WIP Wednesday - Knitty Startitis Extravaganza!

Have you seen the new knitty yet?

So many lovely patterns!! I followed the link from Laura Chau's blog (she made the lovely Darrin cardi pattern)and immediately queued a whole bunch of them. Then I cast on two :)



First of all I cast on the Lingerie socks out of Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 3ply wool. I went up to 2.5mm needles because I think the 2mm called for would be far too tight around my cankles, even if it is ribbed lace :) I've knit the top of the cuff so far, so down to where the ribbed portion begins. It looks very cute so far :)



Then I cast on the Commuter mitts out of Sirdar Click yarn. I tried it on 3.75mm needles first, but my gauge was too tight - I was getting 24 sts to 4 inches instead of 21. So I went up to 4.5mm needles, and all seems well now :) I love the folded over cuff on these mitts, can't wait to have these on my hands!



I also cast on another pattern, although this isn't a knitty pattern - the Something Floral mitts by Miranda Grant. I'm using stash yarns for these, but I don't know what the yarn is. The ball bands disappeared long ago! These are knitting up nicely, although not as nicely as they would if they were in my handspun (I'm totally spoiled now as far as colourwork mittens are concerned! They'll never be the same again!)

I knit a few more rows on my Willow scarf this week, and finished my afterthought socks, which I'll write about in another post, so I have a feeling I'll be casting on more of them this week. Also, I have a severe case of startitis in case you couldn't tell. I'm itching to cast on Dunes from the new knitty. I'm trying to hold off till my willow scarf is done, but I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out :) Also, I'm looking at my stash wanting to cast on cowls and socks by the dozen.

Other patterns from the new knitty that I'm drooling over are Rhodian, Darrin, Leaflet, Undercurrent, Chasing Snakes, Double Heelix and Inlay. Half the patterns in this issue, basically! And if there were any little girls around me to knit for, then I'd be casting on Kindling right now! So cute!!

Add to that my massive ravelry queue, and I'm feeling very inspired to cast on bajillions of projects just now. It's lots of fun! :D

WIP... Thursday :/ - Mostly The Afterthought Heel Sock

This week I haven't had as much time to knit as I would have liked :( I've been busy with other things - some of which have been fun, like dancing at a hafla on Saturday night, and some of which have not been so much fun, so I won't mention them :) I did go to see my mum the past couple of days, which is why WIP Wednesday has to be WIP Thursday this week. But hey, at least I'm making myself write something, so I won't beat myself up too much :)

Because it's on youtube already, I'll link to the video of me on Saturday, but I think I'll try to write a more in-depth post for my dance blog, which has been sorely neglected as of late.



I was dancing to "Tribute to Um Koulthoum" by Ahmed Bergaoui.

Anyway, knitting!! I've been mostly knitting on my afterthought heel socks.



I've knit most of one sock. The heel will go where that yellow line is in the middle of the sock (in between two lines of grey.



It's so weird seeing just the tube of the sock without any heel. I measured the foot of the sock against one of my short-row-heel socks that I have. I figure they should be the same size since the afterthought heel is essentially the same shape, just constructed differently.



For the toe, I was doing the usual ssk, k2tog decreases, but it's been bugging me for some time that when I do these decreases, they don't look the same on either side. I started with the ssks on this sock toe, but it was annoying me how they looked different, so I started experimenting with the decreases as well.

I ended up using a different decrease for the majority of the decreases (you can see the ssks on the first few decrease rows and how it's different from the ones above). I ended up doing a slip one knitwise, knit a stitch then pass slipped stitch over decrease, and I think it looks far more like the k2togs on the left hand side. I think that will be my standard replacement for ssks from now on, because I was evidently doing something wrong with my ssks (either that or ssks are just not the same as k2togs, but everyone seems to think they are, so I figure it must be me) Anyway, that's what I'll be doing from now on.

So, I've still to put in the heel, I'll write about that next week.

I also did a repeat and a half on my willow scarf, but it's at the stage where it just doesn't seem to be growing. I think I've got about another 5 repeats or so till it's done. I'm just knitting a little on it at a time whenever my partner's mother comes to visit, so it'll get done eventually :) I figure it looks much the same as last time, so I didn't take another picture of it.

I'm hoping to get more knitting done this week, I've got a few things to finish for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. I also have a bunch of FO posts to write at some point this week, yay!!

WIP Wednesday

This week I've been working on more than one project!! I finished last week's WIP - the lacy baktus scarf - but I still need to get pictures of it so I can write an FO post. I knit 3 rows on my willow scarf, another previous WIP Wednesday, but it's not grown enough to bother taking another picture of. Just imagine another 3 rows added onto the last pics :D

I started 2 more projects though - I seem to have a bit of a case of startitis going on, for small projects especially.

Firstly - my afterthought experiment sock.



It's just a plain 64st sock knit from the cuff down, but I'm going to put in an afterthought heel in this pair of socks. It'll be the first time I've ever done this, and I don't know if I'll like how it turns out, but if I don't it doesn't really matter. I'll wear the socks anyway, and its good to try new things once in a while. Keeps the brain fresh :)

The yarn I'm using is some kind of Opal yarn, possibly the toucan colourway, but I've lost the ballband. I got it a couple of years ago, and decided to use this one because it's the sock yarn I'm least attached to in my stash. It'll be interesting to see how those weird stripes look in a finished sock.

I've been knitting this one mostly in my bedroom, which has quite dim light, so it was surprising to take the sock into the kitchen to photograph and see all that blue! In my room, it looks gray, or even black at times!

Dim light is why I haven't finished my next project yet - my teddy bear hat.



I only have the nose and eyes to do now, but it was impossible to crochet with black yarn in my room. I just couldn't see anything, and with crochet I'm still at the stage where I need to see where I'm putting my hook all the time. So I had to put it aside last night :(

This pattern is the Teddy Bear Hat by Diane Langan. It's so cute!! I so want it for next year, so I can walk about with a teddy bear face on my head! My partner is in horror at this, it's far too weird for him, but it's my head, and I want a teddy bear face on it, dammit! :D

This is a project for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. I'm going to try to squish it into the Defense Aganst The Dark Arts class - reveal a truth about yourself (that I'm nuts and want a teddy bear face on my head?!) It's been in my queue for ages, so it's a good excuse to get it out of there and actually make it.

So yeah, that'll probably get finished today in the living room where there's actually some light, and the socks will just get worked on whenever I need some mindless knitting.

FO: Maeva Socks

I finished these socks a little while ago. They're the Maeva socks, from knitty.com The designer is Stefanie Bold, and I just love this design of hers! It's another one of those "saw-it-when-the-new-issue-came-out-and-just-had-to-cast-it-on-RIGHT-THEN" type of project.







I love the tiny cables going up the side. That's what drew me to the pattern in the first place, the intricate detail Stefanie has designed into the socks. It is all charted out in the pattern, and I found the charts easy to follow for such tiny details.





One of my favourite construction details of these socks was the heel. The sock is knitted from the toe up, which nearly put me off knitting them because I don't like short row heels, which is normally what is written into a toe-up sock pattern. But I so much wanted these socks, so I actually read ahead in the pattern (I know, GASP!) and discovered that it was actually a toe-up heel-flap kind of sock. Yay! I love how the heel joins in this kind of sock, it's like magic when you join the heel flap as you're knitting and then it all just appears into a sock heel. I love that knitting two stitches together can make such a 3-dimensional object so cleverly. And heel flaps actually stay on my heel, not like short row heel which just slide all the way off. Very annoying. So, this sock was great in that respect.

I also love how the gusset was increased in order to make the cables run along the edge of the sock, very clever! I think I'd heard something about how increases don't need to be in the traditional triangle shape, but this is the first time I'd tried anything like moving the gusset shaping, and it was such a lightbulb moment when I figured out what was happening.

By the way, the photos on the table top are more accurate for colour. I find getting the right colour to be very awkward in photography. I know everyone says to use natural light, but in this case, sunlight made the purple appear much lighter, and less plummy.

So, the specs and details of how I made these: I made the Small size (9.75" foot length). I used 2mm DPNs for the foot in order to get gauge. Gauge is very important for these socks. I used 2.25 at first and knitted all the way to the heel before I figured this out. The foot was about 2 inches too large :( so I had to start all over again, after having done a swatch to find out my gauge. It's just as well the 2mm needles worked, I don't have anything smaller! Although, thinking about it, she has provided directions for 4 different sizes. But it didn't occur to me to do math. I'd suggest trying very hard for gauge first :)

I then went up to 2.5mm needles immediately after the heel turn, and also increased from 60sts to 64sts to accommodate my ahem, insulated ankles. That's the needle size and stitch count that I normally use, and it works for my legs. It wasn't hard to fit into the rib pattern, in fact the size up uses 64sts so I could have followed the chart for that, but by that point, I had it figured out.

I love these socks! I love all the detail in the pattern, and it's so well written. To anyone scared by all the tiny cables, I'd say don't worry. If you can cable and have made socks before, just follow the pattern and you'll be OK, it's very clear and manageable, with all the parts of the foot broken down into individual charts. So, definitely a recommended pattern! Go, knit! :D

Social Crafting

I haven't written since before I went to the spinning guild, but I have that and more social knitting to write about! I've been a busy little bee :D

The guild was awesome!! It was so lovely to be in a room full of people who were also really into making things with fibre! It was the first meeting of the year, and also the Annual General Meeting of the guild so there were a lot of people there. The hall was full of spinning wheels and looms :) I took my spindle along and started plying my pink yarn while I was there. I got a bit tangled more than once, but it was lots of fun, and to see the things other people were making was just so inspirational. There were amazing arty yarns which I just loved. It gave me lots of ideas :) There were also projects people had brought that they had made from their own handspun, or yarn or fibre they had dyed, and it was so cool to see just what could be made! Who knew that all these talented crafters lived near me? It's something you don't hear about generally, but there are all these people around being so creative and amazing, it's just astounding!

Once I got back home, I sat and plied yarn all evening on my spindle. I figured out the perfect technique for minimizing tangles while sitting on my sofa (not sure I could manage it while in public, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out) My singles had been rolled into a ball, because they were so thin that it seemed easier to do that than attempt to ply it using my makeshift lazykate (chopsticks and a cardboard box). Ha!! The balls rolled everywhere, got tangled in everything. Then the singles would twist back on themselves and create knots that I had to untangle while trying to keep everything else from tangling. I figured that when I'm on my sofa at least, I can put one ball on my knee, and one down by my left side on the sofa. Then I put a book or something in front of that ball to stop it rolling on the floor (the one on my knee I have more control over stopping doing that) That seems to work well for plying thin singles on a spindle. I'll need to get a photo of me doing that, I don't know if I described it well enough.

I also was so excited that I blabbed on to the bf and his mother for about two hours about spinning and all the ideas I had. I'm sure they thought I was completely mental, especially when I told them about my idea for an art yarn involving barbie heads ;) But it had been so nice to be with people who understood spinning and crafting and accept the mentalness that goes with it :)

Then this Saturday I went to the knitting group at Twist Fibre craft studio. That was a lot of fun. I was knitting my Maeva socks (more on those in another post, but here's a quick pic)



I was on the cuff, which is just moss ribbing and I had been getting a bit bored working on them at home, so I took them with me. I managed to race 3/4 of the way up the cuff while I was there, which was great! It was much easier to knit them while talking to other people about knitting and crafting (and a side journey into talking about bed bugs and cockroaches, but I won't subject you to that here, it made me itch just thinking about them!) My friend that I'd gone with came to the Twist Fibre group too, so that was fun, to see her again.

I had loads of fun at both these events, and now I can't wait till next month for the next meetings :)

Dipping My Toe Back In

Hiya :)

Gosh, it's been nearly two months since I last wrote here :( I've been having some issue with confidence and general motivation, so it's been hard for me to take photos and write about what I've been doing or making. I think I'm coming out of it now (fingers crossed!), and I've been really missing this little place on t'internets!

I have been knitting a lot of things, I just need to get around to taking pics of them all! I had a brief spell the past couple of weeks where I couldn't knit anything - I hurt my elbow ironing :( Too much repititive motion lifting the heavy iron up and down for 2 1/2 hours trying to get it all done. I've learned my lesson though, I'll never do that much ironing again (if any,lol!) It was so hard not to knit anything, but it just was so sore if I lifted my arm anywhere near my body or straightened it, and I didn't want to injure it any more than I had done already. I'm back to knitting now, but not too much at a time. My arm still hurts when I first get up in the morning, kind of a dull ache up from my elbow, and sometimes throughout the day, so I'm taking it easy for now!

I couldn't believe how many things I use my right arm for - just about everything! I couldn't even lift the kettle at one point to make a cup of tea! :( And I also couldn't believe how I just cannot sit and do nothing. I get so bored and antsy, it's quite ridiculous. So I read three big books instead :)

Let's see, I've got a few photos of my knitting on flickr, what is there?

I made a couple of pairs of socks from self-striping yarn:





The yarn was Fortissima Socka Mexiko, bought from Twist Fibre Craft Studio. I did a short row heel with the yarn from the other end of the ball so that the colour repeats would keep going. I like these socks, but I've decided that I'm really not a fan of the short row heel. It's fun to knit up, but it just doesn't sit right on my feet :/

I made the World's End Fingerless Gloves by Deborah Gall of the SavvyGirls podcast. I love this design, as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted them! My pic is a bit rubbish, very overexposed. It's only on flickr because I liked the effect. I'll take better ones soon :)



And lastly I have pics of the Rippenschal scarf that I made. This pattern is by Margarete Dolff, and is another one that I wanted as soon as I saw it.





The wrong side looks pretty cool too :)



I made this from a blue acrylic yarn, possibly Robin DK but I'm not sure.

Wow, that was a longer, more involved post than I thought I would write! It all comes flooding back! :) I'm planning to take more pictures, and get more involved in the online world again :) See you all soon!

Deadline Knitting

Not a whole lot of progress to report on my various knitting projects. I 'm still knitting on my 3rd Tubey, still haven't got photos of the 2nd. I did manage to get my 2nd pair of Hebi socks finished, but I haven't taken any more photos of them as a pair yet. And I sewed one of Mariah's seam, and have pinned the other one, maybe that'll get sewed later on today. So progress is being made, just very slowly.

I've had to cast on another project though - I know, how awful!! ;p

I'm going to make "Miss Lambert's Shetland Pattern for a Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today (rav link) for my bf's mum's 50th birthday. Which I have been procrastinating about until it finally dawned on me yesterday that it's in 2 weeks!!! So I guess none of my other projects will be getting worked on much for the forseeable future ;)

She used to knit and had some white laceweight yarn that she gave me ages ago, along with a pattern which was for a similar type of shawl, but all written out in words. Millions of lines of "k2tog, yo, k1" etc. I just couldn't face that. So I handed her Victorian Lace Today, and asked her if she'd like one of those instead. Since this shetland lace pattern is similar, that's what she chose, which is good, because it's just an eight row repeat for the main section, and isn't too hard to memorise or work ;)

The yarn is some sort of Jamieson and Smith laceweight. I'm not sure how old it is, but I think it counts as "vintage" ;) It's sooooooo thin!! I'm using 3.25mm needles, and it's going to be super lacy and airy.

I'm having fun knitting the lace just now. I enjoy having the intricate pattern to think about and concentrate on. I can tell I'm going to hesitate when it comes to blocking (I always do!), but hopefully the fact that there's a really close deadline for this shawl will mean that it gets done!

I don't have any photos of it unfortunately (I've been really lax recently about taking photos of my knitting, must sort that out!) so here's a spring flower instead.



I've got a bunch of spring flower photos over on my flickr account. I went to Cambo gardens recently, and went a bit mad taking photos of the pretty :)

Not So Monogamous Any More

My powers of project monogamy seem to have run out :) I knit all of Mariah, joined the hood and everything, and now it's sitting waiting at the seaming stage. I just can't seem to get motivated to sew it up :( It's only a small amount of sewing as well, since the sleeves are joined to the body already at the yoke. Just the 2 side seams, the 2 arm side seams, and the zip to put in. Hardly anything, really. And yet, it's been cast to the side while more interesting projects get knit on. Poor Mariah, I really should get round to finishing it soon!

I've cast on another pair of my Hebi socks (rav link) This time I'm making them in white. I took a sudden notion for white lacy socks for some reason :)





The yarn is Regia Stretch, in white (colourway no. 1) They're knitting up quite nicely. The yarn feels different to the Regia 4-fadig that I normally use. The difference is that it has polyester in it, which you wouldn't think of normally as making yarn particularly elastic, but it does seem to have more "stretch" in it, at least in yarn form. When it's knitted up, it feels more solid somehow, thicker even. My gauge is the same, so I reckon it must be the yarn. It'll be interesting wearing them to see how they fare against the 4-fadig that the originals were knitted in.

I've knit the first sock, and I'm halfway down the cuff of the second. I'm making them a little shorter than the originals, 15 repeats this time on the cuff instead of 17. They look cute :)

I'm not knitting them monogamously though. All that knitting on Mariah alone seems to have made me want to knit on 3 different things at once. I knit another Tubey sweater, because I still seem to be on the pattern repetition kick, and then immediately cast on another. (pics of them still to come in a FO post), and I knit the Milkweed pattern by Laura Chau. Here's a pic of it before blocking:



and as it's still blocking right now, I can't post a pic of it post-blocking yet ;) That'll have to wait for another post too. I used Trekking XXL for this one, in colourway 305. I really like this colourway. The different shades of pink blend together quite well. It's kind of stipey, but not too stripey. Just right :)

I just can't seem to concentrate on any of these for very long at a time, but I suppose it means that they're all getting worked on :) I'm just having fun picking up whichever one takes my fancy at the time!

Hebi Socks - Pattern Now Available

Yay, I finished my Ravleympics project in time! The pattern was knit, checked over and over and over and over, and published on Sun 28th Feb 2010, with only a few hours to spare till closing ceremonies.





These are the Hebi socks, so named because the cable and lace pattern reminds me of the patterning on a snake's back (Hebi means snake in Japanese). It might be the green colour that looks so reptilian, but my feet did kind of look like big snakes to me :)



The sample is knit in Regia 4 fadig, in colourway no. 327, on 2.75mm needles (US size 2). I used about 1.75 balls, which is approx 402 yards (368m), but if you have two balls of Regia then you'll be fine. Of course, any fingering/sock weight yarn can be substituted. The pattern is written for a women's medium foot/leg, but if you need it to be bigger, then you can substitute bigger yarn and needles.

I would suggest using a solid coloured yarn for these socks to show the pattern. I tried it in a variegated, and it didn't really work, though of course the choice is yours :)

They're knit cuff down, and the pattern is both written and charted. The yarn overs make the pattern quite stretchy, but it's tempered by the cables twisting, so the finished socks are very comfortable.

The pattern is available to buy on Ravelry, or you can use this link to buy

I'm very pleased with these socks. The snake-like aspect was totally unexpected. I just charted and knit, and I like very much how they turned out.

Ravelympic-ing

If you're on Ravelry, you'll no doubt know all about the Ravleympics - a group event challenging ourselves during the winter Olympics. I'm taking part this year, in the team for the Manic Purl podcast (it's one of my favourite podcasts, and she's based in Vancouver where the Olympics are actually taking place, so I figured that would be the team for me. Go TeamManicPurl!!!

I was going to knit and write up a shrug pattern that I've been thinking about for ages, but the sizes were really too much to think about at the moment. There would only have been two measurements, back width and arm circumference, but it was really too much to think about. So, a few days after the Ravelympics had begun, when I still had nothing cast on or even thought about, I decided to change tack. I'm pretty much used to desigining socks by now, I've got the hang of all the sizes and measurements for that, so I decided I would design a pair of socks for the Olympics. This was about 3 days into the 17 day event. Goodness knows what I was thinking!!

So I spent the first day swatching and trying to come up with a pattern for the socks. That went kind of well, except the yarn I was using wasn't really showing the pattern up. So I switched to another yarn, but this one was too variegated to show up the pattern.



It photographs well enough as you can see, but it was just invisible in real life. So I went to a solid yarn.





Finally it's working!! I'm nearly at the toe shaping on the first sock, and I'm very excited about the pattern. I just had to post pics to show you all! Normally I would be a bit wary of posting photos before I publish the pattern, (I've already come across one pattern that may just have been a coincidence, but it was very similar to another that someone had been talking in depth about, and well, part of me doesn't really believe it was a coincidence... but I just won't knit that one, that's all) but it's my intention to knit the 2nd sock and have the pattern published by Sunday the 28th. Um yeah, that's only 5 more days. But I think it's do-able. It might drive me insane, but I think I can do it. So long as I can stay off Ravelry and Facebook, that is!

A Couple More FOs (IntSweMoDo #3, and Vest-uary)

I'm trying to catch up on photographing my knitting. My ravelry page is full of white spaces with no picture! So here's a couple that I finished over the past month or so:



These are the first in my attempt to knit every pair of socks in the book "Favorite Socks". They're the Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks by Ann Budd (I love her patterns!). I went through a couple of yarns trying to find one that showed the pattern, that didn't pool - I seem to be having some trouble recently picking out the right yarn for socks first time! But this yarn - Regia 4 fadig in colourway 1936 - is just perfect for them! The yarn is light enough to show the pattern, and the variations look quite nice with the pattern. I love these socks!!



And I love this top!!! It's the "Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest" by Stefanie Japel from the book "Fitted Knits". I used Teddy Vanguard acrylic yarn for this top, and it took all two balls that I had (about 560 yards). It was knit top down though, so I could just keep going till the yarn ran out. And there was absolutely no seaming at all! Fantastic!! When I was done, I was done!! I like that :)

The only thing about this pattern (and the whole book really) is that it is full of errata. Before you make anything from that book, I advise you to download the errata pdf here. I think just about every set of numbers in this pattern was wrong. Only the basic outline of the pattern was correct (at least in my size). The pattern is fantastic, but if it wasn't for ravelry, I probably would have just gone ahead and tried to make it as is. I don't think that would have gone well. But with the errata file, everything was fine :)

This vest is my IntSweMoDo project #3 (1/4 of the way done already!), and my project for Vest-uary, a knitalong of vests during the month of February. I'm doing the ravlympics just now (I'll post about that soon!) though so I can't do another vest for Vest-uary, or another sweater till at least the end of the month. This one though, I just love it! If only it would warm up a bit around here!

The Obligatory Christmas Preparation Post

This year I hadn't really planned to do much Christmas knitting (kind of like last years actually), but I did a couple of things. Of course, for one of them, I didn't actually get the idea until December had already arrived (again, the same as last year!)



I thought I had posted about these when I made them, but evidently I didn't. I think I must have avoided it because I didn't want to upload the pics to Flickr as my sister is on there and can see my account. So I apparantly just uploaded the pics to ravelry. Now I'll have to upload them here directly. So anyway, they're socks for my sister. I made them waaaay back in June, and it was kind of an accidental Christmas present. I made a pair for myself out of the James C Brett Magi Knit DK



(on 2.5mm needles) (it took 68 sts to get the pattern to line up correctly) and when I was about half way through them I realised my sister might like them. Being very selfish, I didn't want to give those ones up, so I made another pair for her. So that was the first Christmas present out of the way, bought or made.



Mum is getting a pair of socks like these, but with slightly smaller (length ways) cuffs.



Mine (I had to made a pair for myself of course!) are 8" after 20 rows of ribbing, Mum's are 6" after the ribbing. I just made the feet the same for mine and hers (and my sister's) because we all have the same size feet. I hope they fit OK! :)

I knit these with Stylecraft Baby DK in lilac, with 2.75 needles. Just a plain sock with a heel flap, 68 stitches around so they're comfortable house socks and not too tight. Using the DK made a thicker fabric, so even though they're acrylic, they'll be quite warm in the winter.

And actually, that's all the Christmas knitting that's been done around here.

I've done most of my Christmas shopping as well. I only have one Christmas gift to buy, and a birthday gift. These people who have birthdays around Christmas!!! :D I was very organized this year, usually I'm rushing around the week before Christmas trying to find something. But this year, I ordered half of the stuff off the internet, and got the rest in 2 shopping trips. Not bad!! I still have to order the Christmas food off of Tesco's site for delivery, but other than that, Christmas here is organized! Yay!! Now if I can just wish hard enough for some snow it would be perfect! ;)

Odd Socks

These are the latest things to come from the big box of boucle :) A pair of odd-ish socks, that will drive the bf mad since he likes everything to match exactly. Not quite to an OCD level, but close enough that these will drive him nuts every time I put them on. Insert evil grin here ;)

I made a plain yellow sock from some acrylic DK from the box, but went a bit mad and made the cuff 8 inches long, which meant that I didn't have enough left to make another sock the same size. I weighed the yarn and everything to make sure, but I think I would only have enough left for a cuff, and I didn't want to knit that much and then have to rip out again. Luckily, there was some baby green/blue yarn in the box that was the same weight, and there was enough of that for a full sock.

Making two completely different coloured socks would just drive the bf into full blown loony land, and I figured it was a bit too much for me too, even though according to an 8 year old boy I know, odd socks are super-fashionable ;) But I figured I could make a half of each sock yellow and the other half green/blue and they would match. But by the time I figured this out, I was kind of sold on the idea of different coloured socks (again, evil grin), so then I came up with the idea of different halves of the socks being those colours.

I snipped the yellow sock just above the cuff (kind of wish I'd got a photo of the plain yellow sock now), picked up stitches from the cuff, and knit another foot in the green/blue. Then I picked up the stitches from the top of the yellow foot, and am now knitting up in 2x2 rib for the cuff. I'm going to do a sewn bind-off a la Elizabeth Zimmerman (from "knitting without tears" book) so that the tops of each sock will look the same. Even though one is a cast on and one will be a bind off, they'll match :)

I was a bit weirded out by these socks at first when knitting the green/blue foot. I thought they were going to be too strange even for me. But now that I'm further up the green/blue cuffs, I think they're going to look pretty funky when they're finished. I'll still have a little of each yarn left, but I already have plans for it. The ugly yarn stash is decreasing steadily!!

A Whole Month With No Posts :/

I wish I could say that I've been having a wonderful summer holiday somewhere, lazing on the beach, swimming in the sea, and generally travelling around all sorts of wonderful places, but . . . no, I haven't. I've been lazing in my house, starting many projects and not finishing many of them. The hafla we're organizing is getting a bit further along (only 2.5 weeks now!), but I'll write another post about that.

Honestly, this past month has been taken up with startitis (not just knitting, all sorts of projects and hairbrained schemes!). I just haven't been able to concentrate on anything. I have three (!) patterns on the go that I want to publish, I just have to write them up, lol! And take pictures. But the samples are finished. :)

There is another pattern which is probably to blame for my lack of concentration - a design I was working on till it kicked my ass! Here's a sneak peek of a part of it



The design seemed simple enough in my head, but working it out has been an ordeal! It's currently sitting on the table at the side of the couch just now, where I'm trying to ignore it, and pretend it doesn't exist. The three other patterns are completely different from this, and that's the only reason they're finished, lol!

Even my Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup projects this month were quite uninspiring. I made wrist cuffs for Potions (something sparkly to show the use of Felix Felicis (lucky potion))



and more for Charms (to represent the workings of a duplication charm)





Oh, sign ups for the new term of the HPKCHC are open now, if anyone wants to go over and join in the fun! Rav page here: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/hp-knitting-crochet-house-cup/755049/1-25

I made a pair of Glynis socks (from Cookie A's book Sock Innovation)




It's just a random yarn from my stash. I'm not even sure if it's a washable wool or acylic, it seems to have tendancies of both. I got a big bag of it from a charity shop ages ago, and was lookng for something to make with it. I still have enough for another 2 pairs of socks, lol!

So, I guess I have actually been doing stuff. I also have a bunch of WIPS on the go, which I'll write about later. I think it must just be the heat and that dratted design which made me unable to concentrate, even to notice that I was doing things, lol!

Inspiration Overload

Have you ever had those times when you want to do so many creative things, and are just so inspired that none of them actually get done? That's where I am just now. I'm browsing patterns and yarns on ravelry, and I want all the pretty coloured yarns and all the fantastic designs RIGHT NOW! But my hands can't move fast enough for my brain. I've been making the Bacchus socks from Interweave fall 2008, and they seem to be taking so long! It's not really been long at all, probably about a week and a half, but it feels like forever. I love the pattern, that's not the problem. I've finished the first sock and am so pleased with how it turned out, it's very cute!



I'll definitely make more of these in the future, and I can't wait to have the 2nd one finished to wear, cos I love them so much, but my brain is annoying me to get on with other things, ALL the other things I can think of in fact. It wants me to make my entire queue all at once, and have them all finished by tonight. And to buy the entire contents of any online yarn store I visit. If only I didn't have to pay the rent next week! (And we'll forget about the bookcase and 2 big boxes full of yarn in the spare room. That's not even getting mentioned!)

Sigh. It's wonderful to feel so creative recently, especially after that little slump I had a while ago where I didn't feel like making or doing anything. I just wish I could keep up with all the ideas!

Ogawa Sock Pattern Available For Sale

I've designed these socks, and put them up for sale on ravelry. You can buy the pattern there for £2.00, if you're a member of the ravelry site. If you're not, click here to purchase it. (Thanks to Kate for letting me know about this feature!)

When I first saw the yarn (regia color 4 ply, in shade 1936), the colours
reminded me of the stream that runs through the village I live in. I chose a stitch pattern which creates a back and forth effect, like water rippling through reeds, and designed some socks which capture the spirit of that stream.

The socks are knit cuff-down, and the stitch pattern is achieved through the use of cables or (my preference) twisted stitches. As mentioned above, I used regia colour 4 ply, but any other fingering weight yarn can be substituted. The pattern is written in one size, but instructions are given on how to customize the fit.

Hope you like them :D