Off my needles and onto my feet.

I am so happy right now, that I've decided not to wait until Friday to tell you about my FO, but brag about my endeavours today.  Today I got my second Discovery Sock finished.  I have a fully fitted and finished pair of socks gracing my feet right this minute.

They are so comfortable and they don't dig into my calves the way socks normally do.  I LOVE these socks so much.

I love how they cup my foot and don't nip me at the cuff.  I know that I am going to have a pair of socks on the go, until my sock yarn runs out.  Now I have finally found the perfect sock for my weird foot/ankle/calf combo I need to knit more, until I have a drawer full of them.

Now I have reached the end of this particular pair of socks, I have decided to try another pattern from the book.  I'm not sure which pattern I will choose yet, but I have decided to use a couple of very old sock skeins.  I bought these skeins back in September 2008, so it must have been one of my first sock yarn purchases.

I decided to use my oldest sock yarn and try and work forwards.  I have been buying far too much yarn recently, and instead of buying a new stash box, I'm going to try and use up some of the stash I have already got.  It shouldn't be too much of hardship.  Most of the yarn I've bought in the last year and half is pretty yummy stuff.  The older yarn is not as nice, because I didn't know much about the yarn market then, however only a bit of it is downright nasty.  I really ought to dig out the rubbish stuff and get rid of it, as I know I'm never going to knit with it, but my hoarding gene won't let me - I might need it one day!

Until I can fit more yarn in my stash boxes, I'm only going to buy yarn for projects that I am immediately going to start.  That way I won't have to find a space to store it.  It's about time I started demolishing my queue and my stash.

An Old Pattern Revisited And Revised

This FO is two fold.  As I told you on Wednesday I was making my Handyman's Hat for my Dad.  While I was re-knitting this pattern I noticed there were a couple of errors in the pattern.  I was mortified.  This was one of my oldest patterns and has always been quite a steady seller.  The trouble is no one had told me about the errors in the pattern.  I think that is what I can't believe - that no one had complained.

I decided that this pattern should be corrected and sent out, but instead of just correcting a couple of digits, I decided to re-write the pattern using my current style.  I also added in some extra information on how to increase the depth of the hat, in case you couldn't get the row gauge and the stitch gauge to match.  I had this problem when re-knitting my Dad's hat, so as I had spent time working out how to fix it, I thought I ought to include it for other knitters.

So now I have not only got a hat to show you, I am proud to say that the new pattern is much better than the old one.

Knitting this hat in a pure wool yarn really makes the cabling "pop" on the hat.  It looks completely different from the original fuzzy look of the first design.  Hopefully seeing the hat with both types of yarn will encourage knitters to experiment a bit more with their yarn choices for this pattern.

I know the hat looks quite silly on this head, but I don't have a larger one.  I also don't have a large headed model, so this will have to do.

I didn't have a photo of the top of the hat before, so I'm pleased to see how the decreases have worked out to give a nice smooth top.  I've seen this pattern done with a pom pom added and it looked really good.  Once I've checked all the ends are properly woven in, I'll be sending this to grace the top of my Dad's head.

If you have your own outdoor type man, who needs to keep his head and ears warm, you can purchase this pattern by using the link at the right hand side of this page, or via Ravelry.

One FO I can't share with you is the tutorial I'm in the middle of writing. This tutorial is being written specifically for use with this pattern.  It will show how to do all the cables in the pattern without using a cable needle.  There are other tutorials out there that show the principles involved in this technique, but I wanted to give full instructions for this particular cabling pattern.

I hope to be able to post the new tutorial in the next few days, providing my sniffle doesn't turn into another full blown cold (fingers crossed).

As usual I am hooking up to Tami's Amis for FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and Fibers on Friday at Visions of Sugar Plums.  All three linky parties can be reached by clicking on the buttons below.  Why don't you click on one and see if you can find your next favourite blog?

Wasted Effort

Today I'm going have a "pity me" moment.  For once it is not about how much pain I'm in, but about how much time and effort I've put into things that have proved to be unusable.  Firstly I am going to remind you of WIPS in time gone by.  Do you remember my fabulous baby blanket that I was really enjoying...

It's great isn't it?  Well actually no it's not.  It now looks like this:

Can you see the red bleeding into the white?  No, well how about now?

Does this remind you of anything?  Perhaps the saga of the ruined Debbie Bliss Blanket from last year?  I am beginning to think that I am NEVER going to use red baby yarn ever again.  This was a totally different yarn from the previous disaster and I tested one of the colours before using RICO for the blanket.  It didn't run.  My mistake was obviously in not checking the RED yarn.  I am soooo gutted about this blanket.  Once again I used SOAK in a tepid water and didn't agitate it, so I don't know what happened.  Now I have two ruined baby blankets to store in my cupboard.  I can't even felt the blasted things.  Is it possible that my mistake in both cases was using SOAK?  Has anyone else had a problem with it?

Anyway now that I am WAAAAY behind on my baby knitting I have decided to go back to an old tried and tested pattern - Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I've made two of these already, in May and August 2009.

May 2009 - For Eve

August 2009 - For Logan

I am using the left over yarn from the blanket, excluding the cursed red, and I am starting with a girly version of this jacket.

I only started this project last night, and I'm enjoying it so much.  As I said in 2009, I can imagine knitting this pattern for the rest of my life.  You can change so much of it's appearance just by changing the yarn combination.  One of the many good things about this pattern, is the speed in which it can be whipped up.  This is necessary at the moment because I have two baby girls waiting for gifts now, as they have already arrived!

My other wasted effort was for Christmas 2009, when I made my Dad a beautiful handcrafted hat, designed with him in mind.  It was the Handyman's Hat, which you can download from the right hand column or from Ravelry. 

Apparently it was washed in the machine.  It is now a very small hat.  I was so sad about this hat, because I loved it so much I nearly didn't give it away.  It was my own fault, I got carried away with the beauty of the yarn and forgot that my Dad works outside and his hats get covered in muck.  It was never going to be washed by hand.

I am now knitting this pattern again, but in a superwash wool.

This yarn is King Cole Merino Blend Aran.  It is nice and springy, if a bit splitty.  It is also quite reasonably priced.  The hat is coming along well, but I found a couple of errors in the pattern.  I am re-writing the pattern to fit in with my current pattern style and correcting it as I go.  When I have finished knitting this hat, I will reissue the pattern and ensure that all of the people who have already purchased the pattern, get an updated copy.  I'm quite surprised that no one pointed out the errors to me.

I suppose that re- knitting this hat isn't such a wasted effort.  This pattern inspired me to work on a tutorial showing how to knit cables without a needle.  Sometimes problems can encourage you to not only fix things, but improve on them as well.

I hope to have the finished hat to show you on Friday.  In the mean time I am linking up to Tami's Amis as usual.  Click on the button below to go and see the pretties!

WPC 2011 - Week 4 - Colourful

When I saw this week's WPC 2011 subject of Colourful, I was really worried (details of what WPC 2011 is to be found here).  I didn't really want to go running to my wool stash, because I take photos of yarn all the time.  This challenge is supposed to be about stretching my abilities, so I wanted to try something different.  The trouble is, in January in the UK everything is grey, grey, grey!  I didn't know what to do, so I thought I would let my mind churn it over.  Then today I went to the shop, to buy my lunch, and what should I find in a box by the door, but these little beauties.

Aren't they fab?  They were only £5, which seemed well worth the money, for the amount of colour they bring into my house.

I took over 50 shots of these tulips and I tried using a flash, using the photo tent, without a flash, increasing exposure, changing ISO.  I did lots.  I was very proud of myself for trying so many different ideas.  Most of them didn't work very well, but I tried.

After much playing with cropping and fill light etc, I managed to winnow my selection down to three shots.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to make collages with Picasa ;-)  I am pretty happy with all three of these images.  I took all three inside the photo light tent.  I could never get such a clean background without it.  I think it makes the photos look pretty professional, and means there is no distraction from the background.

The photograph I decided to submit to the Group Pool is bottom right in the collage.

It is interesting when I look at the settings for each of these photographs.  The longest exposure was for the top right photo.  I really loved this photo too, as I believe the colours are the cleanest and brightest.  However in this image, and the large one on the left of the collage, I am not keen on the way the leaf cups the orange flower.  It seems such a small thing, but it spoils both these images for me, despite having slightly stronger compositions than the one I submitted.

The photograph I selected had 1/60 exposure time, ISO of 200 and normal sharpness.  The white balance is set as cloudy.  As you may guess from the details I'm including about the photograph, I still haven't read my new digital photography books.  I will get to them this week.... I hope.  This lack of research means I am probably listing NONSENSE!!!

Even without knowing what I am doing, I feel that my photographs are getting better, if only because I am trying lots of different things with one particular item.  I have to say, I'm really enjoying these weekly challenges.  It's just as well really, I've got 48 more to do!

One Sock and some Stitch Markers

Today I have half a finished object and and a whole bunch of finished objects.  Let's start with the half finished object, shall we?  It is a whole sock - DA DA DAAAAAA! (Trumpets sound)

 

I would like to say the lumpiness in the calf area is entirely caused by wearing leggings under the sock, but it is also caused by the lumpiness in my calves.  None of the lumpiness is the sock!  I did two rounds of increasing by 6 sts as I knit the leg to prevent stretching of the sock up the calf.  This the longest sock leg I've knitted, and it certainly is an improvement, over shorter socks, for comfort and keeping the ankle warm.  I think the ribbing at the top should have been a bit longer though, maybe 2" rather than 1 1/2", but I must match the other sock.

I wasn't sure about how the shape of the toe would feel, once the sock was finished.  It is actually very comfortable and doesn't rub anywhere.  The shape of the heel is almost exactly the same, but with more rows between the increase rounds.  The shape of the heel is the best I've ever knitted.

The sock heel really cups the foot closely and doesn't bag at the back of the ankle or under the instep.  The whole foot is snugly surrounded by the sock.

As you can see there are no holes where the leg joins the foot and there is no pulling either, which some of my socks experience when on my feet.

The front of the foot is smooth and has no interruptions where the leg joins.  This will make it so easy to continue a pattern from the top of the foot up the leg.  As always, the Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, works an absolute treat in ensuring my blood continues to flow to my toes!

I can't wait to get the other sock finished so that I can wear these fabulous items on my feet.  But I also can't wait to start knitting some of the lovely patterns from Cat Bordhi's book.  The next pair I knit in this fashion, will be done two at a time on two needles, as I think this technique will work brilliantly with this type of sock.  I think the first patterned sock I try will be Seeking Sunlight.  This pattern really appeals to me with its balance and elegance.  If you don't have Ravelry membership then you can see this sock on The Textured Knitter's Blog.

Now on to my "whole bunch" of finished objects - my stitch markers.  I made myself some stitch markers last year with some really lovely beads I found at Mary Clare's.  I made the mistake of using split rings.  The split rings look like the one on this marker.

Can you see how the ring ends don't quite sit together properly.  This happens with split rings quite often.  The ends move around and either cross over, like the one above, or gape open.  When the ends of the ring cross over, the marker won't fall off the needle, but it is likely to catch on your yarn.  If there is a gap in the split ring then the marker can move to a different place or fall off the needle, especially if you use circular needles like I do.  After losing a fair amount of places, while knitting, I decided that I could change my stitch markers.  I was inspired by this:

If you have been reading my blog for a long time you may recognise this stitch marker.  It was given to me in March 2009 by Cliodhna from Ravelry, who sent them just because I said I liked them.  She has an ETSY store where you can buy pretty things, go and have a look, they are lovely.  I got four of these markers and they are my most used markers.  Because these markers have thin wires there is no stretching between stitches, and the ring is solid so there is no risk of falling off or catching yarn.

After studying the design of the above marker, I created my own version, which isn't as pretty, but I hope will be just as practical.

I've got eight of these glamorous looking stitch markers and I wrapped the ring part around an 8mm needle to get a good size ring.  It should be ok for most of my knitting at that size.

I used seed beads to anchor the main bead and also to cover up the ends of the wire, that I didn't want catching on my knitted projects.

If you look carefully at the above photograph you can see my camera reflected in the bead!  My stitch markers may not be as pretty as the ones I received from America, but I have tried using them and they work just as well.  I'm pretty pleased with "whole bunch" of stitch markers!

As usual I am hooking up to Tami's Amis for FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and Fibers on Friday at Visions of Sugar Plums.  All three linky parties can be reached by clicking on the buttons below.  They are well worth visiting to see what yarny goodness is going on in the world, I am constantly inspired whenever I check them out.

WPC 2011 - Week 3 - Control

This week's subject of Control for the Weekly Photo Challenge really only had one concept for me.  I knew I wanted to have Pain Control as my image.  I started with all my tablet packs, TENS machine, heat pad etc and took a few photos, but it was too cluttered.  What does that tell you about the amount of pain control I need?

The second batch of images was just of the blister packs.  These images were quite interesting.  The one below I really quite liked.

 

I liked the sharp contrasts of black, white and grey.  I particularly liked the way the light reflected off the open blisters.  After this batch of photos I decided to pop the pills out of the packs and take photos of those.  I took a few in black and white, but the colour versions worked much better.  In particular this photo really haunted me.  It was the one I submitted.

I took this picture after twiddling with my menu.  Playing with exposure and saturation etc.  I can't for the life of me remember what I did, but looking at the properties of the photo on Picasa I can see that the Exposure Bias is -0.66 and the ISO is 125.  The Saturation is High and the Sharpness is Hard.  I don't know what that means, but maybe it will enlighten me in the future when I understand these things better.

I love how the grain on the wood contrasts with the shiny plastic coating of the tablets.  I think it looks sad and dark and sums up my feelings towards this essential part of my life. This picture only shows the tablets I take before bed. 

Moving away from the depressing thoughts of rattling with pills, I am really enjoying this challenge and seeing all the other great photos on the Group Pool is really inspiring me.  I went to the library this week and have taken out a couple of books on digital photography as I really want to understand what I'm doing with the menus on my camera.  It looks like I might actually start using all the functions at last, rather than letting the software take care of everything for me.  It's fun learning a new skill.

Next week's subject is Colourful.  Do you think I might be a bit predictable and use my yarn stash as my subject matter?

CPH and More Socks

I am making good progress on my Central Park Hoodie.  I have now completed the back (up to the neck) and the left front.  I have even got them blocking!

Apologies for how dark these photos are.  It's a bit dingy here today.

Still I think you can see how nice and plump those cables have become.  I really think this is going to be a great jacket, and I'm half way through the right hand front.  I'm enjoying this knit so much.  Its a dream to follow someone else's pattern and not want to adjust it.  I can knit without overly taxing my brain, which is exactly what I wanted when I cast on this project.

In addition to the CPH, I have been knitting another pair of socks.  I have been following the instructions in the new book I got.  I have to say, I am very impressed with how simple this design is.  I have just got to knit the leg on my first Discovery Sock, so I've been able to try the sock on, and I love the way it hugs my foot.  It looks very strange off the foot though.

The heel shape mimics the shape of the toe, but in reverse.  I thought the decreases might feel strange, but I didn't notice them, when I tried the sock on. It might be different when I wear the socks with a shoe, but I won't know until I have worn them a few times.

The above photo shows the heel.  The last few stitches will be bound off after the leg is finished and I can try it on fully.  I have to confess making the hole for the leg to sprout from was very unnerving, it involves cutting your knitting and unraveling it.  The technique seems to work though and there are no holes.

I hope to have this first sock finished by Friday, so I will model it for you then and tell you more about this technique.  Oh and by the way, I used two circular needles and it works really well.  You get less of a ladder down the side of the sock than you get by doing magic loop on a single circular needle.  I will definitely keep using this technique.

Click on the button to see how other people's projects are coming on.  You never know what lovely things you will see!

Two At a Time Socks

After my post on Socks on 5th January, there have been quite a few comments about how to knit two socks at a time.  I am feeling full of cold at the moment so I can't face making a tutorial myself, but I have put together some links to tutorials that may help if you feel like trying this technique.

KnitPicks has a good video tutorial on how to magic loop, shown below.

KnittingHelp.com is a great website for all knitting techniques.  If you scroll down the page from the link you will find the video links for "Small Diameter" knitting, which shows how to knit Magic Loop and also how to knit with two circular needles.

Judy Becker's Tutorial shows how to cast on for toe up socks if you are doing two at a time on a single needle.  Even if you only cast on for one sock it is still a useful technique for any toe up sock.

KnitPicks has a free pattern download for knitting two at a time socks.  Please note I haven't tried this pattern and to be honest I've not even looked at it, but I thought I'd include it anyway.

Silver's Sock Class is the tutorial I used to learn how to do two at a time socks.

This video by Cat Bordhi, cuts off abruptly at the end, but before that happens you get a great tutorial (if fuzzy) on how to knit with two circular needles.

This tutorial from www.az.com seems quite clear for explaining how to knit in the round using two circulars.

CyberSocks has a 4 lesson tutorial on how to knit two socks at a time using 2 circular needles. (This is the next technique I want to try)

KnitAddicted has a PDF file to download which focuses on the gusset part of the sock knitted two at a time.


I hope these tutorials are an answer to some of your questions!

If anyone else has a favorite tutorial or knitting socks either using magic loop or two at a time, either toe up or cuff down, please let me know and I'll try to add it to this page, which will then be added to the Tutorials tab at the top of the blog.

The Joy of Sox

I know I've pinched post title from a book, but it fits perfectly in with the theme for WPC 2011.  Week 2 had the theme of Joy, which was quite difficult for me to get done in the week in question, as our house was Joyless.  Both myself and the OH had stinky colds and I couldn't gather even an atom of joy to take a photo.  This week however there was joy to be had in abundance, so I decided to submit a late photo to the Flickr group.

Here is the photo I submitted.  It's not arty or even particularly beautiful, but it is joyful.  I LOVE my hand knitted socks.

These socks were knit with a combination of instructions and tutorials to get a fairly well fitting sock.  I have a real struggle finding sock patterns that work for my feet as they are wide and flat and I have large ankles.  This means most socks are tight around the ankle and the sock rides down the foot causing irritating wrinkles.

To rectify the problems with my socks I used the following:

Jeny's Magic Cast On for Toe Up Socks.

Fleegle's Toe Up Socks Pattern - I just used the heel part of this pattern, found here.

Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off

I have to say that the Fleegle Heel, is the best fitting heel I've ever used.  I can't get over how well this fits over my chunky ankles.  It also hugs the foot nicely.

I did put some increases in at the ankle just before I started the ribbing, but I think I may have put too many in, as the ribbing is very loose and it folds over the top of the stocking stitch a little bit.  I don't think it will be too much of a problem as the socks are comfortable.  As always, the Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, was surprisingly stretchy.

This bind off is perfect for socks.  It looks neat, never cuts into the leg, and fits over wide ankles with ease!

The rest of the pattern for the socks came from Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book and other patterns and tutorials I've read over the last few years.  The socks were knit from the toe up and two at a time on a single circular needle.

This pair of socks is the closest I've ever come, to finding the perfect pattern for myself.  I'm hoping my new treat, that came in the post this week, will help achieve my aim.  This book is Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi.  I couldn't find this book in the UK, so I ordered it from knittersbookshelf.com.  If you are in the states it can be ordered in from Amazon.com.

Even ordering this book from the US didn't cost that much, around £22.  I bought it for the totally new way of making socks that the book explains, but the patterns in the book are really beautiful, and I can see myself working through quite a few of the designs.  If you are on Ravelry you can see the patterns here.

I am currently working on this new way of making socks and when I've got my first sock finished I'll let you know how it went.  Until I get my newest socks on my feet, the ones below will continue to be my new favorite socks.

Ah, Regia Design Line sock yarn, how I love thee!

FO: Annis Shawl

I got my Annis shawl off the blocking boards yesterday.  I do love how wetting and stretching knitted fabric can transform this:

Into this:

Doesn't it drape beautifully?  I really love Malabrigo yarn and this laceweight yarn is stunning.  I have tried on the shawlette and I like it a lot.

However, I do have lots of this kind of scarf/shawl type thing, so I have decided to be good and put it into my 2011 gift stash.  I do have someone sort of in mind for this item, so I know it will go to a good home.

As you can see from this photo, the nupps didn't really work very well on this pattern.  I think I might not have blocked it in the most effective way.  I won't write nupps off completely, based on how this one item looks, but I will be more inclined to replace them with beads in future.

Over all, this project was quick and quite simple (if you exclude the nupps) and the yarn was wonderful.  I would knit the Annis pattern again, but maybe I'd go up a needle size.  I had lots of yarn left, and I don't think the shawl is as big as it should have been.  Basically I was lazy and didn't swatch.  If the gauge had been correct then I think it would have been more of a shawlette, than a scarf.

So another lesson rammed home - practice what you preach CC, SWATCH, SWATCH, SWATCH!!!!

I have decided to link up to several places this week.  Click on each button to see a range of gorgeous projects and interesting blogs.