Hat and an update

My shoulder is still acting up a bit, I went home to visit my folks and did some crochet and that appears to have triggered a flare, making even typing sometimes painful so it was an occasional choice between knitting and blogging, and often neither. I started a hat, in cotton blends one variagated one plain and while its taking it's time to do, I like whats happening so far.

Future plans

At the end of last year I did an overview of some of my WIPs. Now it's time to make some plans about how to deal with them. All 16 of them.

There are a number of types of projects.  Apart from the "Good Gods why is this taking sooooo long to make" types I divide them into several categories.

The first type I have is those that are done but need time, a dry day and energy to block.  I have one left of those, Sherwood.

Second type needs buttons or zips
Purple Biker (1)
Purple Versatility (2)
Brown Windows
Purple Leap

In progress
Dianna (3)
Memories of Springfield (4)
Brown cardigan (5)
Victoria (6)
Carmel Knotty
Multicolour square (7)
Curve of Pursuit (8)
Leaf or Stay
Sock Yarn Quilt (9)
Aquaphobia

Ripped back and needs restarting
Blue Inara (10)

with Carmel Knotty in work, Aquaphobia socks as my travelling project and Leaf or Stay at home, no buttons yet for Brown Windows or Purple Leap, that makes 10 projects that are available to do.  I may have to find one of my 12 sided dice and use it to decide what I'm working on.  Why a 12 sided dice and not a 10 sided? 11 and 12 would allow me to start a new project.  Just looking at the projects many of them are on small needles in thin yarn and really that's part of the delay.  It sounds like a plan.

Gauge Swatch and socks

After asking for help about what to knit in that aran yarn I found out that it looked best knit in 4.5 or 4mm needles NOT 5mm and while I did get gauge with it for Sea Breeze it just didn't look right to me.


is the gauge swatch 4mm to the left, 4.5mm in the middle and 5mm to the right. It was washed and the gauge checked after washing, I even put some clothes pegs on it to pull it down a bit.

So I had to find another pattern with smaller needles so I picked the Seaside Cardigan And am almost finished the shoulders and increasing part.

Today I finished the first of another pair of socks.



The yarn is called Hummel or Bumblebee and the pattern is called Green Merino Socks but I think it looks like honeycomb, I'm liking it, I think it will make me smile in the winter and think of warm summer days.

Summer top

In the current Interweave Knits I spotted a top, the Betty's Tee(from Interweave Knits) Ravelry Link I had three hanks, one dark and two light. I knew that I would need more yarn and was thinking about changing texture for it but I may change colour again to a cream. The first ball of dark did the base blocks with a bit left over. There's about the same amount left over from the first body block.

Today was wonderfully sunny and for a while I was outside on one of the chairs knitting. I'm now finished the first body block but the photograph just caught the moment of sun and promise of summer so I felt a need to share.

My Project Notes on Ravelry made public!

The needles I'm working with are from La Laine in Berlin from a visit in about 2003; the dark yarn is from Jenners in Edinburgh, from about 5 years ago and the light yarn is from a sale in This is Knit, so as a commenter said on Twitter, very European!

Sometimes I could scream

I figured that having removed the bobbles, ripped it back because I had the wrong size the first time and having knitting opportunity due to ill I'd have this done soon.

NO!

I mean it looks good

but it's only 44" at the moment with about another repeat left in it, and with about 5" per repeat that's going to maybe take me to 50". Even with allowing for my shortness (I'm 5'1" or 61") and the fact that generally wrist to wrist measurements = height that's still going to be too short. Each ball is giving me approximately 17" of knitting, so another ball would give me 67", still short of the magical 71" the pattern calls for, but would get me over the 61" absolute minimum. The pattern is Versatility from Knitty; my pattern notes Ravelry Link

Whats worse? I'm pretty sure I bought the last few balls of this colourway in This is Knit when I got it. Hopefully I can get more of it. Going to put it in a project bag, mark it as hibernating and see if I can find more of the yarn (Royal Purple Flutter)

New top

I've been working on this one on and off recently. It used to be Honeycomb that I wasn't 100% happy with and ripped at the last Fiber Fun Friday, so it's becoming Sweet Tea from Everyday Crochet
(Amazon UK Link) (US Link) Ravelry Link Bookdepository.co.uk link

This is how far I've got, 11 of 25 rounds, I've tried it on and it fits nicely.


Yes one side is slightly bigger than the other, this is to allow for the difference between my front and my back, i.e. boobs. It's worked from the top down and the way it works with this book is that there's one basic pattern per chapter with variations. A great idea.

I think this is looking better for this yarn than this was turning out

Spring Forward Socks

So I finished them last night and have been happily wearing them today.



I still think that it's funny that Léan finished hers a little sooner and in a similar colouring. I'm enjoying mine.

I started into the sleeves of my Rogue and I have one done today.

Socks and some thoughts

Yes I knit socks and I usually have a pair on the go. The current pair are Spring Forward from Knitty



I started them on Monday and they're just flying up which always makes me worried that there's something wrong with them and that they won't fit but a quick check assures me that indeed they do.

I often regard the first sock as a kinda gauge swatch, yes I know I'm tempting fate but at this stage of sock knitting I have a fairly good idea of what will and won't work. I pick the sock pattern based loosely on the gauge on the ballband and often increase the needle size by one because I have big ankles. I also cast on with the cable cast on turn around knit a row and join (how to speak gibberish to non-knitters) this is because I like the look of what would be the inside of the cable cast on if I joined immediately. I have tried other methods of casting on, which all claim to be loose, nope, they don't work for me. That, though, is part of the fun, trying different things.

Currently I prefer knitting socks from the cuff down, yes there is another option, toe up. This won't stop me from trying some more toe-up.

What is it about socks that make them so attractive? They're very portable, everything I need to knit them fits in a medium sized toilet bag, this makes them ideal for bringing with me when I'm going to work. If I'm on the bus I knit, during breaks in work I knit, when waiting for Mac in Blanchardstown, I knit, if I agree to meet someone in town and I'm waiting in a coffee shop, I knit.

The other thing that's interesting about socks is that it's a chance to try out patterns, techniques, and other things with what appears to be a small risk. You can also hide the evidence under shoes and clothing but have that warm feeling that you're hiding bright colour and something you made yourself.

Though the strange looks you get sometimes while you knit in public also have an amusement value!

Things to note about socks:

If you wear ankle-boots or the like you will need about 6 inches of sock before the heel, you will also want some form of reinforced heel, boots rub.

There is something balanced about having the above the heel part about as long as below the heel for me this is also about the 6 inch length.

The average sock pattern is designed for someone for whom where the calf muscle hits is about the same as where the widest part of the foot is. This isn't always true (for me my calf, about 6" above where the heel is is about 12" while the widest part of my foot is 9"). There are a number of ways of fixing this. Another repeat or two is the easiest solution. You can decrease down after the heel, you will be anyway.

When you pick up stitches after the heel you may not have as many as the pattern states, honestly, this doesn't matter, so long as you have the same number by the time you reach the main part and you're happy with the look of the heel, this is what's important, take a deep breath and just knit. Skip the first stitch along the edge and pick up the slipped stitches I usually pick up a bridging stitch between the heel stitches and the top of the foot stitches, this is because I like how it tightens the gap.

A heel usually has as many rows as you have on the needles. You can easily count how many rows you have by counting the loops on the back of the work if you're working a slip stitch heel, if not, it should be approximately square, if you fold it diagonally it should be as wide as it is tall. If you have a deep heel or a short heel adjust for you, ignore the designer if it suits you. Patterns are like recipes, people stress less about substituting in recipes than they do knitting patterns.

If you're doing a short-row heel a quick formula is usually ((stitches on needle)/2)+1 and then ssk & k1 (I regularly substitute knit two to the back of the loop) turn sl 1 k5 p2tog p1, continue slipping the first stitch k or p to the 1st stitch before the gap k or p 2 tog k or p1. Depending on how many stitches you have on the needle you may end up with the last row without the final k or p1's the important thing is balance, it should be the same on both sides.

The decreases on the heel cup don't really matter, honestly, it will probably felt.

Yarn for socks: There are patterns for almost every weight of yarn. Lighter than double knitting will mean that they're more likely to fit in your shoes without warping them beyond use with ordinary socks. If you don't hand-wash you will want to look for superwash wool with some nylon, though not all of it works. It can be useful to have friends with kids who will wear felted socks around the house. Superwash yarn is also good if your feet sweat a lot. No matter how superwash they are there is a high likelyhood that the heels, balls and heel-cup will felt (you really won't see the decreases after a while). Dryers aren't good for socks, trust me.

Another reason for sock knitting is the quantity of yarn it uses, an average pair of socks for me use a bit under 100g of yarn, this is 1-2 balls of wool. For mac it's around 100g and can sometimes be a little over so 1-3 balls. This can be where toe up wins over cuff-down, you can half the amount of yarn and knit until you run out, leaving very little left over and not running out before you finish the sock.

Anyone else have some comments?