Spinning

Look! I do spin!

So, I've been playing on occasion with my Hitchhiker, and having a lot of fun. The fibre is from Little Barn, and the preparation was lovely.


Sorry for the blurry picture. I want to post, and don't have the light conditions to take a better one right now. This is a two ply yarn, probably between a fingering and sport weight. Now I want a tensioned kate so I can make more than two ply! There are always more toys!


Princess Spooky cat really enjoys the mildly sheepy smell of the yarn after the twist has been set.

Sock Meme

When did you first learn to knit socks? Fairly soon after I restarted knitting in 2003. I bought my first sock yarn from Romni Wools in 2004 when I was in Toronto on training for my stint with Right to Play. That was the first lys I ever visited, as in Calgary I had only ever bought yarn from Lewiscraft.

What's the first sock you ever knit? The sock pattern that came with the skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn (I don't see the one I used on the website anymore. I'm pretty sure it's superwash merino, but who knows...). It took a while, but I love the end results. (See centre row right below)

Favorite Sock Pattern? I use the Turkish cast on from the Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting, and the short row heel from Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and then whatever pattern choices I want for other areas.

Favorite needle method? DPNs. I have done magic loop and knitting in the round on two circs for other things, but don’t have the right size needles for socks.

Favorite sock needles? I’m using Knitpicks Harmony right now. I prefer plastic, bamboo or wooden needles when possible, but have used metal too.

Who do you knit socks for? Me. The only pairs I’ve made for other people have been through sockapalooza.

How many pairs have you knitted to date? More than 10, less than 20 (They're not all here...)



1. P5310031, 2. P5310024, 3. pomatomus III, 4. stuff 007, 5. stuff 005, 6. stuff 003, 7. P1230001, 8. sherbet socks, 9. sockpal

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

What is on your sock knitting to-do list? I have lots of sock yarn in the stash to knit up, and I recently bought some Sundara sock yarn in semi-solid colours so I could try some more complicated cables and/or lace.

What kind of socks to you like to knit-
Striped? Haven’t yet.
Colourwork? I haven't yet, but I'm not against colourwork socks.
Plain Stockinette? Yes.
Cabled? Yes.
Lace? Yes.
Anklets? Yes.
Knee Socks? There are a few I would like to try, but haven’t yet
Solid Colours? Yes, but I prefer a textured pattern when working in solids.
Bright and crazy? Of course. Why knit socks otherwise?
Faux Fair Isle (the yarn doing all of the work)? Mmm… haven’t yet.

Tag a few sock knitters here: Feel free to tag yourself.

Quickie

Umm, I haven't updated in a bit. I spent three hours working an invisible bind off (from the Fall IK) on the pink Pomatomus that's be waiting to be bound off, only to find out that I had somehow made it too tight. Which is unfortunate, because I had decided to try it specifically because the article claimed it was a stretchy bindoff. I'm sure I just pulled things too tightly, but I couldn't deal with picking it out at that point. So, I have nothing finished to show.

I finally decided not to fly back to Canada for my vacation in October. It was a really tough choice, as I wanted to see family and friends and go to Rhinebeck and all. But, I'm probably moving back next summer, and I'm buying a condo, so once I get home it will be much more difficult for me to get over here again. So, I'm going to meet up with some friends in Aqaba for the Thanksgiving weekend, and then I'm spending some time in Syria and Turkey. It should be a nice couple of weeks.

Umm, so I don't have much else to report. I have actually been reading a fair bit, so maybe I'll try writing a book report at some point (since I don't have any knitting to show).

FO: Cozy Brown Sweater

So, I started knitting this sweater on a complete and total whim. I traveled back to Canada in March for work, and in a very busy time leading up to my departure, I managed to leave without packing any serious knitting. I largely blame it on not having much on the needles that would be nice to knit in snowy Canada. I did take a skein of Cascade Magnum and needles to make a hat (having discovered during my crazed packing that all of my hats somehow ended up in storage), but I finished that on the plane.



So, I arrived in Kingston with nothing on the needles! (I might be exaggerating, there may have been a sock, but it wasn't much.)

I had come prepared, having scouted the Internet for yarn stores in Kingston ahead of time. Over the week, I visited Gwyn Griffin yarns, and another one that I can't remember right now, and I bought some nice yarns I hadn't seen before.



But in the interests of getting something on the needles quickly, I also went to the T&S (a sort of general store) and bought five balls of Patons Classic Merino in a dark brown (which they call Taupe), a 4.5mm needle, and started swatching.



This sweater is the result, and it worked out pretty well. I had wanted the fronts to be more asymmetrical, but you can actually only see that they are when the zipper is done up all the way to the neck. But it's still a great sweater, light but very warm, and I'm very proud of how I made the cables flow in and out of the ribbing on the sleeves. Also, it was my first effort installing a zipper and I think it looks good.

When I was blocking, I did notice a few small errors (a purl instead of a knit in a place or two), which reminds me that I need to slow down and enjoy the process more, as the final product is nicer when I do that.

Ravelry details