked up again next week. Fortunately I have a lot of sci-fi TV to watch (both British: Torchwood Season 3, and American: Battlestar Galactica Season 1 (yes, finally)) to try to get my entertainment fix until I am back on this wondrous series of tubes we call the interwebs.

5. Have a good weekend, and let me know, next week, if I miss anything good!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2010-07-22T11:51:00.005-06:00

Back when I knit my Clapotis, I mentioned that there were ten thousand on Ravelry (and over 15,000 by now.) Well, Monkey by Cookie A is one of the patterns that is like a Clapotis for sock knitters. There are over 12,000 pairs on Ravelry, man. Somehow, although I have been knitting socks for years, I just never got around to making them, and didn't really get what the big deal was.

Yesterday I started a pair and got part way through the heel flap before I made myself go to bed. I get it. Something about the pattern is very addictive, and it is quite simple: just YOs and decreases in a very pleasing pattern. I had it memorized after the second repeat. I could make a million of these, I think.

If I wasn't hobbling back into the rat race today, I would probably finish the first and start the second. Alas, working and moving house will probably slow my knitting and blogging for the next week or so, but never fear. I shall return.

Worth a Thousand Words

2010-07-21T22:55:00.003-06:00

Another completed project, because I have no better way to spend my time, besides knitting. There is only one sock in the photo because it's really a lot more trouble than it's worth, right now, to put the other sock on my other foot. The photo is blurry because it's also hard to pose that one foot for a good photo, when I can't really bend the other leg.

Please note the piles of CDs and DVDs and a pile of empty boxes -- something I would be spending time on, if I could. Yeah, that's just me feeling sorry for myself again.

How about a snack to cheer up?

A Cabled Hat

2010-07-20T14:47:00.005-06:00

When I was in the mood for a hat, last week, I found a couple of potential patterns that I really liked. One was the Brimmed Hat, which I had stash yarn for, and the other was a little cabled watch cap from Drops, for which I didn't have anything quite suitable.

As you know, I knit the lovely green brimmed hat, but I still couldn't get the Drops hat out of my head. Fortunately I still had one unused gift certificate from my birthday, so I made a trip to the yarn store the other day, and bought a couple of balls of Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK -- it is very nice round yarn, which makes it perfect for cables, and it's super-soft, which makes it perfect for a hat, and what a lovely cool grey colour, yes?

I started it the morning before I blew out my knee, and finished it the morning after. I haven't been out of the house much, so I haven't had much of a chance to wear it, but it feels lovely, and I do like the look of it, too.

The only thing I would change is that I would add two more stitches to the cast on: you can see on the right side of the cable in the photo (that is, if you click for a close-up, you might be able to make it out) that there is a little chunk of 7 purls in a row, without two knit stitches between to break them up. It didn't bother me enough to rip it back and add two stitches, once I'd begun, but if I did it again, I would add two more stitches in, so the ribbing would be balanced in that spot. Or at least recenter the cable so there is one knit on either side of it, instead of two knits on one side and none on the other. Or am I being too much of a perfectionist about this?

Superstar

2010-07-16T22:09:00.004-06:00

Tonight, in a spectacular (and, I should think, rather unforgettable) Mary Katherine Gallagher impression, I actually managed to dislocate my kneecap (for the fourth... or fifth time in my life.) This one was a doozy, too, where I actually had to physically pop it back into place, myself. Urgh. It wasn't until much later, when I recounted the whole ridiculous story to my HLM that he pointed out that I am not, in fact, Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 2 ("Who does that?!?") and that perhaps I should leave such procedures to someone at the hospital. It was really gross. I probably should apologize to my coworkers for putting them through that.

Warning: The preceding story may make you squeamish. Sorry about that.

Brimmed Hat

2010-07-15T08:43:00.006-06:00

Sometimes when I'm working on a lot of projects at once, it feels like I've been working on them forever. I suppose the solution would be to be monogamous with my knitting, and then they would be done quicker. I prefer to have a lot of options, to suit my moods. It always helps to throw together a little something for instant gratification, once in a while.

A couple of days ago, it was raining (again) and I really felt like making a hat. I found a cool hat pattern on ravelry that I had stash yarn for, and cast on. I finished it the next day and now I have a hat for the rain. Of course, today it's not raining.

This one is made from some Cascade 220 in Como Blue, so it is wooly and warm. The brim didn't quite turn out as expected -- in the original pattern, it stands out more, rather than clinging so close to the head, but I sort of like it. It is like a 1920s cloche and is very comfortable.

I think that blocking the brim might help it to stand out more, or maybe knitting it with another row of increases (or a larger needle size?) to make it wider as it extends further out. Further experimentation is needed...

Poppy Sweater

2010-07-14T18:43:00.005-06:00

After the initial frustration of seaming, the neckbands and buttonbands on my sweater went very smoothly. I picked up the perfect number of stitches without really even trying, and they lay flat and tidy. I spaced out nine buttons for the cardigan front -- the pattern called for eight, but I figure I'm tall and also I was afraid of gaping at the buttonband, so I added an extra one. The buttons are so perfect; I really should have taken a closer photo of them to show off how perfectly they match, but I guess you can tell by how much they don't stand out in these photos.

This pattern, if I didn't mention it before, is from one of the recent Interweave Knits magazines. It was called the Marigold sweater, but Marigold isn't a colour that works for me, plus I wanted to be able to wear it to work (with colour limitations for dress code) so I chose red. I got this yarn with some gift certificates from my coworkers for my birthday -- thanks guys! It is wool, which might seem crazy with all the hot weather at this time of year, but like so many others, I am plagued with air conditioning at work, so I need cardigans year-round, really. The wool is a really soft round merino -- I am worried that it will get fuzzy and pill, but only time will tell.

The pattern itself was pretty easy: 2x2 rib, an easy to memorize stitch pattern, no shaping... Even the tucks in the sleeve didn't really take much work. The seaming was really the only fussy part, and it was mostly my own fault that it became a chore.

I think it has a sort of retro cute thing going (hello Mad Men) and I am pretty happy about it. It's also nice and warm -- already wore it to work once. I call that a success!

How Not to Sew up a Sweater

2010-07-09T11:42:00.003-06:00

1. Begin sewing first shoulder seam. Halfway through, realize you have somehow managed to put the seam on the outside of the garment.

2. Begin again, but this time decide that it looks like crap, so you have to try a different type of stitch.

3. Begin again, and this time finish successfully. Realize afterwards that you've attached the left side front to the right side back.

4. Successfully finish both shoulder seams and begin setting in the first sleeve, only to realize that there is no way the sleeve cap is going to fit in the sleeve shaping on front/back of the sweater.

5. Put it in a time-out and go to work.

6. Pick it up again the next day and fudge the seams between sleeve and armhole until they fit well enough to work.

7. Sew both sides in no time flat, now that you're in the groove.

8. Thank the gods that you are done the seaming and now just get to knit a neckband and some buttonbands.

Oh Baby

2010-07-08T10:04:00.005-06:00

This week, I had an epiphany. I was talking with my coworkers about these cupcakes that my mom used to make -- they were chocolate cupcakes with a delectable cream cheese filling. Someone mentioned carrot cake and the next thing I knew: light bulb. Why not make a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese hidden inside? And why not use a baby-food-carrot cake recipe, so it will be a lovely smooth texture? Funny thing: last time I made a carrot cake with baby food, I wanted to keep the texture, so I added some shredded carrot. This time I am all about the smooth velvety cake, so I didn't.

Basically I bastardized one baby-food-carrot-cake recipe and one cream-cheese-filled-cupcake recipe into one glorious mutation of the two. Yum.

Oh Baby Cupcakes

Carrot Cake batter:
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sunflower oil
3 4oz jars carrot baby food

Filling:
8oz brick cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar

Ok, so you make the batter and the filling (surely you don't need instruction on that) and put about a tablespoon of batter into your cupcake cup, followed by a nice dollop (a teaspoon or so) of filling and then another tablespoon of batter to cover it up. Bake those little lovelies at 350 degrees for 15-20 min (until the top is no longer moist and looks cooked) and then let them cool. They are spectacular out of the fridge and will freeze well, too. This recipe is enough for about 24 cupcakes (with a bit of batter and filling left over for you to enjoy -- don't pretend like you won't) so you can take some to your coworkers and make them ooh and ahh.

What's that? Knitting? Oh yes, I've been doing some of that, too. I have gotten started on the second sock in both pairs that I am plugging away on, and even finished all the pieces of my cardi. There they are, blocked and waiting patiently for me to seam them together and knit the buttonbands. I even found the perfect buttons. Stay tuned.