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September 27, 2008
Eye Candy Saturday: 2.8 grams edition
What a relief. Srsly. 2.8 grams of yarn (about 6 yards) left after finishing the first of my dad's knee high socks.
Also, photographing this yarn under proper daylight conditions is one thousand times easier than photographing it at night.
Posted by Kathy at 10:20 AM | Comments (15)September 25, 2008
Long, longer, longest
A while back I mentioned that even though I initially chose the 5" long Bryspun dpns for knitting my dad's socks, I quickly changed my mind in favor of 6" long INOX ones. You see, the socks start out with 84 stitches, and when that's combined with using sportweight yarn, keeping all those loops on the needles becomes a real hassle.
But the INOX weren't even the last ones! After knitting a few inches, I decided I wanted something even longer, and possibly a hair thinner: both the Bryspuns and the INOX are 3.00 mm, and the fabric they produced was a bit loosey-goosey.
Ta-da! Susan Bates Silvalume dpns, US 2. I have two sets of these (8 needles total), so I'm able to knit in the round using 5 needles. These puppies are proving to be absolutely perfect: 2.75 mm in width and 7" in length.
Armed with the right needles, I finally moved past the ribbed cuff and into the meat of the sock pattern. Despite having everything "different" - different weight of yarn, different gauge, different height of finished sock - I was able to follow the book's pattern to a t for an obnoxiously long period of time. I worked the leg shaping chart exactly as written, decreasing the initial 84 stitches to 72, and then I immediately worked the chart again to decrease the stitch number to 60. Considering my dad's request that these socks to be on the looser side, I thought 60 stitches around the foot would be a great circumference, so I didn't budge after that.
I finally had to put on my thinking cap when I got to the heel. The number of pattern repeats was different, and so was the way they were spaced relative to the seam stitch. So, separating the heel and instep stitches led to some "border" stitches on either side - just broken up pattern repeats. I decided to make the instep borders plain stockinette - they'll blend in effortlessly into the sole. The 3 stitches on each side of the heel flap, however, I made in reverse stockinette.
Like magic, once the gusset stitches are picked up, the demarcation of the purl-edged heel flap and the knit gussets disappears! If you can see it in that dark-colored (meaning, impossible to photograph) fabric!
Posted by Kathy at 08:46 PM | Comments (17)September 21, 2008
Glowing Undulating Rib socks
If I knew how the folks at Fleece Artist made their yarns glow, I would know the Secret of the Universe.
Pattern: Undulating Rib Socks by Ann Budd from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Magic! Just kidding ;). Fleece Artist Sea Wool in pixie, 70% merino and 30% Seacell, 350 meters (380 yards) per 115 grams. One skein was plenty for a pair of large women's socks, and I had 11.4 grams left over. Purchased as the Bordello sock kit from my favorite Fleece Artist dealer, Tidal Brook Yarns.
Needles and gauge: Using Susan Bates US 1 dpns resulted in a gauge of 29 stitches and 42 rounds in circular stockinette stitch.
This is a marvelously textured pattern accomplished with only a few increases and decreases, nothing complicated! The springiness of the yarn only helps. Take a look at this photo - the depth of the stitches is really visible in the shadow.
I made only a few noteworthy changes to the pattern as written. First, I centered the heel/instep a little differently, working each portion over 33 stitches (compared to the original 32 heel/34 instep). Doing this resulted in the instep being completely symmetrical, but because it was now worked over 5.5 pattern repeats, the stitch number vacillated between 35 stitches in rounds 1-8, and 33 stitches in rounds 9-16. Admittedly, a little confusing at times, but the symmetry made me happy.
Second, I have to agree with the comments on Ravelry: there does seem to be a mistake in the pattern which hasn't made its way onto the Favorite Socks corrections page yet (this pattern starts on page 93). If you follow the directions for the ribbed cuff as written, and then would like the Undulating Rib stitch pattern to emerge smoothly (and as it appears in the book's photograph!), you have to start at round 9 of the chart, instead of round 1. Not a big deal. Though the result is undeniably pretty!
And pretty is all that grandma wants, really. Therefore, my job is done. [Wipes hands clean of this project, so she can work on something poop-colored.]
Posted by Kathy at 02:59 PM | Comments (38)September 16, 2008
Color rut?
The funny thing about my dad's request is that the socks are going to be the same color as everything else on my needles and on my mind:
Is this some kind of bad joke? Like someone, or something, slithered by, and left a gigantic yarn dump. On the left is the Paivatar destined to become my mom's shawl, then the yarn for my dad's knee high socks, and last is the 21-25 scarf (still working on it). All basically the same color. Of POOP. And I'm wearing a dark gray shirt today. Is this what one would call "a color rut"?!?
Though I must tell you the yarn for my dad's socks sort of fell into my lap - I didn't choose the color.
A while back I got an e-mail with the following subject line: "Please take this Louet away from me!" In it Shaina wrote that she didn't like working with Louet "at all", and wanted to unload her 7 (!!) stashed skeins onto me. She said, "I just want it gone and you were the first person I could think of who really liked it."
Letmethinkaboutitforasecond YES and also kthnxbi. (It wasn't quite like that - I happily traded Shaina some LL in order to rescue the poor Louet :)).
Anyway, two of the skeins I received were sportweight Gems merino in charcoal (#49), 100 grams in each skein. Happily they adorned my stash until my dad's request and my instant realization that the amount and weight were perfect for his bed knee high socks!
Sidenote: the very first pair of socks I knit for my dad also used sportweight Gems merino! My dad states that while LL Shepherd Sock (which he's had the pleasure of experiencing since then) is softer, he prefers the thickness and loftiness of sportweight Gems for house and bed socks. Of course, no such statement of comparison could be obtained from my grandma - each newest sock pair is her "favorite," in turn.
Similar to the realization that this sportweight Gems merino would be perfect for the knee high socks (in terms of fiber composition, the yarn's thickness, quantity on hand, and color), I sort of immediately suspected the perfect place to find a suitable pattern: Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks
The pattern currently capturing my attention is Gentleman's Shooting Stockings with Fluted Pattern. Nancy writes that, "The original came up to the knee, perhaps even over it, and was meant to be worn with knickerbockers." I think my dad will ignore the latter portion of that statement (as well as the rifle in the pattern photo, if I'm seeing it correctly!), but I fully intend to reverse engineer Nancy's version in order to revert to the original knee height. My yarn and gauge are different from those specified in the pattern, and my dad's requirements for looser socks come into play, too. But I think that if I knit the pattern as written, for the most part I won't have to make wild modifications!
The pattern, the needles (3.0 mm), and the yarn. As always, each one subject to change at any time, without any notice ;). For instance, the 5" Bryspun dpns have already been swapped for 6" INOX ones - the extra 1" in length seems to help in maintaining the large number of stitches on and not off the needles.
Posted by Kathy at 08:40 PM | Comments (24)September 14, 2008
The next thing. Or not.
I was pretty much set with the next thing to hit these pointy things here, my needles. I mentioned it here - my mom lost her Leaf Lace Shawl about a year ago, and as soon as I found out I promised to knit her a replacement. Since then, of course, an entire cold and dreary winter has come and gone. Right...
Not that I didn't try! While I got my act together, I gave her my Shetland Triangle, which I think she enjoys wearing very much. And I very seriously worked on the Trinity Stitch shawl for her, even finishing the main triangle, before deciding it wasn't the right thing after all (too heavy and not drapey enough) and frogging the whole project in one panicked instant.
The yarn is now on its fourth life: (1) Leaf Lace shawl, (2) Mac & Me scarf, (3) Trinity Stitch shawl, (4) frogged too many times, worn out, sad, limp, and on its way to retirement.
But the request for a replacement shawl does not disappear when the yarn slated to become it does. So when I saw the Spirit Trail Fiberworks Paivatar at this spring's New Hampshire Sheep & Wool festival, displayed right next to my turd-ilicious Atropos, I did not hesitate, I did not delay, I handed over my credit card and dreamed of my mom in her new gorgeous shawl.
Paivatar in "Special" (MCN 08-03-01), 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon; 115 grams and 250 yards per skein (I bought two).
The yarn is simply perfect. It is mysterious, gloomy, very similar in color to my mom's first shawl (per request), and a wonderful match for the pattern I had picked out months and months earlier - Chrissy Gardiner's Toe The Line shawl, which I had the pleasure of test knitting this winter using LL Helen's Lace. By the way, I maintain that this is brilliant pattern (as you know, I'm not one to hand out such endorsements unless I really, truly mean them).
It would be fabulous, simply fabulous, don't you think?!? Grandma's latest pair of socks is basically done, the timing to knit a shawl for my mom is perfect, I have the yarn, I have the pattern, and there's nothing to hold me back now!
... And then my dad called, and with utmost earnestness asked me to knit him a pair of knee-high socks (with further specifications than that, naturally). His health issues are causing awful muscle cramps during the night, while he sleeps, and he thinks a pair of wooly tall socks would help him tremendously.
So much for the next thing...
September 08, 2008
A non-saggy surprise
And as soon as I noticed that the lovely Fleece Artist Sea Wool was packaged into the Bordello sock kit, all while being composed of 70% merino and 30% Seacell, my brain went into planning mode.
You see, if I were to use this yarn for the recommended purpose - a pair of socks - I would need to worry about resilience and memory and, as they say, "springiness." Because 30% silky-anything, whether derived from the silk worm or seaweed, can lead to a marvelously drapey shawl, but a hideously saggy pair of socks.
Not a problem! Careful planning to the rescue! I browsed through my pattern books, looking for something with the following properties: (1) a bit of ribbing to maintain the shape of the fabric, (2) not too complicated, to allow the carefully-engineered variegations of the yarn to shine through, and (3) pretty, since these are for grandma (of course). The Undulating Rib pattern from Favorite Socks
But here's the kicker: the yarn totally surprised me. I started knitting, and while the sheen and silkiness and drape were all present, as expected, so was the bounce! The ribbed fabric contracted marvelously, and I realized that the yarn would work well in a less extreme pattern, too.
The socks are knitting up very quickly on US 1 needles, and I'm happy to report that 380 yards may be just enough for a grandma-sized pair. Colinette, take note. The misshapen skein of yarn up-top needs to last me another 2.5" of the foot plus a wedge toe. I think it's totally doable, and, yes, this means I'm quite close to finishing.
Sidenote: Remember when my Lacey Lamb had faces? Am I the only one who sees a face in the skein of Fleece Artist at the top of the post? A rather angry face, I should add...
Posted by Kathy at 08:52 PM | Comments (41)September 04, 2008
Eye Candy Friday: am I unpacked yet?
I would say my crafting area is loosely divided into two sections - the inspirational side and the "getting down to business" side.
1. Inspiration
The inspirational side is nothing more than three Billy bookcases side by side (in front of some truly unfortunate wood paneling - le sigh!). The rightmost bookcase is filled with books and patterns, and is wide open for thumbing through and perusing. The left bookcase has yarns and fabrics, as well as glass doors to keep out the curious kitty.
The middle, narrow bookcase has spillover from both sides. On the top shelf we have some yarns and works in progress, the middle shelf has sewing patterns (the bin with the blue lid), and the lowest shelf has finished projects. It will get a glass door shortly, because if I were to increase my stash, the new additions would go there and would need kitty claw protection.
Other than notions, and partial balls of yarn and scraps of fabric (in other words, project leftovers), what you see is the entirety of my yarn and fabric stash. More than you expected, or less?
1a. Literary Inspiration
I admit that I definitely have a weakness for books, pamphlets, knitting magazines, and individual patterns. If I like it, I buy it, and ask questions later. So, I was a pleasantly surprised to see that all my literary crafting materials fit into a single small Billy bookcase, with room to grow!
For the first time since I started collecting knitting books four years ago, I was able to organize everything thematically. This is something I've always wanted to do, but never had the dedicated space to actually implement. Some books, of course, are not easily categorized, so I placed them based on how I intend to use them.
For example, Loop-d-Loop
In contrast, if I were to knit a pattern from Knitting for Two
Books by Elizabeth Zimmermann
2. Getting down to business
And after perusing the books, pattern, yarns, and fabrics, it's time to get down to business and actually make something, don't you think?
My crafting corner. It took a long time to get to a point where I'm able to dedicate a part of my living space specifically to crafting. One day it may be a room, but for now a corner is more than sufficient.
Just a few things visible here: in the foreground is a counter-height table (that we found on the street - am I allowed to admit that?). I think it was meant for the kitchen, but the height is perfect for standing and working at it, be it cutting, tracing, pinning, typing, whatever. The tabletop fits my Olfa 36" x 24" rotary mat perfectly!
As we look to the right, next we have a very simple floor lamp from Staples, with a 3-way light bulb and an Ott-Lite bulb in the gooseneck arm. In the corner are three plastic bins
And straight ahead is my sewing table, topped with my stimulus Bernina! It's the one I picked out back in March. I actually purchased it from Walmart.com shortly thereafter, while I was still living in my 386-square foot closet-masquerading-as-an-apartment. To say it was "in the way" is a serious understatement. But not any more! Check it out:
I won't go through all the little knick knacks contained within, but I will point out the items which have made a serious improvement in the areas of comfort, ergonomics, and/or organization.
First, notice the red pouch hanging off the table's edge. This is a catch-all for snipped threads and other small garbage; I picked it up at the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival. The base is weighed down with what feels like beans or peas, and it has a swatch of slip-resistant shelf lining stitched to the bottom. The pouch itself has a wooden or plastic ring inserted at the opening so it keeps its shape and stays open. Brilliantly designed, and supremely functional.
I keep my bobbins and sewing machine notions on the shelves hiding behind the red pouch.
A simple box for the old Singer bobbins, and a fancy ring for the new Bernina bobbins. Feet for the machines and Schmetz sewing needles, just the basics.
Next, below the pouch, you'll see three flat plastic bins on their sides.
These three ArtBins, purchased at Joann.com, are still works in progress - mostly empty as I figure out the best way to store and organize my sewing notions. My favorite is of course the large thread box
- so colorful and convenient!
In the plastic bins attached to the door of the table I keep the essentials - the things I take out each and every time I sew.
My tape measure, scissors, rotary cutter, needles, pencils, hemming gauge: they are all tucked inside the long and narrow bin. My Grabbit pin cushion, inside a protective Tupperware-style container, is also nearby.
At this point I've exhausted all the "filler" topics, like complaining about moving, the lack of internet connectivity, my cold, the kitty, new furniture, and the parade of every plastic bin sold at Joann's. I guess I'm going to have to show you some progress next time, won't I?!?
Posted by Kathy at 09:40 PM | Comments (52)September 03, 2008
My life, through your eyes
And so, August has come and gone without a single peep from yours truly. Regretfully, everything was completely topsy-turvy around here for weeks on end. While the rest of the world enjoyed their glorious August weekends (and this year, as though to spite me, they were truly glorious in our area), I committed to memory the floor plan of every nearby Target.
Each day there are fewer and fewer things left to do, and I think we only have 3 or 4 boxes left to unpack. But having hardly picked up my knitting since mid-July, I understandably haven't had much motivation to share my nonexistent progress with you.
I can't predict whether my opportunities to chat with you will be more numerous in the immediate future. I hope so. That is, when the internet's working, and we finish assembling the furniture in the living room, and there aren't looming trips to Target or IKEA for this thing or that one, and I finally wash off the dirty footprints in the bathtub (don't ask... or rather, ask my husband), and... right... I actually locate some knitting and knit a few stitches, so that I have something to show you. Then I'll return to blogging.
For today, two exquisite reasons bring me to you. First, I'm home from work with a cold that threatens to blow up my head. Good thing I make an excellent cocktail. Second, our internet is totally busted up and I'm waiting for the Comcast technician to come by and put us back online. You might ask how I'm able to blog, these two things considered, but my stuffy head can't come up with an answer right now, sorry.
Anyway, while it's clear that all my free time has been committed to packing, unpacking, and setting up the new domicile, I have not forgotten about you, not for a second! How could I?!? Everywhere I looked, and each thing I touched, no matter how mundane or personal, was a tribute to my involvement in the knitting community. Want to take a look???
For example, let's start with cosmetics. If not for Sundara, I would have never even heard of Paula's Choice skincare. I love many of their products, but the Barely There Sheer Matte Tint is a "don't accept any substitutes" favorite.
About a year ago, a speedy but fruitful trip to Sephora totally refreshed my makeup drawer, and for the better! The culprits? Diana and Maritza, of course! They tested the colors on my face, then shoved the goodies into my basket. Now I'm on the second or third iteration of most of these products.
Just some of the new favorites I discovered that day, thanks to my knitting friends: Mineral Veil, Tarte cheek stain, and Benetint.
The queen of knails herself, Fluffy Knitter Deb, introduced me to glass nail files when I was readying my hands for my wedding. The results were excellent ("tears of joy" photo as an example), and I've never looked back.
Speaking of Deb and her P-Man... I think our Kitty has benefited the most from my association with all the (cat-lovin') knitters. Whenever I read about something new or cool for the furry ones on a knitting blog, I just go ahead and buy it, no questions asked. Hasn't failed yet, not even approximately! Kitty loves all the toys that you write about ;).
From Crazy Aunt Purl we learned about the Crinkle Cat Cave
My knitting bookshelf is understandably influenced by the things I read on the web, and the interactions I have with knitters in real life. Even the way it's organized, together with the sewing and cutting tables (yes, I have one of each now!), pays homage to all the pretty crafting rooms I've been reading about for years. Like the one Nova just finished organizing! But I think I'm going to leave a formal introduction to my crafting space for another day, when the bookshelf isn't blocked by unpacked boxes and when the cutting table isn't housing random modems and routers in anticipation of the Comcast tech.
As for the regular bookshelf, in addition to housing super-dry science and architecture textbooks, it, too, appears to be "under the knitters' influence."
I'm not into cookery, but I do have one (exactly one) cookbook - The New Best Recipe
Here, there, and everywhere, little reminders of knitters. How does it feel, seeing your findings, discoveries, and observations, parading right here, infiltrating my life?
Posted by Kathy at 11:23 AM | Comments (45)
