Archive for October, 2006
I’m not liking my progress on the Ene’s Scarf. Here is what I’ve got so far:
First of all lets address the pooling. The dreaded pooling. I hate that! And I think these colors are a bit too much for a shawl.
Secondly, I am just not the most accurate lace knitter in the world. I find knitting lace so fricking frustrating. I am constantly finding myself at the end of the row with the wrong amount of stitches at the end. So the lacy pattern is not turning out. And I just can’t give a half-assed knitted shawl to anyone as a gift. You know?
So I went to Holy Threads yesterday on a mission to find something else to knit for my mom’s Christmas present. The lovely staff there led me to this:
Oh yeah. That’s some lovely Alchemy Haiku right there. In such a beautiful colorway that happens to be my mom’s color. Yay! I’ve always wanted to knit with Alchemy yarn so this is fantastic! I think it will be a nice scarf that she can wear to work or dress up, or whatever.
So there you go! That’s about it from this little corner of the web.
Oh, and Happy Halloween!
October 31st, 2006
My Socktoberfest socks/Fall Cable 2006 KAL project is D.O.N.E. !
Pattern: Rib and Cable socks from IK fall 2005. Designer: Nancy Bush.
Yarn:Claudia’s Handpainted in Turquoise Jeans colorway. Two hanks.
Needles: Good old size 1 clover bamboo DPNs.
Started: October 8th 2006
Finished: October 2oth(ish) 2006.
What can I say? Great pattern! Easy cables. Great t.v. knitting. Yet the simple cables add just enough interest. There is an interesting heel flap/heel turning technique that I don’t think I’ve used before. The heel flap is ribbed. Actually, I take that back, I think there are some other ribbed heels in “Knitting Vintage Socks.” The toe decreases are interesting, as well. You start the toe 3 inches from the desired length. Then you decrease until there are only six stitches left. No kitchener’s stitch. Overall, I love this sock pattern! These will go to my mom for her b-day.
Here are some more shots:
I’ve been enjoying knitting Ene’s scarf. It’s really a simple lace pattern and now I’m liking lace again. Not so sure I love the Knitpicks Shimmer colorway that I chose for it, though. It’s the freaking pooling. The actual yarn is great. But thier colorways pool like crazy and it drives me insane. The handpainters need to take a lesson from Claudia of Claudia’s Handpainted. I’m totally impressed by the lack of pooling in these socks.
Okay, that’s all for now. Gotta go knit. Later.
October 25th, 2006
I am really taking crappy pictures of these poor socks! The one I took last week sucked, too. Sorry about that. I’ll use the standard excuse. It’s winter. It’s dark. So you get zealous-flash-washed-out. I will try better next time. I want you to see how pretty this colorway is! And it is gorgeous. I am really enjoying these socks. I love the pattern. I love that the colors are not pooling. Really happy about that, in fact! It has an interesting heel-turn, too. Nancy Bush rocks.
I have also been working on Ene’s Scarf (from Scarf Style) in the wee hours of the mornings before my hubby gets up. I can only do about two rows at a time. Each row at this early stage is over 300 stitches long. So it’s slow going. But I’m enjoying this pattern, too. None of this “knit 7 together” b.s. I didnt’ take a picture because it’s really not interesting right now. Maybe by next week it will look like something worth taking a picture of.
Spinning!
I have to say. I am LOVING my new hobbie. And I especially love spinning on a drop spindle. I love the portability. I’ve been taking it with me to work and spinning at my desk to help me relax. I really don’t know if I will ever want a spinning wheel. Definately not at the moment. For one thing, I have nowhere to put one. For another thing, I can’t fit it in my bag. I told myself I would spin with a drop spindle for a year before I plunk down cash for a spinning wheel.
This is what I was doing this week:
Pretty! This was so gorgeous I just had to buy it. I got it at Holy Threads last weekend when I bought “Spin to knit.” I am envisioning a lacy shawl with this someday in the distant future.
One last thing. I feel like I have to defend my doghair yarn. I posted a comment in my last post. But I will say it here. I have heard in various places that there is a horrible smell when the yarn gets wet. This is not so. (And for that matter, doesn’t wool smell when IT gets wet, too?) Anyway. After you spin your yarn and ply it you have to soak it in hot water for an hour to set the twist. I added some soap to this water so it would get nice and clean. After it is rinsed the dog smell is absolutely gone. So there. No dog smell. In fact, my skiens were plied with wool and while they were still damp they smelled more like wet wool than anything.
Just felt like I needed to say a little something about that.
Have a great week!
October 18th, 2006
I finished the mate to my first knitpicks sock and even wore them yesterday on the Spokane Valley Artwalk Tour (which was really fun, BTW). Nothing super special about them, really. They were knit on two circular needles, size two. I followed the directions in Cat Bordhi’s “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles” for the standard sock. I wish that I had gotten size 1 circulars for this because these turned out kind of floppy on my foot. I am finding that size 1s work better for me. I enjoyed the process. It was a quick knit. I also liked that I could try them on as I was knitting. I do that with dpns, but I have to be very careful on to lose stitches. This isn’t really a problem with the two-circ method.
I started on my Rib and Cable socks. The picture I took sucks, so I won’t post it here on the blog. You can see my progress by clicking here.
In other knitting news I decided to scrap the five millionth clapotis (for my mom’s Christmas present). I couldn’t stomach it. I just couldn’t. Instead, I started the project for which I bought the yarn. Ene’s Scarf from Scarf Style.
In spinning news, I plied my 2nd ever hank of yarn:
This is the doghair yarn plied with some Corriedale Cross roving that I purchased last weekend at Paradise Fibers. It turned out super soft! I am trying to teach myself how to spin thinner singles so that my final product won’t be so bulky. I’m really having fun with this! I bought some beautiful roving today at Holy Threads, along with the book “spin to knit.” Speaking of that book, have you read Lolly’s interview with the author? Go check it out!
Okay, I’m signing off. I’m making pot roast for dinner and need to get it started. l8r.
October 9th, 2006
yay! It’s Socktober! The month of socks! My first project is to knit up the mate to my knitpicks “simple stripes” sock. I knit the first one waay back in January. Man. I can’t believe I waited this long to knit the second one. Anyway. So this one is knitted on two circulars using the directions for the simple socks in Cat Bordhi’s book, “Socks Soar” on two circular needles. Indeed. I’m already on the gusset.
What else do I have in mind for Socktoberfest? I plan on knitting these:
I am knitting them for my mom’s birthday. And did you notice that I’m using some yarn from my small Claudia’s Handpainted stash? Do I love my mom or what!
Sock knitting history.
Okay. My first sock was pre-blog. It was around Christmas time 2002. I knit them up with some cream-color wool yarn, probably DK weight. I can’t even remember what the yarn was! I used the directions in Zimmerman’s Knitting Without Tears (as I did with everything that I knit around that time). I remember when I just finished the first one My hubby and I were watching T.V. We both kind of looked at it and laughed because it look like a hobbit’s sock. Or some creature like that. But it fit and I still wear them today. There is so much that I needed to do differently and that I do differently now. I think the first thing that I changed is that I use sock yarn to knit my socks. When I knit these things I didnt’ even know that there was such a thing as sock yarn. All I can say is Thank God for the new knitting revolution because I used to be a knitter who was so in the dark. I would knit things and not have a clue! I didn’t know anyone else who knitted so I didn’t have anyone to ask. I felt uncomfortable going to yarn stores because at the time all of the yarn stores around where I lived were owned by cranky people who didn’t seem excited at all about knitting. Things have certainly changed!
Okay. Back to the socks. My favorite yarns for sock knitting: Claudia’s Handpainted, Koigu, Lorna’s Laces. I have a hank of Socks that Rock in my stash that I’m dying to try out. I have a feeling I’m going to love that, too.
I think my favorite way of knitting socks is still the good ole fashioned four DPNs. I’m currently using two circs and it’s okay. But I think I will stick with the DPNs.
The only kind of heel I have tried is the flap. I should really try the short-row method!
How many pairs have I made? Let’s see…8 I think.
Thanks for the questions, Lolly! Happy Socktober!
October 5th, 2006
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