WIP Wednesday

I can believe it’s time for another WIP Wednesday. This week has flown by and I don’t really have much progress to show for it!

The Sliding Leaves socks I was working on last week are still on the needles…

I was working on the heels last week, so I’ve only managed about an inch since then. It’s a nice pattern, and I like the socks, but to be honest I’m a little tired of knitting them! I usually manage to memorise most of a pattern by the time I’ve knit this much, but this one doesn’t seem to want to stick and I’m getting rather tired of having to read every line of 2 different charts. I’ll certainly be glad to finish these and have them on my feet rather than on my needles! It’s probably a good thing that I’m making them 2 at a time, otherwise I’m fairly certain that they’d be victim to the dreaded second sock syndrome…

I’ve also started spinning my hand dyed berry fibre from my last post.

I’m quite pleased with the way it’s turning out. I split it in half lengthways so I could preserve the colour changes as much as possible. It is a bit felted so I’m having to prep it quite a lot which is resulting in a very well pre drafted fibre which is spinning up to be very fine. I’m somehow managing to spin it fairly evenly, so I’m hopeful about the resulting yarn. I think plied it might be somewhere between a laceweight and a 4ply. I’ve got no idea what the yardage will be, but I’m hoping there’ll be enough for a small triangular scarf.

And just to finish, a little mystery sock spoiler alert– if you’re doing the Through the Loops 2010 Mystery KAL then look away now!

We’re up to Clue 3 and the penultimate clue is due for release tomorrow, but here’s how the sock looks so far, just past the heel turn…

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Fat berry braid

I’m going to class my second attempt at dyeing wool tops a semi success. I l o v e the colours here. They came out darker than I expected, gorgeous deep berry and purple with the odd splash of lavender hidden here and there. It’s perfect for autumn. I’m a little sad that it’s only a wee 20 grams.

However, I seem to have (yet again) lightly fulled the merino. I am almost positive that it’s down to my complete inability to Leave The Wool Alone. Last time I prodded it too much during the dyeing. This time I managed to not poke it whilst was dyeing, it was the cool down I had problems with. My eagerness to see what magic the dyes had worked on the wool led me to do bad things. I know heat + alkaline + wool = felt-o-rama. I know I should leave the wool to cool down in the pot. I know all this, but it’s oh-so-hard. I don’t seem to have had this problem when dyeing yarn, so I’m not sure what it is about fibre that brings this insatiable impishness and impatience out of me, so that I sneak the fibre out of its bath before it’s ready.

I don’t think it’s completely irredeemable, it’s just going to take a little bit more prep than I’d like. I’m very much looking forward to spinning this up on my wheel.

And next time, I will have to Walk Away.

Or buy superwash fibre.

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FO: McCafferty

This is a long overdue FO post! I've managed to post in time for Tami's FO Friday though, so yay for that at least.

McCafferty by Lily Kate France

Yarn: Forsell Botany

Ravelled here

This was the test knit for Lily Kate that I knit back in August, and I love love love it. I think I have worn it practically every time I have left the house since I finished it and I’ve had several lovely comments on it. It is by far my favourite knit of the year.

This thing is big. I haven’t got a picture of it stretched out yet, I really should take one or at least measure the dimensions. I used 4 strands of Forsell Botany 1 ply held together as one (2 strands Sovereign, 2 strands Sienna) and I couldn’t be happier with it! It’s incredibly warm, but so light and airy too.

It’s essentially a garter stitch triangle scarf with a yarn over lace mesh border. I absolutely love the simplicity of the pattern, it’s so effective. It is a quick knit too. Despite me taking over a month to sit down and write this post (shameful!), I actually finished knitting it in under 15 days. Some may find endless rows of knit stitches tiresome, but I find it quite therapeutic. Anything that allows me to shut off my brain and run on auto-pilot is a win in my book.

In fact, my only project irk has nothing to do with the pattern and everything to do with my choice of yarn. Don’t get me wrong, I’m about 99% happy with the yarn that I used. The 1% is more to do with how I’ve used the yarn, and comes down to the fact that 4 completely un-plied strands are tricky to keep track of, especially when knitting fast and not paying attention. There is more than one stitch where I haven’t quite caught all 4 strands, leaving an errant loop here and there. Nothing serious and barely noticeable, but ever so slightly tedious. Oh well, lesson learnt.

I absolutely adore Lily Kate’s designs and I really can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! She’s such a talented designer and I’m thrilled to have been able to test knit for her.

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WIP Wednesday

I’m giving toe up socks another try.

I’ve tried knitting socks from the toe up before, but 9 months later, they’re still on the needles. I’m not quite ready to resurrect my first attempt from hibernation yet, so here are toe up socks v.2: The Sliding Leaves socks.


I hand-dyed the yarn for these in an autumnal russet-y orange a few weeks ago, and cast on the night before the Boy and I set off for Scotland, intending them to be my holiday knit. Alas, my aversion to gauge swatching reared it’s ugly head, and about 2 and a half inches in I was forced to admit that they were in fact too big. I couldn’t quite convince the boy to wear lacy orange socks, and having only printed off the chart for the size I thought I needed they were sadly abandoned for the rest of the trip.

I couldn’t quite bring myself to frog them all the way and start from scratch, but luckily the next size down used the same number of cast on stitches with just one fewer increase row, so I managed (by some minor miracle) to frog back to the right row on both socks, and knit on afresh. Big improvement. My feet are no longer swimming in russet orange wool :)

I'm up to the heels now, so I probably should have taken an updated progress post, but I really wanted to get this post up in time for WIP Wednesday!

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FO: more mystery socks

Mystery Socks by Claudia Eisenkolb

Yarn: Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn

Ravelled here

I love these socks! I’ve raved about the heel flap before, so I’ll refrain from repeating myself again, but I do love this heel. I also absolutely love the toe on these socks, it wraps around the edge of the foot and is so unusual and pretty!

I think I’m addicted to mystery socks now.

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Catching up

I have no real excuse for my blogging absence other than I was away in Scotland for a wee week, and then came back and felt incredibly lazy!

However, the realisation that it is now Socktoberfest season has spurred me into action.

I do have finished objects and knits in progress to post about, but for now I have the yarn, I have the clue, and I shall spend a lazy Sunday snuggled up and casting on for the Through the Loops Socktoberfest Mystery Sock for 2010 in delicious chocolate brown wool.

Colour me happy :)

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