YOP#6 Week 18

YOP6_Banner_perfect_lines_slightly_larger_medium

 

Last week I knit a pair of socks for my husband.  Unfortunately I misread how long the foot is to be, I keep such notes on Ravelry, and did 7″ from back of heel instead of 7″ from end of heel shaping.  Socks are now for Tyler who has scored 3 pairs of socks since YOP goals were assembled.  This pair, and the last pair, are to be Christmas gifts.

This August we went to MidAmericon in Kansas City and I purchased Tyler a piece of artwork from art show.  It was a relatively expensive gift and he was told to not expect anything for Christmas so the socks are all the unwrapping he will be doing this year.

So the yarn is an oldie from my stash.  There was a time, say 11  yrs ago or so, when I purchased several hanks of Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn and I am down to 3 hanks after this one called Moose Creek. For some reason it always looked like a brownish plum color but honestly it is a brown and my eyes were just drawn to the flashes of plum or burgundy in it.  Here is the hank wound up into a yarn cocoon:

Mountain Colors Bearfoot Moose Creek yarn cocoon.

Mountain Colors Bearfoot Moose Creek yarn cocoon.

 

See the plum and reddish tints?

Here is the finished sock, overexposed and unwashed.  You can see how the colors pooled but it isn’t nearly as obvious in the actual sock:

Finished sock

Finished sock

 

One nice thing about Bearfoot sock yarn is the mohair content which makes it super warm and cushy.  Usually whenever I wash a pair I reach inside and take out yarn pills.  Sometimes I let them gather for a while and it is extra padding on sole of foot.  For some reason it just pills inside the foot.  I have knit textured socks and the texture is basically lost after several washes.  But these have made my warmest and longest lasting socks.  I have  pair going back 8 years.  My Mad Color Weave socks.  I also have a couple of pairs even older than that but I don’t have them saved anywhere handy picture wise. Most were Michelle’s Basic Sock pattern.

Another awesome thing about this sock yarn is that it is slightly heavier than fingering weight.  I think it is the mohair again.  The yarn feels dense and plush and fills in any place that would normally have a gap such as the gusset area.  Here is a close up of heel and gusset to once again show color of socks {not overexposed}:

Sock heel and gusset

Feel free to click to embiggen 🙂

The pattern is A Classic Sock from Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks book.  I purchased my copy when Zoe was a baby so about 21 yrs ago and it is falling apart at this point.

In a few days Wovember starts.  I have been anticipating Wovember for weeks.  I have cast on Strokkur and am hoping I don’t have the same tension woes that caused me to rip and reknit this sweater 3 times so far.  I have switched from my Trusty Grays {aka Aero needles} to bamboo ones hoping that will help.  I am also planning on measuring every 20 rows or so which is annoying but should end up with a finally FO.  It is expected to be in the mid-80’s on Tuesday, not the least bit Wovemberish at all, but such is St. Louis weather.  Winters here tend to be relatively warm and drizzly instead of snowy.  It makes me sad but home is where the heart is and I do heart my family.

yarny days and knitterly evenings

~Elka

 

Midnight Sun Tam

Still Luminous After All These Years

 

 

this one is a bit of a cheat. I cast on Aug 10, 2004 and was finished by Aug 30, 2014. It remains my favorite knit thing ever.

Every fall I pull out all my knitted things and wash them… just as I do every spring before putting them away. The tam served as a backdrop for the lovely mitts I knit as a gift.

But woe! A hole!

 

 

my finger peeking through a hole ;-(

my finger peeking through a hole ;-(

 

But YaY! Repaired:

 

mended column of golden stitches

mended column of golden stitches

 

I pulled out the pictures from my old blog posts.

 

In progress...

In progress…

 

 

Tam finished

Tam finished

I purchased the kit from Two Swans Yarns which is defunct. I used the original Autumn that was called for in the pattern and it was very hard to find at the time since Alice Starmore had severed ties with Jamiesons and Unicorn both which made that particular shade, one of her custom colors, obsolete. I believe it has now been replaced by Autumn Mix and the pattern still survives.

It was glorious fun to knit and produces a stunning finished project. I always keep my eyes peeled for more of Sandy Blue’s work.  Unfortunately for me she only did two fair isle pieces that I am familiar with and the other is all golden warm sunny colors for a tam.  I might just purchase the pattern for that one since I really do love me a tam.

Bonus: I believe mending is part of Wovember.

yarny days and knitterly evenings, Elka

Neep

Neep crown decreases

Neep crown decreases

I believe I finished the knitting on this one in March of ’14 but stalled when it came to weaving in the zillionty ends.  Also I had somehow dropped a few stitches at end of decrease and didn’t notice until it was time to tuck the icord into cap.  Either way I obviously lost steam and only picked it up because it is starting to cool and I needed my pile of hats.  I have a serious love of tams/berets.

Such a lovely knit.   Really fun project all around.  Not sure how I feel about the i-cord cast on for general use.  Maybe I just need more practice with it but the first row seems very elongated and therefore heavy proportionally.  I am not taking a picture of that bit.  I am not displeased but that pick up looks clumsy to me.  I kinda looked at other projects on Ravelry and noticed the same thing on those so I guess I will practice, practice, practice and either chalk up that look to the actual technique or general knitterly inexperience with the method.

More pictures:

the row of leaves that make up crown

the row of leaves that make up crown

I like the colors Kate Davies picked.  The only one that stood out to me was the green.  I believe it is the only non heathered shade in the whole cap.  I know Jamieson & Smith has cut their shade range several times and maybe there were no heathered mid greens available?  It didn’t bother me enough to go digging in my stash of shetland yarns.  I love, love, love the yellow green.  Not a color I normally would pick for myself but I find those mustard greens appealing somehow.  This one is particularly gorgeous.  I stashed a few more hanks after my initial order came in.

a bit of corrugated ribbing and turnip bits

a bit of corrugated ribbing and turnip bits

 

mmmm shetland.  I need some more shetland knits.  Look how cozy it looks but still lightweight with gorgeous drape.

Coincidentally I wove in the last end and put it to block over a plate on November 1st.  The beginning of Wovember.  I have yet to participate in Wovember, nor do I intend to this year, but when I noticed I smiled.   Knits that make you happy during knitting, wearing and thinking of them….

Happy Knits!

yarny days and knitterly evenings