Me Made May: Week 2

Last week was all about my grey striped Paulie. This week it's my "Hey Tech" cardigan, which has so far been paired each day with my Primark skirt plus a pair of leggings to keep it decent.

Travel Project

Working on some big knitting projects is great but doesn't fit so well with a few days of travel. So just last weekend I treated myself to some new yarn especially for knitting on a trip I was making this week.

I planned for one skein of either 4ply or laceweight yarn for either socks or a shawl. After some deliberation I went with this.

One Schoppel-Wolle Lace Ball.

After some deliberation I settled on the Rill Scarf as the perfect combination of mindless knitting (for the very early start) with a little sprinkling of interest.

Progress has been slow and the early start definitely resulted in more tinking than should have been needed so far. I'm still on my first colour but the pattern is starting to emerge.

Looking forward to seeing this progress but tonight it's back to the cardigan I think.

Tackling a Big Project

Now that work is easing up a bit and I'm allowing myself some free time, I've finally found the mental energy to resume a project previously abandoned.

This is Paulie. It's been nearly done for a while.

Swatched in June 2012, I finally started knitting over a year later in September 2013 and progressed well until I got to the hood.

There's no hood in the pattern and I wasn't happy with the shape of my first attempt. so I put it aside until this weekend. Fingers crossed that this time I get a shape I'm happy with so I can finish this one off (and weave in all those ends).

FO Friday: Maudie Socks

Finished my Maudie socks just in time for the SKA deadline:

These socks are really nicely fitted and feature a simple cable pattern down both the front and back of the leg -- the front pattern continues all the way down the the heel and the back cables all the way down the heel. Sadly, neither are captured well in these pictures.

The pattern is perfect mindless knitting, with attention only needed at the heel and toe. The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug and is a lovely round yarn, perfect for showing off the cables. Sadly I ran out with just a few toe rounds to go. The skein size is now bigger than when I bought the first one, so having ordered an extra one a week or so ago I now have more of this yarn than when I started!

Another pair of socks to start soon...? I think so.

FO Friday: Smaug Socks

One final pair of finished socks from last year's radio silence.

These are Smaug socks. They had the potential to be beautiful but they just don't fit well at all. Waaay too big in the leg for me (particularly at the ankle).

The yarn is madelinetosh tosh sock and it's kind of wasted on these. I can't decide whether to try adding elastic to pull in the ankle a bit (easy but probably not the best fix ever) or to rip them back, or to just ignore the poor fit and wear them anyway.

Pattern: Smaug Socks by Claire Ellen
Yarn: madelinetosh tosh sock in colourway Saffron
Project: on Ravelry

Saving For Best

In recent years I've noticed that I have a tendency to save new clothes for 'best' and continue wearing items that make me feel less good about myself.

Here's another previously unreported pair of socks from 2013.

These are 'Brienne', knit for June's Sock Knitters Anonymous `literary characters' challenge. Around the time that I started these I ordered the first book from the A Song of Ice and Fire series that inspired the designer of these socks. I probably didn't start actually reading the book until late July, and it's a long read so the socks were done well before the book was.

The yarn is Yarn Addict BFL sock and is a club yarn from November 2010. I seem to recall it bled slightly as I knit it, but blues often do. I've not yet worn and washed them so I'm yet to find out how much the colour bleeds in the wash.

I'm a fan of twisted stitches on socks and am very pleased with how these have come out. Since I finished them in July they didn't immediately make it onto my feet and since the weather has turned colder I've kept them at the back of my sock drawer with a few other pairs I'm "saving for best".

Can you have best socks?



On Ravelry: Saffie's Brienne

FO Friday: Sideswipe Socks

As I work away on finishing up my Maudie socks I thought I'd show off a few of the FOs that snuck by unannounced during 2013.

At the end of 2012 I learnt to knit continental style. When I first started knitting, I learnt to knit 'English style' in which you hold the yarn in your right hand -- in continental knitting you instead hold the yarn in your left hand. Knitting continental style can offer a few benefits -- it typically results in less movement of the hands which can reduce RSI and speed things up a bit.

Learning continental had been on my curiosity list for a while, so when I spotted a class at Baa Ram Ewe I jumped in and gave it a go. This class was really great -- the pace seemed about right and enough time to really get to grips with the technique (for example, spending plenty of time in the morning learning a traditional purl -- and then, once we'd got that down, learning a Norwegian purl in the afternoon). The class included a ball of yarn and a cowl pattern, the cowl covered a wide variety of techniques (cables, lace) and was the perfect project. (Also, the class was held in a lovely cafe/restaurant and the resulting lunch was really good).


Once I got home I plugged away at the cowl for a while but in the back of my mind there was a niggle about the (not-so) softness of the yarn. It was a lovely yarn, but after a while I was pretty sure I would never wear it next to my face. I ripped the cowl out and looked for a new project.

I finally spotted the perfect project when Twist Collective posted a picture of Sideswipe in their twitter feed.

This pattern is knit flat, toe up, and gave plenty of opportunities with perfecting both knits and purls. My gauge was way off the pattern gauge at 37st/4” so after I'd knit enough to count as a swatch I did the maths to adjust the size and restarted with new stitch count. Apart from that I made no pattern modifications.

I love the finished socks. The yarn comes in a variety of non-garish colourways -- most of them grey with a splash of colour (purple/green/pink/blue). I could easily I have bought a few more balls.

Mostly a mindless knit, for 90% of the time you're just plugging away at simple stockinette. If you're not into picking up stitches (and I admit it's not my favourite thing in the world) then these socks should probably come with some sort of warning and there's also a long chunk of grafting to close the sock at the end BUT I think they were worth it.

Only thing is, I've not knit anything continental style since... I'm not sure I'm ready to make this my primary knitting method (anything other than a bog standard knit or purl is still somewhat clunky) but I do want to carry on experimenting and improving my technique, so... what's next?

Not Feeling It

I've been feeling a bit bogged down recently. Everything seems to be moving slowly (except time).

This last week I've been working away on this:

A colourwork sock (Senta by Caoua Coffee). Not fast moving and clearly not the right project for right now. Tonight I took another look at it and then ripped it all back out -- gone!

One weight lifted.

What next?

FO Angostura

If you knit enough projects there will always be some that don't work out. This project was one of those. I first swatched for this in 2011 and, over that Christmas break, I knit the back. It was too big.

A year later I redid my swatching and restarted, this time the back looked about perfect when blocked and so it was on to the front. I finished up the seaming over the 2012 Christmas break, and here it is:

I don't yet seem to have found the perfect items to layer underneath it but I'm pretty happy nonetheless.

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and I spent a LOT of time worrying that the slight fuzziness meant that the stitch pattern wouldn't show -- I'm pleased to be proved wrong.

Pattern: Angostura by Ysolda Teague.
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in colorway Grass.
Mods: None.
Project: online at Ravelry.

Knit the Queue

Mooncalf recently came up with a gem of an idea - she made it her goal to knit her entire Ravelry queue in 2013. Very quickly others were planning to do the same and a Ravelry group was born - the group currently has 205 members and I am one of them :)

So, as of 31st December 2012, my queue for 2013 looks like this (in no particular order):

Mostly garments:

• Orange Twist by Marina ORRY
• Lanesplitter by Tina Whitmore
• Carmelo by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton
• February Lady Sweater by pamela wynne
• Laar by Gudrun Johnston
• Bam Boo Side-to-Side Flared Tank by Pam Allen
• Cabled Swing Cardi by Norah Gaughan
• Laika by Ysolda Teague
• paulie by Isabell Kraemer
• Melo by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton

Four pairs of socks:

• Wildflower Socks by Fawn Pea
• Brienne by Purrlescent
• Smaug Socks by Claire Ellen
• Senta by Caoua Coffee

And a selection of other cute accessories:

• French Press Felted Slippers by Melynda Bernardi
• Levens by Lily Kate France
• Olatz by Marya Speton
• Cream and Sugar Cowl by Alana Dakos
• Color Affection by Veera Välimäki
• starritt by Lily Kate France
• Mosey by Susan Power

Total:   21 items

This is a little very ambitious for me, I've knit a total of four garments ever so far BUT it is what I've bought most yarn for this year and so I need to start with the knitting already. I know there will most likely be more socks than these four and I know that even with these 21 projects I'm looking at one every two weeks, but it feels worth having some sort of plan and trying to stick to it. If nothing else I need to be reminding myself how many cute projects I already have yarn for (almost all of these, starritt snuck its way onto the list without yarn -- a weak moment?). Two of these projects actually already have swatches sat around too.

I still have a few WIPs to carry over to 2013, yesterday I finished a hat and today I've done one of two side seams on my Angostura but despite my best efforts I know I'll have the Angostura, a cardigan in King Kole Riot Chunky and a pair of Sideswipe socks to continue with in the new year. That said, the yarn is wound to start my first socks of 2013 -- the Wildflower Socks for SKA's Flora and Fauna challenge.

Here's hoping 2013 will be a productive year with minimal stashing!

FO: Boyfriend Socks

More socks for Mr Me.

This acrylic/nylon blend was bought at Natural Stitches during his visit when I stayed out in Pittsburgh for three months in 2009. Red is his preferred colour so this yarn was very much up his street. Despite the crinkles in the photo, the socks are actually a snug fit.

Pattern: Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell.
Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock in colourway True Red.
Mods: None.
Project: online at Ravelry.

FO: River Socks

I've been wanting to knit these socks forever. I've had the pattern printed out and in a project bag with the yarn for in excess of a year now. So when I was looking around for another travel project, these seemed like a great choice:

I love the twisted stitches and the anatomical toe.

Pattern: Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä
Yarn: Stylecraft Pure Luxury Merino DK in colourway Cornflower from Hesters Haberdashery (Lancaster Indoor Market)
Mods: None
Project: Online at Ravelry

FO: Plum Snapes

At last year's Glasgow School of Yarn, I took a class with Amy Singer and she recommended Sock Candy as a yarn for those who would like handknit socks but cannot wear wool. When back with Mr me, we picked out some yarn on Blue Moon's Website and, some time later, it arrived. After a little fondling, the yarn went into the stash until I pulled it out in April ready for a Ravelry SKA Sockdown challenge.

I really do like this colourway. It's called Plum Crazy but it makes me think of the beach. Dark, wet (muddy) sand and blue seas.

Knit two at a time, toe up (I was hoping to use all the yarn but didn't quite). These would have been a quick knit if I hadn't initially made my traditional toe-up mistake of forgetting to knit the pattern on the back of the leg. They spent some time in timeout before I finally gave up aspiring to find a block of time to drop each stitch and correct it, instead I ripped back the leg and reknit.

Pattern: Snape's Stockings by Erica Lueder
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Candy in colourway Plum Crazy
Mods: Lots! Knit toe up, adjusted the number of stitches in the pattern repeat and the number of repeats round the sock. Knit a different heel and toe. Can't remember which toe, but the heel was the origami heel and I'm never knitting one ever again.
Project: Online at Ravelry

WIP Wednesday: River Socks

For a while I was committed to, and focussed on, finishing projects... and then I started these:

A simple top-down sock in DK weight yarn. I've had the yarn and pattern in a project bag for about two years now, it deserved to finally get made. It's a DK weight sock, my first. I'm not totally sure there's a call for too many chunky pairs of socks, but I won't know until I've tried it. The pattern is simple and very effective.

Pattern: Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä
Yarn: Stylecraft Luxury Merino DK in colourway Cornflower

For other Wednesday WIPs, try Tami's WIP Wednesday link party.

FO: Marin

This was a mindless knit during some thesis panic. I needed knitting that just amounted to following row after row of instruction so I ignored the chart and just plodded through portions from the written instructions as and when I got the chance:

I love the colour of this yarn and I'm glad a pattern finally came along for it.

I don't know if I'll wear this as a shawl much (it could be a bit heavy?) but it will make a great winter scarf.

And, of course, there's always the neckerchief option.

Pattern: Marin by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Lana Gatto Feeling from Natural Stitches, Pittsburgh

Mods: None.

Project: online at Ravelry

FO: Multnomah

I sat down this weekend and wove in ends on three projects that were sat waiting for those last finishing touches. Here is the first:

For a long time I was convinced that, even when I blocked it, this shawl would be way too small to be wearable. Turns out I was wrong :)

I think this will be a great casual scarf for autumn/winter. I'll wrap it round my neck bandit style:

All in all, a great pattern/yarn combination (thanks for the ideas Ravelry). If I did it all again I would have made it a bit bigger. I still have twenty-five grams of yarn leftover and even with the extra size it would still be very wearable.


Pattern: Multnomah by Kate Ray.
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball in colourway Herbstwind (Autumn wind).
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Elijah

I finished something!

This guy has been waiting for eyes for quite some time now, but this weekend I finally looked up instructions for french knots. Some time later, I had two eyes and an elephant:

I think he needs a scarf :)

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry

FO: Shetland Shorty

This may be the first item I've ever knit purely for functional reasons. I have a brown mesh cropped cardigan I bought six years ago on one of my first forays into the world of work (a summer internship at the company my Dad worked for). Since the company wasn't just programmers, they had higher standards than the places I've worked at since and so I was required to wear things that weren't jeans, namely skirts.

It was the perfect summer for skirt wearing. Nice weather, little rain and no air conditioning. I bought two new skirts in serious looking colours plus a few netural looking summer tops and two mesh cropped cardigans, one brown and one rust coloured (Sadly some time later I gave away the rusty one thinking I could have no further use for two cropped mesh cardigans).

Since then I've discovered that, when we do have summer weather, that cropped brown cardigan is the perfect thing for making me feel like I'm not in a state of undress whilst still maintaining a comfortable body temperature. It's great for so many occasions. And so I set out to knit something comparable:

I think I've been pretty successful. This is Shetland Shorty, a free pattern from knitty.com. It's a clear, well-written pattern and the sizing seems pretty good to me (I knit the XS). It's biggest negative is probably the quantity of stitches that have to be picked up for the various edgings but that's simply because that technique is still pretty low down my favourites list. It's also got a very slight tendency to be more of a boob holder than a cardigan, but it's a fine line with these cropped things I think. I'll quite probably knit this again in other colours and will also look out for similar patterns (lace, cropped, tie cardigans) - any suggestions?

The yarn is from stash (extra brownie points there) and seems quite well-suited to the pattern. It's a milk/cotton blend with the emphasis on the milk. It's soft and smooth and didn't seem to split at all. The colour looks far more interesting knit up that I'd thought from the hanks.

Pattern: Shetland Shorty by Gudrun Johnston.
Yarn: Kollage Creamy in colourway 7101 - Almond. I bought this yarn from Natural Stitches at 40% off in 2009. The project took just short of two skeins so I have just over three left.
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

Tour de Fleece - Days 1 to 4

This year I'm participating in my first ever Tour de Fleece. Each day I spin a little (rarely more than a little because time does not allow and various bits of my body are starting to complain).

For the first four days I worked on spinning up some mystery Fyberspates fibre with two Fibreholics samples I'd received in December 2010.

Day 1 (15g of something from a Fyberspates mystery bag):

Day 2 (~20g of Corriedale from Spinning a Yarn via Fibreholics):

Day 3 (~20g of BFL from Colourful Designs via Fibreholics):

Day 4 - YARN!! 52.5g of sportweight 3 ply (12wpi):

And then the leftovers n-plied with both the remaining bobbins held together. 5.6g of light worsted (10wpi):

Then there was one... 2.1g of n-plied mystery fibre in a light fingering weight yarn (15 wpi):

FO: Blisco

I can't believe I forgot to post this... possibly the thing I'm proudest of so far this year:

This is starts out as a really interesting knit and then moves into straightforward stockinette.

Pattern: Blisco by Lily-Kate France.
Yarn: Patons Linen Touch DK in colours Carnation and Lilac.
Mods: Shortened the sleeves a bit.
Project: Online at Ravelry.