New Year, New Socks (FO)

In the midst of all the festive travelling and visiting and eating I managed to finish off a laggardly pair of socks that have been hanging about in my knitting bag for aaaages.

Nothing fancy - just plain vanilla socks, knitted top down. I had the yarn for Christmas last year, I think. I seem to have lost the ball band, so can't remember what brand it is - Regia maybe?

Socksperimental socks (FO)

I finished the socksperimental socks a couple of weeks ago...

I can report that although they look a bit different, there is no noticeable difference in feel when on the foot, or in a shoe. 

So far so good.

Socksperiment

Over the last few months I've been collecting worn and holey socks, piling them up ready for the darning fairy to repair them. She hasn't been around very much, that fairy, as - like all housework fairies - she is rather unreliable and easily distracted. You know, by shiny in-the-moment things like the Commonwealth Games, or drinking beer, or starting new projects (ahem).

While the holey sock pile has been marinading, I came up with a plan for a socksperiment.  Because my socks invariably go into a hole on the ball of the foot rather than the heel or the toe, I have been wondering if there was a way to reinforce this part of the sock and increase the sock's longevity.  

I think I have found a way. It involves knitting around the sock in s1 k1 a bit like a heel flap. And, when you are using two yarns in a grumperina' stripe it has the additional benefit of changing the direction of the stripes! [I must confess that this discovery makes me deliriously happy - I love knitting stripey socks, and making the stripes change direction is just mind-blowing. Just me? Oh, okay]

In order to test my hypothesis in a really scientific way, I am making myself a new pair of socks (see what I mean about being easily distracted). One sock has been knit the 'normal' way, and the other will be finished in the new way. I'm a third of the way along the foot of the second sock, and just about to start the k1 s1 section. 

Once I've finished them, I'll wear the blighters and see what happens. I hope it won't be quite as long-winded as the search for the Higgs bosun, or those experiments waiting for a drop of pitch to drop....

Man socks (FO) with squidgy toe

It was half-term here last week, and we went to the Lake District for a few days. I took a goodly pile of projects close to being finished, in the hope that I would get a bit of time to knit.

These socks were top of the pile - a gift for my dad which stalled somewhat when the little bean was born. As is my usual style I combined two yarns. However, for the first time I changed the way I knit the toe in order to create a thicker fabric and strengthen the area around the ball of the foot which - I find (YMMV) is the first place to develop a hole.

The effect, as you can see, is to change the pattern of the fabric and make the stripes run perpendicular to the those on the rest of the sock. All I did was to knit alternate stitches with my two yarns (rather than alternate rounds) and make a double weight fabric as you would in any Fair Isle knitting. It does shrink the width of the sock slightly, but I haven't had to adjust the number of stitches  to maintain fit (my dad tried on the first sock a wee while ago).

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who 1) already does something similar or 2) gives this a try. I need to refresh my sock pile, so I'm definitely going to make myself some squidgy toed socks to see how they work out.

Stripes

Things are pretty stripey here. First there is the never ending blanket, and then there is a toddler Charles. And then there are the dad socks.

 All stripey I tell you.

Progress somehow seems faster when I am making stripes. Maybe it's the 'just one more row/stripe' thing, or just the way in which the completion of a new stripe makes progress palpable in a way that plain knitting is not. Is that just me?


Anyway, the blanket is coming along and gobbling yarn to the extent that I am wondering whether I might have to buy some yarn to make it big enough. But, as is often the case, I am getting ahead of myself, and therein lies danger.

The danger is mostly to do with unecessary stash augmentation. I am getting a whole lot better at putting off yarn (and fabric and clothing) purchases safe in the knowledge that today's bargains will be replaced by tomorrow's bargains. And, over the last couple of years my yarn stash has been slimmed and trimmed.
My fabric stash on the other hand has not. It grows when I'm not looking, fattened up by discarded clothes and linens: a ripped shirt, an old duvet cover, some tired t-shirts... The challenge is finding the time to do some sewing which slims and trims the fabric stash in the same way as the yarn stash.

It's my summer challenge: sew my stash.

Starting. Again

Maybe it's my hormones. Or the weather. Or the phase of the moon. Or something. It seems I am powerless to resist the siren call of the yarn goddess, and today I pulled yet more yarn from the stash for another project. 

I haven't cast on yet, but that's only because I've been busy feeding a baby, trying to ensure most people in the house have clean pants to wear tomorrow, and make something dinner-like from the dregs left in the fridge. How is it, that a fridge that was respectably full only yesterday now looks as though it belongs to an impoverished student, close to the end of term? 

I digress. The new project is going to be something small, and pink, for a small girl I know who recently had her first birthday. I failed to make her anything when she was born, and I owe her and her big sister BIG time. The blue sparkly Phoebe (which is not quite finished) is for her sister, and I have an idea about making her a bigger and pinker version of the Charles which I made for little bean, and which is proving to be even nicer on a baby than it was on the needles. 

In other news, the crochet blanket is starting to look a bit less like a very long brown wolly bookmark. After two blocks of colour (each block = one small ball of yarn) I've devised a stripe pattern for the next part of the blanket. This is partly because I like stripes, and partly to keep life interesting. There is something more-ish and manageable about knitting just one more stripe, in a project that is likely (if I think about it logically) to take a Very Long Time. It could be a never ending blanket...

As well as the blanket, there is poor old Phoebe to finish off (really, there is not much left to do...) and those man socks which, it turns out, aren't for my husband at all, but for my dad. The Regia jazz stripes are, apparently, well outside the acceptable sock comfort zone for my husband. He was fairly diplomatic about it and while we were talking about the colour thing, he also let me know about some of the fit issues he has with the other socks I have made him. These have all been noted, and no doubt as a result of my wisdom, maturity and age, I managed not to take these comments to heart or run from the room beating my breast and gnashing my teeth. I took it, as knitters do, with grace and good humour (ha). Its hard to say whether he will be getting any more handknit socks in the near future... 

Happy Fathers Day, Dad. There are some socks coming your way. 

Sock repairs

I like knitting and wearing socks, and as you might know, I tend to take a thrifty approach to such things - using up odds and ends of sock yarn where I can.

To this end I have a lot of stripey socks made using a grumperina stripe. However, these seem to be most prone to wearing out, and I have a couple of pairs that need regular inspection and darning.

Last week I decided to try another approach, and instead of darning, I cut the toes off, picked up the stitches and reknit the sock. I managed to find some complementary odds and ends in the stash, so the new toes aren't too obvious.

I like! Much quicker than knitting new socks, and nicer (for me) than darning....

Lunch....

School holidays are now shaping our routine. Today I'm having lunch with my son, just the two of us (and the bump, and a sock of course)

Christmas Socks (FO)

2013 is proving to be fairly productive, and there is another FO to show even before the first month is ended! (2012 what *were* you doing?)

Some socks - for me. This yarn was a Christmas gift from my MIL, (although the labels got a bit muddled and my son ended up opening it...), and I thought it would make good winter/boot socks, so I rattled some off.

Pattern: generic top down socks

Yarn: Wendy Roam Fusion 4 ply (about 60g) in 'Heath'

Time taken: started and finished January 2013

The colour is truest in the bottom photo, a pleasant pinky, orangey-yellow heathered yarn. I've worn them already, and can report a pleasant squashy and warm experience just right for snowy January days. it's noticeable how much thicker and bouncier these new socks are compared to the rest of my (handknit) sock collection. Then again, I notice that I made this pair - the oldest socks in my current collection - in 2007! No wonder they are getting a bit thin (but still no holes). 

Elving #2

More elving today.... This will be a hat for my brother, and those pink socks I showed you on Friday are now finished and safely stashed in the gift pile, and a small boy sock sprang off the needles as well today. Progress.

On the down side there is only one mince pie left....

Elving ..

I'm listening to some presentations, and doing a spot of elving at the same time. Small girl sock no. 1 now at the toe.....

Cutting it fine

I'm away from home at the moment - in Coventry for a conference - so I brought some knitting to keep me company on the train, and in the hotel. I just had a toe to kitchener to finish the pair currently on the needles. There was almost nothing left over, just a few centimetres of yarn.

As usual, I striped the socks using 2 yarns - although the effect is quite subtle because of the colours I chose. You can see the difference in the cuffs.

Moving on...

Things are moving on here. The new kitchen is almost finished, and the days of chaos and the to-ing and fro-ing of joiners and painters and plumbers and the gaffer and the architect and all and sundry are almost at an end. 

I'm ready for it to finish and for things to return to normal. 6 weeks with only a microwave - even if we did have a washing machine and a dishwasher and a sink - was a bit wearing and wearying. But the results are just as good - if not better - than we hoped. We can now see through the house from front to back; we can see out into our garden in a way that we couldn't before. It's nice. Really Nice. I like.


Today the new floor was laid. The fitter left the paper template in situ because of the painting and grouting work happening tomorrow. We couldn't really pass up the opportunity to draw on such an enormous piece of paper, so after supper the chiddlers and I got to work...

As you can see, the decorating didn't stop with the paper, oh no. The jelly bean drew on herself. A. Lot.

In other news, I finished some socks. They are pink, and a bit stripey and I really love them (although they are impossible to photograph). Trouble is, I lost concentration somewhere along the line and they are teensy bit too small for me. 

pattern: generic top-down socks

yarn: Kaffe Fassett Random Stripe for Regia (#02901 colourway) 

combined with some plain pink 4-ply in a grumperina stripe (tute here)

Seeing as I have a dozen or more pairs of handknit socks in my drawer, I don't really need another pair. And, in these days of austerity I don't want to appear to be greedy - so I've put them in the gift stash


and promised myself that 


if I happen to pass the shop where I bought the yarn, I might allow myself to buy a couple of balls because, well, most of my handknit socks are a year or two old now, and must be quite close to wearing out. So, making some more would just help me to keep the others going a bit longer because I wouldn't need to wear them as often....and if there's anything a girl really needs, it's a pair of hot pink stripey socks.

Wipping things up...

As usual, Lent is invoking some attempts at self-improvement. The most notable of these is a change in diet - giving up dairy products and gluten as an experiment to see if that helps some low-level health problems. Interestingly the most noticeable benefit has been a returning sense of smell, which all but disappeared after the jelly bean was born. My husband found it incredible that I couldn't detect the different smells of our children. But now I can, and it's nice :)

The crafting self-improvement going on here is all about the WIPs. I'm not casting on anything new, and trying to finish something: anything! There have just been too few FOs this year for my liking (can it really only be one thing that I've finished? Yikes).

The chevron blanket is growing nicely, and has gobbled up oodles and oodles of yarn. Even though the blanket is a bit narrower than I intended (note to self: next time allow for the chevrons/ripples when measuring the foundation chain against the bed), each stripe is one ball of yarn. As there is only one more ball of pink yarn left after the one currently being worked, I am only planning to add another couple of stripes to the length. I may yet put a few rows of DC along the edge of the blanket to finish it off. Or I may not. It has proved to be a nice project - perfect for sitting on the sofa while watching a rugby match, and easy to put down at any moment to soothe a bumped head, supply drinks or snacks to small people or otherwise adjudicate in some filial dispute. The jelly bean already identifies it as her blanket, and likes to snuggle under it on my lap.

The next blanket (oh yes, it is already in the planning) will ripple in blue, and demolish the rest of the cotton yarns in the stash. As for those birthday socks, sock two is crawling towards the toe - I managed a few rounds at the weekend when I was at the hairdresser. If they aren't finished before the blanket, they will be next on the list, and then good old Deli will have to come out of the knitting bag for those three miles of knitted trim to be applied...

Quilts and things

The light is coming back. Mornings are no longer dim, but bright. On Thursday the brightness was such that I dressed myself in bright clothes: a bright green skirt, a white top, a coral cardigan. It felt like spring.

I was at a conference that day, and knowing I would be spending some time listening, I took some knitting to keep my hands busy. The second of those birthday socks got some attention, and progressed from heel flap to mid-foot. I even managed to do a bit more last night, on my way to see The Descendants with a friend. It was good  - although perhaps not as funny as I was expecting - and featured a number of beautiful quilts. My fingers are itching a bit. I've got a few quilting projects in mind, and need to find some tima and space to start sewing again. At the moment my teaching commitments mean that most evenings have some work shoe horned into them. By Easter that will all be behind me and I'll be able to get on. With. Things. Can't wait for that...

Still addicted...

The blanket is still the thing. The socks aren't getting a look in. Neither is the cardigan I should finish (all sewn up and just waiting for 300 miles of edging to be knit onto it). There is an itch to be scratched, and I just need to scratch it.

The ripping and re-doing of the blanket has been a complete success. I am much happier with everything, and now starting to motor along, getting quicker and quicker all the time. It's a good feeling.

The rugby outing yesterday afternoon was fabulous. I have missed going to big matches like that (the last international I went to was the RWC in 2007, when the bean was about 9 months old), and it was so good to be back at Murrayfield for a sell-out match. The atmosphere of Scotland vs. France matches is always very good natured. The french fans play their part well, with  lots of flags and coloured wigs and silly hats. It meant that there was plenty to look at for our two little people - particularly the jelly bean - at her first rugby international. Her brother went to his first international match as a babe in arms, aged only 2 weeks! He's been to a few more games since then, mostly with his dad and other (male) grownups. This was our first outing as a family of 4 - and a rehearsal for attending sporting events with small people in tow, as we are off to the Olympics in the summer...

Too bad that Scotland couldnt get a win yesterday - but the roar that went up when they scored was incredible. And, we were lucky enough to be sitting in the north stand, so saw the first (Hogg) try fairly close up. A great memory for us all.

I've been thinking about stuff lately. There are so many of us trying to cope with having too much stuff. And, the more I think about, the more I think that the motto of the 21st century should be: don't buy stuff; do stuff. Yesterday was a good day for that.

In which the crochet gods flex their muscles...

The crochet is addictive. Although I generally prefer a knit fabric to a crochet one, I do see how appealing crochet can be, and it's a bit easier to pick up, put down and rip than knitting is. And, it's much easier for a large project like a blanket. I like that. A. Lot.

So, after a week, this is where I have got to. Pretty, huh? I even managed to crochet with some novelty yarn. But, but, but... my inner crochet gods are displeased.

There are parts that I dont' like and some places where my stitch count has gone a bit awry, so the pattern is a bit wonky. I started off using the chevron pattern from Jane Brocket's 'Gentle Art of Knitting', but couldn't seem to get the valley part of the pattern to look tidy. So, I looked at some other ripple blanket patterns and fudged a different version of the valley which looks better, but isn't so chevron-y. Then I realised - yesterday - that I hadn't quite been doing that the right way (either), and so I'm wrestling with the idea of ripping it all back to the beginning and starting again and getting it right this time.

But on the other hand, I'm wondering whether I should just keep going, using this as my learning piece, and keeping this blanket as a stitched record of my progress and improvement, so that I can marvel in years to come about how badly I started off, and how slowly/quickly I learned... what to do?

Poor old birthday socks. They have been left behind because of my affair with the hook. I should finish them soon - look, what's not to like? Nice yarn, nice stripes and already at the heel flap of sock 2. It's all downhill from here...

Rhythm

The rhythm of this new year and a new semester is taking a while to sink in. My teaching days and times have changed, and my inner clock/diary is confused..

It's a new drum. A new tune.

Part of my new weekly rhythm is swimming. My husband is a swimmer - a good swimmer - and before our son was born he helped me to improve my technique. I'm getting back into the groove - and it's noticeable how things improve week by week. Tonight I did 50 lengths.

Crafting and knitting and sewing have little space in my week at the moment. Snatched moments here and there are all I've been able to muster. No evenings of sewing like there were before Christmas - although I'm desperate to get my machine out and try out my new walking foot (thanks, Santa!) I have been knitting some socks for a friend's 40th though. I thought I would nail the pair before the great day, but I didn't. I didnt even manage to finish the first one before the party. Sigh. Last night we watched a film and I cast on sock no. 2. The film was Valkyrie. We enjoyed it and the sock grew nicely. I'll show it to you when it's finished. It's stripey (of course).

Drama #2

The drama continues here, although we have now watched all of The Killing (series 1). It's good - and I am looking forward to catching up with series 2 sometime...

Putting that aside, perhaps it is just as well I started my Christmas crafting when I did. There has been little action on that score since the beginning of December. And, the socks I have started for DH have stalled a bit - they are toe-up and just look a bit, well, wrong. I am undecided at the moment, but am waiting for a new moon or something before they go to the frog pond...

The other dramas in our house have been a little less knitterly.

On Saturday the television stopped working - the remote control worked, but the telly did not. Fuse was checked, words were sworn and various things banged, bodged and shaken. To no avail. It was dead. It had departed. It was an ex-TV.

Given that we my husband has been discussing buying a new telly for months now, it didnt take us long to come to the conclusion that we should buy a new one. The old telly (about 10 years old - so box shaped rather than a flat screen) had been on the blink for a while. DH has been researching all the options - wireless, dongles, boxes, recorders, LCD, LED. But it all just made my head hurt, so I told him we should wait until the old one gave up, and that's what we did. On Sunday morning decisions were made, and a new TV was procured (look it up on tinternets, ring up shop, pay and collect later). One thing sorted.

Yesterday, I got into the office and sat quietly at my desk sewing on some buttons while my laptop powered up and my inbox caught up with itself. I was finishing those wee jackets I started a week or so ago, for those little twins I mentioned. As I sat and sewed, I scanned my inbox - and there was a birth announcement! Eek! Born on Friday, a few weeks earlier than expected and hoped, but safely born and good sizes (c. 4lb each). Welcome to the world little ones - Nathaniel and Lilith - we wish you and your clever mama and papa all the very best. There is a parcel of things on its way - including those two hats, and two wee jackets (paxton pattern from stitchymama via ravelry).

Two baby beanies.

Pattern: own recipe/tutorial

yarn: small amounts of 4 ply from the stash

Pattern: Paxton Preemie and Newborn Jacket

Yarn: 100% cotton DK (pink = Sirdar Carousel; blue = Jonelle) from stash

Size: 6-8lb (preemie/small newborn)

Notes: no mods - jacket with long sleeves. buttons from stash. This is the second time I have made these jackets - they knit up quickly and take almost no time to finish because of their top-down seamless construction.

This morning, after counselling both of my small people NOT to sit on window ledge next to Christmas tree, a few moments later the bean arrives in the dining room (where I am waging war on a tsunami of crayons and pens and bits of paper that have suddenly hurled themselves onto the floor) announcing that the wire has got his leg and the christmas tree has fallen down. The jelly bean wets herself at that very moment and my sense of humour disappears very rapidly. No-one was hurt, and the only thing broken (apart from my spirit) were a couple of decorations on the tree. Grrr.

Santa came to the rescue. In times like that emergency chocolate really is the answer, and if that is shaped like santa, then all well and good...

Heads, fingers and toes (FOs)

A quick post to catch up on some of the little things that have recently made their way into my gift stash.

These are girl socks for the jelly bean, knitted with sparkly Berocco sock yarn. See those sparkles?

Followed by handwarmers for my dad, knitted with some mystery grey 4 ply. I think this yarn came from grandmothers house. There were several partial balls which - as you can see - were clearly from different dye lots. I hope the subtle difference in colour is not too noticeable when being worn! It feels like quite a woolly yarn, and it has bloomed and softened with washing. I improvised the pattern based on the ones I made for myself a few weeks back, but using slightly more stitches to accommodate a manly hand.

Last and not least are two very weeny baby beanies for those twins. Anticipating smallish babies and smallish heads, I adapted my baby beanie pattern, using 80 stitches rather than 100... Oh, and rather than an i-cord stalk with knot, I made wee circles instead. Cute huh?