Knit Two Together

Remember me?

Holy yarn balls! It's been so long since I blogged that Typepad has gone and redisigned everything. WTF? I'm so confused looking at the screen that I can hardly type. It's also been so long since I blogged that ClusterMaps has archived the old map with hits on it from Mon-fricken-golia and Africa. It's been so long since I blogged that I've almost knit a sweater.

Let's see if I can figure out how to show you...

Ahhhh.... that wasn't so hard and there seem to be some new features for putting images where you want them. That used to drive me crazy so we'll see if this is better. Pardon me?

The sweater?

OH! Sorry.

Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from IK Spring 08
size 44 (I hope)
Fibranatura Mermaid colour 40605 "Storm"
42% cotton, 35% superwash merino 12% silk 11% seacell

This is the back (duh) and I have the left front finished and have just finished the short rows on the right front. Hang on... I'll take pictures....

OK.... I drop my camera once in a while (stop laughing) and the catch was broken so I wrapped a hair elastic around it. Paul (the hubby) decided to "fix" it so he took out the batteries and superglued it together. Took me a few minutes to separate the glue so I could open the battery cover. Now...where are the batteries?

Oh for cryin' in the rain!!! I have TWO battery chargers and EIGHT rechargable AA batteries for ONE camera. Both chargers are here but not a battery in sight. Damned kids and their toys. Fortunately I have a secret battery stash for my own nefarious reasons. Hang on...

Success! I knew it was a good idea to keep regular batteries around for the camera just in case. What's that? You didn't think they were for the camera? What did you think they were for then?

I took some pictures, and a surprise spinning picture for you too. Just have to upload them...

All right. Who is the butt hamster that raided my ziploc baggie full of my important cable connectors and helped themselves to the camera cord? (Paul? Darling? Where the fuck did you leave my camera cord?)

I searched. Found two of the missing rechargables (yay!) but no cord. So scrounged through my work bag and dug out a spare USB from there, reached down to plug it in and wondered what the hell that white cord was doing in the port. Hey - found the camera cord! We're in business again.... just a minute to resize and such.

Get some tea...

Maybe a cookie...

Knit a couple of rows...

OKAY!!!!


Flutter Sleeve Fronts...on my dominant WIP

The very clever front shaping is the thing I most love about this pattern. The whole body is knit at a very pleasant worsted gauge on 4.5mm Knitpicks but the waist is done in 1X1 rib on 3.25mm. I had to dig through the stash of straight needles to find the right size. It results in a nicely nipped in waistline with a lower half that should float nicely over hips. 
The ribbing comes up to a point in the front, a very nice shaping detail that I hope will also be flattering. It's cleverly done with short rows to bring the ribbing to a point then more short rows to back fill the missing stockinette before you continue.


The top half shaping is a little bit of a challenge since you are increasing for the arm while you decrease for the neck. Then you change the rate of neck decreases for a while and at the same time change the rate of sleeve increases. It takes a bit of focus and I had to rip the first one three times before I was happy with it.










The second pic is a little washed out by the flash and the top one is a little dark. This one is a little better...hang on... I need to look at the pattern a second...do you see what I see?

That's right. The left front (on the right) clearly shows that there are increases made while knitting the short rows in stockinette while the right front (on the left) does not. That will have to be ripped back and re-knit. Dammit. I knew it went too smoothly to be right. Here's a tip though, there is one row knit straight between the ribbed short rows and the stockinette short rows. The trick here is to rip back to that particular row because picking up short row wraps is a complete pain in the arse. Fortunately, I've done it before. (how's that for annoying optimism?)

Meanwhile I sat down for a little bit a while ago (time sort of gets meaningless to me in May and June) and did some spinning. I picked up this pretty blue roving hand-dyed by Denny at Lettuce Knit on my trip to Toronto last month. It spins very smoothly and I enjoyed it.  I actually bought two bumps, both the same blue but one much darker and more solid (the one you see) and the other much lighter with quite a bit of barely tinted white in it. Denny told me the lighter batt was the result of her trying to exhaust the dye. I am roughly dividing them into finger widths and spinning them alternately. When I ply them I'm hoping to get some random striping with light and dark and some shading where the lighter blue overlaps the darker and gradually changes. No idea how much there will be when I'm done but I'm thinking it would make a pretty scarf or hat for Dragonsdottir. Might be enough for felted baby booties too. Will see.

And last, I have finally got a picture of the Meillenweit Toronto Socks... you remember, the ones mit extra strapazierfahig. I love them.
I'll let you contemplate the stripey goodness on the left there while I explain that work exploded in my face. I was given an administrative appointment and am now a Curriculum Leader (yay me!) however it came at a point in the year where the regular teaching job is busy trying to complete curriculum and making sure I've covered everything for the final, and the special ed teaching job is busy trying to complete assessments and program plans and the team spirit job is busy helping bring in the audience for the school play. It's really no wonder I made that mistake on Flutter since I was knitting at 11pm after a 13 hour day. If you don't see me until July, don't worry.

Toe-Up Sock Techniques

Life just goes along these days. It's busy. It's mundane. I don't really feel like there's a whole lot to blog about right now. It's a knitting blog though, and I've been knitting, so here you go.

My new favourite knit it in your sleep sock pattern:
1. Get some yarn.

2. Using the Turkish Cas-on start with this many:
    Lighter fingering or cotton based sock yarn - 16 wraps / 32 stitches total on 2mm needles
    Fingering weight - 12 wraps / 24 stitches total on 2.5 mm needles
    DK weight - 8 wraps / 16 stitches total on 3mm needles
    Heavy DK or Light Worsted - 8 wraps / 16 stitches total on 3.5mm needles

3. Make wedge toe by increasing 4 stitches every other round until you have:
    Light Fingering/Cotton - 72 stitches total
    Fingering weight - 64 stitches total
    DK weight - 56 stitches
    Heavy DK or Light Worsted - 52 stitches.
    I use knit front and back on the corner stitches.
    After about 2 rounds I pull the cast on tail through to the right side to serve as a start of round marker.

4. Knit around and around for a while.
    Try it on for size. Stop when you can comfortably pull the sock up to your ankle bone or so.

5. Work Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' short row heel on half the stitches.
    Hint: slip the instep stitches onto 2 dpns to give them a little slack and reduce the pulling at the corners.
    Another Hint: on the first round after you've finished the heel, knit 3 together in the first and last instep stitches to close any possible gaps. Do this by picking up and twisting a stitch from the row below right in the corner and slipping the last yarn over onto the left needle. Knit the first stitch together with the picked up stitch and the yarnover. Do the same at the other end of the instep stitches.

6. Knit around and around and around and.......until
    a) you feel like stopping
    b) you are nearly out of yarn
    c) the length of the leg is roughly 1" shorter than the length of the foot from heel to toe.

7. Switch to 1X1 rib for about an inch.

8. Use EZ's Sewn Cast-off. Work it loosely so there's a lot of stretch in the top of the sock.

There you go. I wouldn't exactly call it a pattern. It's more like the techniques that are working for me right now.

I made these like that:

   

Cider Moon "Blizzard"
100% Washable Merino
64 Stitches on KP 2.5 mm DPNs
Colourway: "Asbury Park" which is off white, turquoise and light brown but which reads as mint green from a distance. Also please note the spiral striping. This yarn came in a single hank. I split it exactly in half using an electronic scale. I knit them exactly the same way, on exactly the same needles, one after the other. So WTF is up with the spiral stripe?

Love that Heel! For me anyway, its a whole lot faster to knit than a flap. I don't think it will wear as hard as a flap would, but I'm not really all that concerned. There's probably more sock yarn in the stash than I could knit in a year of nothing but socks.

Also knit these as demo/gauge samples for a local indie dyer. For those of you in Calgary, Linda Marlow-Thomson will shortly be opening a stall at the Calgary Farmer's Market. Linda is a retired teacher and new fiber friend of mine. Her hand-dyed yarns are gorgeous to look at and to work with. Linda also makes specialty yarns and will be stocking patterns and kits as well.

This yarn is on the heavy side of dk yarns.  It is 100% mercerized wool which takes the dye beautifully, feels soft and cozy, and won't felt.

The sock on top is 52 stitches on 3.5mm KP DPNs. Gauge is 6.5 stitches and 7.5 rows per inch. It used almost exactly 50g of Linda's hand-painted yarn.  Leg length is 4.5 inches: Foot is 7 inches.

The sock on the bottom is 56 stitches on 3.0mm KP DPNs. Gauge is 7 stitches and 8.5 rows per inch. Once again, it uses almost exactly 50g of yarn from the same skein. Leg length is 3.5 inches: Foot is 7 inches. The only noticeable difference in size between the two socks is in the leg length. The foot circumference  and fit is identical.

That tassle of yarn attached to the bottom sock is every scrap that was left from the original 100g skein. You can indeed get a pair of shorty socks out of a single skein. I know that Linda's also going to put up some kits with 100g multi-colour and 50g co-ordinating semi-solid to use with toes, heels and cuffs. It's also interesting to notice the difference in patterning between the two socks. The bottom sock has a subtle spiral pooling which I actually quite like. The top sock has a much more even distribution of colour. May not ever happen again, but I think it's interesting to note particularly after the obvious difference in the Asbury Park socks.

Next up? Purple. REALLY purple.

Winkler socks, with an unexpected twist

Some of you may recall that way back in October I started knitting a pair of Wendy's Double Eyelet Socks at a conference I was attending. The keynote speaker was "Fonzie" - Henry Winkler. You can catch up to the full story HERE. 

Funny thing about those socks. I loved them. I really loved them. Somehow though, every time I picked them up I wondered who they were for. I started them for myself of course; it's been quite a while since I made a pair for me. These are special socks too - sea wool... lace...fine gauge...really quite beautiful.

Strange how these were made from a single skein but the colour is more pronounced on one than the other. It's enough to show up in pictures and was certainly noticeable to me. I don't think it detracts at all from the prettiness though.

I used the Priscilla Gibson Roberts short row heel. I like the way this heel fits, find it easier to do the yarn overs than wrapped stitches, and don't end up with holes at the top. All very neat and tidy.

I think you can see the colour variation in these if you click to enlarge the picture.

After a nice soak and drying on the blockers these beautiful girls were ready for their new home. Turns out it was my friend Lorie's birthday on March 5th and these were for her all along. Never mind that I didn't find out about the birthday until March 4th...these are hers. Hope she gets as much joy from wearing them as I have in creating them.

A knitter's work is never done though.....

Cider Moon Icicle (I think, it could be Blizzard. Edited to add: It is Blizzard. I found the tag. Cider Moon Blizzard. 100% Washable Merino. Fingering weight anyway). Colourway is called "Asbury Park" and is turquoise blue, shaded light rusty brown, and white. I don't know whatever happened to Cider Moon. One day they just went off line. They were the nicest ladies (still are I'm sure, somewhere) with excellent customer service and really truly gorgeous colourways.  My CM stash is precious now but somehow, this colourway isn't working for me.  These socks are probably for someone else too.

Sock Pattern:
Using Turkish Method cast on 12 stitches. Increase by knitting front and back at corner stitches until there are 64 stitches. Knit plain for a while. Turn a PGR heel on half the stitches. Knit plain for a while longer.  I usually knit the same while on the leg as I did on the foot. Switch to rib for an inch, inch and a half... whatever. Cast off LOOSELY using EZ's sewn-cast off.  Don't forget the most important instruction - repeat above once more.

Happy Knitting...

Henry Winkler

I don't have a whole lot of time to write this morning.  I'm off soon to the Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta annual conference.  I need to tell you quickly about last night's opening keynote.

It was Henry Winkler.  Yup.  Arthur Fonzarelli.  Fonzie.  Da Fonz.  Heyyyyy!!

Look, audience pic from the back row...

Can't quite see him?  I understand.

Now you can!

Let me tell you about Henry Winkler.  He is an actor, producer, husband, father of 3, dog lover, and the co-author of 13 books for young readers with the 14th in progress.  He is funny, self-deprecating, honest, well-spoken, thoughtful, thought provoking, and kind.  He is short, his hair is thinning a bit and grey, he is fit and healthy looking and he has an absolutely warm and generous smile. 

Henry Winkler spoke for about an hour about his experiences growing up with an undiagnosed learning disability.  The books are about his own experiences in school.  He related a story about the fan mail he would receive while Happy Days was on television (50,000 pieces a week!).  One of those pieces contained a plaque which he hung on his wall.  It said, "If you will it, it isn't a dream."  That has been his mantra ever since.  If you will it... If your desire to achieve something is great enough... if you are willing to work, to sacrifice, to persevere then the impossible becomes real and the dream happens.

After his talk, Henry Winkler sat down for a book signing.  I, being wise and experienced in this, had purchased one copy of each of the 6 titles available there in advance of the speech and so was able to proceed directly to the head of the line (ok, maybe 25 or 30 back, but that was very much the front of the line which was probably 200 long).  I had a plan, which I explained to my friend Tito.  I needed his help you see.  Everything was ready by the time I was next.  I took a deep breath and dove in, "Mr. Winkler, I enjoyed your talk very much and thank you for sharing your experiences with us.  I was wondering if I could make an odd request of you.  Would you mind holding this sock for a picture for my knitting blog."  (I'm not sure I used the periods when I said all that.)

He gave me a kind of an odd look.  So I held up the sock and said, "It's bizarre, I know, but I'd appreciate it ever so much."  With that he smiled, shrugged, signed my 6 books and reached for the sock.  I pointed out Tito with the camera and.....

There just so happened to be a news camera shooting at the same time.  The whole thing made the 11 o'clock news last night. 

SQUEE!