Old and New

I said I would finish things, didn't I? Here we go: a pair of cashmere footlets. This is part of my 2008-Let's-Make-More-Socks campaign (I'm looking for a catchier title). Also, I know I used this pic before, but taking pictures of my feet is a bit too difficult for tonight. Maybe later, darling.


And let me tell you, bub, these were extreme knitting to the end! The first sock ended without incident, but the second one was so short of yarn that I had to find my Little Blue Box, in which I kept scraps from the Kitchener bind off (from when I made the Desert Monkeys). I used some sneaky yarn attachment techniques and didn't cock up the colour pattern, and only just had enough to finish. See how much I've got left? See that?


That's hardc0re knitting: I didn't think I was going to make it to the end, I thought I was going to crash and burn and have to frog both socks to reduce the length and make them match -- but dudes, I totally did it.

Details:
Yarn: The last of my Jojoland Quartette, in desert colours with a hint of sky blue. I'm sure the colourway has a less lengthy title, but that's good enough for me.
Pattern: A simple toe-up sock, on DPNs; I used Judy's Magic Cast On, which is just so fantastic I can hardly stand it. Worked the length of my foot, worked a short row heel, then some simple stockinette, ribbing and a Kitchener bind off. It's really worth doing the Kitchener bind off on toe-up socks; I haven't seen its equal for springiness and smooth prettiness.
Verdict: Delicious. I'm wearing them now, and they're infinitely better than any other sock in the world.

One thing off the needles means one thing on:

While tooling around trying to find a pattern that would do justice to my newly-dyed, now-ruby-and-amethyst Angora Supreme, I remembered that I had a few balls of white Angora Supreme in the stash. The idea of a contrasting pattern entered my tiny brain, and, a quick Ravelry search later, I decided that Exchequered was for me. I loved this scarf when it first came out, but put it in the 'too hard' basket -- so strange to think I used to have one of those.

It's double knitting, which is so clever and cool that it makes me feel like a genius while I'm doing it (the feeling fades as soon as I put my coffee cup down on the edge of the coaster and it falls over and spills everywhere, but never mind). Put simply, you're working two layers of fabric, back to back -- a tube, essentially -- on straight needles, by working the stitches with alternate balls of wool. This is a really good pattern to learn on, for two reasons: one, you're working with contrasting colours anyway, which makes it really easy to keep track of which stitch belongs to which side; and two, because it's a scarf, it's not the end of the world if your two layers of fabric end up stuck together. (Apparently, it is possible to work two socks at the same time using this technique, but if you make a mistake, or twist the two balls of yarn, they're stuck together and you have to rip out both of them.)

Good old Ravelry: I love that pattern search facility, and I nearly always find something that delights me, excites me, or generally has me in a knitter's foam. I did a little bit of extra research after I decided to cast on Exchequered, because I wanted to learn a bit more about double knitting, make sure there's no pitfalls I hadn't thought of. There's a Ravelry group on double knitting (natch), which was of tremendous interest and use.

And good old Knitty, too. I love Knitty. It really got me hooked on knitting, back in the day, by offering fantastic patterns -- not just the ones I wanted to make, but patterns that inspired me and got me thinking -- and all for free. I still get excited when I know Knitty is due to come out, checking every couple of hours. I have resisted signing up for their mailing list for ages, because I prefer to stalk it in the wild, but they had such a fantastic competition earlier this year (oh my GOD the prizes were unbelievable) that I caved in. Sometimes an issue contains more patterns that aren't to my taste than patterns that are, and that's always a shame -- but lately, I've found that I rediscover those patterns on Ravelry and think "wait a second, that would be perfect for so-and-so" or something like that. It rocks.

It never ceases to amaze me that people, when given an vast resource like the Internet, will create such fantastic things to share with people, out of passion and intellectual drive.

Desert Monkeys

Presenting: The Desert Monkeys.

When I got this yarn from eBay, I surprised myself. I'm not really one for the orange-russet palate, and I don't really like light blue with anything even vaguely warmish. And I'm not really into cashmere for socks, as decadent as it is (actually, that's probably it: I'm probably discomfited by decadence). But the colours are my mother's palate: she loves autumn colours, and this yarn suits her to a tee. So I bought it with the intention of knitting her some luxurious socks. These are they.

I can't believe how much I have loved knitting these socks.

Yarn: Jojoland's Quartette. Now, alas, discontinued, but I shall be haunting Ravelry's destash and swap groups, just in case.

The yarn is bliss: it's springy, buttery, and so, so soft. Working with this yarn is such a textile delight that I would probably sleep with it if it asked me. As the lace emerged, the colours made me think of the blue sky over the desert, hence the name.

And the pattern was fun, too: I have, in the past, found myself working on socks out of obligation, searching for the groove that I see so many other bloggers getting into with their socks. And this time, I found it. Cookie A's Monkeys, worked from the toes-up. I have decided I love toe-up socks; they make a lot of sense to me and seem like the best way of making socks. The short row heel was a delightful pirouette, and has, for a change, provided enough space for one to slide one's foot into the sock -- I've had trouble with short row heels before, where they've been far too tight. Not these babies.

As well as being a delight (a bliss) to knit, these socks have brought a little drama and excitement with them. Readers who have been paying attention will have realised that these are the very socks that M became involved in, during the fateful incident involving a needle and the fleshier parts of his foot. These are socks baptised with blood.

And so, they have been bundled up into a little paper sock sleeve, with a short biography and care instructions, and they will be shortly winging their way towards their new owner, my Mum. She'll love them, I'm certain.

(I had to cast on a pair for myself with the leftover yarn to ensure I could bear to part with these. I don't think this is a problem, provided I don't run out of yarn too soon to complete a pair of footlets for myself. If I do...I'm not above swiping them while Mum's back is turned.)

Wintergreen

May I present: Wintergreen! (Modelled here on the ever-photogenic Mozart.)

This is probably the fastest thing I've ever completed. It's beautiful. I cast on Thursday afternoon, worked pretty steadily on it over the ANZAC Day long weekend -- a day of loafing about with my parents followed by a day of loafing about with M's parents turns out to be the ideal knitting scenario -- and finished it Monday night. I love her to pieces; she's so soft and light and fluffy on my neck. She doesn't itch, doesn't shed and doesn't go all saggy looking.

When I first cast on, I was a little hesitant, because the yarn looked like it was going to stripe terribly, so much so that it would be a defining characteristic. "Can you pass me my green scarf?" I'd say, and my friends would say "Oh, you mean the stripey one?" But it all came out nicely in the end, didn't it?

I haven't blocked her yet, because I badly, badly wanted to wear her today and feel warm and cheerful at work.

FO Report

Pattern: My So-Called Scarf -- I like this pattern; very simple and easy to memorise, but very effective.

Yarn: A handspun merino I picked up at the Gorman House Markets in March. It was a warm, sticky day and I was eating gelati; the cool greens appealed. Now they remind me of spring.

Mods: Yarn substitution. Thought about a fringe, then decided there was enough happening visually without it.






As a bonus, to celebrate Wintergreen's completion, I present an essay in pictures called The Life of the Centre-Pull Ball.

Birth:














Growth:














Maturity:














Old Age:














Death:

My knittings, let me show you them...

Well, it's been a busy month. No doubt about it.

It was M's birthday this month, and we're both Portal fans; so when I found the Knitted Companion Cube, it was an obvious choice. It was a really tricky knit! I have never used stranded colour knitting in the round, nor have I ever steeked -- but I thought, hey! A deadline five days after I discovered the pattern? That's perfectly feasible! Off we went.

It's a pretty clever construction, actually. You cast on for all six sides in one big round, with a few stitches in between each side for seam allowance and a few rows top and bottom for the same. I liked doing it that way: I think this kind of colourwork probably benefits from being worked in the round, rather than with intarsia (which would also be an option, but I think you'd either have to work all the squares in one long row, or individually). I liked it; I've never done stranded knitting in the round, and it took me a while to get into the swing of it, but I got there. I still couldn't say the tension was great, especially in the middle rows where I was juggling three colours, but the whole thing came together. I used a merino/silk blend, mostly because that's what I had in my stash but also because it was the only yarn I could find that came in just the right shades of grey (which surprised me). If I did it again, I'd probably aim to use a pure wool, but only to see if there was a big difference in the colourwork if I did so.

To celebrate finishing the cube (it took a while -- whenever I began to relax, I would jump and remind myself to start working on it again), I have cast on a new hoodie. I am as fickle as a breeze with the knitting, and the single day of deliciously cold weather we had on Good Friday was enough to inspire me. This awfully cute hoodie will be my new best friend: Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie (that one at the top there). I think I will look ever so casual and smooth-skinned, as well as stylish and charming. I haven't got much done, and I'm secretly very afraid I'll run out of that particularly buttery aubergine yarn I'm using. But in the meantime, I'm feeling the happy, loving the yarn, and cruising along on the cloud of Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong. Oh yeah. That's what we like.