Christmas knitting

Before all the Christmas knitting gets given away, and I forget all those little details, I really should write some blog posts.
First up - a pair of socks
I don't think I would use this yarn Louet Gems sport again for socks although it is beautiful, and the colours are rich.  I just think it it as tad to heavy for normal socks.
That being said let me present to you the Whitby Socks

Yarn: Louet Gems Sport - 100 g
Needles:2.25mm
Pattern: Whitby Socks - Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Changes: I added 4 more stitches - a purl on each side of the cable - as it was too narrow before

This was an enjoyable pattern, the knit/purl diamond between the two cables makes it so no counting is needed for the cable.  The pattern is difficult to  photograph though.

Crusoe socks

Just a quick post about a pair of socks that I have finished
I had some rainbow sock yarn that was purchased in the summer, and I needed a pattern that would do those colours justice.  I remembered that I had sock pattern designed for this - Crusoe Socks.  I looked over the pattern, it called for KPPPM with a cast on of 44 stitches.  I read again, and a second time.  There is no way I am knitting a sock on 44 sts with sock yarn and a) have it fit an adult foot and b) not have so loose a gauge that it wears out quickly.  I decided to size up to 56 sts.  I used the not so scientific method  of "sounds like a good number".

I didn't try the socks on or measure them in any way.  I knit on.
When I was getting near the toes - I tried them on.  Could barely get them past my ankle, and seeing as the intended recipient has larger feet than me this was not going to work.  Surgery was performed above the heel flap, the stitches were picked up and then 4 was added - and the cuff was re knit at 60 sts. 

Lessons learn - if you pick numbers out of the air - check the fit with a foot or tape measure.

Final info
Yarn: Shelridge Farms Handpaint
Needles : 2.25 mm
Cuff: 60 sts, foot 56 sts
Pattern: Crusoe socks

Socks II

So to finish playing catch up on finished socks .

In June I wanted you to use some of my Sockotta yarn to knit socks, this would be vacation/beach knitting and working on wool in July was not on my list as good plans (as it turns out I could have done it for most of this July).

In the skein this yarn I didn't think it was very busy so I choose Cachoeira from Knitty as a pattern. It had been on my queue so why not. After doing a pattern repeat I realized why not, it is very hard to see the pattern. After the heel turn I switched to stockinette and then the socks just flew off the needles. The pattern was great just not a match to the yarn. If I wasn't away I probably would have switched patterns or took more time to choose the initial pattern. Oh well, the socks are comfy. More details on Rav


The last pair of socks in this FO parade is the Jayne's Serenity Socks. These started as a sock blank that I dyed at WWKIP day in New Hamburg. The base yarn is Shelridge Farms Soft Touch. It was fun to see how the transitions occurred in the sock compared to the blank. I think the next blank I will do I will make the stripes more on a diagonal so there is a more subtle graduation. I was happy with the dye job overall.

The pattern I used for these socks is Serenity by Nikki Van De Car, there was a few confusing bits but that was easily straightened out. I enjoyed the cabling, and had the large cables cross in opposite directions on each sock - well except where they were miscrossed. Those got left in as nothing is for sure in the 'Verse.

I had some yarn left over which went into little socks for NB. He loves bare feet though so it will be fun getting a picture of those socks. I mostly let him have bare feet unless we are going out in the cold.

I have been knitting

Just not blogging.

I was remarking to Sarah that I really should write a blog post, and she commented that I did have lots of finished items to share.
That is true,
Bianca is done, - I ended up going with the dark brown buttons.
Inset socks - done
Dad's Diamonds -done
Serenity socks -done
Coalicheria socks - done
Greyhound dishcloths - six done for charity
Slinky ribs - almost done buttons, blocking and ends woven in
Celtic vest

This post will be devoted to the socks that I have finished and I will try to talk about the other projects later this week.
I will start with the Inset socks by Regia, I know I started these in March.
This was an interesting pattern to knit, even if the socks came out a little big. The hourglass heel and short row toe, had a different method than I had come across before there was two main differences. I will see if I can explain it.

Difference 1. At the start of a row, you slip one, then do a YO, then knit the next stitch. This is instead of doing the wrap and turn at the end of the row. As you normally do in these heels you work on fewer and fewer stitches until there is about one third left.

Difference 2. The other directions that I have seen then have you work outwards from this point, so most of the stitches get two wraps before picking them up. Regia has a different method that I have since adopted for short rows of this type. You work until the middle third of stitches remains then knit and pick up all the wraps, then work outwards doing wrapping the stitches again. This way the stitches only have one wrap and I think gives a nicer edge.
Proof - I used multiple methods on these socks.
Old method - wrapping the stitches twice


One wrap per stitch, you can see how I knit across all the stitches in the dk green colour

Using the one wrap per stitch plus the different wrap technique, gives a nice smooth look on this toe. I tried to do a schematic and it is looking more complicated then it is.




Second, Dad's Diamonds,
These socks were for my Dad's 60th birthday. I changed the pattern on the second so they are were mirrored images.

The yarn was Jawoll Silk (complete details on Rav) and I used the reinforcing thread, on the soles, and up the heel until it ran out.


The reinforcing thread does make for a denser fabric, since it is dyed similar to the main yarn it doesn't affect the stripes (if you know where to look you can see some muting of the colours). I enjoyed working with this yarn and will use it again.

I will leave this post here, and fill you in on the rest of the socks and projects in other posts. Cause by the time I finish all the socks, I am sure Slinky Ribs will be done.

Another pair of socks

When Shall We Knit had their annual sale a couple of weeks ago, I picked up several balls of Naturally Merino et Soie, a New Zealand DK yarn. I had a couple of projects in mind for this purchase. The first being a pair of socks for Ali.

From A house made of wool

This is the slip stich ribbed pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I knitted these socks using the 2 socks 2 circs method. I enjoyed this method, since I didn't need to remember what I did on the second sock - it is right there, the lengths are the same etc. However, I found I spent a lot of time untangling the yarn and needles. Also one of the circs that I was using had a crappy join (early knitting day purchase). I am thinking of trying my next pair of socks using the two socks 1 circ magic loop style and see if that helps this issue

From A house made of wool

Pattern: Slip Stitch Rib
Yarn: Naturally Merino et Soie (70 % merino, 30% silk) - 2 skeins + a little bit
Needles: 3 mm


Bianca update:

From A house made of wool

I am still working on the yoke of the Bianca jacket, at about the spot that I was at before I ripped it back. The above yarn (31 g) is the extra that I saved. I am hoping that it is enough - I sure hope so.
Will it be done for this weekend - the knitting might be. The blocking, seaming is debateable, the adding of buttons most likely not since I haven't picked them out yet.

Koigu socks at long last

I wasn't sure if I had blogged these socks before, I couldn't recall writing about them. A check of the archives (March) has a mention that I did some knitting with the following photo (dated Feb 28). The socks are the Riverbed Socks byCat Bordhi.




I finished the one sock and then finished the pair of Hedera socks (and that took months) before starting the second sock. I was just glad that I carefully put all the magic numbers down on a postit note inside the book, otherwise, well I wouldn't have remembered what toe I did.

The heel took a couple of attempts on the second sock. I don't know what I was doing with my short rows on the first attempt but I was using 3/4 of the stitches before I looked at it closely and realized that I wasn't knitting a heel at all, but some other weird shape. Attempt #2 on the second sock went better. I then looked at the first sock and thought it looked funny - it wasn't the heel fault this time but a problem with the instep stitches.

Finishing the second heel, I ripped the first heel back (I made the sock too long and the heel too high) and then finished the socks in tandem.

I added some blue Koigu PPM that I had left over from entrelac socks to prevent these from being ankle socks. Even with that addition they aren't very tall.
This is also a case of very different skeins from the same dye lot. I bought the two skeins of black KPPPM at the same time, and they have the same dyelot number on them. I don't remember there being a huge difference in the look of the skeins. However as you can see when they are knitted up there is a huge difference in the amount of white in the two yarns. It doesn't matter they still fit Ali's feet (which is good since they were intended for him).

Project details:
Yarn: Koigu Painters Palette Premium Merino P345-33 - 2 skeins + some of a third
Needles: 2.25 mm
Pattern: Riverbed Master Sock with a whirl pool toe.
Master Numbers and such on the Ravelry page.

Hedera Socks

In my on going challenge to get some FO blogged, I present finished Hedera Socks. You may not remember but I originally blogged about these socks back in February when I had finished the first one. The second sock slowly languished until the beginning of October when I finally finsihed the second one. After proudly finishing the socks it took until this past weekend for me to finally photograph the socks (since I wanted to wear them).

Project Details
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn
Needles: 2.25mm /US1
Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A
Mods: None

Something scary

Do you want to know something scary?






Sure you do.



It is not this massacre, that I actually came home to twice this past week. That is Bear, a big stuffed animal that Keeper liked to play with. On Monday I came home and there was small pieces of styrafoam that met me at the door. A quick search of the house led me to believe that Bear was attacked in the rec room and was carried around the house. Bear had a small hole in its arm that I thought could easily be fixed. I went about cleaning up the carnage. Cleaning this up I realized that it was not carried through the house just that those light as nothing pieces stick to everything and are blown everywhere. Friday I came home, and someone had gotten bear from the spare room upstairs (the door does not close firmly) and proceeded to rip the other arm off. More vaccumming. Even today, after yet another vacuuming there is still styrafoam bits everywhere.

The scary thing is that I actually have knitting content to report on. I have finished another front and the back to my cardigan.

The good news is they are the same size. Here they are spread out on the floor prior to blocking. Demonstrating their sameness. I added more seed stitch to the button flap since I really like how this yarn (Noro Silk Garden) looks in seed stitch.

As if that is not enough knitting for you, I have finished one of the Hedera socks. I think that should count as a FO since it is a Cookie A pattern and she only ever knits one. Alas but I can't bring myself to wear mismatched socks even if they are handknit so I guess I shouldn't count it just yet.

I think reporting on two knitting project is enough for one blog post.

(See I told you this was scary.)

Iris Lornas Lace Jaywalkers revisted

Theresa over at Knitting Underway has started Time Machine Tuesdays -the idea is too look at some past projects and comment on their wear, did the yarn hold up or did it wear, is their lots of pilling. Is is it a plain jane sweater that is one of the most comfortable items in your wardrobe.

I am going to start off with my Jaywalkers socks knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Iris. Here is one that is almost finished, from March 2006.

A picture of the socks as they are today (with some leftover yarn) -with and without the flash

I am not impressed with how the Lorna's Laces has stood up to the test of time

• The yarn, especially the green sections, has faded
• The socks have shrunk - they are know very tough to get over my heel and some mornings they go back in the drawer since I don't want to struggle to get them on. The shrinkage is probably made worse with this pattern since there is no stretch in the bias fabric
  


• The soles have held up with no holes or other thin spots, although there is some light fuzziness that has developed.
  

This is the only time I have used Lorna's Laces and although other people love I don't think I will be buying it for socks again.

A snow day

On the weekend we had some visitors – Toddler Jeneric dragged her parents over the border so she could play with Keeper and see massive amounts of snow.


The company allowed us plenty of time for knitting and game playing. (Jeneric has more pics on their site)

I finished these


(I almost didn’t get to photograph these as I had wrapped them up for Christmas before I thought of it)

Project specs:
Yarn: Opal purchased from Knitters Fair in colour 1253 - no name to the colour but I call it denim jacquard.
Needles: 2.75 mm
Pattern: ribbed sock pattern with an hourglass heel in garter stitch


I pulled out my cardigan to work on. I haven’t worked on this since I got back from my trip in November. Since I have decided to make it a bit wider across the back I wanted to compare the fronts and the back.


I was glad that I did



Remember when I had said that the front was coming out longer than I had planned. It turns out that happens when you don’t count properly. As Jenni said “that can’t be fixed by blocking” - the front will be ripped.



And old finished project that I finally got photos of

This is L in a Baby Kimono


Project Specs

Yarn: South West Trading Co bamboo in colour Tequila
Needles: 3.5mm
Pattern: Baby kimono from IK Summer '05
It fit him at one point- this was sent to him in the spring but due to a number of reasons I didn't get photos until now.

Bear foot socks and a favour

First I will get to the knitting content- I actually finished a pair of socks that fit Ali. I am not going to go diving into the archives to find out when that last happened. This sock knitting went very smooth until I broke one of my Brittany Birch 2.5 mm needles. Seeing this was the second one in that size that I broke (the previous one snapped about three years ago) I decided I needed replacements. Brittany needles are great about replacing the snapped needles. My only problem with it is they no longer make a 7" 2.5 mm needle - only 5" so the two replacements are shorter. C'est la vie!

On to the socks

I got the yarn at the Knitters Fair in September and loved knitting with it. The yarn is a pleasure on the hands, being a wool:mohair:nylon blend so I am hoping it holds up well.

I knit the socks toe up, placing the gusset increases along the sole of the foot, an idea taken from Ted, although I kept them every other row.



Yarn: Mountain Colours Bearfoot
Needles: Brittany Birch 2.5mm
Pattern: Basic toe up sock pattern with heel flap, gusset stitches along bottom


Now onto the favour - I am not asking for money or a large part of your time. I just want you to read the story of Talca and Sari, and write a few letters expressing your feelings to the Judge and District Attorney and Police Chief involved in the case.

Sari and Talca were two rescued racing greyhounds, they were born in Ireland, raced in Spain and brought to the US when their careers were over. It was believed they were going to have a good life after being adopted by Kevin Schneider. However this was not to be the case :

Sari and Talca were adopted from Greyhound Friends, Hopkinton. GHFs adopts out hundreds of ex-racers to responsible, loving owners every year. In the group's almost twenty-five years of placing greyhounds nothing like this travesty has ever happened. Great care is given to each match; the adopter signs a contract that emphatically stipulates that the dogs have to be returned to GHFs no matter what the circumstances.

Reportedly, Talca and Sari were not provided with adequate food or water and they were in a severely emaciated condition. On October 27, Schneider drove to Killingly, CT. where he abandoned Talca. She was picked up by Animal Control and her microchip read.....traced to Spain and then to Hopkinton.........she is safe and recovering.

Sari was in much worse shape. After being abandoned by Schneider at a location in Rhode Island, Sari was taken into care by a local greyhound placement organization. She received veterinary care but died after two days. Sari only weighed thirty pounds when she was found. When she left GHFs she weighed between sixty-five and seventy pounds. Talca was adopted in May, 2007 - Sari in June, 2007. It is crucial that the public be aware that if they see animal abuse or neglect it is imperative that they contact the humane authorities who can help the animals....who have no voice or recourse of their own. Both the MSPCA and the ARL have anonymous tip lines.
In Massachusetts, cruelty to animals carries a maximum sentence of five years.

[from a press release put out by Greyhound Friends]

Schneider is scheduled for his next appearance in court on December 27. Your letters will help make sure that he is not allowed to plea to lesser charges.

Edward P. Deveau
Chief of Police
34 John "Sonny" Whooley Way
Watertown, MA 02472

Gerard T. Leone Jr.
Middlesex County District Attorney
40 Thorndike St
Cambridge, MA 02141

Hon. Gregory C. Flynn
First Justice
Waltham District Court
38 Linden Street
Waltham, MA 02452

For more information on this story please check out the site set up discuss the case.

Whoops

or I guess I shouldn't have dropped that stitch back in June.

I have been wearing my entrelac socks, on a weekly basis since it has gotten cold (I only have 8 pairs of knit socks so they get worn often in the rotation), without a problem. They are KPPPM and have been through the washing machine 3 -4 times (I also handwash my socks). Monday morning however, I went to put them on.

My finger went through the fabric right below the cuff.

Fuck.



Careful analysis has revealed that I had dropped a purl stitch half way up the ribbing, and not noticing it, the stitch has slowly run down and is now releasing all the stitches in the dark blue square. I feel that I have a major repair project in my hands - Claudia's quick fix - which I have used often will not help me know. It would have helped in June, but alas I must reknit the cuff. I'll have to figure out if more drastic work needs to be done when I rip back that far.

I am just glad that I noticed it when I was putting the sock on and not part way through the day. The dark blue square would unravel completely if left to its own devices in the present state. I have already started unravelling the cast off edge of the cuff.

Progress in knitting has been slow anyway. The back of the cardigan is 2/3 done - and I have a sock for Christmas 1/2 done. Exciting.

As promised some socks

I finished these socks a couple of weeks ago and realized that I never posted a picutre of them.

I started with a 16 st garter st cuff, that I made long enough to go around my calves, picked up stitches along the edge and knit the socks down. I needed to decrease the stitch number down at the back of the socks.
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Krazy Stripes
Needles: 2.75 mm bamboo
Heel: Patridge Heel flap with garter strips on the sides
I like the garter edging to the heel flap but not perfer the slip stich heel as opposed the Eye of Partridge flap.

September , where did you go?

Wow, it seems like just yesterday that I was at the knitters fair purchasing my fall's supply of yarn and know despite the weather October is almost here. For people who didn't hear we hit 40C with the humidex factored in (31.5 without) on Tuesday. It still is a beautiful day to be outside today.
I didn't start this blog post to talk about the weather - I had something else to share. Oh yeah some WIP photos.
First my yet to be named Cardigan. I am happy at how far I got with the first ball, and I am enjoying this project.
I may be tempted at some point to reknit this front. Still deciding - why you might ask? The order of the stripes. I have the warm rust at my side (under the armscye) and cooler blues at the front. It would be great if they were reversed (and I will pay more attention now).
Why should they be reversed? Cooler colours recede, warm colours come forward. So putting the cooler colours to the side you get a slimmer look, the opposite you add width to yourself. I am not someone who obsesses with my weight by I also don't want to look huge.
Although Keeper doesn't seem to have that problem.

Next work in project is the Chocolate Mountain Socks. The yarn is Mountain Bearfoot a wool, mohair, nylon blend - perfect for socks for Ali (who should get off of facebook and post to his blog). Seeing as he missed the last pair for him and Jenni tried to start an argument



I am knitting these socks toe up and using the heel in the diamond waffle socks. This heel puts the increases (or decreases) at the bottom of the gusset. I am loving this yarn.
Just another day left in September.

ETA: I just realized that I never posted my finished Krazy Stripes socks. They have been done for a couple of weeks. I am a bad bad blogger. I guess that will be in the next post.

Some finished objects ...

..Almost.
I can't find my little case that keeps all my darning needles in so these will have to wait to be truly finished objects
This is the Oriel top. This tank has gone through several iterations to get to this stage.

I started off with the W pattern from Knitty. However I realized when I was almost through one ball of yarn that I was not going to have enough yarn. So it visited the frog pond. I then decided to knit a top down tank but couldn't find a pattern that I liked for this yarn so I thought I would make one myself. This also had to visit the frog pond as I was having massive problems with the neck shaping and the realization that I don't have a 40" bust (maybe that was more gauge issues).
I liked the Lotus blossom tank in the summers IK, but wasn't sure I had enough yarn. What to do I didn't want to skip on length then end up with yarn left over.
Provisional cast on to the rescue. I knit the top of the tank (twice - gauge issues) following some of the shaping of the Shapely tank. The cast on was then taken out and I started the lace pattern working down. After a couple of different patterns Oriel was chosen. A picot bindoff along the neckline and hem was used.

Yarn: Darling by Filati Yarns in colour 347 50% cotton 50% acrylic 375 m
Needles : 3.75 mm (3.5 mm for edges)
Pattern: A little bit of several patterns

This yarn being a cotton acrylic blend was pleasant to knit with and I would use it again.

The second almost finished object
The Spey Valley socks



These socks are knit out of Trekking XXL and has reaffirmed that I am not a fan of this yarn. I don't think it gives a firm fabric for wear unless it is knit on tiny 1.75 mm needles.

These socks were meant to be for Ali but unfortunately when I was trying them on to judge their length they felt nice and tight to my feet. There is no way they would fit Ali's feet. I guess I just got another pair of socks for my drawer.

I do need something to knit



I still haven't decided on a sweater, I have added a few more to the potential list (I would like a basic grey cardigan that I could wear almost everyday) since I think Jenni was right about some of the other selections. I haven't found the yarn that I want for the cardigan so that will be part of the mission this Saturday at the Knitters Fair.

Raverly update

• You signed up on July 3, 2007
• You are #12938 on the list.
• 1907 people are ahead of you in line.
• 17478 people are behind you in line.
• 36% of the list has been invited so far

ETA: I found my case and needles (top of a book shelf by the cook books if any wants to know)
So here are some real FO's