KnittingNatty

Knitting! Content!

I finished the kai-mi socks during the week and over the weekend!

PAttern: Kai -mei from Sock Innovation.
Yarn: "Ball and Skein" - ballband long since lost. A dark, brooding purple with mauve highlights. The yarn is nice and has washed up well - the yarn is a little splitty for tinking and re-picking, and the dye did not make it all the way through the yarn in places. I'd happily buy it again though, as it is from an indie dyer/ small company. There was jsut a bit of spiralling on the second sock's foot, but otherwise the colour variations were very well placed. Somehow I managed to make the 2nd sock a bit shorter in the leg- first time ever! 

Yes, I am hiding my left toes for a reason!

Although the last shot is out of focus, it is the most accurate as far as colour goes, and it does show a little more of the stitch detail.

I am chuffed with these socks and how they have worked out. I have to re-do the 2nd toe, as I did the decreases too quickly, with the effect of drawing the lace pattern unflatteringly across the toes.

My notes (which are repeated on Ravely) as as follows:

I changed to pointier needles after turning the heel. When picking up the ladders for the centre stitch which is purled, just scoop them with your left needle, don't twist them, and do the purl stitch. It will look a little messy, but dont fret about that. Otherwise the elongated stitch will be twisted.

Dont be put off by how complicated the stitch pattern looks - its easy to memorise and master after a couple of repeats.

This is a really well written pattern - just trust the instructions, and yours will turn out like the one in the photo. 

Also, I think that stretching the sock just a little along the foot when deciding where to start the toe is a good idea -this will open up the lacy stitches a little bit more...

This is certainly a pair of socks to go buy clear plastic shoes to show them off!

Thanks to Sandy for sending me the yarn - a long ago held competition with a random draw!

Waving (lace) in China (apple)

Okies - here is proof that I still knit - one lone sock.

This is a beautiful and easy pattern, which shows up the variations in the yarn beautifully.

Pedicure? Check! Or you could say I'm putting my best foot forward!

Happy father's day to those celebrating today. We/re off to the beach this morning for a picnic lunch.

Life is food good.

Holiday retreat - a snapshot (or two)

We're back from our family holiday, which was really well appreciated by everyone and lets just say a little overdue for some of us.  We went to the usual place in the bush which is secluded, no phone, no tv, no radio, no mobile reception, no internets; just perfect! We cooked porridge for breakfast, warming soups for lunch and good hearty food for dinner each night, accompanied by a little red wine, to ward off the cold, of course ;) We did some bushwalking, snoozing, played board games, that kind of thing.

It was not exactly freezing, but at least we all got to wear our winter woolies!
 I took knitting, and lots of it. Of course, I took more than I could possibly knit and still be responsible for the supervision of small children, and some of my estimates of what was possible were  based on sitting up late into the night just to get extra knitting done, but this did not eventuate, as catching up on sleep proved to be more important on the day.  And not just for me, it seems.

I got to read my new book, Buddism for Mothers (recommended reading), using the bookseat. This next picture is pretty typical of what the first 2 or so days looked like:







And, what about the knitting, you say? Well, I got roped into making some socks for the kids. I always tell myself that "socks don't take much time". Note to self - socks do so take time! Last week, DS Ian was allowed to wear "odd or unusual socks" to school, and well that brought out the first request. Except to make an odd pair, requires the eventual knitting of 2 whole pairs. And what is good for one child is also good for his or her sibling. They chose the colours themselves. Sigh.

The Fo' s for the family knitting retreat are:

• Noro st st socks

 
These socks are purposely non matching, and the wool was a lovely and unexpected present from Donna. I cut out the yellow colour on the first sock and put in an afterthought heel. By using an afterthought heel, and by leaving the yellow in, the socks (would have) had a reasonable chance of matching. These socks are cast on over 60 stitches and the foot is not overly long.

The yarn does catch on itself, which can lead to lots of unnecessary tangling. I countered this by not pulling very much out of the skein at one time (makes sense, right?), and by pulling on any tangles from the skein end of the yarn. This helped a lot. I have a reasonable amount of yarn left.

• TOFUtsies socks

These are the socks for Ian's odd sock day at school. They have been on a few bushwalking adventures, and somehow missed the washing machine this morning, and are presented for your viewing pleasure in all their red mud glory.

These socks are cast on over 50 sts.






 

• Caitlyns purple socks

These are the "what about me?" sibling socks. Purple Opal sock wool from stash. Cast on over 50 stitches as well. Call it insurance for next year's odd sock day. (Can I just whine for a moment? My socks are only cast on over 60 stitches! Whinge over!)

• Caitlyns yellow socks

Same as for the purple sock, above. Except mercifully without partner for the moment. I could take no more of the stocking stitch fest that was our family knitting retreat. I am so over  stocking stitch!

• Noro coffee pot cozy

This is a bit of a cheat - all the knitting, and felting has been done for some time, it just needed some sewing up.The yarn is the left over Silk Garden from my Clapotis. I added blanket stitch in Dream no Colour Smooshy "Strange Harvest". I cut the size piece I needed without fear or favour - the pot has no real need of further insulation, having a double wall already. But this coffee pot is something I use absolutely everyday (yes, it comes on holidays with us), and I liked the idea, having been inspired by 2007's tea cozy swap (but being too busy to play at that time).




I am still on holidays today and tomorrow, and looking forward to some more knitting time. Yay for holidays!

Oh, one last thing - family portrait time!

Quickie

Noro sock:

Monkey sock (best colour representation):

Monkey back side - pretty pretty stocking stitch!

And introducing - baby monkey!

I'm lovin' the monkey!

As addictive as they all say

Monkeys:
Lornas Laces Desert Flower (from stash - thankfully)

Different dyelots, so I am spiralling and still getting stripes, grumble grumble ...

Red, red they call me red

That is, of course a quote from Dr Suess' classic Hop on Pop

The title of today's post has nothing, of course, to do with the bottle of good Australian red wine in the background...

My mata hari socks are, at long last, finished. I spiralled the eyelets in opposing directions. The eyelet pattern is done over 10 stitches, with three row of st st in between eyelet rows.

The yarn is "Bruised Bloodwood" bought from Yarncakes, aka Donni, who dreams of snow covered mountains. There is heaps left over from the skein to make a matching pair for DD Caitlyn...

I have cheated however, as these socks have not yet been blocked. That task is for tomorrow, but in the meantime you can see how the eyelets spiral around.

I have been putting ball winder, birthday yarn and swift to good use:

Tommorow, another WIP (Can you bear the excitement?)

One day, 2 FOs

Thank you all for your well wishes on our wedding anniversary!
We had a lovely dinner out at this lovely restaurant, and I spent all day knitting, watching cricket and then the tennis final last night.

Hence the two finished objects!
First, Tony's socks. Made with Trekking col 62.

And, Ariann, blocking outside in the morning sunshine

Unfortunately, it is a little small for me, so if blocking does not cure it, I must frog the body and reknit in a larger size. Such is the risk of a garment all knit as one piece.  A word of warning if you are contemplating this pattern: if you want the buttons to do up loosely (as shown on the model), then choose a larger size than you would normally do - this pattern does not have much ease.

Also, the pattern is written in a very sparse style if that is your thing. It is not mine.

Undisclosed sock knitting

Where does the time go?

These socks kinda followed me home from the lunch shift, and I've kinda been working on them whilst watching Harry Potter movies. Yes, again. I'm a bit obsessed at the moment with ol' Harry.

The striping on these socks is quite subtle, and it takes a lighter background to bring it out.

When I finish these socks, I will post the total of yarn used to my "Knit down your stash" January challenge.

I have more to tell, I just need some more time to frame the telling. Goodness me but work interferes with  knitting and  blogging time!!!!

Another ball of yarn and I think Ariann will be all done too! oh, I loves me an FO! (Provided I dont stuff it up!

Jaywalkers - the FO post

I finally finished the lone heel of the remaining Jaywalker and grafted it before 2007 had a chance to also go by leaving this project undone for another year.

I am not at all happy with the fit of these socks, and should have made the smaller size, but never mind - I love the colours and their *look*. Some would say that these socks are hard to miss, and I may have difficulty finding a pair of shoes that these socks could go comfortably with; however; to my mind, these socks do not need shoes or anything else as a raison d'etre, and may yet light my way to the kitchen or bathroom on a cold winter's night ...

All Ariann, all the time

A belated Happy New Year to all!

The second of the Ariann sleeves continue apace:

I have been toiling away at my Ariann sock. I got carried away with the idea of the increases up the back of the calf, and then wanted to try it on, only to discover that it was too narrow without a heel to get it over the widest part of my foot. Then, an idea struck me: what if I was to put in a turkish afterthought heel, but with a decorative eyelet up the side of the decreasing seam? My first attempt at this heel failed, as it looked far to bulky and not at all the elegant construction that I had envisaged. I'll frog the heel tonight and try another idea.

(Can you make the little eyelets out?)

But, the temporary heel did allow me to try the sock on, and I can tell you that the pattern looks lovely stretched out over the foot. The chevrons provide a lot of "give" where necessary, not a bad thing.



I will put the new heel in first so that I can see how the increases are working out at the back of the sock. I have some design ideas to incorporate into the stitch pattern, so that it essentially becomes a modified chevron. Intrigued? Me too! Ihave this idea in my head how it is going to look, so for the moment, we'll all have to wait and see!

I'm sorry to say that I find myself back at work this week, so knitting progress will be slow for a while now. I have blog posts planned across the weekend, all the same!

Happy weekend to all!