Shadow Kin yarns

I posted about this over on the writing blog awhile back but now I have my very own stash of Shadow Kin yarns (colorways created by my sil based on my book).

So here's a squiz.



Can't decide which one I want to knit first....leaning towards Wraith or Half-Light

A tale of two shawls

I've been busy busy with writing things (my very first book comes out in just over two weeks!) but have managed to finish two more projects. I get cold easily so I'm a big fan of wraps and scarves and shawls and am trying to bolster my supply.

Firstly...a small shawl...The Age of Brass and Steam shawl out of lovely soft PearTree supersoft merino. This is gorgeous snuggled around your neck. It's about 150cm at its widest point and 54cm deep.

Blocking



Finished





The second shawl is a bit bigger. Probably about five years ago, my sil gave me a lovely smallish shawl that I use as a writing shawl. I always liked the pattern (Landscape Shawl by Evelyn Clark) so when I came across it at Bendigo last year, I bought it. And realised that you could make bigger versions. Marry that with said sil also having some gorgous deep oceany blue green 10 ply for sale at the time and a project was born. I didn't get around to starting it until this year though but now it's done! It's about 170 cm wide by 93 deep, so quite a bit bigger. And that's without being the full pattern as I didn't have quite enough yarn. Nor have I blocked it terribly hard. It will be an extra snuggly shawl for writing or sitting on the couch in winter.

Unblocked



Blocking



Close up



Both of these were relatively speedy projects. The grey shawl, I knitted half of jetlagged on our day of waiting for our onwards flight to NY in LA and probably could've knitted the rest in another day or so if I'd had another marathon session. I did an extra repeat, so mine is bigger than the pattern. The Landscape shawl takes a little bit more concentration for the changing sections but grows fast once you get the hang of it.

Now I just need yarn to arrive to my next two projects. I'm doing a Knit along with a couple of fantasy loving friends for the Dragon Wing Shawl from Knitty (waiting for a skein of Dream in Colour Baby in Bermuda Teal) and I also signed up for the Knitspot Fall in Full Color club as I've always liked Anne's patterns and thought this would be a good way to ensure I make some of them. I did the pattern only option due to budget. The first pattern is a laceweight pattern but because I'm doing the shawl in a lace/light fingering, I decided to do it in 4ply, so I'm waiting on some more Dye My Pretties yarn from Stranded in Oz. I'm sure I said after Bendigo, no more yarn buying for awhile. Hopefully the next few Knitspot patterns can be accommodated out of stash! I'm still working on a pair of socks and a cabled scarf too...oh and another lace shawl. Need a clone army to get more knitting time!

Toe-ectomy (or a tale of knitterly denial and remorse)

Well, having finished the green socks and then wearing them around yesterday, I decided they were definitely too big.

At first I contemplated just giving Dad a bonus pair of socks as they would probably fit him but then I wondered if he would actually wear two tone green socks. Plus said socks were knitted for me because I need more nice warm handknitted socks.

So, being a virgo, I went and did some investigating on Rav about other people's experiences knitting these socks. At first I thought the heel was too big (ie I needed to wrap a diff number of wraps next time or something) but then someone had mentioned that they got that problem when the foot was too long on their sock. Sure enough, when I pulled the sock forward so the heel fit nicely on my foot, the foot itself was suddenly revealed to be about an inch or more too long on both feet.

*HEADDESK* Don't ask me how I got a foot that much too long. A combination of swatching row gauge instead of using the toe plus somehow managing to think that round a 10.2 inch foot up to 10.5 made sense (rather than rounding down to 10, if not 9.5 as a sensible person who knows stuff like negative ease is required for socks (WHICH I DO) would do). Le sigh. Maths skills and logic were apparently taking the day off when I was setting up the socks.

Also, because of the construction of these socks, you can't really judge the fit until you've finished the heel and at that point I was in knitterly denial about the fit and just kept blithely on (next pair, there will be a life line before the heel and frogging if the same thing happens). Knitterly denial is a wonderful thing. Granted I wanted them as house socks but I didn't need house canoes.

Anyway, too long socks were the problem. As I knitted them toe up, it wasn't as if they were going to unravel nicely from the toe. But I was trying them on (still vaguely hopeful the problem would disappear like magic...knitterly denial again), I suddenly thought, well, Mel, if you threaded a lifeline through the row that hits your little toe where the toe would usually finish and snipped a stitch and then unravelled the toe, you could just start again from there and knit a top down style toe back on from that point.

And then I had to go have a fit of the vapours at the thought of CUTTING knitting. Scary stuff. But when I consulted with Melissa, the knitting guru, she seemed to think it was a perfectly sensible plan. And suggested just threading the circ back through rather than a lifeline. I will note that she has been knitting many more years than me and knows what she's doing with stuff like picking up stitches rather than winging it with much internet assistance like I do. But with confirmation that my plan wasn't complete lunacy, I had no excuse to back out and try plan B (which may have involved hot water and a tumble dryer).

So, I steeled my knitterly nerve and decided to try a toe-ectomy on one of the socks. With the cunning fallback plan of knowing that Melissa was coming to visit next week and could probably save my butt if I stuffed it up too badly. So I tried the sock on, worked out where my litte toe hit, reloaded the stitches, checked that I had 30 on each needle (my number after finishing the original toe ie I was starting at a point before I'd started the increase rounds for the sock), then snipped a single stitch below the reloaded row and started to unravel.

Which looked like this.



And then turned into this. Eeek! Toe-ectomy. (sorry blurry pic, was overcome with the vapours again)



I invite you to look closely at the bit I removed...see how much there is with straight sides after the curved bit...that's how much too long the sock was. Just to prove my knitterly denial.

At which point I had either just invented socks for pedicures or those weird toeless boots that are around this season or I had to carry on and re-knit the toe...okay, a more patient knitter than I might have skeined and washed the frogged yarn to unkink it at this stage but I figured waiting for it to dry might make me lose my nerve, so I skipped that bit. Given I have only attempted kitchener stitch twice in my life and didn't think I wanted to add that into the experience, I decided to kind of reverse engineer the star toe I'd just knitted for my new pair of socks, so that I could finish by just threading the tail through the last six stitches and pulling the toe tight. And lo and behold, it worked. I had a sock that now fits reasonably, if still a little wide given my assumed drift in stitch and row gauge. But definitely now wearable without vast pouches of excess fabric at my heel which were just going to remind me of my knitting fail every time I wore them.

So then I turned around and did it again on the other sock. Knitterly redemption! And lessons learned (plus now the cutting my knitting bit I have to do in the new pair of socks is far less scary).

A final pic of new improved green socks. Go me. I'm hoping the new socks are less traumatic.

More socks

It must be sock finishing week as, lo, I have managed to finish another pair.



These are the Riverbed master pattern from New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi. Knitted in nice cushy 8ply Merino in various shades of New Greens and Blues by Stranded In Oz. I was worried about running out of the darker one so swapped to the lighter shade for the legs but I think, looking at how much yarn I used of the lighter, I might have almost made it (I'm hopeless at eyeballing how much yarn I have left). But I think they kind of look like the feet are wet, as though you stepped into a river, which is fitting given the name.

I found the pattern really easy to follow and fast to knit (yay for thicker socks), and even though these are a little big (purely due to me stuffing up somewhere in the calculations and nothing else), I'll definitely be making Riverbed socks again. They seem to fit my high instep very nicely and the heel is very easy to do. I could've frogged these back a bit and fixed them but I just wanted a nice warm pair for wearing with slippers round the house and they'll do that nicely. Plus I practiced cabling without a cable needle on the leg (which having just looked at this tutorial again, I realised I did a little bit wrong but hey, it still worked).

But next up, sockwise, I'm moving onto Cat's other book...Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series and trying that method out. Which involves....eeeek......cutting the knitting at one point! It may yet require alcohol.

For those I have this lovely stuff:



Which is the new Mitey Sock by Stranded In Oz. The colourway is KDO serendipity, one of Melissa's random mixes...it makes me think of an underwater garden somehow.

Victory!

The demon socks are finally done! I would have finished them in the US but stupidly did not take the first sock or make notes on where I changed colour for the leg after finishing the heel. But they are done now. And if I ever knit socks for my dad again, they're going to be 8ply. Men have big feet.

But yay, they are done so I can turn back to my other projects without guilt. Including some socks for me, given how cold Melbourne's winter is being.

And here is the proof. The pattern is Diamond Gansey from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. It's a nice easy pattern. I subbed in her gusset heel as I prefer those and I knitted these as 78 stitches, so added a stitch or two to the lace pattern. The leg is a 3x3 rib, so I increased another stitch each side in the middle of the row when I wanted to start ribbing.

Bendigo spoils

Have been up at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show today and this morning and thus must show off my stash enhancing aquisitions. I was relatively restrained (even though these pics may indicate otherwise)....

Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Alpaca...destined to be this scarf (and maybe the hat too).



Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury Merino 4ply...for a planned shawl. (more blue-grey than grey as it looks here)



More Bendigo Alpacas because it was on sale and pretty blue (probably another scarf of some sort)



A nostepinne (which one uses to wind skeins of wool into balls when one can't be bothered hauling out the swift and the ballwinder).



Moseley Park 70% Merino 30% Tussah silk fibre (Colourway is Balm)



Tarndwarncoort 4ply Polwarth



Handpainted Finn (4ply again, I think) Love this colourway...it looks like stormclouds. Am going to have to make a shawl out of this.



And now onto the Stranded in Oz pretties. Because, let's face it, I always buy more of Melissa's stuff whenever I come within fifty feet of it (or even just looking at it on the interwebs). She'd outdone herself this year, simply beautiful colours and yarns. I have pics of her stand too but will check with her before posting them.

This is her June 2011 Fibre Club fibre...Merino Lyocell in Melbourne Twilights (slightly pinker than this) and Black Diamond Bamboo





Silk Sock Yarn (Ocean Blues)...will probably be another shawl and once again this yarn falls somewhat foul of the hard to photograph certain blues and greens rule! It's even prettier in reality.



Superwash Merino 8ply (am making some handwarmers and then a matching scarf or socks)...and I will apologise for this shot as the greens just won't photograph true to life. It really is the most beautiful malachite/good green opal green with opaline blues.



And again in "Drama Queen"



Sterling Sock Yarn in Heaven (it sparkles...I must have sparkly socks!)



And more sock yarn that has lost its tag. I think it's the Dye My Pretties sock in Fairies in the Garden...



Btw, if anyone has SIOz yarn lust now, she's also doing the Craft and Quilt fair in Melbourne in 2 weeks time or there's the online store or she has a stall at the Port Adelaide Market in Adelaide every Sunday.

Some international yarn hunting

So I am currently in New York, so naturally have to check out some local yarn stores to play with some American yarn...

So far have been to Purl Soho and scored these:

Spud and Chloe Fine Sock in Calypso (which is more aqua than this pic)



Madelinetosh Tosh Merino light in Pop Rocks (awesome deep pink)



And Knitty City where I added these beauties

Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Bronzed Lake



And more Madelinetosh...this time the Pashmina in Ink (darker and more indigo than it looks here)



I think most of these are going to end up as shawls for me. I could do some serious damage to my credit card here but it all has to fit in the suitcase plus I have many beautiful yarns waiting for me at home too. Plus I want to have a little bit of money to spend at Bendigo!

Random pretties

Have spent part of the morning playing with my yarn stash and my new camera so I can practice with the latter and get the former up to date on Ravelry so I stop deluding myself that I have made stash inroads. There is still plenty of yarn in the stash! Maybe I need to pic a project for each yarn and not let myself buy more until I have made some of them (er apart from NY and Bendigo and, um, the box I'm expecting from Stranded In Oz, any minute now.

But it's nice to have an excuse to fondle one's yarn. I'm picky about how yarn feels, particularly if I'm planning it to be something that will go anywhere near my face/neck where certain wools make me itch, so my stash is just a big bundle of pretty, nice feeling things. Like a rainbow of kittens that don't bite and scratch (or purr...ooh, purring yarn, that would be awesome! Like the living fur in Brothers In Arms.)

Anyway, having loaded all the pics onto my Rav stash, I thought I'd share a few here too. And I swear there are some things in my stash that are not blue, green or blue green. Really. Just not many. Need more pink.

Stranded In Oz Wool/Merino roving in Dark Matter (Am half way through spinning this, so this is what's left) This is from this year's fibre club.



Stranded In Oz Handpainted Wensleydale top in Bottle (ditto re fibre club)



Stranded in Oz Merino sock



Stranded in Oz Alpaca/Wool sock (have to knit something with this soon, so soft and squishy!) (last year's SiOz yarn club)



Knit Picks Shimmer Lace in Shallows



String Theory Caper Sock (with Cashmere! We likey) Bye Bye Blues (gifty from Melissa, I believe)



And now, back to the non yarny world!

Progress

The second devil sock is about a third done. I can't always knit too long on a sock project as between mucho typing and teeny needles, I get sore hands. So I started a couple of thick needle projects. A nice snuggly shawl for me and a conversion of shawl project to cowl project for friend's well overdue birthday present (yarn didn't want to play nice with the lace). All this signals the usual May/June onset of knitting urge frenzy. I spun far more than knitted between October and April (as overdue present and devil socks will attest to) but, just like last year, as the weather gets chillier, my need to KNIT ALL THE THINGS suddenly gets out of control.

Which is not good when I'm on deadline and also because I have to limit my needle time to keep shoulder and hands happy. Still, progress is being made. I even had a small victory today in frogging. Now, I was taught the basics by my Mum when I was a small thing. The basics being casting on in one way, knit, purl, probably some sort of increasing and possibly k2tog decreases. That's about it. Back then, if I dropped a stitch or something, Mum fixed it for me.

Since taking knitting up again, I've been expanding my repertoire and learning from books and YouTube (all hail YouTube) and websites. I've picked up a lot of stuff, I can knit socks and lace and things but still sometimes feel like I don't know what I'm doing with basics like picking up stitches for heel flaps (I avoid this mostly as I prefer toe up) and yes, while I can pick up a dropped stitch, if I notice a mistake too far back, I've tended towards the "must rip out many rows to get to error and cry if you don't have a life line" school of repairs. I am not a gun knitter when it comes to such things (or anything really). Trust me, my sil is a gun knitter, my Mum is pretty good and my grandmothers both knit like the wind. Me, I muddle through.

But today I was knitting away on the cowl on the train (which I don't often do as most of my projects require too much referring to patterns) and noticed I had purled two stitches that should have been knit about three rows down, two thirds of the way along a row. At first I thought "Frak" followed by "no, lifeline, noooooooooo".Then I thought "pull yourself together, self, it's just two stitched, just drop them down and fix them". Which I proceeded to do. On the train, no crochet hook, just needles. Dropped 'em down, figured out which way made a knit stitch and fixed them. Go me!

Not a big achievement but a small step to understanding this whole sticks and strings thing a bit better. Now I just need to con said sil into showing me some of the other stuff and I'll be set.

Sad knitter

Or dumb knitter. Or both.

The first demon/devil sock is done! Hurrah!



The second sock is started which would also rate a hurrah! but observe, if you please, the size of the red yarn ball.



I am thinking that is not enough to knit the whole foot of the second sock. D'oh and damn and blast. Of course, the yarn is discontinued (it is Elann Sock It To Me in Red/Burgundy (I think it's 7319) just in case anyone has a ball they would be willing to sell a dopey aussie knitter). Which means I either need to find a very close match here in Oz and offer Dad either that, or overdyeing them. And no, ripping and restarting is not an option, his feet are big! I would have to cry.

So I have posted of Ravelry that I am ISO of yarn and, in the mean time and because I need to knit something on slightly bigger needles and don't have the brain power for lace while I'm trying to also churn out many words on the wip, I started these.



Gorgeous cushy 8ply premium merino from Stranded In Oz I have 2 50 g balls which should be enough and I am going to knit both at the same time (not two at a time on the same needle) but work on one for a bit, then the other for a bit. That way if I get to a certain point and feel like I don't have enough yarn, I'm sure Melissa will have something else pretty in 8ply that will go nicely and I can do different coloured legs or something. I will defeat the evil yarn demons! The socks are my first attempt at a sock from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I'm doing the Riverbed architecture in probably a plain vanilla sock with ribbed leg. Hopefully I do not screw them up! The toe of the first may have a little boo boo in increases but as they are for me, I just fixed it how I wanted and moved on.

Sock saga

I am a bad crafter lately, or maybe an absent crafter. Am officially running out of hours in the day. My spinning has progressed to half the Dark Matter.



I have started the second half on a new bobbin and hopefully one day it will be finished and plied. The weather is turning distinctly chilly which means the knitting yen is returning (I tend not to knit much in Australia over summer as it's hot...also because this summer I learned to spin instead). But before I can make anything for myself I have to finish a pair of socks for my Dad and a shawl for someone else. Dad's socks are one of those projects that just won't grow, dammit, even though I don't mind the pattern. The yarn is one that's nicer once it's washed, so a bit scratchy to knit plus men's feet are loooooooooonnnnnnggggg, I keep managing to have needle disasters (aka slipping out of the wool or dropping stitches randomly which I don't usually do), last night I failed the heel in the pattern completely and am now substituting a different heel and really, the thought of the second one waiting to be knitted is not that appealing. But we shall persevere! Hopefully my horrible suspicion that I may run out of the main yarn will turn out to be wrong....

But I am calling them the Devil socks in my head...see they even refuse to photograph nicely.



There are also discussions being had with the new cat over knitting etiquette. She's pretty good with the spinning wheel, she watches it and occasionally tries to tap the yarn (especially if one stops and has a dangly bit) but mostly leaves it alone. But the knitting apparently is all Dangly! Wiggly! String! Mine! so we have extreme knitting with bonus random doses of cat pouncing at the moment. I'm hoping she'll lose interest eventually, the other two never really thought it that fascinating...Tabasco mostly minded that I didn't always let him sit in my lap while knitting. Anyone else got a project that just won't die?

Finally

There's has been a bit of a crafty hiatus due to general craziness around here and the need to keep my spinning wheel in my bedroom to keep it safe from the curiousity of a new cat. But she's calming down, so I've been doing a little bit of spinning again and, luckily, haven't completely forgotten how.



This is Dark Matter which is a wool/mohair blend from the Stranded In Oz fibre club this year. It spins beautifully and it turning out purty. The other half of the roving is mostly blues and greens so I think it will ply up pretty! Much spinning between here and plying though!