Update

Just a quick post to show a recent picture of NB in his Tomten jacket.





He was not in the mood to stay still.

Charts.

It is hard to write a dishcloth project up into a blog post but here it goes. Evelyn Clark, the designer of the Flower Basket shawl, designed a dishcloth pattern with a greyhound on it, a few days after seeing the pattern, a request went out for donations for a Greyhound raffle fundraiser. I of course put the two together and volunteered to knit some for charity.

I downloaded the pattern, looked at it and there was no chart. It was written out line by line. I thought about it and went, this isn't going to work I need a chart - isn't that funny how we get set in our ways. However, thanks to Ravelry I had come across a link to a chart generator, I went and dug up the post and checked out the links, created my chart.

After making the chart I proceeded to make 6 dishcloths, not being a big dishcloth knitter I didn't realize how little time it takes to knit these, and ran out of yarn while I was on vacation - so what is a knitter to do but to make an intarsia dish cloth with some of the leftovers.

If you ever need to generate a chart, this is the one I used
Chart Gen.
However, I have also found these tools but have not fully tested them out: Jacqui's Knitting Chart Maker, Chart-A-Rama, and Knit Pro 2.0. Chart Gen, Chart Maker and Chart-A-Rama all translate written instructions into a chart - each one has a slightly different input mechanism and format that it wants. Knit Pro takes a jpg or gif and turns it into a chart (I have not used this site). However I may in the future.

When I was working on the Serenity socks, I went back to Chart Gen and charted the instructions for the leaf on the heel.

More FO or Catch Up Part II

So after I posted the finished socks last week, I thought I should update my side bar with the information that I was currently working on. I realized that those three items listed as my WIP were finished and I didn't even mention they were done, they had been done for so long.
First up,
Tomten Jacket by EZ.

This jacket is part of what made EZ such a great designer. I finished this jacket back in April, it fit NB then and here it is the October and it still fits him - although differently.
This was the first time I had used Shelridge Farms yarn (the blue) and I loved it, it was soft on the hands and holds up great to the washing machine. The black is Merino et Soie and is also a great DK weight yarn. This sweater has gotten lots of wear and will continue to get more wear during the fall.

Next up was the decision to finish the Bianca jacket. I went with the dark brown buttons with flex of gold. I have worn this jacket a few times and I think I will wear it some more know that fall is here.







The Celtic Vest barely got started in the last blog session and now it is done and has been worn. I couldn't figure out the cast on - which turned out to be the long tail cast on but using two balls of yarn instead of a long tail. Easy to figure out once I got past that. This was a quick knit but I wish that I had knit it longer - hard to judge with a sideways knit when the instructions state it will grow with blocking.

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.

Some acquisitions

I thought I would take a break from my list of FO to show you some of the lovelies that came my way over the summer.

First up, there was a "yard sale" that I attended that just to pare down Heather's stash. I came back with Shelridge Farms Ultra Handpaint - enough for 3 pairs of socks, 3 skeins of Noro Cash Iroha, Fleece Artist merino sock yarn, and some novelty fluff that can will make some nice warm mittens.





This was followed by a trip to Saskatoon, where some lovely (so soft and warm) bison yarn, Sugar Rush - made from Sugar Cane, and some hand dyed sea silk came back to Ontario with me.
I don't know yet what I am going to do with the Bison yarn - besides pet it and exclaim to everyone how great it is. Sugar Rush is a dense yarn 125m/50g for yarn that has wpi similar to sock yarn, holds colours beautifully. This yarn is being knit into Pompa which I think will hold the weight fine. The yarn just slides through your fingers. I thought it might be splitty but I am not having problems with it. The sea silk reminds me of an iris - this is for a yet to be determined pattern.


That brings the acquisitions to the KW Knitters Fair. This year was the first year that I didn't go with a list of things that I was planning on knitting. I decided to be just be fluid about the purchases. The one thing that I did get that was on my list was some buttons for Slinky Ribs. I got some pretty buttons made of Deer Antler they are made by John Galda of AB Originals.
There was also a Fleece Artist kit to make NB a sweater called MinO - it looks like it is going to be a fun knit. There was also two very different skeins of purple bamboo blend sock yarns that were purchased. There was Dye Versions Bamboo stretch which is 93% bamboo and 7% lycra. The second is Painted Fleece Bamboo/nylon blend, it is shinier and silkier than the Dye Versions yarn. Both of these yarns were fairly new to the dyers.

Next up to the stash enhancements will be the Woodstock Fleece Festival - although there is some pressure about going to Rhinebeck.

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.

Always be closing

I have two items that can almost be crossed off the WIP list - except that they need some sort of closure.
The Bianca jacket has not had anything done to it in the last month except some flirtations with buttons.

While I was knitting this project I was thinking some nice wood buttons. When the time came to pick out the buttons though - wood looked out of place. Pewter and mother of pearl buttons were out as well. I didn't want anything that was too flashy, to take away from the lace. I narrowed it down to two choices.



The button on the left is made from a shell and this is the wrong side of the button. I am worried that this button may be too fragile - more as a decoration than a button. The button on the left is more substantial, but I think will be too dark overall. I guess it can sit for a few more days.

The second item in the almost FO pile is the Tomten jacket

(Those last few ends have been woven in). I thought this jacket was going to be huge on NB. The sleeves are long, but that is about it. I think the stretchiness in the garter stitch will allow this sweater to be worn for awhile. (At least I hope). I switched the hood to a fold over collar, and picked up one row of stitches along the fronts to give it a more finished look.






A black zipper and this jacket is done.