If the knit fits...

FO Friday- Goldilocks hood

2012-02-10T19:59:00.000Z

Another one skein project. It did take longer than the weekend, but there is a reason for that. The pattern and yarn combo would be a perfect weekend project if it all went smoothly.

Yarn: Rowan colourscape chunky.

This is like a much nicer Noro with long colour changes and interesting colours. The yarn and finished fabric is softer than I expected, it is a 100% lambswool but not too itchy. It does have some bits of vegetation but they pick out ok, annoying but not the end of the world. I am not the biggest fan of singles in general as they do break if you pull too hard, especially when it comes to sewing ends in. I had the same problem here, maybe I just need to be nicer to my yarn!

I picked the pattern Capucine by Adela Illichmanova on 5mm needles.

This version was too small (you see where the Goldilocks thing is going?). I thought about just making it small and using it as a present for a child, but I wanted the hat for me. So I frogged it.

Since I wanted to use up all the yarn I had I figured working from the top down might be the way forward. Top down hats are super for this, you just go until the yarn runs out and call it done, much like toe up socks.

Anyway. I used the pattern Ponytail Pi hat by Katherine Lane Hughes to start the hat. This pattern makes a cross shape on the crown by increasing in four lots of two. I would use the method again for top down hats as you don't end up with the pointy nipple bit lots of top down hat patterns get.

I knitted away until I reached the stitch count I thought would match the size needed. It didn't. This hat was too big!

I tried putting smaller dpns in the hold the stitches so I could rip back. Apparently I have some kind of mental problem where I can't pick up a straight line of stitches as the needles ended up all over the place.

Instead I was brave, pulled the needles out and just ripped until was near the right place. For the final round I pulled the stitches out one at a time, picking them up with a dpn as I went.

The wool yarn made this quite easy, the stitches held well even without the needles in. I wouldn't put it down and wander off mid frog but they didn't drop out when they shouldn't. Eventually the right round was back on the needles.

A few knit rounds, followed by a garter stitch band worked flat. Increases at the edges made the shape and a wide ribbed section finished off the capucine style.

Three giant tassels finished off the hat. This was a great way to use up all the yarn left in the skein.

This hat is just right!

FO Friday- Handspun cowl

2012-02-03T21:56:00.000Z

Finally a photo taken in daylight!

Pattern: Good luck cowl by Christianne Gerstner

Yarn: Handspun yarn. Fibre from Shunklies etsy shop

Needles: 3.5mm

This is a lovely simple pattern, it is easy to remember and work once it is set up. The yarn was a little heavier than commercial 4 ply so the cowl has less drape than it probably should, bigger needles would have made a more drapey fabric. On the plus side the heavier fabric means the cowl sort of stands up when it is worn so it fills the space up to the chin, but without being so still that ti is uncomfortable.

I have not blocked this yet, and to be honest I may not bother. It would be nice to have a similar wave in the cast off edge to the one in the cast on edge, but I think it would not be very noticeable when it is being worn anyway.

I did have a major indecisive moment with this. Just before the cast off I decided the yarn would have looked good as a sweater yoke teamed with a grey commercial yarn for the sweater body and sleeves. For a while I considered frogging the cowl but decided to keep it in the end. I will just have to dye some blue and grey fibre and spin more for a sweater.

This took a little longer than a weekend to make (not constant knitting), but that was partly due to me thinking about frogging it. There is quite a bit of yarn leftover from the 100g, some will go in my sock yarn blanket but I need to find a few patterns that use tiny amounts of yarn.

FO Friday- Little sun hat

2012-01-27T21:28:00.002Z

I did a better job of picking my project last weekend, it used up a ball of stash yarn and I managed to get it done in the weekend so it was not around to distract me from work (yes, I know, I should learn to have self control!).

Pattern: Strawberries and peaches hat by Kasia Borsani

Yarn: Rowan silk cotton

Needles: 4mm dpns for top of hat, 3.5mm circular for brim

This is a lovely pattern, very simple and quick to make. I ran out of yarn on the brim, so finished at 4 rounds and did a plain cast off, it looks ok so I am going with it.

I can't honestly say I am a fan of the yarn, in fact I suspect I don't really like cotton yarns but I might give them one more try, perhaps see what the dishcloth thing is all about. Once knitted up it is ok, but it is somewhat splitty and crunchy in the ball.

The decreases make a cute spiral to the top of the crown.

This pattern requires a provisional cast on. I have done this once before so it was good to try it out again. I found the crochet chain the easiest method by far. Trying to do loops onto a second needle or scrap yarn ended up with odd sized loops that were really quite messy.

The crochet chain makes nice neat loops, maybe even a tiny bit too tight, but they seem ok once worked from the other direction.

The online tutorial I used as a refresher suggests tying a knot at the end of the scrap yarn once the chain is worked so you know which end will unzip easily when it comes to picking up the provisional stitches. This is a genius tip! Oh, I found the link, here it is, lovely and clear with plenty of photos.

I have to say, this week I REALLY want to do all the crafty things. I am in the mood to spin and knit lots of patterns in pretty yarns. I especially want to knit some socks as I have not done that for a while. We shall see if the will power holds out, I do have a single skein pattern picked out that should be my weekend knitting.

One a day

2012-01-24T08:09:00.000Z

I have not shared pictures of my sock yarn blanket for a while. It has grown:

It is at a not very easy to photograph stage, being long and thin, so what you mostly see is my sofa. And my spinning wheel, back where it belongs after Christmas.

As planned I set the width before the end of last year, holding it up against a king size quilt I decided thirty squares across the bottom would be about right. Also I like nice round numbers, so thirty pleased me. I was looking at it on Sunday and thinking it may take me the next five years to finish and that I should have made it smaller, but never mind!

This shot proves the width is set, once you start the second row you can't add more, well, not without unpicking or altering the pattern.

A couple of shots from along the new section:

This project is getting a lot of attention at the minute. Because I am trying to avoid having knitting projects on the go to distract me in the week I had no evening knitting. I tried that for about an hour and then got very bored of just sitting staring at the TV. A couple of squares fits in an evening nicely- I am entertained and the blanket grows, all round win.

I am trying to sew in the ends as I go. Every few days I have a session of end sewing so it is not too madly out of control for now.

YOP- In which the cardigan is divided

2012-01-22T15:45:00.000Z

Yet another lousy picture, although I took this one during the day it has been pretty grey and wet so still not a great deal of light for taking project pictures.

My Mr Greenjeans cardigan, worked in Year of Projects yarn is making slow but steady progress. It only really gets worked on at knit night on Thursdays. It is very simple so a good choice for knitting and chatting.

I have finished the raglan increases and divided for the body. The last few rows before the divide felt like they took FOREVER! Being a sock fiend I am not used to such long rows and with it being stocking stitch it was not the most exciting. There are a few more plain rows, just increasing at the front edge, then the cable section starts. I am not sure if I can cable and talk though.

FO Friday- Little Owl

2012-01-20T18:27:00.000Z

I did make a project last weekend that I had hoped to share today, although I was not good at choosing something that could be finished in two days so it took a little longer. It is almost done, just the ends to weave in but I am somewhat undecided about it and might end up frogging it. If I keep it I will show it next Friday.

I don't think I have shared this on a FO Friday, I had a quick check and can't see a post about it, but if I have please just look at the cute.

Pattern: Owl Puffs by Jenna Krupar
Yarn: Wendy Sorrento, leftovers from stash, just a tiny amount in each colour
Needles: 2.5mm dpns

A lovely simple pattern, quick to make with a very cute outcome.

I am not great at embroidery, especially on knitted surfaces so if I made the pattern again I would maybe make a felt beak, if the base yarn was wool you could needle felt the beak and eyes on.

Mmmmm, stash

2012-01-16T12:50:00.000Z

More correctly I should title this post as "Lucky me, I have pretties". Since using stash yarn is an aim for the year I thought it would be good to document what I have. I am not doing any kind of yarn diet, it is just about using the pretty yarn. If I buy something new and shiny that is all good too.

The photos are not great, lousy weather!

First the yarn with a planned destiny:

The green is a new purchase, part Christmas present, part sale bargain, all "oooh I like this". It is a sweater quantity and will most likely be a hoody of some sort. I was thinking about the central park hoody when I bought it but I think that may be too cabled, something simpler perhaps.

The red will be Brandywine shawl when I have done enough Uni work to justify casting it on.

Navy and grey 4 ply is for endpaper mitts.

Navy and Gold DK was going to be two colour brioche mitts, but may be used for colourwork instead.

The yummy teal will be a cowl.

Sock yarn that will be made into socks:

I have pattern designs in mind for the teal Regia and the blue/green noro.

Turquoise, black and hot pink was from the UK sock knitters swap. We are having a KAL to use our swap yarn in February so I will use it then. I think it might stripe so I may just make a plain vanilla sock.

The lovely light blue and purple was a blog prize from the knitting squid. I have not decided what pattern to make yet, but it will be socks. If I cast on some socks before the KAL it will most likely be this yarn.

Three multicolour balls on the left self stripe and sparkle. I tried to make a sideways sock pattern with this but it didn't work. I might try again.

The rainbow will be a slip stitch pattern, something simple that breaks up the pooling.

The purple is amazingly gorgeous, I don't know what pattern it will be.

Year of projects yarn:

Some of the red is already becoming a Mr Greenjeans cardigan. What else I can make from this depends on how much is left after the cardigan. The plan was to see what I could make from 2kg of undyed aran yarn in a year (I have dyed the red).

Stash with no particular destiny:

These small yarn quantities will hopefully used up in the next month or so. They are the supplies for my aim of knitting small things that are done in a weekend.

Scraps, part balls and leftovers:

I want to use these up too. And maybe have a sort through as I suspect there are some tiny lengths in there that are not actually knitable.

Mmmmm, handspun:

Why do I spin, and then not knit with what I have made? I have hardly used any of my handspun to actually make things, it just sits in the stash box.

The blue/grey at the centre top was used this weekend, so that will hopefully appear on Friday as a FO. Looking at it on the table I just decided I should have used it to make a sweater yoke, but too late now, I am not frogging, I will have to spin some more.

Two matching blue/pink skeins on the right were spun for socks. They will be toe up and maybe have a commercial sock yarn for toes, heels and cuffs.

The rest I am not sure what to make. The yardage is quite low and there are only so many mitts/hats/cowls you can wear. I might try combining skeins or mixing with commercial yarns to get a bigger project. The weights vary somewhat so they do not really work together, although I am thinking of a lengthwise crochet scarf to combine some of the randoms.

Spinning stash:

Actually, there is an entire Suffolk fleece that I hav washed but not carded too, but that is the purchased stuff. Two bags of alapca, 100g each of suri and hucaya and a 100g braid of Shetland. The other bag has the tiny scraps from all my spinning projects. At some point I will card it together and spin some hideous clown barf yarn.

I think the main thing to remember this year with my yarn and fibre purchases is to buy enough to actually make something. The odd balls and small quantities are the hardest to use up so they linger.

FO Friday- Slippers

2012-01-13T19:28:00.000Z

I have a new plan for choosing projects. For a few months I am going to try to pick small projects that use stash yarn and can be made during weekends. This should help clear up the odd balls and scraps and means I don't get distracted by wanting to knit when I should be working during the week.

The first project to get this treatment was a WIP. I bought some Regia slipper soles and had started to use the free pattern that came with them to make slippers. I was using two lots of handspun from the tour de fleece. Baby alpaca and a beautiful alpaca/merino blend from the Wonder Why Gal.

They were coming out a funny shape and I was going to run out of yarn so I frogged the alpaca blend section and restarted the foot using some Debbie Bliss chunky cashmerino from my stash. Instead of following the Regia pattern I worked a basic short row heel sock with a ribbed top to the foot.

I think I need to look at a photo or video tutorial for short row heels the next time I do them, they come out ok, but I think there is something a little odd, maybe I am twisting some of the stitches or getting the wraps wrong.

Sewing the soles on is not the easiest task. The first one I put on and sewed while I was wearing it. This requires rather more yoga style moves than I am really capable of so I had to take it off to finish it. The second one was not so bad, I pinned it all the way round using dressmaking pins while I was wearing it, then took it off to sew.

I think I would have been a little happier with slightly longer cuffs. If I was redoing them I would work toe up to use all the blue yarn, then finish off with the handspun on the cuff.

Mmmmm, cosy. Because the only thing better than wearing a pair of handknit socks is finding a way to wear two pairs at once.

I have been wearing these every evening since I finished them. They are super cosy and the ribbing holds them nicely in place. The soles felt a little narrow when I first wore them, but they seem to have settled in and are a good fit. I may be making some of these for Christmas this year (see, planning early!)

FO Friday- Birdie mobile

2012-01-06T18:38:00.000Z

Two weeks before Christmas I decided to make an extra gift. I had been all smug about getting my gift knitting done really early, and then I decide to add extra presents. It is possible I am a little insane and next year I am most definitely not doing that.

Oh, yes, and the extra present was crochet, which I used to be able to do but have since forgotten. Fortunately a super pattern and some how to books meant I could make this:

One very cute little birdie (even if I say so myself). I used the Birdie Decoration pattern by Lucy of Attic24 (well know and very awesome crochet blog) and leftover yarn scraps from other projects. I didn't do legs on my birds. The tail coming out of the back was sewn in, I was not sure if I needed the tail when I took the photo.

The pattern is very well written, it has a full photo tutorial so even my shaky crochet skills could cope.

I made some more, a whole flock of little birds. These are so good for using up leftovers and scraps as you only need a tiny amount for each part. Match the hook to your yarn thickness and you get different sized birds. They are quick to make too.

Some string, wooden dowelling and a little knot know how (borrowed) and tada! A mobile:

Not the best photo, but you get the idea, birds on strings. They would look good on a horizontal string too, or hanging on individual loops.

I read through this post to check for spelling and general odd bits of text and have realised it sounds a bit "yay me, I'm awesome". I didn't mean it to, really it is the pattern that is awesome, I am just pleased with how they came out :)

Something about spinning

2012-01-05T17:22:00.001Z

I realised I have not done a tada post for my beaded yarn. It has been skeined and the twist set. Finding a project for it is on my list of New Years Plans.

I have found a few new tools that are not designed for spinning, but are very helpful

This little guy holds the end of your work if you need to stop. I had been using a clothes peg, but the grip on this is much better. As an added bonus he has a magnet on the base, so sticks to my wheel, holding the twist in the work rather than spinning around and removing the twist.

In real life he is a magnetic note holder, you can get them in all sorts of shapes and sizes and they are not very expensive. The tortoise above came from Wilkinsons if you are in the UK and want one just like him, he was in the kitchen area. They have ladybirds (ladybugs) too. So cute!

This one is a little more random.

I have discovered that one of my pairs of trousers is very "sticky" when it comes to fibre. Not actually sticky, but the fibres seem to grab on to the fabric. Normally this is a pain when spinning as I end up looking like I have been wrestling with a cat, but when I wanted to sort out the bead colours to get them in the right order it was just the right amount of stick to line up the next ten beads to be spun. They stayed there quite happily until I picked them up and added them to the end of the spinning.

New Year Plans

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000Z

Blog land appears to be full of people talking about their New Year's resolutions, or intentions, or all sorts of other things. I think I will stick with plans, and make a list because I like making lists. In fact, quite often when I write a list I stick on a few things that I have already done, or nearly done, just because crossing stuff off a list is so much fun!

Finish my PhD, this was on last year's list, but this time I actually really really have to get it done. By the end of September. Otherwise the World ends. True story.
Master colourwork. I have tried before, it was ok. It will be better because I am not starting on socks this time.
Knit using stash yarn. I am not making any yarn purchase embargo type thing this year, but I do want to use some of what I have. Especially the yarns with a project in mind.
Knit with my handspun, because it is too pretty to sit in a box not being used.
Spin enough for a big project, either a blanket or a sweater. This might be my Tour de Fleece challenge.
Make a blanket, oooh, that ties in nicely with the last one ;)
I have a few specific projects planned, with the yarn for each all ready. Some slippers, Brandywine shawl and Endpaper mitts are top of the list.
Write up some patterns, I have ideas, some notes and even some yarn.
Add more to my sock yarn blanket. I have made progress, which will be shared soon. I may go back to the one a day method.
Keep working on my Year of Projects yarn. progress on this to be shared next week too.
Not join any mad year long KALs :D

And because I hate to post a picturesless post, a big thumbs up for Plans and Lists

Actually, that is one of the patterns to be written up. The recipient's Mum refused to believe they had been hand knit, mwah ha ha ha ha!

A-Z sock challenge round up

2011-12-31T18:45:00.000Z

All my sock projects for the UK Sock Knitter's Group A-Z challenge:

The socks include a lot of different techniques and stitch patterns. From only working top down heel flap socks I am a convert to the benefits of toe up and short row heels. I wouldn't only ever work one type as I still like both, they suit different situations.

I also tried a lot of different sock yarns, some lovely and some less so. Regia 4 ply and Stroll fingering weight are about even for the best all round (price, feel, colours, washability etc) but some of the yarns like Cherry tree Hill supersock and The Knitting Goddess merino are lovely luxury yarns. I am not a fan of singles sock yarns, although they are ok for a very plain sock the fuzziness makes fancy stitch patterns hard to see.

I have lots of lovely socks now so have a few different challenges for next year, there will be some socks, but more other projects. I will do a new years challenges post in a day or two.

Hope you have a lovely New Year's Eve!

FO Friday- Z socks

2011-12-30T23:29:00.000Z

And so here ends the socky alphabet

Pattern: Zokni by Mintyfresh

Yarn: Dream in colour smooshy

Needles: 2.5mm dpns

Love this pattern, aside from the super name it makes some gorgeous socks. A lace pattern makes leaves from top to bottom. It does need a bit of concentration, I tried working on it at knit night and had to give up in favour of a K1P1 hat as it was too complicated fro knitting and chatting. There were too many rows for me to remember the whole chart, although by the end a quick glance was enough to remind me what I should be doing.

The yarn is delicious. I received it in a swap and have to say I am very jealous of the lovely sock yarns available in the US. I may have to visit with an empty suitcase! It is lovely to work with and has gorgeous stitch definition which is perfect for the lace pattern. The colourway is lovely and goes well with the leafy pattern. As an extra bonus it is 4oz rather than the standard 100g the UK sock yarns come in so I have lots left to play with.

Stitch pattern close up showing the super leaves:

Tomorrow I will do a round up of all 26 pairs if I can work out how to do the pictures as a slideshow rather than 26 individual photos.

I think next year there may not be quite so many socks, time for some different challenges I think! (Fear not, there will be some socks)

FO Friday- Gifting mitts

2011-12-23T21:42:00.000Z

I ummed and ahhed whether to knit my boss a gift for Christmas. I don't think she really "gets" knitting, but I wanted to make a little something. So I whipped these up from some stash yarn.

Pattern: Made up as I went along based on various mitts I have made in the past. I will write up the pattern in the new year.

Yarn: Lion brand woolease

Needles: 3.75mm dpns

These were a really quick make, the pair probably took less than 6 hours of "TV knitting" time. They are very simple but good for last minute panic gift knitting.

They have come out nicely squishy and should be machine washable. I hope she likes them, but if not at least it was stash busting and speedy knitting. I think I might make some for myself from the rest of the yarn.

FO Friday- Y socks

2011-12-16T18:06:00.000Z

I now have just one pair of socks to knit to have made it through the alphabet. Presenting my Y socks:

Pattern: Yukon Leaves

Yarn: Regia 4 ply in Galaxy for the main part, solid red and green for cuffs, heels and toes.

Needles: 2.5mm dpns

Mods: Afterthought heel worked as I think the squared heel looks better than a heel flap when using a different colour for the heels. Five plain rounds before toe decreases.

I enjoyed making these, the pattern was clear and easy to follow but challenging enough that it does not get boring. It is not really a beginners sock pattern but is fairly simple if you know the basics of sock construction.

The stitch pattern is written not charted. I found six patterned rows was too much to remember so had to keep the instructions in front of me throughout. Maybe if I had charted the pattern I would have found it easier to picture the next row to work from the previous row of knitting.

There is an option for increasing the circumference of the sock by four stitches, I went for the larger size although I probably could have got away without the extra stitches.

I have talked about Regia yarn before, it is a good sock knitting choice. Affordable and hard wearing with a decent stitch definition. There is a good range of solid and self patterning choices.

I had one ball of the self patterning Galaxy yarn picked up from a bargain bin. I worked the cuffs, heels and toes in leftovers from other projects. I worked until I had used a little under 25g of the yarn then did a couple of plain rounds in the toe colour to make up the length. There was a little of the Galaxy yarn leftover, toe up are probably best for making the most of a single ball.

Yarnovers and decreases make a lace pattern down the leg and foot.

Proof I made a sock with no heel. Look a tube!

You can see the orange row where I stored the heel stitches. I took quite a few photos so will do a separate post about the heel on another day.

Something about spinning

2011-12-15T07:14:00.000Z

I had a bit of a deadline for finishing my spinning project. I need to pack my wheel up to be able to decorate for Christmas. Due to space shortage the tree goes where my wheel lives for the rest of the year. A few years ago as a compromise between my family tradition of decorating on the 24th and OH's of decorating on the 1st we agreed on the 15th. I didn't want to leave spinning sat half done for another month (by the time I got the wheel back out and got on with it) so I had to get this done last weekend.

On Saturday I finished the beaded single.

O Sunday I plied the two singles. This is still sat on the bobbin, so next week I will show it skeined and washed with details. I made sure you could see beads in the photo :)

I never manage to divide fibre evenly, there was a little of the unbeaded single left. I have rolled this up and added it to the sock yarn blanket box as it is about 4 ply weight.

While I was sat at my wheel I navajo plied a little bit of blue and grey single that was hogging a bobbin. It is about 4 ply weight so this has gone in the sock yarn blanket box too. There is probably enough for a square.

The fully finished project will have its reveal next week, then I am on a spinning hiatus for a couple of weeks until I get my wheel back out.

FO Friday- Little mittens

2011-12-09T21:50:00.000Z

Mittens with thumbs were requested by my small niece. Although I am not too keen on knitting kids things as they grow so quickly I agreed to these, they are a nice quick knit after all.

Pattern: Heart Strings Mittens by Crystal Guistinello

The purple yarn was supplied (part of the deal), it was chosen by my niece, although I suspect my sister had some input. I can't find the ball band at the minute so can't do a proper review. It is a nice 4 ply in a lovely shade of purple though. The blue sparkly mitten was some leftover Regia 4 ply. I figured mittens don't have to match.

The pattern is super, simple but effective. These are are very quick to make. I did work the whole mitten including cuff on 3mm needles though rather than starting on smaller needles and increasing. I also did five rounds before the thumb gusset rather than three. I suspect the i-cord will be sewn on rather than attached with buttons, I think it would keep coming apart if you just button it on. I left that for my sister to do as she can check the cords are the right length.

They fitted and my niece seemed happy with them, so a win there I think.

Yarn along

2011-12-07T21:03:00.000Z

Hooray! I have reading to share with you all today. What I also have is an intermittent k key. I suspect I may have got pretzel crumbs under it, but if any words look a bit odd try imagining them with a k in there somewhere and see if it helps.

On to the yarn along.

The two projects on the go are my year of projects cardigan, Mr Greenjeans in hand dyed aran yarn and my Y sock in two colours of Regia 4 ply. This might end up as three colours of Regia as I am using stash and leftovers to make these. The socks are actually a lot further along. I have found the only way to get pictures for my blog is to take them at the weekend when there is daylight. By the time I actually post them they are a little out of date.

I am very excited to share this book with you. It is the latest Discworld book. I was going to wait until I had finished reading the rest of the series and pick it up in paperback. But as you can see, Tesco had it for half price and I am clearly very weak. So now I have it in hardback, and am reading it out of sequence.

I have also achieved the impossible with this book, I have actually been reading it for about 2 weeks! There is an overwhelming temptation to tuck up under the duvet and just read it until the end, but busy weeks have stopped me. I might have a date with it this weekend though.

What I have read so far has been very enjoyable. It is centred on Sam Vines, and I think I have to agree with Tink that the best Discworld books are the ones with a more developed central character. More of a review when I have got further in.

One a day

2011-12-06T07:53:00.000Z

Actually, not even close. Although I did do a couple of squares at the weekend, this has been a very neglected project.

This is my attempt at getting the whole thing in one picture.

I have been working on getting it to the final width, so I have a really long thin bit that does not lend itself to pictures.

This week I spread it out on top of my kingsize quilt to see how close it is in size. With the five loose squares I need three more to make it the same width, which conveniently also makes it thirty squares across. I like round numbers so that is what I will go for.

I think I can get that done by the end of the year, three more edge squares and eight joining squares should not be too difficult.

YOP- In which I have started an actual adult sized garment

2011-12-04T19:51:00.000Z

Much to the amazement of my knitting group who only ever see me knitting socks and other small things on tiny needles. The Mr Greenjeans cardigan is underway.

See those 5mm needles and aran yarn? Nothing short of giant crafting supplies to my sock obsessed mind!

I have three repeats of the raglan increases done. I am aiming to do one a week. That makes it fit nicely with all the other knitting/spinning/crafting I want to do but gives me some kind of measurable progress.

I am not linking to the YOP again as I can't make it around to all the other blogs and it doesn't seem fair. This last week the drama llama has been visiting (major car trouble, uni work issues, naughty horses at other work etc) so hopefully he will be gone this week but even so I am only just making it around the blogs in my Google reader. I spent a very pleasant time this morning catching up with you all. Fingers crossed for a quiet, calm week this week.

Finally, (an in no way fibre related) I thought you might like to see where I work:

Unfortunately it doesn't always look like this, but on a sunny day it is nothing short of beautiful.

FO Friday- X socks

2011-12-02T07:15:00.000Z

These have been a challenge, but they are finally finished. Apologies for the lousy photos, there is an absence of daylight when I am home to take pictures at the minute.

Pattern: XOX Socks- Hugs and Kisses by Wollhuhn

Yarn: Four seasons Grundl Hot socks

Needles: 2.5mm

These socks were really hard work, in fact it was possibly the least I have enjoyed knitting a pair of socks ever!

I am going to sound like something of a moo face here, because the pattern is free so I should not complain about it, but I want to give you an honest opinion. There are good points as well as bits I would change. It is also probably the yarn's fault that I did not get on with it very well, more on that in a minute.

I do like the XO cable, I would probably give it a less cutesy name, but that is just me. And if you look at the FOs on Ravelry it does knit up nicely, especially if you use a yarn with good stitch definition (which I didn't, oops). The pattern is easy to follow and once you have done a couple of the cables is not too bad to memorise.

I would work about an inch of k1p1 rib at the top instead of the suggested ribbing, the sections are just too wide and it gets curly and floppy at the top. I found the plain rounds a little awkward as the stitch numbers change (k4,p2,k4,p4,k12 etc), it made it hard to get into a rhythm, so I would make all the purl sections the same width . I would also work an additional cable down the plain section at the back of the foot, or work the cable chart twice around the whole leg, this would require 64sts or you could add a little extra ribbing in the purl sections for a better fit as the cables reduce the stretch somewhat.

As you may have guessed I have more griping to do about the yarn. I bought this ages ago and have tried to make two scarves with it, both have ended up being frogged. It is a loosely spun single, so it is very splitty, you have to watch every stitch you make to avoid poking the needle through the yarn. There are also a lot of thick and thin bits, I suspect this will not wear well as a sock but it is a wool/nylon blend so it may be ok. Unsurprisingly as it is a single the stitch definition is not great.

It is not all bad, once you have got the pesky stuff knitted up it is nice and soft and it has long colour changes the blend gradually which I like in a sock. In spite of this I would not buy it again, the negatives just far outweigh the positives.

The X O cable pattern.

Ok, I apologise for all the negativity this week, I promise to be back to my cheery self next week :)

FO Friday- Koolhaas hat

2011-11-25T19:36:00.000Z

I wanted to try Knitpicks Wool of the Andes to see if it would be any good for a jumper. I bought two balls and used them to make a hat. There is probably enough left to make some short mitts.

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in currant
Needles: 5mm circular, magic loop style

I have had this pattern in my Ravelry favourites for ages and finally got my hands on it when I purchased the Interweave accessories e book when they had a special offer (it cost about 10 cents!). Since it used worsted weight it seemed like the perfect pattern for trying out the yarn.

It is a lovely pattern, the cables do slow it down somewhat. I tried a few rounds of cabling without a needle but still find it easier to just use a spare dpn as a cable needle. The most effective way of not using one seems to be to move the stitches for the cable around and then knit them as a second action. Doing it all in one go just leads to dropped stitches.

The reason this pattern would be worth the purchase has to be the decreases, they make the pattern flow nicely to the top of the hat.

I do like the yarn but have not decided if it will be good for a sweater yet. It is very affordable and 100% wool. It is also softer than I expected although obviously not the softest yarn I have ever used. The stitch definition is pretty good, the cables stand out nicely on the hat. I think I need to make a cuff or mitts out of the leftovers to see how it is when worn next to the skin for a while and to see how much it pills.

Stitch pattern close up, it opens out when it is being worn.

Something about spinning

2011-11-25T19:12:00.000Z

Not as much progress as I had hoped for, but I have added some more to the beaded single.

I am going to try and get this finished over the weekend. In fact, I might even do a little tonight.

Year of projects- In which I swatched, and there is photographic evidence

2011-11-20T16:07:00.000Z

In keeping with plans to work slowly on this project in between others all I have done this week was to wind a ball of yarn and knit a swatch. I never swatch, so this is a big deal for me. I have to say it was quite painless!

I have hit stitch gauge, with 18sts over 4 inches, but am a little off on row gauge at 22 rows in 4 inches rather than the specified 24. I think I can live with it, I may add an extra row in here and there when knitting to make up for the difference but I am calling it close enough. So this week I can cast on for real. Expect a skinny bit of ribbing next week.

This post is not going to be linked up to the Ravelry link party because I am feeling a bit bad that I don't have time to go and see others' posts. So if you are reading this you are probably one of my lovely followers, or have stumbled in and am wondering what I am talking about! If I follow you I assure you I read and enjoy your posts each morning as I have my breakfast, so I get to see some of the year of projects posts. Hopefully I will find more time for reading posts so can rejoin the link up in a few weeks.

FO Friday- W socks

2011-11-18T17:26:00.000Z

Not the World's greatest photo, dark evenings are making it harder to get decent pictures, but enough to see the patterning made by the yarnovers.

Pattern: Wanida by Cookie a
Yarn: Regia 4 ply in burgundy
Needles: 3.5mm dpns

The pattern uses decreases and yarnovers to make a diamond pattern on the socks. The pattern is easy to follow but I did need to have the book open all the time, even by the end I couldn't be sure I had remembered it correctly so it was safer to look at the chart. The pattern is charted, there are no written instructions so if that is your not thing you would need to convert the instructions.

There is a mistake in the heel set up. Ravelry solved this for me, you need to work one less stitch on the final leg round to make the patterning line up after the heel, move the extra stitch to be stored while you work the heel. Not a huge mistake, but somewhat annoying in a purchased book.

I have used this yarn before to make my T socks so I will not go too deeply into the details again. It is nice and smooth and should be machine washable. It is also an affordable sock yarn option with a good range of colours available.

Something about spinning

2011-11-17T16:10:00.000Z

Lots to do this week, so reduced blogging, but I have been fitting crafting in, of course, it would take a major earth shaking event to stop that. I have managed to start the second half of my spinning project. This single will have the beads spun into it.

I wanted to make an attempt at spacing the beads evenly through the single. This is far from exact but I divided the length of roving up into eighty lengths, one for each bead. There are obvious differences between the lengths so the spacing will not be totally even. At least I will not have masses in one place and none in others, which is what would happen if I left it up to chance.

I have spun a few of the lengths, as with the first single it is thinner than planned, but that makes sense as I am now trying to approximately match the first one. The beads are going in nicely, adding them at the end of the length when it thins out a bit seems to be working. This photo is not great as the flash overpowered the beads, but you can see that there are beads.

Hopefully I will have time at the weekend to make good progress on this single. Once again I am having the dilemma between enjoying the crafting time, but at the same time wanting it to be done already so I can see the finished outcome. I really have no patience! :D

Year of projects- In which you get to see how the dyeing went

2011-11-13T19:45:00.000Z

The yarn is out of the dye pot, dry and ready to use. It went from this:

To this:

I am really pleased with the colour, it is a lovely red wine shade. I use this colour a lot, in fact I have a hat and socks on the needles and several past projects in a similar colour. It is also the colour I had in mind for dying the Hemlock ring blanket. It seems to be evenly dyed so using the enormous pot was worth it.

Next week I will be swatching for my cardigan, that's right, I am planning to make a swatch! I have worked through quite a bit of the yarn already and still have lots of the year to go so I am going to work on this project slowly in between other things.

FO Friday- Ice cream cosies

2011-11-11T07:32:00.000Z

Not to keep the ice cream cold, because then it would not get all melty and delicious around the edges. These are to keep your hand from freezing up so you can eat more ice cream. I have made a felted cosy before, but this is a different pattern to make a ribbed version (snort, sorry am immature on a Friday morning).

Pattern: Ben and Jerry's Cozy by Jessica Bechard
Needles: 4mm
Yarn: Noro silk garden

The pattern is superb in its simplicity but also functionality. I am always a little suprised when I make things that fit what they are supposed to and these are perfect. The ribbing means they would fit slightly different tub sizes so you could put them on Hagen daz or store brand or any ice cream that you like that comes in a small round tub.

Yarn wise I used leftover stash yarn, I should have weighed the yarn to be more exact but it really doesn't take a lot, perfecta sa stash buster. I know noro is a contentious issue in the knitting world. I think it is fine, it has anoying things like knots, unspun sections that break and bits of tree but also lovely colours. I probably would buy other yarn in preference to it but I would not turn my nose up at a big bag of the stuff for free.

Ice cream for breakfast? (it is 7am here)

Something about spinning

2011-11-10T14:51:00.000Z

The first half of my green tour de fleece prize is spun.

I failed miserably at making it thick, it is a little thicker than usual maybe, but it was meant to be much fatter, ah well, it is obviously what the fibre wanted. I appreciate that anyone who does not spun now thinks I am lunatic with no control over the fibre in my posession. People who spin will hopefully be nodding in agreement and it is not that I am a lunatic after all!

I have to confess that it is a little thick and thin, my drafting skills obviously need practise so I am trying to think of a lovely giant spinning project for next year once the sock making crazy is done. A blanket or a sweater are most likely. Perhaps something like this Spinning in squares blanket. If anyone fancies joining me we could do an enormous spin/knit/rescue each other from the crazy along.

Sorry, I wandered off a little there, back to the fibre in hand. I am hoping plying evens out the thick and thin somewhat. This week I will start spinning the rest of the fibre and adding the beads, I suspect this will be a much slower process than the plain single.

One a day

2011-11-09T08:01:00.000Z

I forgot to do this yesterday, so it is late, and short.

Please sing the following to the tune of five little speckled frogs:

One little speckled square

sat on a dark brown chair

I'm knitting some most delicious knits

Ok, sorry that it all I have, both song and square wise. The last line is not great, but I coulnd't think of a better rhyme.

It has been as slow squares week, as you can see. Lots of other things on the needles. Next week there will be more squares and a giant "look how wide my blanket is" shot.

Year of projects- In which the yarn is in the dye pot

2011-11-06T17:27:00.000Z

Literally as I type the yarn is on its journey from undyed to dyed.

To accommodate the 820g needed for the cardigan I have used possibly the largest pot in the world, it covers my entire stove and has two hob tops going under it to get it hot.

I am trying out some new dyes this time, so I will report back when I have rinsed the yarn. I have also tried using citric acid rather than vinegar to avoid making the house smell. I am using a mix of red and black to hopefully give a burgundy shade.

I had a few doubts about whether I would even be able to get it up to temperature, but it seems to have worked. The heating is done and I am waiting for it to cool. It looks as though all the dye has been absorbed but I suspect I will have to wait until the morning for it to be cool enough to rinse.

Finished object Friday- V sock

2011-11-04T19:32:00.001Z

The end of the A-Z challenge is approaching, just four pairs left to make. This week the V socks get to take their turn as the FO.

Pattern: Vidia by Rebecca Mercier from Sock yarn one skein wonders

Yarn: Regia Xmas in navy and silver

Needles: 2.5mm dpn

This pattern is great, well written and easy to follow. It is worked from the toe up with a short row heel. A pattern of V shapes made from decreases and yarnovers is made as you go up the foot and leg. After the heel is worked a cable pattern is worked up the back of the heel. Twisted stitches run up the sides of the chart, from toe to cuff. The patterning is charted so if you prefer written instructions you would need to convert them. The patterning is fairly easy to remember so once you have done a few repeats it is quick to work.

I do think the same stitch pattern could be used on the front and back, both are nice so it seems like a bit of an odd design. You could make two pairs of socks using this pattern, three if you followed it as written.

The yarn is lovely, one of my favourites so far. The photo does not do it justice as the flecks you can see are actually silver sparkles. The yarn seems softer than other Regia yarns I have used, it feels lovely even with the sparkly bits. Hopefully this will be as hardwearing as other Regia yarns. It should be machine washable, but due to my machine's reputation as a "destroyer of socks" I will handwash them. I suspect this will help the sparkles survive for longer. The dark yarn makes it a little harder to see the cables and twisted stitches, something lighter would have been better. The stitch definition is good, but a higher twist might make the cables really stand out.

Yarnovers and decreases make a V pattern working up the foot and leg.

I was trying to take a photo of the cable up the back, this is what happen when you try to take photos at night, inside using a flash. Try to imagine a lovely cable with lines of yarn overs at the sides. The cables make an inter twinned heart shaped pattern. One of my cables crosses the wrong way but I am learning to live with small mistakes.

On to W tomorrow, I have a pattern picked out, but have not chosen the yarn yet. I will see what is in my stash and may have to rethink my pattern choice depending on the yarn.

Something about spinning

2011-11-04T19:03:00.000Z

I am posting this on Friday because I was not organised enough to get it done yesterday and I want something for the Fibre Arts Friday link party.

During the tour de fleece I took part in a challenge with the Wonder Why team, spinning beads into yarn. The beads are threaded onto a small piece of fibre and this is drafted into the single as you go. The second plain ply helps to hold the beads in place.

I was lucky enough to win the prize draw and received a lovely parcel from Dutch Hollow acres. It is some beautiful wool/alpaca blend dyed green with gorgeous purple tones. Some of the fibre has been prethreaded onto gold and purple beads to be spun into the singles.

I have divided the fibre into two and started spinning the slightly larger piece without beads. I was aiming for something much thicker than usual but it seems to be spinning fairly thin. You would think as the spinner I might get a say but it seems the fibre has other ideas.

More of this next week, hopefully I will have made lots of progress on this single.

One a day

2011-11-01T17:04:00.000Z

Lots of squares to share this week, I did not manage one each day, but I did several on other days so got lots done.

Crazy zauberball, used on my S sock. I like the plied crazy version much more than the standard zauberball.

Knitting Goddess merino sock; I won this on the Playful day Podcast, it is lovely. The Q socks I made from this are some of my favourite hand knit socks.

Kettle dyed merino from Shunklies, used on my O socks.

Hand dyed blue with occasional black flecks, a not very good attempt at hot pour dyeing.

Yarn from a RAK parcel, variegated yarns are great for this project.

Regia 6 ply, used to make some Christmas socks. The squares made from 6 ply are a little larger than the rest but they work ok as long as there are 4 ply squares around them, it all sort of averages out :).

Wendy Happy from a frogged sock, lovely yarn, lousy socks.

RAK yarn, even though this has a lot of pink mixed with the purple I really like it.

Regular Zauberball, used on my K socks to make Kai-mei by cookie a.

I have been working hard on getting it to the final width, so it is a bit awkward to photograph as it is long and narrow. Next week I will try to do a whole project shot.

Last week someone asked how I choose which yarn to use. It is not totally random, I tend to grab some yarn and hold it up to the available square spaces to see where it would look best. If I need to fill a particular space I hold it up to the box of yarn and see what will be best. I try to avoid really nasty clashes or odd combinations but there are a few.

Year of projects- In which the yarn is still au naturel

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000Z

I have not had a very successful year of projects week. In fact, all I have managed to do is work out how much yarn I will need to dye. I took the yardage for the largest size of Mr Greenjeans, divided it by the number of yards in 100g of my yarn, which gave me the number of 100g(ish) skeins for the project. I should not need all of it as I will be making the medium size but it is better to dye too much and have leftovers for something else than to run out.

I have been dragging my feet on dyeing it. It will not all fit into the pot I usually dye in. I do have a giant pot that will fit it all but I am not sure if I will be able to fit it on my stove, it may have to go accross two burners, which does not seem like a terribly good idea. The other option is to dye in two or three lots and alternate between dye lots each row to blend the colours.

Maybe next week I will have something prettier to share.

FO Friday- Swirling mitts

2011-10-28T19:51:00.000+01:00

After frogging the cowl last week I decided not to remake it, I am not keen on repeating patterns so wanted to try something different. Finding patterns for a single 50g ball of DK can be a bit tricky, even with the help of Ravelry's awesome pattern database. In the end I settled on some mitts with a cabled pattern.

Pattern: Swirling Gauntlets by Susanna IC

Yarn: RYC extra fine merino

Needles: 3.75

Notes: cast off/on 6 sts for thumb hole, extra half inch of length at each end.

This is a super pattern, straight forward and easy to work up. Each mitt is cabled in the opposite direction to make mirror image patterns, but you only need to learn one cable move for each hand, it is super simple. I did find ticking the pattern row off on the chart to be helpful as different numbers of cables are worked as you go up the hand. Instructions are included for working the mitts flat or in the round.

I do think the thumb hole could do with being a little larger, I cast off one extra stitch and it is still rather stretched out around the base of the thumb, 7 or 8 sts would be better.

The yarn is gorgeous, it was and end of line sale bin bargain, which is why I only had one ball. It is lovely and smooth, but soft. The stitch definition is great too which is helpful with cables.

Adding a little length to each end made for a better fit, and used up almost all of the yarn, just a tiny bit leftover.

A closer cable shot.

Something about spinning

2011-10-27T14:59:00.000+01:00

I suspect you are getting bored of seeing the same project every week, the problem with spinning thin yarn is that is takes a long time, so there is nothing new and exciting to share. Anyway, last week I showed you the finished singles on my drop spindle.

Having learnt my lesson from the hideous tangle I got into wiyth the first half of this I made a plying ball. To keep it under control I popped it into a mug and looped the single through the handle.

Up to the wheel, because I am never plying on my spindle ever again, ever! And after a little navajo plying we have this:

It has yet to be washed, but I will count it as done since the photo will not look any different after. The next time you see this is will be being knitted up, or maybe even as a finished object! It feels a little smaller than the first skein, so if I make socks they will be toe up to use as much as possible.

That also means next week there will be a new project to share, I have four to choose from, I feel somewhat spoilt for choice.

One a day

2011-10-25T18:08:00.001+01:00

Another week in which I did not do so well with my one a day, I think I made three squares, but only have pictures of two, so must have forgotten to photograph the third.

This yarn is a self patterning Regia, I used it to make Rick by Cookie a for my R socks in the A-Z challenge.

This is Wendy Happy from a sock I frogged last week. For some reason I made the sock and just finished it off when I ran out of yarn, leaving me with a sock that was about two inches too short. I finally frogged it and have put the yarn into my blanket box. I think the colourway is Pisces (it could be aquarius).

I sorted out my sock yarn blanket supplies this week. They had been living in a freezer bag, but I have moved them into a cardboard box, they are vaguely arranged in a rainbow. Large photo to show off the lovely colours!

I have decided I want to try and settle on the width of the blanket by the end of the year, so I will do at least one loose edge square and a connecting square each week. I am aiming for the width of a double bed, if I run out of yarn/knitting mojo I can just level it off and rotate it so the width becomes the length and it will fit a single bed.

Washing socks

2011-10-24T11:35:00.000+01:00

Seriously, I would never have thought anyone would want to hear about me washing socks, but I am going to talk about it anyway.

Actual technical bits- I dunk them in the sink full of warm water and a little soak, squish them a bit and swirl them around. Then leave them to soak, generally at this point I forget about them and wander back a while later, frantically scooping them out when I need the sink for something else.

After a bit of a squeeze they take a spin in an old salad spinner, usually in pairs then are hung out to dry.

In summer:

In winter:

I had a mammoth sock washing session last week, where I washed almost every pair of hand knit socks I own, they filled the bottom of the bathtub. Apparently I have twenty seven pairs of handknit socks in regular wear (I am a very lucky lady :) ). There are also two pairs that I machine wash, two chunky boot socks and a few random pairs that I don't tend to wear, mostly early sock knitting errors, like being too short or shrunk in the wash.

Last night my twenty six pairs of socks were put into my sock drawer (I had already swiped one off the airer to wear during the day). Actually put in is not an accurate description, piled on top of comes closer. "I think someone has too many pairs of socks" I was told.

Never!

Year of project update- In which there is an owl

2011-10-23T15:28:00.000+01:00

Anyone who visited last week might be expecting to see a freshly dyed pile of yarn this week. Unfortunately the dye I ordered didn't arrive in time, so I will be dyeing it up this week and hopefully sharing it next Sunday.

I wanted something to share, so I worked up one of my teeny tiny pattern choices, Oisin owl by Pauline Gallagher is a speedy little project that only uses a tiny bit of yarn. Cabling and Irish moss stitch make two panels that you sew together to give a little 3D owl, he is about 3 inches tall.

I think I need to embroider some eyes on to make it more obvious that he is an owl, rather than a swimming costume for a barbie which was suggested by someone.

FO Friday- U socks

2011-10-21T19:23:00.000+01:00

This week it is the turn of my U socks.

Pattern: Uzumaki by Karen Harper

Yarn: Mirasol Hacho

Needles: 3.5mm circulars

Notes: Increased to 44 sts on the foot, to 48sts on the leg. Added 15rnds k1p1 rib to the top of the leg. Surprisingly stretchy bind off used.

A bit of a change from my usual sock method with these, they are worked toe up using a DK weight yarn. To save on counting I decided to work two at once, it is still not my favourite method, but it has advantages in that you can use the yarn until you run out to get the longest possible leg.

The pattern is easy to follow, as long as you read it properly. I did get confused at the first read through, thinking the decrease was worked every other round, it is only worked once and causes the rib to spiral as you work around the leg. It might not be the best beginner pattern as some of the directions are not explained fully, in particular wrap and turn, but if you have worked short rows before you should be able to follow the pattern easily.

I would maybe add some ribbing to the top of the foot if I made these again. I prefer the fit to be more snug than you get with a plain foot.

Working these in a heavier weight yarn made them really fast, I managed to get these plus some other small projects done in a fortnight. They would be a good emergency sock gift. They are obviously thicker, which makes them a little snug in shoes but great for walking boots or mooching around the house.

Close up of the spiralling rib.

The colours of this yarn are super and it has a lovely smooth feel. It would maybe not be my first choice for socks, but it was in my stash so I used it up. It would perhaps be better for mitts, a cowl or hat but the colours might be a bit crazy for something larger.

A rather dark photo to prove that I did them two at a time, toe up, magic loop style. On a side note, this photo was taken inside with flash, the first photo was taken outside, it really does make a difference!

Something about spinning

2011-10-20T14:33:00.001+01:00

This week I have managed to finish the second half of the Chopped Tomatoes fibre. I love working on my projects, but at the same time I am impatient to get them finished, both so I can see what the end product looks like and so I can start the next new, shiny thing, it is possible I have attention span issues!

Close up of the single:

I had hoped to have this as a plying ball already, but have not got round to winding it yet. I might take it to knitting group as it is a pretty low concentration, and somewhat boring, task so that will make it much more fun. I should be able to ply it this weekend and next Thursday I will have actual yarn to show you, then I have to choose which shiny spinning project I want to start next!

Rip it, rip it good

2011-10-19T14:42:00.000+01:00

Rip that knitting just like you should!

Because sometimes we know that we need to rip something out, but are reluctant to do it.

I have a bit of a backwards WIP Wednesday this week. Apart from my sock yarn blanket I have no WIPs that are going to be finished, just ones that are headed for the frog pond. By the end of today they should all be gone!

First a tank top in baby bamboo, I will not have enough yarn to complete this, so away it goes. I am a bit short of ideas for this yarn, I have seven balls in two shades of blue. It was a sale bargain so I don't want to buy any more, does anyone have any suggestions for using it up?

I have been wearing my Wendy Happy socks recently because they can be thrown in the washing machine, however I put this one on today and realised it is way too short. I think I ran out of yarn and just closed the toe! It is never going to fit (feet don't shrink) and doesn't have a partner so I am going to rip it and put the yarn in my sock yarn blanket.

This is a one skein cowl that hasn't made it onto the blog yet, lovely yarn and pattern but it needs to be smaller but deeper and maybe have a different edging to reduce the rolling. It will probably go on the Christmas present pile. On another note, why can I occasionally take super photos like this one, but not consistently?!

Finally, I have already ripped these out three times but I am going to do it again. I have been using handspun alpaca and merino to make tops for the slipper soles I bought, following the free Regia pattern that comes with them. I don't like them, I want proper shaped socks with a heel so these are being frogged too.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrip!

One a day

2011-10-18T15:16:00.000+01:00

Squares a plenty!

This week I managed seven squares, and actually did them one a day. I am also almost caught up with weaving in the ends. All in all I am feeling quite pleased with myself blanket wise.

Now for the rubbish photos, taken inside with the LED super macro setting, maybe my challenge for next week will be to get better pictures, but if I don't take the photo when I finish the square I forget which ones I have made that week.

This is another rainbow single, it goes from Red to orangey red. Based on the colour repeat lengths I think this is Jawoll Magic Degrade, I used it to make my N socks.

My first, and only, attempt at hot pour dyeing. I was trying to get shades of blue but ended up with blue and black patches. I used it to make the 9 to 5 sock pattern, possibly my favourite sock pattern.

This is a truly terrible picture of a handpainted yarn. It has short repeats of black and burgundy, it was also used to make the 9 to 5 sock patter. That I used those two yarns on consecutive days was a total coincidence!

Some grey Alpaca, used for part of my I socks following the In the Highlands pattern from "Around the World in knitted socks".

Trekking 4 ply bought when I was visiting my sister for my Niece's birthday party. I might have just happened to go yarn shopping while I was there! Another coincidence, I was wearing the Hourglass socks made from this yarn when I was knitting the square.

Some black, white and grey 4 ply from one of my knitting group friends, I don't know any other details about it. It is especially handy for filling spaces where the colours cause problems, like when you are trying to choose something that will sit between turquoise and orange without looking like unicorn barf.

My first attempt at overdying, some disappointing grey Arucania Ranco became very dark shades of purple. I love this colour but it is a devil to photograph, it looks pretty much nothing like this!

I have had a few requests to see the whole blanket, there is a photo from a couple of weeks ago on this post. Since the squares are so tiny it does not really change enough to warrant a new photo each week, plus I have to stand on a chair to take the picture, so I will do a new whole blanket shot about once a month and put it at the end of the Tuesday round up.

Year of projects- In which there are skeins

2011-10-16T16:25:00.000+01:00

My year of projects plan is to work through 2kg of undyed aran yarn I was gifted at the end of last year. I am working on other things as well, but projects made from this yarn are the focus of my Year of Projects updates.

So far I have used about 600g on the Hemlock ring blanket and 300g on my knee high kilt hose/boot socks. So I have about 1.3kg left. My next project will hopefully be the Mr Greenjeans cardigan, but I don't want it to be in undyed, in fact I am not a huge fan of undyed yarn colour generally, so my Year of projects work this week has been to turn this:

Into this:

Skeining yarn takes much longer than I thought it would!

Apart from a few odd balls the rest of the yarn is skeined up ready for dyeing. Hopefully this week I will be able to pick out what I need for the cardigan and dye it up, next week it should look very different.

FO Friday- Crochet bear

2011-10-14T17:34:00.000+01:00

I have been working on projects, but they are all either for a swap or for Christmas presents, so they have been designated sooper sekrit (why lolcat style? Dunno, why not?).

Since I hate to miss a FO Friday I thought I would share another project made years ago in my crochet days, pre Ravelry. I made this little bear up as I went along, I did write down what I was doing as I went but having looked at my notes it makes no sense at all.

He is made from a cotton blend and has movable joints. His head is a little out of proportion with his body, but cute nonetheless

Something about spinning

2011-10-13T16:11:00.000+01:00

Firstly an apology, my n key is broken and only working intermittently (when I poke it really hard) so if any of my posts are looking a little odd, that is why.

I have been working on the second half of my Chopped Tomatoes Shetland fibre. It is coming along nicely now, drop spindled into a fine single ready to be navajo plied.

The second half seems to be making more of a striped single than the first lot so I might get some odd looking socks out of this!

I have lots of things starting with S planned for this weekend, not intentionally, it just seems that way so maybe I will do some Spinning too.

One a day

2011-10-11T13:58:00.000+01:00

I think this week is the closest I am likely to get to reporting a totally sucessful week of one a day. I have seven little squares to show you, but will confess to making none on Saturday and two on Sunday. Close enough says I!

This yarn was used on my L socks for the A-Z challenge. It is hummingbird 4 ply alpaca and is heavenly soft.

This is Wendy Happy, I tried to make hat heel socks with it but frogged them and ended up using the yarn for baby gifts. It has a lovely drape and sheen but does not hold ribbig well, making for sloppy socks.

From my K socks, the turquoise section of the Zauberball I recieved for Christmas last year.

A red and black self patterning from the knitting goddess. This was in my UK sock knitters Christmas swap parcel last year. Knitters give other knitters the best presents: "Oh look, some beautiful yarn, however did you know!"

I am struggling a little with this one, not because I can't remember, but because it could be one of two. I have used two rainbow single sock yarns this year, mini mochi and jawoll magic, they are both very similar. I think this is most likely to be mini mochi because of the lengths of the colours, I used it to make my A socks and a most awesome rainbow snail (even if I say so myself, which I do).

I was sent this yarn by a lovely UK RAK member to help with building my blanket. Varigated yarn is so good for this project because the same yarn can make several very different squares.

Finally I decided to make an edge square. This is not attached to the blanket yet but will be used to make the bottom edge longer. It is some leftover crazy zauberball from my S socks.

I have lots of little things on the go this week as I am preparing a swap parcel so next week I may not have as many to report, we shall see how it goes.

Year of projects- In which there are socks!

2011-10-09T17:42:00.000+01:00

How annoying is this!

When I finished my first sock I weighed it and picked a ball of the same weight to make the second. It was exactly the same weight which was not ideal as it didn't leave any extra to cover gauge variations or differences in the yarn. And I ran out with about four rounds of the toe to do.

This is not really a problem, I still have over two and a half kilos of this yarn left so I joined another ball in and finished the sock.

Ta da!

Two socks, and I even modelled them as requested.

Now I can pick my next project for this yarn, I am thinking about the cardigan next so I am going to have some skeining and dyeing to share.

FO Friday- T socks

2011-10-07T08:12:00.001+01:00

These socks were almost a pair of three socks, but more on that later. Presenting the T socks for the A-Z challenge.

Pattern: Tern by Pam Allen

Yarn: Regia 4 ply

Needles: 2.5mm

This pattern imitates a smocked effect with the use of cabling. I have had it on my list to make for months, so it seemed like an excellent choice for my T sock.

The pattern is easy to follow, as long as you actually read it. I didn't and had to tink a chunk at the start of the first sock. It is worked toe up, with a new-to-me YO heel. I did have an issue with the needle sizes, it wants you to use 3.5mm/3.75mm needles with what is listed as a sport weight but appears to be a sock weight yarn (410m per 100g). I think this would give a very loose fabric, although might compensate a little for the tightness from the cables.

I am not keen on the heel method, even once I got the hang of it I got hole at the top on one side, as you can see in the photo. I think I will stick with a normal short row heel.

The reason there were almost three of these; I tried the first one on and it was pretty tight, it goes on but getting it over the heel is a bit of a battle. For the second sock I added a few extra stitches to the sole, with the plan that if it fitted better I would do a third sock then rip out the first one. On trying the second sock it is still tight over the heel, the problem is the cabled round immediately above the heel, obviously it has much less stretch due to the cabling. Since they go on and fit nicely once they are on I have called them done, but I suspect I will not wear them as frequently as some of my better fitting socks.

I do like the finished object, and it was a nice knit, with mostly ribbing rounds and a little cabling to keep you interested. However, I wouldn't make this as a gift, you need to have the foot handy when you are making it to avoid giving something that will never be worn.

The stitch pattern in close up, you can see how the cabled stitches go all the way across to imitate the smocked effect.

On an unrelated note, it seems autumn has arrived after an odd and most unseasonal heatwave. I shall be digging out my hand knits and lighting the fire tonight, hot chocolate ahoy!

Something about spinning

2011-10-06T08:19:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend I navajo plied the orange single from last week. Having the single wound into a ball made this much easier than the previous tangled version, so I will be doing that again when I am wheel plying spindle spun singles (btw that is really hard to say!).

Here is the finished three ply:

I have to say I love it, a lot. The colours are gorgeous, which I can't take credit for since I bought this one. It has also come out suprisngly soft and squishy considering a lot of the singles were very tightly spun by my new to spinning self.

There is a little difference in the weight along the length, the most recent parts are similar to a commercial 4 ply, the older stuff is a little thinner, but not so much that it does not work. I now have an idea how thin to spin to achieve sock weight, which with my sock obsession is the holy grail of my spinning.

The thing that dissappoints me slightly it that I don't seem to get very good mileage with my spinning. I was told by an experienced spinner that handspun gave a better weight:length ratio than commercial yarn but that does not seem to be the case with my spinning. This skein weighs 68g and I have estimated the length as 170m, for the thickness of the yarn this is not a great ratio. It also means I have no idea what to make with it. I had hoped to get enough for a small shawl but now I am thinking I might combine it with a commercial 4 ply to make a hat. I have too many neck warmer items anyway!

One a day

2011-10-04T08:29:00.000+01:00

I have, once again, been a very bad one-a-dayer, with only one square done in the entire week.

Still, I will share what I have.

This is a Regia 4 ply in burgundy. There were three balls leftover from a sweater my Grandma made me so I have used some for my T socks and have some leftover.

This week is looking a little better for making squares as my T socks are done so I am going to make little squares my priority project.

Year of projects- In which I have two warm legs and one chilly foot

2011-10-02T19:16:00.000+01:00

My year of projects plan is to work through 2kg of Aran undyed yarn that I was gifted. I am working on this between other projects, so at the minute it is not getting huge amounts of attention as I have been focissing on my A-Z sock challenge.

This means that my Sunday posts often don't show a lot of progress; so this weekend I made my second kilt hose sock top of my knitting list so I would have something to show you. I have made it all the way down the leg and am about to start the heel flap.

Maybe by next week I will have a pair of socks and can start picking my next project.

FO Friday- A little story

2011-09-30T07:23:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time, several years ago, I learnt to crochet. This was mostly because someone I worked with was talking about it and I thought it sounded interesting. I bought a beginners book, some hooks and yarn and away we went.

Several years later, when hunting in the loft for something I found a blanket, neatly tucked away. With the impending arrival of my newest niece I decided it would make a suitable present, whilst also clearing a little space in my loft.

I bunged it through the wash, for it is (gasp) acrylic, and sent it off to my sister.

I think I made up the pattern as I went along, it appears to be trebles with a border of doubles. I think I remember working it in strips, and appear to have crocheted it together as I went. I have no idea how I did this.

So it has found its happy ending, for my sister uses it more than the lovely bamboo blanket I purchased for said little person.

Knitterly/yarn snob note- Seriously this is nasty yarn, I bought it when I had no idea about yarn or anything yarn related. I am not opposed to acrylic, it is handy stuff since babies tend to leak from all ends but I would find something nicer now. Still it washes nicely and seems ok softness-wise.

Something about spinning

2011-09-29T07:47:00.000+01:00

Prepare yourself for a lot of orange!

I have had this fibre on the go for well over a year. It was a birthday present to myself last year and I couldn't wait for my wheel, so I started spinning it on my drop spindle.

When my wheel arrived I moved the spun yarn onto a wheel bobbin, but then decided to keep going on the spindle as I could not spin thin enough on the wheel. I plied the length that was on the bobbin, it is sat in my stash waiting for me to think what I am going to do with it.

Finally the rest has been spun using the drop spindle.

I think of spinning, and knitting, very much as learning activities, there is always something new and ways to improve. There were a couple of lesson learnt here.

Lesson one- don't take a year to spin 100g, you will forget how thick you are making it. It is thin, but unfortunately it gets thinner towards the centre.

Lesson 2- don't yank it all off the spindle and get in a horrible tangle.

I tried to slide this onto a knitting needle, but it was too tightly wound. This is also one of those tasks where having four hands would really be quite helpful.

Since I didn't want a repeat of my tangle sock yarn mess from last week I decided to wind it into a plying ball. This took a while, but less time than untangling it would have done.

I am going to navjo ply it and see what I get. Hopefully I can do that this weekend and I should have some finished yarn to show you next week.

Yarn along/WIP

2011-09-28T07:28:00.000+01:00

This week I can join in with these link aprties again, because I actually have a project to show and have been reading a book.

The project is a slipper. I bought some leather slipper soles from Regia and am using the Wonder Why alpaca/merino that I spun during the tour de fleece to knit the upper boot bot that you sew on. I may have to use something else for the bottom of the boot as I think I will run out, this is good as it means I can stash dive. It is knitting up beautifully, it is so soft and has even coped with being ripped out twice. I can't wait to wear these.

The book is a bit of background reading for my new job. That's right I have a new job, wahooo! I have not finished my PhD yet, but need something to help pay the bills *cough cough fund pretty yarn purchases* while I finish writing up, so when my riding instructor said she was looking for someone to do a few hours in the week I snapped the offer up. It still leaves plenty of time for uni work so it is perfect. Might cut into the knitting time though :(.

I didn't start learning to ride until I was 24, so I missed out on all the pony club knowledge and had a bit of a panic on Monday night that all I knew how to do was sit on a horse and point it in vaugely the right direction. I picked up this book from The Works (sidenote- see how that shop comes up a lot? I love bargain books!) and had a bit of a read through which helped a lot. At least I didn't turn up feeling like I knew nothing, still lots to learn though!

The book is good, lots of colour pictures and loads of information. It does focus on the riding information, which is handy and I will have a proper read through of that later, but there is a little care and stable management info too.

Yesterday was my first day, it went well, at least I asusme it did, I was told I could go back today, so that is a good sign :D

One a day

2011-09-27T13:38:00.000+01:00

Once again I have not done very well with my one a day sqaures, in fact I only have two to share with you today, I thought I had done three, but there are only two photos so if I made a third I forgot to take a picture.

This is made from The Yarn Yard croft, it was used to make my C socks.

This is a Knitting Goddess yarn called same difference in the colourway menace, it was used on my J socks.

To make up for not having many squares to share here is a picture of the whole blanket so far, I still have a long way to go as it is about half the width I am aiming for, then I can just build the height until I am happy with it.

Year of project- In which I started the second sock

2011-09-25T16:54:00.000+01:00

The second kilt hose sock is under way, but as you can see I have not made a great deal of progress on it so far. I have been busy with my A-Z challenge and one a day project. Plus I have started some slippers and frogged them twice so far so these have not had much of a look in, hopefully I will get more done this week as the weather is heading in the boots and woolly socks direction.

On the first cuff I had a nightmare getting the lace portion set up. It is an incredibly simple bit of lace, but for some reason it just didn't want to work out, fortunately this time round it was much simpler, no idea why.

I have weighed the finished sock and the ball of yarn I am using, it will be a close thing, but there should be just the right amount, hopefully I will not have changed my gauge at all.

FO Friday- S socks

2011-09-23T08:28:00.000+01:00

Th first pattern I picked for my S socks was the Sideways socks from the Sock Yarn one skein wonders book, notice that word first? Remember that, it is important.

I have had the book and yarn for this since Christmas, just waiting for S to roll around so I could make them.

The general idea is you knit a flat piece of knitting, using a provisional cast on in the centre with some increases for the heel, then kitchener the two edges together to make a tube, like this:

Picking up around the edges means you can work a toe and some ribbing for the top and tada! A magic vertical stripe sock.

Except I didn't have the right size needle, or make gauge (when counted on the work, I didn't do a gauge swatch, because, well I never do). So I added a few rows in each section to make a wider bit of fabric before the kitchener bit.

It did seem rather wide when the knitting was done, but I was stuck somewhere with no other knitting and nothing else to do, so I kitchenered it together anyway, that's 300 stitches, or 150 pairs, yup, a lot of kitchener, good job I like it!

Something I like less is this:

That's right, possibly the World's baggiest sock!

I think if I had not added the extra rows it would have been ok, but I didn't have time to pull it apart and rework it for my S socks. This tube of ugh is sitting in time out until I pull it to bits. Unless I NEED the yarn for my A-Z challenge I will have another go at this pattern with the same yarn when I find some time.

I raided my stash bin and Ravelry favourites list to find a second S sock.

Pattern: Shur'tugal by Alice Yu

Yarn: Crazy Zauberball

Needles: 2.5mm

I like this pattern, but not really in this yarn, You can't see the stitch pattern unless you are right up close. In a solid or semisolid these would be some super socks. It is even non fancy enough that you could use it as a man sock.

The stitch pattern itself is easy to work, twisted stitches are used rather than cabling, which is much faster. I did struggle to memorise the pattern, it is not complicated, but I did need to glance at it at the start of each row to remind me what was needed, this might just be me having a tiny brain fail.

There is a different heel on these, it is a typical flap and gusset (snigger here) but with slipped stitches which make three vertical ridges down the flap. I like it as a technique, but would not do it on a heel, it would be better as a leg design feature. I would just do a normal slipped stitch heel if I made the pattern again.

My attempt at showing you the stitch pattern, see what I mean about the bad pattern/yarn combo choice?

The yarn I love, a lot. In fact it is in the running for my favourite yarn of my A-Z socks. It is much less fluffy that a standard Zauberball, I suspect this is because it is plied, but it makes it much nicer to work with.

The colours are great. Fairly long colour changes and the handspun candy stripe effect are some of my favourites. As mentioned above it is not really ideal for complicated patterns. It might be ok on something lacy but it would be best for a plain vanilla sock, maybe with some ribbing for fit. The colours can do all the work of making an interesting sock with simple knitting.

It should be machine washable, but my macihne is a destroyer of socks so I will not be testing this, I imagine it would be fine in a normal machine that does not have a taste for felting.

Pricewise it is ok, a little more expensive than a standard Zauberball, but cheaper than a lot of sock yarn. I think I paid about £9 and have made socks with lots left for my sock yarn blanket or something else small.

The only downside is that there are the odd fluffy unspun bits, a few thinner sections and one or two bits that are not quite evenly plied so it feels like one plied is wrapped around the other (does that make sense?). This makes it feel more like handspun and is not really an issue, you just knit past it and it all seems to work out in the end.

I have my T socks picked out, they have been in my favourites for ages and hopefully they will be more straightforward than the S socks as I want to get some slipper made too before it gets too cold.

Something about spinning

2011-09-22T08:31:00.000+01:00

Last week for my spinning post I showed you this:

Fortunately it was not as tangled as it looked. Apart from a few places which had to be picked apart with the end of a dpn it just needed to be very slowly unrolled by hand. About four hours later I had this:

A happy ending after all!

It has come out pastelly, why does all my spinning seem to end up as pastels?! Actually, I know this is because of the mix of colours and undyed bits especially when it is spun super thin, but still I think I need to dye up some bright fibre.

It has come out a little thinner than intended, sock weight eludes me yet again. However, I think I can use it for socks, either on 2.25mm needles or I might have to buy some 2.0mm. They will be worked toe up until I run out of yarn, but first I need to spin the rest of the fibre to make sure I have yarn for the other foot.

It seems quite well balanced, in that it hangs neatly in the skein (when it is not twisted up to keep it tidy) but it is not a squishy as it could be so I think it is a little overspun in parts. This is quite handy for socks as it should make them a little tougher but soft and squishy yarn is still something I need to aim for.

One a day

2011-09-20T09:02:00.000+01:00

Which this week become three in one day when I realised yesterday I had not made any squares all week. It is a good job these things are quick!

This one used leftover Regia World Circus from my R sock for teh A-Z sock challenge.

The next two are from the yarn I am using for my S sock and show why varigated yarn is great for these square projects, one ball, two totally different squares.

My S socks have been claiming all my knitting attention, but they are well under way now so hopefully next week I might have seven squares to share.

Year of projects- In which there is one sock

2011-09-18T15:22:00.000+01:00

My Year of Projects yarn has not really been getting much attention this week, but I took my boot sock to knit night and managed to finish the first one. It is nice and cosy, I put it on in the cafe, so all the non knitters there probably think I am extremely odd.

A not terribly good close up photo of the lace panel at the top.

I will get the second sock started this week, so hopefully I will have a lovely cosy pair for the cold weather.

FO Friday- The socks of indecision

2011-09-16T12:12:00.000+01:00

More socks, it really is all about the feet around here, although I am feeling urgings to knit something different, but I have a number of socky related plans to finish first.

I am glad to have these finished as they have been hanging around for ages.

Yarn: Regia 6 ply in fairly dull brown
Needles: 3mm
Pattern: K3p2 rib with short row heel

I started these ages ago, and blogged about whether I should frog them and change the heel to a flap and gusset (snort, that sounds sooooo rude). They were meant to be a Christmas present for my dad but after a trial run on a similar sized foot (a clean one) I decided they would be too tight on the portion opposite the heel. In the end I finished them for a smaller sized foot, so now I either have socks for me or can put them in the knitted gift pile.

My S socks have been causing me problems, but hopefully they will be done for next week and I can tell you all about it.

Spinning gets a look in

2011-09-15T08:40:00.000+01:00

I have, as you will probably have noticed, been joining in with lots of memes and link parties. This is good, it gives me things to write about on days when my brain might be a little slow and lacking in inspiration, but it occured to me that I had not mentioned spinning in a while. So here is some spinning news.

The first half of the Shetland fibre I won on the Chopped Tomatoes blog has been spun into a thin single using my drop spindle (you have seen this picture before as a space filler).

I planned to navajo ply this on my wheel, because I make a mess plying on the spindle and I am sure you need at least four hands to navajo ply on one!

I carefully slid the nice neat spool of single onto a knitting needle in my shoe box lazy kate, and it all started going wrong from there.

The box was not wide enough so it kept jamming and not turning as I pulled the single up towards the wheel. Without thinking I decided to pull the needle out of the centre and just work from the singles sausage.

Spinners of a sensitive nature may wish to look away now!

Ugh- tangles!

It is not quite as bad as it looks, it is not overly tangled for the most part, but it is very slow going as it has to be carefully unrolled, then ply a length, then repeat. I think this will take a long time to finish, but I will spend a few hours on it this weekend and hopefully make some progress.

Yarn Along, WIP and books

2011-09-14T07:57:00.000+01:00

More reading, more knitting, you might notice that there is a self banned book in the photo.

That's right, I caved and started a fiction book. I do have a reasonable excuse, I was reading it while I supervised an exam, for which I get paid (paid to read = awesome, where can I find more of that!). I did do some knitting during the exam, but was worried that my metal needles were making too much noise.

Moving pictures is (I think and am too lazy to check) the 10th Discworld book. I am trying to collect the whole series, preferably from second hand shops to make it more affordable. After a huge score at a used book stall a few weeks ago I am down to seven missing, plus the new one out in October. I got some funny looks buying fifteen books and they were scooped up by my brother who is giving them to me for Christmas. It seems fair, he found the book stall I just picked the ones I needed. The next book in the series is in the pile, so I am safe from the Discworld for a couple of months at least!

I suspect the Discworld books are a bit like marmite in a love them or hate them way. I enjoy them, although I have to admit some are much better than others although I can't explain why. I do think the first two are not the best, so I suspect quite a few people have been put off the series by reading. I particularly seem to enjoy the ones featuring witches, I don't know why, usually I have no preference for either gender in my characters. I am putting "Moving Pictures" in the enjoyable pile, worth a read. For the most part they can be read independently of each other, although characters might be in multiple books you don't really need to know the history to enjoy the book.

The other three are not really books, but I have been reading them this week. they are plant and seed catalogues. I am not a great gardener, but I do enjoy trying to grow things, unfortunately I often forget to water the garden at some point in the summer and a lot of the plants die off. We have installed an automatic watering system this year though, with a nice timer to avoid using too much water, so next year I should be able to grow things that survive. I have loads of seeds left from this year, so it might just be some new strawberry plants this time, it is still fun to look through though.

Knitting wise I am knitting something flat, with stripes and sparkly bits which is quite a change for me and has reminded me I don't really like knitting flat. If you are desperate to know what it is you can check out my projects page on Ravelry, if not I shall leave it as a bit of a mystery. I have done a little more on it now and it does look like it might be heading for a frogging, if so I shall do a post to share it in more detail in its funny looking glory.

A square most days

2011-09-13T08:59:00.000+01:00

I am not sure how this happened, because I am sure I knit a square each day, but when I went to upload the photos I only have six. I suspect I forgot to take a photo one day and since the squares are all teh same it gets really hard to remember which ones are new.

So here are the six squares for this week, I thought since the yarns are scraps I would say where each was used originally if I can remember.

First up is some hand dyed in my raspberry sauce colourway, I used this to make my B socks for the A-Z sock knitting challenge.

Blue Regia World circus from my R socks

Katia Ole, bought on my birthday trip to the wonderful pizza place and used to make my M socks

Black and turquoise Zauberball, Christmas present 2010, used to make Kai-mei (K sock)

Knitting goddess yarn won on the Palyful day podcast. Used to make Q socks. Love the colours of this.

Knitpicks stroll, used to make my E socks when I tried to make a pair of socks in 24 hours. This is one of my favourite sock yarns, I think I need more.

So six tiny stories and six squares, next week I will try to remember to take the pictures. I have found sewing ends in is not so bad when I do a couple a day, most days I have managed a few.

Year of projects- In which there is an almost sock

2011-09-11T12:01:00.000+01:00

The knee high socks are progressing nicely, almost at the toe on the first one.

The thick yarn means they work up really really quickly so I am working on them in between other projects, don't want to work through my year of projects yarn too fast!

FO Friday- R socks

2011-09-09T07:33:00.000+01:00

Friday seems to sneak around so quickly, fortunately some car knitting last weekend meant I had these done before the last minute this week.

Pattern: Rick by Cookie A from Sock Innovation

Yarn: Regia World Circus

Needles: 2.25

The pattern is interesting, rounds of decreases and yarnovers give a spiralling pattern around the leg and top of the foot.

I have to be honest, I don't love it as much as I thought I would. All the decreases take a lot of stretch out of the fabric, so it is a tight fit to get on, I think it would have been better worked on 2.25mm needles over 72 stitches. It would not be a good choice as a gift as you need the foot around to try it on as you go. It does go on, and fits ok when it is on so I did not bother ripping it out and restarting.

The pattern is fairly slow to work but the changes on the foot make it a little more interesting at the point where you would be getting bored. You need to keep an eye on the book for changes of direction as they sneak up on you! So don't take the project when you are returning a car rental and sitting around for an hour without the book then merrily knit away, missing the direction change and having to tink back, um, not that I did that.

I am also a little worried about how robust all the little yarnovers will be during wear.

There is, of course, good things about the pattern. It is well written and an interesting design concept, I like the spiralling nature, I just think I would find another way to do it. The pattern is quite easy to memorise once you have done a few rounds, although the change from left to right confused my brain a little and I kept working past the decrease poitn and having to go back (tiny brain issue rather than pattern fault).

I like the yarn a lot more than I like the pattern, I would use it again happily. It seems softer than standard Regia 4 ply, but in most other ways is the same (weight, smoothness). It is a little more expensive but I would not mind paying the extra as I am really happy with the self striping of this colourway. The stripes are not obtrusive, so you can use it to work a textured or lace pattern without losing the stitch work in the colours, but it is a little more interesting than a solid colourway. I suspect it would wash ok in the machine, however since mine is a "Destroyer of Socks" (like a "Destroyer of Worlds" but more socky) they will have to be handwashed, plus with the tight fit I can't risk shrinkage or they will never fit back on my feet.

Pattern close up:

Next up will be the S sock, I am excited about this as I have had the pattern and yarn since Christmas and have been saving them.

Pretty colours

2011-09-08T08:29:00.000+01:00

Some pretty colours

I am thinking about the blue grey colour for my Year of Projects Mr Greenjeans project, but I am a bit nervous of dyeing so much yarn. I also just finished a blue/grey cardi, so maybe I should find a different colour. Any suggestions?

WIP Wednesday and Yarn along

2011-09-07T10:08:00.000+01:00

I really enjoyed talking about what I was reading last week, so I think Yarn along will become a regular meme for me. I hope you all don't mind as the books will be random, not necessarily knitting related.

I have been looking forward to this post as yesterday I went into The Works (discount UK bookshop) and picked up some super bargains.

First up the knitting- I am working on a boot sock. It was supposed to be part of my Dad's Christmas present, but I worked a short row heel and decided that it was too tight when I tried it on on a similar sized foot (clean). I am making them shorter so they will either be for me or go on my Christmas present pile. This is the second sock and I have just gone past the heel. I also havve my sock yarn blanket, which is now part of one a day and my Year of Project knee high sock on the go, but they get their own posts.

The reading, as you can see I bought a couple of books yesterday and was tempted by more. The Works (at least, the one in Loughborough but maybe others too) have lots of knitting and crochet books in at the minute. Several that would be great for beginners and some that have more advanced patterns. Because I have a tiny brain (more on that later) I can't remember the titles, but it is worth a browse. I was also tempted by a load of other books on all sorts of things, but managed to restrain myself to two.

Anyone who has counted will point out that there are three books in the picture, "The Marine Aquarium handbook" came from a charity shop. I picked this up because we have a poorly fish and the disease section is far better than in the fish keeping book I already own.
This is where I confess to my tiny brainness- I don't have a marine aquarium, I have a freshwater aquarium. And it took me until I got home and was looking at the book again to register that it said marine, even though I can read and I know that clown fish are marine fishes. In my defence I had flicked through the disease section and it looks like both sorts get similar illnesses. Based on the book I think the fishes will be fine.

Oh look, another cookbook! I really do love cookbooks, although I have to admit I don't use them all that much, I just love to read them. This one is called "The takeaway secret" and the title is pretty self explanatory really. It tells you how to cook meals in the style of takeaways, I am quite pleased with this because I do love a takeaway and they can get expensive. Another bonus is that I can make them with ingredients that I choose, rather than the iffy ingredients used by takeaways, chicken in particular (I overlook the lack of free range chicken in order to enjoy takeaways but I would prefer not to).
The book is divided into sections covering the different types of takeaway- burgers; kebabs; the chip shop; Indian main meals; Chinese main meals; pizza and pasta; sides, salads and sauces; breakfast and lunch and drinks and desserets, so as you can see, pretty much anything you fancy is covered.
The recipes look straightforward with enough detail that you know what you are doing. No pictures and the paper feels a rather cheap, but that is ok because I know what these things look like, and it was a cheap book (£1.99). I am thinking about getting it spiral bound as it will not lie open.

Finally, "Big girl knits", a total bargain at £4.99. Possibly if I didn't eat as many of the takeaways mentioned above I would not need this book, but I would have bought it anyway because there are some super patterns. Oddly I thought I had flicked through this before and been unimpressed, either I was blinded by my sock obsession or I was looking at some other book because I am already a big fan of this and I have not read it properly, just flicked through.
I will do a proper review of this once I have read it in more detail since it is a crafting book but in short- There is a handy section at the start which talks about choosing patterns, sizing, measuring, and adapting patterns to fit curves. The writing is amusing and easy to follow, written by people who know what they are talking about.
There are twenty five patterns to choose from, obviously no one will ever love all the patterns in a book, but I can certainly see some I want to make- Lift and separate, Curvalicious cardigan (I prefer the pictures in the book where it is a cardi) and Bombshell top my list and I am looking forward to patterns that have boob room. And three patterns out of a £5 book seems reasonable, especially when you add in the handy advice and the other patterns that I like.

Wow, I have talked a lot there! Did I mention that I love books? In fact if I had to choose between books and yarn I think my head would explode. (Actually to the suprise of everyone I think I would choose books, no wait, yarn, no wait, books)

British wool week

2011-09-06T10:14:00.000+01:00

It is British Wool Week, that sounds like just the excuse I need to do a spot of yarn shopping, I think I will try to find some British sock yarn.

Here is a British sheep (on a hot day)

And, I don't like to talk shop too much on the blog, but in honour of the week I am offering 10% off when you use the code WOOLWEEK2011 at www.alittlebitsheepish. While you are there check out the snazzy new shop layout (that I never got round to blogging about)!

One a day

2011-09-06T09:23:00.001+01:00

Because I like to sign up to thing on Ravelry and then hassle myself if I don't keep to them I have joined the "one a day" group. The idea is you pick a project and then you do one bit a day. You can set that bit however you like, it could be a row or a square or a crochet motif, or however your project breaks up.

With YOP and A-Z socks on the go I probably should not have joined the group, but I thought it would be a good way to give my sock yarn blanket some attention.

It goes through long periods of being neglected and at this rate I will never get it finished, so I am going to attempt to work one square and sew in one set of ends each day. I think this is doable as that is 30 minutes or less so I might make it a lunch time thing. If not I can always make it one a week.

It is a little bigger than this now, but I don't have a more recent photo. I have also slightly fallen out of love with it and am going through a phase of thinking it looks a bit like unicorn barf. This might be due to the enormous number of ends waiting to be sewn in at the back!

I think there will be a weekly update meme so I should be able to show off its progress, and maybe even be able to get it finished one day.

Year of projects- In which I have a sock leg and am posting late

2011-09-05T08:45:00.000+01:00

There has been some progress on my knee high socks. I am working the calf shaping and so far it is going well. It works up fairly quickly because of the thick yarn and large needles (relatively speaking, in the world of socks 3.75mm are large!)

Shown with the decorative cuff folded over the funtional ribbing this time.

I have tried these on and have to admit they are not hugely flattering (remember shire horse not thoroughbred legs). However, they are for wearing in welly boots so no one will see them.

My YOP choices seem to be turning into process projects, where I want to make a pattern (Hemlock ring) or type of project (knee high socks) and I am not overly interested in what comes out at the end. I will try to choose my next project more carefully so that I love the process and the finished object.

FO Friday- Blanket squares

2011-09-02T07:56:00.000+01:00

FO Friday has officially become an obsession, I had a little panic on Wednesday when I realised I didn't have anything to share!

However, I found these photos lurking in my crafting photos folder and although I thought I had shared them before I checked through my past post list and can't find them, so hopefully they are new to you. If not I am a rubbish blogger and full of fail, but never mind :D

I took part in a group project on Ravelry to make a blanket for a lady (hmm, seems wrong, she is about 25, lady? girl? young woman?, anyway) who had lost her husband to cancer. Each of us made two eight inch squares and a wonderful volunteer sewed them together. I seriously think she is wonderful, and maybe a little mad, because I hate the sewing up bits.

I started trying to adjust and follow some square patterns from Ravelry, but in the end I cast on the right number of stitches and chose two stitches from by stitch dictionary (Field Guide to Knitting by Jackie Pawlowski). I found the long tail cast on handy here as the cast on is the actual length of the work, with a cable cast on the cast on stitches are much narrower and you don't get an accurate width until you knit the first row.

Clover eyelet stitch

Wildflower knot stitch pattern

For my squares I used Wendy Sorento yarn, it feels lovely, smooth with a sort of cottony feel, but softer. I have to admit is a very good price, each square used less than half a ball so it would be quite reasonable for a big project.. It is a little splitty though and sewing the ends in was a bit of a pain.

I am feeling the urge to make a brightly coloured blanket for myself, I have seen lots of beautiful rainbow ones recently and think they would be super in the manky British winter for brightening the place up. However, I REALLY don't need another big project so I think I will muse on it for a bit and hopefully get distracted by something else. If not I might request the yarn for Christmas and make it in January when things should be a bit quieter.

Something free

2011-09-01T11:01:00.000+01:00

Interweave spinning daily is offering a free guide to processing fibre, you do have to register but that is free and you get what looks like s uper guide with loads of photos.

It can be found here

And a spinning related photo, because I hate to post without a picture of something

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

2011-08-31T07:44:00.000+01:00

I was taking some photos yesterday and happened to have my current WIP and a book to hand, so I thought I would take a photo for Yarn along and WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday is self explanatory, Yarn Along requires a photo of the book you are reading and your current fibre WIP, so here they are:

The blue sock is my R sock for the A-Z sock knitting challenge, I am making Rick by Cookie A which is going ok, but is making slow progress, more details when it makes it to FO Friday, hopefully next week.

I have some other knitting WIPs, but they were not to hand when I took the picture since I had a tidy up at the weekend. I still have my YOP kilt hose, a pair of boot socks, a top that needs to be frogged and my sock yarn blanket on the needles.

Bookwise I have just finished reading Shelters of Stone, which is not in the photo, it is part of a series but I have not read the others (picked it up in a charity shop), it works ok as a stand alone book and was a good read, I did think the ending was lacking a dramatic finish though. I would read the others in the series, but probably wouldn't rush out to buy them at full price, at 780 pages it was a hefty book though, so you do get your moneys worth. I have to avoid reading fiction at the minute as I will often read until the book is done, ignoring everything else that needs attention, so a fat fiction book is now a rare treat.

Since I have a personal ban on any more fiction for a while I thought I would share my latest cookbook purchase. The River Cottage cookbook is not a new title, in fact it is dated 2001 so it was first published ten years ago. That does mean it is from the earlier episodes of the TV series, which I much preferred, when it was just one family doing the country life thing on their own small holding rather than a big business with a restaurant and large second farm.

There is lots of interesting information about all kinds of food and meat, including sourcing and growing your own. One of the main reasons I bought it (for a bargain price in T K Maxx) was the cuts of meat are shown for each animal and ways to use them are discussed. Making ham and bacon is in there, which I would love to have a go at. There are some tasty looking recipes too, but I think this will be more useful for the information than the recipes.

The spinning from last week's WIP Wednesday is all spun into a single, it is sitting waiting to be wheel plied, then I will start the second half of the fibre. I am trying to stick to only one spinning project at a time.

Reblocking, a new lease of lovliness

2011-08-30T08:58:00.000+01:00

About eighteen months ago I made a travelling woman shawl, then proceedde to wear it, bandit style, at every opportunity until that sping was over and it got to hot to wear a scarf. Last winter for some reason it got very little wear, it seems I play favourites with my knitwear.

I wore it a couple of weeks ago to watch fireworks, and realised what it really needed was to be reblocked, it was all sad and curly at the edges.

A wash and some pins later, here it is (plus my nasty colour spare room carpet and something red, possibly part of the sofa throw).

The lace is all beautiful again.

I don't think I will be waiting long to wear this, the weather has turned absolutely lousy and last night there was talk of lighting the fire. I am looking forward to the knitwear, hot chocolate and fires of autumn, but it is August!

Year of projects- In which there has been a subsititution and some socks

2011-08-28T17:15:00.001+01:00

I have chosen a pattern that was not on my original list, but since my personal challenge is to knit through the 2kg of aran yarn that I was gifted that is within my own rules for the challenge. I had planned to make the Irish Boot socks, I thought they were knee high wellington boot socks but it turns out they are ankle length socks. I subbed in Toirneach Kilt Hose instead as I want to make some knee highs, but am too lazy to make them in 4 ply sock yarn.

They are going well, I have done a little more than in the picture, I am part way down the k5p1 rib section that makes up the leg, but it was not really interesting enough to warrant another photo.

The decorative cuff folds down over the top of the k1p1 ribbing that holds the sock up. To make this work you have to work the ribbing then turn the work inside out, I added a wrap around the last stitch of the round before making the turn to help close the gap that appears.

I am using the sizing from the pattern, but will reduce the length of the leg after doing the calf decreases. I have chubby legs that it seems are not far off the measurements for a fully grown adult male (think shire horse rather than thoroughbred, actually think shetland pony, I am short too!), ah well, never mind.

I secretly suspect these will not be flattering, but they are for wearing inside wellies so no one will actually see them.

In other YOP news I am a little concerned about my Hemlock ring blanket, I tried to lay it flat this week and it is seriously lumpy, I can't see how I will ever block it flat. I am toying with the idea of blocking it first as I would hate to dye it and then find it can't be blocked out and has to be frogged. I had a little look on other Ravelry projects for it (I LOVE Ravelry!) and generally a lot of scruchy things were blocked to be beautiful, but one knitter did frog hers, so it could still go either way.

Versatile blogger

2011-08-26T10:48:00.000+01:00

Becasue I fight with my computer on a regular basis I have only just got this button downloaded and reuploaded.

Liz from Yarn Berry presented me with a blogger award, and it is even in my current favourite shade of green (see recently finished socks on this week's FO Friday). Thank you Liz!

Having thanked the lovely Liz I am now supposed to tell you seven things about myself, so here they are:

I am addicted to knitting, in particular socks (should these be things you don't know, becasue that probably wouldn't count)
I think Dairy Milk is the tastiest chocolate ever and that it kicks the arse of expensive fancy chocolates
I am secretly amused at the mild rudeness of using the word arse in the above comment
Which should probably tell you that I am refusing to grow up (I finally have to consider properly entering the real world of work in about a month after 8 years of being a student :( )
I don't really have a favourite colour any more, I just like bright ones
I have a not overly secret dream of having a farm/zoo full of fibre animals, and maybe tigers.
I have a terrible diet, today everything I have eaten so far contained chocolate chips (see also comment 4!).

Next task is to link to some recently found blogs and pass the award on, in fact the rules say fifteen but I don't have that many new ones on my Google Reader, plus those that are I think have already recieved it. So I am going to link to the Ravelry Year of Projects group instead, there are a lot of blogs there that I am enjoying reading and I recommend having a browse through. (Yes I do realise that is something of a lazy cop out, I reserve the right to come back and pass the award on to specific blogs once I have got to know some of them a little better).

FO Friday- Q socks

2011-08-26T08:45:00.000+01:00

Another Friday, and some more socks. I think by the end of this challenge I will not need to knit any more socks, my sock drawer will overfloweth! That is a good thing though and I suspect I will always have some kind of sock on the go since they make good travelling knitting, I just won't be trying to get them done in a fortnight.

Anyway, this time it is the turn of the Q socks and some beautiful yarn I won on the Playful Day podcast giveaway.

Pattern: Quartzonite by Rose Hiver

Yarn: Knitting goddess superwash merino and nylon in Forest Green

Needles 2.5mm

The pattern gives lots of detail and the stitch pattern is complicated enough to keep you interested, but still easy enough to memorise after a few repeats. There is an interesting heel band feature which actually makes a lot of sense as it means you have a smooth stocking stitch section where your shoe sits, rather than a patterned lacy bit which would be more likely to rub and harder to darn when it wears through, I will be repeating the heel band section on other short row heel socks.

The pattern is well written and would be suitable for a sock beginner apart from needing to follow a link for the cast on, which means you need to start when you are near a computer unless you know how to do it or have another source for the information.

I may also now be a toe up, wedge toe, short row heel convert as apart from feeling these could be a little more snug around (a few less stitches, smaller needles or a pattern with a little ribbing) they are one of my best fitting pairs of socks. A big change from my top down, heel flap preference at the start of the year.

For some reason I got a little bored as I was working on the second leg (these are toe up), I don't know if it was the pattern or if I am reaching a point of being socked out and ready to work on something different, I will see how the next pair goes.

Once they were finished I was back to loving them, it was just the last little bit of knitting, so I have strong suspicions it was not the pattern's fault at all.

The yarn is lovely and smooth, knits nicely and tinks well. The smoothness give great stitch definition which combined with the semi solid colour makes it good for lace or other patterns which rely on teh stitches for interest. It is very much a sock yarn. Some 4 ply/sock/fingering weight yarns are not really sock yarns at all, they are wonderful and contain fibres possibly stolen from a unicorn on a moonlit night and are really for making shawls, scarves and other non foot based lovliness. This is not one of those, but that is good, because socks are what I wanted, and it is a super sock yarn. More important than the yarn base is the heavenly colour, which I am very much in love with, I will be putting every leftover scrap of this to use becasue it is truely lovely (I like the colour, can you tell?).

Close up to show the stitch pattern and the super stitch definition of this yarn.

I have my R socks pattern and yarn ready to go, I just need to track down a little more sock mojo, perhaps it is under the sofa.

WIP Wednesday- Spinning

2011-08-24T09:39:00.000+01:00

For once I have a WIP to talk about on Wednesday, usually I am saving the projects for either FO Friday or the Year of Projects posts but it occurred to me that I could talk about my spinning projects without infringing on either of them, so Wednesdays might be all about spinning for me.

I am still working on the Shetland fibre from Chopped Tomatoes on my drop spindle. This was my travelling project during the Tour de Fleece and is still on the go as I have been spinning it really fine in the hopes of achieving sock weight when I navajo ply, I think it is going to be too thin though.

I have one more short piece of fibre then I have 50g done. I split the fibre vertically in the hopes of making similar socks, but since then I have been dividing the working bits into shorter lengths in no particular order. There is no way I will be able to replicate it and make the two lengths match. If it works out for socks they will have to be similar but non matching.

Ibstock country fair

2011-08-22T09:26:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a beuatiful sunny day, I think the weather is playing tricks because it has begun to feel like autumn is coming, and then we have some glorious weather. We took a trip to Ibstock country fair, a local show that I found while looking for craft fairs.

I found this handsome chap, a Lincoln long wool, with some lovely looking fleece, but he (or possibly she, too much fleece to tell) was still wearing it, so I just looked longingly then left it alone.

In the craft tent there was yarn and fibre on offer, but I have recently bought yarn off the same seller at another show and I didn't like the feel of the fibre, so I left empty handed. My OH was amazed and thought I might be feeling ill!

For more, mostly non sheep related pictures of the show see here.

Year of Projects- In which the knitting is finished, but some blocking is needed

2011-08-21T20:43:00.000+01:00

Hurrah! The knitting is done on my Hemlock ring blanket, which means I have also finished the first ball of my year of projects yarn. I used about 50g from a second ball to do one stocking stitch round and the bind off.

For the bind off I chose an applied i cord bind off following the instructions in Knitty. I am pleased with the choice as it is much less frilly than the pattern bind off and it is quite fun to work, even so it got somewhat boring and I had to do the bind of in four sittings. It looks better than a plain bind off as there are several lines of stitches going across the work.

The big reveal is somewhat lacking today:

Blocking is definitely needed to make this look decent, but lace usually does. I am holding out on blocking bacause I need more pins and because I am planning to dye this. I don't know if I am going to keep it or gift it so the dyeing requires some thought. Currently I am thinking of dipping it slowly into the dye pot from the centre so the colour fades towards the edges, but I don't know what colour to go for, maybe greys. It will probably not reappear on YOP until it has been dyed.

This also means I get to cast on my next project so I am going back to look at my list of ideas and see what I fancy.

FO Friday- Must make sweater

2011-08-19T07:28:00.000+01:00

That's right, I have finished an actual full sized adult garment, something considerably bigger than socks, although if I am being honest it probably has fewer stitches than a pair of socks.

Last year I deicded I needed to knit something big, a sweater or cardi type thing. Being a lazy knitter I found some chunky yarn so it would knit quickly. I tried Lia by Mandie Harrington but although I think it loooks great in the pictures the ribbing did not do flattering things, it was frogged and I eventually found this:

Pattern: Moshup by Norah Gaughan

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Chasmerino chunky

Needles: Can't remember, really must be better at writing these things down, 6mm I think

Mods: worked back and shoulders, then fronts, attached front to back and worked sleeves in the round. Three rows of garter stitch at base of back. Sleeve length altered to "when one ball runs out its done".

It has been a FO for a while and should have been done even sooner but I dragged my feet about sewing in the ends (suprise suprise!).

I absolutely love it, the pattern is very simple and works up quickly because of the chunky yarn. I in no way made the correct gauge so it is a tiny bit fudged but fortunately it all worked out. The only thing I would like is a little more length in the body, but that is just personal preference. I have not quite worked out how to do that. The back would be easy, just keep knitting down, but more increases/rows on the front would mean more on the raglan shaping and lead to a wider back, more thinking needed here as I would consider making the pattern again.

It took (I think, again with the need to wirte stuff down) about 8 balls, which is not bad for a big cosy jumper, I have enough left to make something else, but I am not sure what, super squashy mittens perhaps, or a hat, but as previously mentioned all hats make me look ill.

I should have crossed the fronts over more for the photos, since it is a wrap around that gives it more shape and makes me looks less *ahem "fluffy".

The yarn is gorgeous, super soft and a beautiful colour. I am a tiny bit worried about it pilling and fluffing, but so far it is ok. I bought it from a Ravelry destash (which is how I could afford a sweater quantity) so can't comment on the price.

I was not sure about the detailing on the back, but it looked a lot better once it was blocked and flattened out (before it looked like I had made a flap to accomodate a tail, I do not have a tail).

Last week I read a FO post with a dancing picture, it made me smile, so here is me dancing because I totally love my new cardigan.

There are likely to be more cardigans in the future, although they may have to wait until the year of socks is over.

I will try to find something interesting to tell you all next week so it is not all FO and Year of Project posts.

Year of projects- In which the blanket is still not done, it all gets a little nerdy and I need help choosing the edging

2011-08-14T13:44:00.001+01:00

I have made progress on the blanket, but it doesn't look any different to previous pictures, so I thought it was not worth another photo. Making my P socks has taken most of my knitting time the last week, but I am approaching the end of the blanket yarn ball so there is not much further to go.

I have been taking stats (because I am a nerd), at the minute each round has 536 stitches, takes 22 minutes and 10g. That is 2.46 seconds and 1.019g per stitch.

I have 54g left, so should get another five rounds which will take me up to row 68 of the pattern chart. I am going to add a new ball to work one more plain round then work the bind off.

Which brings me to the choosing part. I used a length of scrap yarn to work a sample of the border as given in the pattern, and also cast off a few stitches with a typical bind off.

I think the pattern bind off is too lacy, having looked at finished projects on Ravelry it makes a frilly looking edge that I am not keen on. I am currently thinking I will work a plain bind off instead; as a bonus it is much faster. I have also considered a picot type bind off, but am not overly keen on that either. Any opinions?

FO Friday- P socks

2011-08-12T08:48:00.000+01:00

I chose something simple for my P sock because I knew that scout camp would not leave me with much time for knitting. I did take the yarn and pattern with me, but was too busy to make a start. I had to steam through them when I got home, and have literally just sewn the ends in so I can share them for today's FO Friday.

Pattern- Phineas by Rosemary Waits

Yarn- Yarn 2 dye 4 superwash sock

Needles- 2.25mm dpns

Having made friends with the short row heel on my N and O socks I decided I would go with the pattern and try making these toe up. I have tried toe up before, but while I could see the advantages of avoiding running out of yarn I was not convinced. Toe up heel flaps are a PITA and short row heels ended up holey.

I have to admit, I might be a convert, but it all comes down to how these wear when I give them a test run over the weekend. I did struggle with where to start the heel, I knew my foot length, but not how long the make the foot before I started the heel. Fortunately having done a top down version first I could go and measure that one from the toe to the heel start and use that number (about 20cms for a UK size 5).

The pattern creates a nice sock that is not overly complicated, but I found it interesting enough to work, the purl stitches move around so you have to give it a little thought to make sure they go where they should.

The only real problem with this pattern is that no instructions are given for the toe and heel, just links to instructions from Knitty. This is fine if you know how to do them anyway, or are near a computer, but if not it makes what would otherwise be a great beginner pattern a bit of a challenge.

I used the surprisingly stretchy bind off rather than the sewn bind off and worked a round toe.

I bought the yarn at a local steam fair (so am not doing a proper review), it is a lovely mix of bonfire colours but definitely needed a simple pattern as it would have obscured lace and cables. It is a superwash but I have given up machine washing my socks, my new machine has magic powers to shrink and lightly felt socks even at low temperatures so they all get handwashed now.

The full sock photo does not show off the stitch pattern as it is too variegated, you can see it quite well in close up though.

The pattern might be better suited to a less variegated yarn, something solid or subtle shades. That said it is a good way to use up very variegated yarn while knitting something more interesting than a plain vanilla sock, and thus saving your sanity.

On a sock related, but non project specific note I was wondering what other knitters do about sock length.

At knit night yesterday I was working on these and someone commented they looked very long, which is a valid point. I make my socks the same length as my foot, not relying on any lengthwise stretch. I have found that making them shorter than my actual foot results in the heel slipping under the foot (which is annoying) or the extra tension on the toe caused by the stretch makes the toe stitches stretch and gape, and I guess would lead to holes (which is even more annoying). What do you do? Rely on stretch or match foot length?

Year of Projects- in which I have made no progress, but have taken a couple of pictures

2011-08-07T19:59:00.000+01:00

The last week and a half have been spent on scout camp. I was helping to organise a section of the activities, so there has been no progress at all on the Hemlock Ring blanket. In fact I didn't knit on anything for over a week, which was probably the first time in almost three years!

The wonder of scheduling meant I could put blog posts up even when I wasn't here, but I did miss the various link parties, so I am happy to be back and blogging in real time this week.

I was asked for a close up of the centre of the Hemlock ring in the comments of my last post, I have tried to oblige. The centre section, before the featehr and fan chart is started.

The very centre

I enjoyed doing the large holes as it was a new technique for me. On one row you work a lot of YO one after the other, the following row you work several kfb into the large loop of yarn made by the YOs. It sounds complicated, but like a lot of knitting instructions if you just do exactly what the pattern says and it comes out fine (of course this only works if the pattern is well written, but this one is).

Next week I hope to be approaching the border, but quite a few rounds to go before I get there!

FO Friday- More socks

2011-08-05T02:30:00.000+01:00

That's right, more socks! This week the socks should actually fit though. Theya are a pair I made a while back as a Christmas gift for my Dad, I have decided the second pair are going to be finished off short for me and I will buy more yarn and work a bigger sock for the present. Still loads of time for gift knitting.

Pattern: Thuja

Yarn: Regia 6 ply

Needles: 3mm dpns

Thsi is a yarn and pattern I have used before, they are both great which is why I am prepared to break my no repeating patterns rule. Thuja is a great man sock as it is basically a ribbed sock, but every other row is knit, which makes it more interesting and also faster to work!

Just a quick post today as I am having a busy week, back to my overly detailed self next week.

Yellow jersey

2011-08-02T02:00:00.000+01:00

This is a little late, but everyone who crossed the finish line for the tour de fleece got a yellow jersey button.

I have ideas for some of my tour yarns, but this one in particular I am stuck on.

It is superwash merino, I think I have about 225m and it is about commercial fingering weight. I had intended it for socks, but I think it is a little underspun for that, plus I love it a lot, and while I do love socks (a lot, you know this!) I think it would like to be some kind of scarf/shawl.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am thinking a small triangle style shawl, I tend to wear my travelling woman shawl bandit style with the point and two tails at the front so something similar as I am not sure I can carry off the full shawl thing.

Year of projects- in which the blanket has reached the end of the pattern, but not the end of the yarn

2011-07-31T02:00:00.001+01:00

The title is a bit of an exaggeration, but I am prone to that. The blanket has reached the yellow "suggested cast off for blanket" line on the pattern chart. There are actually another two pattern repeats on the chart, plus I noticed someone has writtne out a few more on their Ravelry project, so fear not, the blanket wil grow more!

Here it is so far, it is still scrunched up as the cable is a bit shorter than the edge (is it a circumference or a perimeter when it is a wiggly circle?)

You can see that the yarn ball has shrunk a lot, it now fits into my hand, just, but that is a lot smaller than when it was the size of my head. I weighed it, I have 126g left. Of course due to the nature of circles as it grows more yarn is needed for each round, so the fact I have more than 1/5 of the yarn left does not mean it will get massively bigger. There is probably an equation to work it out, I suspect it involves pi (the mathematical one, not the edible one), but maths is not my strongest subject so I will just keep knitting and when it runs out is when the blanket finishes (and yes, engineer nerds can be bad at maths, I am better with the edible kind of pie).

I measured it which it was on the floor.

I am currently at 18 1/2" from the centre to the furthest outside edge. For some reason I seem to want it to be 4' across, I don't know where this number came from but since each pattern repeat only adds about 1" I don't think there will be enough yarn to get there. Admittedly this is unblocked, which will probably add a bit more as the fan bit is very scrunched.

Next week we might be talking about edging, I may need your views on that as I can't decide between the fancy pattern edging and keeping it simple.

FO Friday- O socks

2011-07-29T01:00:00.000+01:00

Today is the turn of the O sock.

Pattern: Olympian socks
Yarn: Shunklies superwash merino (Etsy seller)
Needles: 3mm
Mods: short row heel, round to, adjusted lengths.

I absolutely love this pattern. It works up really quickly and looks impressive, but there is no cabling, it is all an illusion. I did change the heel as I am currently a short row fan, after avoiding them for the first 6 months of the challenge I am giving them a go to see how they feel when being worn.

Since the yarn was on the thick sock yarn side I chose a larger needle size, I am still a little undecided on my preferred size to use after my N socks ended up somewhat thick and felty feeling. Of course the proper answer is that it depends on the yarn, but I am generally trying to aim for a slightly looser fabric. Even so I still like a tighter fabric than many suggested sock gauges produce, I am not keen on gappy socks. Larger needles made the socks work up more quickly too.

The yarn colours is gorgeous, a turquoisey colour which has shown up quite nicely in the photos. It is lovely and squishy too, I am wearing them today and it is all good so far, hopefully they will wear well as I know a lot of knitters will only knit with yarns with a nylon content.

I would maybe have preferred a slightly longer leg, but I was a bit worried about having enough yarn, in the end I had leftovers so I could have added a couple more pattern repeats.

Stitch pattern close up:

The A-Z challenge is going well so far, but P will be a challenge as I have a busy week ahead, I have picked a simple pattern but it still might not get done in the two week time period I am aiming for.

WIP Wednesday- The socks of indecision

2011-07-27T10:41:00.001+01:00

I have three current WIPs, but I will only talk about one as the others are my YOP Hemlock ring blanket and my poor neglected sock yarn blanket, which get their own posts. Instead today I want to share the socks of indecision, and maybe you can help me decide.

This is a truly terrible photo, but here they are:

The back story- I had nothing portable to knit, and 6 hours of sitting around at the weekend. So, aiming to be super organised I grabbed my Christmas sock yarn supplies, some needles and started a simple (but fairly boring) K3P2 rib sock for my Dad's Christmas present.

I had trouble deciding how many stitches to work over, but settled on 60. This will teach me not to make proper notes on the previous pairs! (can you see where this is heading?)

6 hours gets lot of sock done, in fact almost a whole sock when it is a simple pattern, see picture, it is obviously the one on the right.

I was feeling a little iffy about the sizing, since I had done a short row heel it looked a bit tight around the top of foot/front of heel bit. When I got home I tried it on a handy male foot of about the right size (a clean one I should add). The report from the wearer was that it fit fine, but to my mind the ribbing looked way too stretched out, to its maximum, which doesn't leave any potential for washing shrinkage.

Here are my options:

Frog the whole thing, restart with a bigger stitch count (70 sts)
Frog the whole thing, restart on bigger needles (3.5mm)
Frog back to the start of the heel, work a heel flap
Put a toe on it now, keep them for myself/gift them to a family member with smaller feet, buy more yarn and make bigger socks following the the changes in 1,2 and 3

As you can see I couldn't decide, but as I needed bus knitting yesterday I started the second sock anyway over 60sts, which would leave me free to do option 3 or 4.

I am leaning towards 4, I do hate to waste all that knitting, and I would get some boot socks. But it does mean spending my (limited) yarn budget on more boring brown 6 ply rather than heavenly pretty indie lovelies.

What do you think knitters of the interweb? Help me choose an option. And if you have any tips on sizing giant man socks I would be very grateful.

Year of projects- In which the blanket has grown even more and listing stash on Ravelry has its benefits

2011-07-24T22:04:00.000+01:00

The Hemlock Ring blanket is growing, it is now officially a long way round, currently 440 stitches in each round! I have had to use a cable connector and join two cables together (I knew I bought them for a reason).

It is still not easy to photograph so here is a partial shot which shows that the feather and fan section is taking shape.

I have reached the point with the knotted ply. I wanted the blanket to be much larger, so I cut the yarn and joined the two ends with a Russian join, fortunately it is in the stocking stitch section so is quite well hidden.

I am going to keep working until the yarn runs out and see how big it is then use the Russian join again to attach a second ball and work the bind off.

I have been adding my Tour de Fleece handspun to Ravelry and decided I really should get better at listing my stash. I probably won't bother with photos for commercially spun yarn, but if I put it in I can link projects to it.

This has worked out quite well with my Year of Projects mystery yarn as I managed to find it on the database, which has given me details of the yardage and I can see other projects made from it. It looks like it will felt, but only if you get mean with it, so I can make the hat after all!

Tour de fleece day 23

2011-07-24T21:49:00.000+01:00

The last day of the tour, I have had a lot of fun and really been enjoying developing my spinning and making yarns. Looking at all the lovely yarn and fibre on the Ravelry threads has been great too.

Today I only just managed to squeeze my fifteen minutes in, it was a busy day but I did a little more of the super fine Shetland on my drop spindle.

The lesson for today was- drop spindling very thin yarn when tired is not a good idea! I spent quite a bit of my fifteen minutes rejoining the fibre after it had broken.

I think I will be working on this project for a while, so I am going to try and keep up doing a little each day.

And here is my Tour de Fleece haul!

I don't have accurate weights/lengths for a lot of it but roughly-

100g Wonder Why alpaca, spun as a two ply in two skeins. Approx DK weight (caramel brown colour)

30g Humbug BFL, navajo plied, Approx DK weight (grey brown top)

95g superwash merino from Shunklies, a 2 ply approx 4 ply weight (blues, large)

20g baby alpaca, drop spindled and navajo plied on the wheel. Approx 4 ply weight (grey brown, bottom right)

20g alpaca, drop spindled and navajo plied on the wheel. Approx 4 ply weight (dark brown)

15g Shetland and superwash merino with beads (blues, small)

5g Wensleydale single ply on spindle (white)

Shetland fine single on spindle (pastel colours)

I managed to achieve all my self imposed goals. I am going to start planning for next year, jumper quantity maybe?!

Tour de Fleece day 22

2011-07-23T22:14:00.000+01:00

I had planned to ply my superwash merino today, but I used that for my Kromski challenge yesterday. I carried on with the Shetland fibre from Chopped Tomatoes on my drop spindle instead.

I am planning to navajo ply this in the hope of making some sock yarn. However, it is spinning up very pastelly, the dyed fibre has bright blue and red patches, like this:

I am not a huge pastel fan, so I might spin something else to ply it with, perhaps a grey or black. Or I might just try learning to love pastels instead!

Tour de fleece day 21

2011-07-22T22:28:00.000+01:00

Today was the tour de fleece challenge day. the challenge is optional (of course, it is all optional) and each spinner sets their own challenge.

I decided I would try dealing with some Wensleydale locks. I had some in one of my fleece samples and thought it would be a bit different.

Unfortunately they were not the lovely individual locks I had envisaged (note to self- check supplies before deciding challenge), they were in rather a tangled mass.

I used a dog comb to create smooth, combed fibre for spinning, but it also created a lot of waste. The pile on the left is waste, the right is for spinning, a lot more waste than spinning fibre.

I used a drop spindle to spin the pile of combed fibre, there was really not a lot so it did not take very long, I am not sure what I will use this for as it is such a small amount.

Since the Wensleydale was dealt with fairly quickly it did not seem sufficient for the toughest day of the tour so I decided to add some extra challenges. I wanted to do something for each of the teams I am in. The Wensleydale counts for Team Spindlers.

For the Team of Wonder (the alpaca lovin team) and Team UK I had a go at carding some British alpaca. This is some beautiful Hucaya that I bought at a country show from a local alpaca. I thought it was prepped and was going to make the challenge threading some beads, but on opening I found it was clean but not carded.

I used hand carders, it was so much easier than carding sheep fleece.

And made something roughly approximating roving. It is beautifully soft, I am really looking forward to spinning this.

For Team Kromski and Team Hopelessly Overcommitted I plied the superwash merino singles from earlier in the week. I was going to do these tomorrow, but decided it would be a good challenge project.

I started after the evening takeaway was ordered and just managed to beat the delivery to the finish. I am really pleased with this yarn, although I still think it is underspun for socks, I think it may be a shawl. This is not a great picture as it was taken in the dark with a flash.

Finally just for fun I thought this would count for Team Spindlers and Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. Drop spindling on a balance board. I only did a little for the picture, but it is possible!

This board arrived a few days before the start of the tour, it is supplies for a scout camp next month. I hopped on to give it a go and fell right off, very nearly taking myself out of the tour completely as only my ample bum hitting the ground first stopped me from breaking my wrist!

A very busy challenge day, I have managed to finish my tour goals (as long as I do 15 minutes each day over the weekend) so am going to enjoy spindling some more of the bonus fibre I started last weekend and maybe prep some more of that beautiful alpaca.

FO Friday- Brioche baby hat

2011-07-22T08:01:00.000+01:00

Another FO that has been done for ages but has been hanging around waiting for its turn on FO Friday (like months).

Pattern: Brioche Baby Hat by Connie Carroll

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll

Needles: 3.0mm

Mods: I know I altered this a little, but it was so long ago that I can't remember, I am fairly sure I made it shorter than in the pattern.

This a nice pattern to work, and makes a very cute baby hat. The brioche stitch is not difficult, but I think it is much more effective when worked with two colours, in a single colour it just looks like a slightly odd looking rib (you know when you look at something and it looks odd, but you can't work out why?).

I love the yarn, it is one of my favourite sock yarns so far- machine washable, not too expensive, lovely colours, good fibre content, its only downfall is the ribbing on my sock could be springier, but that may be to do with my gauge on those. I am considering ordering some more as I am about 3 skeins short of having enough sock yarn for my whole alphabet.

A really terrible photo that shows the stitch but is an awful representation of the colour, it is a lovely bright red.

I have been doing some knitting, and even have a couple of FOs, but mostly I am spinning, today is the TdF challenge day so I will be off to try some Wensleydale locks in a minute.

Tour de Fleece day 20

2011-07-21T10:30:00.000+01:00

More of the same, but this time the single is finished!

This is the second half of the superwash merino from Shunklies. I finished it this morning, mostly because there was absolutely nothing to watch on the TV last night (until Sherlock came on, which was super) so I got a couple of hours spinning in. I finished it this morning and will ply it on Saturday.

It is pretty thin, I was aiming for a sock yarn weight when the two singles are plied together but I still think it might be underspun for socks, until it is plied and washed there is not way to tell.

Tomorrow is challenge day. I have some Wensleydale locks that I am going to try and comb and spin (using a dog comb and drop spindle). This may go ok, it may be a total disaster, I think I might go and do a little Googling to see what other people advise.

Tour de fleece day 19

2011-07-20T09:32:00.000+01:00

Today's project had been yet more blue superwash merino. I am onto the second single and an early start this morning has about 1/4 of it done. I am hoping to get a little more done this evening, but it is easier to get the blog post done in the morning, any extra progress will make it into tomorrow's post.

I thought you might be getting a bit bored with reading about this spinning project, it tends to look the same in every daily photo. I took a couple of other pictures to make it a little more interesting.

For the Wonder Why Team- even though I am spinning merino I am keeping it 'paca with some 100%alpaca socks. Still worried these will not be very hard wearing, but I tend to wear them on days when I don't need to wear shoes so they should last longer. They are so soft and mmmmmmmmmmmm.

For anyone who is interested I thought I would take a photo of my spinning corner. The wheel lives here, it is perhaps a tiny bit in the way (there is a corner wall behind the chair, but then so is the sofa really and after a while you don't notice, you just sort of walk around.

I used to drag the wheel out into the room and point it at the TV to spin. Then it occured to me that I don't actually watch the TV, just listen to it, and the chair fits neatly inbetween the wheel and the wall. So now I just put a chair in front of the wheel and start to spin, it is much faster and less hassle. I am totally in the way, you can't get into the next room when I am sat there, but never mind.

Using the airer for prepped fibre is a new thing, it makes life so much easier and spinning much faster (but means I can't dry as many clothes!).

Tour de Fleece day 18

2011-07-19T09:11:00.000+01:00

I forgot to post yesterday (ooops). It was a rest day so nothing happened spinning wise but I was aiming to post every day. I caught up with some knitting and reading blog posts, so it would not have been an overly exciting day for you to read about anyway.

This morning I got up early so I could finish the first single of my blue superwash project. The fibre was taunting me yesterday, but I had planned to stick to the rest days and am determined not to break my self imposed rules on this one.

The first single is done. I think it is a little underspun so it will probably not be hardwearing enough for socks, it may end up as a shawl instead but I will see how it looks once it is plied.

During the tour I have managed to go from overspun to underspun, will I ever get the holy grail of perfect twist?!

I have just enough time to prep the rest of the fibre before I should get on with some work. Hopefully I will get some of it spun tonight, I still think I will not get this finished during the tour as I have something else planned for Friday, if not it should be done by the end of the weekend, next week there will be yarn!