Latest sock

Finally I started Cherry Tree Hill supersock merino which I was curious to try. I'm knitting along, happy as all get out, but check out the pooling starting in the midfoot section. It could be rather charming, showing off the beauty of the colours..... or it could be not working for me. Ah well, keep on knitting. I'm making Cat Bordhi's Rushing Rivulet Socks in the same book I've been using for awhile. I like the texture.



This pattern uses the Riverbed pathway where the increases are made on the sole of the foot like this:



The pattern is very simple to do once you get into the groove. I think the first sock turned out quite well. Rather springy!

on a Blue Sky roll

A couple of years ago I knit this tank in Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cotton. I loved the picture on the pattern (I think I imagined I would be painting, just like the model, wearing my new tank), I was crazy for the colourway Flamingo, and I was into the softness of the yarn. So I knit it up very fast without paying too much attention to anything important, the gauge, for example. My project turned out to be very big, very unflattering, and very disappointing. It languished in my closet, and every couple of months I would try it on, hopeful I would change my mind, or it would change its shape, but it always looked pretty bad. Last year I frogged it finally to at least salvage the yarn, and since then it's been hibernating in a ziploc bag.

Now it's Spring (at least on the calendar) and time for new beginnings, re-birth, renewal and the like. So after using all that dyed cotton for Tomato, I thought I would keep a good thing going and carry on with this yarn. I'm making the Fitted Tank again, this time using the right size needles (4.5 mm) to get gauge (18 sts over 10 cm). I am sure I used 5.5 mm the first time around as suggested in the pattern, but at that point in my knitting career I was completely unconcerned with gauge and fit. Live and learn :0), this little tankie is cruising along and and looking much more promising this time! I'm almost done!

Skiing and Tomato

Our week off from school and work was fun, cold, and snowy! It looked like this:





and this:



Tomato was a fast one, and turned out very close to what I expected. I used about 3.5 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Navy, and a partial skein of Pickle on 4.5 mm needles. I wanted to knit a top with about 1 inch of negative ease, so I modified the pattern to make a finished bust between the smallest size (31") and one up from that (35.5"). I think I was successful.

These are the mods I made:
Upper body I cast on sts as if for the smallest size per pattern, but repeated the increase rounds 23 times (a hybrid of sizes) so that I had 238 sts total (26 ea front, 56 ea sleeve, 74 for back).
Divide for armholes cast on 1 st on either side of m for ea underarm (again, a hybrid of sizes) using method as per patt, and cast on 22 sts for centre front. This means across the front (26 + 22 + 26) and back (74) plus 4 sts picked up (1 on ea side of underarm m) I had 152 sts, which at a gauge of 4.5 sts per inch, equalled 33.8" which was about 0.2" of negative ease...this would do! Especially since the fair isle section is not as forgiving and stretchy as the stockinette, it would work for me.
Lower body did not decrease on the main colour round (after the 1 round of contrast colour).
Waist decrease repeat decrease rounds 3 times total
Neck edging k2p2 for 7 rounds, then work in patt to 2 sts before first m, work 2 tog, sl m, work 2 tog, work to 2 sts before next m, work 2 tog, sl m, work 2 tog, work in patt to end of rnd.
Sleeve edging pick up and knit 2 sts at underam, pm, pick up and knit 2 sts at underarm (4 sts picked up total = 60 sts). Then decrease 4 sts evenly on next rnd. I used 4 dpns, so I k1, k2tog, then dec 1 st per dpn on the next 2 dpns, and then k until the last 3 sts of rnd, and k2tog and k1.

I'm just a teensy bit unhappy with the shape of the sweater immediately before starting the waist decreases, to me it looks like it got a little bigger. I am convinced this is because of the nature of stockinette following fair isle (guess maybe I still was not loose enough in that section)...if I were to knit it again, I would start the decreases on the round after the last contrast colour round. However, I'm pretty pleased overall!

This may be up next...Happy Easter!

Moving along

I'm feeling rather quilty! I got busy cutting half-square triangles from prints and semi-solids.



The main blocks are laid out on the design wall in a pleasing arrangement. I love this part of the process.



Now the star points and background pieces are added to the mix. I could have mixed up the star points with the main square for a scrappy look but that is not what I want for this quilt.



I think this will be the final layout, I'll think about it for awhile before any piecing is done.



So in the meantime, I got these finished.



And managed to do the Fair Isle section of Tomato too. This is the second time I completed this bit - it was my first try at fair isle techniqe (practice for a future project). Although I knew it would pull in a bit while stranding the other yarn behind the working yarn, I didn't realise it would be SO much until I tried it on (this is a top-down sweater). I had allowed some negative ease too, and combined with the fair isle section, ahem, shall we say it was a little uncomfortable across the chest. It has since been fixed with a re-calculation of stitches and a re-knit with increased awareness of holding the other yarn LOOSELY. Now it has some give! I'll be able to breathe.

Seastorm coming to an end

Turned the heel, and now I'm on the final stretch!



I really like this colourway. I am following Cat Bordhi's technique for her Foxglove pattern, but I can't handle putting the increases "anywhere I feel like." I wanted to knit a plain toe-up sock with traditional increases on the sides, so I placed the increases at the beginning (LRinc) and end (LLinc) of the sole at the rate of 2 increases per 3 rounds for the arch expansion section, as per Cat. This pair of socks will be going into the gift reserve, designated.


To meet my non-sock knitting project needs, I've cast on for Tomato using Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Navy. The colour is so dark, it's not the best project to work on in the evening. The contrasting houndstooth will be in Pickle. The colours remind me of black watch plaid, a favourite of mine. I have a good feeling about this one. Hopefully it will be a quick knit, without any major mistakes! Check out my queue on Ravelry to see what will be after this - I'm crispynoodle.

Sew soon

Today I spent a little time with my ball winder and swift. These gadgets play great together. That there on the swift is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino. All in anticipation of me finishing off Seastorm sock, well, I haven't made it to the heel, but soon. I just can't cast off without being totally ready for the next sock in line. After winding the whole ball, I wound approximately half back into a second ball - as a toe-up sock knitter I want to use up that yarn. A visual guess at half would likely do, but when pharmacists have access to sensitive scales, well, let's just say these two balls are now within 0.5 g of each other. Perfect.



And to start the ball rolling on yet another endeavour, Bernie and I will be getting re-acquainted. I pressed the fabrics (shown in the last post, all folded up) for the new quilt which will eventually go in our room. This is the first time I have blogged about quilts, I was starting to think I should take the quilt out of the crispy noodle! (just go with it, folks) It's still in me, though, the pressing and cutting has rekindled my interest and will be another distraction from all my woolly work.



Bernie looks pleased.

On a long cable break

It's done!



Debbie Bliss' Classic Cabled Sweater from her book Out of Town. The pattern called for 18 balls of alpaca silk aran. I chose a lovely red that has since been discontinued. Imagine my dismay at running out of yarn at the time of working the collar. I found 2 balls on ebay, however in a different lot number. I did not see a difference, so I went with it! Really, my options were rather limited. Anyway, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. The only modification I made was the needle size - Debbie says to use 5 mm on the body and 4.5 mm for ribbing sections, but I had to go down to 4.5 mm and thus use 4 mm for ribbing. The fit is perfect, sorry no picture to confirm this! The shaping is done by using the smaller needle around the waist section which eliminated any inc/dec within the double moss stitch. Ain't it grand? It's quite warm, not many cold weather days to wear it but I've been sneaking in a few hours here and there with it on. Cosy and soft, I love it.

So, I've been off knitting for at least three days.

Couldn't stand it any more, so I knocked off a sock made of the yarn on the right (Fleece Artist's Basic Merino in Seastorm):




which I plucked from my crystal bowl of sock yarn:



And now for something completely different! My newest item added to the working queue:



and this:



I've got plans, baby, big plans...