Tuesday 30 October 2012

Socks!

And what have I been working on lately? well, some socks :D

I knitted my first three pairs recently:

Bandy Legs

Welsh Country Stockings

Liab
The first pair I knitted for myself for the Ravellenics, and the last two pairs for my dad's birthday. They are modelled by my BF who has slightly longer feet, I await a report from my dad, he is picking them up at he post office tomorrow!

So far then I have tried a short row heel and toe, a Dutch heel (I think both my dad's socks qualify as Dutch heels?) and quite rounded toes grafted at the tip. I have to say I am not a fan of the short row heel or toe (and my flat St st is always rubbish as can be easily seen on the heel...). I really loved Liab's "ribbed" cushy heel. Overall a fantastic pattern (and free!).

I modified the Welsh socks since the pattern was for a rather pointy toe and my father (and I inherited this to an extent) has very, very square toes. I knitted the following toe that I found somewhere on the internets (unfortunately I forget where):

Decrease rnd toe:
Needle 1,3: k to 4 sts to end, k2tog, k2
Needle 2,4: k2, ssk, k to end

Even St st 4 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 3 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 2 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 1 rnds.
Decrease rnd, repeat decrease rnd until 7 sts per needle.

So with 28 sts remaining, Kitchener St.

I love this toe and I think I will be using it for myself as well!

Liab has a pointier toe than this but still rather wide, and I really like how it gradually merges the ribbing into the toe. It fits Pim's toes so awesomely (picture above), I should use it for his socks in the future!

The cabling in Liab was challenging. I do not have much experience with cables, and the yarn is rather on the thin side, and I used 2mm needles (I estimated, correctly it seems, that I needed smaller needles due to foot size + my loose knitting), this made for rather challenging cabling, especially since I refuse to use an auxiliar needle, it was slow enough knitting as it was. I switched needles two times and finally settled on wooden needles which worked best with least amount of wrist pain (steel was better for cabling but UGH).

So, have I become addicted to sock knitting? I do not think I will now knit socks exclusively, but I see more socks in my future ;)

Next pair will be for Pim and next I am already envisioning a rather special pair of boot socks I will have to write the pattern for!

Sunday 28 October 2012

Breaking the radio silence...

... with a pattern give-away!

I'll be giving away a Grand Place - Grote Markt eBook to the first 8 people to reply to this thread in Ravelry!

I would love to see some more projects pop up in different colours and yarns :)) what would your choice be?



Saturday 13 October 2012

95th

I stumbled upon a pattern in Ravelry... well more than a pattern it is an idea! The Sky Scarf: "This pattern is for a scarf with narrow stripes of colors determined daily by your local weather."


Basically every day you knit a row with the colours of the sky at the moment/during the day. I think the idea is fantastic! I found myself immediately thinking which yarn I could use and which shape I could knit, a skinny scarf is not for me and it would be a pity not to use it!

I am also glad I am now living in Flanders because honestly I prefer a more grey scarf than the intensely blue one I would get if I would still live in Barcelona ;)

Then there is the question of when to start? I would like to work on it for a complete year. I thought of starting the 1st of January 2013, but then, I really dislike “new year’s resolutions” kind of things (and that strikes me as one?) and am not particularly fond of our calendar to begin with.

So when to start it? I could start right now, or any other moment. But since I want to spend some time planning and dyeing the yarn (so in a way I start now), why not start the 11th of November? it is one of the only two official holidays that mean anything to me, and it is coming soon. As a reminder of it has been this year’s Nobel Prize of Peace awarded to the EU citizens. So the goal is to finish this project on the 95th Armistice Day in 2013, and I am naming it 95th.

Then I started thinking about the yarn. Stash yarn would be nice! And I have two hanks of Drops Lace (70% Alpaca, 30% Silk) which will work beautifully. One is natural/ecru and the other is blue/grey, which perhaps has a hint of green. But I plan of dyeing most of the fibre anyway. I don’t know if it will be enough but I can always buy more!



I also want to knit with several strands at the same time, perhaps 3, perhaps 2, which will help customise the daily colour further.

I could not wait and have started dyeing! (which you have probably already figured out ;))



I still have two balls of the two original colours, and now these shades of grey and blue, and a little purple.

Now to decide what shape to knit. It must have 365 rows, rounds or repeats! and it has to be useful, which means this will most likely not be a scarf. Perhaps a shawl/stole, perhaps a cowl, perhaps a combination of both. I am inclined towards a somewhat wide cowl, knitted rather loosely and with 365 rounds. This yarn should drape nicely! I think some swatching is in order ;)

Grote Markt

As promised, here is my newest cowl pattern:


Grote Markt, this time named after the main square in the town I live. The pictures were taken in the monumental square and modeled by my beautiful friend Anna, also happy recipient of the cowl! doesn't this purple suit her so well? it had to be hers :)


This cowl is also knitted in the round, and I already have published it as an eBook together with Grand Place. The matching mittens are a free pattern!


I decided to add a drawstring to be able to tie it closer if it gets very cold, but of course this is optional: