FO: Pomatomus Socks

Photos by my little sister, who's quite the photographer already.

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid - Cranberry (2 skeins)
Needles: 2, 2.25, 2.5, 2.75 mm
Ravelry: Here!

I love these socks! They are pretty, warm and look great with my favourite boots. I bought the yarn almost a year ago, when I was struck by the urge to make kneehigh Pomatomuses (Pomatomi?). After I got it, it seemed to pretty to be turned into socks and I swatched for shawls and gloves but nothing worked. It disappeared into my stash, only to eventually be dug up again. This time the desire for kneehighs was too strong, and the yarn finally found its purpose. It's great to work with, and the variations in colour are so subtle. I'd love to have enough of this for a sweater!

I made quite a few changes to the pattern to be able to make the most of this gorgeous yarn. In fact, the only thing that comes from the pattern is the stitch pattern. I knit mine from the bottom up, with a gusset and heel inspired by Yarnissima's way of constructing them. Because I have fairly slim legs, I didn't have to increase for my calves. Instead I simply went up a needle size after a few repeats.

I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which is totally true to its name! It's ridiculously simple - although I did get confused occasionaly with which direction I needed to do my yarnover in - and indeed suprisingly stretchy. I will be using this for all my stretchy edgings for now on!

Pomatomus - Part 1

A few days ago I was suddenly struck by the desire to knit socks - knee high socks, no less. I found two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock that I bought with the intention to turn them into a pair of Pomatomus socks. Behold the first half of the pair.

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid, colour Cranberry
Needles:2/2,25/2,5/2,75 mm

To be honest, the only thing in which I stayed true to the pattern is the stitch pattern. I knit mine toe up, so I could continue until my first skein ran out. When the second one is finished too, I'll recruit someone to take proper FO pictures, because taking pictures of your own feet is a bitch.

FO: Featherweight

Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: 80 gr. of Zephyr wool/silk in Sable
Needles: 3mm

It's finished, dry and I'm wearing it right now. Although I'm not completely convinced by the colour (a rusty, coppery brown), I absolutely love everything else about it. It's soft, light, drapy and warm and I never want to take it off!

Apart from knitting the sleeves flat, I made another minor modification: I knit the edges in seed stitch so they wouldn't curl. I was a bit afraid that the grafted edges would show, but after blocking I can only tell if I look at it from less than 5 cm.

I'm glad this one is finally out of the way, because now I can finally justify starting on one of the other three (or was it four?) sweaters I have the yarn for!

Battle of the Sleeves

Tonight I finally finished my Featherweight Cardigan. I've had the body finished since the summer, but somehow the sleeves wouldn't come along. I started off on magic loop, my favourite way of working small things in the round. Unfortunately it's not so much a favourite with tiny yarn on bigger needles. There was horrible laddering and it was altogether to fiddly. Knitting the sleeves flat on circulars was no better.

Next up were the DPNs. Again, not so much of a problem if the needles aren't a little big for the yarn. I got about a centimeter further than with the circular and gave up, this time for a month or two. As a last resort I got a tiny (30 cm) circular needle. This was even more fiddly and annoying than either of the other options. The cardigan went back into time-out and by this time I was afraid it would never come out again, until I found a way to get them done.

I was going to knit the sleeves flat, bottom up. Then, I'd graft them to the live stitches at the shoulder and seam them closed. It might be the most inefficient way to knit the sleeves on a top down raglan, but it was the only way it'd get done. And I was right, from the moment I cast on the first sleeve, it took less than a week to have the whole thing seamed and ready to go.

It's around midnight now, so the pictures will have to wait until daylight.

Sneak Preview

Just a short update to let you all know that I (finally) have a new pattern in the works! Luckily the student presentations were uninteresting and general enough that I could write up the draft during class. I knitted the first version of this over a year ago, but never bothered to write up the pattern or make notes. Luckily, I've managed to reverse engineer the stitch pattern and the decreases. I still need to make a new, final version for photographing because this one already looks old and worn.

Hopefully I'll get it finished and tested soon, because I think it'd make a lovely gift or selfish winter accessory.

Don't you just love the buttons?

Books, Books, Books

Oh my, it's been over a month already.
Unfortunately the daunting pile of books I need to read for my courses (American Literature before 1900 and Kaleidoscope of Western Literature - You get the idea) has left me with way too little time to knit & design. I have three finished things that need photographing, writing up and testing, but I'm afraid it won't be done just jet.

These classes finish in the first week of November, and I hope next quarter will be beter.

100 x Percy

See that, there on the right? 100 people on Ravelry have made or are making Percy! I had never expected it to be such a succes. After the KAL at the Beginning Lace Knitters group on Ravelry, a lovely group of German knitters have started a Percy KAL too. I am definitely planning to release more patterns in the (near) future. There's one coming up to facilitate people like me, who love sock yarn but aren't that much into knitting socks. I'm not showing it just yet, but it won't be long.

Because I can

It has taken me a long time to get the hang of crochet. I just couldn't get the yarn through more than one loop on my hook, which prevented me to to anything more than a double crochet. Now I have finally found out what I was doing wrong, it's easy as anything. What I was doing wrong? I wrapped the yarn around my hook in the opposite direction. Being a continental knitter, I simply grabbed the yarn with my hook as I would when knitting, whereas I should have wrapped it the other way.

Now this simple problem has been solved, I'm addicted. I just want to crochet everything, which is kind of unfortunate because I like the look of finished knitwear better most of the time. As a compromise (and as a way to use up some of the cotton thread I inherited from my grandmother) I decided to crochet this doily (Ravelry link). I'm thrilled that it is charted, because written instructions confuse the hell out of me. It's so much easier to keep track of what you're supposed to do through a drawing than through lines and lines of written abbreviations.

I have no idea what I shall do with the finished thing, because my BF has forbidden that it shall serve as decoration. Personally, I don't see the problem, but I'll probably find someone whose interior is more forgiving of doilies. For now, I'm just enjoying making it.

A Day of Knitting

Yesterday:
8:00 - On my way to an exhibition in Limburg to knit socks. I usually don't really knit socks... but today I was planning to make an exception. During the two hour train ride I worked on a super secret shawl and listened to a few episodes of The Moth podcast. There truly are few things better than sitting in the train, knitting while listening to all these wonderful stories.

10:30 - Knitting socks in Roermond.

A table full of sock yarn and a few wonderful knitters made for a lovely afternoon. The only downside of knitting here was that all my illusions of being a fast knitter were shattered when sitting next to Miriam, the world's fastest knitter. I started a pair of toe up socks in a funky self-striping yarn, but wasn't too happy with it. I ripped it out, and restarted the socks in an improvised stranded pattern with black to downplay the yellow and orange of the other yarn. I got to about half-way through the foot, but am still not satisfied. I'm afraid try number two will find its way to the frog pond quite soon...

17:00 - On the train again, to Amsterdam. About the same as the trip to Limburg, apart from the fact that I actually managed to read a few chapters of Jane Eyre.

19:30 - Famous knitters at the ABC Treehouse!
Nancy Bush (on the picture) and Beth Brown-Reinsel were in Holland and were kind enough to drop by the Treehouse, tell us about their passion for traditional knitting techniques and sign books. It was so interesting to hear how they managed to make their passion their job and I hope that one day people will get excited to hear me talk about knitting ;)
It's such a pity I was too broke to buy books, because especially Nancy Bush has written a few that are high on my wishlist...

Late Summer Resolution

I have decided that I am going to try to become a published designer. The aim is to have at least one design accepted somewhere before the end of this year. Unfortunately this means that I can't show the things I have been working on recently. One mystery project is now finished. All I need to do is write up the pattern and take proper photos.

Taking the photos is surely the most difficult part of all this. I desperately want pictures that are interesting, flattering (if I'm on them), pretty AND show the knits well. Does anyone know of any good tutorials for this?

Hey, at least it's a picture...

Apart from all the math and attempts at original knitting, I have picked up some crochet. It's the fan bookmark, modified to a scarf. I'm using the 1,5 skeins of Cascade 220 I had left from my Owl sweater and a 6mm hook. I'm not sure if I like the result so far, but I sure enjoy working on it.

Wollmeise

A few days ago my doorbell rang and Hassan the Mailman had something for me. I have finally managed to get my hands on some Wollmeise and was about to see for myself what all the fuss was about. The package itself was already so pretty that I hardly wanted to open it. I'm glad I did, because the contents were even better than I'd imagined. Beforehand I was a bit sceptical about this whole Wollmeise-thing, and I expected to be a bit disappointed.

Rosenrot (the red one) is by far my favourite. The picture doesn't show it very well, but the shades range from deep dark bordeaux to a bright, almost orangey red. I think this will sit in my stash for a while until I find (or design) the perfect pattern to go with it. Hortensie is really pretty as well. From the pictures on the website I expected it to be more purpleish, but in fact it's an intense shade of ultramarine blue. This one is already claimed. My boyfriend desperately wants the DNA scarf and I am more than happy to oblige. It's not every day that one can knit something geeky and be appreciated for it.

Summer cleaning

Normally, my house is a messy, messy place. A million projects, pencils, skeins of yarn and random needles and hooks are spread out all over the place. A few days ago, after my paper was finally handed in, I decided to organise my craft supplies. It was quite a daunting task to untangle all the half-frogged projects I had stuffed in a drawer, never to be seen again.

The final result is more than worth it though, because I now have one lovely cabinet full of my yarn, paint, sewing supplies and other crafty stuff. In fact, it didn't even seem as all that much after it was all put together nicely. I did find things that I didn't even remember having, such as 15 empty sketchbooks, a caligraphy set, proper oil paints and a few sets of colouring pencils. It promises to be a long, crafty summer.

Behold the craft cabinet in all its glory.

Procrastination time...

I shouldn't be blogging (or knitting now)... I have a 10-page paper due in a week and haven't written a single word. Rather than writing or reading, I've been catching up on LOST (I'm only in season 2 now, but I'm hooked) and knitting my featherweight cardigan some more. I've only got the sleeves to go. I did the collar in seed stitch, because I like the look and the not rolling of it. It looks gorgeous so far, and I can't wait to finish it. Further, I've knitted a orange-gray 2x2 ribbed scarf for a friend's photoshoot. That was dreadfully boring and I'm never going to do such a thing again.

Alright, back to the fascinating world of language acquisition. Until next time, I will make my blog complete with a kitty picture. Because what's a knitting blog without the occasional animal...

Featherweight Cardigan

Not much WIP finishing has been going on, despite my best intentions. So far, I've picked up a few things, knit a few rows, got bored with all the stockinette on tiny needles and cast on something new. The featherweight cardigan, which is full of stockinette on tiny needles. But it's new, pretty and has been on my to-knit-list ever since I first saw it. I'm almost ready to separate the sleeves and the body, and I only started it 2 days ago.
Please excuse the crappy photo, it's an "on-the-train-but-need-picture-now" photo.

So now for some stats:
Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Size: M, because I'm using slightly smaller needles.
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr
Colourway: Sable (Copper)
Needles: 3mm

WIP wrestling

It's July, and that means that - together with quite a few fellow ravellers - I'm getting ready to finish some things that have been lingering on my needles for just too long... The final WIP count for this month is 6 and I have high hopes when it comes to finishing at least these two.


Firstly, there's 2/3 of a hot pink glove to be completed.
Pattern: Knotty Gloves
Yarn: Regia 4ply
Needles: 2,5 mm


Next up, Thermal. I'm having severe arguments with the button band, and am considering just to skip the buttons altogether. It's almost finished, because I'm probably keeping it as a vest.

Pattern: Thermal
Yarn: Regia 4 ply
Needles: 3mm

Crafty Tuesday

I never use stitch markers. They seem fiddly and not worth the hassle, but I have to admit that sometimes they're great for making knits just a bit more mindless. Because I only have a few plastic ones, I decided to spend this (way to hot) day making some. Luckily, there's a lovely bead store (Coppenhagen) only a few minutes away from the house I'm currently taking care of.

I was amazed at how quick these were put together. I think I spent more time choosing the beads than making the markers. This disappointed me a little, because I had looked forward to spending an afternoon fiddling with beads. I guess that means I'll have to get a load more soon! The little tulips are my favourites, but the others are lovely too:



Because the first two sets are fairly big (they are shown on a 5,5 mm needle) I also made a set of tiny markers. They're not as pretty and neat as the others because I simply bent the wire into a loop, but they will do their job just as well. Many more of these will follow, as I have gotten a bit addicted...

Bad Ass Knitting

Together with the amazing people of Idle Hands, I spent my Saturday in sunny Amsterdam. A table full of icky acrylics and huge needles made for a great day. We were part of the American Book Center's Urban Cultural Event and had a great time knitting and crocheting anything from tree-cozies to handlebar covers. Even some people who were just passing by stopped and knitted with us. I always thought I was too scared to do graffiti of any kind, but now I feel totally bad ass for decorating a few trees in the city centre.

I am so excited to be doing a workshop for Idle Hands in a few weeks. It will be lace class for beginners. I am already trying to find the perfect stitch patterns to begin with. I hope it won't be too easy or too difficult.

Tea time

Well, I haven't been updating much because my camera's charger is gone and I don't like posts without pictures... Today I'm going to buy a new one, so prepare for an overload of photos the coming days. I have an FO and some guerilla knitting coming up.

I just want to say I am so excited that I found one of the most awesome knitting groups in the Netherlands (Idle Hands - there's not much on the website yet, but believe me when I say it's great.) Further, a group on Ravelry is hosting a Percy KAL. Thank you so much.

For now I'll just leave you with a taste of the lovely tea I received in a LSG RAK. The peach is wonderful.

Percy - Free Pattern

Remember I was swatching for a shawl? Well, it's all done now and without any further delays, I present you with Percy. A modular lace shawl made up from gorgeous Estonian stitch patterns (all adapted from Ptsilised Koekirjad). The version made for the pattern is fairly small, but with the included notes you can make it as large as you want.

The original version is knitted in Fyberspates Nef Lace (which everyone should use because it is gorgeous), but any lace or fingering weight yarn would work great.

Click the link below for a pretty 3-page PDF with instructions and charts.

download Percy now

For the love of nupps

There, I said it. I love nupps. They are pretty, easy to work, break the dreadful boredom of a long purl row, and did I mention they are fucking gorgeous? Together with my addi lace needles, I feel like I can tackle any nupp in the world (or at least Estonia). I truly cannot imagine why anyone would replace nupps by beads. It seems so much more of a hassle.

Anyway, I can nupp all I want for quite a while, because THE BOOK arrived. Last week I spent a little too much money to buy Pitsilised Koekirjad, but it is worth every penny! I already knit up a swatch for a shawl, and my mind is racing with a million ideas!

Dita - or why I want a corset.

It is a not-so-well-kept secret that I have an enormous celebrity/girl crush on Dita von Teese. She embodies all the style, allure and guts I wish I had. If I had even the slightest dancing and stripping skills, I'd go out of my way to become a burlesque star. (I have been told I have the figure, so that's one less hurdle to take.)

After reading her book, which fuelled my long-lasting obsession with corsets and stockings, I am about to make my first corset. The pattern arrived yesterday and is fortunately accompanied by extremely detailed instructions. I am not a complete sewing novice, but this seems a few steps beyond dresses and blouses. As soon as the semester ends I'll go on a fabric shopping spree!

FO: Aeolian

Obligatory introductions are not my strongest point, so I'll go ahead and jump right to the knitting. I have a deep love for lace weight yarns and knitted lace, so I didn't think twice when I found enough money to sign up for the Fyberspates Lace Club. The first installment (from back in March already) was 100 grams of pure cashmere in purple. Imagine my delight when I opened the package! Although I would have been perfectly happy just looking at the skein and petting it, something had to be knit. I wanted a lace shawl that would be interesting enough and absolutely stunning. I succeeded.


Aeolian, from the latest Knitty, was just perfect. I had so much fun knitting it that I finished it in less than a week. I loved it to pieces, but decided to give it to my mother. She recently went in for her first round of chemo and needed something soft and luxurious. Luckily, the shawl took less than 50 grams. I will be casting on another one for ME soon!



Details:

• Pattern: Aeolian
• Yarn: Fyberspates 100% Mongolian cashmere, 50 grams