Colour My World

I had a lot of fun yesterday afternoon experimenting with stranded knitting. I sat down with several resource books, including The Art of Fair Isle Knitting and The Best of Interweave Knits, and tried out the various methods of knitting with two strands of yarn. At first they all felt awkward but in the end I decided that I was most comfortable holding one strand in each hand, picking with my left hand and throwing with my right. Once that was established I ripped out my original swatch and knit a new one using this method so I could see if I was getting the proper gauge for the Graphic Hoodie. I think it looks rather nice!


In the end I decided to go with a smaller needle and I eagerly cast on for the real thing. Here's what I've accomplished since last night:


Now that the ribbing and border are complete, I have to work in "lice pattern" (lovely name) to the armholes. I am finding this a very addictive knit and am enjoying the rhythm of switching back and forth between two colours.

The weather continues to inspire me. After experiencing snow showers off and on all day, the forecast is for an additional 15-20 cm (6"-8") of accumulation over the next 24 hours. Yikes! Although it's back to work tomorrow, I look forward to a cozy evening spent knitting and enjoying the winter weather.

Snow Day

It proved to be a very productive weekend. Not only did I thoroughly clean out my bathroom cupboards (a job long overdue), I also finished my Cabled Yoke Pullover. Yay! I am very pleased with how this sweater turned out. As you can see, it blocked beautifully. It should keep me nice and warm this coming weekend.

With the Cabled Yoke Pullover out of the way, I decided it was about time I got around to making 2008 my year of lace, considering that we are already almost all the way through January. I have been anxious to knit Aggie but didn't want to rush into anything. Such an exquisite yarn deserves an equally exquisite pattern and I am delighted to announce that I have found it: Muir, from Knitty, Fall 2007. The laurel leaves look like they are floating on the openwork background and the pattern lends itself well to the beige and green tones of the yarn. I've completed one 32-row pattern repeat and am delighted with the results. Only twelve more to go!

Yet another snowstorm has hit our part of the world. It's hard to know exactly how much has accumulated because the wind has swept it into drifts in some places and left the ground almost bare in others. A big snowfall is still enough of a novelty for us that I actually enjoy shoveling the driveway! With that out of the way, I plan to spend the rest of the day knitting. This afternoon I am going to begin swatching for the Graphic Hoodie.

Since I have done very little colourwork I want to do some practice knitting before I cast on for the real thing. I've always loved the look of Norweigan sweaters and like Veronik Avery's modern take on their traditional design. I think it's the perfect project to work on as I sip hot chocolate and watch the snowflakes swirl outside.

Catching Up

Sometimes real life kicks in and blogging falls by the wayside. This has been one of those weeks. However, despite dealing with a family crisis, I have been able to get a surprising amount of knitting done, and in some cases, undone...

Case in point: the M-I-L socks. I gave the Flow Motion Socks an honest go but they just weren't working. Despite experimenting with various needle sizes and reworking the ankle increases and heel flap several times, I was unable to come up with a way to make the foot narrow enough, without the making the ankle and heel area too tight. In the end I frogged the sock and went looking for a new pattern, this time a top-down.

I finally decided on "Unst" from Knitting on the Road and am working the cuff pattern throughout, in which the "columns" and "arches" are separated by a purl stitch. I figured the ribbing would make for a snugger fit.

(Question to self: Is "snugger" a word?)

I continue to have issues with toe-up socks. I knit Monet as planned, with a plain foot and a short row heel, then began the leg in 1x1 rib.

But even though I am only about 4" away from finishing the first sock, I am going to rip it all back and begin again with a top-down, now that I know I will have enough yarn for at least a 6" leg. I know there are many practical reasons for knitting socks toe-up but I have yet to knit a pair that fits me properly. And I just plain old don't enjoy knitting them, and isn't that the point?

With all the knitting and unknitting going on, I'm happy to report that I did actually complete an entire sock this week, this one for Cameron.

It is a plain top-down sock with a heel flap made from SRK On Your Toes DK Boot Sock Yarn in shade ON240724.

I have also managed to knit a fair bit of my cabled sweater. I finished the cable band without too much difficulty and joined the two ends with a 3-needle bind off (I had begun the band with a provisional cast on). I picked up the stitches along one side and knit the entire top yoke. Finding the turtleneck a bit too high, I ripped back the last cable repeat and have put the live stitches on a strand of waste yarn until the sweater is complete. Then I'll decide if I want to leave the neck as it is or make it even shorter. I then picked up the stitches on the bottom of the cable band (for some reason this process went much more smoothly than for the top) and worked in stocking stitch, dividing for the sleeves and body when instructed. I have just begun the cabling on the bottom of the sweater and once that's finished I will pick up the sleeves and knit them.

I've been a wee bit frustrated with this pattern. I am all about symmetry but apparently Patons is not, so I have had to make adjustments to ensure that the yoke and body cables are distributed as pleasingly as possible. Patons is also apparently not up on their math, since 2" + (5 x 1.5") = 9.5", not 8.5" as they would have you believe. I couldn't figure out why my body measured a good inch longer than it was supposed to after I worked the waist decreases, until I realized that their instructions and schematic were incorrect. But after a bit of frogging and figuring and fiddling I am back on track and hope to have this sweater finished in time for next weekend, when we head to my parents' for a little outdoor winter fun. I thought about including a photo of my progress but right now the sweater doesn't look like much. However, I did transfer the stitches to some spare yarn and try it on and it looks like it will fit perfectly.

Finally, a look at the last of my Christmas purchases.

Kind of ironic that I should choose this clock at the very time I decided to go on a yarn diet but I do agree with the sentiment. After all, it could be interpreted as "Time for more yarn...from your stash". Right?

If at first you don't succeed...

After the cable debacle on Tuesday I spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between reknitting the cable band and fiddling around on the computer. That one mistake seemed to set the tone for the day because despite being careful I managed to miscross several more cables, which required more ripping back and reknitting (thankfully no more than a few rows at a time). Gradually the pile of spaghetti disappeared and by suppertime I had regained my nine pattern repeats. My goal was to complete ten repeats by the time I went to bed, just so I could feel as though I had accomplished something. I had to go out that evening but when I got home I was determined to knit the final pattern repeat, even though it meant staying up a bit later than I usually do when I have work the next day.

Yesterday I took a little break from the cable band, knitting only two pattern repeats. I felt a bit lost without any socks on the needles so last night I reached for my "Monet" and cast on. I almost always knit socks from the top down with a heel flap but this time I decided to go toe-up, since I'm not sure how far the yarn will go (Colinette Jitterbug has less yardage than most sock yarns). I've had enough of guessing games lately, what with Auburn Mist and Craig's slippers (I had only about 2m left of the purple by the time I finished the pair). Since I always struggle with the Figure-8 Cast-on I decided to try out the Magic Cast-On and once I caught on found it much easier. But I soon remembered one of the reasons I don't like toe-up socks--the seemingly endless, fiddly M1 toe increases. I'm not sure why it takes so much longer to go from 20 to 60 stitches than it does to go from 64 to 16.

I gave a lot of thought to what I wanted to do with this yarn. My first instinct was to just knit a plain sock and allow the yarn to speak for itself. As you can see, the colours are really lovely and they don't pool or flash.

Then I thought perhaps I should add a little something, maybe a simple lace pattern or a cable up each side. I dug out all my sock books and magazines and looked through them but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. In the end I decided to knit a plain foot, then do a simple 1x1 rib for the leg. Maybe I'll finish them with a fancy bind-off, like a picot edge.

Yesterday I also made my first yarn purchase of 2008, SRK On Your Toes Bamboo in a beige, blue, and white twist.

I don't consider this cheating on my yarn diet because a) I didn't have anything appropriate in my stash and b) it is not for me. When my mother-in-law was here she expressed an interest in owning a pair of handknit socks, so I am going to make her some for her birthday in April. I didn't think she would appreciate self-striping yarn in crazy colours and I wasn't willing to part with any of the hand-dyes I'd chosen especially for myself. We've just received this yarn in at work and I thought she'd like the softness of it (she was a bit worried about wool) and I thought the subtle colourway would lend itself well to a pretty lace pattern. I am leaning towards Cat Bordhi's "Flow Motion Socks" in VK Fall 2006 (go here for corrections). Once again, I've chosen a toe-up pattern, this time to ensure that I have enough yarn to fit my mother-in-law's long, narrow foot.

Today we woke up to more snow, which quickly gave way to rain. The grey skies and slushy streets provide a perfect excuse for staying home and knitting. Plans today include continuing on the cable band, knitting a bit on the Monet socks, and maybe casting on the M-I-L socks. And I promise to lay off the wine.

The Winter Day of My Discontent

When we last left our lovely heroine, she was contentedly sipping tea, nibbling chocolates, and cabling without a cable needle. Having knitted nine complete cable patterns (that's 144 rows) she decided that perhaps she should add her new project to her Ravelry page. She filled in the details, uploaded her photo, sat back to admire her work, and...gasped. Right there on the computer screeen, as big as life (okay, bigger) was a miscrossed cable! 88. Rows. Back. You can see it for yourself in yesterday's blog post.

Now, normally such a thing is not a cause for alarm. Our heroine learned long ago how to undo stitches in the middle of a row, ladder them down, recross the cable, and rework the stitches back up to the top again. But this was not a simple cable. This was a braided cable. And despite her intense scrutiny and deep pondering, our heroine could find no other way to fix the problem than by ripping back 88 rows of knitting and reworking the offending cable. So that is what she did.

When we next spied our lovely heroine she was swilling wine, pounding down an entire box of chocolates, and cabling a mountain of spaghetti without a cable needle. And she didn't appear at all content. In fact, she looked just a wee bit tense and was muttering to herself, "I thought knitting was supposed to be relaxing..."

Cabling Contentment

I'd heard people sing the praises of cabling without a cable needle, even as recently as this past weekend when I listened to the latest Knit Picks podcast. I'd even tried it myself but found it fiddly and time consuming. Slipping the stitches off the left-hand needle, rearranging them, slipping them back to the left-hand needle, then knitting them off in their new order seemed more trouble than it was worth. Another method involved slipping the stitches to be cabled to the right-hand needle, then rearranging them as you slipped them back to the left to be knit off. I couldn't see the point of handling the stitches so many times before they were actually knit. And I didn't mind using a cable needle. But just a few rows into the 43", 30-stitch braided cable band for my new sweater I thought, "There has to be a better way."

That's when I remembered Amy Swenson's directions for cabling without a cable needle in the Mr. Greenjeans pattern. By the time I read the instructions for this technique I had already knit half the cables with a cable needle and didn't want to risk changing my gauge by introducing a new method. But I did give her version a try and found it much easier than my previous attempts. For example, when working a basic four-stitch cable, rather than slipping all four of the stitches to be cabled off the left-hand needle at once and rearranging them before slipping them back on, Amy slides her needle into the third and fourth stitch on the left hand needle, slides all the stitches off so that the third and fourth stitches remain on the right-hand needle, inserts the left-hand needle into the first and second stitches (which now hang free) then slips the third and fourth stitches back to the left-hand needle. They are now ready to knit off in their new order. These steps can be performed in a quick and fluid motion, with little or no fumbling with the loose stitches. Best of all, there is only one set of loose stitches to deal with, making them much easier to manipulate. Had I only known it was this simple, I would have converted long ago.

Armed with this new technique I returned to my cable band and am pleased with how quickly and easily it has been knitting up. I am now over a third of the way through and like how neat and even my cable appears. At this rate I am hoping to complete the cable band today and am looking forward to beginning the main part of the sweater.

Today we have real snow and I see my heron friend hunched up in the back field, collecting snowflakes on his feathers. As for me, I am happy to be inside where it's warm and snug, curled up with a pot of tea and my knitting. Not to mention chocolate. Here's to a blissful day!

Foot Fetish

The past few days have been all about the feet. I knit Craig's birthday clogs in his favourite colour. I will send them unfelted so he can be sure to get the right fit.

I knit and felted Cameron's new slippers.

I not only finished my Gansey Socks...

...but also the pair to match Jessica's socks. We picked out yarn to make a set of mother-daughter socks when I visited her in November.

Last, but not least, I received my last yarn purchase of 2007 in the mail this morning.

It's Sunshine Yarns merino and silk sock yarn in "Field of Flowers" and "Stormwatch".

And yes, that is snow that you see in the photos. We had a brief snow shower this morning, followed by an equally brief period of sunshine, so I headed outdoors to snap some pictures before the moment passed.

Now that my obligatory knitting is officially completed, I get to knit purely for pleasure. I'm going to begin with Paton's Cabled Yoke Pullover using Cascade 220 from my stash. Oh, and yes, I'll also be indulging in my foot fetish and casting on yet another pair of socks!

Ask and You Shall Receive

I put a few knitterly items on my Christmas list this year and was fortunate to receive many of them. My parents not only gave me The Best of Interweave Knits and Knitter's Magazine's Shawls and Scarves, they also added to my sock yarn stash with some Knit Pick's Gloss and Superwash Merino. I am going to use the Gloss to knit Girl's Best Friend Anklets and have already begun making Gansey Socks from the merino. I advised my sister-in-law that she could safely choose anything from Fleece Artist or Handmaiden and she did not disappoint, gifting me with a skein of Woolie Silk 2 ply in shades of blue, purple, and green. I think I might knit a scarf from it, using the Storm Water Shawl pattern as a guide and casting on half as many stitches. However, before I get too wrapped up in my new projects I have to make two new pairs of felted slippers. I promised my son-in-law some clogs for his January birthday and I recently noticed that Cameron has worn his way through the soles of last year's Christmas slippers. I should be able to get those done by the end of the weekend, then stand back and watch me go!

My New Year's Nonresolution

Happy New Year!

The first day of January 2008 will soon draw to a close, marking the end of yet another holiday season and the beginning of a fresh, new year. After the hustle-bustle of the past week, it is with some relief that I anticipate the return of our regular routine tomorrow morning. I am especially looking forward to the silence that will fall over the house after everyone leaves for work. I'll have the house to myself for about two hours before I, too, must head out the door.

Christmas is all about family and there was no shortage of that this year! After visiting with my mom's relatives Christmas Eve, twenty-seven of us gathered at my sister's house Christmas Day, where Auburn Mist was a big hit.















As the snow fell outside, we visited and exchanged presents and oohed and aahed over the latest additon to the family, my great-niece, Lauren. I received several knitting-related gifts, which I will share in a future post.















Family continued to be the dominant theme for the remainder of the week. My parents hosted brunch for nineteen at our house on the 27th, then just as they were leaving the following morning, my mother-in-law arrived to stay with us for a few days. We were joined by my sister-in-law last night for a quiet New Year's Eve celebration. She was wearing Mr. Greenjean's, which fit her perfectly. And no, I didn't remember to take a picture! This morning we took my mother-in-law to her sister's place in Vancouver, which brought our hosting duties to an end. Although I enjoyed all of the family visits, I must admit that I like the feeling of having the house to ourselves once again.

Now that the holidays are over, I also looking ahead to a new year of knitting projects. As you can see from my sidebar, I am making 2008 my Year of Lace. Even before discovering Make One Yarn Studio's lace club, I had already decided to devote a good part of this year to knitting shawls, inspired by the designs in A Gathering of Lace and Victorian Lace Today, not to mention the numerous patterns in magazines and on the internet. I can't wait for my surprise shipments to arrive! I have also decided to try my hand at colourwork and am planning to knit Veronik Avery's "Graphic Hoodie" from Knitting Classic Style. And, of course, I will continue to knit socks, as I almost always have at least one pair on the go at all times.

Most importantly, as much as I don't generally subscribe to the whole notion of making New Year's resolutions (since they too often seem self-defeating), I have decided to go on a yarn diet and knit mainly from my stash this coming year. I'm not going to make any hard and fast rules (which will inevitably lead to failure), I'm just going to try to resist the temptation of buying a lot of new yarn and concentrate instead on the many wonderful projects I already have that are just waiting to be knit. My recent acquisitions (including two skeins that have not yet arrived) should help ease the transition, while the periodic shipments from the lace club will give me something to look forward to throughout the year.

Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy this last evening of holidays by curling up with a new book and a hot cup of tea before heading to bed. I need my rest--I have a lot of knitting to do, starting tomorrow!