Category: Knitting

The New Brown Socks

OK, I figured I’d better get knitting, since you’re all expecting Man Socks here. I found the perfect guy-approved hank of yarn, in the stash, no less, which appealed to my guy’s sense of frugality.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool Quarters, a sport weight 100% wool yarn. I bought a bunch of this for socks way back when, before MC came up with their Bearfoot sock yarn. At 100% wool, this stuff has to be hand washed, and it felts like nobody’s business. It makes great socks, though. They are a bit thick to wear in dress shoes, but since I almost always wear Birkenstocks, that’s OK with me. John pretty much lives in his Birkies, too, so these will work for him as well.

Here’s what I’ve got so far. One advantage of sport weight yarn is that it knits up relatively fast.

The color is Red Tail Hawk, the pattern is my own, this time using 60 stitches and my trusty Ivore needles, in 2.75mm. The gauge I’m getting is about 7 stitches per inch.

And here’s the old next to the new:

In case you were wondering about the size of the new socks, I’ve tried these on, and they fit me with a bit of ease, meaning they’ll fit John perfectly. I think you may now be getting a sense of the full ugliness of the old socks. He was sweet to say he loved them, though. The new ones will actually be socks he can wear in public.

And in the category of small victories over my tendency to enhance the stash in the middle of the night with internet access and memorized credit card number: After I started knitting the new socks, I was reminded of how much I love this Mountain Colors yarn. In no time, I had an internet shopping cart full of new skeins. I then turned around, opened the sock box, and found 9 more hanks of this stuff already in my house. I emptied the cart, turned off the computer, and went to bed.

Next time: An update on the Tidepool Peacock shawl!

Better Get Out Those Sunglasses!

Or,

Project Update

Since I have one less thing on the needles by finishing those Arctic Monkeys, I started two new things. The first is a pair of plain socks. Here’s where you will need the sunglasses. This yarn is so bright, you don’t need a pattern stitch.

This is Tempted Good Grrl sock yarn, in the color Wicked Witch. Even that photo doesn’t do this stuff justice. I think it glows in the dark. I got mine here, and there’s still some left. This will just be a plain sock, that same old pattern.

By the way, I did have another sock on the needles back in September, that orange Trekking stuff. This was in a burst of excitement over knitting something besides plain socks. I got so sick of the pattern that I ripped them out, in a fit of pique. I’ll re-do the yarn eventually as a plain sock, but this skein just called to me when I opened the yarn box to find a new sock.

Next up is the second new project, Dog Mittens!

These are just the cutest things I’ve ever seen. They will be for my sweet dog-walking hubby. The pattern is by Jorid Linvik, and the Ravelry link is here. Here is her pattern shop. Of course, while I was shopping, I bought the Cat Mittens and the Talullah’s Heart Mittens too. The yarn is Rauma Finullgarn, purchased from Nordic Fiber Arts. It figures, I get excited by patterned mittens and have absolutely no yarn in those fourteen boxes that would work. That’s why the Stash Knit-Down counter moved.

Just as a warning, these are a little on the small side. As written, the pattern would probably fit a small woman’s hand. I’m going up a needle size, and they will be snug on him, but should still fit. (Did I just say that out loud?) I also put a little longer cuff on them. If you want to make these in a larger size, you could go up to a bit heavier yarn.

I have gotten a little done on True Blue, though I haven’t even looked at anything else since I got that mitten yarn. Here’s a photo. I’m not saying anything about whether it’s going to fit or not. At this point, I’m thinking that it would be easier to find a new man that the sweater would fit.*

The Peacock Shawl is still in the rotation, it’s just taken a back seat for awhile. Maybe I’ll show you a photo next time.

*Just kidding, dear. You know I wouldn’t trade you in!

Some Actual Knitting Content

I know, I know. I bet you thought I forgot that this is a knitting blog. You can always tell when bloggers are behind on their knitting; they start posting the results of internet quizzes.

I have been working steadily on that Not-Quite-A-Cobblestone sweater, though. I finally have finished the neck shaping and am nearly done with the collar.

Here’s the sweater with the collar nearly finished.

Here’s what I ended up doing for the top half of this. This sweater started out as Jared Flood’s Cobblestone sweater, and I knit it as written up to where you attach the sleeves at the armholes. The top half is a simple raglan style, using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop instructions. I decided to just follow her instructions for the neck shaping without questioning her wisdom, and it worked out perfectly. The collar is more plain garter stitch. I can’t begin to tell you how much I despise knitting collars in the round on stubby little 16″ circulars. I tried double points, but it was even more awkward. Fortunately, a collar is only a few rows. Now it’s on to the cast off.


I’m using June Hiatt’s instructions for a Half Hitch sewn cast off, which works well for a collar, where you don’t want the bind off to be too tight. EZ describes this in the Knitting Workshop, but she does it in the other direction, from left to right, in the opposite direction of the knitting. I tried that, and it seemed much more awkward than June’s way. Basically, you take your needle and yarn through the second stitch on the left needle as if to knit, snug it up, then through the first needle as if to purl, tighten and drop the first stitch off the needle. It matches a long tail cast on nearly perfectly.

I’m off to forage for lunch, then more novel writing. I’m only at a pitiful 6110 words, which is half what I should have at this point. I work much better with a deadline, though, and when I get closer to the end of November, I can predict a few 8000 word writing days. I have a couple of really annoying drunken twin brothers that I plan to kill off in the next chapter. That’s always fun, and good for a thousand words.

The Great Stash Knit-Down

I have a new item over there on the sidebar. Now that the economy is in the toilet, I’m very excited that I have boxes and boxes of stash to knit from. My sister-in-law Ena is visiting, as I mentioned in my last post. After she got settled in to our guest room, she came upstairs laughing. First she had to move a bunch of stash boxes around in the closet so she could have room to hang up clothes. Then she noticed Lewey talking to something he imagined was under the bed, so she got down to look. Yup, more yarn. I didn’t take her upstairs to see the 2 huge boxes of sock yarn, and the huge box of lace yarn in my office.

Anyway, I’m not committing to not buying any more yarn. You all know me better than that, and that plan has never gone well. I am simply committing to publicly keeping track of all the forward (or backward!) movement in my stash yardage. If I use a skein of yarn, the yards get added. If I buy a skein of yarn, the yards get subtracted from the total. Let’s hope it stays out of the minus numbers. I’m starting out with adding all the yarn I’ve used so far for the not-Cobblestone sweater. After this I’ll update it as each ball of yarn is used/added. My blog, my rules.

Ena is also a beginning knitter. She is knitting dishcloths as practice, and brought her knitting with her. Here is her first fine effort, and a photo of her knitting. Will you all please welcome the newest member of our fold, and encourage her on her progress?


She finished the first dishcloth in less than two evenings, so I’m pretty sure she’s hooked. I actually heard her say “just let me finish one more row” a couple of times. We went to the LYS today so she could stock up on her very own needles and more yarn (and stitch markers, tapestry needles, etc!).

Last but not least, here’s my hippie car, just to let you know who I’m voting for this fall.**

We vote by absentee ballot every year, and finished our voting this morning over coffee.

Whoever you are planning on voting for this year, get out there and get it done!

**Yes, I have a license plate, I’m blocking it out for safety reasons!

And The Fun Begins…

…As EZ says in her book, Knitting Workshop. As you all may recall, I’m knitting a not-Cobblestone sweater, and have been for months now. I did the body as written up to the underarms, then tossed out the pattern. For the rest of it I’m using EZ’s directions in the above-mentioned book, though I plan on modifying the neck shaping when I get there, using Jacqueline Fee’s Sweater Workshop. I finally finished the body and sleeves.

I now have the whole thing knitted together, with about 2 inches done on the yoke.

I’m enjoying the challenge of knitting a sweater in the round, but I’m not sure I’d do this often. The whole thing is pretty unwieldy once it’s knitted together, and makes it entirely a non-portable project at this point. The only advantage that I can see is not having to sew things together at the end, but I really don’t mind sewing knitting together. (Don’t send me all your sewing to do for you!)

John’s sister Ena is here visiting for the week, and we’ve been cooking up a storm. Here’s part of last night’s dinner. We had fresh steelhead salmon from the market, grilled, along with braised kale and risotto. The risotto was made using fresh chanterelle mushrooms we found at the farmers market, and was delicious. Unfortunately we didn’t get any photos of the whole meal on the plate, but here’s the in-progress shots of the risotto:

Yes, it was yummy. I’m off to enjoy the sunshine!

Project Roundup, Part 3

I just realized that I’ve been talking about my latest lace project for the past couple of weeks and have never posted a photo. I’ve updated my Ravelry project page as I’ve gone along, but never here. That’s what comes of trying to keep up with both, and doing a half-assed job of it at that.

The lace on the needles is the Peacock Feathers Shawl, a Fiddlesticks Knitting pattern by Dorothy Siemens. (Ravelry link here.) The yarn I’m using is Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton, in the color Bluegrass. I bought the yarn from Kris at Sonny & Shear, and as soon as I got it I knew it needed to be a Peacock.

And here’s what it looks like now, at row 95 of the pattern.

I can’t say enough good things about this pattern. It does require a bit of attention, as the stitch counts change on a few of the rows, and the repeat markers shift back and forth frequently. However, the whole thing is clearly charted, and the pattern notes are quite explicit. Though the charts look quite complicated, they really aren’t. It’s one of those patterns that you just want to keep knitting, as it’s not just the same old thing on every row.

I also love this yarn. I’ve never used mercerized cotton for lace work, so we’ll see how it blocks, but the shine is just spectacular, and it takes color marvelously. It also looks like Jello. Here’s proof. John had a little procedure this week that required a clear liquid diet for 36 hours, and we made him some blue and yellow Jello. When the dishes were partly emptied, we just tossed them in together.

Proof that I’m easily amused.

And speaking of John, here’s a photo of several of my housemates out on the deck yesterday, enjoying an early fall nap.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Project Roundup, Part 2.1

Or, Over The Edge

I’ve finally done it. I’ve been making plain stocking stitch socks for almost as long as I’ve been knitting, straying into pattern stitches only a couple of times. Now I have not one, but two pairs of patterned socks on the needles. I feel like a lemming who has jumped off the cliff.

Here’s the first pair. That Irish Girl Arctic Circle yarn from a few posts ago just didn’t want to be a plain sock. The stripes were just a bit too weird even for me, so I fired up the computer* and printed out Cookie A’s Monkey sock pattern. I’m likely the only knitter on the planet that has not made a pair of these. I originally started the plain sock on 68 stitches, and because this yarn is what I would call a heavy fingering weight, needed to rip back and restart on 64 stitches. I still didn’t like the striping so ripped to the cuff and I’m now Monkeying around.

Irish Arctic Monkeys!

The second pair isn’t really my fault. I joined Sock Knitters Anonymous over on Ravelry, and the Sockdown challenge for September/October is to knit orange socks.** Well, boy howdy, do I have some orange yarn in my stash, so I couldn’t resist. I started this one as a plain sock too, but it was entirely too boring, so plugged in a stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

You can’t really tell from that photo, but there really is a pattern stitch. It’s Stansfield #10 from that book, which I think is a really dumb name. I’m not about to call these my Stansfield #10 socks for the next 2 months. I think it looks like Morse code, so they are forever hereafter my Orange Morse Code socks. This is lovely Trekking XXL sock yarn, in the color 145. Otherwise known as Orange. Just go ask Debi, the Queen of Orange.

Actually both of these qualify for the current Sockdown challenge. You could either knit orange socks, or knit a pattern by Cookie A. So there you have it. When I go lemming, I go all the way.

Next time in the Roundup, the Peacock lace!

*That’s of course not really true. My Mac is always fired up. It behaves very well even when I leave it turned on indefinitely, so I only shut it down completely when we go on vacation.

**If you want to get on the good side of Debi, the moderator over there, post a photo of some yarn and ask her if it’s ORANGE ENOUGH?? Just don’t tell her I sent you.

Project Roundup, Part 2

Or, Not Cobblestone

Whatever did happen to that Cobblestone sweater, after all? I started this eons ago (January, actually), and it’s been in time out for awhile. You all know what it’s supposed to look like, right? Here’s a link, in case you’ve been living under a rock. Many fine knitters have made this sweater, and I think it looks great on nearly every one of them.

Here’s the rub, though. Most of those fine knitters have made this sweater for men, as the pattern designer planned it. Here’s another great example, by Tiennie, for her husband. Now for women? Not so many great ones. Hardly any, in fact, and I didn’t really think much about this when I started the pattern. Here’s one, by Lynda, that proves me wrong, though hers is modified as well, and quite lovely. Anyway, I just wanted to knit it, and it was time for a nice wooly sweater for me, and that was that. I didn’t take into consideration that this might not be so flattering on a woman, especially a woman with, shall we say, voluptuous curves in the top half.

This thing is knitted all in the round, in plain stockinette up to the underarms, with a wide garter strip for the side “seams”, then in garter stitch for a round yoke. That garter edge falls right at the “boobage” line, not such a great idea for those of us with a generous front porch. I got all the way to that point, decided that this wouldn’t be a good idea, and decided to drop that garter line down to where my waist would be, if I had a waist. Rip rip rip. Reknit, reknit, reknit.

I kept looking at this and looking at this. All those miles of garter stitch in a round yoke, even with the line of demarcation dropped lower, are going to do nothing but accentuate that front porch even more. This is a nice idea if you’re selling your house, not so much if you want a flattering sweater. It was time for some rethinking.

I’ve decided to keep the bottom half of the sweater as it’s written, up to the armpits. I’m dumping the round garter stitch yoke, and going with a raglan style knit all in stockinette, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman. This has required some serious consulting of a couple of her books, and a little math work with paper and pencil to rewrite the rest of the pattern. I’m also re-doing the sleeves. As they are written, the cuffs are very wide, with a circumference of twelve inches. My wrists
are six inches around (the only skinny part of me, and I’m damned proud of them, thank you). So while I had the EZ books out, I used her method of calculating sleeve stitches.

Rip rip rip. Out came all that garter stuff in the round that I had reknit. I’m now back up to the armpits, and I’ve started the first sleeve. I might just have this done for winter!

I will tell you that I love this yarn completely. It’s Classic Elite’s Skye Tweed, and I have no flipping idea why they discontinued it. Even after ripping and reknitting, ripping and reknitting, the stuff looks brand new. This sweater should wear like a champ, if I ever finish it. I just wish I’d bought a couple more sweaters worth of it while I was shopping.

Next time, Project Roundup Part 3, the latest lace project.

Project Roundup, Part 1

But first, here’s what’s going on at our house this week. My sweetie, John, had surgery on both of his feet earlier this week. We planned this for a week that I had off, so I could wait on him hand and foot, or foot and foot, in this case. Here’s what he looked like the evening after surgery.

Those are icepacks on his feet, and would you just look at those fashionable shoes! He’s doing pretty well, all things considered. Here’s Lewey, consoling him.

In between running errands and fetching things, I have gotten some knitting done. I have three projects actively going right at the moment. First up is the new sock.

The yarn is from Three Irish Girls, from their Sock Yarnista monthly sock club. This is my first club shipment, and I am more than pleased. It’s very squishy, lovely yarn, and Sharon sent a coordinating contrast color for heels and toes if you’re one of those people, like me, who won’t use the included pattern. The club is a monthly offering, and has either a variegated colorway or a semi-solid, and you can choose on a monthly basis which one you want. The pattern this month is a lovely cabled sock that will look much better in the semisolid yarn, so I’m substituting, you guessed it, my favorite sock pattern over there to your right in the menu bar. I’ve decided to use the darker yarn for the tops, heels, and toes, just for a change.

And the needles, you ask? Those are my latest acquisition, sterling double points from Celtic Swan Forge. It’s hard to get a decent photo of them, but here’s an attempt.

These are just fabulous. They are not for everyone, I’d guess, though. They have a rather blunt tip, for one thing, which doesn’t bother me in the least, but some people might hate them. If you insist on a sharply pointed dpn, these are not your needles. They are also substantially heavier than any other double points I’ve used. They are also very expensive, so you have to really want them. And I really wanted them, so I got them. If you have a special occasion coming up, and need to give your significant other a gift idea for you, this might be it.

Next time: Whatever happened to that Cobblestone thing? Stay tuned to find out!

Whitewater Blocking

Before I get to that, it’s 56 degrees here today. In August. Our furnace came on this morning and John looked at me suspiciously and asked, “did you turn that on?”

No dear, it’s just fracking cold here.

The lace is done, ends woven in, and it went for a swim this morning. As I’ve said before, I believe in full-immersion blocking. Besides, this one went down the Green River and the Colorado River, and needed a bath.

I use Kookaburra wool wash, and soaked this for about half an hour, then rinsed. I’ve used both the regular and the delicate versions of this product, and really can’t tell much difference.

Ready for the pinning ceremony:

I used a combination of blocking wires for the straight top edge, and pins for the side points.

Yes, that’s a lot of pins. It would be even more ridiculous without the wires on the top edge.

I’m going to find a wool sweater to wear. Project details and the requisite artsy photo when it’s dry.

Sock Pattern! Free!

Ok, this is really a knitting update of sorts, but first, there is a free pattern over there to your right, in the sidebar. It’s Lorette’s Wordy Generic Sock Pattern, now new and improved! This is just my cobbled together pattern that I’ve put together over the years. It has instructions for both a picot top and plain ribbing. I just put it up today, and hopefully it is relatively error free. It’s just a plain vanilla sock, so don’t expect anything fancy.

Now for the update.

Here’s one of those Generic Socks. I haven’t gotten much done on this since my last post, but I am done with the gusset decreases on the first sock. I still love this yarn. It’s endlessly amusing to me to see what color comes next. For the curious who want to know, the end of the first repeat in the color sequence was just in the middle of the heel flap. I have no idea if I’ll be able to match the second sock exactly or not. Oh, the suspense!

Next up is my alpaca lace shawl. Here’s where I am:

I did end up taking this with me on our Utah trip, though I didn’t take it on the second leg of the trip down the Colorado. I had dropped a bunch of stitches before we went on the trip, and finally got the whole thing straightened out and back on the needles. I pulled it out one night sitting around the campfire, and did exactly the same thing, dropping about 15 or 20 stitches off the needles, then spent the next two nights before dark getting it fixed yet again. For the record, the first time I did this, I just frogged back about 20 rows to my last lifeline. Getting those stitches back on the needle, even with a lifeline, was sort of a bitch, to say the least. The second time, I decided not to frog. I just got as many of the dropped loose stitches back onto a spare needle as I could, then patiently tinked back row by row, until I got to a section where I had everything back on the working needle with a correct stitch count. It was actually less painful than ripping all those rows again.

For those of you not following this saga, this is made using Evelyn Clark’s book, Knitting Lace Triangles. I did the whole first section with the Medallion stitch pattern, and have just switched to the Ripple pattern for the next section. This is a 20-row repeat, and I think I’ll do 2 or 3 repeats, then the edging, then it’s done.

And the shawl finally has a name: Whitewater Shawl. Of course, it was obvious, once it came to me. I’ve decided that the Ripple section represents the flatter sections of water, I think the Medallion part looks like the rapids. There isn’t anything in the pattern that represents me nearly drowning in Cataract Canyon, but you can’t have everything.

Opal

I know you’ve all been in suspense since my last post, waiting to see what I would pick out of that immense pile of sock yarn for my next pair of socks. I have to admit, it would be easier if I only had four or five hanks of yarn to choose from. In the end, I just randomly picked a color that appealed to me, in a brand I haven’t knit with for awhile.

Claudia described my sock yarn stash as “biggish”, which I think was a bit of an understatement. Laurie asked how many there are. 162. There is enough yarn there for 162 pairs of socks. I’ll let that sink in a bit.

OK, here’s what I picked.

Opal Hundertwassers, color 1434. I just love the creative names these guys give their colorways. And I love Opal sock yarn. It’s not the “squooshiest” sock yarn out there, and is a bit finer than some, but it is well-made, not splitty, and wears like iron. And the colors are fabulous. This is the kind of stuff you keep knitting just to see what comes next.

Pretty, eh?

In case you’ve been napping, Claudia is doing her MS Ride this weekend, and there is still time to donate to the cause. There are lots of swell prizes to win, so get over there and empty out your wallet. Last year, knitters donated enough to win Claudia’s team the right to wear the #1 jersey this year. What are you waiting for? Go!

I’m off to see what comes after that orange band.

Amaranth Socks

As promised last time, I have a finished project to show you. Here are the mismatched, not-quite identical Amaranth socks.

If they look a little dilapidated, it’s because I couldn’t wait to wear them before I took photos!

Project Details:

Pattern: My own generic sock pattern. I started these with 64 stitches around, which was too small, then ripped and started over with 72 on the second go around, for some reason that escapes me. I had knit to the heel before I decided that they were too big. I was not about to rip them out again, so just decreased a bit extra in the gussets and ended up with 68 stitches for the foot. For the record, 68 stitches with this yarn is perfect.

Yarn: Madeline Tosh sock yarn, in Amaranth. This is just lovely yarn, in lovely colors. It’s 100% superwash merino wool. It has a very nice “hand” once it’s made up.

Needles: Size 2.25 mm Pony Pearls. Yes, I’m still old-fashioned and use dpns for socks. I could have gone down a needle size with this yarn and still had an acceptable fabric, but this was OK.

Started: November 2007. Really. I’m not that slow of a sock knitter, I just keep getting sidetracked.

Finished: Last week.

For: Me

Modifications: I’ll ask it again, how do you define “modify” when it’s your own jerry-rigged pattern? This one has 2 by 2 ribbing, and a standard heel flap and gusset. Nothing fancy.

What I learned: I’m still a plain-sock girl. And yarn can do weird things when you’re not looking. This yarn came in a single hank, and I don’t think there were any knots. The two socks are knit the same, with the same needles, and the gauge is the same. But look at them. They are just doing that not-matching thing to try to bug me.

And I’m already a good ways into the next sock. Remember that Three Irish Girls yarn I talked about several posts back? Some of the stuff I broke the yarn fast for? It came, I wound, I knitted. It is just indescribably lovely. I want this in every color.

This is their Adorn Sock Yarn, the  color is Eire, and I’m knitting them on my latest needle purchase, the Knit Picks Harmony dpns. These are very nice, and much less expensive than comparable wooden double points. I have a set of Lantern Moons, but I’m mostly afraid to use them for fear of breakage. This yarn is just so squooshy soft and wonderful that it almost knits itself!

I also have another gadget that I got a while ago, but haven’t posted a photo. This is a handmade tin needle protector, which might make me a little less fearful of using those nice needles. Just slip it over your needles with the sock in progress, put the cap on, and toss it in your bag!

Here’s where I got mine, though the home page of the online order site says it’s not working. There’s a contact email on that page, just email Jen and she’ll set you up.

And just to prove that I’m still working on that alpaca silk lace shawl, here’s a photo.

Even though it might not look much different than before, here’s a photo that proves it is indeed bigger.

That used to be 100 grams of yarn, I’m down to 61.6 grams. And I now have around 300 stitches on the needle.

I really need to call this one something better than “that alpaca silk lace shawl”. It’s getting made up using Evelyn Clark’s Knitting Lace Triangles book. I’m going to do a few more repeats of the vaguely flower-like motif, then add a ripple border, then a pointy edging. I know, it all sounds quite technical, doesn’t it? Any ideas for a clever shawl name?

Oops…

On Saturday I pulled out one of my favorite pairs of hand knit socks to wear, and discovered this:

I don’t usually get holes in the toes of my socks, but I think my aging pedicure was to blame this time. After rummaging around in my office, I found the ball of leftover yarn that goes with this sock. Here’s a link to the finished socks, if you want to see what they looked like brand new.

Fixing the toe was relatively easy. I just cut off the end of the sock with the hole, got it back on needles, and reknit it. It took less time than getting a new pedicure.

After I finished the toe, I inspected the rest of both socks, and found some perilously thin heels (the photo above), so I got out the darning needle and duplicate stitched over both of them. My duplicate stitching probably wouldn’t win any ribbons at the state fair, but it will hopefully give this pair a little longer lifespan.

And this is all the yarn I have left, so the next time this pair gets a hole, it’s history.

This past week was a bit busy, which might explain the lack of knitting and posting around here. My weekend was spent at a Catholic women’s retreat here. There were approximately thirty women at the retreat, and we stayed from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. It was a wonderful experience, and I would highly recommend it to any of you looking for something similar.

Here’s a photo of the view from the main conference room at the center:

I’m amazed that any of us could concentrate on anything but that view. I didn’t get much knitting done while I was there, but I did find a couple of other knitters to hang out with Saturday evening. I just might possibly even have some progress photos the next time I post. Though I suppose fixing socks is progress of sorts.

Last but not least, I was interviewed recently for WhoKnits online magazine. Go here to read the interview! New link via the Wayback Machine!

Project Update

I’ve come up with a new way to handle all my yarn stash. I created an Access database file a long time ago, before I got a Mac, but there is no good Mac equivalent of that software that is cheap and easy to use. I finally found one, and if you’re a Mac user, you might want to check out Bento. I was able to import the old Access file info, then I just had to update the thing, and add all the tons of new yarn I’ve added to the stash in the last year and a half since I got my Mac. I just love this software; it’s so easy that you don’t need any database experience to figure it out, and at $49, it meets the criteria of cheap. They have a downloadable demo so you can try it out. The only catch is that you must have the Leopard operating system installed on your Mac to use it.

The really nice part of all this organization is that I have one database field for yarn location, so I can figure out where something is without tearing apart the whole yarn closet to find what I’m looking for. I can sort by any field, which means that if I have a pattern for a lace shawl that uses 1200 yards of laceweight, I can figure out what I have in the stash that works. I also did a little reorganization this past week, as the various box contents are a bit random, and are in order of yarn vintage as much as anything else. I now have all the sock yarns in one place, and all the lace yarn in another place. And I’ve decided to start my own sock of the month club. Every time I get the urge to yarn shop, I’m just turning around and opening a box, and pulling something out that catches my eye. I brought all the sock yarn upstairs to sit right behind me, so I’m not tempted to buy any more.

Hey, it could work.

Here are the various current projects.

I’m not taking a photo of Cobblestone. I’ve done exactly two rows on it in the last two weeks. I need to line up some good movies and just sit down and work on this one.

Here’s my new lace project.

This is going to be a triangular lace shawl, using the Evelyn Clark Knitting Lace Triangles book. So far I think I’m going to use this particular motif for the whole body of the shawl, with a ripple pattern for the border, then an edging. Her book is simple, but brilliant.

The yarn is Alpaca With A Twist Fino, in cream. It’s an alpaca/silk blend, and is just heavenly soft, and whisper light.

Next up is the current sock. This is the Madeline Tosh yarn, in Amaranth. I’ve finished one, and near the heel on the second.

Notice anything odd about those stripes? Here’s a better photo to show you:

What the bloody hell? Yes, I’ve counted and measured. I have the same number of stitches on the needles, the same gauge, and the same size needles. Now I could understand this if this yarn came in smaller skeins, with one separate skein for each sock. But this was one skein, which I split in half to make things easier in trying to calculate how long I could make the cuff. These socks aren’t fraternal; I’m not even sure they’re related. For what it’s worth, I’m liking the second sock better.

Last but not least, I’ve resurrected the Sock Hop yarn from last fall. Remember the ball of sock yarn that I apparently misplaced somewhere between here and Idaho? I finally unravelled the first sock, figuring that after all this time, if I haven’t found the yarn, it’s lost forever.  Here’s its new incarnation:

That’s going to be a jaunty little beret. The pattern calls for one skein of Koigu, so I figure this should be enough. So far, I’m loving the way this yarn stripes.

And finally, my gadget of the week photo. I saw these on a couple of other blogs, and had to get one (of course!).

This is a knitting abacus bracelet, by Hide and Sheep. I figured this might be one of those gadgets that looks nice but never gets used. Not so. I really like the simplicity of how this works, and it’s much prettier than my office supply store clicker counter. I also got some of the stitch markers, which are lovely as well. They make a wide variety of marker styles, including markers for crocheters. Check it out!