19 posts tagged “green”

I know, posts are like buses around here...

Well I just wanted to do a final post to write about what I am currently knitting.

Firstly I am knitting the Elegant Ribbed Stockings by Ann Budd from Favourite Socks (still on my odyssey to knit everything in the book).  These are particularly special though because I am using the Cascade 220 I overdyed.  So this is the first thing I have knitted from my own hand dyed yarn.  They are a surprisingly quick knit for being knee high socks, probably because the gauge is so huge.

Elegant Ribbed Stockings

In order to counteract the huge gauge on this, I decided to go the other way on the other socks I am currently knitting.  after much recommending I am finally knitting the Coriolis Socks in New Pathways for Socks Knitters by Cat Bordhi and they really do not disappoint, they are a really interesting construction and lots of fun.  However in my wisdom I decided to try knitting them on 2.00mm needles because Cat's Master Numbers will allow me to do this.  They are understandably going slowly but the resulting fabric is so smooth and fine (for a handknit) that it is worth it.  I wouldn't want to have to knit like this all the time though.  I am using purple bfl sock yarn had painted by Knitwitches.  I bought this nearly two years ago and i has sat in my stash waiting for the perfect project because the colours are so good.  I gave up waiting in the end and I am very pleased that I did.

Coriolis Socks

Shortly into my Lakes holiday I finished the Absinthe Socks in Wollmeise Frosch.  I am incredibly pleased with these socks.  The pattern was a huge amount of fun, the yarn matched it perfectly! and they look and feel great, a perfect marriage of socks.  My only slight complaint is that the cables which sit on the top of the foot where the ankle and foot meet are tight and stretch a little too much.  Ii didn't irritate me while I wore them yesterday and I did walk a couple of miles out of town to visit a ruined Roman Fort so they were put through a proper test run.

Absinthe Socks

I don't normally "save" special yarn for a perfect pattern but because this was my last skein of Wollmeise I did this time and I am glad that I did.  

Finally a mere 15 months after I cast it on Durrow is done and being worn by the recipient.  I started this jumper because I loved the cables on the sleeves and J didn’t have a jumper knitted by me for him to wear.  Then the neck went wrong.  I found out afterward on Ravelry that the neck is the big source of weakness in the pattern and that many people have found it problematic.  No-one seemed to have posted a good fix though so I ended up knitting and undoing it 7 times.  I finally cracked it with a combination of going down a needle size and doing decreases front and back but stopping the back decreases early to preserve enough of the shaping to make it look good.

I then realised that the sleeves we about 2 inches to short.  So I unpicked them both from the cast on edge and fixed them.

And now it is done, it is off my queue and it only took about a day’s work fiddling to finish it!

Durrow 2

Durrow detail shot

Last year I got involved in Project Spectrum which involved knitting (or creating since it wasn't just knitting) using a prescribed theme and set of colours for a two month period.  I loved watching the projects go up on the Ravelry group and managed to add my own photos for 3 out of the 4 themes.  I think I missed Air in the end because I just couldn't get inspired.

Project Spectrum 2009 launches on 1st March and uses the Cardinal Directions as inspiration.  There is only one colour per group this time and they are pretty basic colours as well.  I am not sure how I feel about this (no purple for example is a bit of a killer!) but I still love the idea of it and will be participating anyway. 

The first challenge is the North and the colour is Green.  Green is something I have a fair amount of in my stash but more importantly I have 2 Green UFOs so my challenge for March will be to complete both of those 1 sock and about 3 inches of knitting on a jumper for J.  They I will probably start my Hilja Vest in my Olive Green Manos.  It will be a nice break from the Shawl and firey socks I am knitting right now so I just need to make sure I get both of those finished before March 1st (Oh way is Feb such a short month!)

The gauge swatch sample came out for the Mystic Star KAL and I have dutifully swatched  it at both 3.25mm and 3.5mm.  It made very little difference but I have circular needles in 3.5mm and not in 3.25 so it was important to do the test as now I know I can use the slightly bigger needles with impunity.  The pattern itself was simply enough - a diamond shape on a plain background and although I still didn't get gauge perfect, this is a shawl and so as long as I have enough yarn I the contract between a knitted stitch and a yarn over looks good then I don't think it really matters (and neither does the person running the KAL).

So I have the yarn, I have the needles and the pattern comes out on Monday when I am at home in the evening.  Perfect and ready to go.

In the end I decided to go with the cobweb weight posh yarn in the dark colourway which has become a bit of a jonah in my stash.  The yarn is perfect, colour is excellant but knitting cobweb weight yarn which is almost black is somewhat challenging.  Laminaria is the only thing I have tried to knit with it and it was frankly too complicated for the fine yarn.  However I was assured by the person running the KAL that I would need the extra yardage in the cobweb yarn which I didn't have the the Knitwitches cashmere (my other option).  At the last minute I did quail somewhat and bought some laceweight in a berry colour from Knot Another Knitter but when it arrived it turned out to be exactly the same thickness as my cobweb weight yarn (in fact I darkly expect it is precisely the same base which in a way is great since the base yarn is wonderful and the dye job is also very good).  So I have decided to go with the dark cobweb after all since I think the weight is most of the problem.

My other knitting is sekrit test knitting for someone else and I am not going to spoil his surprise by posting pictures of it or discussing it right now.  It looks great though, is a fun knit and it made out of his Sushi Sock Roll yarn which starts out life looking like this:

DSC00186

This is a long overdue post…(and forms the basis of my decision not to buy yarn for a while – I am love with the yarns I have got and don’t need anymore for now).

As soon as I got there I headed for Jon at EasyKnits. I promised I would visit him and he just so happened to have the perfect skein for a pair of socks for J. Called Plum and Custard in the thick (almost sport) bfl sock yarn it is ideal. J loves these bright firey colours and I am going to pick a very plain design to make the most of the yarn for him. I am a bit sad I didn't get any of his sushi sock rolls but I am so happy with the crazy coloured yarn I did get that it will all be ok.

Easy Knits - Plums and Custard -Bfl

Secondly I went to Socktopus and had a look at their strange and wonderful socks. I didn’t like the feel of the Chameleon Colourworks "evolution" (that strange stretched merino) in the skein and so although I had considered buying some I didn’t in the end. However I really loved all the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock Yarn colours. I bought one skein of greenlake because I adored the colours and the high twist on the base yarn and I am looking forward to trying it out.

Hazel Knits Sock Yarn - Greenlake

Knitwitches bfl sock yarn - Red

Knitwitches bfl sock yarn - lime green

Knitwitches bfl sock yarn - Blue

Coldharbour Mill Undyed Merino Sock

I bought a couple of yarns from Knot Another Knitter a while back.  One in Bamboozle which I have just used and one Yak Yarn.  Sadly the Yak yarn was too fragile to knit with and I pm Knot Another Knitter on Ravelry to ask her about it.  Apparently it was a bad batch and the line has been withdrawn but she offered me a replacement straight away and I chose some Lambswool (not tried it before) in the Spring Fling colourway.

Well today it arrived... with a friend!

Knot Another Knitter Package, spring fling

She was kind enough to send me a cake of bamboozle in the same colourway as an apology which is incredibly kind of her and I love them both (especially the contrast between the two base yarns whichyou can see really well in person.  The replacements arrived really quickly as well and the customer service has been amazing throughout.  So I will definitely be using this company again.

You can see the contrast better in the two close up shots.

Knot Another Knitter - Lambs wool Spring Fling

Knot Another Knitter - Bamboozle, Spring Fling

I have a bit of a battle with myself over buying knitting supplies. Part of me sees the knitting culture being overwhelmed with advertising and pressure to buy far more yarn than you could ever use. Many people try to justify this by saying that they are buying yarn whilst they are flush with cash so that if they ever fall on hard times they will still be able to knit and I do sympathise with this however I can also see how easy it is to fall into the consumer trap. I have bought some items again recently and I intend to buy more at both the Iknit day and probably the Knitting and Stitching Show in October but I am also trying to keep a lid on the spending and so far I am doing ok. I am keeping a spread sheet of yarn in v yarn out and so far I have knit more than I bought. I need to keep it up however, particularly as I had a huge influx of yarn into my stash earlier in the year when I was gifted a large amount of yarn including some silk (my first time knitting with silk!) for writing a knitting article and so far I haven’t counted that as “bought” yarn.

Now my own self-justification is out of the way

So I have purchase this lovely shawl pin from Purlescence as a gift for my Mum’s birthday to go with the green shawl I knitted her out of kid silk haze. Since I got the yarn for half price! I decided I would splash out on buying a really nice pin to go with it. I am actually really jealous of the pin and Mum will be lucky if she gets it in the end ;)

Shawl pin for Mum

It arrived VERY promptly and in excellent condition.

Then I ordered this yarn from Socktopus

Louet Gems - Neptune Sock Yarn

Mountain Colours - Bearfoot

Louet Gems - Shamrock Sock Yarn

This also arrived promptly and included a free sachet of Eucalan Wool Wash which I am very interested to try out. The Louet Gems is two 50g skeins to make some mirrored socks from Favourite Socks which are striped with a shadow knitting design. (this would be interesting since I have never tried shadow knitting before). The Mountain Colours Bearfoot is simply to try for fun because many people really rate it (although it apparently bleeds badly so I will have to fix that) and I have never tried socks with mohair in them. I am told though that they are super warm. Obviously both of these are US imports and so now I will be resuming my usual habit of knitting just the UK based suppliers for a while to save on carbon footprinting!

Socktopus also comes wrapped in this amazing custom tissue paper.  If I cut the words of the bottoms I can use it to wrap my Mum's shawl.

Funky tissue paper from Socktopus

This is my first time ordering from the more expensive “niche” online wools stores and it was a very positive experience and I would certainly do it again if something caught my eye. I will also be very interested to see if the sock yarn from Socktopus is worth the hype as I have two types of yarn which are both at the high end and everyone raves about the base yarn for Louet Gems.

So today my mojo (which has been waning for a while has finally failed me.  I am tired (for no good reason - well ok I did start my new diet and exercise regime last week), I have little concentration of enthusiasm and everything I am knitting on seems to need re-knitting at the moment which is just depressing.

A new and exciting and potentially great long term builder and carpenter arrived this morning and put only one of our new doors in.  He couldn't do them all because two of the three we have bought were the wrong size and need replacing.  Unfortunately this caught me at a low ebb and this low was compounded further by binding off a pair of socks and discovering that one of them was too short (hence the re-knitting dismay). 

As well as drowning my sorrows in back to back episodes of Dr Who and having a sleep in the afternoon (something I usually hate doing) I need to concentrate on the positives for a while to get me out of this blue funk (tm).

Firstly the vegetable garden is having some great successes such as the salad leaves which all taste fabulous:

Salad leaves

And the tomato plants some of which have some trusses on them.

Tomato plant 2008

Mock Cable Wave Sock 2

Mock Cable Wave Sock 1

Athough I am ripping back on these socks they are looking good and will be one more towards the Favourite Socks book when the are done.  Realistically I am only taking out the toe so an evening of knitting and I will be back on track.  This is made of our Hipknits Ophelia sock yarn in the Forest colourway.  The yarn is coming out ok but it is a little splitty and could probably have more twist in the ply.  I have done some extra slip stitch reinforcing on the bottom of the heel as well as the back in case the yarn does not stand up as well as sock yarns with more twist in them.

My only other triumph this week was to put up a cleaning schedule on the fridge which next week we start to implement.  It is an organic process so that we can amend it as we go and come up with a realistic systems that suites our needs.  I insist on being optomistic about this!

I finished a new pair of socks for J today.  It was the Priscilla's Dream socks in Cherry Tree Hill's Sockittome - the Life's a Beach colourway. This is another pattern from Favourite socks which gets me up to 7 out of 25 patterns for my 101 in 1001 challenge.

I am not very happy with the pattern.  I can see the merits but it just didn't do it for me, I think I just don't really like short row heels and this has short row heels and toes.  The yarn was amazing though.  It was super soft and it is 20% nylon as well.  J really loved so I shall definitely be getting more of this.

Priscilla's Dream Socks finished

Cherry Tree Hill Yarn "Life's Beach"

I have also been knitting on the anniversary socks (also from favourite socks) using my one and only skein of Posh Yarn, Laura (a cashmere and merino blend) in the Corpse Colourway.  I think that these are going to turn out to be my actual dream socks. This is wonderfully soft yarn and the dye job is stunning.  I am really enjoying using it and terribly sad that Posh Yarns and now so hard to get hold off.  She sells out in less than 30 minutes every time she does an update so I am making the most of what I have.

Anniversary socks close up

Anniversary Socks Progress