YOP#6 Week 18

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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

 

More Knitting for Others

Two more knits for others…

 

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Elegant Gauntlets with Fetching Mitts

 

I started the Elegant Gauntlets for another coworker a month ago!  I have been super busy on the weekends lately with birthdays galore and it took that long to complete them.  I used Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Thraven by Blue Moon Fiber Arts which was stashed about 8 yrs ago.  I purchased it at The Fold which used to be the only retailer for the yarn–not sure if it can be found elsewhere.  Anyway back then there was much hubbub on the net about STR yarn and I was insanely curious.  I drove through a virtual blizzard to see the yarn in person and joined the Socks that Rock club in 2008 to stash more.  It was the last time I ever joined a club because I like a bit more control over what I get both pattern wise and color wise.  Plus I decided I really don’t like the yarn that much.  I did go nuts for the Raven series since I figured it would be less stripey and I was right.  Love this color way.  And the gauntlets are perfect.  The yarn is nice and weighty so feel really luxe.  I actually might like these better than the pair I made for myself!  Anyway I am really pleased to be done with them and hope the recipient likes them as much as she liked the Merino Mia pair she had tried on before requesting a pair.

Immediately after weaving in the last end of the Elegant Gauntlets #3 I cast on for Fetching.  A third coworker had asked for a pair of fingerless mitts.  She specifically requested short so that they wouldn’t bunch up in her coat sleeves and I thought this pattern would do the trick.  She provided the yarn herself and it is very slinky so I had to be careful cabling.  It is called Diva Sequin by Yarn Bee.  It has little pailettes spun in and they wanted to move to the purl side.  I remember seeing an article in Vogue Knitting in the 80’s maybe early 90’s on how to knit with pailette yarn but I never read it since I don’t tend to pick out yarn that has sequins or beads as part of it’s composition. It was fun watching them come up and add a bit of glitz to the finished product.  I worked really hard trying to weave in my ends invisibly so that she could wear them inside out if she felt like it and used my needle tip to shove the sequins to outside if I wasn’t able to hold them in place while working the next row.  The yarn is also interesting in that it has very long color runs but I didn’t see any portion that repeated in the skein.  I am sure it does mind you but it seemed like I was hitting slightly different shades of green and teal between the purple.  The color way is Scotish Heath.  Part of me is offended they misspelled Scottish.  

Fetching Mitts

Fetching Mitts

 

Fetching ends with a picot bind off and the finger portion flares because of that.  I knit this pattern for myself many years ago out of Brown Sheep Worsted and that bothered me a bit but in the end it proved useful to not have my fingers hobbled so I repeated the specified bind off for her pair.  I also didn’t gauge for the mittens but went down a couple of needle sizes for a velvety texture.  The ribbing is forgiving and should fit her smaller hands well.

I am off to knit something for myself although I offered to knit a bit more for coworkers.  A headband out of the remaining Diva Sequins and a pair of Toasts for a small child out of machine washable cherry red yarn.  I am not sure I own any machine washable cherry red yarn and am in the midst of stashdown right now.  I will have to stash dive and hope I find some or break down and go to store. Or swap.  If you own machine washable worsted weight cherry red yarn you are willing to part with leave me a message.

yarny days and knitterly evenings

~Elka

Love Bites

Winter Hats & swap

Winter Hats & swap

 

I couldn’t help noticing that my gift for my Love Bites Swap partner would perfectly compliment my tam collection.  I have them set out in a pile waiting a wash and block before winter sets in and would put my knitting down on them before turning down the lights at night.  Okay the Neep Heid is still awaiting ends weaving but it is in the winter hat pile nonetheless.  Thinking about all those ends has me wondering if I cut my yarn at end of every change when knitting the Midnight Sun Tam designed by Sandy Blue.  Midnight Sun Tam remains one of my favorite finished objects ever.  Ahem.  I digress.

So Hunter Hammersen blogs over at Violently Domestic and I first noticed her work when she was offering free sock patterns on Ravelry. Slant I believe was the first that I noticed.  One of her recent projects consists of 3 books inspired by Curiosity Cabinets and the drawings of various plants and animals one would find in illustrated books of such things.  I was drawn to the pattern for fingerless mitts called Serpula Contortuplicata.  Wow does auto correct throw a fit over that one!  It is very organic with the cables going first this way then that. I also liked the open spaces created by the cable crosses–I find it rather gothic somehow.

Things I learned knitting this:

I like having pdfs of my knitting patterns!  I believe this is the first time I ever knit something without having a hard copy of the pattern {unless I was designing myself of course}

Knitting laceweight mohair with stainless steel double points is a recipe for stitches slithering off the ends.

I should trust my judgement.

Assuming somebody might read this and be unawares I spent a good part of 10 yrs as a sample garment knitter for yarn companies.  It kept me occupied and gave me some extra spending money when the kids were babies.  Part of sample garment knitting is, in my opinion, proofing the instructions.

Hunter’s chart for the hand portion begins with a slipped stitch and I decided to follow it despite my feelings that she intended us to slip the first stitch of each row instead of each repeat.  I contacted Hunter after I finished my project and mentioned the chart vs row question and she is updating the pattern.  BTW I don’t know if it is just because knitters are such a great group but Hunter is another person I have corresponded with a few times in the past and she is always a delight.

Two posts about two different indie knit folks who are very nice to deal with ^5 to knitters.

But Look:

Serpula Contortuplicata

Serpula Contortuplicata

 

Look Again:

 

Organic

Organic

So seriously pretty.  Luckily I have a second hank of the yarn and will reknit this for me.  It definitely belongs in my wardrobe since it goes so well with all my hats.  I look forward to making myself a pair.

Belongs in my closet

Belongs in my closet

 

And of course I hope my swap partner loves them.  How could she not?  Soft, silky, organic with spooky holes for Halloween fun.

 

 

yarny days and knitterly evenings

Retro Prep and Some Toasty toasts

One of the many projects I mentioned rounding up last month was Retro Prep  that I had started in ’12.  Really it was shameful I hadn’t finished it since I love the yarn, it was plain st st easy peasy knitting, and I was at the raglan decreases for yoke by time I set it aside.  Unfortunately I have gained so much weight in past year and half that I cannot wear it without looking terrible.  I have been watching my calories this year and now have a toasty sweater to fit into next winter.  My first hand knit sweater for myself in so long I cannot remember and my only one in my possession.

Let the year of selfish knitting begin.  Unfortunately the Rowan Harris DK made my camera go crazy.  But here is a nice blurry photo:

retro prep

Also I joined a shotgun swap on the bpal forum for lupercalia and I decided to knit my recipient a pair of toasts.  I modified the pattern just a smidge by adding 2 stitches to the circumference.  This was so I could add in a wave pattern found in A Shetland Knitter’s Pattern Book.  The main yarn is some long discontinued Classic Elite Maya with a few yards of Brown Sheep worsted for the wave pattern.  I really like how the mohair picks up the light and glistens like droplets of water in the sun.  Score one for me!:

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FWIW I do have a better picture of the yarn in sweater but alas it is the backdrop to some secret squirrel knitting.  So if you are on Ravelry and feel like peeking at my projects you can see tweedy goodness there

yarny days and knitterly evenings, elka