Limping across the finish line!

Several weeks later and I’ve finally managed to limp across the Winter Ravelympics finish line with my Earl Grey Socks!

 

Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Yarn: Regia Stretch Color
Ravelled here

I made this pair for the Boy, and I haven’t managed to get a shot of him wearing them yet, so I’ll just have to make do with my foot making these socks look ill fitting! Hum ho.

Despite this taking me well over a month to complete, it is a really quick pattern. The cable designs are a fun. lovely little detail that breaks up the monotony of the stocking stitch nicely. I love knitting socks that have a clear repeatable pattern in them as it makes it so much easier to make them the same size – just count the repeats of the first one and repeat as many for the second! I may be alone here, but I’m weirdly paranoid about making socks odd lengths, and have been known to take to obsessively measuring the second sock only to have it still turn out a different length, so this works a treat for me.

I followed the pattern pretty much as written, with the only exception being the cast on – I used Eskimimi’s stretchy cast on for this. It’s a very simple concept, but most ingenious ideas do tend to be! The link takes you through to her instructions on her blog, but essentially you’re provisionally casting on the correct number of stitches, working a few rows in stocking stitch before switching to ribbing for a few rows, and then joining the live provisional stitches to your working stitches by knitting the two together. Phew! I think it sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, although it is a little fiddly. It is crazy stretchy though, more so than long tail and it has the added bonus that it snaps right back into place and doesn’t stretch out, so it is a good technique to bear in mind if you’re knitting socks for someone and you’re not too sure of the leg size. The only negative I have to say about this, is that it did leave a little bit of a bump on the cuff of my sock, which I think you can just about make out in the photo, which was a result of the double thickness caused by this technique. The next time I try this cast on I’ll try either working the cast on fewer rows, or working it for the whole of the ribbed cuff, which should hopefully make the join a little less noticeable.

And as far as new projects go, I’ve cast on and am almost done with knitting a Totoro hat for my goddaughter! It’ll be the first in a whole series of them, as I want to make one for her big sister, and as soon as the Boy got wind of all this he demanded one too. More on that later!

I also started a new blog last night for my other huge obsession: beauty and make-up! I don’t know if anyone actually reads this blog, but if anyone does I assume they’d be knitters, and I wasn’t too sure how many knitters would appreciate being bombarded with posts about make-up so I’ve forged out another little internet space for myself right over here :)

Pin It

Spinning for spring

 

I seem to get more of an urge to spin in the spring when the skies are lightening and the weather gets slightly warmer.  I’ve even been outside twice this week without a coat on! It really must be getting warmer.

Back in June, the Boy took me up to Glasgow for long weekend, and I persuaded him to take us to New Lanark since it was only around the proverbial corner.

 

It’s a precious little place which  I wholeheartedly recommend anyone to visit if they find themselves in that area. I absolutely love the history of it, and after wandering around the museum and seeing the gorgeous plants and views from their roof garden, of course I ended up in the gift shop. And of course I bought several balls of wool. Several might be around thirty. Eeek! And then, in the corner, I spied some large bags of emerald green fibre which I pounced on and added to my loot. Because when you’re buying several balls of wool, what’s one more bag?!

The other night, in a fit of procrastination, I felt the need to dig out my hand carders and have a play. The New Lanark fibre (I wish I’d had the foresight to ask what kind of fibre it was at the time) seemed the perfect choice for carding, since the rest of my fibre stash are combed tops and this was more of a lofty  mass.

The carding went a bit easier than I thought it’d be. It’s still a little tricky, but I guess practice will take care of that. I’ve decided to give woollen spinning a try, since I usually spin worsted. It’s supposed to give you a soft fuzzy yarn, since you’re spinning across the fibre rather than with the fibre, but so far all I’m getting is uneven singles! Let’s see if I manage any improvement.

Pin It

Ravelympics: Semi-Fail!

Semi fail because I only managed to get one of my two entries across the finish line!

Colonnade shawl by Stephen West
Yarn: New Lanark Donegal Silk Tweed Aran in Damson
Ravelled here

This was quite a simple quick knit. Just straightforward and uncomplicated enough for me to be able knit (albeit pretty slowly!) whilst reading my textbooks and just enough detail to keep me from boredom. The yo2’s slipped me up slightly the first time round so that I had to tink back half a row when I realised the normal yo’s I had been doing were not right. But that’s what happens when you don’t read the pattern  and blindly march on on the foolish assumption that I’ve-done-yarn-overs-before-I-know-what-I’m-doing! (this seems to be a running theme with me, as I made a similar mistake with the Earl Grey socks this morning! Tut tut indeed.)

I think however, that this is destined for frogging. I like the pattern, and I love the yarn, but the combination of the two is just not working for me. When I saw in in the Fall09 Knitty I loved the idea of a scarf that could be worn in so many ways, but the aran weight is just too bulky for me. I’m broad shouldered as it is, and as the Boy so delicately put it, this makes me look like I’m wearing a big purple lion’s mane (isn’t he nice to me?!). Not too flattering then! Hum ho. Think I’ll try again with a DK or fingering weight yarn. I’ve seen a few nice mods on Ravelry so will have a go in the semi-distant future. Not too keen on the idea of knitting the same thing again so quickly.

The second entry was the Earl Grey socks.

I rushed to get these on the needles before the closing ceremony, but I think it was pretty clear that the pair wasn’t going to be finished in a couple of days! I didn’t manage to get much done last week, but in the past few days these have been bombing along. I cast on using Eskimimi’s stretchy cast on because I was too lazy to figure out the right amount for a long tail cast on. It’s a pretty simple, but ingenious method. Quite fiddly and it has a bit more bulk at the ribbing, but I think that might in part be because I worked about 5 more rows of rib after joining the cast on to the main body, which makes it slightly more noticeable. It looks nice though, and is super stretchy. I’ve got about two more gusset decreases to go and then I’ll be able to speed onwards with the foot of the first sock.

We’re getting exam and coursework results back at the moment. So far I’m “competent” (LPC skills are assessed on a competent/non-competent basis) at interviewing clients, advocacy, practical legal research, drafting and legal writing. Just professional conduct, litigation, business and property to go now, apparently we’re just waiting on the external moderators now. Although that always seems to be the excuse when we’re kept waiting, I do hope they get their skates on! I’m pleased that I passed the interviewing though, have been stressing over that one because I ran out of time with my client and was worried about how much I might be penalised over that. I think interviewing was a hard one to pace, you can’t really practice much as there’s no way of anticipating what the client is going to say or ask, there was no clock in the room to tell you how far along you were, and it would be unprofessional and plain rude to keep looking at your watch! At least with advocacy you know how long your submission to the judge has to be, and you can practice to get within that limit. At least it’s over for now, until it’s time for me to do it all for real!

I think I can officially dub today a Good Food Day. Went out to Washington for dim sum with my Mum and the Boy in celebration his recent promotion at work, and of some of the results I’ve had back so far. Hope there’s more cause for celebration soon! Also cracked open the last jar of kaya that my Mum brought back form Singapore for me on her last trip home. We found it whilst having a cupboard clear out before Chinese New Year, and we’re two months under the wire before the expiry date is up! It’s not going to last that long though, now that it’s open. I’ll have it gobbled up in a couple of weeks! My Mum said she’s going to try making some from scratch so I’ll have to keep my eyes out for some pandan leaves. Our poor pandan was this winter’s horticultural casualty. I’ll give pandan mark 2 a try when the weather gets a little warmer. The kaya discovery meant a fusion breakfast of sorts this morning – bacon and scrambled eggs followed by kaya toast and coffee. My heritage represented in breakfast! Delicious :)

Pin It

FO: Levens

My poor Ravelympics projects have been sitting abandoned whilst I finished Levens!

I was planning on finishing this before the big Ravelympics Cast-On last Saturday so I could concentrate my efforts on my entries for the competition, but as usual life got in the way and I just couldn’t resist finishing this first.

Levens by Lily Kate France
Yarn: Forsell Shamal 3ply in Autumn Gold
(ravelled here)

I absolutely love this! The ruching detail is so simply but so effective, and I’m in awe of how talented this designer is, especially considering the fact that she is only 12! The simple details in this are quite lovely, like the i-cord style edging across the wingspan, which you can’t see in this photo, and the pretty lacey edge and crochet cast off along the bottom, which again you can’t see thanks to my curling stocking stitch.

I did have some minor hiccoughs with the pattern at the start, first because my bamboo circulars were not quite pointy enough to work with this yarn, and then to do with the slipped stitches, but I think that was mostly due to my brain taking a minor hiatus after my exams finished. I managed to figure it out in the end, although I think that Lily Kate has amended the pattern since anyway to clarify the directions on the slipped stitches.

I was using a finer yarn than the pattern called for and I wanted a larger scarf, so I started the two side ruched panels later than the pattern instructed and then kept going until I was quite sick of stocking stitch. It’s actually a few inches shy of how long I wanted it, but the ruching makes it somewhat difficult to gauge the actual length when it’s on the needles, and I didn’t fancy transferring hundred of stitches onto a larger needle or waste yarn for a better idea! Anyhow, I’m happy with the length as it is. I ended up with the wingspan measuring approximately 60 inches, the centre ruching detail about 12 inches deep, and the areas without ruching are about 20 inches, so quite long enough probably!

I haven’t stopped wearing this scarf since it finished blocking (I’m even wearing it right now around the house!). Yellow is rarely a colour I go for, but I’ve been lusting after the idea of a mustard yellow scarf for a while now, ever since I saw a gorgeous mustard Ishbel on Ravelry. I think it’s just the right colour for this time of year too, bringing a little warm brightness to the day when it’s still cold and snowing outside!

Pin It

Impatience is (not) a virtue

                     
So I was trying to keep casting on for Levens for the Ravelympics, but then a big delivery of yarn I ordered arrived, and one thing led to another and Levens just seemed to happen… What can I say, I’m just fickle like that.
Currently about a third of the way through. I’m using a much lighter weight yarn and therefore am obviously waay out on gauge so I’m winging it for now. My gauge is probably still too loose for the yarn I’m using, but I’m quite liking the light airiness of it. Right now however, I am torn between sticking with the 3 ruched panels and just working them for longer, or whether to add 2 more. Ho hum.
The other project currently on the needles (I’m not counting the tea cozy, it' seems to be permanently on the needles) is the toe up socks I cast on while I should have been revising. It’s my first pair knit toe-up, and to be honest my patience with them is starting to wear a little thin. Whilst I quite enjoyed the cast on (Judy’s Magic Cast-on) and the foot and like the idea of being able to try them on as you go, I seem to be stumbling at the heel. This will be the third attempt at the heel. The first time there weren’t enough gusset stitches so it was a bit too tight, this time it’s because it’s too big, presumably because I’ve started the gusset increases too late. Here’s hoping the third time is the charm, because frankly I’m starting to feel a bit like the Goldilocks of toe-up socks.

For the moment though, they’re banished to the naughty corner.
Ooh, as an aside I’ve been playing with my new needle felting kit, and have made the Boy a little Valentines card. Needle felting is rather addictive.
I think it’s safe to post a photo because I don’t think he reads this…


What a sap :P

Pin It