The Wool Palace

Raindrops on roses

Thank you for all your support in the too short socks debacle.

I was all set to follow the prevailing advice and knit a solid toe - although you just know that I would have had to rip out the other, finished, toe and knit that solid as well.  However, Brigid came through with some of the same shade of Lana Grossa and saved the day.

All done.  Very good timing as well, as it is Toby's birthday tomorrow.  I didn't knit them as a present, but hey, an extra present to open on your birthday is always good isn't it?

As you can see, the feet don't match.  I had a crazy idea about ripping back and reknitting to match, but it would have meant going back almost to the gusset which is just silly. 

So there you have it.  64 stitches on 2.5mm needles, with a garter stitch rib leg and foot and a standard heel flap.  I used just over a ball of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy, in Shade 808.  The finished socks weigh 104g so it really was just a tiny bit over.

As Anita said, they are long socks;  9 inches before the heel flap and a 10 inch foot.  Men's socks really are a labour of love, especially if you choose a ribbed pattern.  Good job Toby only needs 2 or 3 pairs a year.

Don't forget - there's still time to enter the competition (see post below).  I don't know the answer to either of the questions myself yet, so can't tell you whether anyone has guessed correctly but you've got to be in it to win it!

Excuse me while I go and count my sock yarn...

Natural protection

I was on the look out for some near-instant knitting gratification recently.  Luckily a couple of friends have obliged by having babies, so I've indulged in a bit of quick knitting.

I used the Raglan Sweater pattern from Debbie Bliss' 'The Baby Knits Book'.  I substituted Lamb's Pride Worsted for the stated Cashmerino Aran and did the cast on rows in lilac, using the long tail cast on, then switched to red.  Around the neck, I cast off as usual, then picked up one row in lilac before casting off.

I figured that no new parent wants to wrestle a jumper over the head of a wriggly baby, so I left the top inch or so of the raglan open and added a button.  As luck would have it, one of my Ally Pally buttons fit the bill perfectly.

I'm also rather pleased at the little button loop I fashioned, using Montse Stanley's suggestion of reinforcing the loop with buttonhole stitch.  A simple, yet elegant, solution that I hadn't thought of before.

I'm all fired up for baby knitting now.  I grabbed some more Lamb's Pride and cast on for the next one.

I've got a bit of a thing for contrast borders at the moment - and I have a matching button for this one too...

Papilio machaon

After what feels like weeks of rain, we finally have sunny clear weather.  Mind you, clear weather means cold.  -2 last night and a frost this morning.  Brrr!

The fine weather made it the perfect time for a little photo shoot with my latest completed project.

Here she is blocking on the bed.  Shetland wool dries very, very fast.

Checking out the new dresser.

Relaxing on the garden fence.

A close up of her lacey goodness.

Swallowtail Shawl from IK Fall 2006.

Knitted in Jamieson & Smith 2 ply laceweight wool.  I used just under 50g but can't tell you the meterage, as I ordered quite a lot of this yarn for another project and it was broken up into skeins of varying sizes.  It's the first time I've used this weight wool from J&S.  It knits up nicely and blocks very well but I did find it quite fragile; it broke several times while I was winding it up and another couple of times while I was knitting with it.  Luckily it spit splices like a dream.

The pattern is very easy to follow, with nice clear charts.  I didn't bother with stitch markers as it is easy to oriente yourself by the position of the YOs in the previous pattern row.  The sections with nupps did go slowly, but once I got into the habit of working the nupp very loosely, the following p5tog wasn't too bad.

Anything I would change?  Well, I would have liked it just a little bigger but I think I will still get plenty of use out of it.

Blocking lace is very motivating.  I've already cast on for my next lace project.  Any guesses what it will be?

A kiss on the hand

There I was saying I'd be posting the next day and here it is 4 days later.  I blame it on the view, I have to keep stopping and looking.  It's dangerous as the view is out of the dining room window as well as the kitchen.  I love it that I can even write that.  I have a dining room!  It's pretty exciting to live in a house after 10 years living in a flat.  We have a garden, and an upstairs!  Coming from Auckland, land of the bungalow, an upstairs is a big deal for me anyway.  Mind you, it has its downsides. I need convincing that there aren't people sneaking around downstairs each night after I go to bed.  At least in the flat there was just one corridor to worry about.  I worry a lot about these things.

Anyway, back to the knitting.

Last time there were photos I showed you the beginning of the Diamond Fantasy scarf.  I found it a nice quick knit and finished it off while I was staying at my mother in law's.  When it came off the needles, it was a sad crumpled thing.

I soaked it in Eucalan, wrapped it in a towel and left it in a corner for 3 days while I stressed about moving related things.  Then I found it again, resoaked it and blocked it severely, as per the instructions.

I used blocking wires on the top edge and then pinned out the points.  This was the first time I've blocked on a bed and I would definitely do it again, as long as Toby's not around.

I'm very happy with how it turned out.  The only shot of me wearing it shows me in my pyjamas with my hair unbrushed, so you're not seeing that I'm afraid.  Here's one of it against a window, to show off the diamonds.

Another one outside, to show off the colours.

I will put up the project specs later.  Right now I have to go and get rid of the horse that has just come into my garden.  Yes, really.

Salt and Pepa's here

I'm in a mini knitting slump at the moment.  It seems as if most of the projects I start I either don't complete or am not happy with the end result.

You know what happened with mitred squares, so we don't need to go back over that do we? 

You may remember the short row heel debacle of a month or so ago.  Amazingly enough I did persevere and knitted virtually another whole sock, with the following result.

Looking good.

I also finished the baby cardigan from Rowan Junior and even sewed it together.  You know what's coming though don't you?  Didn't like it.  It sort of fell in the middle ground between being charmingly delicate and funkily modern which resulted in it just looking - blah.  I've employed my trustworthy 'Put it in a plastic bag, stuff it down the side of the sofa and forget about it' method to deal with it for now.

However, given that my friend rather inconsiderately went ahead and gave birth, there is a pressing need for a baby garment of some sort.  It needed to be quick and look good so I decided to use some of the large bag of DK cotton I have amassed and whipped up a baby kimono from the Mason-Dixon Knitting pattern.

This really is a quick knit.  All the knitting was done in one day and I sewed it up this afternoon.  I started knitting before the baby was born, hence the choice of a neutral colour.  Once I knew it was for a liitle girl, I added in the red blanket stitching.

Instead of a ribbon tie I used a button.

I bought the buttons at the Liberty cardholders' 10% discount event and saved myself a grand total of 5p, so I went crazy and put one on the inside seam as well.

So there you have it - the first finished project for quite a while (not counting the Sockapaloooza socks of course).  It used less than 2 balls of DK cotton so I'll be using the rest to make a little hat to match.

What to do next?  Well, April is almost at a close so I had better put some time aside this weekend to think about May's Book of the Month.  I'm thinking an adult garment is in order, plus some new socks of course.  One thing I can say with certainty - the socks will not have short row heels.

And they're off

It would seem that Spring has finally arrived.  Not only did we have a beautiful warm sunny day on Saturday, today I woke up with streaming eyes and attractive red blotches all over my face.  Ahh, hayfever.  I love the smell of pollen in the morning.

This weekend was also the weekend of the London Marathon.  I indulged in my own knitting marathon while watching the athletes, celebs and charity runners do their stuff.  Did anyone else see Jade Goody being interviewed with Gordon Ramsey?  The look on Gordon's face when Jade blithley admitted to only having done 4 training sessions, the longest of which involved running for ½ hour, was priceless.  Gordon came in at just over 3½ hours - I wonder how long it took Jade? (Ooops - just seen she collapsed and had to be taken to hospital.  I'm not surprised.)

The results of my own marathon?  My feet were a lot more comfortable at the end of it than those of many the runners yesterday, I'm sure.

Yep, Sockapaloooza socks are done.  I had a quick trying on session before washing and blocking them.

Want the lowdown?

Pattern:  Badcaul - available as part of a trio from Anna.  The pattern is wonderful - clearly written and with a stitch pattern that is easy to remember while still providing variety.  I chose to cable without a cable needle, which is my preferred method for socks.  The only change I would make if I was to do these again would be to make the heel slightly deeper, but that is just a matter of personal preference I think. 

Yarn:   Fleece Artist merino in Jester colourway.  Although both socks were knitted from the same skein, sock number two has significantly more yellow in it than sock one.  I think Jill experienced something similar with her Fleece Artist.  Am I right Jill?

Needles:  2.25mm Surina wooden needles.  These needles look and feel lovely but I found the points a little fragile.  In fact I managed to snap the tip off one while putting the sock into my bag to take to Somerset.  I was able to perform some emergency surgery with an emery board and normal knitting service was soon resumed.

Started:  11th March 2005

Finished:  23rd April 2005 - I blame the mitred squares for the long delay.

Another Sockapaloooza over.  Thanks to Alison for all the hard work in organising and running it.  One more question - When's the next one?

Basking in the glory

One of many.

I promise this will be the last post about the mittens.

When I was thinking about a project for the Olympics I knew that I could not undertake a challenge based purely on volume  ie. knitting a jumper in two weeks.  I have mild Carpal Tunnel problems which don't respond well to long periods of knitting and I certainly didn't want to come out of the Olympics unable to knit.  Hence the decision to do the mittens - technically challenging but not too many stitches.

Since the goal of the Olympics was to undertake a project that would challenge me as a knitter, I thought I should review which parts of the project were a challenge for me.

Definitely the biggest challenge was the stranded colourwork aspect.  Apart from the briefest flirtation (a border on a baby jumper) when I started knitting again 10 years ago I have never done any stranded colourwork.  Why?  I'm not really sure.  Maybe because I like to wear quite plain designs so didn't really look at patterns involving these techniques.  Anyway, I am pleased I tried it.  I ended up going for the 'one yarn in each hand' method, although I did try carrying them both in the same hand as well.  It definitely got easier with practice.  The patterning on the second mitten looks more uniform I think and the knitting was definitely quicker.

The other techniques were challenges as well, but lots of fun.  I've already written about the yarnover braids which I would happily use again - I think they would look good on the cuff of a sock, perhaps.  The nupp stitch was interesting but not something I'd go crazy over.  The other technique I hadn't tried before and really like is the double decrease technique used to shape the top of the mittens.  I've tried to photograph it but it doesn't really show how neat an edge it makes.  Another good technique for socks I think.

If you are thinking of doing these mittens, be aware that there is an error in the chart.  I found it pretty obvious, once I'd completed one mitten.  Incidentally, am I the only person who doesn't think to check on the Internet for errata before starting a project?  I really should start doing that.  When I did check the errata it seems as if this book is fairly good, I just chose the only project with an error on the chart.  The thumb chart has no errors per se, but it is printed the wrong way round.  Once again, no problem for me once I'd done that first mitten.

So what else have I learnt from this project?  Well, I think that I might need to invest in some (oh the horror!) metal dpns if I plan on doing Estonian mittens again.  I think the Brittany's found it a bit of a strain.

I should also have listened to the voice in my head which told me I really wouldn't need over 200g of wool to knit a pair of mittens. 

Photo finish

I've finished with enough time for me to let my hair down and enjoy the closing ceremonies.

Here they are resting in the bathroom sink after a soak in some Eucalan.

More pictures and a full post tomorrow (actually tonight, as it's past midnight, but you know what I mean).

Mind the gap

So the whale didn't make it, poor thing.

Sam languished another day but had recovered sufficiently by today for us to pop out for a late tapas lunch.  The weather has been lovely this weekend, very sunny.  Toby was off climbing all day yesterday, coming home with lots of funny stories to tell me, like almost being swept away by a wave.  Oh, how I laughed.  Today he was on hand to help me with my Tubey photoshoot.

Finishing Tubey sort of crept up on me.  She's a very simple knit so I have tended to work on her some evenings while watching TV and at Liberty knitting nights.  She also came along to Narnia and King Kong with me and was very co-operative, although there were a few mixed up stitches during the last hour or so of King Kong.  When I was at Liberty on Thursday the girls were asking me how much more I had to do and it was then that I realised that I was pretty much done.  Sure enough, by Friday night all the ends were sewn in and we were finished.

I am very happy with this jumper.  The fit is great and very flattering.  I knitted the third size up which feels fine.  I could probably have got away with the second size as the ribbing is very stretchy, but I think the arms would have been a little tight.  The edges are rolling slightly but a light blocking should sort that out.  The Cashmerino Aran was wonderful to knit with and is soft enough to wear next to my skin with no itchiness whatsoever.  I have heard mutterings of pilling with this yarn - anyone had any problems with this? 

As you can probably see from the photo I made the arms quite a bit shorter.  As it will be a fairly warm garment I thought a shorter length of arm would make if slightly cooler to wear, making it something that could be worn in the spring on its own as well as in winter under a coat.  I finished the arms about 10cm below my elbow which is almost 12cm shorter than the pattern suggests.  I also ended up making the body quite a bit shorter.  This was unintentional, I just tried it on and stopped when it looked right.  However on measuring my body piece measured 42cm, which is about 5cm shorter than the pattern.

I love the neckline; the back of the shrug like top rolls under but doesn't feel bulky or uncomfortable.

With all the shortening going on it will be no surprise to hear that I had quite a bit of yarn left over.  I bought 12 balls as suggested and have 68g left, just over one ball.  I also went down a needle size to get gauge which suited me fine as I don't have any 5mm dpns.

So there you have it, a very enjoyable simple and effective knit.  The pattern is well written and easy to follow but do make sure you take the stretchiness into account when calculating your measurements.  I've worn it for the last 3 days and my sister wants one of her own as does Josie; it looks like there could be plenty more Tubeys at the Wool Palace this year.

Hisss

I feel I have the perfect balance of projects on the go at present.  Jaywalkers for commuting knitting, Tubey for easy, in front of the telly knitting and the Feather and Fan shawl for those times when I want something a bit more challenging. 

The problem is that they don't really make for very good 'in progress' shots.  Tubey is getting longer, but otherwise looks pretty much the same and being black, that's not that interesting.  The shawl is getting larger but is lace so just looks like a larger, more crumpled version of the last photo.  Jaywalkers don't see to have changed, which is probably because I haven't done any work on them, but we'll skip over that for now shall we?

At the weekend I decided I wanted to do something quick and cheerful to add some variety to things.  I saw the Steek Boa on Mary-Lou's blog and decided to have a go, seeing as she'd been nice enough to post some directions.

This is the perfect weekend project.  Get together some yarns of co-ordinating yarns with different textures.  I used 2 strands of KSH in a deep red, some Rowanspun 4 ply in dusky pink, Yorkshire Tweed DK in red, Knitpicks Radiance Wave in a bright red and a mystery tweedy purple aran weight that I think might be Jaeger.

Mary-Lou suggested 10mm needles but I only had 9mm so that's what I used.  First you knit up a long skinny scarf with a ribbing section in the middle.  Mary-Lou's was 60 inches long.  I only had enough yarn to make it to 50 inches but I was happy with that.

Then you cast off the middle 5 stitches.  I followed Mary-Lou's advice to backstitch along the edge stitches to add some stability.

Then it's just a matter of dropping the remaining stitches off the needles and unravelling them back to the cast on edge.

You end up with loads of loops

which you then cut in half to create a long fringe.

I was very pleased with the end result.

Thank you Mary-Lou for such a quick and fun knit.  I've worn it quite a bit since the weekend and it's drawn some admiring compliments.  I'm already thinking about a brown and green version - maybe next weekend?