Tour de Fleece day 20

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 14

Today was more of the same superwash merino as yesterday, you can tell I have done some more because it is more blue today.

I have about 1/3 of the prepped fibre left then it is onto the second single. I think this project will take me to the end of the tour apart from the challenge day next Friday.

Tour de fleece day 13

I have started on my second big project for the tour, 100g of superwash merino from Shunklies. The colours are lovely greys and blues with just the occasional hint of purpley pink. This photo in no way does the colours justice-

I am using my wheel to spin a thin single, I have saved half the fibre and will make a second single to ply it with. Hopefully it should end up commercial sock weight, although it may not end up as socks- after trying really hard to master avoiding overspinning during the tour this may be on the underspun side, we will see how it comes out.

Scrap down- scratch mitts

It has been a few eeks since I posted a scrap down, lots of toehr projects have been gettin in the way and my bag of part balls has been getting ever fuller.



I made these a few weeks ago with the yarn left voer from the blue blueberry socks.

Pattern: Baby Mittens by Malin Nilsson
Yarn: Regia silk
Needles: 2.5mm
Mods:

10 rnds rib
25 rnds plain
2 plain rnds between decreases
No I cord as people in the know said not to

There was not a lot of yarn leftover by the time I had done the socks and a blanket square, but I just managed to make them. They might be a little small, in which case they will go to a preemie hospital.

FO Friday- Blue blueberries

I have been trying to get things finished up this week, so now I have a few almost finished items. This weekend I will be setting to with a tapestry needle and some blocking, and hopefully clearing the WIPs. I don't like having too many WIPs, I feel like I should be working to get them done all the time and can never choose which to work on.

Anyway, enough of the WIPs, for this is Friday, and thus the day of the FO.

More socks! And not A-Z ones, but extra bonus socks.

Pattern: Blueberry waffle socks by Sandy Turner

Yarn: Regia silk 4 ply

Needles 2.25mm dpns

Notes: I used a 4 ply over 68sts and worked a YOYO short row heel rather than following the pattern.

This pattern is great, fast to work and simple. It does get a tiny bit boring to be honest, but it is good for times when you need low concentration knitting.

The ribbed effect helps to keep the sock snug all the way along the foot so it would be good if you are not quite sure what size to make, go for a slightly high stitch count and the ribbing will make them fit. 

I am not keen on repeating patterns when there are so many out there, so I might not make it again, that said it would be good for manly socks where "fancy" things like cables are not wanted.

The yarn is heavenly. I bought it for the Walking on Sunshine KAL, but it got switched over to these as I needed to make them in a hurry. I will be buying more of this for sure as it is so soft, but according to the label is still machine washable. Plus it should be hard wearing as Regia tends to be. In fact, it is looking good for my all time favourite sock yarn, the colour range is very limited though and not many stores stock it, I may have to investigate buying it overseas!

These were a gift, and the lovely yarn made it a little hard to let them go, but the recipient seems to like them (plus they would have been to big for me!).

Stitch pattern close up:

FO Friday- L socks

FO Friday today will not be featuring anything from the WIP Wednesday pile, because none of it is finished. This is not really a surprise, and some of it is well on the way so maybe one will be done by next week.

Instead we have the socks for the L part of the A-Z sock knitting challenge (in my colour of the moment of course).

Pattern: Leyburn socks by MintyFresh

Yarn: Artesano Hummingbird 4 ply

Needles: 2.25mm dpns 

Mods: Quite a few changes on these, the pattern has a lot of comments about poor fit so I worked them top down with a heel flap rather than toe up with a short row heel. The leg was done over 72sts and the foot over 66sts.

The stitch pattern has floats which reduce the stretchiness a bit, I did a higher stitch count than usual and made a concious effort to keep the floats loose. This is actually really good practise for colourwork as you are making the same kind of floats and as they are on the front they are easy to see and keep loose.

It is a super pattern, only a little slower to do than a plain vanilla sock but with a great finish. It also mixes handpainted yarns up well or looks equally good in a solid colour.

The yarn I used is fantastic. It is 100% alpaca and so soft and squishy. It is a little hairy, but not so much it obscures the stitch pattern, this could make the socks a little tickly but they seem ok so far. It is also a little thinner than typical sock yarn so I will have to see how it wears. Hopefully it will be ok and not felt or rub through into holes as I would love to use it again, it is that soft and delicious.