Pile o' knits

I've been knitting lots recently and have this big pile o' knits. There's lots of different bits in that pile; baby cardigan, baby vest, fingerless mitts, socks, bandana, shawl and a moebius cowl.

A pair of vanilla socks (my pattern)...

And this is what is currently on my needles...

It's a baby vest. It's a sort of a made up pattern, with the inspiration being from a photo of something similar. I do like a bit of stranded knitting! The yarn is Rowan Milk Cotton and is just lovely to knit with but unfortunately has been discontinued by Rowan. The only thing is now I love this so much I want a grown up one for me.

Wonderful Wonderwool

Sorry for the alliterative title, couldn't resist.

With an offhand comment to Mr, "That it's Wonderwool Wales this weekend and wouldn't it be nice to go." His response being, "Why can't we?". So we did. Bit bonkers. 10 hours of driving in total but it was lovely weather and we had a good day.

I was relatively restrained with my purchases. Here's what I bought:

Rachel Coopey's new book, Coopknits Socks, and some sock yarn. The bronze one is Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply and fivemoons Luna 4ply 50g hanks in Denim and Pumpkin and a little mini one too.

The scotch eggs were fab!

I can finally show you a finished project, which just happens to be a Coopknits pattern! 

John Huston in Posh Yarn Megan 4ply, just in time for a birthday present.

Sock Chimneys

I love knitting in the round and have done a LOT of it. So I thought I had fairly good knowledge on the subject. I was bought Circular Knitting Workshop by Margaret Radcliffe for my birthday and was quite surprised that there was a lot of information that I've been finding very useful.

It's a beautifully made book, clearly written with lots and lots of good photographs. It's set up like a lot of knitting books with techniques and then projects to demonstrate the techniques. However, the first 103 pages of this 320 page book are filled with details of circular knitting from the cast ons, joining in the round methods, diffferent ways to graft,  to converting a pattern to circular knitting. I wish I'd had this book when I first started. It's very in depth.

Much of the information I've seen in other places such as books, Youtube, Ravelry etc. but it's brilliant to have it all in one place and organised into sections. One section that surprised me was about Kitchener stitch; it explains clearly the way I'd learnt how to do it but there are another 4 methods -including a left hand version.

Lucy Neatby's Sock Chimney technique caught my imagination and since I was nearing the end of my socks for the January Mystery Sock - Echeveria by Rachel Coopey  for the Sock Anonymous Group on Rav, I decided to give it a go. The gist of the idea is when you get to the point of grafting, change to a contrasting waste yarn and continue knitting for a few rows and cast off.

Fold the chimney inside the toe.

Then using the colour change as a guide start to graft the toe together (starting in the middle then coming back and doing the other half). Here is the link to Lucy Neatby's site, if you want more detailed information on the technique.

The sock on the right was made using the Sock Chimney technique and the left sock using plain old Kitchener stitch. I can't really see much difference myself, the Sock Chimney one didn't have the little ears on the edge you get sometimes. Though it takes a little extra time to knit those extra rows, there's more control on the tension and once figured out easier to execute than Kitchener Stitch. I'll definitely try this one again.

Oh and the finished socks!

Bobbing

I can't seem to settle with my craft life at the moment. I'm bobbing about all over the place. As well as the usual, knitting, I've been spinning and sewing too! As I mentioned last week, I've been doing some embroidery. My dropcloth sampler arrived this morning; so I've got another project to add to the list.

I've got 3 socks finished at the moment, unfortunately none of them match each other! So I'd better get on and do the others.

I have got some finished objects to show you. I've been wanting to spin the fibre I got for Christmas, but I'm a starter/finisher so wanted to finish the fibre I already had on the wheel. However, it seemed to be taking forever. I'd intended for the merino to be sock weight but somehow, it ended up thinner than that and in the end I've drafted over 2km and plied it into a 1km 2ply. I've no idea how it ended up being that much and I'll have to find another project for it, as it's too thin for what I intended it for.

Here is the big pile of merino. It was a rainbow 100% merino mix from Wingham Woolworks. There's 2 skeins of 2ply, which adds up to approx. 1014m in 178g. I haven't checked my w.p.i. on it yet but it looks like a heavy laceweight. It's sometimes hard to capture the colours clearly and there are some really lovely inky blue hues. The last photo shows the dark colours the best.

I managed to get around to starting some of my HilltopCloud fibre. Here is 36g from my Frog Prince Batt, which is 80% Shetland, 10% Silk Noil and 10% Firestar. The batt is the little one at the back right in the photo. The handblended fibre club arrived last week too, so I've got even more to get through now. I won't post photos in case it spoils the surprise for anyone but here's my stash page if you want to peek.

I ended up with a 3ply with approx 132m/36g.

The silk noils added some extra texture, which should be interesting in the finished knit; though not sure what this will be for. Most probably in a colourwork project or a trim.

Twisted cables

 My current WIP (one of quite a few if I'm being honest) is a pair of socks; Alpine Glow by Stephanie van der Linden. I'm really enjoying them; the pattern is quite detailed. The yarn is Sparkly Stripes - Sparkle Duck.

I'm always in wonder at the simple little tricks that there are in knitting. The top cable travels across the foot and it's such a simple thing. On the right hand side a stitch is made every few rows and decreased on the other side and voila the cable moves over. The little triangle I've drawn is where the stitches are made.

Honeycomb Socks

Honeycomb Socks

Finished my Honeycomb Socks; made from Anne Campbell's Circle Sock pattern from Ravelry. I really love the finished effect. I made them for my Mum using the Kaffe Fassett Regia sock wool.
Absolutely love the wool the colours are just fantastic.

I really like the effect of the 3D circles on the socks too. They weren't difficult to knit at all. Basically it was just knit and purl with a few slipped stitches to make the circles.

Mum loves them and they fit really well. Took a bit of adjusting to get the stripes to marry up; don't think they were perfectly matched but close enough.

Los calcetines primero

Just taken up knitting again after my first attempt ( which involved the knitting being thrown across the room after dropping a stitch and not being able to fix it). This time is different; think I've got the hang of it.

I was inspired by a friend of mine after seeing a knitting magazine of hers. It was Let's Knit and they had a whole section on socks; the idea of double pointed needles was a bit daunting but I just had to have a go. I went next day to buy it and you get a free pack of dpn with the magazine.

Got some Regia 4ply sock yarn and by the end of the weekend I had knitted my first pair of socks (one or two hiccups along the way - picking up the stitches was a bit haphazard).

I love the self-patterning yarn so easy to make but the finished sock looks super. The pattern came free with the yarn. My fiancee, Jim, really liked them too so I went and got 6ply Regia yarn and made him a pair. I'll post a photo of them later when I can get him to model them.