The Wool Palace

Loop the loop

Time for a round up of what I've got on the go I think.  I've been rather ignoring things other than socks for the last couple of weeks, so it's nice to get back to some other projects.

A few posts ago I mentioned I'd cast on for my next lace project.  I know I said that Wing o' the Moth would be my next, but I don't have anything suitable in the amount I need, so I started something else, just to keep me going.

The tangled beginnings of Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style.  I'm only 9 rows in and still on some enormous number of stitches.  It's not quite TV knitting really.  I'm using some 2 ply kid mohair from Touch Yarns that I got at Ally Pally this year.  The colour is lighter than in the photo - green with short repeats of lavender throughout.

The baby knitting is still going.

The back of Lucky, from Rowan Pipsqueaks.  I'm doing the 6-12 months size, using some Lamb's Pride Worsted.  Now I'm back on this I'm confident it will get done soon - a nice quick knit and perfect knitting while we continue on our Deadwood watching marathon.  We don't have cable or Sky or even Freeview, so haven't seen any of it before.  I bought Toby the DVD set for his birthday and it's great - violent and curse laden - but great. 

Waiting in the wings to take over the mantle of TV knitting once Lucky is done -

- the start of a slipover for my father.  I'm using a pattern from the the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop, along with their wool, which is just wonderful to knit with.  My father is 6ft 4in tall, so you'll be seeing this one around for quite a while I think.  I should really have done it in the round, but that thought didn't occur to me until I was pretty far in and I'm not going to start ripping now.

Would you believe it, that's all I have on the needles.  Spot the glaring omission?  Yes, after 'fessing up to the size of my sock yarn stash, I have no socks on the go at all.  At this time of year most socks are destined to be Christmas presents, so I need to do a little planning over the next couple of days and work out how many pairs need to be done and for whom.  Expect some socks back on the needles very soon...

Drumroll please

Did you have fun guessing for the contest?  I didn't know the answers myself when I posted, so it's been interesting to find out.

First up, for the Lorna's Laces, I have, wait for it, 20 sets of dpns.  As Beth said, they're not just for socks, I have some in larger sizes for hats and sleeves.  There were a few of you who got that right, but the first past the post was domesticat - congratulations!

Now for the Margaret Stove laceweight.  This took a bit more time to figure out.  I have quite a lot of sock yarn so I enjoyed the opportunity to get it all out and have a play.  How many pairs of socks could I make?  Well let's see...

5...

10...

15...

20...

25...

30...

35...

40...

45!

Yes, that's right, 45 pairs of socks in waiting.  Plenty to keep those dpns busy aren't there?  No one guessed right on the mark, but the closest answer was Cheryl with 43, so the laceweight goes to you Cheryl.

Cheryl almost caused a major upset as she was just one off coming in at 1900th comment also, but that honour went to Pat K.  So Pat, the Limbo DK sock yarn goes to you!

Congratulations to all the winners, I will be in touch with you all via email very soon to get your mailing details.  Thanks to everyone else for playing along.  Normal knitting content should resume tomorrow.

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...

Toddling along

In what looks like becoming an annual tradition, I am celebrating my blog birthday a little late.  I think it was about 10 days ago if you want be pedantic, but whenever it was, The Wool Palace is officially 2 years old.

To celebrate 2 fun packed years I'm having a little competition, with woolly prizes of course.  As I'm 2, each prize consists of 2 skeins of wool - clever touch isn't it?

So, first up, we have 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Poppy.

To win this yarn, just leave a comment with the answer to the following question : How many sets of dpns do I own?

Maybe you don't like sock knitting?  No problem.  We also have up for grabs 2 skeins of Margaret Stove laceweight Merino, in the Spice colourway.

There is 300m per skein, so easily enough to do a good sized scarf.  To be in with a chance of winning this yarn, leave a comment answering this question:  Based on 1 pair of socks per 100g ball or pair of 50g skeins, how many pairs of socks could I knit from my current sock yarn stash?

Last up, I'm giving away the Limbo DK weight yarn I bought for Sock Wars but didn't use.

There's 100g here but I am happy to include the yarn I knitted up and frogged, which should give you plenty to knit a pair of adult socks.  To win this one, I'm going to make it easy and give it to the 1900th commentator.  I was hoping to go for the 2000th, but that's over 100 comments from now, which could be a little ambitious.

OK - everyone clear?  You can leave one comment with answers to both of the questions if you like and all comments are eligible for the Limbo yarn.  First correct answer for each question wins.  If someone manages to be the first to guess both questions correctly, then they can choose between the sock yarn or the laceweight, but it's only one prize per person.  If no one guesses correctly, then it goes to whoever is closest. If someone guesses both questions correctly first and is the 1900th commentator, I'll be very surprised but will feel quite smug that I had already thought of that eventuality.

You have until midnight on Sunday 26th November to guess and I'll announce the winners on Monday 27th November.  Good luck!

Blow the whistle

So, I've finished knitting another pair of socks for Toby.  To be more precise, I've finished knitting the ball of sock yarn I was using to knit the pair of socks.  The socks however...

I have to say, I'm gobsmacked.  This has never happened to me before with regular old self patterning sock yarn.  My first thought was that I'd been swizzed and not got the full 100g (I got the yarn off Ebay a couple of years back), but I weighed the socks and they come in at 94g, so it can't be that.  The yardage is 380m, which should be enough.

I think it must be the ribbing that's eaten up the yarn.  So, what do you think - if I ripped back to the gusset and did a stocking stitch foot, would that be enough to salvage it?

It's either that or search through my sock yarn odds and ends to try and find a suitable match.

The other baby project in the previous post is 'Lucky' from Rowan Pipsqueaks.  Check here for further details.

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...

Fired up

Toby's climbing partner came to stay.  They did proper scary climbing on Saturday - the children and I stayed away.

On Sunday we went to Haytor - along with many, many other people.

There was climbing - successful

and otherwise.

After the climbing it was time for bundling.

We watched the sun set

and the moon rise.

Then it was back home for sparklers in the garden.

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?

Best misheard song lyric ever, combined with case of mistaken identity

For some reason we were talking about Lily Allen.

Josie:  Who's Lily Allen?

Toby:  You know, she sings that song.  Cue attempt to sing some of 'Smile'.

Josie:  Oh, I know her.  She sings, 'I wish I was a humpbacked girl with flowers in my hair'.